Jordan's First Century, And Then Some

Skibby and Red Lantern sponsored a Stone Arch Ride, followed by a Pool Party at Skibby and Olga's new digs on Labor Day. Jordan and I decided to take the opportunity to attempt his first century, which he's been bugging me to do for some time. The plan was to ride from Hudson to the Stone Arch, do the Stone Arch Hill Ride, ride back to Skibby's for the Pool Party, then ride back to Hudson. I figured he could do it, but I knew my challenge would be to keep him hydrated. You see, when your both the coach, and father, they tend to scoff a bit at advice. I can't tell you how many times I've heard those dreaded words, "I know Dad."

We departed at 8AM from Hudson, and had a very nice ride to the Stone Arch Bridge. We got to Minneapolis a little early, so we took the opportunity to look at the collapsed 35W bridge from the recently re-opened 10th Street bridge. It was packed with people, and what a incredible, and scary viewpoint.

I won't bore you with too many details from the Stone Arch Ride. You can get them from A-train. I will say I knew the ride would be a significant challenge for Jordan. It is a fairly hard ride, but Jordan did great. At one point, I was riding tempo on the front down East River Road into the headwind at about 27mph. Jordan stayed in the group, but later admitted he was worried we were going to go that hard for the entire ride.

By the time we got back to Skibby's we had already logged 75 miles, 10 more than Jordan's longest ride ever. The pool party was great fun. Skibby slaved over the grill, then Red Lantern gave him a friendly push into the pool. Skibby enjoyed the refreshing dip, that is until he reached into his pocket, and pulled out his cell phone. Whoops. Thanks Skibby, Olga, the Cleary family, and everyone else who came and enjoyed the sunny weather.

After the party, Jordan and I remounted and headed home. I decided to take try a different route home on the north side of I94, instead of going down to Summit. We rode the bus route between the Mpls, and St. Paul U of M campuses, which is closed to all traffic except buses and bikes. As I expected, we did run into a bit of traffic at the fair, but no big deal. Then we just stayed on Como, all the way down to the Capitol, and then back the same way we came out in the morning.

Jordan started to bonk a bit at the end. As I expected, he wasn't drinking much during the ride home. His excuse was the Gatorade was too "Hot" to drink, and I had to agree. We stopped in Maplewood, regrouped, and he fought his way the rest of the way home. The tally was 109 miles in 6hrs15min. Congrats on your first century buddy.