Brown Season: Saturday Morning Cartoons

Dark-thirty. Time to ride!

My friend N.Y. Roll has this ride he does sometimes on Saturday mornings he dubbed "Saturday Morning Cartoons". This is a great name for a ride on Saturdays, but I think the significance of this name might be lost on anyone who was raised post 1985 or so.

You see, at one time, there were no cable television channels. There was no "Netflix", no You Tube, nothing on the internet. There were (maybe) a few analog T.V. channels and programming for kids? Almost non-existent. We had few windows of opportunity as kids to see programs, (usually cartoons), which were meant for us. I know where I was raised we had three analog, over the air channels and two worked well. One of those had an afternoon cartoon show. That lasted a half an hour. That was it until Saturday.

We lived for Saturday mornings back then. You rolled out of bed at 6:00 am and it was on! Cartoons all morning long! Some days I didn't get out of my P.J.'s until after lunch. It was something we really looked forward to in our week back then. Of course, this is all lost now. You can watch a cartoon at any time, 24 hours a day. Spoiled you are!

So, this is why N.Y. Roll's "Saturday Morning Cartoons" ride is a brilliant name, but maybe you younginz just don't see the point. I get it. (Okay, Boomer. Move along now.......) But you can diss it all day long. Those who know.......know. Those who don't.....that's their loss. But I digress.....as usual.

Heading South after being out for around a half an hour. The morning Sunrise was spectacular.

I heard about a gravel version of the "SMC" ride, and so I asked N.Y. Roll if I could join him and ride to the start, which was about 8 miles or so from the house. We met Robert there, and Paul and Keith also showed up. The five of us headed out of town, Eastward, at about 6:30am. It was still plenty dark at this point.

My light, a Lezyne 1100 i, was showing a full green status when I left, although I knew I had been using it as a flashlight down in the Lab. So, it wasn't a full charge by any means. Still, after 8 miles it showed a red status and I wasn't sure I'd have a light for the ride until the Sun gave enough light to ride by. It was pretty cold though. 30's with a good West/West-southwest breeze that maybe made the battery current a little wonky. The thing held up, and I guess that is all that matters.

We all stopped to admire this for a bit.

Barns For Jason #1

On the way out of Hudson going West, there was a hill and the group was really hammering. I held my own until I realized my heart rate and breathing were getting to be a bit much. This was not a sustainable pace, as N.Y. Roll had about 30+ miles planned for the loop, not counting our going and coming to the start/finish. So, while those fellas were feeling strong, I knew my motor was going to blow running that hard. I haven't been able to ride with folks most of 2019, so I'd be better for it if I had been, but it is what it is. I let them roll on while I dangled off the back.

The Sun finally gave enough light to allow me to ride without a light.

Of course, those guys were great and waited at a couple points or drifted back to keep me company. The headwind going out was rough, but the roads weren't, so it all kind of balanced out. Once I got my legs under me I managed better, but besides a couple of "outbursts", I was riding in the back the entire ride. Turning back Eastwards helped a ton.

Barns For Jason #2: This one was a cute, little barn. 

We got the benefit of Sunshine for about a minute. Then it got overcast and cold.

We spent most of the ride in Grundy County. The roads were marked by a lot of heavy tread marks, presumably from harvesters. Otherwise it was a mix of hero gravel and freshly bladed surfaces which could be a bit difficult. However; that said, there weren't any fresh, chunky, deep gravel patches like I ran into last week in Eastern Black Hawk County.

Barns For Jason #3

Barns For Jason #4

The ride East went a lot quicker than the ride west, that's for sure! We got to the Black Hawk County line where Robert turned off. Then Paul went south back to his home when we came across the local bike path leading Southward. Keith, N.Y. Roll, and I went and had a bit of coffee, and then we headed home. I got in 45 miles and felt pretty tired, but okay.

The gear I wore did okay, but I will have to maybe retire those 45NRTH Fasterkatt boots. My feet got frozen on the ride, and all else was okay. The Northwave boots I have are a LOT better in that way. I got some time on my last "Lube-Off" chain. Two more hours of riding to go......