Friday, September 01, 2006

9/01/2006 Bicycle Commuting

All I can say about the morning commute is it was cold, wet, and dark, and I loved every moment of it. Weeeell almost every moment. There was the moment that I almost ran off the road because I couldn't see, and the the other moment when I was almost run down by the driver that wasn't paying attention. But, you know, that's pretty typical. For the most part though it was a good ride despite the rain. I was definitely soaked and began to think that I might need to look for a different route if I'm going to commute in the early morning darkness. It's just too busy on Rt. 50 and the drivers aren't very appreciative on a good day.

1st half of the commute:
Odo: 1288.0 miles
Dist: 25.19 miles
Time: 1:30.20
Avg: 16.7 mph
Max: 28.1 mph


The ride this afternoon replaced rain with wind. I think I prefer the rain, maybe. It was still very cool, maybe mid-60's which is such a shock from the heat that we've had all August. It felt more like October weather. It got me thinking about the end of the riding year. I'm gonna get quite a few miles in for September, but will start easing up in October. I know I'm going to do an 8 week running program up to the Thanksgiving Day Race. That will probably cut in to riding time, and honestly I don't know how much commuting I'll be able to do after the end of September. The weather can be so unpredictable that it might be a lot and then again it could be very little. I am so not a fan of cold weather....so we'll see....

Odo: 1315.4 miles
Dist: 52.57 miles
Time: 3:11.17
Avg: 16.4 mph
Max: 34.2 mph


With the holiday coming up, and the sudden blast of cold on Friday has really gotten me thinking about the end of summer and the end of cycling season. I still have a lot of cycling to do in September and October, but it feels different than pounding out the miles in the summer heat. It's been an incredible summer where I've cycled, and ran for that matter, more than I ever have. It makes me kind of sad that it's coming to an end, but really makes me excited for the year to come. I'm hoping to use this year as a springboard for even bigger and better things next year. Now that I have a nice base level of fitness I want to do some cross training over the winter, so that when spring comes I'll be ready to be more competitive.

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