I slept in a little this morning and took off at about 7:30 AM for my Saturday ride. It had rained yesterday and last night so the roads were wet but not bad. I had to dodge the occasional puddle but nothing major. I went out today just trying to ride a good distance while maintaining a good speed. I wanted to try and average around 15 mph. I also had a basic idea of where I wanted to ride too.

Throughout the ride I saw a lot of folks out for their Saturday morning exercise. Bikers, runners, walkers, dogs walking their owners and so on. At one point I saw a group of about 5 women who had been running. They were gathered around one of those orange igloo water coolers getting a drink on the side of the road. Several were in the same shirt. As I continued up the road I saw another group of about 6 women; again in the same shirt. It must have been some kind of organized runners club or something like that. I continued to see several other runners.

About two miles after my usual weekday turnaround point I hit a new section of road that is pristine for bike riding. The road has only been in existence for about a year and isn’t well-traveled. It has a bike lane and rides very well. I think I was passed by one car on this section of road.

After turning around and making it about halfway back home I hear, “on your left!” I look over my shoulder and it’s a guy passing me. I’m cruising along at about 17 mph and this guy is moving pretty good. He’s riding a Colnago with aerobars and he’s tucked in. He’s probably ten years older than I am but like I said, he’s bookin’ it. A few minutes later I get passed by another guy, about my age, riding a Trek. The two guys are together it seems and I’m able to stay with them pretty good. In fact, they were rabbits for me to chase. I didn’t want to catch all the way back up to them so they wouldn’t think I was some jerk. To stay with them I really had to push it and it felt great. The both stopped as one of the guys was apparently ready to turn into his neighborhood. I passed them then but the guy on the Colnago passed me again a few minutes later and turned down a side road about a quarter mile later.

This was another super ride. It was nice to see all the folks out getting exercise and even better to see a couple of fellow road riders. It was also great to be able to really push it.

Here are the numbers for today: 25.14 miles, 1 hr 36 min, 20.8 mph max, 15.6 mph average

I was up at 5:00 AM when the alarm went off and headed out to the garage to get ready to ride. Once the garage door was open the magnitude of the day hit me. It was overcast (I could see a little filtered moonlight), there was no wind, and the temperature was perfect. And it was quiet. I could hear the crickets and that was it. That was awesome. I just had this sense that I was going to turn in a special ride today.

Once I got started and warmed up I started to feel really good. Now that I’m riding the Crotch Rocket (Cannondale R-300), I felt like I was flying. To me it was flying but to a more experienced rider I’m sure it was a crawl. Regardless, I could tell I was making good time. My brother-in-law was not at our meeting spot so I kept on going.

As I neared my turnaround point I decided to go ahead and extend the mileage a little by going to the next median turnaround point. Once I turned around I kept mashing it all the way home.

Nothing too terribly exciting for this ride. I saw one runner and that was it. I figured there would be more for a Friday. There was little traffic as well which was nice.

I wasn’t kidding about a special day for a ride. This was the first day I could really open it up with the Cannondale and I did. Here are today’s numbers: 12.17 miles, 47:05, 18.7 mph max, and 15.5 mph avg. Those are all new records for me (except max) for my morning ride. The perfect weather conditions and road bike made all the difference. Being able to get the avg speed up let me ride about 7 tenths of a mile more but do it 2 minutes faster. Awesome!

Now, after getting back home, getting ready for work, and leaving home with my daughter (whom I take to school every morning), things became interesting. The exit from our neighborhood turns onto a service road that leads to a stop sign. There is a large, divided six-lane, road just off the service road. As I approach the stop sign I hear a very unnatural sound. The kind where the hairs on the back of your neck start to stand up. I’m driving so I look over my left shoulder and see a car spinning across three lanes and begin to enter the ditch that seperates the large six-lane road from the service road. He’s coming right at us. The car hits the ditch and throws up a ton of dirt and grass. Luckily (for me, not the driver of the spinning car), there’s a light pole about four feet into the ditch and the car hits it broadside right in the driver’s door. I immediately throw my car into park, put on the hazards, and run over to the wrecked car. The driver (the only passenger) is conscious and asks me to call 911. I call 911 and explain the situation. By the time I get off the phone someone else has stopped and the driver of the wrecked car is out walking around. He seems fine. I have no idea what caused the accident. His was the only car involved and my guess is that he was speeding and lost control of his car.

After leaving the scene I had a chance to think about the whole ordeal and realized how lucky my daughter and I were. There’s no doubt in my mind that if that light pole hadn’t been there that his car would have either slid straight into mine, or, hit the ditch, started to roll, and rolled into my car. Either scenario would have been ugly. Luckily, that light pole was there. Even luckier, he hit the lightpole square in the drivers door. I’m confident, that with his speed, if he had hit the pole on either the front or rear fender that he would have been thrown into a spin and hit me as well.

All I can say is that I’m thankful we made it through ok.

I just ran across a great post over on Cycle Pig about a family of four (Dad, Mom, and ten year old twin boys), and the family dog, that will be biking from Alaska to Argentina. When they have completed the trip, the boys will set the Guinness record for the youngest to bike the Pan-American Highway. They will begin their trip in June 2008. Here’s a link to Cycle Pig’s full article:

http://www.cyclepig.com/archive/family-on-bikes/

Last night I had to go to bed early. As I mentioned in my summary yesterday, I just felt depleted all day long. I didn’t feel 100% when I got up this morning, and even hit the snooze once, before rolling myself out of bed.

Once outside everything seemed ok. I gave the weather a check by walking out of the garage and I started to have second thoughts. The temp was great but there were some dark clouds being blown from West to East by a STIFF wind. On the surface, though, I couldn’t detect any wind at all. I said, “So what” and proceeded to grab my bike. After only getting two days of riding in last week I wasn’t about to forfeit another ride unless the weather was abysmal.

Once I started everything seemed to go pretty good. The air had a slight chill to it but it wasn’t bad. Traffic seemed a little light, which was nice, and I saw several runners this morning. It’s always good to see other folks out. I didn’t see any cyclists though. I must have been the only with the guts to get up on a Monday morning at 5:00 am to ride.

After feeling not-so-good yesterday I made a conscious decision to not push it too hard this morning. I cruised most of the circuit right around 13 mph. I encountered a little wind on the second half that was coming out of the South but it wasn’t bad. Certainly not bad enough to affect my riding.

Once I turned onto the last straightaway towards home I shifted to the big gear and pushed it the rest of the way in. I didn’t hammer it but I did work up a sweat.

I’m waiting on my youngest daughter to finish up ballet practice so I’m sitting at Panera Bread (sipping a wonderful Hazelnut coffee) typing this post so I don’t have my numbers with me. I’ll post them later when I get home.

The numbers for today’s ride are: 11.52 miles, 52:26, 16.1 mph max, and 13.1 mph avg

After having three straight days off the bike I was ready to ride again. I wasn’t sure what to expect because of my short layoff but I was optimistic.

5:00 AM came bright and early and I was ready. I had a new set of bibs and a shirt come in the mail yesterday so I was eager to try them out. I’d also installed a new front light to increase my visibility to oncoming traffic. The air was a little chilly this morning but not bad. Once I got to spinning I warmed up quickly.

My first long straightaway I was cooking. I was averaging around 14 mph which is about what I saw on my last couple of bicycle rides. Traffic seemed rather light this morning and I wasn’t complaining. As I neared my first turn I couldn’t believe how good I felt. The bibs felt good, the legs felt good, and I was movin’. The rest must have done me some good. During this stretch I’m pushing along anywhere from 14 to 16 mph. As I neared my turnaround point I slowed down a bit due to a little uphill work and because I wanted to conserve my energy for the second half.