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| The Road Bike's About Done Commuting, at Least for 2010 |
I began keeping track of my commute mileage in May 2008. Tomorrow, that log will tick past 10,000 miles when I'm about half way to work. I have no idea how many recreational miles I rode during that time. Tomorrow will also be the last day I ride the road bike to Fort Worth Alliance Airport, as the days grow shorter, and the weather less reliable. I’ll take the lights and commute items off it, and it’ll enjoy a day as a pure recreation road runner at the Hotter ‘N Hell 100 on Saturday.
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| 2009 HH100 Finish Pin |
I don’t know if we’ll bother to do the whole hundred – the forecast high is only 95F, which isn’t really any hotter than last year, and which is a full ten degrees cooler than the typical homeward August commute. I’ll probably make a final determination at Hell’s Gate, but riding down the Sheppard AFB flight line looks like a real appealing alternate at the moment, unless it turns out to get much hotter than the forecast. I’ve already ridden one “Milder ‘N Hell 100” and doing a second one holds no special appeal. I’ll wait and do the 100 again when the weather makes it a challenge.
Next week, it’ll be back to Buddy for the commute, at least for a few more weeks. You can see much through the various posts in this blog, but the big influences that have changed me since 2008 are the various blogs you can see off to the right in the sidebar, and the qualitative changes that the commute to Fort Worth Alliance Airport drove. In cycling terms, reading those blogs have polished off many rough edges and fuzzy cycling thinking, and I came of age through that commute, though I cycled for nearly 50 years before that commute began.
The commute mileage has been hard, but rewarding. I’m glad I did it. It’ll be interesting to see what comes next. Maybe I’ll even try riding around White Rock Lake!
7 comments:
10K ain't no easy feat! bravo!!
peace :)
Although I don't commute anywhere near as far as you do, we have in common the fact that the last few years of riding and reading have "polished us up". Buddy is the tricross, right?
Reading your blog for the past year+ has made me really, really wish that I had a long, regular commuting route. I try to do daily 30+ mile rides, but it is not the same feeling at all.
The year we did HHH100 (2004 or 2005?), the temperatures never got out of the low 80's with cloudy skies all day long.
On one hand, we were disappointed we didn't get to experience it in "it's full glory", but on the other hand, we were glad we didn't experience it in "it's full glory"!
For us, it's a been there and done that kind of thing. We've experienced the spectacle and don't see a reason to drive to Texas to do it again. There's lots of places we've not been yet!
Good luck with the ride!
I'd like to see your photos of the ride through Sheppard. If I had thought about it sooner I would have offered you my Flip video camera. Enjoy your ride.
Congrats on hitting 10,000. That's quite an achievement.
you are such a class act of cycling. I cant wait for the day that i can say that i have cycled for many decades. you are inspirational steve +im happy we are bloggie friends :D
xxo.m
You're a weirdo. I would be much MORE likely to ride the whole way, if it's cooler. Are you a masochist, or what?
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