Just Riding Around

It's good to get what was a crappy September out of the way. Go HERE to see the National Weather Service data for September and you'll note a couple of important items. First, you'll read that we had measurable rain on 21 of the 30 days. Then you'll note that the average wind speed for the month was 8.8 mph. That's average, which means if you take out the overnight hours when the winds are generally calm the real wind for biking hours was probably in the neighborhood of 16 mph. No wonder my legs are tired. And finally, you'll note that the average maximum temperature was 2.9 degrees below normal and 8.5 degrees below last year. If I was writing for the New York Times I would put this on the front page, "End of World Looms as Ice Age Ushers In. Bush to Blame". It would be a typical headline for the Times. Why ring a bell when a gong is handy?

You of course won't hear much about our cool weather. Doesn't quite fit in with the latest trendy fad known as global warming. Remember all of the dire predictions that this year would be the worst hurricane season ever thanks to global warming? The main stream press is pretty mum about it now that they've been proven wrong, aren't they?

But enough of my complaining. Let's talk about riding bikes!

Mile 7987

One of my private goals this year is to ride 10,000 miles. I'm sharing this with you now because I've hit a low spot. My legs are dead and I'm losing focus. With the dear readers of Elvis Kennedy.com as witnesses it will now be harder to quit. I've got 8,000 miles in so far, which is great. It's the final 2,000 with dead legs and cold, crappy weather on the doorstep that's got me concerned.

That's what good cycling buddies like Darin and The Boss are for. This morning my lovely bride says, "I think I hear voices in the driveway". My youngest responds, "I saw someone on a bike. I think it was The Boss". And so it was. I open the door and there's Barry squishing the sweat off of his head. "Why are you wasting a sunny day indoors? Get your bike and let's go, Darin's waiting for us at Starbucks".

It was gloriously warm and sunny as we met up with Darin and headed west with no particular destination in mind. Riding in bare arms and legs for the first time in weeks (and maybe the last time for months) we cruised the quiet country roads and discussed the important issues of our time; bike stuff and women. We rolled by the Holy Hill area and then stopped in at the fabled Dotties for donuts and chocolate milk. Hopped-up on sugar we flew through the lake country and soon found ourselves in Dousman, WI, home of the Bicycle Doctor bike shop. We stopped in to chat with The Doc, fill our bottles and drool over new bike stuff.

On the way home we made good use of group energy by riding in a paceline. Two minutes up front pulling followed by four minutes of rest while the other two guys worked. This is a marvelous system and when you've got compatible cycling buddies who you trust completely it can be poetry in motion. Silently and efficiently we sped along at an easy 23 mph. With beautiful fall colors, a sky so blue that it almost hurt to look at it and miles of open country roads we had big fun as we smoothly changed positions in an anti-clockwise motion without changing the pace. All within an inch or two of each other. As I said - poetry in motion.

Read about the beauty of pacelines HERE and HERE. And about the beauty of cycling in general HERE.

86 miles after The Boss showed up in my driveway I rolled home, chased by a thunderstorm. Here are two photos that I took shortly after getting the bike put away.