181st ride - 12/31/2015

2015 - THAT'S A WRAP!

This morning I went out under unpleasant, but not intolerable conditions—29° that left the fingers and toes tingling, but thankfully no wind to speak of, and all under sullen, heavy gray skies—to do my last ride of the year. I allowed myself to settle for a single round trip to Marsh Park, and with the concluding loop in our complex when I got home, this gave me 10 miles in a sluggish 1 hour and 8 minutes.

This brought my 2015 totals to 2423.8 miles in an elapsed time of 269 hours and 51 minutes, for a pace of 6:40 per mile, or a speed of a little slower than 9 mph (8.98, to be precise). This is certainly not a good speed—when he first saw my trike, my friend Kristian raised his eyebrows and opined (mistakenly), "Looks pretty fast!" But given the weight of the cycle and the way it is geared, I don't seem to be able to do much better than 10 mph even when I'm really pushing myself. And I know that my average speed this year was dragged down by some pretty slow rides in the early weeks.

Since this year I didn't even get the trike until May 2, I'm thinking that next year, with a full year in which to ride, 3000 miles should be relatively easy. In fact, I'd like to reach that plateau by the end of September, in order to give myself at least a shot at 4000. But, we'll see.

180th ride - 12/27/2015

After taking the last two days off because of family Christmas celebrations for which I wanted to reserve a little energy, it felt good to get back to it today. I planned to ride two round trips to Marsh Park, but, as I told Michelle when I came in afterwards, I "wimped out and settled for one," riding late afternoon after the Lions' game. It was not overly cold, at 37°, but on the final stretch I was riding right into the teeth of a vigorous 15-20 mph north wind, and it was all I wanted to do just to finish the one round trip in that 29° wind chill. Anyway, I still have a chance (though not a strong one) of making 2500 miles for the year, if I can do three round trips (which I haven't done consecutively since October 31) on each of the next three days, and then a concluding 10-miler on Thursday, the year's last day.

179th ride - 12/24/2015

I had hoped to ride two more round trips to Marsh Park today, like the preceding two days. But I ended up wimping out and settling for one. This was in part due to this morning's mechanical troubles, which, though I eventually overcame them, drained my gumption. And in part it was due to the weather. Riding in 45° conditions was not overly cold, but a vigorous wind of 20 mph and gusting considerably higher brought the wind-chill down to 37° and set up quite a challenge for the rider.

At any rate, the 10 miles I did (including the final loop within our complex) brought me across a new mileage threshold, up to 2403.8. This leaves 2500 miles for the year still within the realm of possibility, though I'll have to work for it. It may seem unlikely, since out of the 358 days of the year so far, I've averaged a little over 6.7 miles a day, and I'll need to average 13.7 on the remaining 7 days of the year to make it. However, when you take into account that I didn't even get my trike until May 2, and thus did those 2403.8 miles in 247 days, my average daily ride so far has been 9.7 miles, it makes it seem more feasible.

178th ride - 12/23/2015

Like yesterday, I watched weather.com today to try to find the optimal riding window, and like yesterday I managed to avoid precipitation during my ride. But also like yesterday, it was extremely humid, and the trail quite wet from all the rain we had earlier in the day. I went at 1:15 in temperature of 58°, and again rode consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, with a concluding loop in our complex, to give me 18.0 miles for the second straight day, in nearly as slow a time, but about a minute and a half faster (finishing in just over 1 hour and 51 minutes). This gives me 2393.8 miles for the year, which keeps the goal of 2500 miles within the realm of possibility (if only the weather holds).

177th ride - 12/22/2015

This morning, I went out at 8:15, and managed consecutive round trips to Marsh Park (for the first time since December 3). With the additional concluding loop I added in our complex, this gave me 18.0 miles in 1 hour and 52 minutes—by no means a good time, but I was glad just to be able to do it.

This brought me up to 2375.8 miles for the year. So if I am going to make 2500 miles, as I'd like to, it means 124.2 more miles, or an average of just under 14 miles a day for the remaining 9 days of the year. (I will only ride 10 miles [I hope] on Christmas morning, so the other days will have to be slightly higher to compensate.) This is certainly doable if our mild weather, influenced by El Niño, holds—but probably not if more seasonal winter weather descends upon us.

Today's ride was in 48° weather—quite mild—but extremely moist. No active precipitation, but we had gotten some overnight, leaving the trail extremely wet, and the humidity was quite high, with the first half of the ride taking place in a substantial fog.

176th ride - 12/21/2015

Today was a challenging day on which to ride. I was watching weather.com in order to plan the optimal time window on a day that contained light rain most of the time. First, they made it sound like early afternoon would be the best time to go, so I was planning to do that. Then, it changed so that it sounded like late afternoon might be best, so I reconfigured my plans once again. But then, finally, the forecast changed yet again so that mid-afternoon sounded best, so I went out a little past 3:00 and rode in a light, cool mist ... no significant rain, but the day-long precipitation had the trail very wet, and, at 45°, I was elated to have my gloves. I had hoped to do two round trips, but by the time the first was drawing to a close, darkness was already beginning to close in, so I settled once more for a single round trip to Marsh Park, with a concluding loop in our complex, giving me 10 miles in a slow 1 hour and 7 minutes.

175th ride - 12/20/2015

Today on the was home from church, I told Michelle, "This is embarrassing, but I'm considering throwing in the towel and not riding today." It was cold, and I was tired. However, smiling, she encouraged me not to be embarrassed no matter what I decided; and in the end, I managed to find it within myself to go out and ride, though I limited myself to what is becoming my cold weather standard—a single round trip to Marsh Park, and that quite slowly. Fortunately, the riding conditions were favorable, as the trail was clear and dry. With the concluding loop in our complex, that gave me 10 miles in 1 hour and 7 minutes.

I was not overheated, however, despite wearing my winter coat over a fleece over a turtleneck, my heavy gloves, and the helmet jammed down over a knit cap. It was 40° when I went, with a brisk breeze making the wind-chill sub-30, and by the time I had finished it had gone up to a balmy 43°. I am hoping I can make 2500 miles for the year, which once seemed fairly certain, but now it is, of course, heavily weather-dependent, and even if the weather cooperates, I need to push myself out there and do it, and will have to do daily rides of more than 10 miles a few times; I am currently at 2347.8 miles since getting the trike on May 2.

174th ride- 12/18/2015

After allowing myself the day off yesterday, it felt good to get back to riding today, though I eased up and only did again a single round trip to Marsh Park, with the concluding loop in our complex to give me an even 10 miles in a slow 1 hour and 6 minutes. This was partly due to the cold (29°), and partly due to some minor mechanical mishaps I experienced early in the ride (balking at the weather, perhaps?), but they soon worked themselves out.

As I rode, the vocal musician in me couldn't help bubbling up, and I found a parody of "Over the River and Through the Woods" beginning to unfold in my head:

Over the trail and through the cold

Unto the park I ride.

The wheels and the like will carry the trike

As onward I will glide …

Over the trail and through the cold,

Oh, how the wind does blow.

It stings the toes and bites the nose

As over the trail I go

173rd ride - 12/16/2015

For a second straight day, I limited myself to a single Marsh Park round trip. I wanted to do more, but, feeling intestinal cramps I thought it unwise to push on. That round trip, plus the concluding loop in our complex, gave me 10 miles in 1 hour and 39 seconds.

It was again today gray and cool, with a bit of a breeze—but still, at 45°, it is unseasonably mild. That's due to end (briefly) in coming days, but with the temperature then rising again next week, it looks like a "White Christmas" will be only a dream this year.

172nd ride - 12/15/2015

After being unable to ride since last Wednesday due to my trip to Milwaukee over the weekend, I was glad to get "back in the saddle again" today. I considered doing multiple round trips to Marsh Park, but in the end concluded that it would be prudent to break back in easy, so I did a single round trip plus a loop in Heatherwood at the end, for 10 miles in an even hour (and 22 seconds). It was gray and gloomy, and cool enough so that a winter coat and gloves felt good, but still tolerable, at 42°.

171st ride - 12/9/2015

Keeping it short again today, because of my focus on another project that's consuming my time, I rode a single round trip to Marsh Park with a finishing loop inside our condo complex, Heatherwood, completing the 10 miles in 1 hour and 2 minutes. The day was cool but not uncomfortable, at 46°. Now I am looking forward to the afternoon. Much of the focus of Michelle's school year so far as been on the annual musical for which she is the music director—they began auditions for it (Seussical this year) on the first day of school. Performances are this weekend, but because I'm going away I'll miss it, and felt quite disconsolate about that, until she told that I was welcome to come to a performance of it that they're giving for the other students his afternoon.

A notable feature of today's ride is that it put me over 2300 miles for the year. I have a shot at reaching 2500 by year's end, but much will depend on the weather, of course.

170th ride - 12/8/2015

This afternoon, I really wimped out, and rode a single round trip to Marsh Park (9.5 miles) in a glacially slow 1 hour and 3 minutes. (I hadn't done it that slowly since late September.) Again today, like yesterday, I spent much of the day working the creative project that has engaged me this week, and I made good progress on that, so I guess that helps to alleviate my disappointment over the ride.

169th ride - 12/7/2015

Today I rode on an unseasonably mild and beautiful day. It was 47° and sunny, riding at 2 p.m. today, so there was no need to think of gloves, and though riding in a fleece without a coat over it was cool, it was by no means cold. Hard to believe it's early December!

I realized that if I rode one loop around our condo complex upon returning (.47 mile), I could justifiably round up the 9.5-mile round trip to Marsh Park to 10 miles (2 round trips will go from 17.5 to 18 miles, 3 round trips from 25.5 to 25 miles, etc.) So I did this today, completing a single round trip plus a loop in Heatherwood after I got back in 56 minutes. I would have liked to have ridden farther, but a project was calling out to me today for work—not composition this time, but work on a Christmas present I am making for a woman with whom I am deeply in love.

168th ride - 12/5/2015

After taking yesterday off because of a relatively long drive I had to make, it was good to get back to riding today. Once again, I composed in the morning, waiting for it to warm up—and once it had gotten about as good as it was going to get today (32°), I went out and rode under gray, gloomy skies. I went to the heart of downtown Saline, by a somewhat meandering route through residential neighborhoods (staying on walks the entire time), and finished up with 13.5 miles in 1 hour and 26 minutes. Now I am definitely glad to be back and warming up my feet.

167th ride - 12/3/2015

Today, on a cool but not cold afternoon ride (43° when I finished), accompanied by a light breeze and largely cloudy skies (with only very rare peeks of the sun), I rode consecutive round trips to Marsh Park for the first time since November 4 (!), finishing the 17.5 miles in a relatively slow 1 hour and 46 minutes. Told myself today that I had been making good progress recently on composition, but today it was really important that I do a longer ride than just one round trip.   

166th ride - 12/2/2015

I waited today, as is becoming my pattern on these colder days (39° now, at 2 p.m.), and rode at noon. I headed to Marsh Park, and then on the way home, feeling an uncommon (for me) desire for variety, I cut down to Saline via Wilson Rd. and looped around the high school, nearly replicating the route I rode on Saturday, but just a bit shorter, and returned home having finished 12.5 miles in 1 hour and 21 minutes.

Today's ride had two components of adventure. First, a little over 8 miles into the ride, the center catch on the frame released so that my rear end began to lower to the ground, and the trike began to accordion on me, with the front and rear of it folding up. Fortunately, this occurred when I was not riding fast at all, and I managed to bring it to a halt, release my feet from the clips, and slowly and laboriously struggle up an out of the seat to a standing position. This has happened before, but not since early summer, so I was concerned that it might be some new condition. But I was able carefully to lock it back into proper position, and then, holding my breath for a long time, was able to make it home successfully and without incident.

Second, as I was nearing home (less than half a mile), just before crossing Oak Valley, I had to ride through a thicket of downed branches from a tree the sidewalk passes under. And one of them (about 3/8 inch in diameter) got stuck in my rear gear, bringing me to a halt. Once more I released my feet, though, stood up, and soon had removed the branch from the gear, and was on my way.

165th ride - 12/1/2015

Today, weather.com was calling for light showers to persist up till about 2 p.m. So I waited until that hour and then went out and rode in unseasonably balmy conditions (48°), that were very moist (both the air and the ground).

I had wanted to do multiple round trips to Marsh Park (at least two, and hopefully three) But on the way back home during the first one, I could feel the call of the composition on which I'm presently working (my Requiem), as I've been making excellent progress on the (difficult) sixth movement (a setting of Revelation 21: 1, 3, 4, and 5—John's reflections on the new heaven and the new earth). And I recalled the encouragement of a friend (a former high school teacher) who told me a while ago, "You need to work on your talents. You're not likely to be best known for being a trike rider." So, with those factors in mind, I decided to settle for a single round trip today, completing the 9.5 miles in 51 minutes (one of my better times).