I only rode to work three days this week. By the Tuesday afternoon ride home, a light rain was already falling, and I settled for driving to work the next two days as the heavy rain caused flooding. I rode to work today and fought a stout south wind on the ride home.

Last Sunday, Rose and I climbed onto the tandem for the first time in over two years, and rode just over 19 miles. I’m hoping to do a lot more miles on the tandem once my work commuting days are done.

2012 days ridden to work: 13
2012 commuting mileage: 323.8

Work commute route

I rode the Venus to Elm Mott 200k today. It’s an out and back route that’s not too terrible on hills. I figure since I hadn’t ridden a 200k since last fall, it would be a easy route to try.

But is wasn’t that easy. The wind was brutal. It was a good turnout. I rode with the last group for a while, but they kept stopping too much to suit me, so I rode on ahead, and caught Mark M and Michelle at a control, and took off with them. I stayed with them quite a while, but when they decided to ratchet up the pace, they were long gone, and I finished alone. I ended up with 127.8 miles and finished in 9:30.

Venus to Elm Mott 200k route.
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Last week, I was off for the holiday on Monday, but rode to work the next four days. The weather was dry all week, but with a wide range of temperatures. It was 26 degrees as I rode to work Tuesday morning and 73 degrees as I rode home Friday afternoon.

This week, I conceded Monday to the wind, rain, and cold, but rode to work the rest of the week. Yesterday morning, it was 32 degrees with a 30 mph north wind. My ride in is 12 miles straight north, so it was the toughest commute I’ve done in a while. It took me over an hour to get to work. It was barely over 40 degrees in the afternoon, and the wind was gusting close to 40 mph, but at least it was a tailwind for the ride home.

2012 days ridden to work: 8
2012 commuting mileage: 196

Work commute route