I did my last July bike ride this morning. I took off on the F5 around 6:20 this morning, and rode my Ben Wheeler 80 mile route.The clouds from the last couple of days were gone, it was sunny and it got hot quickly this morning. I finished just after noon, and it was already 93 degrees. I had done two 30 mile rides during the week, so for the third week in a row, ended up with 140 miles total for the week.

I ended up with 620 miles for the month of July. That’s my best mileage month for the year, and finally puts me right on the pace I need to maintain to make my mileage goal of 5,500 miles for the year. My monthly mileage average needs to be 460 miles to reach that goal, but I likely won’t make my monthly goals in either November nor December, so from now to then, I need to stay on a pace of more miles per month than that average.

Today’s route.

I took off on the F5 just before 6:30 this morning and did my 80 mile loop out to Ben Wheeler. It was cloudy and breezy when I took off, but soon cleared off and was getting pretty hot when I finished the ride just after noon. I had done 30 mile rides Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning, so ended up with a total of 140 miles for the week.

Today was my first 80 mile ride of the year. The Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred is only six weeks away, so it’s time for some longer rides to get me ready. I was trying to do a brisk pace and wasn’t very happy with the 15.3 mph average I managed, but I battled a low rear tire for much of the ride, and I think that was the main reason I couldn’t muster a faster pace. I was pretty wiped out at the end. I’m still running tubeless tires, and they do successfully stop leaks, but not until the tire is down to about 40 psi, it seems. That’s enough to get me home, but much too low for a road tire, and makes for extra work to move the bike. Time to me to pull off that rear tire and patch it.

Today’s route.

I took off on the F5 this morning and rode to Martin Mills, adding some extra miles on State Highway 19, to end up with 70 miles for the day. I was on the bike shortly after 7:00 am, and finished well before noon, but it was still a hot day on the bike. I ended up with a 16 mph average on bike today, a very brisk pace for me. I did 30 mile rides on Wednesday and Thursday morning, so ended up with 130 miles for the week.

I ended up with a total of 520 miles on the bike in the month of June. That’s a good mileage total for me. I would like to get that much or more in July.

Today’s 70 mile route.