I rode to work all five days again this week. I rode in shorts all week, but temperatures were down in the 50’s on Monday and Tuesday morning, and I added long sleeves. By the end of the week it was plenty warm again, though. The wind really got up on Thursday and Friday. It was a headwind gusting to 25 mph for my ride home Friday.

I would have been slower Friday already. The 559 x 28 Conti Gatorskin tires I’ve been running had over 4,000 miles on them, and were in need of replacement, so I did that Thursday evening. I hadn’t been able to find a good deal on the Gatorskins this time, and couldn’t bring myself to pay over $40 a tire. I had also been thinking about going to a bit wider tire for the winter. So I bought a pair of 559 x 32 Metro K tires from Performance for $12.99 each, and put them on Thursday evening.

They’re cheap tires, but have Kevlar for flat protection, so I figured I’d give them a go. They’re lower pressure tires than the Gatorskins and wider, so I knew they’d be slower, but I didn’t realize how much slower. It’s a really noticeable difference. But, the way the fronts start blowing in this time of year, I’m slower anyway, so a slower tire won’t make as much difference. And a wider tire will be nice in the winter, so I’m going to give them a try for a little while at least. There may be some big changes in my commuter setup soon anyway. More on that later.

2011 days ridden to work: 172
2011 commuting mileage: 4202.8

Work commute route

I rode to work all five days again this week. In fact, I rode to work every single work day in September. I only did two non-commuting rides all month, but with all the rides to work, I still ended up with 713 miles for the month.

It was 100 degrees yesterday afternoon as I rode home. That was our 71st 100+ degree day of the year here. But a front came in last night, and this morning I was riding against a strong north wind on my way to work. It was a nice tailwind this afternoon for the ride home. The temperature isn’t supposed to get above the 80’s for the next few days.

The only pedaling I’ll be doing this weekend will be tomorrow in my kayak, so the 122.5 work commute miles will be my total for the week.

2011 days ridden to work: 167
2011 commuting mileage: 4080.3

Work commute route

I joined friends John and Susan Pogue on their tandem and rode my Peachy Keene 200K permanent this morning. We started the ride out of southwest Arlington at 7:30 this morning. It ended up being a lot tougher ride than we expected.

Peachy Keene goes south through Cleburne on to just west of Covington, then turns east, going through Covington, Itasca, then Maypearl. Then it’s north back to the start. We started out against a strong south wind. Wouldn’t you know it, just as we turned back north, a front blew in and the wind swung to the north. So we rode against a strong headwind most of the ride. But the front didn’t cool things off much. It was 93 degrees in the afternoon.

After we left the Maypearl control at mile 80, it was obvious that John and Susan were slowing down. By mile 90, they were moving so slow that I started having serious doubts about whether or not they were going to be able to finish. I made the decision to ride on ahead alone. I figured I could always drive back and get them if I needed to.

By mile 122, coming into the south edge of Kennedale on Kennedale New Hope Road, just 2 1/2 miles from the finish, I was pretty tired myself. It was at that point that my route became blocked by an unmoving train. I walked over and spoke to a man at the park there, and he said the train had already been there an hour. He told me he thought the train must have derailed, and wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

There was no easy detour. The last intersection before the tracks was a few miles back, and the only roads I could think of that would be sure to get me around the train would be more miles than I wanted to ride, and take me through a pretty bike unfriendly part of Arlington to get there.

I stepped up close to the train, and looked. It appeared that the end of the train was less than a half mile to the west. In a flash of brilliance (hey, it seemed that way at the time; I was tired), I decided to walk around the end of the train.

By the time I had walked close to a half mile, I realized that it had been an optical illusion. It was not the end of the train I had seen. It only appeared that way because the tracks started curving at that point. The train stretched on for as far as the eye could see. I looked around, saw no one in sight, and quickly stuffed my bike under the train, crawled under and past it myself, then snatched up my bike. I didn’t have to walk nearly as far on that side of the tracks. There was a side street that came near the tracks, so I hopped on my bike when I reached it.

At one point while I was walking those large train track rocks, I glanced at my GPS and noticed that my heart rate was 159. My max heart ride from the ride was just 160! I arrived at the finish control, which is an Easy Mart store, went in, bought vitamin water, and got my card signed. When I came back out and attempted to put the vitamin water in my seat bag, I realized there was no seat bag on my bike. I was never out of sight of the bike while in the store, so it didn’t take me too long to figure out that I must have lost it at the tracks.

I walked around to the back of the store where my truck was parked and put my bike on the rack. I was thinking that I needed to jump in the truck and hurry back to the train. Bad idea; my keys were in the seat bag. So, I did the only thing I could think to do. I hopped back on the bike and rode back to the train. The train was still there. I walked down the tracks and sure enough, there in the middle of the tracks, at the point where I crawled under the train, was my seat bag.

I had just reached my bike again when my phone rang. It was Susan. They had decided to DNF shortly after I left them, called her brother, and he had picked them up. They came looking for me, but must have arrived at the train while I was traveling around it, so they never found me, and here she was now calling me to let me know they were ok, and make sure I was.

I finished the ride (the first time) in 10 hours even. I ended up with 124.5 miles for the ride proper, and another 5 miles revisiting the train. I also walked probably close to a mile on train track rock. I’m a tired camper.

John and Susan with their new tandem.

Coming up to Orphan Hill at mile 70.

Peachy Keene 200K route
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I rode to work all five days again this week. We’re finally getting some cooler mornings. It was in the mid-50’s this morning. Afternoons are still 90 degrees or close to it, though.

We had just enough rain yesterday afternoon to wet the roads, and I went down after lightly hitting the brakes on Westcreek Drive on the way home, a reminder of how slick the roads can be with just a little water on them, especially after not getting any rain for a while. There was no damage to my bike, and only a scraped left knee for me. There were lots of drivers around as witnesses, though. That’s always embarrassing.

2011 days ridden to work: 162
2011 commuting mileage: 3957.8

Work commute route

I rode to work all five days this week. Monday and Tuesday afternoons were both over 100 degrees. Tuesday afternoon was 107 degrees. That’s the hottest that’s ever been recorded here this late in the year. Tuesday was the 70th day of 100+ degree temperatures here, also a record.

Cloud cover on Wednesday kept the temperature under 100, and a front on Thursday cooled it into the 80’s. Hopefully, we’ve seen the last of 100 degrees here this year.

2011 days ridden to work: 157
2011 commuting mileage: 3835.2

Work commute route

I rode the 60 mile route at the Cowtown Classic yesterday. This ride starts at the Crowley North High School, so it’s only about 4.5 miles from home.

I spoke to Joe, Diane, Eddie, and Mark L before the ride, and saw Mark L again afterwards (great to see y’all!). I like the route this ride uses, but it’s not a great route for speed. It’s mostly tiny Johnson County roads, with lots of turns, gravel in many of the turns, and some rough stretches of road. I didn’t hear how the turnout was, but there looked to be several hundred riders.

I rode to the start of the ride, then home again, so ended up with 69.7 miles. On the ride itself, I had a total of 60.3 miles. I only made one 5 minute stop and finished the ride in 3:21. My on the bike average was 18.4 mph. That’s probably about as fast as I can do this route, almost 1 mph faster than I was on it last year.

Here’s Mark Leuck’s video from the ride. I’m behind right behind him in the video for the first couple of minutes before he pedals away from me.

Cowtown Classic 60 mile route.

This morning, I pedaled about 4 miles at Lake Benbrook.

I was off Monday for the holiday, but rode to work the next 4 days. The last two afternoon rides home, it has been 87 degrees, and after all the 100+ degree temperatures this year, that doesn’t feel hot at all. As this article points out, this year, Texas had the hottest summer ever endured anywhere in the United States, at least since they’ve been recording such things.

In spite of the record heat and the fact that I’m a 60 year old lung cancer survivor, I rode 827 miles in June, 840 miles in July, and 790 miles in August, so I think I did well this summer.

2011 days ridden to work: 152
2011 commuting mileage: 3712.5

Work commute route

Yesterday, I joined friend DJ for my my 5th consecutive trip to the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred bike ride in Wichita Falls. We took DJ’s Scion again this year. It gets great mileage and works very well for hauling our bikes and all our junk.

I had a blast yesterday and today like I always do at HHH. The stay at the Lamar Church worked great as usual. With this year’s heat, they started the 100 mile riders an hour earlier. We got up an hour earlier than usual, and rode to the start 45 minutes earlier than usual. It seemed strange starting in the dark, but there seemed to be fewer slower riders on the course out in front of everyone, so maybe that early start isn’t a bad idea. I did indeed reach Hell’s Gate before 9:00 am. The early start made that possible for the first time. But it wasn’t nearly the only first for me.

I had made the decision to start with an easier pace than ever before. With the ride starting in the dark, plus the fact that I’ve blown up on every high effort longer ride I’ve done this year, I decided a different tack was called for. It had a more dramatic effect on my finishing time than I expected. I made a mental note of my overall average speed every 10 miles, and here’s what it looked like:

I blew up at mile 90, and the turn at that point puts you on a mostly uphill stretch riding directly against today’s southwest wind, and my average started dropping quickly. As I made the turn at the beer stop at mile 98, DJ was waiting, and waved and yelled at me, but by then I knew I had a chance at an under 5 hour ride, so I never slowed down. DJ jumped on his bike, easily caught me, and rode the rest of the way in with me. He had forgotten his cycling shoes, so rode a shorter route at an easier than usual pace for him, and then rode his way over to the beer stop.

According to my Garmin 305, I finished today’s Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred in 4:57, a personal best and the first time I’ve ever done a century in under 5 hours. I thought that time was 5:02, looking at the 11:12 time on my watch when I finished, but we must have got started later than the scheduled 6:10 start, because my Garmin tells a different story: 101.8 miles, 20.5 mph on the bike average, overall time of 4:57. I made one 4 minute stop at mile 76.

Those stats are all unofficial. HHH gave timing chips to everyone this year, but I couldn’t find any posted results yet. Did I mention that when you finish HHH at 11:12, it’s really not all that hot, even during this brutal summer? It was great seeing everyone at HHH. Thanks for letting me ride along with you, DJ.

I always love this trip!

8/31/11 UPDATE: Oops, I spoke too soon. I forgot that the Edge 305 pauses everything when you stop, even overall time. So what the Garmin calls overall time is actually on the bike time. If you add my 4 minute stop to the 4:57 time the Garmin recorded, you get my real overall time, per timing chip, 5:01.

HHH is 101.8 miles. So I can still say I’ve done 100 miles in less than 5 hours, but I can’t say I’ve completed HHH in less than 5 hours. I counted 5,342 timer results. There were over 12,000 riders at HHH, so lots of folks either didn’t put on the chip or didn’t start at the start. Here are some photos of the ride from Paul Brown.

Paul and I Friday evening.

The gym where we camped out.

Recumbents ready to start in the dark.

Sunrise at mile 20.

Paul at Hell’s Gate.

Cool off at the finish.

HHH medal

HHH 100 mile route

I joined Mark and Diane, who were on their tandem, and rode my Peachy Keene 200K permanent this morning. We started out at 5:00 am so we wouldn’t be riding too many hours after it reached 100 degrees this afternoon.

My legs really had nothing early, a result of riding to work all five days this week, I guess. But I got stronger as the day went, and didn’t need my granny chainring for Orphan Hill at mile 70. That only happens on days when I’m feeling pretty good.

We ended up finishing just before 2:30 this afternoon. I ended up with 124.5 miles. Total time was 9:28. It had gotten seriously hot by the time we finished, but the early start kept us from getting cooked too many hours, and Mark and Diane were great company as always, so it was a good ride.

This will be my last long ride before Hotter ‘N Hell next Saturday.

Peachy Keene 200K route

I rode to work all five days this week. It was well over 100 degrees every afternoon (107 today). I’m definitely ready for a break in the heat.

I enjoy tracking my mileage, but managed to forget a couple of milestones that I reached this summer. I mentioned in my March Guest Blog at the Lungevity Foundation site that, sometime this summer, I expected to reach 24,900 miles (the circumference of the earth) ridden since my lung cancer diagnosis. I then forgot to watch for it, but I now have 26,570 miles since the beginning of 2008, so I have indeed ridden around the world since being diagnosed with lung cancer.

I also didn’t notice it when I passed the 10,000 mile mark on my Stratus XP. I now have 12,057 miles on it. That’s still less than I have on the Corsa, but it’s gaining fast, with all my commuting miles being on it.

2011 days ridden to work: 140
2011 commuting mileage: 3418.3

Work commute route