Do I earn extra miles for sleep deprivation?

Today, I returned home from the self-imposed sleep deprivation exercise known as a star party. Amateur astronomers from Illinois and surrounding states converged this past Thursday through Sunday for the annual Prairie Skies star party held near Kankakee. Arriving on Friday afternoon, I stayed for two of its three scheduled nights. Fortuitously, all three nights offered good observing to the nearly 200 amateur astronomers who attended. On Friday night (actually Saturday morning), I stayed up until about 2:45 a.m. and slept about 4 1/2 hours. On Saturday night (i.e. Sunday morning), I "only" stayed up until 1:45 a.m. -- blame cloudier conditions, a colder breeze, and a sleepier mind -- and slept about 5 1/2 hours.

Surprisingly however, a little sleep deprivation didn't seem to bother my cycling early this afternoon. It felt good to be back on the bike after a five day absence, and I felt surprisingly strong. I rode through the heart of Bartlett, then on to Hanover Park and Schaumburg, totaling 19 miles, reducing my magic number to 44. My current seasonal total now matches the 2008 seasonal total that I attained on October 18, 2008. It now seems a virtual certainty that I will exceed the magic 1,226.2 figure that I set only last year.

My Magic Number is now 63

With the length of daylight dropping much faster than the leaves, I took a short ride this evening through the Hawk Hollow Bike Path and through parts of Bartlett. The weather was ideal, with temperatures in the low 70s, partly sunny skies, and light breezes. I reduced my magic number -- that is, the number of miles I need to exceed last year's total mileage -- to 63.

Three more days . . . three more rides

Three more days . . . three more rides, and when I add it all up, it comes to 67.2 additional miles, which reduces my Magic Number to only 74.5 miles.

On Friday, September 11th, I rode a tribute ride for the victims and families of the September 11th attacks, now eight years past. Even though media coverage of the anniversary was minimal, I reflected upon the many tragic events of that day as I rode. At times, 9/11 seems like a very long time ago; at other times, it seems like only yesterday. While I was pondering the events of that day, I rode my bike to the Roselle Metra station, then north and west along lightly traveled roads in Schaumburg. My ride totaled 17.6 miles.

On Saturday, September 12th, I rode down to the Great Western Trail, then followed the Elgin Spur of the Illinois Prairie Path to Bartlett Road. Along the way, I discovered the hard way that the Elgin Spur was closed at Dunham Road, forcing me to ride along Dunham Road and Route 25, neither of which are bicycle friendly. Fortunately, the detour was not too long. I next navigated south from Bartlett Road through a subdivision and along prairie paths leading to the Bartlett Nature Center on Stearns Road. I continued eastward on Stearns and worked my way down to the south portion of the Hawk Hollow Preserve before heading home. The ride totaled 32.9 miles.

Today -- my 50th ride of the year -- I rode an additional 16.7 miles through Bartlett, Hanover Park, Schaumburg and Roselle, bringing me to my current seasonal total of 1,151.7 miles. Last year, I didn't reach this figure until my ride of October 12th. I am well positioned to exceed last year's total sometime during the next 4 or 5 rides.

A glorious Labor Day!

Wow . . . what a glorious day. Actually, what a glorious five days we've had, and I am pleased to report that I cycled and raised money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation on each of these days. At the end of it, I've rode 107 miles and am now within 142 miles of my 2008 total.

But first . . . a brief on yesterday's ride. It was cloudy most of the day and even looked like it could sprinkle at times, but it didn't. I rode a little "chip shot" of a ride totalling only 12.4 miles, exploring the industrial park pond trails near home, then continuing on to familiar side streets in Roselle before returning home via the Lake Street bicycle bridge route.

Overnight, the clouds cleared away, yielding a spectacular Labor Day, with clear skies only occasionally punctuated by stray clouds and temperatures in the mid 70s. My ride resembled a large misshapen loop through Hanover Park, Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates. I rode along Martingale Road and side roads leading to it for the first time, which was a delightful experience with so little traffic to contend with. Actually, extremely light traffic was one of the headlines for this ride. I don't remember ever seeing so little traffic along these very familiar roads. It felt like I was riding along an enormous network of bike trails. No cars . . . no worries!

Here's an even bigger headline -- I am now 48.6 miles ahead of last year at this time and within 142 miles of my 2008 seasonal total! For the first time, I really feel confident that I can break my own record.

September (and the countdown) begins

Happy Labor Day weekend! As of Saturday night, September 5th, I've already ridden three times this month, with more likely to come.

On Thursday, September 3rd, I broke the 1,000 mile mark for 2009, my second consecutive year of achieving that goal. Ironically, last year I also exceeded 1,000 miles on my first ride in September. On this day, I left work early and started riding at 5 o'clock. The weather was great, with sunny skies, temperatures in the mid-70s, low humidity, and very light breezes. I retraced part of my earlier route in reverse, passing the spot in Hanover Park where I camped out awhile on my last ride to fix a flat tire. This time, my 22.8 mile route carried me through Streamwood and Schaumburg before turning southward toward home.

On Friday, September 4th, I left work an hour early (again) and started my ride at 4:40 p.m. This time, I rode to the Starbucks on Irving Park Road, had a refreshing cold beverage to celebrate the start of the holiday weekend, then continued northward through Schaumburg roads. On my way back, I passed through the Meacham Grove Preserve and along the Lake Street bicycle bridge. My ride today was only 17.1 miles long.

On Saturday, September 5th, I started my ride shortly after 4 p.m. The sky was much cloudier, due to a weather disturbance in southern Illinois, but the temperatures were still in the low 70s with light easterly winds. My ride carried me through Bartlett along the Wilcox Trail, the name of an otherwise unnamed one-mile paved trail that parallels Wilcox Drive. I then worked my way to the Bartlett Trail, another paved trail (in somewhat disrepair), and then along Struckman, Bartlett, and Schick Roads to the Hawk Hollow South Trail, which I traced to Lies Road. I continued south and westward along residential roads, passed Sonny Acres, then joined the Elgin Spur of the Illinois Prairie Path and the Great Western Trail before following Kuhn Road back home. My ride this day was 25.4 miles, bringing my seasonal total within 184 miles of my new goal -- exceeding my 2008 seaonal total.

All this year, I've consistently stated that I wasn't specifically trying to exceed my total mileage for 2008, which was 1,226.2 miles. However, now that I realize that I'm almost exactly on par with where I was last year at this time, it's hard not to re-think my position. So . . . I guess I'll go for it. Reviewing my rides during September and October of last year, I see nothing out of the ordinary that makes my job this year any more daunting. So why not break my own record? With all these factors floating in my mind, I can think of no good reason not to.

So my "One for All" webpage now carries a small number underneath the "Miles ridden in 2009" number that shows the remaining miles needed to match 2008's total. As the days (and rides) pass, this number will drop.

August Ends

With August now ended, it is time to make my monthly contribution to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. My August contribution was $60, calculated from my August mileage of 237.8.

August was a little unusual for me. Since starting my "One for All" initiative in the spring of 2007, this was the first year that I rode more miles in August (237.8) than I rode in July (216.6). August of 2009 was also my third best month of the past three, bested only by my mileage in July of 2008 and July of 2007.

In August of 2009, I rode 51.7 more miles than in August of last year. These extra miles allowed me to catch up with the pace that I was riding at this time in 2008, an achievement that I wasn't sure I'd be able to do. Although I've said many times this year that I wasn't specifically trying to beat my total mileage for last year, I'm beginning to wonder if that may actually be possible. As of September 1st, I need only 22.5 miles to reach 1,000 miles and 248.7 miles to exceed my mileage for 2008.

Stay tuned!