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.