+ 200

It's hard to imagine that we'll get many more days as nice as Saturday, November 14th. Although it was almost ten degrees cooler than last Sunday (low 60s instead of low 70s), the sunny skies and light winds made it a delightful ride, especially during its first hour. I was quite comfortable wearing a long sleeve t-shirt under my Livestrong jersey and long tights over my cycling shorts. Sensing that this ride could be the last comfortable ride of my 2009 season, I decided to go much farther than yesterday's 17.8 miles. My route took me south to Lies Road, then west to the Hawk Hollow Trail, then north and east through parts of Bartlett, Hanover Park, Schaumburg, and Roselle. In total, today's ride was 28.1 miles.

My seasonal total now stands at 1,435.5 miles -- more than 200 miles more than last year's total. My new monthly total of 130.6 is the most miles I've ever ridden in the month of November. Also, November 14th is the latest date that I've ridden in the past three years (and perhaps ever). Finally, today's ride was my 64th ride of 2009, eclipsing last year's number by one ride. With each of my rides averaging more miles this year, I wasn't sure I would break this record . . . but, lo and behold, I did.

Someone remarked that this year, we had our November weather in October and our October weather in November. That's certainly a good way to describe the topsy-turvy weather during the past six weeks. Metaphorically speaking, the dark storm clouds of winter are gathering in the west. About mid-way through today's ride, dark clouds started moving in from the west. Prophetic? Only time will tell.