My early-April rides, part 2

My fourth and fifth rides of April were on the weekend of April 10-11. By completing these two rides, I set a record for the number of miles that I've ridden in the month of April (110.4), and I'm less than halfway through the month!

On Saturday, April 10th, with temperatures approaching 70, I rode to Busse Woods, completed two loops of their bicycle path, and rode home. I started my ride at 10 a.m. and returned home at 2:00 p.m. The skies were mostly sunny with temperatures that started in the upper 50s and ended near 70. Winds started out light but increased with time and became moderately strong from the southwest. The return trip was largely spent riding directly into these strong headwinds, which provided an unwelcome bout of resistance training. I rode most of the ride with Livestrong jersey over base layer and tights over shorts. However, as temperatures edged near 70, I removed these extra layers on the return trip. My total mileage that day was 37.2 miles, which is the earliest date that I've ever ridden such a long ride. I never rode that far in 2007, and it wasn't until the Memorial Day weekend that I did so in 2008 and 2009 (at Bike the Drive).

On the following day, I rode an additional 18.5 miles, bringing my April subtotal to 110.4 and my seasonal total to 179.8. This day's ride was a familar ride through Bartlett, Hanover Park, Schaumburg, and Roselle. I started my ride at 2:15 p.m. Skies were partly sunny to partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 60s with moderate easterly breezes. I wore base layers under my Livestrong jersey.

Largely because of the favorable weather that I've enjoyed so far in 2010, my current mileage figure is far ahead of this same date in previous years. In previous years, the 179.8 miles that I reached on April 11, 2010 wasn't achieved until June 9 (in 2007), May 8 (in 2008) and May 10 (in 2009). Hopefully, I will have good weather for the latter part of April, so that I can add more miles to this total.