Three rides close out June

Current Seasonal Total: 797.2

During the final five days of June, I was able to squeeze in three rides, totaling 94.7 miles. My late afternoon ride on Saturday, June 26th was my shortest by far, totaling 15.5 miles and following a route that I used to take quite often -- the bicycle trail to the Meacham Grove and Spring Creek Reservoir Forest Preserves.

Two days later, I took a vacation day from work and rode down to the Great Western Trail (GWT) and Illinois Prairie Path (IPP). A less humid air mass had settled into the area, and the weather was near-perfect, with sunny skies, temperatures in the mid to upper 70s, and light to moderate northwesterly winds. Although I had ridden short segments of the GWT earlier this year, this was the first time this year that I completed the full triangle formed by the GWT, the Main Branch of the IPP, and the Elgin Branch of the IPP. The entire triangle is about 25 miles in length. Adding to this was the six mile direct route from home to the GWT and a extended return route of about 14 miles, which took me farther to the northwest through Bartlett. In the end, I had completed my longest ride so far this year -- 44.7 miles. Considering that over half of this distance was ridden on crushed stone, this ride was probably as taxing as a 50 mile ride on pavement.

Finally, on the last day of June, I took my final half-day off from Fiscal Year 2010 for what I thought would be a fairly short ride through Roselle and Schaumburg. Once again, the weather was excellent, but slightly on the cool side for late-June. My original plan was to ride about 14 miles, thereby pushing my June total over the 300 mile mark. However, as I pedaled along Weathersfield Way in Schaumburg, I conjured a plan to extend my ride by the additional 11 miles needed to surpass my all-time monthly mileage mark of 311.5 miles. I decided to go for it! I turned northward onto Walnut Lane and proceeded all the way up to Hassell Road in Hoffman Estates. I then turned westward and rode into the Poplar Creek Forest Preserve, completed 3/4 of its 9-mile loop, and returned home along the streets of western Schaumburg. In all, I rode 34.5 miles, exceeding my previous monthly record by over 9 miles and bringing my seasonal total to the verge of 800 miles.