Current Seasonal Total: 1,565.8
On Sunday, September 12th, I re-rode the "fun portion" of my recent metric century. That is, I rode south to the Great Western Trail, followed it to its eastern end in Villa Park, then followed the Salt Creek Greenway Trail northward to Busse Woods. The ride was 44 miles by the time I returned home. While riding along the GWT in Villa Park (at Westmore, to be precise) I exceeded the 1500 mile mark for the 2010 season. Here is the route, provided on an interactive RideDog map:
On Tuesday, September 14th, I rode a short 14 mile ride that pushed the total seasonal mileage ridden on my Trek over the same 1500 mark. The differential of 34.6 miles came when my Trek was in the shop after my accident in May and I rode my Giant mountain bike in its place.
Finally, on Wednesday, September 15th, I rode 20.5 additional miles along familiar roads in Roselle, Schaumburg, and Hanover Park. By so doing, I exceeded the 5,000 mile mark for my Trek bicycle since purchasing it in 2007.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
On September 6th (Labor Day), after recovering remarkably well from my metric century ride the day before, I rode a short, late-afternoon ride of 12.8 miles. My primary motivation for this ride was to surpass my 2009 total mileage mark of 1,475.5 miles. My ride the day before had left me only one mile shy of this mark, so it didn't take long for me to reach the celebratory point of today's ride. The 1.1 mile mark was on Indigo Court, not far from home. I took a couple of photos (one shown here) and rejoiced, not just for this achievement, but for two others as well:
-- The day before, I had completed my first metric century ride in 28 years.
-- During that ride, I surpassed the 5,000 mile mark since starting my "One for All" initiative in the spring of 2007.
Onward and upward! My next ride will likely carry me over the 1,500 mile mark, and who knows where my 2010 seasonal total will end. At this point, all additional miles are bonus miles!
My Metric Century
On Sunday, September 5th, I completed the second metric century (100 kilometers) of my life. I completed my first such ride when I was 24 years old and living in Peoria, Illinois. Ironically, it wasn't until years later that I realized that that 62 mile ride had any significance, "metrically speaking." Having completed several half-century rides in recent years (including two so far in 2010), I thought it was time to give myself a challenge and repeat the feat 28 years later.
My route is shown in the attached, interactive Ride Dog link. [I've tried a number of online cycling mapping services, and Ride Dog is my favorite. I may comment more on this in a future post].
Briefly stated, I left from home, headed to Busse Woods, completed 3/4 of its loop, and then headed south along the Salt Creek Greenway Trail, west along the Great Western Trail, and north and east along the Illinois Prairie Path's Elgin Spur and lightly traveled roads in West Chicago, Carol Stream and Bartlett. I started my ride at 7:20 a.m. and reached 20K at 8:39, 30K at 9:11, 40K at 9:39, 50K at 10:13, 60K at 10:55, 70K at 11:42, 80K at 12:15 p.m., 90K at 12:55, 100K at 1:35 and returned home at 1:45.
Skies started off mostly sunny, but became cloudier as time passed. Temperatures were abnormally low. They started out at 50 and rose to about 70 by ride's end. Likewise, winds started off calm, but gradually become light from the south. I wore long sleeve t-shirt under Livestrong jersey and my long tights over cycling shorts. The ride was challenging, especially the back stretch along the Great Western Trail (my psychological low point) and the last few miles (my physical low point). My leg muscles began giving me troubles along the Hanover Park-Schaumburg path and thereafter. My quads and calf muscles were definitely not happy, and told me so by way of periodic cramping. Thankfully, I discovered that if I stopped riding and stood upright beside my bike, the pain would subside and I could resume riding. During the final few miles, I had to be very mindful of being in the proper gear and accelerating much slower than normal so as not to bring on another cramping episode. I was quite relieved to get back home at 1:45, and Tammy and I had a nice dinner at Olive Garden (i.e. their Unlimited Pasta Bowl) to celebrate my achievement and begin the recovery process. Mission accomplished!
Boulevard Lakefront Tour
On Sunday, August 29th, I participated in my first Boulevard Lakefront Tour, which is hosted by the Active Transportation Alliance, who also hosts Bike the Drive. Unlike Bike the Drive, the BLT starts on the campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago and diverges along different routes based on your chosen mileage option. I chose the 32-mile option.
I awoke shortly after 5 a.m., was at the Army Trail Road Starbucks when they opened at 6 a.m., and reached the designated parking deck on the University of Illinois-Chicago's campus at 6:45. I rode the two blocks to the start/finish in the Chicago Circle Memorial Grove at Morgan and Taylor Streets and waited in line to pick up my registration packet (@6:58). The start of the 32-mile ride was supposed to commence at 7:30, but late-arriving 62-milers pushed my start time to about 7:55.
The official ride description follows: The Boulevard Tour heads south through the Mexican-American community of Pilsen before crossing the Chicago River and turning east into Bridgeport. Riders continue east through Bridgeport and Bronzeville to Lake Michigan and the Chicago Park District's Lakefront Trail (@8:35) for a jaunt south to Hyde Park. Exiting the trail, participants will travel west along the Midway Plaisance and have the opportunity to pause at our water stop (@8:56-9:05; water, port-a-potties) about 11 miles into the ride. Heading north on beautiful Drexel Boulevard, riders pass through Kenwood and Bronzeville again on their way to Chinatown. Look for our rest stop (@9:50-10:14; snacks, water, port-a-potties) at the beautiful Ping Tom Memorial Park along the Chicago River about 18 miles into the ride. Heading west from the rest stop, riders weave through Pilsen to the heart of Chicago's Boulevard system. In the Lawndale neighborhood, participants will ride through Douglas Park before heading north along Independence Blvd. towards beautiful Garfield Park and our water stop (@11:08; water, port-a-potties), located about 26 miles into the ride. Continuing north, riders will follow the boulevards to the southern edge of Humboldt Park before returning south through the Ukrainian Village neighborhood and the Near West Side to the post-ride festival at the end of the 32-mile Boulevard Tour (@noon).
Temperatures started in the low 70s at the onset of the ride to the upper 80s by the end of the ride, with moderately high humidity. Scattered morning clouds over the lake delayed the sun's appearance, but skies were mostly sunny thereafter.
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