Maywood 2008

I did the 50 mile route again this year. They changed the route around quite a bit this year. I think it was a bit more challenging than before, but more scenic. I liked the change. I think I'm in about the same shape as I was last year, but maybe not quite. I'm about the same weight at 180, but 300 miles behind in cumulative miles compared with 2007. Some of the new hills this year really had me sucking wind. It seemed like I was out on my own a lot more this year rather than amongst other riders. There were exceptions and I chit-chatted with some riders along the way, but for the most part the route seemed rather empty. A couple of the hills I climbed entirely by myself, but a few of them I got to blow past other people which was gratifying. I think of biking as an individual sport that I only compete against myself in from one ride to the next, but it's sort of fun when I do rides like this to have others to compare myself with. I never did get a new bike this year and even on my mountain bike I was blowing by people on lighter bikes with thinner tires.

Next year I'm definitely getting that new bike I've wanted and I'm going to do the 65 mile route. When I'm out riding I have time to think about all sort of things. I've it in my head now that I'm going to attempt to reach 1500 miles next summer. I think that's pretty reasonable as long as I start out early enough and in well enough shape, which hasn't been the case these last 2 years. I Googled it and the earth is about 25,000 miles around at the equator. I've gone around 3200 miles in the last 4 summers that I've been keeping records, so I've got a very long way to go before I can say that over time I've ridden my bike a distance that is the equivalent to one trip around the earth. I could maybe say that I've ridden the equivalent of circling the globe, but nearer to the Arctic, but who can't say that? There's some mathematical way to figure out now far south of the pole a circle of 3200 miles would be, but I don't know what it is. It's probably not even as far south as Alaska or even Greenland at this point so it's probably better to say for now that I've gone far enough to cross the continental US.