Making some headway - March 22, 2011

I preposted my  mileage for tomorrow – something I don’t do very often, but I was very excited to have over 150 miles in the last few days.  Obviously some days in the summer coming up, I may have that many on a single day, but considering the weather I will take that as a good number.

Over 500 miles this month!  I should end up between 650 and 700 by the end of the month which is slightly higher than I targeted.  Considering I was under target the last two months, I will take it!

Two of those rides were simply nicer weather allowing me to take the Ibis from home.  The other ride however was sort of a test run at a possible commute trip if/when our offices move later this summer.   I had a good ride and got a feel for the roads and route.  I was able to pick up my FIL for the second half and he pointed me in the direction of alternate routes and short cuts.

That is one nice thing with the route, there are lots of bail outs if I’m running behind, because I’m slow that day, blow a tire, etc.  I did learn a number of things, some which are good to know and others that will force changes:

Nike hill is steep no matter which side you approach it from, one side is just shorter.  At 50mph my bike hops due to a slightly out of round tire.  Do not descend Nike hill over 50mph on hopping wheels!  The hill behind Shoreline is not that big of a deal when you have ridden fixed gear all winter and suddenly have gears.  130^th North Seattle is in bad need of paving.  I am not sure how cars get up and down 125^th in LFP and 123^rd is the better option to safely descend.  The climb at the end of my ride behind 3^rd Place books is going to be a challenge if there are other riders out, I may hurt myself chasing them down.  205^th going home *shudder* I need to find a different route.  The Interurban will be a nice way to get home in the evening.

The route to work is about 38 miles (depending on any changes) with 3200’ of climbing and should take me about 2.5 hours depending on traffic.

I have also discovered that while I was able to moderate my pace during the winter, I will need to learn that all over again on the Ibis.  It just wants to go fast.

Aiming for 800-900 miles for April and over 2000 for the year.