May is Bike Month - April 13, 2011

I love bike to work month.  Even though they don’t always do smart things it is great to see lots of new riders out and about (and not just because I have more people to chase down).  Last year I think I was third in the solo division for my age group for number of miles ridden (600ish?) and that was balancing against carpooling with another person and craptastic weather for a number of days.  This year, even with a couple of vacation days, I hope to be in the top three in any age group with 100% participation and about 900 miles.

I think with rising gas prices, better facilities, a successful last year and more tolerance for bicycles that this may be a record breaking year for this event.  I know that I have already seen a number of teams tracking rides and recruiting new members plus the great prizes that are available for participation.  I would be on/lead a team, but that would require a minimum of three other people at work on this side of the mountains that are willing to commit and I don’t see that happening.  It will just be me and that’s ok!

Otherwise I have had some solid rides and solid miles.  I have been riding the Ibis for the most part and have good numbers for the beginning of the year.  I am pushing between 225 and 250 watts at less than 80% of my max heart rate, a pace I can keep pretty much all day long.  This puts me around 20mph on flat ground, so even with hills and stops my average speed has been around 17mph on longer rides.  That means that I will be on the bike for about 19 hours later this year on my long ride to Idaho.  If I leave at 3, I should be there around 10.

I’ve pretty much given up trying to keep the Ibis dry.  It has wind catchers (fenders) mounted and is now rain ridden.  Little things in the last bit: skipped out on an 80 mile ride to do a really hard 20 mile the next day.  I passed a fairly well known local team while into the wind and they couldn’t stay on my wheel.  Scared the daylights out of a couple of young adults coming home last night; I passed them on Bothell/Everett at a good speed (25mph) and wanted to make sure they heard me over the 5 lanes of cars.  Apparently they didn’t expect me to be there as one of them was still shrieking for probably 20 seconds after I passed them.

I think I will end up being very wet going home tonight L