Fall already

August has come and gone.  Its now back to school time and the start of the fall riding season.  At least that is the perception.  Unfortunately it seems mother nature hasn't gotten that memo and the last few days have been the warmest we've seen since the middle of July.  Our daytime highs have been in the 104 to 108 range and the humidity has been a bit above normal as well.  Certainly not the fall weather I have been looking forward to.

The warmer temps have limited the amount of time I have been spending on my bike.  I'm still riding every single day, but each day's ride has been shorter than they should be.  I'm only doing 1 to 3 miles.  Sure, for a lot of the rides, I ride hard for the short distances, but I know I need to really concentrate on going for longer rides.  I have impressed myself just a little bit with how fast I've gone on one of my new training loops.  I call it loops within loops on Map My Ride.

Basically I head out from the house, going around the outside of the neighboring subdivision, then I dive into it, loop around a block and head back out to make it back home.  One "lap" is about 2.28 miles.  I like the fact that I'm riding in the subdivision as there is less traffic that I have to worry about.  the roads are also in very nice shape.

Add to that I recently got my bike serviced.  i had thought I needed a new bottom bracket as there was binding and strange noises coming from it when I really applied pressure to the pedals, but a thorough cleaning and greasing and its good to go for a lot more miles before it needs to be replaced.  Now I can pedal and not worry that something will fail or that I'm doing damage to the bike.

My first good ride of the Loops Within Loops route had me complete the distance of 2.28 miles in 9:56 which netted me an average speed of 13.8 mph.  I rode it a few more times, not really pushing because of my bike issues.  Now that the bike is better, I pushed it over the weekend and netted a time of 9:10 and an average speed of 14.9 mph.  Quite an improvement, especially with the short distances I have been doing for the last few months.

I am hoping the weather does finally cool off and I can start getting in longer rides. My first real test of the fall is coming up on September 27 when I am doing the Pedal to the Medal for the Special Olympics.  We were supposed to be doing the fun ride next Saturday but there is no way to register and the organizers haven't responded to my latest email.  The site says to check back mid-August for the registration form and since it is already the first week of September, I don't see it happening.  I'm really bummed too as the grand kids were looking forward tot he organized ride.

So, let's get out there and start putting some miles on as the weather improves.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!!