Today I set out to break my personal best daily mileage, previously 115 miles. Of course, my previous record was 100 miles on my road bike, followed by 15 miles on my mountain bike towing both my kids.
I biked to Concord before joining the Charles River Wheelmen in their Climb to the Clouds century ride up Mt. Wachusett. I met my buddy Mike from work there, and together we braved muggy temperatures in the mid 80s, overcast skies mixed with occasional sun, downpours and thunderstorms. We went to the top of the mountain, the view was no where as good as the picture here, which is from last October. I was also supposed to meet my friend Sanjay along the route, but he called in sick with a fever. I guess I’ll have to do this again next weekend with him. In any case, after doing the entire century route, I still had to get home, so I ended up logging a grand total of 135 miles. My heart rate monitor says I burned about 8,000 calories, so we’re going out for some pasta tonight.
I didn’t ride at all Saturday, but my commute home from work on Friday resulted in two simultaneous pinch flats. I was riding with Tamara from my office, and we were almost to the parking lot where we meet (where her car was conveniently parked). I thought I’d take a short cut and avoid a traffic light that never changes for bikes. I went off the road into some grass and, blam blam! Two flats. Tamara gave me a ride home, and after inspecting and changing the two tubes (both with snake bites). I drove back and figured out what happened. I followed my tracks in the grass, which went right over a sheared off 2″ square sign post. It was sheared off at ground level, hidden in the grass. I had perfect aim because I hit it with both wheels at about 15mph.
Also in very exciting news, my buddy Ken and his wife Lisa had their first baby on Thursday. He arrived at over 9 pounds, so I’m sure he’ll be ready to ride in a bike trailer early. Congrats Lisa and Ken!