brotherdan
Here's a map of my route (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=2128+tremmel+ave,+ann+arbor&daddr=42.247327,-83.765259+to:sturgis+michigan&mra=dpe&mrcr=0,1&mrsp=1&sz=11&dirflg=h&sll=42.237669,-83.733673&sspn=0.240966,0.462799&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=41.922716,-84.572754&spn=1.667554,3.735352&z=8)
Yesterday I did an out and back route, from my home in Ann Arbor, Michigan to downtown Sturgis, Michigan. Google maps claims the distance is 102 miles each way. I biked the same route in 2004 on a tour and my computer claimed the distance was 106 miles. So I either biked 204 miles or 212 miles yesterday.
I left my home at 8:15am, just after the sun began to peek above the treetops. The air temperature was around fifty degrees when I left in the morning. Headwinds were brutal. The weather report predicted west winds of 10-20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph all day long. I was biking west almost the whole way to Sturgis, and I was really feeling that wind. About the only thing that kept me going was the expectation of a killer tailwind all the way home.
I reached downtown Sturgis and turned around at about 4pm. I refilled my water bottles in a gas station and headed for home. I didn't have a computer, but I think I was averaging around 22 mph for the first forty miles I traveled in the eastward direction. After that the winds slackened off, and I just had a slight tailwind to carry me along. I got enough of a push though, that my legs never really felt all that fatigued, even when I finally rolled into my driveway at 10:30pm, after riding for the final three hours with my generator engaged for my lighting system.
Total time, 14 hours and fifteen minutes. Average speed, around 14.5 mph. I was a lot slower than I had hoped, but that speed would be good enough to qualify for Boston-Montreal-Boston in a sanctioned brevet. So I'm not really all that unhappy.
Yesterday I did an out and back route, from my home in Ann Arbor, Michigan to downtown Sturgis, Michigan. Google maps claims the distance is 102 miles each way. I biked the same route in 2004 on a tour and my computer claimed the distance was 106 miles. So I either biked 204 miles or 212 miles yesterday.
I left my home at 8:15am, just after the sun began to peek above the treetops. The air temperature was around fifty degrees when I left in the morning. Headwinds were brutal. The weather report predicted west winds of 10-20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph all day long. I was biking west almost the whole way to Sturgis, and I was really feeling that wind. About the only thing that kept me going was the expectation of a killer tailwind all the way home.
I reached downtown Sturgis and turned around at about 4pm. I refilled my water bottles in a gas station and headed for home. I didn't have a computer, but I think I was averaging around 22 mph for the first forty miles I traveled in the eastward direction. After that the winds slackened off, and I just had a slight tailwind to carry me along. I got enough of a push though, that my legs never really felt all that fatigued, even when I finally rolled into my driveway at 10:30pm, after riding for the final three hours with my generator engaged for my lighting system.
Total time, 14 hours and fifteen minutes. Average speed, around 14.5 mph. I was a lot slower than I had hoped, but that speed would be good enough to qualify for Boston-Montreal-Boston in a sanctioned brevet. So I'm not really all that unhappy.