I mentioned last week that I wanted to break my old record of 671 miles in a month. I want to completely break it and get 700 miles this month.
I only needed 53 miles to do it, and I had the day off work today, so I planned a 55-mile ride for today. I hadn’t ridden the recumbent in a while, so that was to be my bike of choice.
The recumbent had a flat tire that I didn’t get around to fixing last night. I pulled the wheel off this morning and found the valve stem was damaged. I grabbed the spare tube and found that it had gotten punctured in storage. I patched the spare and got the tire mounted and aired up. With the wheel back on the bike, I gave it a spin. The wheel was quite out of true.
I assumed I just needed to tighten a spoke or two. This was frustrating, but within my ability. After closer inspection I found a broken spoke. Okay, not riding the recumbent today.
I decided the single-speed would be a better choice anyway with the generator lighting. It’s dreary and rainy outside. It took very little to get the bike ready to go.
The hard part about dressing for the weather is that it’s in the 40s and raining. The easy part is that the temperature isn’t supposed to change much all day. A mixture of wool and synthetics was called for. I dressed a little light so that I wouldn’t overheat. I wore my rain cape to prevent my upper body from getting soaked.
I was out the door and heading west down Hill St. I made my way to the west end and turned north toward Shawnee Park. That’s when I noticed the wind was from the north. The rain cape became a sail.
After riding through Shawnee Park and Portland I was eastbound toward downtown. I felt better here until I got in between tall buildings that were funneling the wind in odd directions. Again, the rain cape was a liability, but with heavy rain, wind, and no jacket I wasn’t going to take it off.
I stopped at my workplace to say hello, use the restroom, and warm up. I then went across the street for coffee.
I continued east on River Rd. I knew at this point I wasn’t going to finish the planned ride. I was too cold.
I turned on Frankfort Ave and came across some flooding. I carefully rode through watching the depth. I didn’t want to get my feet wet or submerge my dynohub. I succeeded in not submerging the hub. My feet got soaked. Even with wool socks my feet got very cold.
I continued out Frankfort Ave to Bike Couriers Bike Shop. I stopped in and look around. They had a Radish in stock. Neat! I also noticed they had a decent selection of useful fenders and other utility cycling stuff in stock.
After that I headed nearly directly home. I was cold and wet. I also needed to use a restroom again.
My mileage for the month is 667.3. That’s less than four miles short of a new personal best and not far from 700. I still have two more days to hit the 700. I should be able to do that by taking the long way to work or back.