Tuesday night, I did a hard training ride. It wasn’t a particularly difficult route, but I rode harder than usual. It felt good, I really pushed it more than usual, but I wouldn’t want to ride that way all the time.

I got contact lenses. They are so much better for riding. I have peripheral vision again! And, now I can wear any sunglasses I want. I picked up a pair with interchangeable lenses. I’m amazed at how much better they are than my old glasses + clip-on sunglasses. It used to be any time I hit 30 mph, my eyes would well up with tears and it’d be hard to see. I’ve passed 47 mph on downhills a couple of times in my sunglasses, with no tears in my eyes whatsoever.

I’ve also found that I really like the red lenses. They’re dark enough to help in bright light, but I can still see in the shadows. And, they just make things look nice.

The weather has been gorgeous the past couple of days. Naturally, it’s supposed to heat up again for the holiday weekend. I’m planning on doing a club ride for sure, and some other riding, but I’m not sure yet what else I will do. We’ll also have houseguests, which will be a lot of fun.

Here’s how the miles broke down:

• Commute: 188.46
• Mixed terrain: 59.25
• Mountain: 15.80
• Road: 375.11

I also rode my first century ride and got a new road bike. Plus, I got to ride with a few other like-minded riders. Wow, what a month!

I’m hoping that June will be as good, or better. There’s another organized century ride on the radar … this one is a lot hillier, and it will probably be hot, so it will be significantly harder. There are shorter routes available if it gets too brutal, but I’m hoping to go the whole 100 miles.

My bicycles have been shifting roles. When my commute was shorter, I used to commute on The Beast, but since we moved and my commute is longer, the Trucker, which was my road/mixed-terrain bike, is becoming more of a workhorse, seeing commuting duties as well. Now that I have a road bike, the Trucker won’t see as much pure road duty, but will still be used for mixed terrain, and of course camping trips, whenever I finally get around to doing another one.

My mountain bike hasn’t seen a lot of action recently, but I intend to use it to heavily explore more trails and gravel roads in Hoosier National Forest.

The new road bike continues to impress me. It’s just a dream to ride. I realized after my ride on Sunday that I hadn’t struggled as much with the hills on Popcorn Road. I think that this lighter, more efficient bicycle is making climbing easier, which I hope will help extend my range as well.

I especially like this particular number: as of this evening, I have ridden 10,011.07 miles since I started keeping track.

That number is still baffling me. 10,000 miles on a bike? Wow!

Let’s see how that breaks down:

• Road: 6971.86 or 69.7%
• Mixed-terrain: 1814.40 or 18.1%
• Commuting: 1977.97 or 19.8%
• Mountain Biking: 977.96 or 9.8%

Yes, that adds up to more than 100%. “Mixed-terrain” miles are often also tagged as road or mountain bike miles, depending on the kind of riding. The 10,011.07 total is still correct.

On a side note, we are having a very beautiful spring. I love spring in Bloomington … the town earns its name. Here are a few recent shots. First up, the weeping cherry in our front yard is a gorgeous!

And here are some photos from some commutes and a road ride.

I have some other activities to blog about, but I’ve been having a hard time finding time to write about them. Soon …

Total miles: 2628.91
Road biking: 2016.74
Mountain biking: 301.32
Mixed terrain: 1447.62
S24O: 99.59

In 2008, I rode over 3000 miles; in 2007, it was over 3500 miles. So these stats aren’t that great overall, but they do show a lot of variety. In particular, I did a lot more mixed-terrain riding in 2009 than ever before, and I absolutely loved it.  I also had variety in that I got to ride in various places in Pennsylvania and Indiana. And there was a lot of beautiful scenery in both states. It appears I  also took over 20,000 photographs in the process (OK, a lot of those are duplicates).

I also got a new commuter (for $40!), and a new mountain bike toward the end of the year, though I did not get to try it on any serious trails until January 2010.

I usually do a “top 10 rides of the year” — I’ll try to write that post soon.

Here they are, in chronological order. This is highly subjective — I have no specific criteria, so each ride might be memorable in a different way.

1. An Unintentionally Epic Ride
   
   This ride was in Fort Wayne. I intended to ride about 40 miles, and ended up going close to 70. I rode from Fort Wayne up to Chain O’ Lakes State Park, expl0red the park, and rode back. One of my first mixed terrain rides, and it was on the road bike. A little sketchy and a lot of fun.
2. First Bicycle Camping Trip (S24O)
   
   My first bicycle camping trip. And sadly, the only one I did this year. It was great, and I hope to do more trips like this when time permits.
3. Mixed Media Ride
   
   This ended up being a defining ride for me. Probably my first intentional/serious mixed-terrain ride, I rode from Bloomington out to Yellowwood State Forest, and through the State Forest lands on gravel roads. I intended to ride back, but a sidewall blowout stopped me. Sarah saved the day. This experience was a revelation: riding on platform pedals, wearing sandals, stopping to wade in the creek to cool off, taking in the gravel roads — all these things made me rethink how I approach my rides.
4. Bloomington to Jackson-Washington State Forest
   
   This was an experiment. Sarah and I were going camping at Jackson-Washington State Forest. I rode there, she drove, and we met once we arrived. It was a fun trip and a great ride.
5. Brown County Breakdown
   
   This has been my favorite ride of the year the past two years, and the same was true this year. It covers a lot of fantastic trails, and it’s a great way to spend all day out mountain biking.
6. Lehigh Gorge
   
   This was the most fantastically gorgeous ride of the whole year. I loved the rushing Lehigh River, the brilliant fall foliage, the mountains, and 40 miles of rather easy yet very enjoyable riding.
7. Bunker Hill, Mt. Zion, Lake Louise, etc.
   
   My first longish road ride in Pennsylvania, this was a real eye-opener. I saw a lot of beautiful scenery, but this ride really reinforced for me how much more difficult the riding is in this area.
8. Harvey’s Lake
   
   Even though I had to ride a shorter distance than I had hoped, this was a breathtakingly beautiful ride. Brutal in terms of climbing, though.
9. Black Friday Mountain Biking – Inadvertently, Snow Biking
   
   My friend Dave and I typically do a ride on Black Friday, but since I moved, I had to find another option. I rode with the Hubbard Bike Club near Scranton. I wasn’t expecting snow at all, as there was none at home, but I arrived to find several inches of snow on the ground. This was a very difficult ride, but also very scenic. It was a great group of riders, to boot.
10. Larksville/Plymouth Mountain
    
    This ride had me inadvertently riding some gravel roads that I was very happy to have found. It was warm-ish in the valley, but on top of Plymouth Mountain the trees were covered in a good layer of ice that crackled as limbs swayed in the wind and refracted the sunlight like thousands of frozen prisms.

Monday night, I rode on Shilo Road after work. It felt great to get in about a 25-mile ride after work, I haven’t done enough rides like that lately. Shilo Road is always a fun challenge, with lots of twists and turns and a very rough road surface where you must choose your line very carefully. I stopped by Bean Blossom Creek to rest for a moment.

Bean Blossom Creek

An interesting gate alongside Shilo Road that I hadn’t even noticed before

After Shilo I was on Anderson Lane for a while, where I saw a wild turkey and a couple of deer. As I was heading back on Old 37, on the big climb near the fire station, another rider passed me. He was going a lot faster than I was, and I was impressed with his climbing abilities. I greeted him as he passed, but he didn’t say anything.

Old 37 climb

Wide open space

To keep things interesting, I decided to go home a bit of a different way than usual, going by Lake Griffy. I often avoid this because of the big climb on the other side of the lake. The lake looked gorgeous as the sun was getting low in the sky and reflecting off the lake. Lots of people were fishing, both in boats and on the shore.

Lake Griffy

The climb wasn’t as bad as I remembered it being, and also served as a reminder of how far I’ve come in the last year or so. It was still tiring, but it was a lot easier than it’s ever been before. I passed another rider on the way up and said hi, but he didn’t return my greeting.

Reaching the top of the hill

Thousands of dandelions by the Bypass

Overpass

Part of campus


Plaque

The rest of the trip home followed my commute route and was easy and relaxing. A great post-work ride.

The flipside of this has been increased productivity in other areas. I had more time for some geeky projects (and even made a little extra money), photography, hiking, and music. I am looking forward to getting more time in the saddle again, but I may need to find a better balance between riding and … well, everything else.

All told, I rode 135.10 miles in April. That’s least I’ve ridden in a full month since I started tracking my miles. That’s breaks down to 47.30 road miles,  54.30 commuting miles, and 33.00 mountain biking miles. Oh, and one half-mile errand.

Commutes (14): 82 miles
Errands (4): 15.9 miles
Road rides (11): 255.67 miles
Mountain biking: none, trails too muddy

Total for March, 2008: 341.17 miles
Year to date: 713.43 miles

For the sake of comparison, I rode 258.66 miles last March.

I’ve ridden on beautiful days: I watched flowers bloom in the spring and enjoyed the rustling of leaves beneath my tires in the fall. I’ve ridden on hot summer days and arrived at work sweaty, but still smiling. I’ve ridden in 0-degree temperatures, days so cold condensation froze on my bicycle. I’ve ridden in rain, fog, mist, snow, sleet, freezing rain, and ice. I’ve begun to feel these are my streets.

I’ve also learned a lot, and made a lot of changes to my bicycles and my techniques in that time — and I continue to hone my commuting process. Today I rode in work clothes, whereas I normally change once I get here. This is made easier by the fact that this has been dubbed “casual week” at my company, but I’m hoping that when conditions aren’t too hot, or too wet, I can just ride in my work clothes, even when I have to dress a little more formally.

I haven’t ridden every day and I work from home sometimes, so things break down as follows:

• 151 days of bicycle commuting
• 905.10 miles

I’m looking forward to another year of commuting. Hopefully I can rely on my car even less in the next year.

Total miles ridden in February: 172.18
Commute miles: 81.60
Road miles: 87.08
Errand miles: 3.5
Mountain biking: None. Too muddy.

Here are some highlights:

• My hardest commute yet
• Some snowy commute photos
• Modified Paragon Ride