Drafting houses

Some people sit at drafting tables and draw up plans for beautiful houses. I admire them. When I was a kid doodling while the teacher lectured, I imagined one day I would be an architect. Then I found out you had to use math. I hate math. So I don't sit at a drafting table and draw up plans for beautiful houses.

Instead, I sit on a bike seat and draft off houses. Not very often mind you. But every once in awhile I'll be passed by a little pickup with a flashing light on top and a "Oversized Load" banner draped across it's bumper. And occasionally, when I look over my shoulder to see if something large is about to hit me, I see a house. Half a house actually, but who's going to quibble over such a trivial matter. It happened today near the beginning of a half century (50-mile ride). The pickup zipped passed me and then two halves of a house (I assume they went together) overtook me. They used the other lane, gave me a wide berth, but they were close enough that for a moment their slipstream dragged me up to a higher speed. Like I said. I sit on a bike seat and draft off houses.

Now for the rest of the ride. I decided today was the day I would begin chasing my bicycling mileage goal in earnest. (Thanks for the encouragement, Mike.) I had some "honey do" stuff to do this morning, so I didn't leave until just before noon. I decided the wind direction lent itself to one of my favorite rides, a 49-mile loop from Argonia west to Harper (16 miles), then south to Anthony (9 miles), then east to Argonia Road (16 miles) and finally north back to home (8 miles). I wanted a half-century so I knew I'd have to add a mile somewhere. Not at the beginning though. The beginning is when I try to establish a high average speed. I got up to 17.6mph early on, but several miles of wind exposure slowed me to 16mph by the time I had covered the westward leg of my journey. (Made it safely passed a known felon's house...okay, he's just a mean dog.)

Then my average died. I started bleeding tenths almost immediately after turning south. I was down to 15.8mph after one mile. I dropped another three tenths in my second mile. In all, I lost 1.4mph on my average and found myself in Anthony averaging only 14.6mph. Did I mention it was windy? It was. Sometime today a gust of 29mph has visited Argonia. I think I met a gust or two near that speed while riding. My biggest frustration of the day wasn't the drop in average however. It was finding no money in my under seat bag when I stopped at McDonald's. I was hungry and penniless. So I had to make the last 25 miles on a single bottle of Gatorade. (Obviously I survived.)

Thankfully, the rest of my journey was aided by the wind - with the minor exception of the extra mile I put in before turning north. I picked up speed almost immediately. As I was leaving Anthony, I had already gained a tenth back and slowly, but surely, the bleeding stopped. When I turned north onto Argonia Road 17 miles later, I was at 15.4mph. Not what I would've liked, but pretty respectable considering the violence of the wind and the weight of my bike...not to mention my 190 pounds.

Turning north brought blessed relief...and speed. I picked up my pace and was able, before the 48-mile mark to get my average back up to 16.0mph. (The high speed downhill just before that point certainly helped...I reached 32.6mph. Wee! 16.0 was my ending average. I just couldn't get another tenth to tick over, try as I might.

A good day all in all. Wish you could've been with me. I would've drafted off you the whole way. Not really. I'd have given you a chance off the back when we turned north.