early birthday ride

for the past several days, i've been wondering how i was going to maintain my birthday tradition...riding the same number of miles as i am old. tomorrow, my 44th birthday, i'm going to be in meetings from 8:00 in the morning until 9:00 or 10:00 at night. i'll probably be able to get a few miles in before breakfast at 7:00, but there's no way i'd have time for 44 miles.

so this morning, i woke up at 4:45 and got on my bike by 5:00. i rode out west to the base of l'alpe d'anville and turned around because the light was red. i kept going back east because i discovered that i'd judged the wind incorrectly. it was out of the southeast, so i was working harder to maintain speed.

i got back to town and continued on down the highway. about a mile out of town i was looking down at my odometer when i hit a huge bump. road kill! the bump was a decaying raccoon that i failed to see in the dark.

somewhere around ten miles out, i started thinking. it takes awhile for my brain to kick in. i did the math and decided then and there that i could get 44 miles in today. i'd have to ride a bit longer than i had planned to, but it was managable. i'd be back with time enough to shower and shave before rushing off to work. i pushed on and finished up just as the garage door guys showed up to install our new door. (44.44 miles @ 18.7mph)