speeding blind

i apologize. i was going to give you the right to vote this morning. i was going to allow you to determine whether i would meet my cycling goal for the year or my running goal for the day. ride to 6030 miles or run to 61 miles was to be your choice. then i got on my bike and disenfranchised you. i couldn't help myself.

i took off this morning without my bike computer. after two and half years, the battery finally died. it was kind of weird to ride without a clue as to my speed. for the first few miles i kept looking down at the blank screen. i quit that eventually and just concentrated on riding well.

at seven miles out, i looked at my stopwatch - 23'26". not bad, i thought. maybe i can knock out the 28 miles i need to reach my goal.

at nine miles i was at 30'01". maybe. i was still up in the air. i needed to get back in time to fix breakfast. if i went past 6:30, i'd be pushing the limits of my family's patience.

at 12 miles out i was at 39'29". that's when i decided to go for it. i was riding around 20mph. i knew that from my time per mile. there are advantages to living in kansas. every new intersection is a mile from the last.

so turning back to the east, i put the hammer down and flew back to argonia. whizzing through town, i rocketed out to dixon road and turned back to the west again. then, just to make sure i got the miles i needed, i returned to main street, turned south and circled back home on garfield.

i stopped my watch at 1:29'17". that's all the info i had until i came inside. i mapped my ride and got my mileage: 28.09 miles. plug the numbers into dailymile's handy dandy calculator and you get an average of 18.9mph. awesome! goal accomplished on a really fun ride.

now, i've got time to run 5 miles later today and got get some batteries. (28.09 miles @ 18.9mph)