it's on, steve!

yesterday, i caught steve s. whining on dailymile about how many miles he had left to reach his 10,000 cycling miles goal for the year. since i hate a whiner, i taunted him, egging him on toward the finish line. "i've got just over 1000 miles left," i said. "race you!" a few minutes later i get an invitation to a "mileage goal throwdown". steve s. was throwing down the gauntlet. i picked it up and pulled it on. (you can never have too many gloves when when you're going to be riding hundreds of miles in the cold.)

so this morning the race was on. i didn't wake up until after 6:00, so i'd wasted an hour i could've been riding. i'm not complaining. just stating the facts. i dressed quickly and hit the road.

i pushed it pretty hard this morning. nothing like a little competition to motivate! my first race was against the sunrise. i wanted to see how many miles i could cover before the glowing orb broke the horizon. i smiled when i hit the 11-mile mark just as the slow poke got out of bed.

i pushed on from there. at just under an hour out, i was averaging 15.8mph. i hit the 15-mile mark and though, "i should turn around." cars were coming from behind me and in front of me. i hesitated. could i make the u-turn? not being much of a risk taker when it comes to playing dodge-car, i made a split second decision. i'd ride another mile out.

when i got to 16 miles, i turned for the race home. the grudge match was now against the clock. i'd promised my wife i'd be home at 8:30 to run with her. i had 50 minutes to cover the same distance that had just taken me 62 minutes to complete.

i was grateful for the wind's help as i accelerated up to speed. my daily nemisis was now my friend, urging me on, telling me i could do it. i wasn't so sure, but i was going to give it the old college try.

as the miles flew by, i began to have doubts. i don't have mad math skillz like kris r. but i knew enough to know that i had to ride faster than i was going at the moment. i gritted my teeth and accelerated.

at 8:00 i hit the 9-miles-to-go mark. thirty minutes left. if i averaged 18mph i could do it. my overall average at that point was just under 17mph. i put on my "i'm determined" mask and rode for all i was worth. every time i dipped under 18mph, i growled and pushed the cranks harder.

it wasn't until i hit the 2-miles-to-go that i was confident i had victory in hand. i had eight minutes left. i can cover 2 miles in 8 minutes on all but my very worst wind-fighting days. i relaxed just a bit, but kept things over 17mph.

i arrived home at 6:28. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! (32.52 miles @ 17.4mph)