2,000 miles this bicycle this year

I had a couple of milestones today, one of which was miles related.

2,006 so far this calendar year to be precise.  Historically that's not very many for this point in the season but given the weather we have had since winter declined to leave and spring never arrived, 2,000 is a lot.

Leaves the possibility (but not the probability) of 3,000 still out there.

The forecast for today said possible all time record high.  With that in mind I wasn't in any hurry to get out there.

But after lunch I went out into the driveway and, guess what?  It didn't seem half bad.  The temperature was 78, the wind was pretty brisk but it gave the day a bit of a cool feel.

I decided, what the heck?  If it actually does get to be too hot I can just stop.  With that as a plan I set out intending to stay relatively close to home and, as was the case yesterday, hoping for an hour.

I found the wind to be very strong from the south, too strong to make any sort of ride to the south seem attractive.  My recent pattern in conditions such as that is an east west ride, working a bit to the south when possible, but mostly trying to keep in mind that every block ridden with that powerful tail wind would lead to another block ridden in unpleasantly difficult conditions.

I have worked out an east west route which leads me over to Highway 280 on the west and then all the way along to the brink of the hill overlooking the glacial river valley to our east where Rice Street currently runs.

After swinging through Lauderdale and visiting the 280 noise walls I headed back towards the east.  A bit of south is possible along there when Cleveland heads back into the campus at a relatively sheltered location.  A swing over to Raymond and then some downhill into that heavy wind (always a good strategy) and then east again through campus.

We all know where that road leads, right?

I cyclocrossed out onto the mall for a different angle of the cows.  Most times I have photographed the big bronze bovines with the mall behind them, this time that building behind them is, ready for this?  The Dairy Building.

From there downhill towards the Fairgrounds.  On Day 19 of the Fair here is the last remaining still mostly in one piece carnival ride.

I rode around inside the grounds, the idea being that there are a couple of streets where I can gain considerable yardage toward the south while riding nicely downhill.

I think we have agreed that that is always a good strategy.

It wasn't going all that badly at this point.  I could sense that it was getting warmer but the deal with riding a bicycle is that you get the advantage of evaporative cooling.  Furthermore, once you are actually out there riding a change in temperature produces conditions which would probably seem pretty punitive if you just stepped out of your air conditioned door into them but which don't seem all that much worse than what you were experiencing 5 minutes ago.  I could sense that it was getting warmer but I felt OK.

Another photo from the Fairgrounds, this one of Fairchild, the official mascot of the State Fair.

I know, he looks a bit like Goldy.  But honest, no kidding around, that is Fairchild and completely and totally not Goldy.

Here's the eastern terminus of my east west route, Wheelock Parkway in the foreground, running down around the side of the hill to eventually join all of that visible valley.

By the end of the ride I could tell that it was hard.  I mean, I never felt any considerable distress, but I could feel dehydration and fatigue creeping up.

But no problems, I made it home just fine, feeling used up but not particularly over used.

I came inside and checked the weather channel.  I mean, I could feel that it had been hard.  The weather channel revealed my second milestone of today's ride.

The absolute highest temperature in which I have completed a ride this year, maybe ever.

Temperature:  95.

Dew point:  66.

Heat index:  98.

What can I say, it DID feel hard but while I was out there it was just another bicycle ride.  And 2,006 miles this bicycle, this year.