58th ride of 2020 - Saturday, 5/23/2020
2020 mileage: 1947.5
This morning, conditions were very nearly ideal for riding. Oh, the brilliant sunshine we experienced much of the week had vanished in mostly cloudy skies, but the temperature was absolutely splendid—when I began, in lovely early daylight at 6:30, it was 58°—warm enough to ride very comfortably in a t-shirt, but not too warm so as to be uncomfortable.
I rode a loop around my old 'home away from home,' St. Joseph Mercy Hospital on Ann Arbor's far eastern edge. (I lived there from June through December 1993 while recovering from my severe May 22 accident.) I had hoped to come home by going through Gallup Park, but I missed the turn I wanted, and ended up having to ride a short stretch of Huron River Drive. I hated to do this, as it flies in the face of the express request of my wife, Michelle, that I keep my riding off the roads and on trails and highways instead. (This request is very understandable, given the plague of distracted drivers with which we must contend, in combination with my own problematic medical history, and normally I am delighted to comply with it.) But at least at that hour on a Saturday, traffic was extremely light, and I did not see a single vehicle when I was on the road.
At any rate, I finished with a nice ride of 27.5 miles in 2:45. And whereas a couple of months ago, I was doing long rides at a pace averaging about 8 miles per hour, I've been inching up, and today congratulated myself on finishing this long ride at 10.2 miles per hour.
This morning, conditions were very nearly ideal for riding. Oh, the brilliant sunshine we experienced much of the week had vanished in mostly cloudy skies, but the temperature was absolutely splendid—when I began, in lovely early daylight at 6:30, it was 58°—warm enough to ride very comfortably in a t-shirt, but not too warm so as to be uncomfortable.
I rode a loop around my old 'home away from home,' St. Joseph Mercy Hospital on Ann Arbor's far eastern edge. (I lived there from June through December 1993 while recovering from my severe May 22 accident.) I had hoped to come home by going through Gallup Park, but I missed the turn I wanted, and ended up having to ride a short stretch of Huron River Drive. I hated to do this, as it flies in the face of the express request of my wife, Michelle, that I keep my riding off the roads and on trails and highways instead. (This request is very understandable, given the plague of distracted drivers with which we must contend, in combination with my own problematic medical history, and normally I am delighted to comply with it.) But at least at that hour on a Saturday, traffic was extremely light, and I did not see a single vehicle when I was on the road.
At any rate, I finished with a nice ride of 27.5 miles in 2:45. And whereas a couple of months ago, I was doing long rides at a pace averaging about 8 miles per hour, I've been inching up, and today congratulated myself on finishing this long ride at 10.2 miles per hour.
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