Wow, it was windy today! I got up early to ride, but it didn't get light enough as early as I expected so I had to wait until this afternoon to head out. I rode 20.8 miles on the road bike again. riding into the wide sucked, but then I turned the corner and rode with the wind and was cruising 21 - 22 mph for a while, that was kind of nice, I can't wait until that is normal. I should hit 300 miles for the year this week, 22 miles will put me across that line. 37 miles by Friday will get me to 200 miles for July.

On Tuesday I went out with Randy from work and rode 20 miles on Kent Trails. This was at a slower pace for me, but a good recovery ride pace. We explored the trail that runs along M-6 and rode partway out there. Tonight I rode with Sean at Yankee Springs, my first time out there this year. It went alright, better than I expected if you count all the time we stopped to talk it was a hair over 2 hrs, 1:34 of actual ride time. This was pretty close to equal with the time from last spring and faster than last fall.

Tonight I decided to jump on the Stumpy for some reason and cranked out 10 knobby tired miles on the road. It makes quite a difference going from a road bike to a off road equipped mountain bike. I have been averaging around 16 mph on the road bike, today I was around 13.3 for the 10 mile trip.

I paid a vist to Kent Trails on Saturday and logged 27.6 miles, this brought my total for the year over 200. The trail is starting to show its age, it is getting bumpy from roots cracking the pavement. I plan on heading back on Tuesday and checking out the path that branches off and runs along M-6 with a guy from work.

Tonight I did the first run of my Bentheim and back time trail, it went pretty good, the hills were easier than last week when I checked out the route for the first time. The biggest hill is almost exactly halfway, good thing the uphill is followed by a downhill that leads into Bentheim. The speed limit in Bentheim drops to 30 mph, I am hoping that soon I will be able to carry speed off the hill come into town doing the limit (or faster!).

I got in another road ride tonight, I didn't know if I was going to make it today, I did not feel good all day. Finally I decided to head out and I rode 16.3 miles in 0:58:48 I feel a lot better now, every time I get out the numbers look better. I am going to try to get out at least 3 times a week and see what improvement I can make. To track improvement I came up with three routes that I will use as time trials, the first is 1.5 miles "around the block" I am going to ride this on the mountain bike and basically sprint as much as I can. The second route is 12.5 miles "Bentheim and back" this will be on the road bike, there are a couple good hills half way, I am going to use this route to track improvement in avg. mph. The third route will be Yankee Springs, of course this will be on the mountain bike and is more or less a torture test with all the hills and sand. I am going to try to do each route the same time each month and hopefully see improvement.

Well, it seems that I have been negligent in my postings. Since my last post, I rode Ft Custer, Luton Park and around home on the road bike a couple times racking up another 56 miles. I am planning on getting out Thursday and Saturday again probably on the road, which isn't bad I like both. I can rack up miles on the road and it is a nice smooth ride. Off road offers better scenery and a harder workout, but sometimes it is a hassle getting to a trail to ride, it is a big time investment to ride a trail.