137th outdoor ride of 2021 - Thursday, 9/30/2021

2021 mileage: 4352.9

Another gorgeous fall day for a ride today. I began at about 11:15 in 55° sunshine, and rode the Platt/Packard Square (13.6 mile in 1:45), finishing in 64° sunshine.

This gave me 403.1 miles for the month of September, so that I made my goal of 400 miles for the Great Cycle Challenge (a fundraiser to help fight childhood cancer).

Also, it was nice to see again today early in the ride my friend Doug Franklin, sauntering down the trail on his daily walk.

As I finished up today, a mildly dismaying realization occurred to me. As a big-time numbers guy, a major portion of my enjoyment of riding comes from my recording my statistics and blogging about my riding. Given my strong genetic heritage, I hope to be riding for several decades yet. However, if this comes to pass, my total mileage and speed will almost assuredly decrease. But then, as I reflected on it, I thought, "That's OK ... I'm going to try and make my mark by doing exceptionally well for an old man." 😄

Relive video of today's ride

136th outdoor ride of 2021 - Wednesday, 9/29/2021

2021 mileage: 4339.3

Yesterday I wrote that I needed to do three consecutive days of my 20-mile round trip to Baker Rd. in order to meet my 400-mile goal for September in the Great Cycle Challenge. However, when I reviewed my stats in the evening, I noticed that I had forgotten to note one ride of 14.5 miles on the stationary bike. Once I added that in, it cut my mileage down to the point where I could make it with two more of my 14-mile rides.

So today, I began about 12:30 and rode the Packard/Platt Square (13.6 miles) in 1:44—a slow ride, but on a BEAUTIFUL day. Unbroken calm sunshine, and 69° degrees when I began, up to 72° when I finished. It allowed me to return to riding in shorts and t-shirt for the first time in several weeks.

Relive video of today's ride

135th outdoor ride of 2021 - Tuesday, September 28, 2021

2021 mileage: 4325.7

I'm down to the point where I needed to do three consecutive 20-mile round trips to Baker Rd. in order to achieve my goal of 400 miles for the month that I'm aiming for in the Great Cycle Challenge (the fundraiser to fight children's cancer). And weather, trike, and health -- everything cooperated today. I left about 11:30 and rode the 20.2-mile round trip in 2:33. And, as they are saying on the weather, "It's about as fine a day as you're going to see at the end of September"—bright sunshine throughout, and 58° when I started, climbing to 66° during the ride.

Relive video of today's ride

Monday, September 27, 2021

2021 mileage: 4305.5

This may well have been a mistake, but I chose to ride on the stationary bike today, so that I could finish up the second half of the movie Moneyball, which I had begun yesterday. Then afterwards, I wanted to watch the Tigers' matinee contest (a makeup of last Wednesday's rain out). I say that it may have been a mistake, because it ended up being a gorgeous, late summer-like afternoon, with a high of 80° under bright sunshine.

At any rate, I did get in a good ride (20.9 miles in 1:32), and am feeling more encouraged now about my chances of making my goal of 400 miles for the month in the Great Cycle Challenge, as I am now up to 341 miles for the month.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

2021 mileage: 4284.6

On Friday, I made the long drive (roughly 235 miles) up to Interlochen in northern Michigan for a reunion of my high school alma mater, the Interlochen Arts Academy (a fine arts boarding school). Today I made the trip back home, and in addition to having to take the last two days off from riding, I was thinking I'd take today off, too, given the long drive. But then I realized that with the Great Cycle Challenge I'm riding in September (as a fundraiser to help fight children's cancer), my goal of 400 miles for the month was in jeopardy if I took today entirely off.

So, sticking with my recent theme of baseball movies, I climbed on the stationary bike late this afternoon and rode 16.5 miles in 1:10 while watching the first half of Moneyball, the 2011 movie starring Brad Pitt that looks at the Oakland A's and their approach to building a team based on statistics, in order to help fight (as a low-budget team) the advantage possessed by big-money clubs like the New York Yankees.

Trailer for Moneyball

Thursday, September 23, 2021

2021 mileage: 4268.1

With another day today where weather kept me inside, I rode another hour (14.5 miles) and finished up the second half of Trouble With the Curve (which I began yesterday). I'll now be taking three days off, as tomorrow morning I'm heading up to Interlochen for a reunion of alumni of the Interlochen Arts Academy, a boarding school from which I graduated high school in 1975. The following picture shows me giving my address (as Co-Valedictorian) to the assembled audience at our graduation in Kresge Auditorium on June 6, 1975.

I'll be coming back Sunday, but after the long drive, don't expect to ride until Monday.

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

2021 mileage: 4253.6

Sticking with my recent theme of baseball movies, today while a daylong rain kept me inside on the stationary bike, I watched Clint Eastwood's 2012 movie Trouble With the Curve ... one I hadn't even known of until recently, when I Googled a list of baseball movies. Actually, I should say I watched the first half of it; riding for an hour, I did 13.6 miles on the bike.

Trailer for Trouble With the Curve