Moving On

The original purpose behind The Fourteen Percent Ride has long since been fulfilled. So, I've decided that Mighty Proud will be the last posting. It just seems right.

But, don't worry. Or maybe you should. In any event, I plan to continue. I'll keep riding. And writing. Click here to come along in my new blog ~ The Long White Line. <-- check it out!

Thanks

As I've ridden for the last two years, I've picked up on the fact that Shirley, my darling wife, has been more worried about my safety than impressed with my "accomplishments." How do I know this? Well, when I'd come back and tell her, for example, that I'd hit 53.6 mph going down FO, she'd reply, "I don't want to hear it." Being the sensitive sort I figured out, after many such comments, that just maybe we were not on the same page here. But last week, she told me that she would "greatly reduce her focus on the 'fear for my safety' issue." We talked about the tour, looked at some maps, researched nutrition suggestions on the internet, and so on, just enjoying the idea of the ride. How nice is that? Thank you, Shirley!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

It's Hard to Stop A Train(ing Program)

I've borrowed from my company's slogan for this post, to announce that, hard though it is, it is possible to stop training. Today proves it. My last ride that isn't part of THE RIDE. I've stopped training. Another ride up Bliss Road with several side trips gave me 22 miles for the day. This evening I started the process of packing up the bike for the trip west. A good cleaning, remove the aero bars. Tomorrow night, up to Bill's for a little more disassembly and loading into the case.

How to sum up the training program? As noted earlier, for all of the riding I've done I'm still in La Crosse. Here are some measures of just much riding I've done to end up here in my kitchen, writing this post:

Days ridden: 50 (49 since April 2)
Distance ridden: 2054.9 miles
Days riding 100 miles or more: 3
Days riding 50 miles or more: 14
Time on the seat: 135.8 hours
Training on the Trek: 34 days, 1286.1 miles
Training on the Bianchi: 16 days, 768.8 miles

Time and mileage work out to 15.3 miles per hour. The 136 hours is 17 eight hour days. I've ridden 3.4 times the tour distance of 605 miles and averaged 41.1 miles per day ridden, only 1/2 of the average of the tour's 86 miles per day. I've consumed an unknown, but considerable, quantity of Gatorade, quite a few bottles of orange juice at local Kwik Trips, and a nearly equal number of the Glazer doughnuts. I had not a single flat tire, unlike last year when there was an epidemic. The good thing about that, though, is that I can change out a tube on a rear wheel in about 5 minutes. That news being all the better in that I did not have to prove it this year.

And I've spent... well, I'm not sure how much. It's the one statistic I haven't added up. I probably just don't want to know. But it will be worth it.

Total ~ 2054.9 miles

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