Birthday Ride

This Ride: 54.4 miles
Kona Distance: 2,973.6 miles
Month to date: 634.7 miles
2010 Total: 3,430.1 miles
Pace to 5,254.8 mile goal in 2010: (190.6 miles ahead of goal pace)

Yep.  Today is my birthday.  I took the day off work and rode a mile for each of my years.  That’s 54 miles.  My blood donation on Saturday slowed me down … but I also decided to take it easy.  After all, it’s my birthday.

I woke up early enough to go out with the Mosey Monday group, but since there wasn’t anything else occupying my morning, I waited until almost 7:00 before heading out.  I was a bit apprehensive about being out later with much more traffic, and with our public schools starting today, and chose routes that I thought would be safer.  I’m glad to say there are no incidents to report, although the new state law (in effect October 1, 2010) about vehicles giving cyclists 3 feet clearance would have been violated often.

My route?  I drifted south through downtown Annapolis as she was really coming to life.  I traveled to Sandy Point State Park and spent some time watching the traffic across the bridge and just admiring the sparkling water of the Chesapeake Bay.  I traveled back to the foot of the Naval Academy Bridge, picking up my usual route back up the B&A Trail.  Since there was a pretty steady northerly wind, I traveled north then through Glen Burnie to almost the “bottom” of the Airport loop, and then returned home.  I like to finish with a tailwind rather than a headwind.

I was aggravated with an annoying “creek” on the bike.  I stopped and pulled out my multi-tool 3 or 4 times to tighten parts that I thought might be causing the noise.  Nothing I did worked.  I can’t tell where the noise is coming from.  Any attempts to isolate it just leave me even more frustrated.

All in all, it was a pretty day.  Pleasant temperatures.  Light northerly wind.  Much lower humidity.  It was a good day to ride … but then … aren’t they all?