Bike Mileage Update With exciting Crash Action
If nothing else, my bike routine has crushed it in 2020. At this point, I have broken my previous mileage records for every month from April through October. June, July, August and September are my four best months in terms of mileage ever, and October is my sixth best month. Every May, with a paltry-for-2020 198.3 miles, slips into the top 10 all time. Given that I've now been riding since April 2013, that's somewhat remarkable.
Granted, mostly this just highlights the difference between commuting to work with riding for distance/exercise. This year I've ridden ride every day I had time and inclination to get out there and went as far as I wanted, whereas in all previous years I only rode to work and back. The latter is is 17.9 miles, the former is as much as I want, once even clearing 100 miles in a day. It's not an apples to apples comparison, is my point. Still, it's nice to rack up some big numbers.
Unfortunately, we've entered the part of the year where it gets dark early enough that riding on weeknights after work is problematic and makes M more than a little nervous. I only hit my October record because I took the first week of the month off and went on a 20+ mile ride every day of that time off. With Daylight Savings Time ending in a few hours, this problem will exacerbate. From here on out I'm basically going to be weekends only unless I take time off from work. Of course, given the unreliable weather of November & December, even daytime riding may be sufficiently unpleasant due to rain and snow that further records are out of reach. Of course, it may not. My prior November record is 154.8 miles and my December record is 89.5. I've got one week of vacation in November scheduled and two in December. If the weather cooperates, both are in range. If I break both, I'll come very close to 2562.2 miles, which is exactly double the miles of my old single-year record from 2017.
I'd have broken my October record by somewhat more, but on the Friday of my week off in October (specifically 10/09), I had my first serious bike crash. I was coming back through the Metroparks on a route I bike all the time. As I was coming down a hill I saw some pedestrians so I yelled out "on my left" as one does. As soon as I said that an approximately 3-year-old girl darted into the left side of the path. Her mother was still on the right side, and there was nowhere to go.
I wasn't going particularly fast (because I'm really not capable of going particularly fast), but one side of the trail was trees and the other was a cliff. I'd like to tell you that I heroically ditched the bike to avoid hitting the kid, but what really happened is that I slammed on the breaks and my rear tire skidded beneath me, which had the same net result as if I'd ditched it intentionally. I ended up on my back with the bike on top of me a few feet short of the kid. I tore up my left forearm a little bit, broke some spokes on my back tire and dented the fender over my front tire enough that it was not rideable. I also took a very hard hit to the back of my head, which fortunately was absorbed by the bike helmet. Somehow my legs were unharmed. The knock to my head might have risen to the level of a mild concussion - I had a lot of concussions in football so I'm familiar with the feeling.
I was stunned for a bit but finally got up. The kid's mother was very apologetic, which was appropriate. I was weirdly not angry. I politely suggested she should perhaps hold the kid's hand in situations like this and then it was "ok, everybody's fine, let's go on with our life." They walked away. I called M for pickup and carried my bike down the hill to closest picnic area parking lot. Fortunately, my car fits easily in the back of a Subaru $26 of parts and labor later at the bike shop and I was ready to ride again, having lost the miles I would have completed if I'd been able to finish my ride plus one more day for repairs.
So yeah, in addition to all the miles I had the first major crash of my life with minimal damage. Perhaps if I got to replay it I might have found an alternate option without a crash in it, but maybe not. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
EDIT: Due to a transcription error, double my prior yearly record is actually 2526.2, which is less of a reach.
Granted, mostly this just highlights the difference between commuting to work with riding for distance/exercise. This year I've ridden ride every day I had time and inclination to get out there and went as far as I wanted, whereas in all previous years I only rode to work and back. The latter is is 17.9 miles, the former is as much as I want, once even clearing 100 miles in a day. It's not an apples to apples comparison, is my point. Still, it's nice to rack up some big numbers.
Unfortunately, we've entered the part of the year where it gets dark early enough that riding on weeknights after work is problematic and makes M more than a little nervous. I only hit my October record because I took the first week of the month off and went on a 20+ mile ride every day of that time off. With Daylight Savings Time ending in a few hours, this problem will exacerbate. From here on out I'm basically going to be weekends only unless I take time off from work. Of course, given the unreliable weather of November & December, even daytime riding may be sufficiently unpleasant due to rain and snow that further records are out of reach. Of course, it may not. My prior November record is 154.8 miles and my December record is 89.5. I've got one week of vacation in November scheduled and two in December. If the weather cooperates, both are in range. If I break both, I'll come very close to 2562.2 miles, which is exactly double the miles of my old single-year record from 2017.
I'd have broken my October record by somewhat more, but on the Friday of my week off in October (specifically 10/09), I had my first serious bike crash. I was coming back through the Metroparks on a route I bike all the time. As I was coming down a hill I saw some pedestrians so I yelled out "on my left" as one does. As soon as I said that an approximately 3-year-old girl darted into the left side of the path. Her mother was still on the right side, and there was nowhere to go.
I wasn't going particularly fast (because I'm really not capable of going particularly fast), but one side of the trail was trees and the other was a cliff. I'd like to tell you that I heroically ditched the bike to avoid hitting the kid, but what really happened is that I slammed on the breaks and my rear tire skidded beneath me, which had the same net result as if I'd ditched it intentionally. I ended up on my back with the bike on top of me a few feet short of the kid. I tore up my left forearm a little bit, broke some spokes on my back tire and dented the fender over my front tire enough that it was not rideable. I also took a very hard hit to the back of my head, which fortunately was absorbed by the bike helmet. Somehow my legs were unharmed. The knock to my head might have risen to the level of a mild concussion - I had a lot of concussions in football so I'm familiar with the feeling.
I was stunned for a bit but finally got up. The kid's mother was very apologetic, which was appropriate. I was weirdly not angry. I politely suggested she should perhaps hold the kid's hand in situations like this and then it was "ok, everybody's fine, let's go on with our life." They walked away. I called M for pickup and carried my bike down the hill to closest picnic area parking lot. Fortunately, my car fits easily in the back of a Subaru $26 of parts and labor later at the bike shop and I was ready to ride again, having lost the miles I would have completed if I'd been able to finish my ride plus one more day for repairs.
So yeah, in addition to all the miles I had the first major crash of my life with minimal damage. Perhaps if I got to replay it I might have found an alternate option without a crash in it, but maybe not. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
EDIT: Due to a transcription error, double my prior yearly record is actually 2526.2, which is less of a reach.