Quick post tonight, I'm tired and have to leave for Louisville after work tomorrow. I'm doing a sprint triathlon Saturday morning at EP "Tom" Sawyer park and then heading to Indy for a Phi Kappa Psi convention and dinner. Should be a fun weekend!

Today's Mileage: 5.1 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 450.8 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 299.2
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.70

Owensboro Bicycle Club Ride

I joined the Owensboro Bicycle Club Monday night ride at Panther Creek. I was a little tired after riding EARLY Sunday morning. I definitely feel like I'm getting stronger. We took off and I did one lap of the hills and then another flat lap with a good group. We ended up averaging about 18.6 mph, which was faster than I planned on, but when I'm riding with a group that I know I can keep up with and they are pushing faster, I feel I need to go with them or even step it up a bit. Crazy! I've got another sprint triathlon coming up this weekend in Louisville, so the rest of the week I'll do an easy run Tuesday and a dip in the pool Thursday.

Today's Mileage: 22.8 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 445.7 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 304.3
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.76

Panera Bread Ride

I finally joined the Panera Bread Ride today. It meets at the Brookhill subdivision entrance to the Greenbelt and rides about 20 miles to Panera Bread for breakfast every Sunday at 6am. It was early, but I got up and biked over to the meeting spot and had a nice ride as the sun came up. At Panera I enjoyed good company and a French Toast Bagel with cream cheese. Rode home after that. I was going to take a nap, but didn't find the time all day. Oh well! I enjoyed the ride and may have to do it more often, as long as I get to bed early Sat. night.

Today's Mileage: 24.7 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 422.9 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 327.1
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.78

Spirit of Racine Sprint Tri v2.0

I was able to travel to Wisconsin this past weekend for a mini-vacation visiting family and to participate in the Spirit of Racine Triathlon, again, this year. There is one other time in my life that I have been as cold as I was on Saturday. That other moment was when I participated in the Polar Bear Plunge in Lake Michigan on New Year's Day. That January day it was in the thirties and the water temp was not much warmer. However, that dip in the lake only lasted 30 seconds. Friday I went for a practice swim and it was "invigorating" to say the least. Saturday was a very wet, drizzly day, with temps in the low 70s. The water temp was 54 degrees, though. It was cold, but not as paralyzing as I thought it would be. I guess the cold made me swim faster, because I completed the 800m in just over 20 minutes. Luckily, there were no waves to contend with (except when peole swam past me) and the course was closer to shore. Drowning was less likely, but hypothermia was possible!!! I still had some fine motor skills in my hands to unzip the wet suit and get on the bike once I was out of the water. However, I did take a couple of extra minutes in transition to warm up. The bike felt comfortable and I was able to keep a pretty good pace, despite some numbness from the swim and wet pavement. I believe I covered the 12.4 miles in about 42 minutes. After that was the run, which has a few hills along the beach, but I was able to do okay and finished the 3.1 miles in about 35 minutes. Overall, my finishing time was 1:40:14, a new, personal best and an improvement of over 24 minutes from last year's finish. However, at least half of that improvement was due to my on-site cheering section and the extra training support by my friends who swibiru. However, I'm very glad that I finished and had fun, too.



Today's Mileage: 12.4 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 398.2 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 351.8
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.78

Taper Week

No, this does not mean I have worms or anything gross like that. I'm just taking it easy the week of my 2nd triathlon of the summer. Saturday I'll be participating in the Spirit of Racine Sprint triathlon, again. Today, I biked to/from work and then went out and joined the Monday night ride at Panther Creek Park. I was going to take it easy and did 2 laps of the flat route, but I was still cruising around 18 mph. It's true, the more I ride, the stronger and faster I seem to be getting. Cool!

Today's Mileage: 23.6 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 385.8 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 364.2
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.98

TGIF!

I finally rode my bike to work. It had been at least a month since I last did it and I was missing it with all the nice weather. After work, I went for a run and then ended up "swimming" around in a pool tonight. I guess I'm ready for my triathlon next Saturday.


Today's Mileage: 3.2 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 362.2 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 387.8
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.96

Monday ride @ Panther Creek Park


I joined the Owensboro Bicycle Club Monday night ride at Panther Creek. I was a little tired, but made it out there in time. We had good weather for the ride after some rain earlier in the day. We took off and I did one lap of the hills and then another flat lap. I got dropped on the third hill (it's always the third hill) and rode alone most of the remainder of the ride (until a group caught me and passed me before the second lap. I kept them in my sights, but couldn't catch them. I still managed to maintain a 17.6 mph avg for the ride. The more time in the saddle, the stronger rider I get. It helps to ride with people better than you to push you, too.

Today's Mileage: 23.1 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 359 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 391
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.97

Riding in the rain...

...he's a bike club hero! Well, not exactly. But I did have an easy ride on the eastern part of the Greenbelt with Matt and Tami. And it did rain most of the time. Hard some of the time. Oh well!

Today's Mileage: 16.8 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 335.9 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 414.1
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.94

Bike News

There have been a few items of local interest in the news lately. I've been a little behind, but that's not too unusual.

• Evansville Mayor proposes adding bike lanes in Evansville. The mayor's plan is to add 20 miles of on-street bikeways by the end of 2009. Four routes, will be marked with bike route signs and road markings. Connectors and spurs will be added as more federal funding becomes available. According to the Courier-Press, routes will include "a north-south route along Oak Hill Road from Lynch Road to U.S. 41; an east-downtown route along Lincoln and Bellemeade Avenues from the county line to downtown; and a west side-cross town route from Howell Park to Franklin Street, and along Michigan and Virginia Streets to U.S. 41. A Kentucky Avenue bike route will be created between Walnut Street and Riverside Avenue."
• Last week, members of the Owensboro cycling community announced plans to lobby City Hall to encourage their support of bike lanes throughout Owensboro. Last summer, the city let a federal grant expire that would've paid for bike lanes to be marked on city streets. However, the city's engineering department expressed reservations and created a new policy restricting bike lanes from city streets less than 32 feet wide. The City Commission then decided to focus more on shared-use paths that run along roadways, to avoid any complaints about parking restrictions on streets striped for bike lanes. The city has reapplied for a $230,000 grant and the first project would be a path from the Greenbelt north along Old Hartford Road to Lexington Green subdivision.
• Today's Messenger-Inquirer had an article about adding artistic bike racks to downtown Owensboro. The city and downtown businesses are working together to place more bike racks downtown and bring some flair to the designs. The partnership would involve the businesses buying the bike racks and the city helping install them. Downtown Development Director Fred Reeves has begun meeting with business owners and has begun walking around downtown scouting possible locations for the bike racks. The city has also recently installed two racks inside the parking garage at Daviess Street and Veterans Boulevard, across from the RiverPark Center.