Mileage Goals
May wasn’t a bad month. I had 594.8 miles out of a goal of 437.16. That’s 136.06% of my goal. Not to shabby. It’s no 600, but it’s mine. Still, May was a good month for getting miles in, averaging somewhere in the rough neighborhood of 28.32 miles per day. Of those 594.8 miles, 356.35 were bike commutes to and from work, and 238.45 were training.
May marked the month that I finally got ahead of the curve for my mileage goals. I’ve been playing a game of catch up since the steering wheel days of March, and on the 13th of May, I finally got back into the black. I closed the month at 36.11 months in the clear, with a 75.46 being the high point.
Commuting
Of the 21 work days in the month of May, I rode 17 of them, drove 3, and worked over VPN for 1. Not my best month (that would be March), but it’s tied for 2nd with both January and April, both of which had 17 days of riding as well.
Training
I went on training rides three of the four weekends, with the first weekend seeing back to back rides on Saturday and Sunday. I’m going to try harder for that this month. I want more longer rides. Commuting by bike has most definitely helped, but where I can get some good heavy-bike hill work in, I can’t get the long hauls to balance it out.
Errands
None to speak of. So much for Bike Month, eh? I should just take this section out of the monthly round-ups. I’m not the car-free type, after all.
Fitness
Proof that it’s working…
Mon: AvgSp, AvgHR
Jan: 12.27, 162.11
Feb: 12.42, 159.67
Mar: 12.90, 160.78
Apr: 14.50, 157.51
May: 15.30, 155.89
The sharp increase between April and May for Average Speed is most likely due to swapping out my knobbies with my Conti Town & Country tires. They made an immediate and noticeable difference.
Moments
The whole month is a bit of a blur. What I can say is that I didn’t encounter nearly as many bikers/cyclists as I thought I would. Those that I did see were mostly on the sidewalk, so there wasn’t much interaction. Those that weren’t on the sidewalk were going the opposite direction, or careening straight into me without looking where he was going.
The weather was so much warmer it’s tough to remember what the cold was like. Plus it rained a lot.
Final Thoughts
As the Triple Bypass looms closer and closer, I expect my training miles to increase relative to my commuting miles. We’ll have to see, though. Life has a way of getting in the way, if you know what I mean. To accommodate additional training, I may have to sacrifice a day a week of bike commuting to leg resting. I can live with that. Rest is a crucial part of training, and I’d rather (truth be told) use the weekend day for longer riding and use a week day for rest.
I’m really pleased to see continued improvement in my Average Speed vs. Average Heart Rate ratio. I continue to get faster, while dropping my heart rate at the same time. Them there be numbers solid.
I’m also extremely pleased to be so far ahead of my mileage goals. As I write this, I’m 117.58 miles in the clear, thanks to the century yesterday, and expect that margin to do nothing but grow.