Halfway
July 16, 2010 at 11:48 AM by Dr. Drang
Assuming I continue riding through the end of November, as I have for the last few years, I’m now at the halfway point of biking season. How am I doing?
Not bad. Last year I finished with just over 2500 miles. Barring injury, a lot of bad weather, or a lot of business travel, I should end the year well above that.
“Barring injury” isn’t something I would have thought about until last year, when I
- was hit by a pickup truck in April, which hurt my left wrist and right hip; and
- lost control on some wet grass and went down on my right shoulder—couldn’t raise my arm for a couple of weeks.
Pain-free riding is something I appreciate a lot more now.
Update 7/16/10
Note to self: Some RSS readers (Reeder, for example) don’t display embedded Google spreadsheets, so a post that relies on a spreadsheet may not make much sense to subscribers using those readers.
Another improvement this year is how I’m being treated by drivers. I still get cut off, but it’s usually by drivers who aren’t paying attention. The number who angrily speed up to block my path is way down, and the number who slow down or stop to allow me the right of way is way up.
I attribute this to my beard.
I regrew the beard this spring after a year or two of being clean-shaven, and of course it came in much whiter than before. It’s now obvious from a distance how old I am,1 and drivers seem to take pity on me. “Good for you, old-timer!” is the vibe I get.
A little off-putting, but better than getting run over.
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Yes, my hair is quite gray, but drivers can’t see that because it’s covered by my helmet. ↩
