30 Days of Biking: Day 30 - The FINAL Day

Day 30: The Final Day of the Challenge

It is finally here, the last day of the 30 Days of Biking Challenge. I was getting a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to finish the challenge on my home trail system...Cochran Mill. Storms were developing all around the area, and the powers that be will close the trails if they are wet...which is a good idea. Fortunately I was working and watching where these storms were moving. For those that don't know, I work as a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. There was a storm that went right along Cochran Mill Road but it looked like it stayed away from the yellow trail. So I drove out there with this in mind and I was right. The parking lot was a little damp, but once I got past the creek on the gravel road on the yellow trail, everything was dry.

Today was suppose to be a chill ride, but I ended up averaging 8.9 mph, just a little under yesterdays ride, however my legs were feeling it! I took a little rest at the falls before heading back to the truck, and as I was leaving, it started raining...timed perfectly!

Two years ago I did the 30 Days of Biking challenge and rode over 250 miles. This year I didn't reach quite 250 miles, but I did top 200 miles, reaching just a little over 203 miles this month. This year my goal was to ride no less than 5 miles a day. Well, that didn't happen...life happens, work happens, however I rode every day this month which fulfilled the challenge. And knowing that at least one family in Africa is benefitting from my pledge makes it all worth it...and that makes me feel good that I was doing this for a good cause!

This challenge really helped me as well. My riding technique improved, my speed improved, and all this is going to help me on the race I am doing with John in July. Will I do this next year? Probably...well, actually yes. I enjoy riding for a cause, and this was the 3rd time I have ridden for a cause. Its cool because its something I enjoy and it benefits someone else!

I was asked by a friend at work if I was going to keep this up, that is riding each day...uh...I think I'm going to rest the next couple of days. However I plan to not let up too much, at least 2 to 3 times a week.

So here are the final totals for this challenge...

Total Miles Today:    8.0
Total Challenge Miles: 203.2

30 Days of Biking: Day 29

Day 29: Cochran with a couple of Cool Dudes

My plan was to ride a chill ride, and about 6 to 8 miles. However things changed when a couple of good friends, some real cool dudes showed up...Bill and Dave. So my 6 to 8 mile chill ride turned into a little more than 13 miles and with the fastest average speed I have ever ridden on off-road. My average speed was 9.6 mph! Riding with these guys pushes me and that is what I needed. It showed me what I am capable of and how far I've come over the past 29 days. Why is this important? Because another real cool dude and a good friend, John asked me to team up with him for the Race to Sunset race at Blankets Creek in July, and this ride showed me that I can compete. Anyway, a big thanks to Bill and Dave for joining me today!

So, tomorrow is Day 30, the last day of this challenge. My plan is to ride a chill ride tomorrow at Cochran and get enough miles that will push me over 200 miles for the month. The "fly in the ointment" for riding at Cochran tomorrow is that rain is threatening the trails, and if it rains on the trails, they close the trails. If this happens, my alternate plan is to ride the Peachtree City cart paths, but whereever I ride, my goal is to get my monthly mileage to 200 miles.

Here are todays stats...

Total Miles Today:  13.6
Total April Miles.: 195.2

30 Days of Biking: Day 26

Day 26: Wildlife at Cochran Mill

I've been looking forward to this ride. After a week of stationary bike and road riding, I was finally able to get back on the dirt trails at Cochran Mill Park. It was a beautiful late afternoon, everything has leafed out and greened up. It was beautiful (check out the pics). I also saw more wildlife on this ride than I've ever seen at Cochran Mill. There were 3 deer on the Yellow Loop, and right before finishing the Yellow Loop, a black rat snake took his time crossing the trail. He just sat there looking at me, then just took his sweet rat snake time crossing the trail. Hey, it gave me a little break, but it was an awesome ride!

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today:   14.1
Total April Miles.: 179.0

30 Days of Biking: Day 18 - Mailbox Run

Day 18: Mailbox Run

I knew this week was going to be a short-ride week on the bike. I will be going to Savannah for work to an Emergency Manager Conference. I will be teaching a course on the basics of National Weather Service weather services, interaction with media, blah blah blah. So today is the start of my "short-ride" week. Today I was preparing and packing and, well, needless to say I was only able to do a "mailbox run" before coming to work. But unlike the other "mailbox runs," I did it 3 times to get at least a mile in. For the next few days I will be in Savannah and using the bike at the fitness center. However, for at least 1 day, I, along with Dave (a friend and colleague at work who is going to this conference also), will rent a bike one evening and tour Savannah...hopefully! After I get back, I plan to hit the trails and put some miles on, but until then, I'll get in as much riding as I can.

Heres today's stats...

Total Miles Today:  1.0
Total April Miles.: 118.7

30 Days of Biking: Day 17 - Chattahoochee Bend State Park

Day 17 - Chattahoochee Bend State Park

I chose to ride at the state park for a couple reasons. They just opened some mountain bike trails at the park, and the park is about a 15 minute drive from my house. The park is really beautiful, lots of rolling hills, a lot of hiking trails and now they have a little over 3 miles of mountain bike trails. These trails, in my opinion, are excellent for beginning mountain bikers. Although they are labeled easy/intermediate, I think they are more for beginning mtbers. The work the volunteers did on the trails was excellent, and, knowing how much work me and my best friend Dan are putting in to the trails on my property, it is a lot of hard work! So kudos to the volunteers who made these trails, ya'll put in a lot of hard work, but I know it was fun!

It was a good ride, and I have to admit that my legs were talking to me a little today...I know the breaking point is coming soon where they will stop talking...hope it is soon! Knowing that there were a little over 3 miles of trails, I tried to double up on the trails (do them twice) but I missed one trail on the double up, oh well!

Heres today's stats...

Total Miles Today:    4.7
Total April Miles.: 117.7

30 Days of Biking: Day 16 - Local Road Ride (LRR)

Day 16 - LRR

Today was more of a recovery day for me. After 15 days of riding at least 3 miles or more (yeah, the minimum of 5 miles of day has kinda gone away, but having said that, I am keeping my minimum ride length to no less than 3 miles...most of the time) and after a really good day at Blankets yesterday, my legs were a wee bit sore so I did a LRR.  This is what I also call the "Chase by the 2 dogs down the street because a neighbor can't control their dogs" ride. Yep, there is a home down the road from me where about half the time I ride by, they have 2 dogs that run and chase me. But they also chase cars, so I'm in good company. Other than running beside me and chasing me, they really don't show any other signs of aggression, so I keep riding. They aren't big dogs, rather small, and, for lack of a better word, ugly dogs...they are not really that pleasant to look at.

Along another section of road I ride, there is a green barn, rather picturesque, and that is the barn you seen in the picture below.

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today:    3.4
Total April Miles.: 113.0

30 Days of Biking: Day 15 - Blankets Creek

Day 15: Blankets Creek

I’ve been looking forward to this day for 2 reasons. Reason 1 - this was the day I would break 100 miles for the month of April, and I did it in the first half of April. Definitely on my way to a 200 mile month…we’ll see. Reason 2 - riding with my man John at Blankets Creek. If you’ve never been riding at Blankets Creek, take the time out to do it. You can make a full day out of it by riding Blankets in the morning, and then drive over to Rope Mill aka Taylor Randolph Memorial Park just a few miles away. I rode Rope Mill a few years ago.  We didn’t hit it today, but its a good trail system to ride.

Back to Blankets. Excellent set of trails, very smooth and flowy with the occasional roots and rocks, and of course uphills but with some good payoff. The weather was excellent, not too hot or cold, sunny. After riding for the past 14 days, I was wondering how I was going to do on this trail, but I surprised myself and did pretty good. Legs were a little sore, but other than that, I was doing good. It was also good to hang with John, a good riding partner and all around real cool dude!

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today:    12.1
Total April Miles.:  109.6

30 Days of Biking: Day 14

Day 14: Trail Building and a Loop

My best friend, Dan,  came over this morning and we worked on the mountain bike trails we are building on my property. I have 5.5 acres with most of it wooded, 2 small streams running through it, some decent elevation and deep gulleys that the streams have carved out. We have been working on this for a few months. Trail building from scratch is not as easy as it sounds, especially when you have bridges to build. For us, so far, we will be building 4 bridges, two of them are going to be about 20 feet long...that'll take some engineering. If anyone has any ideas to pass on for building 20 foot long bridges over a waterway, let me know!

Afterwards I did my ride, a short one and not meeting my 5 mile goal, but I call trail building part of riding...right!?!?!?!

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today: 3.3
Total April Miles.: 97.5

Tom Witcher Road

30 Days of Biking: Day 13

Day 13: A Short, Post Last Midnight Shift Road Ride

I promise, this is the last time you’ll hear me complain about being on midnight shifts and how it affects my riding…REALLY! Being my last midnight shift in this set, I have to “reset” my body to a normal sleep schedule. Therefore I got 4 hours of sleep today. If I get any more sleep, my body will think it is still on midnights and I’ll be awake tonight. So after waking up, did a little work around the house and then did a ride with my neighbor. It was a short ride, just no energy…didn’t make my minimum of 5 miles, but did rise a little over 3 miles.

I am having problem with my back tire. I run tubeless and I am slowly losing air, about 20 lbs (I run 40 lbs on the road and about 28 on the trails). So my job tomorrow will be to find out where I’m losing this air.

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today: 3.3
Total April Miles.: 94.2

30 Days of Biking: Day 12

Day 12: A Neighborly Ride

About a week ago, my neighbor injured the muscle in his leg. The doc said for him not to ride for at least 7 days. Today was day 7, so he did 1 lap on the roads around our homes. That totaled 3.25 miles. He called it quits and I did another lap to get me above 5 miles. 

Thought I was going to be riding around in some showers this afternoon, but when I woke up this afternoon (yes, still on midnight shifts, I got one more tonight), the sun was out and it was beautiful. Right before I started the ride, a local was out sunning himself (see pic). I was going to see if he wanted to ride, but I think his legs were too short :)

Here are today's stats...

Total Miles Today:  6.5
Total April Miles.: 90.9

30 Days of Biking: Day 11

Day 11: The Birthday Ride

Today I turned 53 years old. Yep, over half a century. Most of the time I don’t feel like I’m 53, and a lot of that I have to credit keeping active, going to the gym and definitely biking! Biking is my outlet, its how I relieve any stress that has built up. It also energizes me both mentally and physically (although after a long strenuous ride I feel like I could lay down for days!). I really wanted to do more than my normal road ride around my house, but unfortunately it was also my third midnight shift and my body was definitely in midnight mode (where you don’t want to do anything except exist). But I did manage to do a little more than I normally do around the house.

I could see the storm clouds rolling in, but I did take some time to take more pictures of the beautiful countryside here in northwest Coweta County Georgia. The dogwoods this spring were absolutely beautiful and I was able to get a picture of what would probably be the last of the dogwood flowers this season.

It was a good ride and a great birthday ride! Here are the stats…

Total Miles Today:  6.6
Total April Miles.: 84.4

more friends along the country roads

Last of the dogwood flowers