1900 miles as of today

Today I just turned the bike odometer over 1900 miles for the year. I am please with my pretty steady accumulation of about 100 miles per week. I have been trying to increase my mileage gradually according the "periodization" style of training. Over the past month, I have been doing approximately 125 miles/week which is biking to work 5 days/week.

As is stands, the 1900 miles of commuting. Estiamting an average of 30 miles/gallon and an average cost of gasoline over the summer, that amounts to a savings of about $200. After 1,100 more miles, there will be an oil change that I will not have to get for the car as well. Not too bad considering my total costs for riding have included:

New Brake Shoes ($20)
New Wheel ($110)
Tubes ($5)
Handlebar Tape ($10)
Tires ($25)

As it stands, I have a $30 advantage. Over this time period. I have picked up the appropriate cold weather cycling gear to hand the weather through December. I have not included these costs because they are funtional add-ons to accomodate riding (in the same way I have not factored in the costs of a car such as insurance, wear and tear, etc.).

Boost of Confidence

Today, while riding to work, I noticed another rider that joined my morning route at Manheim Road. He was clipping at a good pace and looked like a serious rider. This has been the first cyclist that I have encountered on the roads that looked like they were into riding fast. I was travelling at approximately 20mph when I saw him in front of me. I spun my legs faster to try to catch him. At this point he was probably 1/2 mile in front of me. I got my bike up to about 23mph. It took me about 5 to 10 minutes to catch him. I caught him while climbing the 290 overpass. After getting within about 10 feet of the rider, I began to feel the draft. I effortlessly closed the gap after hitting the draft and shot around the left side of the rider. He gave me a nod, and then slipped into my draft. This has been the first time this year I have had a serious motivation to push myself. My heart was bursting at about 190bpm. I saw his shadow hanging with me for about a mile.

Having finally been spurred with an edge of competitiveness, I went into a higher gear. I pushed my bike to 27mph and my heart to 201bpm. I glanced back to find that the other rider did not want to match my pace and he dropped off.

This was an extremely exciting encounter and made for a great confidence boost.