Bike 2016

Time to document some of my cycling achievements from 2016. Overall, I wanted to reach a highest avg MPH for the year and get over 20MPH. I thought getting in lots of mileage early in the year would help me with that. I think I was wrong. Maybe things change as you age. I put in lots of miles in April, May, and June (2,063.07 for the second quarter). My speed tapered off and then went down. At a certain point, It was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to set a personal best. I still came in second at 19.66 MPH for the year (.17 behind my best). I then just tried to get the most miles and the most rides. If I were to graph the rides by speed over the course of the year, it would be a fairly flat curve. Probably as flat as ever. I had my second highest total of rides over 20 MPH. But, very few over 21, non below 17.27, and very few under 19.

As I get older I notice my heart rate doesn't go up easily and it's also harder to get my breathing going. I think the thing to do if I want to go faster is do more climbing. 2017 I am going to see if I can do more climbing than before.

Arguably my best ride of the year was a 60 mile effort on the Legacy Parkway Trail in October at a speed of 20.43MPH. Similar to my 2006 ride at the Colorado River.

I set new highest mileage totals for the months of May and June

I had a fun ride with Stuart down in Utah County at the beginning of July. This is where I realized I was doing too many miles. He could have easily ridden away from me and I was dogging.

Also has several fun rides in Orange County during vacation, especially along PCH into Seal Beach.

The tandem bike was stolen out of our garage sometime between 27 Aug and 10 Sep (but, probably 8 Sep morning).

Muzzy and the Mashed Potatoes

Years ago, Lenore's grandmother Naoma (Muh) Smith came to family dinner at our house. At one point she was chilled so I retrieved one of my sweaters and let her wear it. A couple of weeks after, Lenore and I were at a Church meeting and I was leading the music and wearing the same sweater. As I recall, it may have been a Stake meeting. During one of the Hymns, Lenore caught my eye and made a face. Later, when we were able to talk, she let me know that there was a fairly large swath of dried mashed potato (boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew) on the sleeve. We still enjoy a chuckle about that one from time to time.