Saturday, June 14, 2003

As Mr. Rogers liked to say, it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Mid-70s, blue sky, moderate humidity, not much wind. Basically a great day for golf (the U.S. Open is in town this week) or for bike riding. Two years ago I set a personal record by riding over 2300 miles. Last year my goal was 3000 and I rode a little over 3300 miles. In January I set a goal of riding 5000 miles in 2003. That was not my finest moment. The winter was the coldest in my 14 years in Oak Park, then I was sick for a while, on a road a lot, etc etc etc, with the result that in mid-June, I’m far behind schedule, having ridden only 1371 miles so far. But I’ve picked up the pace in the last two weeks, riding 25-35 miles per day. I’m in town for another four weeks before I start my summer speaking at Word of Life in New York and Living Waters in Maine. I’m hoping to be over 2000 before I hit the road. With that in mind, in a few minutes I’m going to trek west on the Prairie Path and ride to Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard, perhaps all the way to Wheaton. (I should add that Nick used some of his graduation money to buy a bike this week—a Giant DX that is fancier than my Raleigh C200 even though it costs less. New technology has actually driven prices downward since I purchased my bike three years ago. Marlene rides a Trek 7100 when we go out on our jaunts through Oak Park and River Forest.)

LATE AFTERNOON UPDATE: I ended up riding 39.1 miles, out the Prairie Path through Elmhurst to Villa Park, then on the Great Western Trail north of Wheaton, then to Wheaton where I picked up the Prairie Path and rode back to Oak Park. A brisk wind in my face made the return leg quite a chore. I was pooped when I got back home.