Tempus Fugit

It's been awhile since I've posted! Summer's almost gone. I spent most of August away from any running due to a recurring injury that reduced me to a walk at the trail marathon I went to at the end of July. I just returning to running now-September. I put together two record (for me) months of bike and commuting.








July bike miles =555
August bike miles=634.9
2008 bike miles =3186.85

Price of a gallon of gas=$4.25

GO CUBS!

Chicago

Arndt and his bike on the road to the Emerald City

Last year Steve and I planned to ride our bikes to Chicago from my house in Chesterton-it's about 100 miles round trip. The morning of the trip there were torrential rains and our trip was washed out. This year we tried again to give this a go and the weather couldn't have been better. Much of the route can be made via a network of bike trails that have sprung up over the last several years. Neither of us had ridden much of the second half of the route before. We were also worried because the bike path route takes us at least five miles out of our way (I know...if we're worried about five miles maybe we shouldn't think about riding 100 miles!) So we decided to take the shortest, albeit more complicated, route to Chicago. There are no bike trail until we get to the south terminus of the Lakefront Bike Trail across the Illinois-Indiana state line on this route. Much of this route is on two US highways-12 and 41. Near the state line, the road is marked with unobtrusive Dan Henrys that were very helpful and led us to the bike path proper which I think starts around the South Shore Country Club. All in all it was quite an adventure. We found the bicycle center at Millennium Park but we never found the Intelligentsia Coffee Store at Millennium Park because it's not actually in the park. It's down Randolph Street from the park! We did drink some wonderful Jamba Juice in the cool shade of the buildings along Michigan Avenue. I think we'll try this again!







May Bike miles=447.2
June Bike miles=420.15
2008 miles=1996.15
Price of a gallon of gas=$4.19

Olympics

Do you look forward to the Olympics? I know I do. My excitement has started to build already. Friday night Amy Yoder-Begley made the team in the 10,000 Meters. That's a 10K for all the road running crowd. The politics of the Olympics aside the sheer joy of an athlete like Amy making the team is wonderful to watch. Amy has a local connection too. Her mother graduated with me at Chesterton High School in 1970. She's being coached by Alberto Salazar. Alberto has a wonderful story too. It could be argued that he was the last great American marathoner, although Ryan Hall could become the next one. Alberto was a main character in the legendary Boston Marathon race captured in the book Dual in the Sun. Now he just may be the best coach of this new generation of American distance runners. NBC will televise the Olympics and also the trials, although not in real time.

Bike Northwest Indiana on YouTube!!

Bike to Work Week-Day #4 & Day #5

Thursday morning I got a few bonus miles in when my route was closed so they could replace a culvert. It seems we just can't quite let go of the cool weather this year and today was no exception. I was actually hoping to use a work vehicle to get to the detention center where I facilitate a group every Thursday afternoon but there was no vehicle available. I walked the 1-1/2 miles to the detention center and back. Lucky for me it was dry. I wore my new Cascadia 3 Trail Running Shoes for the first time (I didn't get the red version!). They were great! The evening ride was overcast but dry. My mind always wanders more during the ride home, maybe because when it's dark there's not as much scenery to look at. I've composed some wonderful blog entries riding home only to have them dissolve away as soon as I park the bike in the garage. I guess it's only for the moment-kinda like one of those sand paintings.

Friday! Bike to Work Day! It was my turn to bring donuts at work so I rigged a flat base to my rear rack so I could Velcro the donut box there. Sorry, no pictures. I also stopped for some coffee at the "coffee hut" in Valparaiso. I bought a thermos awhile back that keeps a big cup of coffee hot for several hours. It won't quite fit into a water bottle cage so I just stick it into my pannier. It was a nice sunny morning and a great morning for a ride. Too bad I had to work.

So I did it-I went all week without a moment in a car. The price of gas hit a peak of $4.05 for a gallon midweek and slid slightly lower by today ($3.89/gallon). I rode 139.8 miles to commute to work five days. Assuming I get about 27 miles/gallon (I think I can actually get a little more than this), I saved 5 gallons and about $20.00!

For Your Late Night Viewing Enjoyment

This is for my buddy Joe.

Bike to Work Week-Day #3

The morning commute is a misty foggy blur. It's a comfortable 58 degrees. I've developed a sort of kinship with the landmarks on my route-especially the animals. There's a guy with his dog on the bike path I see many mornings-big guy, little dog. There are the three horses at the small farm just south of town. There's the Dalmatian who runs up to the edge of the road to bark at me but always stops before actually getting to me. There are two big white guard dogs that used to run along the fence barking at me, especially on my evening ride home. I think I've become so familiar to them that they no longer waste their energy on me. I've seen them looking blankly at me as I'm riding by. There are four turkey vultures who seem to have taken up residence in the abandoned barn that marks my halfway point to work from home. I usually see them at the peak of the barn warming up in the morning. Two more dogs that I used to see up on the roof of a house aren't there any more. I figure the owners finally figured out how they were doing it and put a stop to it. Of course riding to work and home allows me to see and hear all kinds of birds, raccoons, rabbits,squirrels,possums, and occasional coyotes, deer, and foxes. I've had near misses in the dark with a few of them.