By the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4!

Four thousand two-point-something miles. That's how far I've ridden my bicycles in lieu of driving so far this year.



I've put 4469 miles on bikes this year, according to the records on mycyclinglog,com. I sometimes wonder about that number, as the odometer on my Globe shows a few more miles than the log shows--about a hundred miles, in fact. Since I don't know whether that mileage is due to errant calibrations or forgotten postings, or something else entirely, I don't know what to do with that information. I finally figured out why the tandem odometer wasn't agreeing with others, and got that fixed (I think). I may take it out for a short spin Friday morning to verify calibration before riding RAIN this weekend.



Yes, Jenn and I are riding RAIN this Saturday. It will be our second as a tandem team, and my third on a tandem. It will be my first on this tandem, but this tandem's second RAIN (our friends Nita and Larry used it last year, before Jenn and I bought it from Nita). It's the second tandem I've ridden on RAIN. Since a tandem bike has two riders, I thought it would be fun to recognize all the twos in this--let me know if any more twos come to mind...

Anyway, we figure on setting another team best. Last year's average speed was a touch over sixteen miles an hour while rolling, with an overall elapsed time a touch over twelve hours. We took a couple of very long breaks--especially at lunch, when I was fighting hot spots in my feet. This year, both of us have been riding more on a daily (or at least weekly) basis, and we haven't had to fight the stressors of moving two weeks before the event or being on the road for two weeks for Race Across America shortly before that or the whole closing on the house thing fourteen hours before leaving for RAAM before that.



To mention another "two," this weekend will also be my second wedding anniversary. I haven't mentioned it lately, but I am still going on an unbroken string of days being happily married. Every day sets another record for me. Life is, indeed, good.