ToAD Comes To An End In ’Tosa

Zero laps to go. See you in 2014!

We’re so lucky to have the Tour of America’s Dairyland! But all good things must end and I was in Wauwatosa this evening to watch the sun set on the 11-day series. For the next three weeks I guess I’ll just have to settle for the Tour de France when I’m not working on my own racing ambitions.

Early this afternoon I did a fast Eisenbahn State Trail ride on my cyclocross bike, going all the way to Eden for the first time this year.

I used my Garmin to take split times over a few key segments:

Not a bad effort on a trail that is mostly gravel.

Split 1 was the segment from my house to 2nd Street in Kewaskum. Split 2 covered the next segment to Main Street in Campbellsport. Split 3 covered the segment from there to the end of the trail in Eden, and Split 4 was the return to Campbellsport … made slightly longer by a quick detour to the picnic shelter at Eden where I slurped down a Hammer Gel. Split 5 got me back to Kewaskum and Split 6 got me home. Split 7 was a short cool-down around my neighborhood.

I frequently do TT efforts between my house and Campbellsport, always shooting for less than 1 hour in each direction. Today’s time over those segments was 57:00.3 up and 53:35.2 back. I had never before recorded my times on some of those other segments, so now I have additional data to motivate me in future efforts.

So, we’re halfway through 2013 and I have done 76 rides for a total of 2,059 miles, an average of 27.09 miles per ride. That compares to 97 rides, 2,474 miles and an average of 25.51 miles by June 30 last year. You can blame our crappy spring for the deficits. In fact, I’m still waiting for properly hot summer weather to arrive. But I am still confident that I will achieve this year’s mileage goal of 4,570. That’s the number I need to reach 40,000 miles in my 10 years as a serious cyclist.

There should be many excellent opportunities to ride during the upcoming week. I have to work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but then I get to enjoy a long Independence Day weekend.