Riding The Wheels Off

An old railroad car axle and wheels as seen today on the Eisenbahn, just north of the Fond du Lac County line.

OK, so I didn’t really ride the wheels off my cyclocross bike today, but I did cover 33 miles with an average speed of 17.2 mph and that’s pretty good when you consider that the first 13 miles were on the Eisenbahn State Trail. Unpaved sections of the trail were dry and firm—not summertime hard, but firm enough to ride without leaving ruts. Maybe it was the joy of gravel beneath my tires that led me to push a little harder. Whatever the inspiration, today’s mixed-surface ride was more than 1 mph faster than my best all-road ride so far in 2015.

When I left home, the plan was to go easy on the final day of a 10-day block of rides. I expected to be fatigued but I wasn’t going to let a 60-something-degree afternoon go to waste. I racked up 313 miles during the last 10 days and now have 333 this month. In March 2012, I set a personal record of 516 miles and with half of this month remaining I feel good about my chances of beating that mark. But I’m taking a rest day tomorrow. I am overdue and the weather won’t be nearly as nice.