I didn’t really have a distance target for bike riding this year. I did 3160km in 2007, and thought I might be able to hit 3500km without much trouble. But this summer, I realized that at the pace I was keeping, there was a chance to hit 4500km or even 5000km by the end of 2008. I kept riding, and almost fanned on it due to weather and vacation. But I got back on the bike for a ride along the Bow River this morning, rolling the odometer over 5000km. It was a really great day for a ride. There was a lot of snow and ice, but the path along the river is well groomed so the ride was pretty easy. It was only about -12˚C out, and I was dressed for much colder, so it was definitely fun. I wound up riding from Edworthy Park, along the path beside Memorial Drive, and past downtown to the Zoo before turning around. Not many other bikes out, but I wasn’t the only one…
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Props to you, man (and nice photo assemblage, by the way). It’s way too easy to wimp out over the winter. I can’t remember – do you have snow tires on your bike?
thanks, jaymie. I do totally wuss out, though. I’ve been riding the bus to work, and it’s been killing me. can’t wait for the roads to clear up enough to risk riding – if there were no cars, I’d ride the roads already, but they’re just so fracking unpredictable and often dangerous that I won’t share a snowy road with cars in this city.
I don’t have snow tires – I have Armadillo Crossroads tires on now – not a bad grip, but almost a hybrid between street slicks and mountain bike tires. seriously thinking of picking up a set of studded tires for the snowy/icy times…
5000 km, come on, that’s nothing, I drove almost 15,000 miles this year tough guy.
Crazy purpose. Do you plan to visit other countries?:) Wellcome to Ukraine. if you want to drive 5000 km – you will see whole country.