I was back on the trails today with my Motobecane 700HT mountain bike. In my mind I was singing Ho, Ho, Ho, it’s off to biking I go. This was keeping the ride in the holiday season. Needless to say it is not very wintery in southeast Texas though. The temperature was 70 degrees and when I started it was partly cloudy with a solid 18.4 mph southeast wind. By the time I finished the clouds had come together to block most of the sun but the temperature held steady. I was thinking yesterday that my suntan has to be fading since I have not been able to ride as much and many times I have had my leg warmers on.

The route ended up at 18.33 miles at an average speed of 12.9 mph. My max speed was 20.7 mph which is good considering I did not go down any hills. The average cadence was 79.7 RPM. I am continuing to feel the benefits of airing up the tires to 52 psi. I was able to keep a good pace over the whole route even when I was heading into that 18.4 mph wind. Year to date miles are now at 5389.63. My usual December miles vary between 120 to 240. This is a function of darkness and cold weather in the past but this year could be different since I can ride during the day when it is warmer and brighter. So I think I could get 300 miles in this last month of the year. If I can do that I could end up around 5,700 miles. I have never been that high before. With today’s ride I only have 282 miles to go.

12-1-2011 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

Link to my Garmin Connect map and data.

Link to my RidewithGPS.com map and data.

12-1-2011 Home Weather End