More Biking and My Goals

Getting pretty boring around here, nothing really going on so let's talk about my weekend biking, again.

If you remember last week was my first time out and I made the foolish mistake of climbing a couple of hills with my new bike. I didn't make that mistake this weekend because I stuck mainly to the bike path that runs by the apartment. The bike path I am talking about is also called The Old Plank Trail. It is 17 miles long, starts in Sheboygan and finishes in Greenbush. Most of the trails I have found in Wisconsin are rated as easy, this trail is rated as intermediate. I am assuming the intermediate rating comes from the fact either you are peddling up hill or downhill the entire length of the trail. This trail isn't built on an old railroad bed like so many others this trail actually follows Highway 23 between the two above mentioned towns.

The surface to the west of where I get on the trail is older pavement and is rough in some areas. The surface to the east was recently repaved and is nice and smooth and I think a little wider than the trail to the west. There are a couple of areas where you need to slow down or it hurts when you hit the bumps. If I were to compare this trail with the rail-trail between Midland and Clare I would pick the Midland-Clare Trail just because the surface is so much better. The one thing I do like with the Old Plank Trail is when you approach a road to cross the trail actually bends away from the road intersection. This make the crossing much safer than the trail being right at the intersection.

I was hoping to ride the trail this weekend to Plymouth and back but when I woke up Saturday morning we had snow covering the ground. I wasn't to worried about the fresh snow because I knew Saturday was suppose to be a nice sunny day with temperatures hitting 50 degrees. I was more worried about the left over snow on the trail from this past winter. Yes we still have snow here in Wisconsin and wherever the trail passes on the north side of a woods the snow has yet to melt. Saturday was such a nice day that when I came up to a snow covered portion of the trail I pushed the bike past it and continued on. I finally got all the way to WI-57, which is on the extreme east end of Plymouth before I got to a patch of snow I didn't feel like pushing through so I turned around.

One of my goals for this trail is to try and average 12 MPH along the trail. I am hoping by later this summer I can get up to 13 and maybe even 14 MPH average. I was averaging 11.8 MPH even after stopping to push my way through the snow covered areas so I think 12 MPH is easily within my grasp. I finally had a chance to get the average up to 12 MPH because I was about to decent a nice long hill. I was hitting 17 to 18 MPH and even got over 20 MPH once. I had the average up to 11.9, ready to break 12 MPH when I looked up and what did I see? A bald eagle soaring overhead, the hell with the 12 MPH average, I hit the brakes and stopped so I could watch the eagle instead. I mean how many chances do you get to watch an eagle glide through the air? I think this eagle was looking for its next meal because he was circling overhead gradually moving towards the east and then the south.

I took off again and eventually made it back to my point of entry to the trail and decided to see how far east I could go on the trail. I made it about 2 miles before I hit more snow than I really wanted to push the bike through so I turned around and headed home.

I ended up riding 21 miles on Saturday and felt pretty good afterward except for my butt. I think I can handle the long rides other than my butt gets pretty sore. When I jumped back on the bike on Sunday everything felt fine except for my butt again. I am hooping with more riding it gets broke in too. Speaking about Sunday because it was cold and windy I only rode for 7 miles. It was just too miserable to go any farther. It is suppose to stay cold and rainy all week but at least it will finally melt the snow.

Since little sis told us all about her goals for the upcoming summer I thought I might share mine with everyone. The one thing about telling people your goals I think you are more apt to accomplish them because it adds a little pressure. Unlike little sis there will be no races for me.

1. I want to be able to average 12 MPH on the Old Plank Trail by this summer.
2. My goal is to ride 1000 miles this summer.
3. I want to ride 51 miles in one day by my 51st birthday in June.
4. I want to ride the Ozaukee-Interbaun Trail here in Wisconsin from one end to the other and back by the end of the summer over one weekend. I am not sure but I think it is about 60 miles one way.
5. Before biking season is done and if I am still here in Wisconsin I want to ride to the Mississippi River. This is about 112 miles one way and you start in central Wisconsin and end at the Mississippi River. You travel over a boat load of bridges and travel through several tunnels cut through hills. My plan is to ride it to the Mississippi and back over a 4 day period. This isn't something I can do alone so if anyone is interested let me know because I am willing.
6. I have an attainable goal to loose 20 pounds this summer and if at all possible I would like to loose 25 pounds. I am well on my way as I have already lost 10 pounds, the easy 10, so all I have to do is loose the other 10-15 pounds. This may not seem like much but these are the hard 10 pounds with the last 5 pounds almost impossible, at least for me.

There you have it my goals for this summer, not as ambitious as little sis but they should get me back in shape.