Mason English Department Chair's Challenge: 224 miles, 24 hours!

News

2/14/10
I'm not going to be able to bike commute to George Mason for awhile, so I've attached my bike to an indoor trainer.  The rear wheel of the bike is anchored onto a fly wheel that provides friction. I find riding on a trainer boring--it makes "spinning one's wheels" literal!--but I'd better do something because this snow is not going anywhere soon.

2/19/10
I just read this article about the perfect combination of biking and literature.  A bike path in Portugal marked by lines of poetry, rather than just stick-figure bikes.  Two great tastes.... If only we could get something like that around here.  Your move, Northern Virginia.  Here's the link to the article, Portugal's New Bike Paths .

2/22/10
Got a new super-bright light for the night time part of the ride.  But it will be nice to have a brighter light for commuting as well.

2/25/10  Bike paths are still covered with snow.  But at least we didn't get more last night.  I hope in a week or two I'll be back to biking outside.

3/1/10  Just heard about Fairfax Counter Supervisor John Cook's recent remark at a transportation committee, "I don't believe a bicycle is a transportation device." (The discussion was about cutting funding for Fairfax County's bike programs, which the county mostly did.)  As someone whose most frequent means of getting to work at Mason is by bike, I agree with with Supervisor Cook.  The car is a transportation device.  The bike is a body and spirit improving, gas saving, road and parking lot unclogging, zero-emissions funportation device.  Much better.  If you've always been thinking about bike commuting, I highly recommend it!

3/7/10  Said hello to spring with my first longish ride of the year on this beautiful day.  Rode about 50 miles to Mount Vernon and back.  It was fun to see snow still on the side of the bike trail; there were even a few patches of snow and ice on shady parts of the trail.  On the way back I had to fix a flat tire--twice, since my spare tube turned out to be leaky--but while I was fixing the tire the second time I saw two bald eagles, which nest just south of Alexandria.  The ride along the Potomac was beautiful.  Back home after 50 miles, I do feel a little fatigued. This makes me worried about 224 miles.

3/13/10  Got cool news wheels for my 1981 Trek.  The old ones were an outdated size and it was hard to get good tires for them anymore.  As an added benefit, the new ones are lighter.  I'm looking forward to riding them to work on Monday.

3/14/10  Just got from my team captain the mileages for the route.  Turns out it's 242 miles, 18 miles longer than the required distance.  When I asked about this, he told me not "to focus on the big number"!  Well, what's another 18.

3/20/10  Another beautiful weekend.  I'm ramping up my miles in preparation for the Fleche.  Had a terrific ride--95 miles, 8 hours.  I went with my team captain, whose strength is amazing.  I mainly drafted him--it was like having wings.

3/26/10  Learned from my team captain that he changed the route slightly, and it is now about 8 miles shorter, which is still 10 miles longer than the required 224.  I was reminded of the scene in Richard II when Richard, having banished his enemy Henry Bolingbroke for ten years, decides to change the banishment to six.  Henry responds,

4/1/10  Beautiful weekend, but no training for me.  I'm off instead to the Shakespeare Association of America Conference.

4/5/10  The ten-day forecast which goes to about two days before the ride begins, shows sun and warm weather every day.  This makes me nervous.  How long can it last?  I fear the weather's going to change the day of our ride.