3000 Miles

Despite ideal weather, I was unable to bike again until my commute home Friday afternoon. Rain was predicted in the area but I was determined to risk it. Luckily I only encountered a few sprinkles during my ride.

There were slight winds in my face but nothing to hinder my progress. My bike has developed a few annoying rattles but I think they are from my front fender. I'm sure if I ever get around to investigating them they'll be easy to fix.

Not many speedy cyclists on the Lakefront Trail but around Oak Street Beach I spotted a young lady with a pretty good pace. It took until Fullerton to catch up to her but not until after the Theater On The Lake was it safe to overtake her. I said hi as I passed and she greeted me back. I figured that would be the last I'd see of her and I'd extend my lead. Apparently she wasn't going to take my breezing by her lightly and stayed right on my tail. No matter how fast I went she was still right there behind me. At this point I wasn't concerned about her in my slipstream but of the awful notion of her passing me since I erroneously assumed she wouldn't even be able to keep up in the first place.

I resigned myself to not shaking her and got into the spirit of our mutual effort. The bike path was crowded in spots and I was mindful to ring my bell and signal for turns and slowing in traffic (I especially didn't want to repeat the near crack up I had the previous Monday). So we whizzed up the Lakefront Trail until she came abreast south of Montrose where she said she was turning off. She also said something like I was one of the most conscientious bikers she'd ever seen. If I wasn't so flushed with exertion I would have blushed. I thanked her for the compliment and introduced myself. She said her name was Beth.

The rest of the ride was the usual.

Distance Traveled: 24.3 miles
Distance to date: 3010.0 miles
Price of gas: $3.59