Hey, biking June.

Last day of June has come at last. What a bicycle rich month it has been. Riding no matter what the weather has been. This has been a month of going on a couple of Wednesday rides with other riders here in Moscow. We meet at the old Tidyman's parking lot at 5:30 and ride for a couple of hours. The route is usually decided at the meeting place and sometimes changes during the ride.

The first Wednesday ride was me mostly playing catch up with the others. We did some climbing, and some gravel road riding. I felt pretty good on the climbs and the gravel did not bother me to much other then trying to go up a gravel road. The others would wait for me to get where they were at so that I would know where we were going next. The next Wednesday that I rode with them was pretty fun. I finally made it to Genesee on a group bike ride. I would usually get dropped on the first or second hill and end up meandering back to Moscow. This time was a day of not giving up even when I was unable to see them. I did manage to catch up to a couple of the them. My legs felt great during the first part of the ride but they started having issues on the second part back to Moscow. I made it back to Moscow a little after 8:00 that evening. Sure am glad the sun is still out at that time.

I sure have enjoyed this month of biking. I have even collected some fun little statistics for the month:

• 755.58 total miles
• 52.8 total hours
• 32214 total calories used
• 29 days of riding
• 26 miles average per day
• longest ride was 58.95 miles
• 1984 total miles for the year (should have probably done 2000 but I had to work around the house today)

Weather Riding

So far the month of June has been a very interesting month for weather. Today was the warmest day but the wind was blowing 15 to 30 mph all day long. Riding a bike during that is very interesting indeed, especially if you are riding into the wind.

There was all sorts of interesting weather last Saturday. I finally rode in the "Just for the Hill of It Challenge". It was a pretty rainy trip down to White Bird and we were wondering if it was going to even be nice for the ride. As we got to the top of White Bird Hill it was slightly snowing and foggy. Would it be time to just turn around and go home or should we press on and plunge into the foggy depths? We were there to ride no matter what so down we went. Turns out to be partly cloudy and 46 degrees at the starting point. Now to get psyched up to bike 12+ miles and ascend the old grade of White Bird Hill. 

Switchback after switchback, higher and higher out of the canyon we rode. Finish line only a mile ahead and the road is still going up. Feeling pretty good as the finish got closer, I figured that a sprint was in order and then there would be cookies to consume. This was a great ride because I needed the challenge to see how I would do on a climb. I went in with the expectation of really hurting when I got to the finish. I actually felt really good and am really looking forward to doing it again.

Going back down was amazing. Hitting some pretty good speeds and then having to slow down to go through a switchback. Making sure that nothing was coming from below. Having to be ready at all times just in case. The views were amazing as I meandered back and forth on the face of that hill.