The Oracle of Apollo Snippets from the life of Apollo Lee

Sixteen

October 24, 2005. 18:01 PDT.
Hollenbeck @ Harvard
Sunnyvale, California
This marker: 16000 miles

 

Week 42

Another stupid three-day week this week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were fine, but high winds and rain wimped me out for the whole rest of the week. Better try again next week.

17 Oct:  36.13 mi;  1:51:18 (19.5 mph avg; 32.0 mph max)
18 Oct:  36.22 mi;  1:53:03 (19.2 mph avg; 30.5 mph max)
19 Oct:  36.08 mi;  1:50:05 (19.7 mph avg; 33.5 mph max)
Total : 108.43 mi;  5:34:26 (19.4 mph avg; 33.5 mph max)

Month so far:  429.65 mi. 2005 so far : 6537.53 mi (130.75% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : complete – (1537.53 mi over)

Week 41

Rained out on Tuesday, I completed the rest of the week, until I noticed the high temperature projected to be about 63°F on Saturday with winds averaging about 25 mph. I decided to sit it out.

Yet another week nearly two hundred miles short. I need to find my rhythm again. Damn.

Despite the short week, a spactacular zip on Wednesday, which let me write a 20 mph average in my log book, pushed my week to a higher average speed than any before.

10 Oct:  36.25 mi;  1:51:26 (19.5 mph avg; 32.5 mph max)
12 Oct:  36.78 mi;  1:50:31 (20.0 mph avg; 35.5 mph max)
13 Oct:  36.21 mi;  1:50:12 (19.7 mph avg; 31.5 mph max)
14 Oct:  36.21 mi;  1:51:10 (19.5 mph avg; 35.0 mph max)
Total : 145.45 mi;  7:23:19 (19.7 mph avg; 35.5 mph max)

Month so far:  321.22 mi. 2005 so far : 6429.10 mi (128.58% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : complete – (1429.10 mi over)

Week 40

Last week’s spectacular mileage stands in stark contrast to this week’s mileage, which is less than half. On Monday, my itchy foot tops sent me to the urgent care to find out why the hell my feet are super itchy (again, not on the soles, but on the tops). I was prescribed some kind of special ointment to clear it up (contact dermatitis), so I missed Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, I got out of my cube late and ended up 16 miles short for the day. Thursday and Friday were great riding days, with a new chain and back tire replacement on Friday. On Saturday, the high temperature was 63°F and it was extraordinarily windy.

Sounds like a good day to sit out to me. In order, though, to get some other things done that I’ve been working on lately, I’m going to trim my schedule back a little bit for next week.

05 Oct:  26.26 mi;  1:21:50 (19.3 mph avg; 26.0 mph max)
06 Oct:  43.06 mi;  2:12:22 (19.6 mph avg; 31.5 mph max)
07 Oct:  42.23 mi;  2:11:34 (19.3 mph avg; 31.5 mph max)
Total : 111.55 mi;  5:45:46 (19.4 mph avg; 31.5 mph max)

Month so far:  175.77 mi. 2005 so far : 6283.65 mi (125.67% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : complete – (1283.65 mi over)

Week 39

Before this week, my longest week was just over 230 miles. This week, I decided to go for a week distance record. By Friday evening, I rolled through 200 on the week. The Saturday ride put me way over. I passed the 240 mile mark for the first time. There goes 250 miles. So much for 260. My week ended up just a shade over 270 miles, nearly 40 miles more than my previous best.

On Wednesday, I finished my 6000th mile of the year. Saturday had me descending Edgewood Road pushing for a nice top speed. A third of the way down the hill and I’m already reading 45. Push it a little bit…46, 47, 48, 49

What a great week.

26 Sep:  40.52 mi;  2:03:41 (19.7 mph avg; 34.5 mph max)
27 Sep:  41.42 mi;  2:06:58 (19.6 mph avg; 32.0 mph max)
28 Sep:  41.29 mi;  2:07:10 (19.5 mph avg; 35.0 mph max)
29 Sep:  41.30 mi;  2:08:01 (19.4 mph avg; 31.0 mph max)
30 Sep:  42.09 mi;  2:09:07 (19.6 mph avg; 34.0 mph max)
01 Oct:  64.22 mi;  3:26:47 (18.6 mph avg; 49.0 mph max)
Total : 270.84 mi; 14:01:44 (19.3 mph avg; 49.0 mph max)

Month so far:   64.22 mi. 2005 so far : 6172.10 mi (123.44% of goal).
2005 goal   : 5000.00 mi.
Remaining   : complete – (1172.10 mi over)

Breezy Sixty-Four Miles

After grabbing lunch at Chipotle, I headed out for my ride today at 1:30—almost six hours before sunset. My route was pretty much the same as last week with an extra mile thrown in. Like every Saturday in recent memory, it was substantially cooler and windier today than it was during the week. This is starting to drive me crazy.

I made decent time on my wind up to head out of Sunnyvale. Pushing a pathetically wimpy pace toward Foothill Expressway caused me to shed a bunch of my average speed, which I tried the whole ride to regain. Climbing to Portola Valley past the newly paved intersection at Alpine Road spared me from a headwind for about two miles, but by the time I neared the top, I was hard at war again.

Heading down Edgewood Road, I was surprised how quickly I was at 46 mph. I screamed down that hill and blew away my old top speed (the aforementioned 46) by three miles an hour. I pushed as hard as I could for 48 and overshot it by a mile an hour. Exhilirating!

Finally, I steamed home, salvaging half a mile an hour on my chart, and did my final loop home. I made it with no danger of having to change to the amber lenses. It’s so much better when I get out the door when I plan to.

Today:   64.22 mi;   3:26:47 (18.6 mph avg; 49.0 mph max) Oct  :   64.22 mi;   3:26:47 (18.6 mph avg; 49.0 mph max)
2005 : 6172.10 mi; 327:47:34 (18.8 mph avg; 49.0 mph max)
Goal : 5000.00 mi (1172.10 mi over : 123.44% complete)

Serenity

Oh, my goodness, that was a phenomenal movie. Joss Whedon brings back Firefly back to the big screen in a two hour romp that kept my eyes wide open the whole time.

After my ride this afternoon, I picked up Daniel and his buddy (Casey?). We headed over to Shoreline Century Cinema 16 in Mountain View to meet up with the rest of the group. Bill was there, along with Cyn. Lots of Daniel’s friends showed up. By the time the final moments before they started letting us head into the theater got here, the line to see Serenity was out the door and down the sidewalk. Getting to the theater early is a good idea.

The movie was really spectacular — better than anything I’ve seen in a long time. The special effects didn’t interfere with the story. It was significantly more action-packed and faster-paced than the Firefly TV episodes were, but with a $40 million budget, Joss did what George Lucas couldn’t do with three times that amoung (Attack of the Clones)—tell an intelligent story with great characters. All of the original TV cast are back in this movie and I’m not going to give any plotlines away, but I will say that I enjoyed every moment of this spectacular picture.

As a die-hard Browncoat, I have to do my part to see that more Serenity/Firefly movies are made. I have tickets for tomorrow night and I’ll go see it on Sunday and probably next weekend a couple of times as well. I have to do my part, after all, just because I want more. Can’t stop the signal.

Closing Out September

Despite missing a few days this month, I have now officially bested the astonishing month of November. After attempting week 14 and being a day or two short during three consecutive weeks this month, I advanced this week to week 15 to see if I could climb over that 850 mile mark. I pulled it off and beat my previous monthly distance record by sixteen miles, while doing it with the fastest average speed ever.

On the 28th, I crossed my 6000th mile of the year, a thousand miles over my goal mileage for the year. It’s just about to become October, which leaves me three months to see how much further I can go.

“There’s no place I can be,
Since I bought Trek 520.
You can’t take the roads from me.”

September: 861.37 mi in 44:49:10 (19.2 mph avg; 46.0 mph max)

Another Milestone

This afternoon, as I passed this intersection, round about 4:40 pm, I rolled through my 6000th mile of 2005.

That’s goal mileage plus 1000 miles. It ain’t even October yet. Woo!

It’s Almost Here

There’s no place I can be, since I found Serenity –
But, you can’t take the sky from me.

Serenity opens nation-wide on September 30, which is the Friday approaching. My friends, Daniel and Michelle, and I are going to see it at Century Cinemas 16 on Shoreline in Mountain View at 10:30 pm Friday night. I have printed off my Fandango ticket.

I have not seen a movie in the theater in a long time. I’m extremely excited about this one as I am a HUGE Firefly fan. I own the DVDs, subscribe to a podcast on the subject, and (thanks, Daniel) own the three comic books set between the end of the TV series and the upcoming movie.

You should come. Tickets are available. I am planning to drive to Santa Clara, pick up two passengers, and make it to the theater around 9:00 (in case there’s a line). Refreshments afterwards at Denny’s are under negotiations. If you live within five driving miles of my place, I may be able to provide a ride.

Let me know.