More than 10,000 miles

Tonight was the night. I rolled over 10,000 miles on my Cannondale SR500. This journey started late in 2005. I had been riding my old mountain bike as I prepared for my first JDRF ride in Death Valley. By August of that year it became obvious that riding 100 miles in the desert on a mountain bike, while not impossible, was not in the best interest of my overall health. So in early September I bought the Cannondale. I put about 300 miles on it before we got to Death Valley in mid-October. I completed my first century ride on that bike in Death Valley on my 48th birthday. Many more miles have rolled under those tires since.

Almost to 10,000 miles, along the White Pine Trail

Tonight's ride was kind of special. I rolled over 10,000 on the White Pine Trail. This has been my main training route over the last eight years, so it seems fitting that this milestone was achieved there. I also decided to wear my JDRF jersey from our first ride in 2005. Lots of history on tonight's ride. I rode up to Rockford and then home for a total of 15.5 miles. I hit my goal on the way home.

I rolled over the odometer on my way home from Rockford.

A funny thing happened when the odometer rolled over to 10,000. Apparently that number doesn't exist, too many digits for the little bike computer. So after 9999.9 the next number I saw was 0.0. That was a little disappointing but now I can resell the bike as a "low mileage" vehicle.

To paraphrase the Proclaimers "Oh, I will ride 10,000 miles. Then I will ride 10,000 more."