Best week so far this season

Yesterday felt great. Once I was done with the obligatory Mother's Day festivities; making breakfast for Mary, calling my Mom, and going to the in-laws; I headed out for my most difficult ride of the year. The funny thing is, I felt great doing it. 26 miles with almost 900 feet of climbing. Most of the routes I've done this year have been pretty flat and only one was longer. But I felt really good on the bike yesterday. Even with a very hilly course my average speed was 14.8 miles per hour. That's almost 2 mph better than I've been doing so far. It probably has something to do with starting to get back into shape (although I'm not there yet). Last Sunday we did a 30 mile team ride (see the post below). Then on Thursday Mary and I rode up to Rockford and got a  couple hot dogs at the Corner Bar. That was a 17 mile round trip. Then yesterday I rode 26 miles. That's a total of 73 miles in eight days. Not exactly record setting, but a pretty good total for this time of year.

Yesterday's route took me up Post Drive, which is a pretty significant climb near the start. Then I took 9 Mile Road out to Alpine Avenue and went north to near Sparta then turning east on 13 Mile Road. Every time I made a turn it seems like I was facing another climb. That's probably because until I got a couple of miles down 13 Mile I was going up. That was about the halfway point of the ride. After that there was only one more significant climb as I rolled into Rockford via Summit Avenue and then took the White Pine Trail home. The map of my route is on the left and you can click here for all the route details, if you're the sort of person who likes that kind of thing.