Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

8-10-89 This is getting ridiculous. Sunday, with an average speed of 18.80 miles per hour[,] I broke my bicycling speed record of 18.71 miles per hour. Tuesday I tied it, yesterday I broke it, and today I broke it again. Today’s average speed for thirty miles was 19.41 miles per hour. Let’s see, what was different? First, there was less wind; that always helps. Second, there was another rider in front of me during the first ten miles. I didn’t want to look like a novice, so I pedaled harder than usual to keep up. I even passed him at the nine-mile mark, but he went ahead of me on the next hill. Third, I put up with more pain than usual in order to break the record. Fourth, it was warm (eighty-seven degrees [Fahrenheit]), sunny, and dry. Ironically, when I left the apartment at six o’clock this afternoon, my goal was to average eighteen miles per hour. But when I got to the twenty-mile mark with an average speed of 18.99 miles per hour, I couldn’t resist an assault on the record. Sure enough, I stayed over twenty miles per hour the rest of the way and broke the rec­ord. Here are the average speeds for my last five circuit rides: 18.12, 18.60, 18.80, 19.22, and 19.41 miles per hour. The trend can’t possibly continue; can it? When it comes to bicycling, I never say never. For all I know, I’ll break the twenty-mile-per-hour barrier tomorrow or Saturday. Daily riding is the key to improvement. This was my sixth consecutive day of riding thirty miles or more.