Two days ago, in Mesquite, Texas, I did my seventh bike rally of the year and my 479th overall. (I'm shooting for 1,000.) The forecast was for extreme heat, and it did not disappoint. The official high temperature for the day, at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, was 100º Fahrenheit. That's the first century of the year in these parts, and take my word for it, there will be many more. I can't even say that it was a dry heat, because it wasn't. It was a moist heat, which made evaporation of perspiration difficult, which made it hard to stay cool. The only good thing is that we started early (8:00) and got done before the real heat hit.
Three of my home boys showed up: Joe, Julius, and Marc. Two engineers, a dentist, and a philosopher. Can you say "motley crew"? I pedaled 20.4 miles the first hour. I figured that would be my "workout" segment of the rally, but I pedaled 21.3 miles the second hour! That gave me an average speed of 20.85 miles per hour for two hours. I started thinking about an overall average speed of 20 miles per hour. At the three-hour mark, having pedaled only 17.9 miles the third hour, I had 59.6 miles, which is an average speed of 19.86 miles per hour. Had I been at 60, I would have given my all to stay at or above 20 miles per hour; but there was no way I could average, say, 21 miles per hour even for 1.7 miles. I was fried. My home boys were behind me (two of them having had flats) and I had no companions. It was just me against the wind. I resigned myself to writing "19"-something in my cycling log. I averaged only 15.57 miles per hour for the final 6:33.
Overall, I averaged 19.71 miles per hour for 61.3 miles. (Elapsed time = 3:06:33.) I stopped only once, about halfway through. This is my fastest of 12 Mesquite rallies, so I'm quite happy. (A year ago, I averaged 19.54 miles per hour on the same course, and a few years ago, I averaged 19.42 miles per hour.) The rally itself ranks 63d of the 479 I've done. Who says I'm getting old and slow? I'm getting younger and faster! (Okay, faster.)
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 