Yesterday, in beautiful Muenster, Texas, I did my third bike rally of the year and my 497th overall. The Muenster Metric Century (as it's known) is in its 31st year. I've done 19 of them in the past 22 years (the first in 1990). I missed one Metric Century to go to a rally in Tyler; I missed one because of a hand injury (a pit bull slashed me); and I missed one because it was raining and I didn't feeling like driving 170 miles (round trip) to ride in the rain. My friend Joe began going to Muenster about five years before I did. Yesterday we joked about how primitive things were in those early days.
Many hundreds of cyclists gathered on Muenster's main street for the 11:00 start. The rally is in conjunction with the annual Germanfest, so there were lots of spectators. If you click the image in this post, you'll see some of the riders in front of me in the first mile. The leaders are climbing the first hill off in the distance. I took the picture while rolling. There were more people behind me than ahead of me at the time. I used to go out hard with the lead pack, but now I take it easy at the start. Twenty years ago, I averaged 21.22 miles per hour on the course, which hasn't changed in 22 years. Age has slowed my pace a bit, but not as much as you might think. (See below.)
The forecast was for warm air, partly cloudy skies, and wind. The wind is usually out of the south for this rally, which makes the final eight miles brutal. Sure enough, the wind was out of the south. But guess what? It shifted in mid-rally. We ended up with a headwind/crosswind (instead of a tailwind) on the long northerly stretch and were the beneficiaries of a gentle tailwind (instead of a headwind) for the final eight miles. It was wonderful! My friends Joe and Julius and I cruised at over 20 miles per hour in places. If there had been a headwind, it would have been more like 12 miles per hour. (That'll teach you to take the short course, Phil.)
I've now ridden on 12 straight weekends. The early training is paying off, because I felt strong the entire way, despite the many hills. My climbing legs aren't what they should be, but they'll come around. I have lots of endurance. On flat roads, I can sustain a high speed for a long time. My average speed for the day (for 59.94 miles) was 17.21 miles per hour. Believe it or not, that's my highest speed on this course since 1995, when I was 38 years old. Who says I'm getting older and slower? Ha! I reached a top speed of 43.8 miles per hour on the steep hill north of Saint Jo. I've gone as fast as 48 miles per hour on this hill, but the wind this year was not favorable.
According to my Garmin, I burned 3,554 calories on the ride. (Note to Mark Spahn: The calories are computed on the basis of my sex, age, weight, and heart rate.) My average heart rate was 114 and my maximum 148. The official high temperature at DFW Airport was 87º Fahrenheit. The average wind speed was 13.8 miles per hour and the maximum 26. My riding time was 3:28:54. I stopped once to wait for everyone (five minutes) and then stopped two additional times with my friends. Besides Joe and Julius, I rode at various points with Marc, Troy, Phil, Don, and Donna. A good time was had by all.
I hope I'm around for the 50th Metric Century in 2030. I'll be 73.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 