Yesterday, in Cedar Hill, Texas, I did my fourth bike rally of the year and my 498th overall. This is the fifth year of the Head for the Hills rally, and I have done all five. Cedar Hill is a resort community near Joe Pool Lake. I've been riding in the area for nearly 22 years and have seen it developed gradually during that time. The lake is surrounded by wooded hills, which are now dotted with expensive homes.
The rally has grown so large that it had to be moved. Instead of starting at the high school, we started at the Uptown Village shopping center, which has plenty of parking. I lined up with four of my friends (Phil, Joe, Julius, and Marc) for the 8:00 start. It was windy again, so the plan was to stay shielded as much as possible for the first half of the ride, which was into the wind. I foolishly did a lot of work in the pack, which wore me out. I paid for this effort during the second half of the ride. Joe and Phil rode strongly right up to the finish.
I pedaled 17.11 miles the first hour, 16.55 the second, and 18.38 the third. I averaged 18.97 miles per hour for the final 25:58 of the ride. Overall, I averaged 17.55 miles per hour for 60.25 miles. It's not my fastest Cedar Hill rally, but then, it hasn't been this windy before. The average wind speed was 18.6 miles per hour, with gusts to 24. The official high temperature for the day at DFW Airport was 90º Fahrenheit. I was done riding by noon and home by one o'clock, before it got hot.
My average heart rate during the ride was 113. My maximum was 146. I reached a top speed of 33.1 miles per hour on one of the hills. I burned 3,541 calories.
We stopped twice. The rest stops were well stocked with water, sports drinks, cookies, bananas, oranges, pretzels, and other goodies. The rest-stop workers were friendly and helpful. In general, the rally was well organized. Here I am with my friends (from the left: KBJ, Marc, Joe, Phil, and Julius) at one of the rest stops (click to enlarge):
As you can see, it was sunny. I had a great time with my friends. I feel sorry for people who don't exert. In my opinion, life without vigorous exercise would not be worth living.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 