Yesterday, in Italy (pronounced IT-lee), Texas, I did my 10th bike rally of the year and my 504th overall. The rally is known as the Tour d'Italia (not to be confused with the grand tour known as the Giro d'Italia). I did my first Tour d'Italia in 1990, when I was 33 years old. Yesterday's rally was my 18th of the past 22. I had to miss this rally a year ago when Katherine and I vacationed in Michigan. I was telling my friend Phil yesterday how much I like this rally. It starts and ends in a small town; the course, which has been the same for at least two decades (except for times when construction was underway), is a big clockwise loop that passes through several other small towns (Avalon, Blooming Grove, Silver City, Navarro, Emmett, Irene, Mertens, and Frost); there is little traffic; and the scenery is pleasant.
Before I describe the rally, let me comment on the weather. The official high temperature for the day at DFW Airport was 104º Fahrenheit. This was the sixth consecutive day of 100º temperatures. At 10:30 in the evening, long after I had finished riding, it was still 93.9º at my house! You get the idea. Now add a stiff wind to the mix. The average wind speed at DFW Airport was 22.2 miles per hour. I consider it windy if it's 10 miles per hour or higher. The maximum wind speed was 46 miles per hour. During the evening, we had a wind advisory.
When you combine heat, humidity, high wind, hills, and heavy roads (the dreaded five H's), you get Hell, or at least a facsimile thereof. About the only tailwind we had was during the first five miles. Everywhere else it was either a headwind or a crosswind. The worst stretch of all was into Irene. Several people sucked my wheel the entire way. Not one person offered to help. I saw "10.9" on my speedometer at one point. You can imagine what this did to my average speed for the day. I ended up with 16.31 miles per hour for 63.34 miles. (Elapsed time = 3:52:53.) This was my lowest average speed in the 10 rallies I've done this year.
I was disappointed to find only two of my friends at the rally: Julius and Phil. I expected at least two others and still don't know why they didn't show up. Did the wind and heat scare them off? I hope not. Real men aren't deterred by difficulty. They relish it. I rode with Phil for most of the day. After the rest stop in Frost, where I ate a second ice-cold plum and some peanut-butter-filled pretzels, I got ahead of him and rode in alone. Sometimes you need to ride by yourself, even though riding with someone else would save energy.
My average heart rate was 112 and my maximum 143. I burned 3,492 calories. My maximum speed was 33.7 miles per hour. In case you're wondering, "heavy roads" are roads with chip seal. I don't recall whether we had these in Michigan, but there are lots of them in Arizona and Texas. The roughness of the road surface increases rolling resistance, which decreases bike speed. It has the effect of wearing you out.
One thing that helped me yesterday is that I had my bike overhauled during the past week. Besides having everything cleaned, adjusted, and lubricated, I had four new items installed: a bottom bracket, a gear cassette, a chain, and brake pads. It came to $461, but it was worth it. My bike is 10 years old and has had almost no maintenance. It seemed as though my pedaling was more efficient yesterday—as though more of my power was being transferred to the road. I can't wait to ride the bike when the wind is civilized; but hey, it's Texas, so you never know when that will be.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 