End Of Year Recap

Ride Stats
Miles for 2012: 11122
Rides
Set a record for most rides in a year. Rode Outside every Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in 2012. Also threw in a handful of Fridays for 318 days, outside, in the saddle. I consider this a pretty cool accomplishment and feel I should acknowledge global warming for helping out.
More Ride Stats
2 Rides at 21 mph for 80+ miles
1 Ride at 20 mph for 80+ miles
2 Centuries at 19+ mph
Favorite Ride
Monday September 3rd  "Turned 54 Years Old Today" (see blog post Monday Sept 3rd)
                30+ people showed up for a team ride on my birthday and even sang me Happy Birthday
Business
Came out of my semi-retired life style to inject new life in my abstracting business, after it took a pummeling during the economic downturn of 2010 and 2011. I received and processed more orders for my business than I have in over 7 years. As a matter of fact I received and processed more orders in 2012 than the last four years combined.
Highlight Of The Year
Officiated at the marriage of my daughter, Britney. This probably made the top 5 of my best all time life experiences. (see blog posts September 15th and September 16th "Big Day")
Favorite Photos Of The Year

Another very good year, with great rides, friends, and family. I'm grateful to my children and grandchildren, they are the greatest joys in my life, to my riding friends, especially Amy, for making my rides seem even longer, to Penny for understanding the cyclist in me, and to my blogger friends, thanks for checking in regularly and putting up with poor sentence structure and all the misspellings.

Thanks for making 2012 so good and letting me share it with you.
Tom

Last!

Did it! Rode outside everyday (except Fridays) this year. Finished the year perfectly...a ride with Amy. Pretty cold out there, we were both feeling the 11 degree temp this evening. 20/12.7

Finishing

Ending the year well. These cold weather rides are hard, though. Pushing up the slightest hill gets the quads screamin'. Just me and Amy again, which was great. We'll be out there again tomorrow. 31/13.2

Roadie Winter Fun

Temp was 15 when Amy and I left, and 16 when we got home. Wind was noticeable. We headed for Excelsior on a limestone trail, which kept us somewhat sheltered from the wind. It was all asphalt after that 15 miles. Out on the roads it was tempting to think, hey we could do this on our road bikes, (we hit 25mph on a descent) but wiser (Amy) people quickly put those thoughts in perspective.
Sun came out, which always makes so much of a difference. Really never got cold and once again Evil showed his versatility on trails, snow, and asphalt. 51/13.8

Shop Work

Friday is turning into mechanic day.
Took the V brakes off of the Beast and replaced them with cantilever. I get a tighter brake lever pull. We'll see if that means shorter stopping distance. I'll give them a real world try in the morning. No saddle time today.

Not So Bad

Light snow for the whole ride. It's a cool look with the snow comin' down...little like fog. As light leaves and dark emerges the street lamps and car headlights elongate into the miniature flakes.
Not much accumulation on the trails, but plenty on Evil. 20/13.2

Can See The End

Hit 11,000 miles today for 2012. Sometimes it surprises me, because it just seems so normal. I mean, if I get on a bike and ride everyday, I guess the miles will eventually add up. It's sort of like breathing...I just kind of do it. I almost forgot to post tonight, that's how routine this has gotten for me. 20/13.7