By the Numbers - 17.5, 15.12, 50:20.47

     Today's musings were primarily driven by the fact that I didn't have my iPod to listen to on the ride.  It's somewhere in the house and so instead of letting the bpm's of the songs drive the rpm's of my pedals I had to rely on my internal metronome.  This got me to thinking about numbers.
     Our society is driven by numbers.  Everywhere you turn there are numbers that rule our lives.  From the numbers on the clock to the numbers on our paychecks.  Speed limits, time limits, class time, class numbers, call numbers, phone numbers, poll numbers (in this contentious election season more important than ever), addresses and tax percentages.  This obsession carries on into art (such as this work by Charles Demuth):

Or architecture:

     And then there are the songs.  There are so many songs with numbers in the titles, and while the total can be seemingly endless, I did find one site that listed a great list of 100 songs in which each number corresponds with the number the starts the song.  Some of my favorites included "Fourth of July" by Fallout Boy:

 "The 13th" by The Cure:

or "21 Guns" by Green Day:

"23" by Jimmy Eat World:



The Clash's "48 Hours":

And since I am such a child of the 80's and 90's in terms of my musical tastes, there is this (in the original German) which has been one of my favorites since it came out (mainly because back then I could actually follow all the words):

     In terms of numbers, for cyclists its still the same.  Many of my spandex clad brethren and sistren are obsessed with numbers - power wattage, power to weight ratios, VO2 max numbers, gear ratios, bike weight, grams their derailleurs weigh, and don't even get us started on the times for the grand tour GC contenders!  I'm no different except in that the only numbers I'm really concerned with these days are the times, mileage and mph of my daily commute.  Although I'm of the "not racing" philosophy, when I see a cyclist up ahead I can't resist the challenge to pedal faster and try to catch up (okay, maybe sometimes pass) them.  And with that comes the keeping track of my average mph, distance and ride time.  It's always my goal to try to average at least 18.5 mph by the time I hit the bottom of Stillwell Lane because (depending on my fitness and mood) I usually lose 1 mph from my average by the time I get to the top.
     Today was no different and Pearl and I (yes, I refer to my bike's by name, it's part of my obsession/addiction and I'm searching for an approved 12-step program) pushed it to reach the magic number.  By the time I reached Southwoods Road I was cruising at 20 mph, and my average was 17.4!  Agggggggghhhhhhhh, time to ramp it up!!!!!
     3/4 of a mile later as I pulled up to the door where I go into the building, the numbers said it all - 17.4 average mph, 15.12 miles commuted, and my ride time was 50:20.47 - not bad for riding on a bike with 38 mm wide tires and weighing in fully laden at just under 30 pounds!


     And the other numbers?
FFR - Nothing, maybe they're migrating to a safer space?
RRL - Another baseball cap, this time Ford/Lincoln Mercury.  There's a lot of heads getting too much sun, right?


That's all for now,


Stay well and I'll see you on the road!