As a yard stick to measure Ken's accomplishment; in the five years I've been tracking every mile, foot, inch, hour, minute, second, whatever I've ridden, I'm about 2500 miles short of the miles Ken accumulated in 09.
For those who haven't already read this in Charlie's email, this is an amazing feat.
The bar is set for next year, 20,000 miles.....
Good luck Ken!
The deed is done! I'm sure glad I got it done today because rain is moving in tomorrow. Lisa and I went up to The Villages this morning to ride with some good friends. We had about 15 people along for a nice sociable ride. There was one nervous moment right at the beginning when Lisa touched a wheel in front of her but managed to stay upright. Whew!!!
We had a celebration party at Panera's complete with bagels, danish and champagne. Lisa made this cool sign, we took a few pictures and had a great time.
While cranking out all those miles, I've realized I'm the luckiest man alive. God has blessed me with good health, a great wife (who also rides) and financial independence. All three of these were absolutely necessary for me to accomplish this mileage milestone. Living down here in the land of the elderly makes me particularly aware of my good fortune. When I see what inactive seniors look like I don't need any more motivation to keep riding. I'm going to keep trying for 12K as long as I can, anything more is just gravy. I may try to get some more balance in my life with another activity, probably kayaking, something I've enjoyed in the past.
Thanks Guys for all your encouragement, it's meant a lot to me