Summer’s End

Labor Day weekend is looming, the kids are back in school, the traffic is back in the mornings, and multiple tropical systems are swirling around the Atlantic.  Must be the end of August.  This time last year, we had just survived Hurricane Irene, and were bracing for Tropical Storm Lee.  Hopefully, September 2012 will be less exciting.

The dog days of summer weren’t particularly kind to my riding this year, as they have been in years past; but I did manage to finish August up with 14 rides.  If the weather cooperates, September can be a pretty good riding month, so we’ll see how that works out.  I’ve got a couple of business trips coming up in October that will likely cut into my ride totals that month.  My original goal of 180 rides this year is looking less likely, but that’s OK.  I am trying to get a little less goal-oriented about my riding, particularly as I’m cutting back on it a bit (at least distance, if not frequency) to do some running and other cross-training.

With all the extra school traffic now, I’m once again steering clear of Montgomery Road in the mornings.  Today, I cut through CCBC Catonsville again, the same route I took on April 20 and one or two other times since then.  It’s still a good route, but boy is it hilly.  Actually, most of my rides that avoid Montgomery Rd seem to be hilly.  It’s just the price you pay to stay out of traffic, I guess.