6000 miles

We’ve got ourselves some good old-fashioned Mid-Atlantic summer weather this week.  My morning ride was a nice, sweaty, humid 81°.  High of 89 later today, with (you guessed it) thunderstorms predicted for late afternoon and evening.  I tend to take shorter rides in this kind of weather, and today was no exception.

Yesterday afternoon I flipped the odometer on my road bike over to 6000 miles.  I was at the corner of Poplar Ave and Shelbourne Rd, just leaving the UMBC campus.  I also remember 5000, which I hit on September 29, 2009, on the Grist Mill Trail in Patapsco State Park.  4000 was on June 2, 2009.  Now that I have 2 commuter bikes, I’m spreading the mileage out between them a bit more.

It’s been a good week for wildlife sightings.  Tuesday I saw a bird on the river that looked like a heron or egret.  It’s kind of rare to see these types of sea birds in our area.  Wednesday I surprised a fox on South St in Relay, just after exiting the park.  Today I rescued a box turtle from the park access road.  And of course, there’s also been the usual bevy of unfriendly Canada geese.

Today marked my last ride of May.  Total tally: 18 commutes by bike, 0 by car.  My kind of month!