Biketodetroit

Here are some numbers on mileage and speed.
We rode a total of 2,970 miles in 41 days. 39 days riding and 2 rest days.
We did not intend it when we set out, but we broke our previous record for consecutive days riding. We did not take a break after Telluride, and rode for 20 consecutive days to Detroit. We didn't have a place we really wanted to stay, and then as we got closer...

Distances. On an average day riding we covered 76.2 miles. Counting the rest days our average was 72.4 miles. The median was 73.

The distribution was fairly tight, with almost half the days (18) between 65 and 79 miles.

There were only 7 days below 65 miles, and the shortest day was 48 miles. All the short days were due to lack of any place to stay further down the road. We did not have any days which were shortened by weather or bike problems.

There were 3 days of 103 miles, and 11 days of 80 to 100 miles. The longest days all had good wind and some downhill.

There was a dramatic difference in the days before Telluride and the days after. In the 19 days before Telluride we averaged 67.6 miles, and had our 4 shortest mileage days. In the 20 days after Telluride we averaged 84.3 miles (that's an increase of 25%), and we had our 11 longest days. The most obvious differences in those two groups are that the earlier days had mountains and desert, and the later days were flatter and had good wind. But the second group includes the Rockies. I think two other factors were at work. One, we got stronger as we went on, and to a lesser extent we benefitted later from our acclimatization to altitude, and that benefit continued as we descended. A final factor is that lack of places to stay in Nevada and Utah somewhat forced shorter days.

Speed. I kept track of "rolling speed", that is average speed while biking, not counting any stops. Our slowest day was 9.0 mph; the fastest was 19.1 mph. The median day was 13.3.

There are a few general observations: almost all the slower days were before Telluride, and the slowest days were all due to long and severe climbs. (The slowest day was climbing Cedar Canyon out of Cedar City; the second slowest was the Hogback in the Escalante region of Utah; the third was climbing out of the Colorado River canyon.)

The fastest days were almost all after Telluride, and all of the fastest days were aided by favorable wind.

We had days of rain, but it didn't feel like the rain held us back that much. Wind was important but not rain. I am working on a method to assign values to wind and rain conditions for each day so that David can do a regression analysis and we will report to you on their exact effect.

For fear you will stop reading, that's all for now. Keep watching for more data. Upcoming articles will cover flat tires, repairs, a critique of America's motels and diners, and a report on our success in adapting to using toilets again.