WHAT is the average velocity of an unladen Surly?

(Is that an African or European Surly, you ask? In fact, Ollie's from Minnesota -- I thought you could tell from the accent. Don't ya know.)

I know Ollie's weight keeps coming up in conversation -- for awhile there I was concerned she'd develop pannierexia, but she seems to be immune to the stares she gets on bike trails and from kids waiting at bus stops as we cruise past. We're still loaded up, but at least we'll be where states are flat for the next few weeks. (Not pretend flat like that poser state, Ohio. I mean actually flat.) If the headwind ever gives us a break, we should be cruising along at a decent clip for a bit.

I've been playing with numbers again and thought I'd toss out a few stats for the numeraphiles out there. (You were going to look that up, weren't you? It's not a word...yet.)

3: average number of times each day that someone asks me how much my bike weighs

1800: miles biked so far

2000: number of visitors to the blog (!)

4: flat tires since departing DC (not too shabby, all things considered)

14: average miles per hour on an unladen Ollie (When I'm hoofing it, say, trying to get across town to Growing Power, it's closer to 18; meandering around is about 11. Fully loaded runs around 10 and involves a significantly higher heart rate and more frequent snack breaks.)

3: number of times I've been confused about exactly which time zone I'm in

8: varieties of cheese I have consumed over the course of today (Hey, it is Wisconsin, land of dairy. Between parmesan on my leftover pasta for breakfast, wine and cheese by the pool at Julie's in the late afternoon, and an irresistible assortment of local cheeses at the Wisconsin Foodie release party that Martha invited me to this evening, I wouldn't be surprised if I started mooing in my sleep.)

And finally, 0: number of times I've regretted my decision to embark on the bikeable feast

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Penns-HILL-vania

Okay, seriously: I think the longest stretch of flat road along the 35 miles from Steve's apartment in Pittsburgh to Maggie's Mercantile organic farm was 50 feet. No joke. (I don't kid about such things.) Also, PA-30 is not a road I would recommend for cyclists for reasons other than the constant hill action (hopped up truckers with clear psychological issues and obnoxious soccer moms in minivans on their cell phones). PA-819, on the other hand, had nice motorists but poor signage and unforgiving hills.

I've been playing around with some numbers -- mostly as a way to distract myself from the lactic acid build up in my hamstrings on hills #14-37 yesterday -- and thought I'd share a few stats.

Since starting the official Bikeable Feast on 26 April:

- 335 miles biked
- 14 hills totally or partially walked hauling Ollie + accessories
- 3 flat tires
- 1 ditch dive
- 1 bike computer + 3 fender parts lost (in ditch)
- 3 slow motion crashes directly attributable to clipless pedals
- 15 phone conversations with my parents (not mentioning crashes)
- 3 straight days of motown on the mental mp3 player

Also, I just checked the site stats and since mid-February (when I installed Google Analytics) and there have been over 800 unique visitors to the blog! Whoah. I mean, mom and dad, you guys must be working hard to create so many fake identities to log in with. Or maybe the word is spreading.... :)

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