Starting Anew--for the 72nd Time

Happy New Year to you all. As the New Year represents a new beginning, after three months of experimentation with 3-P-100, I’m committing to carrying it through the next year. October started with 102.5 miles for the month, November I didn’t even post because I fell on my face with only 54 miles for the month, but I came back in December and made 100.28 miles. Whether plodding, peddling, or paddling, I’m working on maintaining a reasonable level of fitness by doing a minimum of 100 miles a month by physical exertion only. That will be 1,200 miles for the year. I’ll be working at making more of those miles with a paddle in my hands. This past year was embarrassing, and it showed, generating only 158 posts for the year, the lowest number since starting the blog four years ago. I have no delusion that my blog is noteworthy, so I continue to be grateful to those of you that find something of interest to you and keep returning. I will try to continue making the blog more and more interesting.

Nige Ayers, a Facebook friend from North Central England, has committed to doing 1,000 miles for the year, but all on foot. If you wish to track his progress, his link is:http://www.canoeandtrail.co.uk/1000miles/ 

I had an interesting experience the day before yesterday. I was biking 13 miles through area dirt roads. Many of these roads are really soft, so I try to stay in the tracks where the soil is packed or where graders have helped to remove debris. I closely watch the mirror, but also listen for the sound of occasional approaching traffic. Suddenly I heard a deep rumbling sound. A check in my mirror showed nothing. As I looked over my left shoulder, here came a herd of 50-60 cattle running flat out and overtaking me along the fence line. A 2,000 pound bison bull can run 40 mph. These may not have reached that speed, but they were really bogeying, and had they come through the fence, my chance of escaping would have been somewhere south of zero. Cattle seem to have a short attention span though, so having won the race, they veered off to their left and dropped to a comfortable gallop.