Cramming in last minute miles

This was my first long ride in well over a week and first real ride since the flu bug I caught last week. I was happy to see the temperatures finally above freezing, and my lungs were ready to try to catch up on my lack of riding/mileage from earlier in the week.

To get the miles in I figured I'd try to do the xXx racing team's route up to Highland Park. I deviated a little but made it almost all the way up before the weather turned pretty awful. On my way home I decided to add some more miles by also shooting pretty far out west through Skokie. Then I finished up by doing my midnight ride route down into the west loop, then the loop, then back through River North/Gold Coast back home. I also realized I was making great time out in the 'burbs. I didn't realize how much the stop and go riding in the city ruins my average speed stats. In the 'burbs I was at around 17-18mph, compared to 13-14mph in the city.

Ride Stats:
Sat, Jan 5, 2008 - 44.61 mi [Cycling]
44.61 mi in 03:04:22 hours at 14.52 mi/h on Trek 2200.