I was able to get in rides yesterday and today after all. There was a little mist while I was out in the middle of nowhere but the rain so confidently predicted by my favorite source for weather information never materialized. Neither ride was the jaunt CD's Friday Ride Guide envisioned. Instead Saturday's and Sunday's rides were truncated versions of Friday's vision. I just had to feel like a champ on Farrington Road before I turned at Hollands Chapel Road.
Like so many weekends this one did not turn out as planned. A friend who's covered my butt called and needed help moving Saturday. My only questions were where and when. The two hours — don't get me wrong, they were well spent helping a friend — were hours originally planned for the 2100. But we haven't been on the back side of the solstice long enough for that benefit to show up in terms of noticeably increased light for weekend rides. With threats of rain for today, I figured Saturday's ride would wrap up 2006 for cycledork. The predicted rain still hadn't started by 1 p.m. Sunday so I pulled myself together and cranked it out at a little more than 19 mph.
I bought a new cycle computer in early June. The odometer reading after I got in today was 2,456. That's about 100 miles per week and factors in three weeks when, for a variety of reasons, I did not ride at all. But after May 15, when I went to work I rode a bike every day except two: May 22 and June 14. On the first of those days I got a flat down the street from cycledork central so I took the easy way out by coming back to headquarters and getting in the car. On the second, as Tropical Storm Alberto came through, it was clear to me I was unequipped to deal with the weather. I have both worked and spent to equip myself properly since and the work is still in progress. We're all familiar with cycledork's aversion to wet feet, the miraculous arrival of the secret weapon and the plusses and minuses of various rain pants (don't be surprised if a rain-pants review shows up soon).
So what's the payoff for all of this, particularly over the last seven months and the miles? It's that cycledork's healthier than he has been in my adult life. I'm a rock and my doctor gushes when he reviews my lab results. It's a finger to an employer's auto-insurance requirements so subtle it will likely never be noticed. It's everything learned about how to ride and how to commute, two related but separate activities. And it's the rush — the only ones cycledork's had that are better are sex and skiing. See you on the road.
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2 comments:
I have a fondness for www.weatherunderground.com...
I haven't used weatherunderground for many years but have always loved the name. It has come a long way since the last time I looked at it. What I like about accuweather is that it gives hour-by-hour forecasts for precipitation. It really helps to know 12 or 24 hours in advance if that three-hour dry window is going to be there come ride time.
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