Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Late Start

How great it felt to pull on the Spandex again!

Outside of 2012, when I bought my bike in August, this is my latest start to biking season.

Long story short-- I bike early in the early morning, very early, as long as it's warmer than 50 degrees.  This has been a chilly spring, especially on my days off.

Friday morning, it was time.

I made multiple loops through my little town, 10.9 miles.  I believe it's my longest opening day trip ever, and I was shocked.

I haven't been in a gym since early March.  It takes a long time to get in shape, but a very short time to regress.  Since the gym closed, I've been on the cheese steak, Cheetos, Chex Mix, pizza, and submarine sandwich diet. Hey, I support local businesses!   I thought I'd do a couple two, three miles and call it a day.  The thigh muscle burn disappeared quickly.  The creaky knees loosened up, and I had a great time.  In fact, I could have done a couple more, but I didn't want to over do it on my maiden cruise.

So, what are the plans for the rest of the summer?  I'd be shocked if I was back in a gym before the general election in November.  In years past, I alternated gym and bike days.  I anticipate more rides, and shorter distances this year.  It seems to make sense, at least in my head.  The mileage will come out roughly the same.

So, thoughts on opening day?  Nothing new on my end.  The roads are a mess.  A water line replacement project in my town should be reclassified as vandalism.  The patching job has been horrible, and we've waited far too long for a real repaving.  I'm still not sold on LED streetlights.   They don't give nearly as much light as the old ones.  Stray cats are everywhere.  What happened to street sweeping?  Gravel abounds.

In spite of it all, it was really nice to be back on two wheels, and let's hope for a mild summer, with plenty of pedaling ahead.