Back in the Saddle
After a month hiatus due to weather, I finally got in another metric century ride Saturday.
I did get in rides of 35 (on 3/18) and 46 (on 4/1) miles in between, but for the most part the weather has not been conducive to cycling on the weekends. Even with the weather being as it’s been, after 14 weeks I’m averaging slightly more miles per week this year than I did over all of last year. And I hit my monthly mileage goal for each of January, February, and March.
And now that I’ve got the mundane details out of the way, the unusual bits from Saturday’s ride…
For about 10 miles of today’s ride, I ended up talking to another cyclist about a variety of topics. We started talking about bike frames, since I still ride a steel frame bike and those are getting rare due to manufacturing costs. They’re all for the most part aluminum and/or carbon fiber now.
Keep in mind, this conversation is all happening while traveling at roughly 20 miles an hour by bicycle, over the aforementioned 10 miles.
After talking about bike frames, with little segue between, we ended up talking about the recent Supreme Court decision allowing anyone arrested for anything to be strip searched. The conversation then progressed to the case on health care, which progressed to a discussion on health care costs and retirement planning - he was 53 - and the current trajectory of rising health care costs, and what sorts of things could be done about that.
And then… we arrived at an intersection where we went our separate ways.
I never did get his name.
I wish I had been able to get a picture of it, but I passed a car (a grey convertible) with the Autobot emblem affixed to the side, just in front of the door. It wasn’t a sticker either, it was a shiny plastic emblem like the various and sundry fish emblems that can be seen on cars.
And… that’s all I can remember. I was thinking there was something else that I saw, but it’s gone now.
All in all, it was a good ride - I was a little worried that after a month I’d have slipped a little, but I was able to keep going strong throughout. Well, up until mile 55 or so, then fatigue started setting in…
Some people fly
and some of us worry
of touching the sun with wings.
I know if I try
I’ll get where I’m going
keeping my eyes on the sky.
- Queensrÿche, “Some People Fly”
