Great Two-hour Bike Ride

Monday, April 5, 2010

“So…Dan…you see me in the Plain Dealer Sunday morning?” I had called Dan, my mechanic, to tell him I wanted to drop the jeep off for some work.

“Don’t read the paper,” he replied. “Why were you in it?”

“My blog stuff. Remember when I was out here about two months ago and you were giving me all that crap about riding in the cold?”

“Vaguely. What’s a blog?”

“Let me guess…you don’t have a computer…do you?”

He had one, but no internet. Dan’s a bit of a throwback. I’d met him when I was the Fitness Director for the Back Wall and he was a member training for his first triathlon. I’d done the Iron Man and, for him, that was credibility enough to seek my advice. He was an auto mechanic and damned good at it. We used to ride on the weekends together, but he always felt like he was holding me back. I couldn’t convince him that I liked going with people just to help them along – I wasn’t always looking to push it. On one particular ride, I had a shocking discovery when he punctured a tire…

“How do you get this chain back on the sprocket?” he asked, struggling.

“Haven’t you done this a hundred time?” I asked…shocked to see the ace mechanic struggle with anything.

“Never done it. Take it to the bike mechanic.”

“You what? You – the best mechanic in the frigging world – and you don’t fix your own bike?”

“John – if there’s no motor attached – I don’t bother with it.”

And he was serious. Anyway, I was at his house in Chardon again with the same Jeep I’d left in February. Thankfully, there was no snow this day and I was in much better shape. The ride home was only about 15 miles and I knew I wanted a longer ride. I headed east and south – away from home. I love riding out that way. There are so many roads with moderate to light vehicle traffic. It’s quite surprising what a short distance you need to travel from a major metropolitan area to find yourself in a very rural community. There are even working farms.

I took a pretty leisurely ride. I was just doing it for the calorie burn, transportation, and the sheer joy of riding. Besides, John was planning on meeting me tomorrow for a ride and I didn’t want my legs to be too tired to push him to the limit. He needs a couple of more rides before the 55-mile birthday jaunt and he needs that push from me. Goals do work. My birthday goal is forcing him to do the training necessary to accompany me. I know for a fact that he would not be riding so much right now if I hadn’t goaded him into coming with me.

To lengthen the ride, I dropped down to Chagrin River Road for about 10 miles. For you cyclists out there – stay away. This used to be (and still is for many) the place to ride. But the road is in terrible shape all through Hunting Valley – not that they want us riding down there anyway. I’m sticking to County Line Road...

It turned out to be a solid 2-hour ride. Be careful, Johnny, I’m coming for you…

Bike duration: Two hours.

Training Heart Rate: 125

Calories burned during workout: 1,800