After a breakfast of Kashi cereal and a smoothie, I tried to change my aunt’s home page on her 10-year old computer. She claimed that I’d messed it up the last time I was there and wanted me to fix it.
“I don’t want that girl showing up every time I turn it on. Maybe you should stay home and send Holly up for the next visit,” she complained. Holly knows a hell of a lot more about computers than I do and I’d told my aunt this.
“I didn’t put her on your computer…but I’ll damn sure get her off before I leave. By the way…there have been a few advances in computer technology since you bought this one in the 80’s. You can click on a website and actually have the computer go to it and not measure the time it takes with an egg timer, you know,” I said.
She really had no clue. To her, it operated just fine. She and my uncle were retired and had time on their hands. So what if it took 60 seconds to go from one picture to the next on facebook.
“You should get a Mac. They never have viruses and they last forever. For storing pictures on writing emails, which by the way, you still haven’t answered the last one I sent you…two months ago,” I said.
My uncle joined the conversation about new computers and when he heard my recommendation, commented that an Apple would be a good idea.
“John said a Mac and you think we should get an Apple?” my aunt commented. Need I say more?
I drove to Donnie’s and hopped in his car for the ride to the church. It was the only Catholic church in Louisville and was filled to overflowing. The cemetery adjoined the property, so we didn’t have far to go for the burial and drove to the town community hall for the reception after. It had been raining all morning and continued through the lunch where I laid plans for a long bike ride. My uncle rides all over the North Country on one of three different bikes. He picks up recyclables as he travels the back roads as he has for years.
“Johnny…just topped $3,000 in returns last summer. Paid for that carbon fiber bike you’re going to be riding this afternoon,” he said.
He’s 72 and my aunt is 66. She rides, kayaks, does jazzercise, golfs and hikes as well. Neither of them looks their age and both are as active as I plan to be when I get to their age.
My uncle couldn’t join me for the ride, so I returned to his place and suited up. I looked over my map and picked state route 72 east as my road of choice. It looked like it would be well paved and lightly traveled and it entered the Adirondack State Park, a place I’d often hiked but never ridden. I headed out with plans for a two-hour ride. I never stick to my plan, though.
I rode until 72 dead-ended and then started following county roads further east and north. I rode one stretch for about an hour without seeing a car. The road was in reasonably good shape and the countryside was dotted with farms, though few and far between. The rain was light, but steady and rather refreshing. Ninety minutes into the ride, I turned and began to retrace my course. Riding with a tail wind, I returned in eighty minutes just as the skies were clearing. It was the longest hard ride I’d taken in several weeks; averaging 18 mph, and with no knee pain. I did feel some fatigue and soreness in my low back by the end of the ride, but it was minimal.
There is very little in the North Country. No industry to speak of and only small pockets of people. The roads are well maintained and offer huge shoulders, so riding is fantastic. Their season to ride is considerably shorter than Ohio’s…unless you’re willing to ride when there’s snow on the ground, but the months you can ride comfortably, it couldn’t be better.
I joined my cousins Donnie and Pat for dinner, which amounted to smoothies made with apple cider that I’d brought from Ohio to show them the proper way to make one. Donnie claimed they didn’t have any cider in the North Country…not enough apples, he figured. Not looking hard enough, I figured. Anyway, I made them and they loved them. We spent the evening doing what we do best, shooting the shit about our adventures together as kids, memories of Jim, Uncle Don and other relatives that have passed and analyzing and solving problems of the mere mortals that were a part of our lives. We surely make the world a better place.
Bike Duration: 2 hour and 50 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 120 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 2400.
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