It only takes a half day off in the middle of the week for me to start really fantasizing about retirement. I was feeling so good about the day before that I decided on the spur to take the next day off, too. The farm could handle my absence and I needed the mental break after several weeks of dealing with ice, snow and now mud.
I slept in a little since I’d had trouble sleeping the night before, but once I was moving, I didn’t stop. I managed several more coats on the cabinet doors, made some breakfast and got ready for a ride. The forecast was for more rain and for the next several days, so I was anxious to ride my third day in a row. It wasn’t quite as warm as the previous day, but it was still dry as I rode off.
I picked a different route, choosing to ride up SR303 and then following it into Hudson and beyond, depending on how I felt and how much time I had. Jason is off on Wednesdays and so I’d asked him to come over with my granddaughter Josie, for a visit. We agreed that he’d call when he was ready and since he was forty minutes away, I figured that would allow me enough time to turn and head for home when he did.
I crossed under SR8 heading east for Hudson on a wide shoulder designated as a bike path. It took me almost the entire way into town before narrowing once on the town streets. It remained that way heading out of town, but the bike path returned and appeared to continue into Streetsboro. As I reached Stow Road and noticed that it too had a bike lane and ran north/south, it began to rain. I was an hour from home and decided to turn back, finding quickly that I would be facing a strong head wind for the return.
It was a ponderous ride. The temperature was dropping into the low forties as I reached the top of the four-mile hill descent into Peninsula. That meant pelting, cold rain with tire spray covering my face. At least I’d be going fast.
After two hours of riding, I pulled into my drive waterlogged and shivering. I spent the next ten minutes wiping down ‘Locke’ since I’d pledged not to let him get dirty, but was chilled to the bone by the time I made it to the shower.
And then my son and granddaughter arrived followed by Heidi on her scooter and I got to really find out one of the great values of retirement. We sat and talked and laughed at that precious little girl for the next two hours. I’d worked on cabinets, ridden my bike, and enjoyed my children and grandchild. Life is too good and I’m a lucky man.
Bike duration: Two hours.
Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm.
Calories Burned: 1,500.
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