Day 17 in a row: Though I’d been running a low grade fever, coughing and nursing a sore throat since Friday, I was sure if I just kept going, it would finally disappear. Hmm…
The skies were gray and the forecast was for rain, but it seemed to be holding off and I wanted to work in a ride. I was supposed to meet Kimberly for a picture taking hike at five, so that didn’t leave me enough time for my 35-mile route. I hurried out the door with the bike so I could get in as many miles as possible, though.
I know I’ve been riding a in more relaxed fashion for the last several years. It shows whenever I try to go hard as my thighs begin to throb and beg me to slow down. Once upon a time, that would be the signal to ride harder and push through. It was the necessary ingredient to making me a stronger, faster rider. And for pain.
I’m tired of that I’ve been telling myself. But on this particular ride I found myself up out of the saddle and pushing hard on every rise in the road. I was in the profile bars and pushing harder on the flats, as well. I was thinking about how I used to time every ride and have time records for the different courses I rode, only being satisfied when I approached or broke those records. I was thinking I needed a stopwatch and should do that again. All these thoughts were occurring to me as I hacked up a lung and spit phlegm to the ground.
It was an exhausting 2-hour ride. My lovely neighbor noticed me pulling in the drive at the completion and asked me to come over for chicken and a salad. I had about twenty minutes to spare and it was such a kind offer that I couldn’t refuse. I showered, changed and joined her on her porch.
As soon as I sat down, she looked at me and said, “You look sad lately. Is something wrong?”
How perceptive people who know you well can be. We don’t see a lot of each other, but enough that she had noticed something I hadn’t even noticed myself – a change in behavior. I explained about Miggie as she held my hand and teared up. “It is what it is and there is nothing I can do,” I concluded.
I picked up Kimberly…and her bike for some minor repairs…and headed for Brandywine Falls. Though the water flow was down, it was still an impressive volume crashing over the rocks and cascading 65 feet to the pool below. After several pictures, we headed back to my place to get Dakota and walk the Towpath to the Beaver Marsh. The river had receded back into the banks, but the trail still had significant puddles. We sat at the marsh and photographed a Great Blue Heron, among other things. We talked about her training program and the need to amp it up if she was to be ready to climb Giant in the Adirondacks this September.
“You need one really hard day every week and that hell day is going to be spent with me so I make sure it happens,” I told her. On the bike, with a backpack climbing multiple hills or steps and maybe even some jogging, but I am going to make sure she doesn’t start up that mountain unprepared. I love guinea pigs.
Bike: Two hours.
Hike: 40 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 biking and 70 bpm hiking.
Calories Burned: 1850.
Bonus: 22,000 steps
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