49th ride

I could not ride to work this morning, because Michelle and I had a 3:00 appointment, and in order for me to get there I needed the car. So I planned to do a ride in the late afternoon. I strongly considered doing a long ride, but then hot weather (85°) and the threat of rain made me consider going to LA Fitness instead and working out on the elliptical/recumbent machine. After our appointment, though, the rain seemed to be holding off, and I felt I could bear the heat, so I rode outside after all. But I told Michelle when I left, just before 5:00, "I'm just going to do a baby ride—10 miles." Now, I hope and expect that considerable growth and development as a cyclist still awaits me; nevertheless, I am very glad to have reached the point where 10 miles (which today took me 58 minutes) seems an easy ride, since this certainly wasn't the case when I began early this year. And today's ride helped me to cross two big plateaus—500 miles for the year, and over 50 hours of riding.

I rode one of my old running routes—the one, in fact, in the midst of which the arthritic inflammation of a vertebra shut me down as a runner. Ironically, this happened just outside the office of the chiropractor, Bill Thatcher, who would later treat me (before a different doctor diagnosed the arthritis with the aid of an MRI). And, a couple of weeks ago, Doug cautioned me that "Just because a route was good for running, you can't assume that it will necessarily be a good bicycling route. You need to reexamine it with that in mind." So, I've tried to do that. One other serious contrast that I've been forced to bear in mind is the way they differ because of length. What was an average run (my most frequent route, for example, was my 4-mile 'Figure 8') is much too short too be worth riding; and a challengingly long running route, such as today's, makes for quite an easy ride.