71st ride

This morning's ride was disappointing. I always like to do a long ride on Saturday morning, so, as I mentioned yesterday that I planned to do, I set off at 5:45 to ride the 36-mile round trip to Chelsea. But I could tell after a very short way that the damage I had sustained from yesterday's fall, when I jammed my left thumb into the ground, was going to make it problematic. It was difficult to grip the handlebars, and virtually impossible to work the lever to shift my chain wheel.

Nevertheless, I was going, and felt I should keep going, for the sake of developing discipline and mental toughness—no matter how slowly I had to ride. But then, as I soldiered northward on Wagner Rd., headed up toward Ann Arbor-Dexter where I would turn left to head, first to Dexter, and then onward via Dexter-Chelsea Rd. to Chelsea, I began to grow concerned that I might actually worsen the condition by trying to push myself this way. So, at a little past 4 miles into the ride, I turned right on Liberty and headed back toward home, and had to settle for a mere 10.2 miles in 1 hour 3 minutes.