It’s high summer here in the Northern hemisphere, and all that lovely weather is provoking all kinds of interesting activity. Blogger Tracyrwdeboer is back on the bike, Susan is car camping, Tracy I is celebrating her discovery of active dresses for everyday summer walking to work and conferencing, and Sam is doing her best to ride long and not get hit by hail or lightning.
So what am I up to? Cycling– cycling as much as I can, as often as I can, with whomever will ride with me. I’m doing this for several reasons. In no particular order, they are:
1)I’m doing the PWA Friends for Life Bike Rally one-day ride with Sam, Sarah, Judy, and others (my apologies for not remembering the whole list). Sam is doing all six days from Toronto to Montreal, and a bunch of the bloggers have done the six-day ride as well. I’m not ready for that (and frankly, not a camping fan), so the one-day 110k ride from Toronto to Port Hope is right for me as a goal.
2) I haven’t been riding much at all for the past 2 years. But, for the past couple of months, I have been slowly returning to more active cycling. It’s been hard and continues to be hard. I’m older, heavier, and remember too well times when I was faster and the rides went easier. But here I am, looking to find my new normal. I’m not there yet, but am making my way. I want to find comfort and pleasure again on the saddle, and so logging some time and miles is the way to find it.
3) Riding more also means riding more with friends, reaffirming my identity as an active person, and sharing fun experiences with them on two wheels. I’ve been riding regularly with my friend Pata. On July 4th, I did a gorgeous ride around Cape Ann north of Boston with my friend Janet. We glided by beaches and rocks and ocean and parks and clam shacks. And she will testify that I didn’t actually complain until we were, (unbeknownst to me), .5 miles from the end of the ride. Not too bad… 🙂
I have plans to do a group ride with a bunch of friends next weekend, and will be riding hopefully with Jen, who is training for the Pan-Mass Challenge charity ride. I know, this seems like summer cycling business as usual. But for me it represents a return to the life I used to have, a life that got lost in the shuffle of life events, physical changes, and loss of focus.
I’m back. And I rode 100+ miles this week! here’s the breakdown:
Monday: 16 miles with Pata
Tuesday: 27 miles on Cape Ann with Janet
Tuesday: 10 miles of Brompton commuting to see July 4th fireworks
Thursday: 30 miles with Pata
Saturday: threshold ride, 13 miles total
Sunday: ride to and from church, 16 miles
total for week: 112 miles
I don’t remember the last time I rode that much in a week. But I will be riding that much next week. And the week after. And so on.
