Today's Exercise [From BA 43-300]
"How about the best ride ever, the most carefree I remember having ever felt? The blissful, heart-and-stomach-bursting-out-of-body kind of freedom possible only after the heaviest weight was lifted."
Wonderful summer evening.
THIS is the kind of evening one should be out riding carefree as we once had done.
I remember thinking it as I took the recycling out to the bin and felt the warm night air, but I went back in the house and didn’t actually ride, like I had been so motivated to write about doing.
I need to get out there for some purposeful rides. Of course, several recent events could count among these potential exercise rides (not including the training rides that happen anyway).
Maybe I should consider the ride home from the farmer’s market in drenching (semi-arid Colorado) rain? Yes, that was a miserable ride. We lightweights in the dry mountain West don’t know what to do about rain, and of course things seemed like they would be okay when we looked in the direction of the small patch of favorable weather visible outside our kitchen window. I had fenders and a rain jacket, but the 15 extra pounds of wet pants was unwelcome. Plus, what does it matter if your backpack is tarp-lined when you’re opening it in the rain and putting a wet bag of vegetables inside? On the way home we felt like champs, and even though no one else was around to notice—I knew they were amazed that I could withstand such challenging circumstances. What a hero! Hot chocolate and root vegetable soup were our rewards. That, and dry denim.
Better yet, how about the best ride ever, the most carefree I remember having ever felt? The blissful, heart-and-stomach-bursting-out-of-body kind of freedom possible only after the heaviest weight (that terrible burden slowly stacked on over years with magnitude not fully understood) was lifted from our lives, when we found out she doesn’t have it? Yes, let’s count that one. On that day we rode to the library for books on Woody Guthrie. Later to Anne’s house to let her know, who we instead found on the bike path before we got there. Next to the craft store for the biggest box of crayons we could find, because it truly felt that morning like new colors opened up in the sky. Then a trip to shop for festive shorts because she just looked good in them. Hours later we were on our way to Alvin and Mary’s house, and finally dinner.
That ride counts for more than I hope we’ll ever know.