Let’s go

Here we go!

As I get bombarded from all sides with offers to save money; I can say that nothing saves me more money than just skipping all the sales and going for a walk, run or ride.  Today Hottie and I took the Kona for a walk on the beach. 

Summer, you are just a memory

Leaving summer behind and barreling into fall!

We squeezed all we could out of summer.  Then summer just kept going all though September and we squeezed some more.  

The air has gone from crisp to cold and instead of warm afternoons, there are fleeting moments of sunshine when you don't feel the bite of the colder days. 

The road ahead

I love starting a bike ride.

You swing your leg over and head out.  You have an idea of what the ride will be like.  Sometimes you are right, and other times it evolves into something else.  The ride takes on a character of its own.  You take it all in at the speed you choose.

I love being on a ride.

You are free to go or stop or go elsewhere.  If you have enough food and drink you can go almost forever.  Some hills are easier than you expected, others take it out of you.  

If something goes wrong, there is a satisfaction in being able to make a repair and continue. Now and again you find yourself in a different place than you had planned. The uncertainty of what is ahead always adds a little mystery.  

I love finishing a ride.

Approaching the end of the ride I relish the satisfaction of completing the ride.  Fulfilling the mission as it were.  The ride was somewhere between training and fun I find no need to divide the two. 

Wintertime is over

 

Green is fresh.  Other colors, not so much.

We aren't looking backwards.  The future is all that we can affect. Looking ahead.

Moving on

Whatever. Move on.

The story of my right eye didn't end the way i hoped and expected.  I thought I would share a story about how it took twenty months of patience to get my vision back.  Instead it took twenty months to end up with bad vision in my right eye.  Yeah it sucks; but it is what it is and I'm just not going to whine about it any more. I have one good eye and that is better than none.   HTFU!

Let's turn the page

 

The forecast said it would snow overnight.  In the meantime, the inch or two from yesterday morning had mostly melted. I put on more layers than I had in worn in the past seven months. 

My earbuds stayed home as I wanted to savor this ride.  Tomorrow there would be no more trail riding for the rest of the year.  The impending storm likely would not bring skiing, but I will be skiing on these trails before I am riding on them next spring.

The sound of snow crunching under my tires is the only thing I hear. Other than the sound of my tires the forest is silent as I make my way up the trail.  The smell of rotting leaves and wet dirt will soon be lost, buried under snow.  A wind from the northwest cuts through my clothes to my chest.  My hands are warm and hidden inside giant gloves.  This is the kind of cold I hadn't felt in months.

I wasn't going hard and I wasn't going easy.  The objective here was to soak in the ride and not crash. At times the snow was slippery, in other places the dirt was soft and my rear wheel slid more than I would have liked.  I just tried to ride smart and look around so I could recall this ride when I can't ride.

NOAA says we would be getting ten to twelve inches of snow tonight.  This ride was going to be it.  

My eye doctor says I get a lens next week.  After more than five hundred days, that ordeal could be coming to an end.  After that surgery I'll be on the sidelined for another month, so my return may be on skis. 

Here is the warming hut.  All it needs is some snow.

This is me.  Ready to turn the page?  Hell yes!

Time rolls on

It is between ninety and one hundred degrees as I climb steadily, the sun overhead shines down through my bike helmet and jersey and into my soul.  The shadows from the trees on either side of the road fail to reach to the pavement.  Everything about this moment says heat, yet I recognize this open stretch of road as a spot where, in springtime when the snow is retreating, I have had to turn around as the snow on the road becomes solid just around the corner. 

The oddity of thinking of snow in the burning heat of summer reminds me of my own seasonality. Only a month ago I was lamenting my complete lack of fitness and now just between yesterday and today I will have nearly six hours of saddle time. 

At times my physical setbacks seem unending, yet if I step back wisdom tells me this too will pass.  After a spring that refused to come to an end, summer is here; dry, dusty and hot. Seeing the mountains now one would never imagine that in six months they will be blanketed with snow, subject to the long, cold dark nights of winter. 

Yes, today shows no hint of any other day, but those days will come.  I welcome today and I will welcome the changes when they happen.  For now, I will pause, breathe deep and be grateful.