Weather Guilt
2019 Outdoor Season: Ride #45
The Route: Lost (sort of)
The Miles: 19.0
The Time: 1:28
The Ave. Speed: 12.8 mph
The Weather:
Sunny
73
Wind, 10-20 mph Windy out of west
Season Total Miles: 983
Third day in a row on the bike, a ride that probably shouldn't have happened at all after yesterday's massive leg cramp lockup.
But do you know why I talked myself into just going out to 'spin out' my legs on a nice easy little ride?
Weather guilt.
It's something I never really thought about in terms of using that particular title, until my buddy Jerry brought it up to me in a phone conversation earlier this week. You see Jerry is now one of the many retirees from Wisconsin now living in Florida. One of the adjustments to living there he told me is the lack of weather guilt, which is what fueled my ride today. He no longer has it there in Florida because the weather is so nice so often there.
The sun was out and it was already warming to 70 degrees at 10:30 in the morning as I finished up my show for the day and looked out the window.
All I could think about was the fact that I could not let this weather slip away without getting a ride in, for tomorrow comes more rain and colder air. And around these parts, we all know what comes next-- a long icy period of riding indoors on the trainer!
Way too much guilt to NOT ride today. So true.
I started out on the North Loop route, which unfortunately takes me on two climbs on bridges before I even get to my first two miles in. That kind of strain on my left quad wasn't needed when I knew I would have to baby it on the ride to make any miles at all. Fingers crossed...let's see what happens.
I got over the lumps okay only to find road construction, the kind where the road is gone and you can't get through.
Fine by me. I just took a couple of roads unknown, enjoying the sunshine.
I find that a lot of my miles this season have seemed to come in the Town of Clayton, a pretty little area of farms and homes and lots of trees. So here's to you Town of Clayton. Job well done.
Anyway, the 'lost' portion of my ride didn't last long. It spit me out on ironically the very same old road that you see on the cover page of this blog. Beautiful canopy of trees. Suddenly I knew right where I was.
In fact, I think a bit down that road is where the sunflower fields that I took photos of last year were. Looked like everything had already be harvested and cut down.
One final bridge climb toward the end of the ride sent a few twinges down my thigh, a reminder that I better make sure to end this soon.
19 miles isn't much, but it's 19 miles I would have never done if not for weather guilt!