The heat finally broke this morning, and it was 62 degrees
when I started my ride. What a beautiful morning! Winston Churchill once said
that there is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the
inside of a man. While the size of the
saddle and the amounts of effort are considerably different, I think the same
can be said for a bicycle.
I think today was the first time that I really just relaxed
and enjoyed the ride. I wasn’t training or exercising, I was just riding my
bike around a lake. I saw a wild turkey,
some herons and lots of ducks and geese. As I ride along, I can hear the
wildlife stirring around in the woods as the sun finishes coming up. Being on a bike is so quiet, a lot of the
wildlife barely notices I am passing by.
I rode about 12 miles, average speed of 10.5 miles per hour,
and top speed of 21.4 miles per hour. That was a really big hill that was great
to ride down, but a gut puller to ride up.
It changes about 50 feet of elevation in around two blocks, but the ride
down is worth the ride up!
I just realized I left something out of my first entry. When
I decided to do this, my first stop was my doctor. He did all the blood work,
checked my heart, signed me up for a cardio Doppler or some such thing, and
verified that I was probably healthy enough
to get this done. I want to
encourage anyone who is following this to get a bike and start riding, but if
you are my age, talk to the doc first.
Sunday I will be hitting the Blue Springs Trail and
hopefully making it as far as Lees Summit. More about that on Monday.
I hope you will take time to pledge or donate to support
this ride, and the work that NHS does in our neighborhoods.
More later.
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