Sunday, November 22, 2009

Capping off a week of sickness.

Sometimes my decision making process is severely hampered by the absence of my better judgement. Let me begin by framing the situation and leave it to you the reader to decide what to do....

I've been sick since Tuesday. I received a call from my daughter on Tuesday late afternoon that my lovely spousness was home and really not feeling well. I felt a "tickle" in the back of a dry scratchy throat. By Tuesday night, dryness had blossomed into full fledged crud and by Wednesday morning, I'm certain that I may have mistaken the neighbor walking the dog for death himself circling the front of the house.

Achy all over takes on a whole new dimension when that's how a normal day feels. Coughing, running a fever, and feeling crummy is no way to greet my coworkers. So, I made the decision to burn up 4 days of paid time off for the balance of the week. I cannot believe how much I slept!!!!

By Saturday, if not feeling better, I was at least growing tiresome of being inside and lethargic. I used the morning to put a coat of wax on the car, and by afternoon... I needed to ride my bike. Better judgement beginning to loose grip, I also made plans for an early Sunday for a ride with my good friend Scott.

It's at or near 50 degrees in Minnesota and pushing the last week in November. What is one supposed to do? That's ride... go ride one's bicycle. Pressed for time, I set off on what I thought should be a leisurely ride, perhaps just beyond the neighborhood. It felt good to ride, so good that I soon found myself riding faster than I had set out to and the distance had soon stretched too... Finally, I'd gotten to the point where I was going to have to hustle to make it home in time for a dinner engagement.

Sunday, the alarm went off at 5am and I was off on the road with Scott before 6. We opted for an extended West Metro ride it before it snows and the trails are closed off for the winter route. Through Saint Anthony, Theo Wirth, the Luce Line paved/crushed limestone, the new Dakota Trail to Saint Bonafacious(all asphalt). We ate some much needed breakfast then took a couple of roads to get into Victoria where then home on more crushed limestone to Hopkins, and through the Metro. The route was almost entirely on "rails to trails" type paths which means not terribly exciting riding, flat and boring. But, it was a nice tour of some areas where neither of us typically ride. This is the approximate route: Linky Link

Although it was really nice outside, I dressed too warm, worked up too much of sweat and wound up cold by the time I got home before 1pm I was exhausted. It was a good morning spent with Scott riding and discussing plans, equipment, bike set up, etc for TransIowa. Harsh reality moment was realizing when I got home that I'd only completed 25% of what is to come late April. Fortunately, there's lots of time between now and then and thank God that the route wont be flat! I like some hills to break things up a little.

2 comments:

bicycletorch said...

I don't know if the second guessing ever ends for that ride. Thanks for slowing down for me.

Bill Connell said...

Looks like a nice ride - my brother lives out in St. Boni, and i've been meaning to ride out that way one of these days.

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