3.27.2011 Ride: The Journeys We Take

Due to the chance of rain, I took the mountain bike which works fine but makes my butt sore after an hour of riding on it.  And, looking ahead to the road trip in mid-April, I took along both rear pannier bags. I headed for the bike trail again, feeling like I wanted interaction, even if it were of the quick "hello" variety while passing another bicyclist or walker.  Though, I thought I was going to be hard pressed to see anyone given that the temperature was in the mid 30s and it looked as if it might rain at any minute. I came across a bicyclist right off and tried to catch up with him to take his picture.  But, my cargo-laden mountain bike was no match for his trim road bike and he quickly pulled away from me.
It certainly was a melancholy day.  Downtown was even quieter than yesterday but there were more people on the trail than I expected.

Bike Garage

I was on the weary side today and I'm sure the weather contributed to that.  It's days like these where it seems to take forever to get ready and, where I don't think twice when it does rain but know that I just need to push on, that I think about the comment from my friend Will in San Francisco. He asked if I had thought about the fact that my father, a Holocaust survivor, to escape his imprisonment in Siberia, walked 31 days through the wilderness to Yakutk and my own "journey" to ride every day.  I have indeed thought about this comparison and I especially thought about it when I took my solo 925 miles ride from Arkansas to Georgia back in 2009. 
I still don't really know the answer.  It is a fascinating question why we take the journeys we do.  I was reading in a magazine yesterday about a woman named Savage who felt compelled to cross first the Atlantic, then the Pacific and is now crossing the Indian Ocean, solo.  Would I feel compelled to bike as much as I do if my father did not do his walk?  Certainly doesn't seem as cut and dry as that. 

I know I am driven to ride every day not only to be able to say that I have ridden every day of 2011 but also because I never know where this journey will take me.  Almost every time I ride, thanks in large part to taking pictures for the blog, there is something new; the ride is definitely much more than pedaling at least 60 minutes every day and then being done with it.  So, even if my father's walk has somehow compelled me to take this journey, then it is certainly a wondrous gift that he has passed on.

These red cups were actually a welcome litter sight.  On such a dreary day, they added a bit of festiveness. This pick-up was a 2 for 1 as I didn't realize at first that there were two cups stacked together.  I picked up a third red cup just down the trail from these.







Today's Ride:  72mins.  11 miles.  36 degrees.  Light rain for 10 minutes.  Miles YTD:  1,556.82