Monday, September 26, 2011

I thought it was raining.....

....but it was bugs! Hitting my face as I rode. I squinted and kept my mouth shut. I pedaled on, churning through the hatch. They came in waves, like miniature kamikazes of unintended accuracy. When I cleared the trees they thinned out and I was able to open my eyes, straighten up and catch a breath of relief.

This would be the sixth consecutive cloudy day threatening more rain. I went anyway, I didn't care if it started raining. I wanted a good ride, bugs and whatever else may come my way.

So far my 55 year old knees have held up pretty well to my increased mileage. I am consistently doing 15 milers, which might not seem like a lot. Not too many years ago riding 5 miles would result in days of knee pain, so I think I'm doing pretty well. My goal is to work my way up to 25 and then 50 pain free miles in a day. This fall I'm planning a bike camping trip with my son so I need to keep moving.

One of these days I'm going to buy a $150 helmet that looks cool. But for now I'll have to be satisfied with my $40 Coleman Cooler Helmet. Hmmm...maybe a goatee would help.

4 comments:

Clare said...

How many hours in 50 pain free miles? Goatee and mustach a la Grandpa?

Carl said...

On the road I think 4-5 hours would be reasonable for 50 miles depending on how often I stop for pictures and snacks.

Goatee: I had one before but the opinions were mixed and the one that counted the most was negative: Irma's. Plus once you shave it off you just look weird for a while until you get used to your own face again.

Anonymous said...

Not a fan of the goatee....just saying

Cathy said...

Carl, you look great! One of the perks of being of a certain age is that you don't have to worry about looking "cool".