Relative Something

Sure, it’s June again, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still have to live every day as if someone will be inspecting my home every time I step out the door. And it doesn’t mean I don’t have to work Saturdays at the day-job. Business is about as strong as I have seen it and our production schedule is maxed out. All hands on deck busy. So, I am on the clock today.

I will make the best of the situation and ride my bike to work. Maybe I will have energy afterwards to take a long route home and add extra miles. One thing I have re-verified, after riding to work for the last two days of the work-week: any muscle development I have accomplished by walking a half-hour everyday, has been of minimal help in pedaling my bike up hills. Holy cow, am I out of cycling shape. It’s either that or my tires have developed an increased resistance to rolling. Maybe my brakes are dragging.

I wish it didn’t have anything to do with trying to lug my heavy butt up those inclines. However, on the bright side, a heavy rider moves faster on the down-hill side of the slopes. Weeeeee!

One thing that has afflicted me in the increasing years of my 5th decade of life is, my get-up-and-go for facing hills, rain, or cold while cycling has declined dramatically. I’ve grown soft. Especially when alone. Having another rider around to distract me does wonders. Well, distract me and also trigger that urge to be competitive. I can’t help but try harder when there is someone else present. To a degree, anyway. I was passed on the way to work yesterday morning and the guy’s legs were a lot longer, and noticeably younger than mine. He sped off so fast, I didn’t have time to develop the urge to think about trying to keep up with him.

I had a nice surprise on the way home, Thursday. I was leaving work around 5 p.m., at just about the worst time for car traffic to be heavy, with drivers ornery about anything obstructing their expeditious dash for home. At precisely the time I was intending to enter the busy 4-lane out of the driveway at the work place, I spotted a cyclist already navigating the route. I jumped at the chance to get on his wheel and hoped being a pair of riders would buy us a smidgen of increased respect for space on the road.

He turned shortly thereafter and I figured that was that. A couple of streets later, he showed up again, now behind me. Seems I had picked a shorter route. We struck up a conversation, and shared the road for a good portion of the ride, eventually introducing ourselves by name. He seems like a wonderful fellow, and helped the miles to dissolve like magic. With luck, we’ll connect again in the future. It’s not just the camaraderie that I value, but also the added confidence in traffic for being two, instead of one. Even if it is false-confidence (for not being valid) I will accept being fooled and enjoy the feeling.