Rolled out to work yesterday on the Dawes. First time in three weeks, in what has shaped up to be a pretty spotty year so far, mileage-wise. It’s been riding in more or less two week chunks. First couple o’ weeks this year were steady if unspectacular, but then I got immersed in an off-site work project (that I knew was looming) for a solid 2 weeks. That meant that January Mileage got hung at 165 miles
February was a bit more regular - nothing huge (longest ride was 44 miles on the Quickbeam). But illness went ripping through the workplace and I could feel things heading south towards the end of the month. It came on like a slow cold, but ended up being a nastier bug which just wouldn’t leave. Couldn’t even muster up the energy to go to yoga, and the idea of riding seemed like a cruel joke. (And of course, we enjoyed some ridiculously fine weekends in there…) February Mileage was 249 with dwindling returns as the month wound down.
And that has more or less kept me in the cycling doldrums until yesterday, when it seemed right to roll out again. The Dawes seemed the right ride as it was geared a little lower than the Quickbeam, and the Hilsen (for some reason of deferred maintenance or attention) has not had the fenders remounted on it for some time now. To my surprise, the commute went easily, and my legs seemed to actually appreciate being called upon once again. (Nothing like crampy, why-the-hell-don’t-you-take-us-riding? night legs while you are trying to sleep while coughing with a sinus infection…).
Lastly, it’s very hard to even begin to complain about all of this while reading and watching what is unfolding in Japan. I’ll ride in again slowly this morning, thinking about the power and intensity of the tide surging into the San Francisco Bay - an ocean away from the epicenter - how tenuous our grasp always is on this planet, on our very important but infinitesimal existence, how we so often manage to create problems for ourselves with such far-reaching effects, how we allow discussions to devolve into petty squabbles which do nothing other than confuse the issues.
I hope I’ll think about those things and find a core of resilience. The simple act of turning the pedals seems to simplify things, remind me that great distances can be covered with seemingly small but steady efforts. We’ll see how it goes today.