Saturday, September 25, 2021

Three is a Magic Number


"Yes it is, it's a magic number
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number
The past and the present and the future
Faith and hope and charity
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number
It takes three legs to make a tripod or to make a table stand
It takes three wheels to make a vehicle called a tricycle
And every triangle has three corners
Every triangle has three sides
No more, no less, you don't have to guess
When it's three, you can see
Its a magic number..."

We had plans tonight to meet a group of old friends for dinner on one couple's deck. 
One of the six friends who Dan and I hung out with: Christine!
I hadn't seen her since just before COVID. (p.s. 53 degrees)


Since I had that preexisting plan, I couldn't attend the Major Taylor Cycling Club end-of-season BBQ. And since I couldn't go to that, and the days are getting shorter and colder, I figured today would be a good day to meet my goal of doing 3, 100-mile rides this season. And I did! 
But it was hard. I haven't been riding much. Also, when I left my house just before 7:30 this morning, it was 43 with a wind chill of 39. Oy! 
~ 8:30 am: Hat, headband over the ears,
arm warmers, wool shirt, yellow pullover,
yellow vest, and a wool neck buff.

Biking shorts, street capris,
knee high wool socks, shoe covers,
two pairs of thin full-fingered gloves.

And I didn't drink as much water as I should have. And there was a tail wind for the last 10 miles or so. I couldn't quite figure out how to work the Club ride in to my longer ride for today, and I really wanted to catch up with my cycling friend Matt, so I did a 30-mile, not-direct ride to his house, we rode 44 miles to Hastings and back, and then I rode 26 back home.


I forgot how pretty it is around Hastings, Spring Lake Park, and the Mississippi and Vermillion Rivers. We got chased by some fat dogs, saw a lot of chickens and turkeys, and had to dodge people as they did a Beer Run. About 14 miles from home, when riding into the wind, thinking of my sore back, calculating how to make sure to hit 100 miles, and likely dehydrated, a very good looking man came up beside me on his bike - like a mirage. He slowed down to say to me, "I thought this would be a less windy road!" and then he very politely picked up his pace and left me in his dust. That little interaction put a little spring in my... pedals, and I'm grateful to him. 
So yeah, when I realized I couldn't do a 300-mile week of riding, I told my BikeMS donors (thanks, guys!) that I decided to do 3, 100-mile rides. I tried four, but had to bail on the first due to a thunderstorm. I'm tired and my back is sore, but I'm very glad that I was able to get that in before October. (Last October, we had a huge snow storm, so who knows what is on deck for this year?)