3 bottles AND sunscreen

Today the weather cooperated with temperatures actually reaching nearly to the average high for the date. This is so unusual in this Mini-Ice Age of a spring that a huge crowd of once or twice a year cyclists turned out for their annual (or perhaps semi-annual) ride.

For example, I met my first salmon of the year. She was furiously pedalling in her granny up a hill in the Park. In such situations I insist upon my right to keep to the right. She figured that part out fairly readily and swung out from the curb to allow me passage as near as possible to the curb on my right, the lawful side of the street, but showed no indication that she was going to conform to the law herself by returning to the opposite side of the street. I can't change them but I can and do insist that they allow me to do it right.

I also won my first race of the year. As I crossed the industrial zone which is the transition between the city and the suburb a quite a large bit younger than I am guy on a comfort bike was coming up the street from my right. I was somewhat surprised a couple of blocks later when he barreled past me pedaling furiously. He wasn't the first person to pass me today, or the last, but he was the one who got about ten bike lengths in front of me and then slowed down. He hung out there alternately surging and sagging as we continued along. I admit this piqued my interest. We turned at the next available left and began an about four-tenths of a mile back into the wind before turning back onto the route which crosses the railroad tracks. Into the wind the leader started to sag badly. I admit it, I was weak, I yielded to the dark side. I picked up the pace just a tad and gave him a hearty "Nice day, eh?" as I blew past.

It was such a nice day that I applied sunscreen before I left home and ended up consuming 3 bottle of water. I wanted sunscreen because I knew it was going to be a long ride. There has not been enough sun yet this year to build up any protective coloration and with the sun already as high in the sky as it is, I felt sunscreen was called for. It was a long ride, here is the turnaround point at the curling club, about 16 miles into the ride.Closed circuit to those who know: Obviously it isn't 16 miles from where I live to the curling club. However, it is 16 miles if you follow the route I followed.

It was a long ride because I need a long ride every week. Last year I never really trained for anything and as a result I ended the year really untrained for just about everything. I have commented before that I was not satisfied with my fitness level. So this year I am training for something. Training means gradually ratcheting up the level of effort, gradually increasing the length of the rides. Today I rode 34 miles. I hope to ride 40 sometime before the end of the month, 50 by the middle of July and my age in miles before the end of the summer.