Mid-season

July 16 is the exact middle day of the middle month of the seven month Minnesota bicycling season.  I watched the Tour de France this morning.  The coverage featured some footage of Froomie after the completion of the Mont Ventoux stage in apparent distress.  My comment on that is that PEDs aren't supposed to make it easy, they only make it possible.  Even if Froome is clean how do you explain his new second best guy on all of the climbs Porte?

It was too late by the time the stage was over to get an early start.  A mid-day ride seemed a little foolhardy considering that the National Weather Service issued a Heat Advisory, a keep the children and old people indoors suggestion.

It seemed vaguely appropriate that in a season dominated in the first half by conditions in which riding was not possible that the mid point should be just another such day among the many.

But I wanted SOME exercise so I was going to go for a walk anyway, walking can be done slowly and mostly in the shade.  I did that the last time it was too hot and I thought I could do it again.

After due consideration I decided that being outside walking for an hour was at least as hard and probably harder than being outside riding a bicycle for an hour.  The whole issue with my usual bicycle ride is that I ride for two hours.  I decided to try a one hour ride.

My plan was to take a loop downhill and around and over to the cattle barn, and then home.  I figured that for about 12 miles.  Here's the cattle barn.

And, of course, that's not even counting the humidity, dew point in the 70s.

So the mid-season has come and gone and I am 600 or so miles behind the pace to reach the mileage goal that last winter I thought would be trying to attain.  In fact, I am STILL 100 or so miles behind the pace to reach the new goal.

But I rode today.

TOPWLH asked me how it was.  I responded truthfully that most of the time it was unbearable with the occasional brutally punishing.