This looks familiar

Here's a story recently related to me by a family elder, apparently an observation by one a generation removed from the two of us:

If you have a cold you can expect a recovery time of about two weeks.  Unless you see a doctor.  If you see a doctor you can expect a recovery time of about 14 days.

I have work to do, I don't really feel physically up to it, but I have work to do.

As most will know, I don't actually have a job.  My work is daily exercise.  Today I did the necessary work.

I really didn't intend to picture the rain garden again.  The deal is that the atmospheric conditions today were mostly cloudy.  When I rode past to see how the cardinal flowers are doing the sun suddenly appeared.

Most of those plants are pretty clearly at or beyond maturity.  Pretty clearly summer is at its very end.  We all know what that means:  State Fair.

The Fair started today.  That means I can't ride the usual southern routes that pass what would be too close for comfort to the Fairgrounds.  But I did get over into the general area of the Fair and found this entrepreneur trying to make something out of pretty much nothing.

He's about half a mile from the gate.  Recumbent triple, a rig made for hauling but clearly never, ever going to be a factor on even the slightest of climbs.  It is completely flat between where he is parked and the gate.

A lot of people would consider that where he is within fairly easy walking distance.  But on the other hand once you reach the gate you are facing a day of lots and lots of walking.  I don't know what this guy is charging but there are plenty of people who probably consider his services to be a bargain.

Bicycle note:  Never ride to the Fair with a guy who prepares for the haul by burning a heater.

We had a fairly amicable chat.

So here is the big news.

I had to ride a bit farther today than I am really comfortable riding, particularly considering my recovery status from upper respiratory infection.  I reached a yearly total for the Crown Jewel of 878 miles. Nothing much there, right? But I have been working for the past two years to get the Jewel to this point, today I passed another goal.

I extended the ride today to be able to post this out of focus photo of my odometer at the end of the ride.

I thought I had that focus thing figured out but clearly I do not.

It is clear enough though, to illustrate that I have expanded the family group of persons who own more than one bicycle on which they have ridden 10,000 miles. I now own two.

I think it is a little interesting that I have just over 50,000 miles ridden since 2001 and exactly 30,000 of those miles are on just two bicycles. I am fairly comfortable in identifying my two favorite rides: the 20,000 miles FirstLOOK and the 10,000 mile Crown Jewel.