Happy birthday to me…
Sixty-three. How our perspective on what is old changes as we age. I thought of my grandpa as a very old man when he was in his sixties, but not so my dad even though he looked and acted every bit as old as my grandfather had. Now I’m there…and beyond…and thinking, ‘this ain’t so old’.
April continues to act like late February to early March. It was below freezing when I took Dakota out to do her thing first thing in the morning. I had the day off and planned to do both a hike with Dakota and a bike ride before heading north to have dinner with my kids. Hiking wouldn’t be a problem and the forecast (those lying sacks of …) was for temperatures in the fifties, so I maintained my hope that I would ride, as well. After breakfast at Molly Brown’s, which was a Paleo turkey and spinach omelet with an un-Paleo order of rye toast, we went for a 90-minute hike that included the beaver marsh, trekking along the railroad tracks, and siting numerous creatures of the wild such as painted turtles (about 20), a great blue heron, a Canada Goose standing guard on one leg over a momma on her nest, a red-tailed hawk, a pair of wood ducks, and the skeleton of something – likely a rabbit – on the of the trail. The sun was out and although it was chilly, I found myself beginning to sweat and getting anxious to get home and hop on the bike.
We finished the hike around 1:30, which would only leave me around 90 minutes to ride since I had to fit in picking up a Dutch Apple pie from Patterson’s before heading to Jason’s for my birthday dinner (that’s right – non-Paleo and with ice cream, would be the highpoint of the day). I put on a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of socks, pushed gloves and a hat into the pockets of my riding jersey, and rode out of Indian Springs my 2 p.m.
I hadn’t been able to ride because of the weather since having ridden consecutive and exhausting days the previous Friday and Saturday. I wanted to cover my 24-mile course and knew I’d have to push it to have the time I needed to get the pie, and so I began by attacking all rises and climbs from the start. I realized early on that this was going to be a good ride – the result of weight loss, hard training, and several days off – early on. I pushed up the Everett Road hill and cranked in a hard gear over the flats and small rises over the next ten miles. There is such exhilaration in riding hard and knowing that you’re not going to tire and this was one of those rides. I cruised hard for the ninety minutes I had to ride and arrived back at my place feeling like I could have easily gone another hour.
Sadly, I did not have time to ride 63 miles, but I know I’m ready to. I bought some new hiking shoes which I’m beginning to break in for climbing in the Adirondacks – weather permitting – towards the end of May. If the weather cooperates here in Northeast Ohio and I can get in 4-5 rides per week, I have plenty of time to be close to peak form. My 64th year is going to be a good one.
Hike: 90 minutes. Bike: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 70 hiking and 130 bpm on the bike.
Calories Burned: 525 hiking and 1.125 biking.
Bonus: 19,000 steps.
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