Daily Exercise
Except, not quite. Let me explain.
A couple weeks ago, as I was driving home, I came upon a man on his bike. First off, I should explain that there are pretty much three roads that come into Burlington, and if you happen to work outside of town, as I do, you don't have much choice but to tackle the traffic on these bottlenecks. This man on his bike, however, was sailing past us all, peddling away as I practiced the arts of coasting slowly and keeping calm. The light changed and I passed the man by. Ha, thought I, your bike leaves you in the dust. But soon I was stuck at another red light and the biker man was in the lead again. It went on like this until we got to the last intersection into town. While I sat at the stop sign, the man on his bike peddled freely past, winning by a breath. But winning. This got me thinking.
I drive about 15 miles to work. Not something I am happy about, but for a short time the learning process of the job is worth it to me. I did have to think about this quite a bit; for the last few years I have walked wherever I needed to go, and none of my jobs were over 5 blocks away.
15 miles is a bit far for me to bike, right off that is. I am very out of shape and have not been on my bike for a good year. But I was determined.
So last week I pumped up my tires and stuffed the bike in the trunk of my car. I drove out to the country and biked the last 5-6 miles. And it was amazing. And fairly excruciating. Except the ride home was so much better I could see how things could look up. So I did it again the next day. Much easier. But then I decided sleep was necessary too, so the next day I slept in. And then it was the weekend, and now it looks like rain. Do you think I will have the nerve to try again?
I certainly intend to.