Exercising again

I hope my schedule allows for more of this. It was so nice to get on the bike yesterday, even if it was just for a half-hour. Gotta figure out what's going on with my shifter though.

Today's pageview zip codes

Argos, IN  46501, Atwood, IN 46502  I have passed just north of these zip code twice - well, on both legs of round trips on two separate occasions. The first time was in 1988, with our friends Herb and Maureen as we attended the national charismatic conference at Notre Dame. This was my only visit to the campus, and I can understand why people love it. This was just a couple months after my sister had passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly at age 23, due to a drug problem none of us knew she had. I didn't fully realize how filled with remorse I was over the role I might have played in her drug issues in my younger days - by the conference I'd turned 28 (so a dear friend was a newborn!) - and that I'd never really shared the gospel with her following my conversion experience. After the sessions late one night, I joined others at the grotto and felt led to ask for prayer, though I wasn't really sure for what. I was surprised when I heard myself sharing with the prayer team the burden that I didn't even realize was on my heart. As they prayed with me, I had the experience of being "slain in the Spirit" for the only time in my life, as the Holy Spirit brought me God's consolation in my grief and flooded me with a deep sense of His mercy and love. I laid there for what felt like a half hour but was probably only a few minutes, allowing my loving Lord to minister to me, and arose with a deep sense of gratitude for His forgiveness and with a truly peaceful spirit, as the months-long tension with which I'd been unwittingly living was lifted from me. The next day I found myself able to join in the praise and worship with abandon.

My second trip through the area was on my way to and from the Apple Cider Century in Three Oaks, MI. At that point, I still had aspirations of doing a century (100-mile ride) in every state, back before my cramping issues really developed. I'll have to look at my shirt from that ride to see what year it was, or perhaps I have information in a scrapbook at home. Memories of the ride: I overnighted at a motel west of South Bend and drove the last 25 miles the morning of the ride; a pancake breakfast was served in the town firehouse; there was apple cider to drink at every rest stop; the ride was very well supported; route markings were in the shape of an apple, and color coded for the five different length rides; I ended up feeling a little as if I had cheated on my goal, because about 45 miles of the century route was in Indiana; I talked with some folks at both breakfast and lunch who had come over from Chicago for the ride; lunch was at park in a neighborhood with a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. A coworker friend did this ride just a few years ago and lunch was no longer at such a picturesque venue.

Today's pageview zip code

Greenfield, IN  46140. I've driven through here numerous times, on my way back and forth to St. Louis, Champaign, Omaha (twice), Chicago (twice), and most often just Indianapolis (several times to and from IU Medical Center). And, of course, rode through on that outrageous cycling day.

Today's pageview zip codes

Clayton, IN  46118.  I've definitely passed through this one, several times by car, and by bicycle on my longest, hottest day of cycling ever. Later I'll edit this post to indicate the year I did the Ride Across Indiana (RAIN), with a slogan of One Day, One Way, 160 miles. It was brutally hot, with air temps reaching around 98°F, which made the temperature over the blacktop surface of U.S. 40 close to 110°F. Even the distance seems more than a little nuts now, and the temperature seems totally and certifiably insane.

Also, Coatesville, IN  46121. No drive throughs, only the aforementioned day of madness. And: what a strangely shaped zip code!

Today's pageview zip code

New Hampshire, OH 45870  I've ridden my bike nearly to here. We have friends with a place in Russells Point, on the lake, and I rode up there once for a get together.

Today's pageview zip code

Vincent, OH 45784 - I passed just south of here on the same cycling weekend that I blogged about briefly last week.

Today's pageview zip code

Ray, OH  45672  I drove along the northern edge of this zip code on my way to and from the Cheat Mountain Challenge in 2009, which was my last cycling century, perhaps ever. Now it looks as if the route through the southwest corner would have been quicker. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the zip code in which I was briefly lost on the way home.  I'm still pretty proud that my friend and I were the last two finishers of this ride ever; 2009 was the last year they held it.

Today's pageview zip codes

Some Dayton zips: 45401, where we spent more than one - but, in our defense, not many more - April 15th getting our tax returns postmarked by the deadline; 45404, including Dayton Children's, where it felt like we were taking up residence when our daughters started their pancreatitis battles, a significant section of bike path that I have ridden frequently and run on occasion, and our grandchildren's home with their dad for a while; and 45405, where a steady uphill along Shoup Mill/Turner Rd. and Philadelphia Dr. set up a great downhill along Salem Avenue back downtown early on Sunday mornings, before the traffic picks up.

Yes, I'm still easily amused

My first pageview palindrome in some time also happens to be the zip code of an area I've cycled through a number of times: 45054, Oregonia, OH. (I knew that zip had to be somewhere around here!) That vertical-ish band of green includes the bike path, and I've stopped for a lunch break at the Little River Cafe, which is adjacent to it; I'm pretty sure that it wasn't just the comparison with the Clif Bars I'd been consuming for a couple hours by that point that made it so enjoyable.

A truly blessed life

I just watched my skydiving video, which came in the mail last week. What a great experience! I had a wonderful bike ride today, down to my grandchildren's house for a short visit. I'm developing new skills in old hobbies (that reminds me: time to practice). I am blessed to help others praise and worship God in ways that lift their spirit and draws them more fully into His presence. My health is good. I have steady employment. My wife, daughters and grandchildren love me, and I love them. I have good friends who also mean the world to me.

Contented sigh.

More than all of this, God loves me and has blessed me with forgiveness, and with the Holy Spirit to dwell within me and transform me.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you have blessed me with, and most of all for the gift of your infinite self! Help me to be more cognizant of how you wish to share your gifts and your self with others through me.

Bicycle dream

I was riding my my bike along the path, in a group ride, I think.  We hit an area where the path was badly deteriorated. I managed my way along it slowly, working the pedals at a low cadence. The other riders were still there, but now became extremely peripheral; perhaps they passed it more quickly than I did and moved on ahead? I got past the damaged area, and cruised along for a short while before reaching a spot that was degraded to the point of really being unsafe to traverse on the bike.  The others were within sight, riding through it somehow.  As I started into this section of path, the loose pavement shifted under my tires and mired me down; I had to really work to maintain my balance and keep making progress. Then I started to get a cramp in my right foot.

A real cramp, which woke me from my dream at 5:00 a.m.

First take on Lance

First of all, it has been obvious to me for a long time that Lance Armstrong was guilty of doping.  I'm not one to paint people with a black-and-white palette, so I never concluded that makes him an evil person, but there was no question that he did some incredibly hurtful things in his attempts to cover up his actions.  In fact, even before the evidence became overwhelming, the things that he was saying in his desperation to bolster his image revealed important things about his character that undermined his efforts to appear innocent and terribly wronged.  Publicizing Greg LeMond's private revelation to him was probably the tipping point for me.  What could a truly innocent person have hoped to gain from that?  It was the act of someone whose thinking was muddled by their desperation to preserve their carefully crafted but increasingly tenuous illusion.

I haven't seen his interview yet - last night I had more important plans - so maybe I should withhold this opinion.  Still, there was an important lesson in my own therapy that I can't help considering as I read some of what he said: a person who really accepting responsibility for their own actions is doesn't talk about the harm they've done as a circumstance that "just happened."

So when Lance says of Betsy Andreu and her husband that they're not at peace, "because they've been hurt too badly," rather than "Because I hurt them too badly," it indicates that he's made progress, but isn't quite there yet.  Likewise, of Emma O'Reilly: "She's one of these people that got run over, got bullied,"  rather than, "one of those people I ran over and bullied."  Also, he's still justifying his initial decision to dope in the first place.

These may seem like small things, and probably only someone who has done that kind of work would ever notice them.  (Well, maybe not the justification; most people recognize that part.) I'm not being critical of him, though; none of us gets there in one giant leap.  It's good - for him, and in general - that he recognizes his actions as bullying, and that he is beginning to speak the truth.

Clingman's dome

My riding buddies want to go down and ride up this mountain one weekend this fall, then continue on to Cherokee, NC, and back to Tennessee for about a 70-mile total.  I have a couple concerns, starting with the 20 mile climb and ending with having driven to Cherokee before and not being much at ease with the width of the roads.  At least, while the elevations are high, the climbs don't seem excessively steep.  I'll have to talk with Marty some more about this one.

Meanwhile, yesterday morning's ride was a nice hilly one, though nothing local can prepare you for the Appalachians, as we learned by painful experience when we did the Cheat Mountain century.

Hope?

Perhaps another century isn't out of the question.  I did a 70-miler today with no cramping, so maybe by the end of the season . . .

Got endorphines?

Maybe a nice ride after work will help lift my spirits.  It's sure a gorgeous day for one.  I've got no business being down, anyway, though.  What's that about?

I'm supposed to feel better after a ride, not worse.

But then, what do i expect; not all decisions are under my control.

Progress

I'm really grateful that Thursday nights have taken a step up from "always apart night." But it will be really nice to spend time together the next couple nights away from the television completely.

Now to get to work early for a head start on the day, and maybe I'll be able to ride my bike down to West Carrollton tonight for the play . . .

Back in the saddle?

Nice ride of almost 30 wind-blown miles yesterday.  I was really pleased with how well I rode, especially as the tail wind I thought I was was pushing me on the way out turned out to be mostly cross, and I was able to ride strongly despite its head component on the way back.  Definitely have more miles logged than all of last year.  If I manage a 50-miler by this weekend, I may consider doing TOSRV (or a similar ride) in May.

Could it be that I'm going to cycle this year?

I actually rode my bike twice this week.  On Thursday evening I rode about 24 miles when I was planning planning on 20, after I ran into a friend about a mile after I turned around.  Then yesterday I did about 22 when I'd been planning on 18 or so; it was just so gorgeous, and it felt so nice to be out.  Of course, the slight push on the way out contributed to that decision, as the mostly southerly wind was also coming just a bit from the west, so the ride back in was not so relaxing!  Still, it was so nice to get out! And I'm not sure, but it could be that the combined mileage was more than I completed in any single week last year.

Update: Was just looking back at my log.  From 2004-2008, I logged over 2000 miles a year.  Since then I've logged 1100, 700, and last year I didn't bother keeping a log but I'm sure I was not over 200 miles.  Just haven't had - or made - the time.

This year is going to be better.

A great weekend

Well, we can start with the new roof on Friday.  Then had our in-town grandkids spend the night Friday night so we they could watch the parade go by our house Saturday morning.  That became an opportunity for breakfast, with waffles and eggs and bacon and Shaina and Max, followed by the parade.  Next came a wonderfully restful nap, a nice mass with one of our own priests for the first time in several weeks, a great meeting of our marriage encounter group, and topping off the evening with a great get-together in honor of Shaina's 30th b-day.

Sunday morning was an early rise for a metric century, followed by another snooze (more deserved, I'd have to say), a wonderful phone call with a dear friend, a long-overdue bath for my bike, a fabulous dinner with Jodi and Steve, and a very nice time of sharing with Teri that promises to become a daily part of our lives.

Wow.  Today I'd love to just bask in all that with a lazy day, but my job is calling me back to the other part of reality . . .