today, mr. h-s and i embarked on a familiar bike ride, but one that i hadn’t done since…. maybe last fall sometime? it’s a little less than 30 miles round trip, so it was the longest ride i’d done in awhile, but i was excited to be out again for a “real” ride. the weather was a bit chilly today (never got above 60) so i decided to wear my fancy “sleeves.” i whipped these up on my sewing machine in about 2 minutes before the last bike ride from some stretchy fabric that i’d had in my stash from high school (yeah. i don’t wear lots of violet-print clothing these days. i think it was really my mom’s fabric.) and they are just very rudimentary fabric tubes (i didn’t even bother to hem the ends) but they work great as biking sleeves. the idea is that they are easier to remove than a jacket if i get too hot. in the photo above, you can also get a tiny sneak peek at my new bicycle which i love. it’s dark blue (although it looks sort of black in the photo) and it sparkles in the sun. and it rides so smoooooth….
anyway, back to the ride. the trip is a loop from our house out to a tiny nearby town (with the smallest, cutest cheese shop you’ve ever seen) and then back. the ride out to the town was pretty nice. we had the wind at our backs and the occasional sunny spots warmed up the dark fabric on my arms. we took a little break when we got to the town, sharing an energy bar and a few swigs of water and admiring the picnic area down by the old mill and once again commenting on how ‘someone should really do something with this space.’
then, it was time to head back. suddenly, we’re biking straight into a brisk wind. the first few miles back are through a very up-and-down hilly stretch with some of the ups lasting a very long time. somewhere during this stretch, i began to be greeted by some old biking buddies of mine that i hadn’t seen for awhile. first, there was ‘pinchy’ the invisible, piratical parrot who sits on my shoulder and digs his claws in. then, a little bit later, ‘sparky’ the fascinating nerve sparkles that happen in my wrist made a brief appearance. my legs began to feel some fatigue and i started to look forward to being home. we were still about 5 miles from home at that point. then, about 2 miles from home, i realized that i’d been joined by ‘the amazing numbford’ who makes all the sensation in my toes magically…. disappear! luckily, not long after his appearance, we arrived safely home and i realized one more friend that had joined us. ‘x. “aus” chen’ (his first name is actually xavier, but he’s from australia, so we call him ‘aus’*) — one of my favorite friends to see at the end of a stretch of strenuous exercise.  if he’s there, that means i’ve had a really good workout and boy, was he ever there today. i stumbled into the house and made myself a tomato and cheese sandwich (on homemade bread, yum) while mr. happy stuff took a shower. then, i got into the shower. there is nothing better feeling than a hot shower on chilly skin and tired muscles. i wanted to stay in the shower forever.
i am now in warm clothes, clean, dry and very pleasantly tired. after church this evening, we had dinner at my favorite thai restaurant, so i’m also full of yummy food. ahhhhhh….. life. is. good.
* you can never tell what sort of thoughts i’ll come up with to distract myself from physical discomfort.
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