Wednesday, July 25, 2012

HOT RIDE, ONE MISHAP, DELICIOUS BREAKFAST

The average Temperature during my 46th day-in-a-row cycling was 89 degrees with very few clouds. The heat index was nearly 100 degrees! Any way you look at it, it was hot as hades in the sub-tropics during this morning’s bike ride.

I have to believe that riding in temps like that elevates your heart rate well above what it normally would be had we ridden in cooler temps. The first thing I did after arriving home was stand underneath an air-conditioning vent for a good five minutes – and chug-a-lug tons of ice-cold water. That is, after first kissing and hugging my amazing wife.

One of our riding amigos has a possible medical issue at the young age of 83 (Yesterday was his birthday), so one of us always stays behind with him when riding to the coffee shop. Today was my day to lag behind the others to watch over our senior rider.

To add miles to our standard ride, we headed west from the coffee shop. The meet-up place is located 12.5 miles southeast of the coffee shop

After riding along the Town of Weston’s relatively safe bike lanes, we rode through the Southwest Ranches, a city in itself that advertises itself to be one of the last vestiges of country living in the South Florida area. 

I love riding through the ranches because of its lack of vehicular traffic, not to mention the feeling of being out in the countryside away from the tribulations of big cities.

One mishap happened today when one relatively new member of our group paid little to no attention when Sandy S came to a stop at an intersection that was full of motorcars. At the time of the accident, Sandy was leading our group.

After mildly slamming into the back of Sandy’s rear tire, the biker went down with a bang, harming mainly his pride but not his body. Sandy managed to keep his bike upright.

We have noticed in the past how this one particular rider becomes oblivious of the riders in front of him. He’s either staring at the ground or staring out in space. This morning he claimed that he was looking at the cars and not the cyclist in front of him. We need to speak with this gentleman about bicycle safety.

Anyway, just prior to our group reaching the end of the line, I veered right into the county park for more miles and smiles. With only six miles to go to reach my goal of 40, I circled the park twice and then headed directly east to our home, where my loving wife was waiting with open arms and a delicious breakfast to die for.

My wife had put in five running miles earlier this morning, with me riding alongside her toting all of the Gatorade. She was tired as well, so we both showered and then hit the sack for a nap before doing our dailymile.com duties – hence the late posting.

I’m ready for another ride…

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