The Pleasure of Cycling

Yesterday, I went for a simple 35 mile with my friend Jim Montgomery in Maryland (adjoining Delaware). We did 14 miles to the town of North East in Maryland. Billiard-board smooth roads. Had lunch at Woody's Crab House. Famous for blue crabs from Chesapeake Bay.

Then rode 21 miles back. Jim got lost in his own neck of the woods a couple of times.

Average speed under 15mph. Maybe 1000 kcal. Jim wanted the ride stats, but I really didn't care.

Back to the fundamentals. The pleasure of pedaling a responsive, custom-fit race machine. Enjoying the beautiful back country roads on a sunny day with a good friend. Moving along effortlessly, this is the way cycling is meant to be.

Perhaps I am mellowing, but if I had just one ride left and had to choose: the Elite Southern Transcontinental (I just completed), or one lazy summer's day with friends, Lazy wins out every time.

Fortunately, I don't have to choose :-)

Similar thoughts hit me during the last two weeks
I was toying with several hypothetical situations during some of the more boring miles of the Transcontinental. One of them goes something like this.
If someone said to me: "Sandiway, you can quit your job. All you have to do is ride 100 miles before lunch every day. You can do whatever you want (in addition) after lunch but you have to put in those 100 miles first," would I do it?
The answer is emphatically NO. I love cycling but I guess I'm just not RAAM material.