Blogable for All the Wrong Reasons

After another run around Saturday I felt pretty good, everything that needed getting done, was. A longish ride was in the back of my head when I jumped on a bike at the Farmer's Market to get back to the car and load it and 2 others for the trip back to Petrie's. I was thinking Lisbeth has never even been to Mission Marsh.

A few hours later Sal was off to work and I got ready, donning cycling shorts for maybe the third time this year. I thought about changing the pedals so I could put on cycling shoes for the first time this year but decided against it. I really didn't feel like falling over if I forgot I was anchored to the bike.

Filled up a water bottle, grabbed a peach and headed west for the nice calm area around highway 130 and River Road. As I pedaled easily at 20k per hour through the bike path out to Parkdale I felt really good. Wind in the face and the prospect of riding for an hour or so without stop signs or traffic lights was a great carrot. Commuting back and forth even 4 times a day gets pretty mundane. I mix up the routes as much as I can, even going down Memorial and making a left into the McIntyre Center for some variety. But it's not the kind of ride that is memorable or blogable.

About the 8-1/2 km mark while heading west on Arthur things got blogable. Leg cramps, high on the calf just under the back of my knees. I had taken off without stretching but stopped minutes after leaving and grabbed a tree trunk to stretch out. I thought I had been drinking enough and I wasn't even sweating.

I stopped and downed the peach and some water just past the old Jones place. Do I turn back or keep going? I kept going another 1 km and they started again. I stopped across from the West Arthur Community Center and limped across the road. Less than 10 km and I knew I was done. I stretched again and drank half of the water I had left. I gingerly headed for home, disappointed but glad I didn't have to call for a ride. I took my time, letting Lisbeth roll down any inclines without my help and felt a bit better once I absorbed more of the liquids. I stretched the return out and finished at about 21.5 km. I guess it was blogable since here we are but not really what I had in mind.