One of Those Days
 

I started serious cycling back in 1973. Over the years I raced, toured, and just rode. No rides under about 10 miles, longest 210 miles. And more often than not, the rides were delights of perfection. No fit type pains, race effort suffer fests were joyful and, mile after mile giving smile after smile. Today, I had one of those rides!

Over the years the rides of perfection become fewer and fewer, inactivity, too few miles and aging takes a toll. But today, 40 miles of perfection reminded me of why I fell in love with cycling and why I keep on riding and seeking that magic. My legs were strong, my power was 20 watts over typical, my speed was a 1 mph faster, and my comfort was through the roof! The butt was not only not bothersome but comfy. Hands were pain and numbness free. The heat was hot but I did not care. The few rain showers were brief and refreshing. I was like the old days, relieved even better than they ever were.

Tomorrow, I will ride again, and who knows, I be chasing nirvana again, for as long as it takes, one great day makes up for a hundred not do great ones.

How about you – are you gonna go ride or what?

I had one of those on Saturday. Within 5 miles, everything just clicked and I was fully in the moment for the duration of my ride. It's such a great feeling.

Mondays ride was just the opposite. Good thing it's in the dirt.

Sometimes it's a workout, sometimes it's a ride. Always glad to be out, though.

No matter how bad I may feel, or how bad a day may go, cycling makes me feel at least a little better. I've put in about 80 miles this week, despite the heat and humidity, and would be riding again today if I didn't have work to do. But my calendar is open tomorrow, and the forecast looks good (still heat and humidity, but at least no rain).

Had two bad rides back to back
- a pedal fell off my brand new MTB, kid at the shop cross threaded them
- had a bad sugar bonk at 30min on what was supposed to be low Z2 2.5-3 hour ride. Da Beetus acts up sometimes...

Followed by two of the best rides I had in a loooong time.
-Sunday AM - 73 degrees, zero humidity, no wind to speak up. No traffic... Great sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay. Great legs, bike moved along effortlessly...
-Then similar conditions Tuesday on the Capitol trail outside of Richmond - a fast ride on slightly rolling and curvy bike trail in near perfect weather conditions. 74 degrees in the afternoon, in Richmond VA, in August is nearly unheard of.

Rode yesterday. I upload my rides to TrainingPeaks and yesterday it reported 8 record numbers for 2025, some for power, some for HR, some for the number, some for its duration. Yeah, I rode hard and it was only 24 miles, but thing was, I was able to ride hard. And yeah, I'm recovering from open heart surgery in April, so this was sort of a special case. Very heartening anyway. I'm baaaaack.

"One of those days" is usually associated with a spate of bad luck. It was great to see you had an awesome day! Hope you continue to have those types of rides! Also, it's very cool to see another positive post on BF!

Think I might have picked that title as a misdirect? Oh yeah, I forgot to add the freshly waxed chain made the bike silent but deadly, the tires on the pavement and the whirring of the spokes were the only sounds, silence, my old friend.

Oh lord, a bit of wax and I get to waxing nostalgic and poetic. Time to ride I think

It was great today. 78 F (25.6 C), low humidity, light winds by our standards at 7 mph (11.7 km/h).

Then I got a flat 2 miles from home. But I had a spare tube and used my new mini e-pump so it only set me back 10 min or so.

So maybe downgraded to good today.

If I have a tough day on the bike - I just remember some of the killer days/wks/months at work.
Usually puts a smile back on my face. While I liked working, I prefer riding.

Reminded me of a tough day touring -- a couple excerpts:

"A bad day fishing is better that a good day at the office. Well, this isn’t fishing, and by the end of the day I was ready to dial into a telecon.
..."I’d love to know why the road was routed this way. Up to a crest for a coal mine, I can understand. Down, then up again, then down again, then up again – 800′ drops and climbs, when we were paralleling the Kentucky River and Buckhorn Lake – I just don’t understand. To make things worse, the sun came out on each climb, heating us up and making the humidity even worse. And no wind to cool yourself off.

"But the icing on the cake was the rain on each and every descent. Rain is OK in my book while climbing, but going downhill at 20 mph plus, it covers your glasses, hits your body hard, and makes road traction uncertain. I couldn’t see, didn’t have anything to dry my glasses with, and when I got them reasonably clear, a coal truck would come by. They must have dust dispensers on their wheels to make sure that even after a 15-20 mile round trip from the coal mine, they can get grit on your glasses, your body, and your bike. To top it off, if there were any views from the ridge top, they were obscured by clouds and mist."
Okay, so a couple bad days every month on average -- I'd still rather be on the bike. In general.

Today was OK. Not magnificent, not horrible. For an "off season" ride, I'll take it.

People ask how one can determine if a bike is well-fitted to a rider. My answer is if it seems like the bike "disappears from under you", then you're certainly in that range. :)

I rode in beautiful weather to go shopping then stopped at happy hour.

I have a nine-day tour planned for mid-September. Hope the weather cooperates.

Not today, In fact, not this summer, doctor's orders. I'm looking forward to some next spring. They have repaved some roads near here, and it hurt my heart to see that black velvet and not be able to ride it. My hope is that with a new heart valve, I'll be back in the saddle, figuratively and literally, in a few months.

I only got 4 miles in today before the rain stopped me. I ride because it gives me a sense of freedom… it’s good exercise too. But, when you do something like this and enjoy it, who cares that it’s good for you to? The more I ride, the more I want to ride. Get out there and enjoy the ride.

I need ‘one of those days’ on a bike.
The Fall yardwork (and other stuff) keeps me occupied and outside enough. I need a goal of a future ride - not the same overworked routes … maybe some roads around North Bend.

How long do you want and where? I have a good library of routes, mostly about 50'/mile.

:lol:

Oh, I've had days like that. One thing you have to say is that they ARE memorable.

Life should be lived as if it is one big adventure. But there is no guarantee they'll all be pleasant adventures. :D

From my doorstep on southside Cougar Mt - about 25-50 miles in length. I stopped driving cars/trucks years ago, enough pollution in the world.

I ride to Issaquah, do around Lake Sam or up to Preston. Those are about 50mi.
South of me I ride Cedar River trail and to Maple Valley, 35-40 miles. Sometimes the back route from Maple Valley, Ravensdale and toward Enumclaw.

I can ride to NBend and may find a motel for a couple of nights for rides from there, before Winter arrives in force.

Thanks for considering my possibilities. I accept my limitations with grace but occasionally with a bit of too much cycling route repetition. Trade-offs, we all choose them.

Couple years back I based out of Crystal Mt Resort for 4 days of rides - possibly too late to plan that this year.

Oh well. All my routes are from places you would have to drive to.

I used to travel the area regularly for distant rides.
One of the most interesting was the roll around Boundary Bay - Blaine to Point Roberts and return.

Turns out I've forgotten way more rides than I remember. Here's some routes I've ridden which you should be able to connect to. Some of these are RAMROD Training Series rides and have a privacy code. Whatever. These are challenging rides. Start with the shorter ones and work your way up. I rode all of these when I was at least 70.
RTS #7 - 2016 · Ride with GPS
RCC Flaming Boogar (Rev.) · Ride with GPS
East Marymoor/May Valley · Ride with GPS
Black Diamond Bakery · Ride with GPS
GB WTS #3 Bellevue and South · Ride with GPS
Newport Hills-Covington · Ride with GPS
Newport Hills-Tiger-Cougar Training Ride · Ride with GPS
Black Diamond Green Valley · Ride with GPS

Not every ride is perfection, but nearly every ride is better than sitting at home.

You are a brave man riding Issaquah-Hobart Road. I avoid it like the plague. Same goes for May Valley Rd.