That's one ride for the year thus far

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Curtis Corlew (@cccorlew)

Of course  it's snowing here on the vernal equinox, lightly for sure, but the wind is blowing and it's cold. So much for "spring."

But for one (and only one) day last week it was glorious. The sun was out, there wasn't much wind, the clouds were beautiful and the air was crystal clear. So we went for a bike ride. Amazingly enough the trail we ride wasn't at all muddy despite the rains a few days before.  It made me remember why I like bike riding so much.

But for now it's back to Zwifting in the garage, which is much much less engaging, and wondering when the weather turns nice around here.

 

 

The march of time

 

Skip to Happy stuff below if you hate whining...

Before I retired a couple of years ago I bike-commuted daily, rode a tour or two each summer, and rode centuries (and even doubles.) I racked up at least 6000 miles a year, often 7000 and once over 8000. Now, here I am at 70 and retired. I was looking forward to more cycling.

I've moved from California to upstate NY where there's snow and cold. I don't have my daily commute to pad my mileage. There's only so much garage that Zwifting my brain can handle. Though I rode the Eire Canal, spent a week on tour in Maine, Rode a tour of the Hudson Valley and managed to ride around all the Finger Lakes, I only hit 3500 miles last year.

I can tell each year I'm a older and less strong. I'm slower (not that I was ever fast) and it takes longer to recover from even a reasonable effort. It's annoying that at last I have the time to ride, but not the physical ability to do what I'd really like.

Perhaps I should be grateful I can ride at all, and realize I'm doing better than folks who never get off the couch. But it's tough accepting that I will never be in better shape than I am today; that time keeps marching on.

Here are my stats for the year.

OK, enough of this nonsense.

Happy stuff (though not cycling related)

I've been seeing a lot of live music since I moved here. It's really rather amazing how much there is. Early on I decided I'd try to photograph every show we saw and post in B&W on Instagram. I've use my iPhone, my Panasonic micro 4/3 camera and my Nikon D7000.

Here's the link to the tag I'm using. Instagram will only show 30 of the more than 60 photos I shot if you view the link on the web. If you're on a phone using their app you'll see them all.