2023 Mileage: 2688.5
Our deleterious air quality continues as a result of the ongoing smoke from wildfires in Canada ("Climate change? What climate change?" says MAGA world. "Fake news!")
As the Air Quality Alert we've experienced for several days now continues, I rode inside on our stationary cycle once again, today while watching the original Mary Poppins.
This gave me a ride of 31.8 virtual miles in 2:18.
2023 Mileage: 2656.7
Since I last rode on Monday, my last two days have been crowded (with two trips to the Apple Store yesterday to straighten out an issue with my iPhone), and it has been hot, as well, so I didn't ride. I felt uneasy about this, but in the end it may have been a good thing anyway, since we've been under an Air Quality Alert due to the persistent heavy smoke from the Canadian wildfires which is fouling our air.
Today I decided to stay inside, and rode on our stationary cycle while watching the first half of Hamilton (up to intermission).
This gave me a ride of 17.9 virtual miles in 1:16.
2023 Mileage: 2638.8
Today's forecast was for light rain to continue pretty much all day, so I planned an indoor ride this afternoon. When I finished late afternoon, it was sunny outside, so I could probably have squeezed in a ride outside, but at least I got a ride done.
My good friend Tom ("Tommy") Brown cites The Blues Brothers as his favorite movie, so in his honor I watched it during my ride.
This gave me a ride of 30.2 virtual miles in 2:27.
2023 Mileage: 2608.6
Yesterday I gave myself the day off, and devoted it to composition and a trip to Christy's in the evening. Wanting to get back to it today, I didn't want to contend with the heat and possible precipitation, so I rode inside on our stationary cycle again as I did on Friday.
Friday I watched the 1975 classic Jaws for the first time in my life. Impressed by the performance of a young Richard Dreyfuss, today I watched his 1977 movie The Goodbye Girl, for which he won an Oscar (and was, in fact, the youngest man ever to win Best Actor).
This gave me a ride of 23.2 virtual miles in 1:50.
2023 Mileage: 2585.4
Today we are experiencing a pretty much daylong (light) rain. Accordingly, I rode inside today, on our stationary cycle, while watching Jaws (1975). I realized recently that I had never seen this pop culture classic, so I decided to remedy that.
This gave me a ride of 27.5 virtual miles in 2:03.
2023 Mileage: 2557.9
This morning I wanted to push myself a bit, and so left about 7:15 to ride the round trip to Baker Rd. (Dexter) for the first time since last fall. Riding on a sunny morning, it was a much more enjoyable 65° when I began, and 76° when I finished, which made we WAY happy to have ridden early today, as the mid-afternoon high is forecast to be 83°.
This gave me a ride of 19,1 miles in 2:38.
2023 Mileage: 2538.8
ISince I am going for a hike today with Tom Brown and Tom Clark, I was planning again to not ride. But then, when I found out I had a hold ready to pick up at the library, I decided to ride over late morning to get it, since this is just a short ride.
This gave me a ride of 3.8 miles in 33 minutes.
2023 Mileage: 2535.0
I hadn't been able to ride since Friday—on Saturday, I went hiking with my friends Tom Brown and Tom Clark instead, and yesterday a good chunk of our day was taken up with a trip up to Mason for the birthday party of our nephew Grant, who turned 17, and then in the evening, a celebration of Father's Day with my daughter and granddaughter (Christy and Izzy) at their home in Dexter.
Today, since I didn't get out early, it was already up to 79° when I rode at 1:00 (81° when I finished), and accordingly I allowed myself to settle for a modest ride (a single round trip to Marsh Park).
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This gave me a ride of 10.1 miles in 1:21.
2023 Mileage: 2524.9
I did a shorter ride than I had hoped to this afternoon, but it was a tradeoff I was extremely happy to make. Mid-afternoon, just as I was preparing to ride, I found out that my daughter Christy had invited us to join her at the outdoor concert in Dexter this evening. To do this meant me going with Michelle at 5:00 for a 5:30 fitness session commitment she has (I'll stay in the car and compose while she's in there), and so a shorter ride was necessitated.
I rode a round trip to Marsh Park. But on the way home, just as I had started back, I stopped just west of State Rd. (after crossing it) to take the following picture looking westward along the trail that parallels Textile Rd. And for some inexplicable reason, instead of going into Pause mode, the MapMyRide app that I use shut off completely, which meant that I had material for a video of the first half of the ride, and then had to restart it for the second half, which was slower, as I was riding into a significant wind.
he wayThis gave me a ride of 9.9 miles in 1:16.
2023 Mileage: 2515.0
This morning's ride was slow, but I didn't worry about that - just worried about concentrating on keeping going, and enjoying being out there. I left at 7:15 in 53° cool (it warmed to 63° by the time I finished), and rode to Marsh Park, and then dipped down and looped around Saline High School on the way home. Also, a couple of miles before I finished, I was glad to see Doug Franklin again on his daily walk.
This gave me a ride of 12.5 miles in 1:45.
2023 Mileage: 2502.5
I got out this morning and rode the Packard/Platt Square in nice weather - sunny and 62° when I began at about 10:30, and up to 67° when I finished.
This gave me a ride of 13.6 miles in 1:46.
2023 Mileage: 2488.9
Today's weather forecast was for rain to continue most all day, so I rode inside this afternoon on our stationary cycle. But when I finished, about 4:30, the sun was shining. Go figure!
At any rate, I got in a good workout while watching The Age of Adaline, a 2015 movie that my daughter recommended to me a few years ago, and which has become a strong favorite of mine.
This gave me a ride of 23.1 virtual miles in 1:46.
2023 Mileage: 2465.8
Today was a CONSIDERABLY cooler day, as opposed to the recent unseasonable heat we've experienced. When I rode beginning just before 1:00 p.m., the skies were heavily clouded over, and a bit of breeze accompanied the 61° chill.
Michelle and are devoting our summer to going through our belongings, sorting, organizing, and "purging" as much as we can. Friday was her last day of responsibilities at her school, and we plunged right into our task this morning, making good progress for a few hours. The contrast in turning from this work to a ride, even on a cool and cloudy day, was enjoyable.
This gave me a ride of 13.8 miles in 1:52.
2023 Mileage: 2452.0
After taking yesterday off, I was glad to get back today to an outdoor ride -- my first one since Tuesday due to the Air Quality Alerts we endured during the last part of the week; and then yesterday, my schedule didn't permit an early ride, and at Danny's noon baseball game I was nearly falling asleep, so once we got home, I decided to give myself the day off.
Today I rode a round trip to Marsh Park, doing a loop on Bicentennial Pkwy. and then a lap in Stonebridge on the way home. It was relatively cool (compared to our recent heat)—63° when I left just past 7:00 a.m. (up to 66° when I finished), and I was happy to see my friend Doug Franklin again on his daily walk.
This picture is looking east on the Lohr-Textile Greenway, heading down the hill towards Marsh Park, just east of State Rd.
This gave me a ride of 13.8 miles in 1:57.
2023 Mileage: 2438,2
The Air Quality Alert still persists here, so even though it doesn't SEEM bad to me, acting out of an abundance of caution I decided to ride inside again today, while watching The Shawshank Redemption.
This gave me a ride of 30.4 virtual miles in 2:19.
2023 Mileage: 2407.8
I was extremely eager to ride outside today, but as an Air Quality Alert due to the Canadian wildfires still persists here, I chose prudence instead, and rode inside our on our stationary cycle while watching The Greatest Showman.
This gave me a ride of 22.4 virtual miles in 1:34.
2023 Mileage: 2386.4
Because of the large wildfires in Canada and the smoke they're injecting into the atmosphere, our air quality here is quite poor, and people are being discouraged from exercising outside. Since my ability to breathe freely is already compromised by my 1993 Traumatic Brain Injury, I heeded this warning and turned to the recumbent stationary cycle in our home today, and rode while watching the 1967 classic Barefoot in the Park. This early pairing of Robert Redford and Jane Fonda was fun to see.
2023 Mileage: 2364.3
With our unbelievably high heat of the last two weeks finally having broken, I decided to wait until we got Michelle home from school today to do my ride.
I am such an extreme early morning person that late afternoon is very far from an optimal time of day for me. (In fact, I don't know how I ever made it through three years of rehearsals for the St. Olaf Choir, intense musical concentration filling every weekday from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. I can only imagine that it was because of the supreme musical, spiritual, and emotional joy that I experienced, and the way that that outweighed the unfortunate timing of the scheduling.)
Anyway, today I allowed myself t settle for a very unremarkable and undistinguished ride, doing a mere round trip to Marsh Park. This gave me a ride of 9.9 miles in 1:21.
2023 Mileage: 2354.4
Thank goodness! Our intensely high, unseasonable heat has finally broken. When I left for my ride just past 9:00 this morning, it was 64°, which felt just heavenly! (That climbed to 70° during the ride.This gave me a ride of 13.5 miles in 1:53.
2023 Mileage: 2340.9
I got out early this morning, leaving a few minutes before 6 a.m., and rode to Saline, going as far as I can west (along U.S. 12) before the sidewalk runs out and I have to turn around and come back, about a mile past Wellers.
This gave me a ride of 16.0 miles in 2:20.
2023 Mileage: 2324.9
I have not been able to ride my Platt/Packard Square in recent weeks, because a portion of the Platt Greenway trail has been torn up for repair.This gave me a ride of 13.7 miles in 1:54.
