My Bike Is Broken & So Am I

Yep, tried to bike today, and I have a flat. So does my bike. After a dismal biking month in May, I was certain that I would do better in June. Well, I did, but it wasn’t the 100+ miles I envisioned. It wasn’t even half that. It was 42.75 miles. On my imaginary bike trip this summer, I was just about to exit Illinois and enter Indiana. Even if I hug the lakeshore on my way to Michigan, I’m not sure 42.75 miles gets me out of Indiana. Nothing personal toward Hoosiers, but I’m firmly in R. Dean Taylor’s camp when he sings this song about not wanting to go back to Indiana. If I had done better in July so far, I would plot out my progress on a map showing how far into Michigan I am. But I’ve forced myself out biking only once so far this month, and today was a failed attempt thanks to the flat. Maybe it is fitting. My daughter and I were planning a short trip taking a similar route to my imaginary bike trip, except in a car. But that trip has been canceled when she opted for a Destroy Boys concert that I have to take her to instead. More on that in another post.

I have been surprised at how well one summer exercise has been going.

Without our little backyard pool this year, I’ve fallen into a comfortable pattern of swimming twice a week, once in a pool and once in open water. I had big plans of exploring swims in all sorts of open water locations, some legal and some not so much. But the local park district pool is just so darn convenient, uncrowded, and beautiful.

It beats our old 15′ diameter above ground pool. When I swam in my small pool, I would always be seeing things that need to be done. Lawn to cut. Flowerbeds to weed. My wife’s pansies to water. And no, that last one is not a euphemism. When I am at the park district pool, I just swim.

I’ve also rediscovered a nice little lake to swim in wedged between corn and soybean fields in a little RV park on the way to Iowa.

As you can see, it’s not too crowded and the RVs all look nicer than this one.

When I was younger and doing the occasional short triathlon, I never seemed to be able to train adequately for all 3 events: swimming, biking, and running. Training always lagged for at least one which resulted in me lagging during the event. I hesitate to call it a race. It never was for me. It was always more of a survival event.

Now that I’m older, I no longer run. I am walking and swimming well, so I guess it’s only natural that my biking suffers. At my age, I agree with Meat Loaf that two out of three ain’t bad.

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the Meat Loaf pairing with Marie Osmond.