Timing is an interesting concept. Let’s talk about that.

I woke up to a phone call at 1:45 in the morning asking me to come into work to do an ultrasound. Yay. I knew this was going to affect my mountain bike ride I sort of had scheduled the next day. I returned to bed at 3:00 a.m.

My riding partner and teammate, Pat, called at 7:45 in the morning. He told me that our ride would have to happen much earlier than he planned. I thought about it for a minute and told him I couldn’t. I had to go to The Bike Shop to drop off my Jamis for its newer bike tune-up, and I needed to put some clipless pedals on my old bike – the 2005 Trek Fuel EX 7. These things had to be done before I could ride. Pat went riding and I continued to sleep, which was okay since I was sleep deprived from working.

I eventually woke up, ate a great breakfast, and packed my things for a ride. I headed to the Tech Trails after I took care of my bike situation. Lo and behold! My friend, Don, was there! Talk about impeccable timing!

I’ll tell you this much: Don kicked my butt. Sure, I’m getting over a cold, I really don’t have a voice, and I’ve been mountain biking these last three days, but I still felt s-l-o-w compared to Don.

The ride involved lots of climbing. It wasn’t just climbing, but lots of short, steep, anaerobic climbs. My body and my virus weren’t happy. Now, I know it’s good for the body. The virus, on the other hand, I don’t really care about. It needs to take a hike. It’s getting in the way.

When it was all said and done, I did 10.9 miles in 75 minutes. It was ~70 degrees. I was with a friend. I actually felt hot when we stopped for water breaks. It was great. It was Heaven. Talk about perfect timing.