Today was to be a sprint day, but my body wasn't into the ride at all as I pedalled along the lower river bikeways. It wasn't a time to push myself because of basic tiredness. Maybe a contributing factor is lower than optimal hydration. I remember thinking as I climbed into bed I should grab another glass of water; no, I want the juice-water mix, and it's too much trouble... and I was asleep.
So this morning I bought an 8-oz "juice beverage" to mix with a full styroglass of ice and LaCroix water for an all-day sippie. Perhaps I'll feel up to sprints this afternoon, though the bikeway may be too congested to do them. Maybe the best plan is one sprint on the curve from Woodman to Woodbine, another sprint up the hill near the frisbee golf course, and a third near the Kettering apartment village—all before I get to the gym and on less-used bikeways.
Three notable things happened this morning: several geese were conducting an école maternelle for about 35 goslings at the Green Bridge, I saw Millie and Gladys out on their walk for the first time this year, and I assisted a young woman who had taken a wrong turn and didn't know where she was.
Millie and Gladys are in their 70s, both with husbands at home who are affected by long-term health issues. I've known Gladys for perhaps three years, and Millie for at least two. Gladys lives in the area bounded by the bikeway and Woodman Avenue, somewhere a little south of Woodbine. Millie lives just west of the bikeway and about a block north of Woodbine. They walk together along the bikeway, and I usually see them in the stretch from Woodbine to Linden. Gladys is by far the more devoted to her morning exercise, and she is always the more forthcoming in what is happening in her life and the more inquisitive in how I'm doing. Millie has had periods off from walking, to allow recuperation from torn ligaments in her knees and the apparently poor surgical repairs to them. I described and performed several knee exercises for her this morning, which I prefaced with an explanation that they help strengthen the tendons that hold the patella in place and relieve achiness at the top and inside of the front of the knee.
While we three jabbered on the bikeway, a woman in her 20s passed us, going south. I had never seen her before in the morning, and her passing made me aware of the need to eventually get to work, so I said goodby to Millie and Gladys soon after. As I approached Woodman, there was the woman looking first at the bikeway signage, then up and down Woodman. As I passed I asked, "Are you lost? There aren't many ways to go here." She laughed and said, "Well, I think I really am lost. I rode from the Beavercreek hub this morning and went into Dayton. But I must have taken a wrong turn when I came back—I don't know how, though. And I really don't know where I am now." So I turned around, and told her that she mised a turn at the trestle, which she recognized as a landmark. Then I told here the simplest way back to the correct way home would be to turn back, cross two streets, and turn right at the T intersection beyond the trestle. She remembered the graffiti wall, and I used that as a landmark to place Linden Avenue for her, and to relate the trestle as being a block's distance north of Linden.
She seemed confident in the correct way home, so I took off for the remaining 2 miles of my commute.
Ride conditions
Temperature: 62°F at 06:55, 66°F at 07:55, 68 to 70°F at 10:20
Precipitation: none
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the southwest
Clothing: Skinsuit; ankle socks. Open-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:45:33 for 11.89 miles
Heart rate: 132 bpm average, 147 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 12 cyclists, 5 pedestrians, about 35 goslings
Here is a playback of the ride. 14th Garmin day.
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