An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

Five days of buckets of rain. The Potomac is near flood stage. Creeks are jumping their banks. The ground is so saturated that water just pools on the surface of lawns. And we're out biking. Today is Bike to Work Day. As a promotional thing, the Crystal City part of Arlington turns it into a week-long event, with a gathering every morning at the Crystal City Water Park. Best of all, if you show up all five days, you get a free bike jersey! Most of my morning coffee bike friends have collections of CC jerseys, so I was determined to get one this year. And then it rained. And rained, and rained. Every morning Monday through Thursday I bundled up in my rain gear and headed out the door before 6:30 AM to give myself time to bike to Crystal City, hang out and schmooze, and then still get to work at a reasonable time (detouring to Crystal City about doubles my commute from 6 to 12 miles). Thursday was the worst - drenching rain that eventually soaked my rain gear. Friday I decided ...

Since my surgery I have changed my exercise habits. I used to do some form of intense exercise (running, rowing, etc.) every other day, with recovery days in between. Now I exercise almost every day, and generally for a longer duration, but the exercise is less intense. But sometimes I still push it. I am not a fast cyclist, nor will I ever be one, but I have been curious about what kind of distance I can bike if I put myself to the test. Last month I had a 43 mile day when I participated in the VASA ride . Yesterday I decided to see if I could push that a little bit: to 50 miles, and maybe to a "metric century" (100 km, or 62 miles). I started from home and planned a 25 mile ride west, which would get me back home with a round trip distance of 50 miles (plus had ways to get home by Metro if I pooped out early). Then, if I felt like I still had some gas in the tank when I got home, I'd head east down to the bottom of the W&OD trail, and that extra round-trip would t...