Cold Ride...

It was low 40s today but sunny, so I decided to take the bike out of its proverbial mothballs, inflate the tires and go for a loooooooong overdue ride. I am not a bundle-up kind of guy, more of a layers kind of guy, so I put on leg and arm warmers, then a baselayer, shirt and vest. I figured with leg warmers and ear warmers I would be fine, and normally I would have been.

What I failed to account for was the wind. make no mistake about it: low 40s is cold. Especially on a bike. But, when you throw in 35+ mph wind gusts, it becomes something else entirely. The other thing I failed to account for is just how sheltered the first part of my ride was. Read as: very sheltered. And the wind was at my back for most of it.

All that to say, I was well on my way when I realized it was colder than I had anticipated. Still, I decided to make the most of it, and ended up having a beautiful ride through Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg and along the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg. The last 4 miles were into one of the worst, coldest headwinds I have ever ridden into. At one point I hit a downhill and started to coast, until I realized the wind was actually slowing me down.

I got home, fixed myself a very hot cup of tea and a hot tub. Sylvia Plath once wrote that there is very little that can go wrong in the world that cannot be cured by a hot bath. This is not to say that I am going to be seeking advice on life from Sylvia, only that she was absolutely correct.

ON ANOTHER NOTE
I had two great moments with Little Fish today. First, as an Easter present, I got my daughter a baseball glove. A real one, so we can play catch. She doesn't want to play baseball (yet) but she has been asking for a glove to throw with dad. Easter seemed a decent time to do it, so we went out together and picked out our gloves. Today we went out and just threw in the front yard, and I absolutely loved it, as did she. And, she has some decent fundamental skills. I told her about how to field a ground ball, and when she asked why, I told her the story of Bill Buckner. As a Boston Red Sox fan, she got it immediately, and now gets down and blocks the ball. Good girl.


Later, Little Fish and I were cleaning off the porch, getting ready for Spring. She got her finger stuck in a folding chair and started yelling. I was there quickly, but had to assess the situation before I made any move, because I didn't want to tighten the chair down further on her finger. We freed her, quickly, but it still hurt immensely, and I just held her. It occurred to me, as I was holding her sobbing Little Fish self, just how blessed I am to have these moments. No, it wasn't a fun time, but it was one more time when I was there when it mattered, and I got to totally love up my daughter until the pain went away. I am a blessed man.