Sunday, March 23, 2008

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.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Easter to you, Little Fish and Mrs. Fish. God knew lil' fish still needs you here (as we all do). So glad to hear your results are good.

Fishmagic said...

Great Easter stories. I didn't get the road bike out this weekend, but I did go for a 24 mile mountain bike ride on the Conewago Trail on Friday.

FishrCutB8 said...

Thanks...

And, FM, I think if you called me when you got up, you probably find me already at work, sadly...

Redlefty said...

Baseball! It marks the time...