2021 mileage: 4448.5
Today's ride was challenging, but I'm still glad I did it. I was absolutely exhausted yesterday, and thus took the day off. Today, therefore, I was eager to get out there again, and began just a bit past 10:00 a.m. in extraordinarily foggy conditions. It was still, however, mild enough to ride comfortably in shorts and t-shirt: 65° when I began, up to 67° when I finished. I rode the Packard/Platt Square (13.5 miles) in 1:55.
The fog acted almost as a sticky substance, as I got off to a much slower start than usual. The air was so moist that my glasses were soon fogged and water-spotted. I listened to The Carpenters, and found that I could resonate with the song Rainy Days and Mondays, even though it wasn't raining. In the second quarter of the ride, I was beginning to make up time.
When I got to Lillie Park (about 40% of the way through the ride), I stopped for what I thought would be a brief pause. An older woman (I would say mid-eighties) named Dawn came tottering over to me, and said, "Oh! You look just like my friend Eric!" I pulled out my card and showed it to her, and we ended up 'chatting' as well as possible for a few minutes. She pointed to a camper in the parking lot, and said, "That's where I live," and proceeded to tell me about its features (refrigerator,, two burner stove, toilet, etc.). Then finally, when I got ready to set off, she wanted to walk with me for a short time.
I puttered along with her for a few minutes at a speed of about 2 miles per hour, and finally told her I was going to pull on ahead, but it was nice to meet her. When I finished, I found I had done my slowest ride ever, but felt it was justifiable.
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