On Friday, I had a class to attend in the afternoon, so I took half a day off work and thought I might even ride to South San Francisco and back in the morning, since the sun would be up. I ended doing the “usual”, riding there all the way, riding back a small part of the way. Plus some 5 miles going to the studio and back in the afternoon, making it about 17.5 miles total for the day. This cycling day was dedicated to Kent, my friend from group of people with whom I sometimes plant trees in Oakland.

You can learn about Trees for Oakland here. If you live in Oakland, you might even be able to request a tree to be planted in front of your house. Kent was one of the people instrumental to securing grants to get Trees for Oakland started (as a separate entity – long story), because he cares about his town and health of the community. He is also into long bike rides, although those seem to involve carrying all your cargo on your bike frame or even on your back. I respect and admire that, even though carrying heavy cargo is not for me.

When I participate in AIDS LifeCycle, a 545 mile bike ride from SF to LA on June 2-8, 2019, the riders will be well supported and most of our gear will be carried by somebody else. In a previous post, I tell more about this endeavor and the thank you rides.

On Friday, I left home a little earlier than usual in the morning, so I was regaled with a sunrise progression. The rain was coming, too, making the sunrise particularly spectacular, and I tended to look East, because this ride was dedicated to Kent, and he lives right there across the Bay. Here is a little gallery of what I am talking about

• 

• 

• 

What was interesting this time, I felt exhausted. Despite overall this ride getting easier for me. Not even so much physically, but I was jumpy and irritable, and just could not get over it, especially going through the scary parts with a lot going on. What can I do, especially when the tiredness sneaks up like that? Here we have an advice from an ad on a train stopped at Bayshore Caltrain station.

While I might have cursed at the “Live in the moment” encouragement under the breath, it was interesting to consider: do I take it easy, because I am tired, or do I push through, because I am in training?

I biked a little slower, acknowledged the tiredness, and decided to not ride all the way back. It started raining early afternoon anyway, and that was probably the cause of my feeling defeated in the morning: upcoming rain does that to me sometimes.

I still put some good work in, relatively speaking. Here is my bike all alone outside the studio in the afternoon. Nobody else was stubborn enough to ride to class in the rain. Not like it matters much what others did or didn’t.