Payback....

Yesterday and today are probably two of the finest days of the summer. The temperature is maybe 76, 77 degrees, light puffy couds and blue skies, and virtually zero humidity. So am I out riding? No, I am not. Instead of being on the bike I spent yesterday morning at the dermatologist's and today I was at home recuperating. Recuperating from what you might ask (or you might not but I will tell you anyway).
Among other things on my "to-do" list after the ride to Boston was to catch up on some doctor visits. And on the list was a trip to the dematologist. Needless to say I spend a lot of time in the sun - actually I grew up in the era when we sat on the beach and baked because to have a deep tan was to be "cool". Well, I have found out that down the road there is payment exacted for that kind of "cool". My doctor found three little spots she labeled basal cell carcinoma...certainly not as bad as malanoma but that "carcinoma" word sure is an attention getter. And so yesterday morning I submitted to what they call Mohs surgery on the upper portion of one ear - yes, the ear of all places. They basically slice off a layer at the site, test it, let you go if it is OK or bring you back in and slice off some more until they get it all. So I had two iterations with the surgeon and the scalpel and then when home with a huge bandage on my ear. I am told that they very frequently see this kind of thing on the ear because people are very careful to lather up the arms, the face, etc but often don't even consider the ears...So, on the one hand I'm very glad they got it all but then I remember the blisters I had from the sun going through the desert on the XC in 09. Direct connection? Who knows but I'm sure it didn't help. Meanwhile, the weather forecast for tomorrow is more of the same great weather and you can bet I will be covered in the best sunscreen money can buy.

Flattered or insulted???

The local bike club (Princeton Freewheelers) sponsors and organizes what they call the event every first Saturday in August. It is half a dozen planned riding routes from sixteen to one hundred miles through the New Jersey country side, mainly farming and horse ranch terrritory. It attracts a couple of thousand people from all over the tri-state area with every skill level from sneakers and a cross trainer to amateur racing teams with 5 and ten thousand dollar bikes. I started doing the ride almost twenty years ago and remember signing up for my first metric century and afterwards needing about three days to recover (and I think I wore sneakers too - although I did have a decent road bike).
Yesterday morning did not look good at 6:30 as I was packing up the bike - dark clouds in the west and talk of possible (probable?) showers throughout the day. However, I thought I just sailed through three days of real rain on my end-of-cross country trip so what's a little warm mist when a good ride is planned. So at 7:15 I found myself heading out to the country with a few hundred other cycling nut-cases determined to get in 100 miles before the downpours started. We made it to the first SAG at the thirty mile point with no moisture but after a few minutes for fresh water and a couple peanut butter snacks the drops started coming. And they continued to come on and off for the next 70 miles. I guess the good news was that it was better than the heat waves we had a couple weeks ago and the chance to ride the country roads with a few hundred others was still a great way to spend a Saturday.
So somewhere around the 80 mile point I fell in with a young rider also riding solo (both of my prospective riding partners had other plans and I literally went through the entire day of riding without seeing a single person I knew) and we started into a bit of small talk as we pedalled. Coming out of a long flat stretch we hit a series of rollers. I rose out of the saddle for a few strokes to attack the first hill and then continued through the second and third until the road flattened out again. And meanwhile my young friend fell back maybe a dozen or so bike lengths and I was actually a little surprised to see him only in my mirror. Given another three or four minutes and the now flat road he came up alongside of me again..."Wow", he said, "that was some strong pull" and then he added "especially for someone your age". I looked sideways at him for a minute and then could only laugh to myself...If he only knew. I confess I was tempted at that point to try and kick it up a couple of notches and see what would happen but discretion got the better of me and we sailed in to the lunch that is part of the deal with clearing skies and the same pleasant small talk that started our short relationship...All in all a good day and a fun ride - even the lunch at the end was good. I recorded 101 miles at 16.4 mph, not a bad day's work. And the sun did come out on my way home for dinner on the deck.