An almost perfect day...

One of the 'perks' of retirement (there are many for anyone who is counting) is the ability to grab a day like we had today and head out on the bike. It has been rainy, cold, drizzly, gray the last three or four days and even the one quick ride I did was not all that much fun. Today was blue sky, high 70s, and almost zero humidity - easily one of the ten best days of the year. I have not done the Anchor House training ride yet and decided today was right (minus Federal Twist - I've promised to save that for a friend). I have also had this thing in the back of my mind about doing my birthday ride - in miles rather than kilometres - and to this point the longest I have done has been 62 miles I think, a little shy of the goal. In any case I headed out at about 11 AM, perfect time from my perspective...morning chill is gone, traffic is light, kids are still in school. I probably should have brought my camera - the azaleas are gone but the irises and the wildflowers are out and we are still at that stage where all the fields are a bright and glorious green. I saw maybe half a dozen deer today - they feed at the side of the road and usually look up, give me a funny look and then slide into the woods. Also saw hawks and turkey vultures circling and looking for the hot air drafts that make them float to gracefully. So after several spurts of climbing I settled into a highway that runs alongside the Delaware river and figured I would just put it into a big gear and cruise on this scenic and flat road... Somewhere around the 40 mile point I started to get a bit of a twinge in my right knee (not the leg hurt last summer). So I circled around and started my ride back in the direction of Lawrenceville knowing I had a ways to go but already calculating that today would probably be my high day for the year. Basic geography will tell you that if you travelling on a river road and want to get back inland you had best be prepared to climb a bit and as I turned onto my first major climbing road that twinge came back big time...At this point I realized this thing was going to be with me all the way home and maybe the fun part of the day was over. So...long story short...I cannot remember that knee ever causing me as much grief as it did today. I have a pretty high pain threshold but the last 20 miles or so today were agony. My average dropped down to 13.9 and I loudly rejoiced over every downhill no matter how slight. In the end I did 80 miles (more than enough to satisfy the BD requirement) and did 4500 feet of climbing...in hindsight I think I could have done without the climbing....