Back...in..the...Saddle

I did get back to cycle commuting, but I did so in a way that managed to go against most (if not all) of John Wooden's maxims. As I suggested previously, I started in with the short ride from home to the Sprinter station, and while that was a reasonable start, it was, to me, a tease. Thus, instead of planning my next step, I went with my desire to ride.

Failure to plan is planning to fail.

As one experienced in failure, I am thankful that one can learn from it. I sat watching the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California, and my hand felt good. I felt like I could take a leap and do more than just a baby step to the next level. The next day, a Monday, I put my trusty XO in the truck bed and drove off to Encinitas station. I have done the ride from Encinitas to UCSD so many times that it is a unit of measure to me, so despite not having ridden in months, I felt comfortable in this ride.

And it was great!

From the Coaster train, the coast route looks like this:



Except on the odd Friday, it might look like this:




But that Monday morning, I got to see those sights that I'd been missing. The train rolls on, but one of the beauties of cycling is that if you see something you like, you can stop and take it in. So, at the bottom of the Torrey Pines grade, I stopped to capture the beauty of an early Monday, low tide morning (I didn't capture the summit due to physiological limitations).



However, as a one time thing, I was ready for this, but not as a routine. This was Bike-to-Work week, ending Bike-to-Work Day, and my goal was to ride that celebrated Friday





And I accomplished that goal, but I'd pushed it without a plan. All those routines that go along with regular cycling I hadn't yet established. Soon, I found myself like the cranky child who needs a nap, and one morning, instead of making that day my masterpiece, I was lashing out at a perceived injustice. Though, I did discover that I could once again make obscene gestures with my surgically repaired left hand.

I took a few days off, and reformulated. John Wooden passed away, and while that is a sad loss, the attention that event gave to his life and his teachings was a benefit to me. It reminded me of precepts I'd been taught as a child and how they applied now. So, I'm doing my basic bike-train-train-bike commute, and doing so in a way to be quick to the next step, but not to hurry it. I'll get the camera to capture the details soon.

One of the people who inspires me to ride is Starla, and next week she's going to take off on an adventure over familiar ground to me, but she's going to do it with just one speed. My wish for her is that she'll have the right amount of Pop-Tarts when she needs `em! Follow along on her adventure here.