How To Make a 6-Mile Ride Seem Short

Today, I stopped at a store after work, and noticed that the car's radiator was leaking antifreeze. Since I recently had the cooling system fixed (for major money) I decided that now would be a good time for the shop to take a look at the car and fix it right this time. As I usually do when I need to take a car to the shop, I loaded the bike into it, drove to the mechanic, and bicycled back home. The ride home was about 9 or 10 km. I admit that I didn't set any speed records this evening, but the distance didn't seem long at all.

Maybe that's because yesterday I did the second half of the Tour of (One Half of) the Scioto River Valley (TOSRV). Yes, I'm lazy and I only do the half-tour, which ends up being a little less than 55 miles a day for two days. It was the best of TOSRVs; it was the worst of TOSRVs. This is the third consecutive year that I did the half tour, and I say that because of a few reasons:

• At mile 7, my son telephoned me and asked if he could play on the computer. Not that this was a bad thing, but as I sometimes say, I would have expected that he'd be able to use his own discretion in answering that question.
• At mile 11, my chain broke as I was switching into low gear while pedelling hard for an uphill climb. I got that fixed with the aid of my handy-dandy chain tool and two passing cyclists who offered moral support (and good advice). But, I was the only one who got his hands dirty.
• In Portsmouth, I got a flat tire right at the park at the end of the ride -- an amazingly fortunate place to get a flat. I switched to my spare tube, and used Chris' pump (of Chris' Cycle Works) to inflate my tire, since the most important supply I don't have is a pump. That lasted me until the pickup location for my luggage. As it was within sight (as I was rolling), I heard PSSST, PSSST, Pssst, Pssst, Pssst, pssst, pssst, pssst, and I knew I was in trouble.
• And, for the first 25 miles (or really, miles 10-25) I didn't feel all that good. I probably hadn't ridden enough this year in preparation, and I wasn't enjoying myself at all.

But it was also a good TOSRV:

• After the Lake White rest stop, I started to feel better. By the time I got to Portsmouth, I didn't feel bad at all.
• As always, I spent the night at the home of the parents of a former college roommate, and had a pleasant evening, a delicious dinner, and a nice bed.
• While there, I patched the tube and filled the tire, and it gave me no problems on Sunday.
• The Sunday ride was very nice. I was never in a hurry, and I didn't feel too tired or in any sort of hurry to get it over with. I just enjoyed the ride. It was probably the most pleasant day of my 6 TOSRV days, coming after the worst half-day (at least) of the riding of a TOSRV.

Here are a few photos. First, here I am as I am about to leave the Lake White rest stop on Saturday. I am starting to feel better -- when I arrived I didn't even bother to ask anyone to take my picture -- I only asked someone as I was leaving. I cropped all but a few pixels of my very non-professional biker-looking socks.

Here's my bike on the Portsmouth Flood Wall:


Here's the fog when leaving Portsmouth on Sunday morning. It soon lifted into a beautiful day.


And to prove I felt good when it was all done, I finally stopped in Circleville for a photo of the Pickaway County Courthouse. Someday, I'll have to redo my web page of county courthouse photos.