On Friday (9/3) I found out my father, Bill, had some vacation time. He would be off from Saturday through Wednesday. I got to thinking that it would be nice to have the girls see their grandpa, so I worked a little magic, and found a cheap round trip flight leaving the next morning, and flying back Tuesday. I’d say the timing worked out well since I was able to do the 50 mile MS Training Ride on Saturday morning, but if you read that post and saw how it went, it’s more likely the fates were simply setting me up and having a pretty good laugh. :-p
In any case, he arrived on time, with a decent flight out (minus the horrid, 2-hour security line at LAX). Since the girls didn’t know he was coming, I left the house to “pick up dinner” (which I also did) and brought him home as well. It was great watching how the kids flocked to him and hung all over him, especially after having not seen him in over 10 months. Nice to know some bonds can’t be broken, even with a relatively long passage of time.
I borrowed my brother’s bike, and on Monday morning Bill and I took off on a short ride. Minus the wind (which was blowing at a steady 15mph) it was a nice day out – only 85°, and humidity was below 40% for once – so I thought the temp was perfect for riding. Bill thought otherwise. Turns out hot weather conditioning is a relative thing, as in my idea of hot is 100°+. But my father and mother live in Ventura County, CA, where it rarely reaches the mid-70’s let alone 100. He was suckin’ down water like an undergrad attacking beer at a kegger. Add to that the hills (we have some decent hills on the trails here, and Ventura is mostly flat along the shoreline), and an unfamiliar bike, and I believe the 18 miles we rode was more than enough to convince him that next time we ride together, I’ll need to fly out to Cali.
But, I was definitely glad to have him with me, and for my part – again, minus the wind – it was a nice relaxing ride. Something my body needed after the beating I gave it on Saturday’s training. There was something else that was really great about this ride: I busted 1,000 miles for this year! With that ride, my total distance since May 4th, 2010 is 1,009.5 miles, a total of 66.3 hours, at an average of 15.2mph.
My father flew home today, and the rain’s rolling in, so I probably won’t get much riding in until the next MS training ride on Sunday. That’ll be a 60-miler.
As always, gotta’ keep on rollin’.