17 consecutive days

I look for balance in all things. That doesn't mean that i don't often have a drive, inside, to strive for some kind of extreme -- i often do. I consider it a flaw. Balance, i think, is the more healthy, and for that matter, more real path to follow.

Between the extremes is the path.
(Sign between the sauna and cold plunge at an outdoor spa i used to visit frequently.)

I ride my bicycle regularly. I don't like that i track miles, but i do. It's an obsession. An embarrassing one. I don't ride for miles, or for validation, or for pain or anything. I don't even ride for stories, although that is a great benifit.

I ride to get places and I ride to ride my bike. I ride because it is joyful and i feel better when i do. I ride to see the places my bike takes me, places i would never get to see otherwise! At the core of my personality, i'm a traveler, always learning, always trying to figure out now things and new places. I get to travel every day, my bike takes me places.

Some people are spending April trying to ride every day, and write about it. It's called 30 days of biking. I think it's great, it's good motivation, especially if you're not yet in the habit (or want to get the habit back). And it's fun. And cycling should be fun. It's a little extreme for me; i've bicycled in all but about a dozen months since 1971, but i've never, i think, biked every day. I kind of was tracking (quietly): Maybe i would get every day -- not to be extreme or anything.

Yesterday, April 12th, i rode to Bike Works to do some database work. 13 more miles for April. After that i had biked 17 consecutive days, 249 total miles, since March 27th.

Today i was sick. Bit of fever, runny nose, very tired, headache. I really don't want to be sick when i go to Orcas Island on the weekend so i took it easy, napped and read all day. I did get up off the couch in the evening -- i walked to get some dinner with a friend. But i didn't get on my bike. Not even around the block. Oh well. I'll still ride most days in April. I'm going out of town this weekend and will probably miss at least one day, maybe more.

Here's where i rode during those 17 days.


And a close up.


I'll post the same full route map for all of April at the end of the month.