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Almost perfect
I went on a 54.4Km ride yesterday that I think was as perfect as a ride can be. It was my usual dead-flat bike path ride, but yesterday's ride was different. I didn't have to play in traffic to get to the bike path - all the cars passed me at once, and I was left alone on the road. On the path, there were no snakes, potholes, bits of glass, stupid pedestrians or stupid cyclists. In fact there were remarkably few pedestrians at all. When I dinged my bell at them, they all acknowledged me. Some stepped aside, but I don't expect that. All I need is for them to know I'm there and about to pass them. A "dinged" pedestrian is one who won't suddenly change course and go under my wheels.
At around the 7Km mark, I encountered a guy riding bike festooned with Eddie Mercx stickers. His jersey had Mercx written all over it. I don't know if the bike was an actual Mercx bike or something else, but obviously dude likes his Mercx. In front of him was a young girl, I assume his daughter. She was setting the pace, and so the going was slow. There was nowhere to pass them, and at first I found myself a little frustrated. But I told myself it was good to go slow - it burns fat (apparently) and it helps stamina. A long ride's a good ride!
So I stayed behind them for another 7Km or so. The guy knew I was there and kept looking back, but I was happy to hang back and not pass them. Every once in a while we'd encounter a pedestrian and I'd ding my bell (because they had no bells.. naughty naughty illegal riders). Later, he thanked me for my bell-ringing. They pulled over at about 15Km to cross a road, and let me go ahead of them. I wanted to tell them I wanted to keep hanging off their wheels, but it's kinda rude to do that with strangers. So off I went, through Kalinga Park. Kalinga is known, at least to me, as a dangerous mine-field of wandering toddlers and loose dogs. Not yesterday. All the toddlers were safely sitting with their parents, and there were no loose dogs at all. I turned off to Toombul and kept riding, not a sliver of glass on the usually glassy path.
Somehow Mr Mercx and daughter must've caught up to me because as I dismounted to cross the road at Toombul, they were only a few metres behind. Hmm, this simply would not do. Having crossed the road, I took off and maintained around 32Kph for a few Kms. I know only moments before I wanted to stay on their tail, but once I'm in front, I like to stay in front. Mr Mercx and daughter.. sorry if you ate my dust. I really did enjoy riding with you, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
I set a nice quick pace through the Schultz Canal area. If there were headwinds, I didn't notice them. I just kept on riding, riding, riding. When I got to Nudgee (20Km), I felt like my legs had plenty left in them. I hadn't planned on doing a longer ride, but when the legs feel good, why cut it short? So I rode on to Boondall. The Boondall Wetlands area is a nice ride, but with narrow paths it makes passing slow-pokes kinda tough. And the area being what it is, it's almost always populated by tourists going slow. And when it's not full of slow-poke tourists, it's full of go-fast racers who take up the entire width of the path (the path is barely 2 riders' width). Not yesterday. I felt like I was the only rider on the path. I felt at once invincible and at one with the world. More than once, I found myself thinking, "this is living".
I stopped at Boondall to refill my water bottles and was set upon by the invisible biting bugs. I thought about riding through to Sandgate, but the rational part of me intervened. "You know, Max, you're feeling good now, but in 20Km or so, you might have a different view of things. And you will need to turn around and ride home. And MaxBabe can't come to pick you up because she's busy today. So how about you just turn around now?". I love the rational part of me. I turned around and headed back.
The ride back was just as good as the ride out. I kept riding through swarms of little midgey bugs (actually the whole ride was full of them), but managed not to swallow any nor get any in my eyes. I arrived home feeling good, and glad I'd turned around when I had.
It was a great ride. 