Finally pushing back on the wall, Missing, Mild, 67
On my lunch hour Friday I finally got to play some pickleball for the first time in quite awhile. I played two singles matches against my buddy from the gym. I won the first game pretty easily, the second game was much closer. If he practices more I think he could be really good. I had my Apple Watch on tracking my vitals. At one point my heart rate got up to 174 bpm, which is high, very high. Singles pickelball is a great workout and when teamed up with Florida mid-day heat and humidity, it can get extreme. I followed up after work with my first Friday night road biking in forever, if I were to guess, probably June. I was already a bit tired from pickleball but I turned in a decent ride all things considered. It felt good to be back in a mode where I am once again pushing back on those walls that are constantly closing in on you as you grow older.
On Saturday I did the weeding at the more conventional Saturday morning time slot and hated it. Despite it being early the heat and humidity had ramped up quickly. It made me feel inclined to try to do this task during a weekday evening consistently when conditions are less oppressive. I also got out and mowed the back half of the property again, despite just doing it two weeks prior. When I did it then I had the deck at the highest height because the grass was tall. This time I dropped it low to hopefully keep things down for a little longer. During the session I got the tractor stuck in the rear ditch as I tried to mow across it. Asking the neighbor for help was the last thing I felt like doing, who wants to admit defeat? Instead I put the transmission in neutral and brute forced the tractor out by pulling on it from the rear like a mule. Fck hernias.
During the day Deb stopped by to get her outdoor bar set with her new boyfriend Bill. It was the first time I met him. They actually rented a small U-Haul for the pick up. The set will be going to Bill’s place where Deb will be moving to shortly. That set had been on my pool deck for at least a couple years, having it removed made the deck look even more sparse. Oh well, I have other things to be concerned with. I did get to utilize my pool for the second week in a row after mowing, it was so damn hot.
Saturday night I thought I would reward myself for the day of ass busting with a trip to Brooks. I sat at the bar as usual. I had a single Miller Lite, the first beer I have had since being on the island. I just wasn’t feeling it and did not hang around long after finishing my food.
On Sunday Gladys had mentioned to me possibly meeting up with her to go for a ride at the Greenway. It would probably be the last opportunity I would have to see her in person for a long time however it did not work out, so instead I started mentally laying out a massive range test on one of my new wheels the EX20S. This wheel weighs almost 110lbs and has a massive 3600WH battery. Just to give you perspective a BIG battery when I first got started with EUC’s was 800WH. I wanted to see just how far I could go on this wheel without recharging.
I knew this was going to take a long time so I got out on the road pretty early, right around 10:30. I headed in the direction of Ave Maria. Not only does this wheel have a big battery, it’s fast as well. The fastest speed I recorded on the ride was over 38MPH. On the way back from Ave Maria I had a scary moment where I looked at a nearby biker for a few moments. In that split second I hit a large rock that was in the roadway dead on. Thankfully the suspension on this wheel absorbed most of the impact. If I had been on one of my wheels without suspension I have zero doubt I would have been launched onto the roadway and turned into one big piece of road rash since I was traveling around 30MPH at the time.
When I got back to the house I had amassed 34-35 miles but had only used around half of the battery so after eating a quick sandwich for lunch I was back on the wheel, this time headed for the Dunkin Donuts that is 10-11 miles away from me. During this leg of the ride the heat was really starting to get to me, it was uncomfortable, even with a 25 mph constant breeze hitting me. I also was in physical discomfort from riding for so long, my feet were burning. As I got closer to the house I still had over 25% battery remaining so I needed to keep rolling. I rode a few laps around the park and then headed across Immokalee Road to the swamp side to get more miles in. In one last ditch effort for length I went up to the end of my road and back, another 4 miles. When it was all said and done I had traveled an incredible 67 miles in somewhere between three and three and a half hours. I was tired and overheated as you can imagine. Even with all of that riding I still had 11% battery remaining, I could have likely gone another 5 miles or more. That distance is made more amazing by the speed I was maintaining, most of the time between 25-35MPH. The video tells the tale.
The rest of Sunday was spent video editing and tending to little tasks that I have been putting off for no good reason. I would say that I am officially out of the grasp of lingering covid blah-ness. I’m ready to resume engaging with life in a more meaningful and impactful way.