Ride on!

I’ve been grading for so many days, all afternoon, into the night. With grading comes writing comments, which can be even more challenging. Yesterday, a colleague and I were on SNA at a bowling alley with 22 teenagers. The volume was deafening: between the crowds, the bowling balls smashing into the pins, and the pop music blasting from the speakers, I’m still surprised I can hear. But, it was great white noise so we graded like maniacs because it’s crunch time. One of the employees came over to say, “You realize it’s Saturday night, don’t you?” We all laughed. If only she knew how much we knew it was Saturday night. Anyway, we got a lot done, surprisingly. With an 8 month old at home, my friend was super productive.

Today, however, I did nothing (until evening, because I have deadlines). It was sunny and 55 degrees and there was NO WAY I was going to spend my afternoon in front of my computer indoors. So, Matt and I went for a bike ride. “Outside” was my only requirement for the day’s activities because sunshine makes me so incredibly happy!!! We thought about exploring towns, or going to the shore, or going to a park, but when Matt suggested a bike ride, it was the most obvious right choice. He figured out a route and a general direction and we figured we’d stop and back track when we got tired enough.

We bike 11 miles. ELEVEN. I’ve never biked that long in my life. It was invigorating and I was so proud of myself for not collapsing out of exhaustion. It took us about 1h 45m total, including a stop at a crazy old cemetery. It was the perfect temperature, and all of the remaining snow was melting away, creating the biggest puddles on the side of the road. Matt was honestly surprised that no truck or car purposefully splashed us because it would have easily been a 5 foot wave. As it is, our legs and back side got plenty muddy.

This experience got me SO excited for the sophomore bike trip in June where we’ll leave from school and ride to DC and camp along the way. It’s going to be awesome. When I first got the schedule, I thought: “30? 40? miles in ONE DAY?? What have I done?!?!?” But now it seems more doable. It’s not a race either; I have nothing to prove to this 15 year olds. I can use my easiest gear the whole way if I need to. Never mind that I'm currently typing and icing. No pain, no gain, right? (Definitely going to stretch the next few days...)

Bike shorts are a necessity. It’s too bad they’re so expensive and that I’ll need two pairs (gotta have a dry seat!). Last year, there were torrential rains and the poor group was wet the entire week. I’m going to start praying now that we have a dry June.

The biking/camping combo has been something Matt has wanted to do for a while, so maybe this is his dream come true? We’ll find out this summer!