A Bike Ride Before The Heat

It had been 10 months since my last ride. That is sad considering before that string of not riding started, I was riding outside 2-5 days per week up to October 2023. After that it was one excuse after another not to ride. I used so many of them, it is too long to list them. Yet today showed me the routine again, not only to keep the dogs safe while I am gone in HOT weather but one that I can use every time I ride with a new puppy.

This photo was taken last July 2023. Due to severe frame rust I no longer have that FJ. I am parked at the point I start the ride on the city bike path. From this point it is a little over 11 miles round trip. With it 88° already at 11am, and not riding for 10 months, this distance was going to be about right.

The theory for today "you don't have to ride fast you just have to ride". A book called Just Ride explains that a little better. I had that bike built in 1984. The wheels were new in 2019 because modern day wheels were bigger plus nobody was still gluing their tires (called sewups) to the rim. Plus the wheels I had at the time were 35 years old.

Of course that frame was built for a measured body 40 years ago, so there was a little discomfort after the 8 mile mark. My neck was sore and the lowest gear at times wasn't quite low enough to climb a small hill or two. I plan to ride every other day to start and then after a week to ten days I will ride more because the urge to ride will still be there but only stronger.

I use an app called Strava. It will collect your speed, heart rate, time and miles while you ride. I could glance at my Apple Watch and see all of that data at once. Then after the ride and I click "finish" on the app window of the watch, it then download all that information and keeps it as a record on the app which I can see on my watch, phone or computer. It was an easy pace but good ride ... heart rate stayed 112 - 118 and climbed to 128 after I got to the top of the few hills on the course.

The app also produces a nice map of the ride. That small loop at the bottom of the circle in the middle of the ride was around Bosse Field, the 3rd oldest baseball park in MLB. The Independent League Otters were having their last home game of the season there as I rode around the packed parking lot.

This app will also give you the same maps and data for when you run, walk, swim or kayak. It is free and all that you see here is with the free account. There is an option for a subscription for more detailed data. The water at the middle bottom of the map is the Ohio River.

After that the temps were at their high of 92° so a shower, food and a long nap sounded perfect. All in air conditioned air of course. The hounds and dogs agreed with me on the food and nap.

With the hot weather, as you know, they don't get outside much and when they do they don't stay long. Now this week each day is suppose to get 2° hotter each day so by Thursday that will be 98° as the high. So don't expect many "action shots" of the hounds and dogs this coming week.

I was proven wrong a little before 6pm. The temp had cooled down to a nice 91°. It really did feel that nice with the shaded backyard. But there were plenty of "action shots" as Ava and Watson were playing and running full speed. She is much more faster than he is and will run from one end to the other, sometimes taking a short cut across the patio.

Henry decided to join the fun ... he could not keep up of course.

By the time I had "cleaned" the yard only Watson was still outside. Walter flat out refused to come out once he felt the heat outside from inside the opened patio door. He turned and started trotting to his computer room before we even stepped outside.

The past month has been so hot overall that it is roasting any leaf that has fallen from a tree. I've never had a backyard look so bad. From that brown grass it looks like I may have more zoysia grass in the backyard than I thought. There is Kentucky Blue Grass and Tall Fescue mixed in. Like my neighbor told me the first week I moved in "there are over five different grasses in your yard" ... but on Saturday as I walked over her front yard, it was also in bad shape and her's normally looks like a golf course.

Henry and I will head out tomorrow a little after 12 noon and have our regular vet give us a second opinion on that growth I found on his tail. a couple of weeks ago. It never bothers him and I have never seen him try to chew or lick it. He might be told to go on a diet. His short walks where HE decides in each direction, when we turn around, doesn't show much weight loss. He's a big boy.

Ava is just past 7 months and is a really good puppy. Very smart, knows all the commands, will come to get me if she needs to go outside but the patio door is closed. She is waking up now about 6am local time and I can live with that. The 3:30am or 4am puppy time to go outside was hard for a while but it was expected when I decided to buy another puppy.

Bicycling gets the blood flowing at any speed. The movement with the hips as you pedal is good for any arthritis I might have in my left hip. I have never felt any kind of discomfort in the right replaced hip, from a bike accident for those that don't know. Regular bicycle riding also puts me in a better mood.

Looking at all those animal shelter videos that Facebook feeds me on my News Feed are hard to look at. I do that for hours and my three favorites are animal shelters, rescued horses and semi trucks showing the stuff they go through with their dash cams. 

It is so sad how many dogs and cats are in shelters and some have been in those facilities for over 2-3 years. The changes in health of the rescued horses on that same video feed are amazing. One page I follow gets their rescues from the meat market auctions and most horses are in very poor health if not broken down. BUT, with vet help, a changed environment and someone that cares about them, most of them recover.

Just hard to look at. The three large animal shelters in this small city are overflowing with dogs and cats with many still being fostered and waiting for a new home. 

A LOUD voice inside my head always has to remind me that I have four already and more than enough to keep my busy. Like my friend told me many years ago when I was looking at just basset hounds and bloodhounds rescue sites .... "you cannot rescue all of them."

So a fresh pot of ice tea is made. Expectations of hotter than .... weather, glad my AC is working with no issues and the hounds, dogs have all the cold water (room temp) they want to drink. So life is good. 

Another beautiful Sunday here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.