Talking about good reasons to ride

Me, left, with Margaret

When I looked up A Reason to Ride, in order to get the link for the background on the fundraiser for cancer research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, I was pleasantly surprised to see the the 10-mile route was really 11.8 miles. As a certain friend has remind me, the distance isn't what matters. I have a thing in my mind about the old 80-mile bike trips with Rook .(Did we really do that or am I overstating? I'll have to check. ) But that was then and this is now, and the good news is that:

• Starting in Danvers, I did the scenic route on a sunny day with my good friend Margaret and a group of others for a good cause, cancer research,
• I'm not exactly in biking shape, but I went up the hills without getting off, with exertion manageable enough that I was able to chat with Margaret for part of the ride,
• I realized I was riding with one brake (the back) and nothing bad happened,
• At the end, I had fun eating (part of) a giant Fuddruckers hamburger and schmoozing with people who had ridden or walked. 
• I made a financial contribution.

At the end, one of the "real" bikers looked at my front brake and fixed it by simply reconnecting two parts that had come apart. In the old days I would have realized what to do but that part of my brain has been superseded by other things.

The ride choices were 10, 25 and 50. When we were done, I said I thought I probably could have done 25, which is as much a factor of things people might automatically say when they finish (I could have run faster, could have ridden farther) that could spur them on to do better, as it is a factor of nostalgia. (And perhaps self-deception?)

On the other hand (when I say this I can still hear my old boss saying, "on the other hand, I have five fingers) I know that 11.8 miles is pretty good considering that at one point I couldn't even get out of bed or walk the full length of the nurse's station. And it was a fun day doing the almost 12 miles.

I enjoy the feeling of riding a bike, the breeze in your face and all that, and will consider this a good sign for doing more of it. Some of my team members aren't fans but now that I showed I can get through a whole ride (kenahora)  maybe they can let that one go.

I got an email from Safe Passage about signing up for the Hot Chocolate Run, which is coming up on Dec. 8, so I need to put down my tennis racquet long enough to do pay attention to my running, which I should do anyway or else I might have to change the name of my blog from Running for My Life to Tennis Playing for My Life, but it doesn't have the same ring.