It didn’t take long to get Dave back up and running. He was told his bike is old and either needs to get replacement wheels or be replaced.  And so now, we don’t trust it.  Is it just a few more rides until it happens again? He has a decision to make.  

So we choose the loop since the loop didn’t happen Saturday.  We are squeezing this ride into an early afternoon.  The weather has cooled down enough that this is do-able.  Even a couple of weeks ago an afternoon ride would have been way too hot.  But our nights and mornings are getting cooler and the sun no longer feels like the enemy in the middle of the day.  

We ride faster than we have which feels good.  Dave is trying to keep us above an average of 13 mph on his trip computer.  We are the only ones on the path..  Everyone else is off to school or work.  Having the opportunity to fit this in any time of the day feels quite lucky.  Life is full, but this is still manageable.  43 down, 17 to go.

This week has been incredibly busy with Lindsey home, Mom’s birthday and Matt’s upcoming wedding but we were still able to get two rides in. Since our schedule was cleared for a baby being born sometime this month we are catching up to my goal of 45 before the end of August. 13 was our lucky number: 13 rides in August and a granddaughter born on the 13th.   This month was all about spending time on the bike paths and then beating a path to Fremont to snuggle a baby.  Not a bad way to spend the last days of summer.

On this ride, a surprise.  As we pull into the Side Cut parking lot, we get a hearty hello.  It is our friends, Timm and Bob. They are training for a full GAP ride.  DC to Pittsburgh.  330 miles in 6 days, carrying all of their belongings on their bikes.  We bike with them until the trails split..  

I asked Dave after we part if he wished he was going too and he said no way.  

I wish he had that adventure in him. I wish I had that adventure in me.  I think I would have been pushed in any direction someone would have nudged me. So, since I married Dave, those nudges toward adventure didn’t happen.  There have been nudges in other directions that have made life pretty wonderful in other ways though.  But sometimes I dream of places like the Appalachian Trail, the Santo Camino, the GAP and wish I could say they were a part of my life.

This ride will probably be the one I am the most proud of. 30.4 miles at our highest average pace yet of 13.3 miles, on a humid, warmer than usual morning when I had only consumed lipton cup a soup and ginger ale for the last 54 hours.  I seriously don’t even know how I did it.  

We came home from my brother’s wedding after I had not eaten for over two days. I developed diverticulitis while we were gone. I couldn’t skip the wedding to go to the hospital for treatment  and I could not get a hold of a doctor at home for a prescription on a holiday weekend. I had no choice but to stop eating to make the symptoms subside. 

The takeaway is that I could do it. I could bike with no food in me.  And not only that, I could do it and not feel hungry or shaky or sluggish. How was this even possible?  Food for thought, no doubt.

We have to leave early because I have a car appointment.  I tell Dave we need to leave at 7:00.  He says, “We’ll try,” and I am annoyed.  What do you mean, “we’ll try?” Isn’t it either a yes or a no?  Well, not necessarily. Of course he is tuned into the sunrise time more than I am.  Sunrise is at 7:20.  Will it even be light enough at 7:00? I hate that we are going to be constrained more and more by sunrise and sunset times, temperatures and weather.  We are on the road by 7:35. It is light enough.  

It is a very cloudy day.  In fact so cloudy that we soon realize that the mist we are riding through is really because we must be riding in a low cloud.  There is no rain on the radar, but there are certainly low hanging clouds and a mist covering our glasses. 

I am tired of all of this riding effort and no weight loss reward. I’ve decided that I am going to try some intermittent fasting to see if I can get over this hurdle of not being able to lose weight past my low set point. I’m tired of being the woman who can’t get results.  After Ride 45 that I did such a killer job on with no food in my stomach I am wondering if I’ve been doing it wrong all along.  I have always felt that I needed to eat something before an early morning ride.  This time I do not reach for anything before we walk out the door.  And I am fine.  I realize that I don’t need it.  Not one bit.  I don’t crave a protein bar or feel shaky.  I am totally fine.  This is exciting.  

I will miss breakfast, I do love breakfast, but I am now committing myself to a September of intermittent fasting and morning exercise.  I need to see where this might go. An 8 hour window for eating means that I will not be eating in the morning until 11 or 12.  Who knows, maybe it's the missing puzzle piece I’ve been searching for.  My belief is that if this can get me to a new set point that this doesn’t have to be a life sentence.  It can be a temporary solution to get me to where I want to be.