All posts by Mike

Felt so good this morning… but could it be the last legal ride for a while?

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

An interesting day to be sure. One of those very rare days in which I was feeling a lot better than my son, with two other witnesses seeing it (“pilot” Kevin & Karen). I was doing much better up Kings than anytime recently, and got a huge gap on Kevin such that, at the wide-open clearing spot, I decided to circle back a bit and make sure he was OK. He was almost two minutes behind at that point; had I kept going, I probably would have been just under 30 minutes.

But the bigger news came a bit earlier today. Just heard it an hour or so ago. We knew the stay-at-home order would be extended. But what we thought were clarifications on the extension? Not the case. The new order is not an extension; it’s a far more draconian effort to keep people from leaving their homes. It includes a 5 mile radius (described as distance from your home) outside of which you are not allowed to walk, run, hike or… bike. That’s right, a ride to Skyline for 99.9% of us is illegal. A ride to the coast, out of the question. A ride anywhere that you might want to get on shorts, a jersey and cycling shoes… is not allowed. Basically, if you see anyone looking like a “cyclist” and not a commuter, odds are, they are not legal.

This is interesting. I’ve asked for clarification, noting the huge difference in considering a 5 mile run as an essential activity for maintaining health, vs a 5 mile bike ride. Maintenance of health via exercise is considered an essential activity. But they’ve made it pretty much impossible to do so by bike.

Guess we’re going to be selling a lot more trainers.

In every near or post-apocalyptic movie I’ve seen, the churches are full. In this one, they’re empty.

Personal stuff

A view of Peninsula Covenant Church as I round the curve at the Firestation, heading home.
It’s a view I see 5 times a week, riding my bike home. Peninsula Covenant’s steeple, which at this time of year, is accented by the evening’s final light. It’s usually comforting, soemtimes a reminder of things I’d rather not think about, and sometimes it’s just there. Normally you’d think of sermons & church pews and long-past memories of always knowing exactly where my father was because he had a very distinctive way of clearing his throat. Something that has passed unchanged from father to son. For the most part, it’s just there, reliably there, always there. I never gave much thought to “needing” it; it’s a place where one gets married, makes friends, and goes to funerals.

But when things get dark, it’s a place of hope. And yet, it, like every other church, every synagogue I ride past, they’re all empty. That’s never how it works in the movies. People come together in the church. They seek refuge from everything-dark in the church. There is hope against the hopelessness in the church. There are people in the church. But not today.

Social distancing. Who knew.