This describes the extra mile I went through to ride 10 miles on Friday Feb 9th.
We buried my father in Canandaigua, NY at 2pm on Saturday Feb 9th. I thought we could do the trip with just one overnight. I’d bike before the 6-7 hour drive north and again after we arrived home late then next night. But we really needed 2 nights there, so I had to figure out how to bike in Canandaigua, NY in February. I phoned the local bike shop a few days ahead and asked about rentals. The website said they rent bikes in spring, summer, and fall. A phone call confirmed that they do not rent bikes in the winter, so I asked if I could test ride a bike and they said yes. However I had to keep it short (3-5 minutes). That would hardly be enough time to get a mile in but still better than nothing. I arrived at 10am when they opened and asked to test ride a bike. Right away, they realized I was the person who had called ahead wanting to ride a bike for the Freezing Saddles contest. They said I could ride it around their parking lot. I tried to convince them to let me ride further but the sales person said he was just an hourly employee and couldn’t do anything for me. I asked if I could test ride two bikes and said I really wanted to bike 10 miles because I got bonus points for the first 10 miles.
After a few minutes, someone with more authority heard my pleading and gave in. Since it was sunny and warm that day, he agreed to rent one of their rental bikes for $10 an hour as long as I agreed to return promptly if it started to rain because he didn’t want any of the road salt to get on the bike. He suggested some places to ride and I took off.
I rode up to the cemetery and saw where they were prepping my father’s grave and I talked to the cemetery owner about the service that was taking place in a couple hours. I explored the town and found more hills than expected on the heavy bike. I saw a fire house earlier but didn’t get a chance to photograph it on the bike ride. I had to get back so I wouldn’t be late for my father’s funeral.
I felt a little guilty about twisting the arms of the bike shop workers but I kept up my > 10 mile a day streak. And now whenever it feels hard to bike (like the day we left early to ski all day or when I was sick), I remember the hoops I jumped through to get a 10 mile ride in Canandaigua, NY, and convince myself to just get out and ride.
2/2/24 Arlington Fire station 4 Clarendon
