Day 19 of 30: The Therapist

Most of my cycling is what I like to call "life-related," and by that I mean that I don't necessarily use cycling as a tool specifically to keep myself in shape or to train for races. It's basically a part of my day-to-day life, for the most part: commuting, running errands, and so on.

Every now and then, I do make time to take what I like to call "pleasure rides," rides with no set destination or goal in mind other than relaxation. I realize that doing something active may not inherently sound relaxing, but under good conditions, I find that a nice long ride can be therapeutic. In fact, my Specialized Diverge that I usually take on long rides is named "My Therapist."

After several very cold days (cold by usual April standards), we finally had a somewhat nice day in the forecast on Saturday day 18 of 30 Days of Biking. Yes, it was still a bit chilly, too chilly to convince the whole family to go for a ride actually. But with no threat of rain or SNOW, that was all I needed to decide to take an hour or so to get lost around the Grove City area, which is still somewhat of an unknown place to me:

That pic was taken about 10 miles out, when I'd clearly reached somewhat of a dead end on one of the bike trails. It's a reminder that though we've come a long way with cycling infrastructure in this area, we still have a lot to do. I did say I wanted to get lost though, and part of getting lost is finding the way back home. This one was pretty easy. I took the sidewalk to the right up to the next road about a quarter mile up, which returned to having a roadside multi-use path:

Also some nice Spring blooms! Believe it or not, this was also the first ride I've ever taken while listening to music. I usually like to hear the sounds of the world around me, but I was feeling like listening to some tunes yesterday. Now I know why so many people over the years recommended I get a portable Bluetooth speaker:

I probably won't make it a daily thing, but on my therapy rides, sure. It was quite enjoyable. I didn't take the longest ride yesterday, but it was long enough to feel good about it:

But even on a pleasure cruise, I did stop by the grocery store very quickly to pick up a couple things for family lunch, and of course, some more local beer:

I was also able to convince my girlfriend to take a ride later in the afternoon. The kiddo has been tougher to convince as of late, but I'm confident that once the weather truly turns nicer, it won't be so difficult to convince anyone. It's quite alright though. With many of us spending more time at home together with our families, we do still need to take time for ourselves. I needed a therapeutic solo bike ride as much as I'm sure they needed a couple hours without me. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

I'm not sure what Sunday holds in store just yet, but you can bet I'll be on a bike at some point. I hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there.

30DoB Mileage Counter: 190.5