148th ride of 2020 - Thursday, 11/12/2020

2020 mileage: 3788.5

This morning's ride used a notable range of curious mental gymnastics. I set off at 10 a.m. in lovely conditions -- utterly calm, brilliant (though cool -- 39°) sunshine, fully intending to ride my round trip to Matthei Botanical Gardens of 30+ miles. The early miles of the ride went fine, but as I neared a decision point about 9 miles in where I must either push on for the longer ride or turn for a shorter one.

I tried to encourage myself with the thought, "You will never regret having done the longer ride," and I know that to be true. Nevertheless, I found myself turning, and settling for the shorter ride (the Platt/Packard Square, 13.7 miles in 1:34.) 

As I tried to analyze my heart later, it seemed to me that although I was perfectly comfortable, what was really calling to me was the desire to continue my compositional activities (currently working on a choral setting of the text, "How Can I Keep from Singing?") And I was reminded of a comment my friend and former teacher J. Larry Roberts made to me a few years before his 2016 death. "When wrestling with this issue," he observed, "it seems to me that you need to ask yourself whether you are more likely to achieve something truly significant as a cyclist or as a musician."

When I rode beneath this tree, I could sense an incipient poem beginning to coalesce:

The bare branches whispered,

WINTER IS NIGH,

As their grayness stood starkly

Agains the blue sky ...

Link to (Relive) video to today's ride

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