151st ride of 2020 - Tuesday, 11/17/2020

2020 mileage: 3835.6

Today's ride was very unnerving. I set out about 11 a.m., intending to ride the Platt/Packard Square (almost 14 miles). However, conditions were very far from enjoyable—the 34° temperature was tolerable with my winter coat and heavy gloves, but the 17 mph howling out of the northwest wind presented a huge challenge. 

As I headed south down the Lohr/Textile Greenway, with the wind pushing me along, it was a delight, and I was riding an average speed of over 10 mph, which is quite slow for a bike rider, but on my trike, with its heavier weight and awkward gearing, it is a very good speed ... far better than my usual ride. 

I always carry my ID with me, realizing how critical it could be for me with the inability to speak. However, for some reason today, I carelessly shoved it into my coat pocket rather than securing it into the zippered interior pocket I have available. About 2 miles into the ride, I discovered that the wallet was gone ... and my heart nearly stopped. I checked thoroughly to be sure it was nowhere on me, and not finding it, I quickly decided the only reasonable thing to do was to head back along my route towards home, and perhaps I would be fortunate that no one had picked it up yet, and with the good daylight I could find it.

Fighting my way back into that wind was like riding into mud, but I fought the fight, watching carefully, and a little over halfway back, when I was about three quarters of a mile from home, I found it, lying on the sidewalk. After sending MANY prayers of thanks to God, I quickly realized that, between my wildly fluctuating emotions, and the beat down of the wind, any gumption and drive I had had originally was now gone. So I turned left along Oak Valley, and rode the loop over by Target, before returning home. On the way home I stopped in at Meijer to pick up a few groceries I had wanted to get this morning, but couldn't, as Michelle needed our car.

All this gave me a ride of only 5.7 miles at a glacial pace, taking me 46 minutes. I'll hope that tomorrow goes better!

Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

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