News flash: I rode my bicycle in June. Here’s some numbers and words about them. Also I hope you like orange, black and white, because those are Strava’s colors. It’s like Halloween without the candy. Actually, it’s like working off the candy. Great, now I want candy. I’m hungry because I rode my bicycle in June. But you already read that, because I already wrote that. Feel free to report me to the Department of Redundancy Department (thank you, Monty Python for that brilliant idea). I actually once put those magic words on the door of my office (yes, I know they are fighting words in a government bureaucracy). I was not kept around after the six month probation was ended. Just like June 2021 did. It’s over, done with, gone. You’ve heard of circular logic, like beans are a magical fruit so all fruit is beans? Well, that is not true. For me, circular logic means turning the wheels by pedaling my bicycle. Still with me? Let’s go to the numbers.

The bottom line (spoiler alert) is that I made it to 500 miles. You can’t tell from this chart, because it adds 44 miles of walking, but trust me, I biked 500.3 miles. I know this because my legs tell my Garmin watch, which tells Garmin Connect, which tells Strava, which I’m now telling you..

These graphics sum up my month of June. First is the total hours exercise, which also includes walking and yoga. It would be even more hours if I hadn’t quite doing arm resistance bands. I’d leave it til the end of the day when I’d be too tired to do it. So I quit that, for now. But 88 hours of total exercise is two full work-weeks is a lot, if you ask me. In the middle is a picture I added to my longest ride, which wasn’t really that long considering what I used to do. Strava says that of my exercise time, 40% was biking and a bit less each for yoga and walking. I suppose that’s an improvement, because it’s less biking than last year, which was a lot more.

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I’ve continued to feel poorly much of the time, sorta like cat poop that a dog ate then vomited and ate again. (Hey, I’m nothing if not a wordsmith, right?!) but my slow bike ride helps get the chi flowing. I found a way to do a little more biking than May. I’m pretty slow, avoid hills, and often just do errands. When it comes to my slow bike-riding, I believe the tortoise really will beat the hare in the long run. Or at least I hope so. I was never good at word problems, so I can’t prove it. Hey, this ain’t no math blog,

I think what keeps me going is biking late, sometimes even after dark. Not every day, but more often than not.That helps me beat the Texas summer heat and stupid humidity. “When the sun goes down and there’s not another living soul around,” oh, wait, that’s a Fleetwood Mac song lyric, All I mean is when it’s dark and there is less traffic, that means less likelihood of skin cancer. Or death by texting driver.

To sum up: After six months of 2021 in the bag, I’m halfway to another year of biking about 100 miles a week. I should be able equal my first year on Strava by one mile by reaching 5,306 miles, but I’ll add one just for funsies. One never knows the future, though. And life is what happens when we’re making other plans, as someone said (John Lennon was not the first). And to quote area resident Matthew McConaghey: “Just. Keep. Pedaling.”

How was your first half of 2021 on the bike? Or walking, yoga, or whatever exercise you’re into.