the day: last tuesday, the 19th, partly sunny or partly cloudy--depending on your perspective, somewhere in the 70s with barely a breeze ...
the adventure: a couple of weeks prior to last tuesday, i got an email from a former student, lu, suggesting i ride over to vermont and meet them, camp, and then ride back to canaan the next day. i loaded up the panniers with all the essentials, hooked them onto the bike racks, and pedaled off. i made it over the connecticut river and was heading up hill out of east thetford. two loaded bikers came over the top of said hill and the one out front, crossed over the yellow line, and greeted me, "hellooo koby!"
it was lu and sophia, headed to cedar circle farm stand for a fancy espresso to go with lunch. they had been biking since friday, from white hall, new york, across vermont. we chatted over lunch and changed plans a bit to include riding through a covered bridge back over in orford new hampshire and a swim in post pond in lyme.
after a swim over to a raft, a 'cannonball' and a 'watermelon' splash, and a swim back, we returned to our changing barn--my friend dave lives across the road--and hashed over the rest of day's ride. it was an hour and a half back-west into vermont and camp up by vermontasaurous or an hour and a half ahead-east into new hampshire and camp at my house in canaan ...
the memories: though i was thinking a visit to the giant wooden dinosaur would generate some fun memories, i didn't push an agenda and let the two decide--we road east to canaan. i'm not sure, but the promise of going by the recent murder scene and a longboard session the following day may have helped them choose.
the riding was as pleasant as a loaded ride could be. though i went twice as far as planned and ate way less than half the food weight in my panniers, i was smiling the whole way. obviously, the company was the big hit and i would have ridden twice x "twice as far" to pedal next to lu. bonus, sophia is a grand biking companion--and she happily put up with my nostalgic stories of adventures with lu! (scroll through 'a pandemic summer and fall outside--plenty of playing!' for an account of the famous moose incident!) ...
- riding with folks half your age--or even less--is therapeutic...
- cooking on a kitchen range is easier than a camp stove...
- a year out from hip replacement*--everything works well...
- i should post goap! more than once a year...
