Windless Surfing or Champlain Valley Pedaling

The dangling carrot this morning -- like many mornings this summer -- was a blast across Lake Champlain on a windsurfer with my bride.

A productive morning, a quick lunch, then back to work. With the carrot still dangling, I noticed the breeze kicking up outside my window. I renewed my commitment to wrap up in time to skitter across the waves, wind at my back, as I raced into the moment and away from deadlines, benchmarks, lists...

My beautiful bride interrupted me mid afternoon.

"I'm headed out. Join me!"

And I did. One last phone call. One last email. Then I dove into a my pea green swim trunks and headed down to the waterfront. I could see my bride "rowing" with the sail. She was pumping to build up speed, hunting for wind. I took out the wind meter and turned it into the light breeze. Just shy of 5mph. Too light for windsurfing.

I could see my bride heading back in toward shore. She was disappointed. The wind had fallen.

But the sun was still high the skies were blue. Water was too rough for enjoyable water skiing, but the afternoon was perfect for cycling. So I returned to the house, swapped swim trunks for cycling shorts and headed out to the carriage barn to liberate Major Jake for an adventure.

What a decision. It's been the better part of two months since I did any significant cycling. There was a leg of a quadrathlon several weeks ago, but I was sucking wind in the humid heat and wondering how I'd get my legs and lungs in shape in time to join John Davis for a leg of TrekEast in early September. Now, with less than two weeks until we pedal away, I had an incentive to burn some calories.

What a ride! Short -- only about an hour -- but plenty of hills and birds and flowers and just enough breeze to keep me cool. A just reward for driving my desk most of the day. And with luck, tomorrow, we'll have a little more wind.