The Nazgul Path

The theme continues. I’m meant to bike 10-20 miles three times a week for the first two weeks of training. The weather was so nice that I wound up biking four days. Tuesday I went on a ride with my friend, Becca and we had lunch in the woods. We explored a few paths I’d never gone down. We ate lunch in a marshy field and watched a kindergarten class release ladybugs into the wild, charmed by the joy it brought them to watch the little buggers fly off.

“It was a rocky trail through a tunnel of trees, littered with skittering fallen leaves”

I brought up a path I’d dubbed the Ringwraith Path. I’d been prodding both Becca and our friend Katie to explore this path with me for almost a year. It was a rocky trail through a tunnel of trees, littered with skittering fallen leaves. I always expected a sudden gust of wind to blow down it, followed by an unearthly shriek. I had the nearly uncontrollable urge to shout “Get off the road!” Before bolting, barefoot, to take cover beneath a cave of gnarled tree roots. It wasn’t the type of path we could barrel down on our road bikes, and it was a trek to get to it on foot, so I never pushed the matter. I mentioned it casually, thinking we needed to do it before I left, but Becca was down to explore it immediately. I’m always down to explore, so it was settled.

I only notice the path on my way out of the city, but we were headed home now, so I told Becca what I remembered of the entrance and warned her I might miss it. I remembered it was just past an overpass and there was a sign for a field at the entrance. Joseph Miller Field? I couldn’t recall the name. Perhaps she’d see the sign if I missed it. We did find it, though I still can’t remember the full name. We had hardly walked down it when we came upon an open grove that was more than half shaded and half covered in soft, deep green moss. I told Becca I wanted to lay down on the bed and and live out my childhood fairy dreams.

 I spent the whole week waiting for Thursday. Thursday was supposed to go up to seventy degrees or close to it. I wanted to go on my longest ride yet and stay out all day in the sun. The day came and I was sorely disappointed. It was rainy, wet and worst of all, muggy. I spent most of the day convincing myself that I should go for a ride anyhow. After all, I won’t have a choice but to ride in the rain come this summer. I can’t see it as a deterrent now. If I let weather dictate my riding schedule, I might not complete my training before I need to leave.

I watched youtube videos most of the morning and couldn’t will myself outside until after 2pm. I put on my raincoat and shoved my fleece jacket into my pannier just incase I got too wet or cold on my way home. I decided to aim for ten miles, that way I hit the training minimum. I didn’t even change into my biking gear. Ten miles should only take about an hour. I could live without padded bike shorts that long. I wore a green denim jumpsuit. It was wet, but not raining. The raincoat went back in the pannier. The air was thick with humidity. I felt stifled the moment I stepped outside, but once my bike was out of the basement. I rolled my sleeves up as high as they’d go. I was doing this and I wasn’t turning back.