Final update before Bike the Drive

Tonight it was 61 degrees and beautiful.  The weather for my last training ride before Sunday was stellar.

I did 13 miles on McCormick Ave (Devon to Green Bay and back) with my friend and then 2 more miles around West Rogers Park (my hood). 

I was able to listen to a real thought provoking shiur given by Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky and based on Rav Wolbe's sefer "Alei Shur".  The shiur was about kavod or respect and how that is the way we ascribe value to things that are non-material.  We show kavod to individuals, the Torah and to ourselves (in fact, one is exempts himself from being an witness before a beis din if he lacks kavod from himself).  The shiur also discussed the importance of what we put value on.  I found this very important, since my own children are very aware of what I spend my time doing and what I enjoy.  For example, they all know that "Abba loves iced coffee."

I also found myself as I was riding appreciating the time just to unwind and clear my head.  After the initial 13 miles I "cooled down" with a slow 2 mile ride around my neighborhood.  Since I'm not listing to any music, I found myself singing a Husker Du song and also the Cracow Niggun.

Time to get something to eat.  I can't wait until Sunday morning!!!!

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Biking Update # 7

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Oy! Tonight was a real bike ride.  It was well worth it though.  I ended up biking just over 13 miles in a little over an hour.  This ride was a bit more difficult than the one last night.  Tonight I was biking with my friend, and the guy who convinced me to Bike the Drive, Kenny.  He's fast, well, faster than me.  It ached to attempt to keep up with him, but in a good way.   In general, when biking by yourself, you can only push yourself so far, since you have nothing to measure yourself with.  When biking with someone else there's that internal push to "keep up".

Another problem was that the lecture I was listening to, "The Kelm Talmud Torah" by R Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff got cut off right in the middle of my ride, thus leaving me (again like last night) with silence in my earphones.  I think it's time to retire my mp3 player.

Tonight we biked all the way to Green Bay Road.  The weather was great, but breezy.  All in all, an excellent ride.  Only a few more days left...

Biking Update # 6

Last night I posted on Facebook:

Just got back from a 10 mile ride. Great weather, but right in the middle of an "Alei Shur" shiur my mp3 player died. For the last 3 miles I found myself singing "V'lee Yerushalayim" by Dveykus and for some reason Greg Graffin's solo version of "Cease" (which would have been an awesome song to have played during the ending credits of the last Lost episode).

What I didn't write about was how, aside from the Howard bridge, everything smelled great.  There is nothing like smelling honeysuckle!

I biked from about 11pm until 11:45pm.  Surprisingly there were a few people biking, as well.

Without anything to listen to, I guess my mind started roaming around and that's why I ended up with those two very different songs in my head (although they sort of paint a fairly accurate picture of me).

Biking Update # 5

(Photo from here)

This morning was a fun biking ride.  My 3 yr old and I (well, she was on the back of my bike) went to Indian Boundary Park and she climbed, ran, and played.  Then we continued East to Lake Michigan.  All in all this morning I biked about 10 miles.

Then in the afternoon, I biked to my son's baseball game in Skokie.  That was another 2.5 miles.

Biking Update #4

Last night I won a battle.  My body was telling me to go to sleep and rest, but I knew that I needed to bike.  I went out for a short ride (4 miles) and listend to half of a very interesting lecture by Rabbi Shimon Russell L.C.S.W., a psychotherapist and rabbi.  The discussion is on the topic of raising children.
Hopefully, I'll go biking again tonight.