September 2, 2013: Summer Sickness

Beautiful Ride on Church Road

Summer sickness stinks. I know..."Buck it up, Sandy". It could be a lot worse. I'm trying. Since waking up with what felt like a summer cold on Wednesday, I have tried the conventional ways to get back to good health. Some have helped. Some have not.

On the list of those that helped: visit to the doctor, afternoon power naps, long bike rides, and added intake of vitamin C. The list of fails: margaritas in the neighbor's pool, long night at the Husker game, not filling the cough syrup prescription from the doctor.

So now it's Sunday and the fails have taken over the wins. I feel worse than I did on Thursday. Yesterday I would have professed to being cured. My body had other ideas when I woke up this morning.

Although coughing up a lung, I just couldn't miss the bike ride this morning. I hate to miss a party and this one had been carefully planned. Team Moxie was meeting at Mahoney and enjoying a long Labor Day bike ride that included the very pretty Church Road.

As my alarm sounded in the wee hours, I knew I had to make a decision. On the fringe of sending a text saying I was an N-O for the ride, I instead chose to go. I love this group. Those who drive 30 miles to ride together another 40, on a morning when most are sleeping in, are special.

A bike ride in the fresh air would open up my lungs, I deduced. Sleep could wait until later. The air was great and the Moxie company did not disappoint. This eclectic crowd of riders took in the beauty of the morning and pulled me along. This was a day where I pulled up the rear; ever appreciative to the varying intermittent riders falling back to check on me.

"How are you doing, Sandy?"

"Fine"

""Fine, like my wife saying fine and not meaning it or really fine?"

Hmmmm...

But I kept at it with the blue sky greeting my every pedal rotation and my sinuses cleaning out nicely. I put in 35 today. My riding pals encouraged me to cut it a bit short and call it a day. A good call. Thanks for the encouragement, guys. You rock. This ride falls on the "helped Sandy feel better" list. On that note, I will now skip any offers of margaritas, take the codeine-filled cough syrup (prescription has since been filled), and go to bed.

Moxie's in waiting

Moxie's lined up