Sunday Salon - October 16, 2011

There are fewer than three months remaining in the year.

I’ve only finished 28 books.

I can’t remember ever having such a slow reading year as this year.

In 1999 I read a total of 42 books. That was my worst year on record.

In 2003 I read 88. That was my best year.

Even in the black year of 2005, I managed to finish 57.

I’ll be lucky if I read 40 in 2011.

So what gives? My house isn’t any cleaner. My yard hasn’t won any landscaping awards. However, we took some wonderful vacations (Colorado, California, and Oregon) this summer and we’ve had lots of visitors, as well. But the main distraction has been my obsession with cycling. I used to be a fanatic about running, but after over 30 years of pounding the pavement, my knees called it quits. I bought my new bike last spring and have tried to ride as often as possible. The summer heat and aforementioned travels limited my riding time, but September and October have been fantastic. Since April, I’ve logged just over 500 miles, with my personal best of 60 miles in one day. My new goal is to ride 100 miles in a single day. Oh, and to never get bitten by another dog! Yes, I was bitten two weeks ago while riding with a friend out on the MoPAC trail. And, since the dog wasn’t current on its rabies shots, it wound up in quarantine for 10 days. The good news is it wasn’t rabid. And I’m now current on my tetanus booster.


If our fall weather continues to be as lovely as these past few weeks, I might actually hit 750 miles before winter arrives. But more than likely, I’ll be back inside, curled up on the couch with Annie-Dog and a stack of books.

Life is good.

When the spirits are low,
when the day appears dark,
when work becomes monotonous,
when hope hardly seems worth having,
just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road,
without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.
-- (Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes),
in the January 18, 1896 issue of Scientific American Magazine