Wow............20yrs ago tomorrow. Funny certain portions are crystal clear and other parts flash by in a blur. I remember that instant when she walked down the aisle. I remember when she said "I do" I remember being very happy but oblivious as to what the whole thing meant.
20 years later.........I am far less oblivious. In 20 years many many a thing has happened.
We received University Degrees.................Together.
We started great careers at Ernst & Young...............Together
We obtained our Chartered Accountant Designation............Together
We moved to Calgary................Together
We bought our first home...............Together
We had our first child...............Together
We had our second child..............Together
We bought our second home............Together
We had our third child.............Together
Throw in a bunch of Camping trips, hikes, bikes, vacations etc. The dominate theme if you noticed is together.
20 years together........well almost 21 technically (the dating part). Funny I didn't really understand that when we were married, never thought of it in the range of 2 decades 7,300 days. Makes it sound like a lot but it hasn't been nearly enough. Every once in a while I find myself thinking hell we could make 60 years together or more and you know what..........it makes me smile. In this day and age I guess you could say it is a bit of an accomplishment, not to me though to me its just the way things should be. Don't get me wrong things are far from perfect. We disagree, we argue but in the end we are two people who still have two different opinions so of course there will be disagreements. I hope she disagrees with me for many many more years.
Tammy and I aren't usually big on celebrating our anniversary, seems that we try to celebrate life as it comes but this one is a little different, it has weight so we are going to have a little get away nothing huge or extravagant but just us, kind of the way we started it all 20 yrs ago............just us...............Together.
As for today it was another amazing day here in Calgary. The sun was blazing and the mercury hit 22C here at the house. Today was mostly like others, get up get the kids off to school. Piper wanted to go via bike, which normally is all good but I got up a bit late so was a little rushed for ride but it all worked out well. We came back and had lunch and she and I went out to enjoy the day in the yard..given that its Tuesday there isn't much that can get done as the racing around dropping of and picking up of kids is pretty much a day long thing on Tuesday (Piper School, Boy Gymnastics and Swimming) so an hour outside seemed like a great idea.
As for Piper she travels in style to School. Pack up her snack and get her hair done then find her Leapster (educational electronic game) and into the Chariot to get pulled to school. It occurred to me that she loves to pretend about princess, so if she is the princess and the Chariot is the Carriage to carry her to the ball............does that make me the horse?? Could be worse I guess. She is mostly a mama's girl these days but she did slip up on Saturday last. She was playing outside with some other girls at the Clarks place and she got her feelings hurt somehow (not a big deal as each of the girls had there moments that day but in all played really well) so when she came in I gave her a big hug and brought her up in my lap for a cuddle and to console her a little. She seemed to be getting a little happier so I turned back to the adult conversation. Just as I did I heard her whisper very quietly ("I would marry you Papa") when I asked her what she said she wouldn't repeat it..............thats ok Princess you melted my heart anyway, I will always be there for her even if she doesn't want to tell me.
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With the good weather and Piper in school of course I had to do a little ride. After all seems a waste to just bike back to the house and spend an hour turn around and come back. So I unhook the Chariot and lock it up at the School and blast out for a little tour. I like the routes I do around the School as they are lots of hills which makes for good training mostly 1 to 2% grades but long enough to be somewhat challenging. In all I did about 46.5 km today of which 6 is the there and back to Piper's school. The riding today was awesome, warm sun, very little wind. Only issue is my damn rear derailer seems to jump between gears once in a while, I got it fixed at Bow today for free, seems the derailer hanger was bent a bit (I probably bent it mounting it to the Trainer) but I have yet to test it.
I felt good for the whole ride and could have easily done another 40 but I only have so much time between dropping off and picking up but it was a great ride none the less. The more I ride the more I like it, I am anxious to do the 200k. Would be cool to have someone to ride with but in the end I like the solitude too. When I ride I feel very well...Alive. I feel my breath in my lungs, feel my muscles working, feel my heart pushing blood around, my vision seems sharper..........its my new drug, don't know how long it will last but it is cool. I think its different because I ride for pleasure, before I rode to commute to work as exercise and while I treat this as exercise now its where I want to go and when............somehow that makes it different.
All in all a great ride today. A different map for you today, the satellite view rather than the map it pretty much overlays the map in "The Best Laid Plans of Bikes and Men" just a little different routing to shake things up. Also I included the graph that shows the altitude changes, so as you can see not much flat in this one.
As always
The Stats
Total Ride time 2:20 (with two stops to drop off and pick up Piper) so likely 1:50 in the Saddle
Total Distance 46.5 km
Total Kcal 1,693
Avg HR 132bpm
Max HR 165bpm
Total Elevation Changes 260M (850ft)
# of Laps or circuits 3
Thanks for looking, catch you next time.