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Gotta say, this Covid-19 situation sucks. Logically, I know I’m lucky. I don’t have it. My immediate family doesn’t have it. I work from home. Andrea’s in healthcare so is still working. Unfortunately, emotion has a way of screwing over logic and I’m in one of those phases. As easy as it is to say “snap out of it”, or “think differently”, it’s not that easy to do.

So, to try and improve my mood, I took the car in for an oil change this morning. It needed one and our dealership’s closed. Yeah, I know, it “costs more” to take it to the dealership but it’s still under warranty so that’s what we’re doing. Until today, that is. Our dealership’s closed. Completely. Fortunately I belong to a networking group (or two) and know people in the automotive repair business.

My first ride of the year was the result of taking the car in for an oil change. How ironic. It wasn’t a long ride, but it took me through the Thorold tunnel. That’s a sucky part of the ride at the best of times but the sidewalk hasn’t been cleaned all winter so it’s more dicey than usual. Still, I survived.

Lucky me, I just heard that the car’s ready to be picked up, so I’ll get to do this all over again in a little while.

Here are the stats:

D: 12.63 km
A: 22.1 km/h
M: 41.2 km/h
T: 0:34:13

Could have been worse for the first ride. Noticed some brake rub and squealing brake pads so that’ll be something to sort out. Considering I haven’t ridden since last year’s ride with Georges, the bike and body performed reasonably well.

The afternoon ride going back to Value Muffler & Brake was faster, but I paid for it. Muscle pain behind the left knee, sore left foot arch, and a very tight back and overall aches. Jeez. When the hell did I get old?

Stats for the ride back:

D: 12.57 km (25.2 cumulative)
A: 23.2 km/h
M: 39.5 km/h
T: 0:32:28

Oh, and did I mention the joys of getting my butt used to the saddle again? Every friggin’ year. One of these years I’ll find a saddle that’s comfortable…