The Cure

 No matter how much money we spend on bikes (or anything related to them), it’s still less than at least one of the alternatives:

Screen and Shade on Midlife Rides

 

Yesterday I pedaled to Point Lookout and back. Today I trekked to Fort Totten. I have done both rides many times. But during the past two days I have noticed—or, perhaps, simply admitted—something.

We’ve had the best weather in weeks: Daytime high temperatures reached 27C (80-81F) after early-morning lows of 17-18C (63-65F). And smoke from Canadian wildfires has cleared, at least for now, and left blue skies full of bright sunshine.

That last quality has become both a blessing and a curse:  It makes me want spend all day riding but, I believe, also tires me out even more than heat. Perhaps my melanin-deficient skin has grown more sensitive in the (ahem) middle of my life.

 When I first started to use sunscreen—some time after I started my gender affirmation (what we used to call “transition”)—I used the least expensive ones I could find. Granted, some store brands have the same formulations as “name” brands. But I wasn’t paying much attention to those ingredient lists or SPF ratings.

That is, until my trip to Cambodia and Laos in 2018. I was much closer to the equator than I’d been before, or have been since. Before I left, someone advised me to get “the strongest” sunscreen I could find.  I brought a tube of 100 SPF lotion with me. It was more stronger than I needed even there and after I returned home, I went back to using the least expensive stuff—usually 30 SPF.

A few years ago, I “upgraded” to 50 SPF. But for rides along the ocean (e.g., much of my ride to Point Lookout) or other large bodies of water, I cover myself with 70 SPF.  Even so, I did something else yesterday and today I never would have imagined in my younger days: I stopped simply to sit in shade for a few minutes—even though I was near the end of each ride. Not so long ago, I would have thought, “I don’t have far to go” and continued to pedal.  

Did I “need” to stop? Even if I didn’t, I don’t regret that I did, any more than I regret using a stronger sunscreen. It just felt good: the same reason I continue to cycle in midlife!

Updates

 

A few quick updates:

My friend Carrie has been making slow progress, but progress nonetheless, on her bike. She’s up to riding a mile. While that may not seem like much, remember that she is only a few years younger than I am and hadn’t ridden in (by her reckoning) at least 25 years.

The trailer that nearly impaled the young man I encountered yesterday is still parked in the same spot, next to the Fordham University campus. I now realize that it’s been there for some time. 

As for the young man: I haven’t heard from him. I hope he’s OK.