Against My Better Judgment

There is a lot to unpack in that simple statement. First of all, it implies that the orator of that phrase actually HAS better judgment, like this is some sort of option. If we grant that is possible, the second part becomes even more damning. This supposedly sane individual is ACTIVELY choosing to ignore good judgment and do or say something that they know to be a bad idea. This seems to me the equivalent of a coach "going with their gut", despite mountains of evidence supporting a different decision. If the strategy works out, the coach is some sort of savant and is forever praised. If it doesn't, the coach is vilified as an idiot and never gets another job in the league.

This brings me to where we are this morning. I'm fairly certain people have never accused me of good or even "better" judgment, and despite the presence of an ample gut, I rarely rely on it for decision-making purposes. I prefer to feed it rather than look to it for some sort of divine inspiration.

On April 23rd last year, I wrote:

"Today’s route followed historic Route 66. Having driven much of it on the way out here and now having ridden on it for 80 miles, I must confess I don’t get it. For the most part, it seems to traverse unpopulated farming country or barren wastelands. There’s certainly an outsized amount of nostalgia."

On May 20th this year, I will begin to ride historic Route 66 with Dan McCormack. While I will acknowledge that I was in a particularly grumpy mood when I wrote that original post, due to the massive blisters I'd been sitting on for several days, I believe I have made my point.

This is not a months-long journey like last year, so at least I got that part right. Dan lives in Springfield, Illinois and Rte 66 goes right through town. It is his ambition to ride - in segments - from Chicago to Santa Monica over the next couple of years. So far, I have committed only to Section 1 from Chicago to St. Louis, a trip of roughly 350 miles. We'll do a short ride Saturday afternoon to get out of Chicago, and plan to be in St. Louis by Thursday. Conveniently, one of the nights will be at Dan's house. I'll only need to pack 3 days worth of clothes and there's no debating the route so logistically this will be much easier. In addition, since there will be two of us, we don't need to each have all the tools (which I didn't have last year by myself, anyway).

My training is on par with last year, which is to say there hasn't been much. Three rides outside since I got home last September for a grand total of 70 miles. I have put in some decent time on the Peloton for the last couple months in an effort to acclimate to the saddle and avoid the extremely painful issues that overcame me early in last year's ride (in fact the most painful days were the couple I spent on Rte 66!).

43 years ago today, that mountain blew up.