Hot Fixed Gear Ride Today

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Poor ole' Joe sitting by my "Path Racer"

It was another hot and humid day today. It was hard for me to get motivated to ride, but some days you just have to get on your bike and go. I ended up getting in a nice 40 mile fixed gear ride. 

As I rode through the Arcadia, NC community I noticed the time and temperature sign on the bank was displaying 92 degrees. 

Off in the distance you can see Richard Childress's cattle are all huddled together in the shade of one tree.

I zoomed in for this picture. It's hard to see but all but one of the cows is in the shade.

On rides like today's it's hard to push yourself to ride hard. That's when you have to remind yourself how well off you really have it and that you could be working in the hot sun instead of doing something you enjoy. Lately when I feel the urge to back off on the intensity due to the heat I think of the lyrics to an old Chuck Berry song titled - Let It Rock. The first couple of lines of the song are:

In the heat of the day down in Mobile Alabama

Working on the Railroad with a steel driving hammer

I don't know about you, but that sounds like hot hard work to me. I just imagine standing in the sun on a railroad track swinging a big sledge hammer. All of a sudden I can pedal a little harder and it doesn't seem so bad. Below is a video of Chuck Berry preforming Let It Rock in 1972.