I find that rollerskiing, far more than running or biking, lends itself to contemplation, or at least to thinking. Today's outing was marred by my first rollerski crash in three years and, now, three distinct patches of road rash (including a nice rhomboid scape from left hip to right pectoral), but it was still awfully productive of little bits of brain activity:
- The setting sun openly plagiarized Japan's World War II flag - I almost felt like attacking Pearl Harbor.
- The hills are much easier to skate up after a winter on skis.
- The tilled fields are surprisingly beautiful patterns of brown and black.
- Northfielders are awfully nice: when I crashed, the guy whom I'd moved over to let through slowed down in his truck and made sure I was okay.
- The click-click of rollerski poles on pavement is not as pleasant as the swish-swish of skis and poles on snow, but it's still a nice sound.
- A male pheasant's call is always startling.
- A bit of concerted effort on rollerskis can push my heart rate up better than either running or skiing: I reached 177 - the highest I've ever recorded - on the way up the longest, meanest hill of today's route.
- There is an awful lot of trash in the ditches nowadays, with construction materials being most common and fast-food containers (cups, bags, boxes) being next-most common.
- Rollerskiing and its winter equivalent are for me the exceptions to the rule that the best part about working out is having done the workout.