The Parkland lowlands trail — the 1.9-mile section. Twenty-eight minutes on the bike through actual terrain instead of neighborhood loops. PreFeKt again, one song stretched across almost two miles of trail. 3.7 miles total with the ride out and back. The trail section is the payoff — different surface, different scenery, different relationship with the handlebars. The rest is just…

Ride to DG. Dollar General. Because sometimes you need cheap paper towels or off-brand candy or whatever it is that Dollar General sells that you suddenly can’t live without on a Tuesday evening. 2.82 miles at 5:49 pace, which is moving. Fifty-five feet of climbing, which means this wasn’t flat. July in whatever city I was in by then —…

Ride around Main Street. Four miles, twenty-nine minutes, ninety-four feet of climbing. The day after the Big Four Bridge ride, and this time I stayed on the Kentucky side. Main Street in Louisville on a Saturday afternoon is a mix of brunch crowds, people who look like they just woke up, and the occasional cyclist who thinks they own the…

Across the Big Four Bridge to Jeffersonville and back. Almost five miles. Forty-one minutes. The real ride of the evening — the block loop earlier was just the appetizer. The Big Four is the old railroad bridge converted to a pedestrian and bike path connecting Louisville to southern Indiana. You ride up the ramp, cross the Ohio River with the…

Around the block. Not around several blocks. Not a neighborhood tour. The block. Singular. 0.94 miles in six minutes. Twenty-three feet of elevation, which means there was a driveway involved. Friday evening, the kind where you step outside and think “I should ride” and then you do, but only just barely enough to count. This was the warm-up. Or the…

Getting Pringles. On a bike. Because that’s a valid reason to leave the house. 1.31 miles to wherever sold Pringles. Nine minutes. June evening, still bright at 6 PM, warm enough that the ride felt like a reward and not a chore. Seventeen feet of elevation because even the snack run has a hill if you look hard enough. I…

Twelve miles on inline skates. Two hours. With the boy. This is the one. This is the kind of activity that doesn’t need dressing up because it’s already perfect. You strap on skates, you grab your kid, and you go until your legs are jelly and the sun is getting low and neither of you wants to stop but both…

Rode the bike to get gas for the John Deere. 1.7 miles to the station and back, twelve minutes, Camila Cabello on the speakers because the shuffle didn’t get the memo that this was a lawn mower errand. Three songs. One gas can. The most domestic ride of the summer disguised as exercise because the tracking app doesn’t know the…

Biking to get gas for the Deere. The John Deere. The mower. Because the yard wasn’t going to mow itself and the gas can was empty and driving two miles felt stupid when the bike was right there. Saturday morning, 9:36 AM. The responsible version of me — the one who gets up and handles things before it gets too…

Ride to get gas. That’s it. That’s the activity. 1.84 miles each way to the gas station on a bike, which means I either carried a gas can on a bicycle or I was getting gas for myself at a place that also sold snacks. Knowing me, there were snacks involved. Twelve minutes. Thirty feet of elevation, which in this…