Saw this on an Instagram picture earlier and it reminded me of something that happened a few weeks ago that made me think about my own interpretation of what it means to us.
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| A fun morning ride |
Now you ask... What made you think about it? Well... We were doing a bike rally in New Jersey. We were having a weekend with Res' parents so we decided to go for a quick 63 mile ride around the New Jersey Farmlands. Funny how a 63 mile (metric century or 100 km becomes just natural) Believe it or not, New Jersey is such a pretty state aside from what you see on the Sopranos. Anyways it was a self start type of rally, kinda different as it didn't have the typical mass start which is nice to a point because you start when you are ready. We got there, picked up our lunch bracelet, tech shirt, bottles and got ready. Without much thinking we were on the road. I had downloaded the route to the Garmins and it was easy to follow as well as well marked. We were enjoying the cool morning and riding together. For Res was quite unique because in 23 years she lived in NJ before moving to do Gead School in Florida she had never been in that area. So we were just strolling and enjoying the scenery.
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| closed bridge... not sure why she carried it |
We were like at mile 10 or so and a big group came by, maybe 20-25 riders who were doing a nice 20-22 mph. (Note: They had gotten lost). I got sucked into the pace line but I knew Res wouldn't even try to keep up, she hates pacelines. So I stayed there a little bit and then two guys who were chatting were talking about a third guy who wasn't there. What caught my attention was one of the comments that went something like "He had an excuse, he is riding the 5-Boro NYC ride with his wife... Whatever that means." As you can imagine the jokes started among them, while I knew my wife wasn't far behind... Anyways I pulled over and waited for her and she was just behind the group our of the line.
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| thought it was a cool background |
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| seemed cool |
The comment made me think about something that we've always talked about and one of the main reasons we do all these. We do it together and couldn't do it without each other. I was kinda ticked off at their attitude of trying to mock a guy whom like me was trying to spend quality time with his wife. I guess it is very difficult for some to understand that it is fun to do stuff together with your significant other. So anyways, after that I was done with hearing them trash the other guy and stayed back to hang on for Res who wasn't too far back. Just keeping the distance from the paceline.
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| of course a selfie |
This then made me reflect on how we call ourselves Team Res-Puli. It's kinda funny because when I talk to coworkers or someone and I mention we do these together they get surprised about it. Like it is a foreign concept to hang out with your wife. We are known for doing everything together or at least try to. The move has made us make some adjustments to it but we try to do as much as we can. My commute to New York City is making me do my runs at the office but that means that we can spend more quality time not working out when we are together. It's a trade off that we've learned to manage now and understand is for own benefit. It also made us think about how we do this for ourselves and how far we've come. When she caught up to me I told her the episode and we joked about it, but I was thinking the entire way after that about this entry. We went off our way and enjoyed the New Jersey farmlands. It was an awesome weather day and we couldn't have changed it riding alone. We love what we do and love even more that we do it together.
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| this isn't like the Sopranos showed it |
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| Farmlands for miles |
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