Catskills
A little difficult to write about our time in the Catskills, in part because we aren’t really travelling, and in part to respect the privacy of the community up here.
Nevertheless, we have been here for just over a week, and are deep into the swing of summer camp, social life, and outdoor activity. I have exercised more in the last 8 days than in any month in adult memory.
Part of this is driven by my objective of riding 1,000 road bicycle miles in the five weeks we will be here. Subtracting out my planned trip to Turkey next week, I have 30 days. After day 8 (today was a long one), I stand at 223 miles. Having picked up my new road bike (sweet) on Saturday, I hope I can get in a series of long rides this week, and get up over 400 miles before I leave on Sunday. My legs are in moderate agony at the moment.
The other big driver of the exercise is the culture of the community here, particularly the spouses (almost all wives) who are here during the week. I have been dazzled by the athletic determination of the women here: not (exactly) competitive with each other, but driven to amazing feats of endurance and strength every morning after the kids are dropped off at camp. No way I can keep up. India is in her element here, with a cohort of women she really likes, running, hiking, riding, and hanging out. The kids are very happy at the camp, and drop into bed like exhausted sled dogs at the end of every day.
We organized an informal sprint triathlon yesterday morning (half-mile open water swim, 5.5 mile run, 11 mile mountain-bike ride), and it was great to see the enthusiastic participation by about 30 people. Again, not exactly competitive with each other, because everyone was very sportsmanlike and supportive, and there for the fun and challenge. On the other hand, not exactly non-competitive either. It was fun, and I am beat.