Yesterday I needed cheering up. The day wasn’t terrible, it was only “meh” but still, when work was done, I wasn’t motivated to ride. I certainly had no idea where I wanted to go. But with 119 straight days of outdoor activity, I really didn’t want to break that streak. I certainly didn’t want to break it because “I just wasn’t feeling it tonight…” And so, I pulled up the Randonaut app and had it choose a location somewhere within 5 km. I chose the phrase “Cheer up” for my focus, still not really believing in the idea of “manifesting intentions” magically. On the other hand, I do believe in manifesting intentions by focus and work. And so, when the coordinates came up I put them in to my routing app, tweaked the route a bit to make it more interesting and a little longer and off I went.
The weather is feeling very much like autumn these days. The days of 30 degree afternoon rides are over. Now in the mornings we’re seeing temperatures as low as 10 degrees and in the afternoon it’s in the low 20’s. That’s comfortable for most people but I like it a bit warmer.
The ride itself was mostly uneventful, about half on car-free trails and paths, and the other half on roads. The destination was right near the TTC main offices where many subway trains spend the night. The destination itself did not provide anything particularly cheerful, but the beauty and peacefulness of the ride certainly left me in a better mood than I started with.
Here are a few photos from the trip:
Down near the brickworks are many paths and gardens. 
This path, shared by people walking, running, cycling and walking their dogs is lovely – and wide enough to allow for ample physical distancing 
That trail connects to several others and to streets in various neighbourhoods. This bridge, for bikes and pedestrians only, leads from the park in the ravine to a nearby neighbourhood 
The route led through our city’s biggest cemetery, Mount Pleasant. This is good advice with an important reminder nearby: Respect horizontal physical distancing or you may have to respect vertical physical distancing.
Whether it was the beautiful scenery, lovely weather or the fact that I got to push my body to the point where endorphins and other happy-making chemicals are released, it was definitely cheering. I returned home, made my family a nice dinner and slept well.
The moral of the story: The best way to improve your day is to get out and do something – a change is as good as a rest.
I’m happy to see you sticking with your fitness routine. Keep going, Tod.
I so agree with moral of the story.
Such beautiful roads. I too agree with the moral 🙂 Thee are so many apps I don’t know about. It is interesting.
Yes – our city has a lot of really nice spaces for cycling and walking. We’re pretty lucky in that respect.
A lot of us seem to have hit a blah place at about the same time. There is something very draining about this pandemic, and it sneaks up as days of no inspiration.