Trying for less sadness

Really. So I don't write anything for....however long and then its slit your wrists stuff.

The weekend was pretty rough, today a little better. Sunday morning was kind of tough, but I went riding with some Tri-Girls and REB, the honorary Tri-Girl. It was cold. It was very good to get out though and be with some very nice friends. I do however, wish for the day I can once again keep a good pace. Considering the cold and my lack of exercise, I guess I shouldn't complain.

Work today is very odd. Most people are cleaning up and leaving, not to return. Folks are finding out how long their services will be needed. I get the feeling that there is still a lot of guessing going on so I'm not willing to count on anything. Pretty sad watching people haul their stuff out. I'm pretty glad I have nothing here now so I can just walk out when the time comes. And, I'm told my time isn't for awhile, so that's nice, too.

Still however, you look at everything a little differently. Its tougher to tell your kid she can't do everything she's use to doing because we just don't know what will happen. While I think it is good for us, it does cause stress.

anyway....

So, maybe I should make a poll: how many weeks in a row do I have to ride to be able to say I'm riding again? I think it needs to be more than two. Gotta say it is really nice to be back out on the bike. We shant discuss the stats. I now need to fit back in my gym time so I can lose some weight. That would be great.

Maybe I'll post more, too.

She's Goooooooooooone

And I'm not talking about "chubrub".

Windy, rainy morning. No riding. Errands. Laundry.
Load the bike.
Lunch.

Get in the car and drive. Still much wind to fight, but the trip was pretty short.

Arrive.

It was kind of dark and a little scary. Quiet. Wheeled the bike towards the back of the store.

A heavily tattoo'd woman asked if she could help. I said yes. Please take my bike from me. I will be back Monday for a fitting.

And I left.

I didn't look back.

I didn't even cheat and look at other bikes on the way out.

I hope they take good care of her.

Week From Hell

There seem to be too many of those these days. I will choose to ignore the mundane crappiness of my work life here.

Friday night brought family +1 and a visit to Comedy Sports. My kid loves it. Her friend liked it, but she just isn't as outgoing as mine. It was ok. Comedy shows aren't really my thing, and obviously these folks aren't top talent. That said, it was fun enough.

Saturday was to be a bike ride. The winds were at least 90 miles an hour with gusts to 200. Or something close. We ended up bailing. I think it was a good choice. The rest of the day was spent running errands. Grocery shopping, shoe shopping, pet supply shopping. Mega excitement. Oh yeah, and then there was the motorcycle.

I went to put my new brake lines on...only to discover I had a wrong bolt. They packaged the wrong one. Well, turns out that Suzuki uses all these different thread pitches in the same system. For whatever reason, I got two of the same bolt. So, I've had to order one, and it seems they are in short supply. Apparently one will be on its way, but it'll be a bit. Sigh..

Sunday brought "the ride". We had the posse minus one. That one seems to think that furthering her career is a better use of her time than riding with us. PPPPPTTTHHHH. :-) I wish Tri-Di well.

So somehow I don't recall drafting TriGirl40 very much like I said I would. I'm too nice. And to break a trend, I actually lead for a bit. Usually I draft REB60. I did decent with holding a constant pace this week. I haven't gone back and looked at my stats yet. It was a good ride, even if I had to pee the whole damn time. I briefly considered, well, you know, but thought better of it and figured a cramp was more socially acceptable. Not sure when I'm going to get to ride again. The weekend is looking iffy for me.

And, I made the appointment. I can't remember taking my bike in for service, and frankly this may be the only time I do. I'm good enough with the bike that it really isn't needed. But, this bike is only a year and a half old. The cables have stretched, but I've adjusted the barrel adjusters. I don't like to pull the stretched cable through, plus I'd like someone to make sure the derailler is lined up properly. I threw the chain off the chainring a couple of times on Sunday, so I think this should be done. Also, I signed up for a fitting. Its going to cost more than I thought, but I want to see how it goes. Probably another thing I'll never do again, but it will be interesting.

Today, the week from hell started again, so I shall focus my attention on the weekend.

Twas the Night Before.....the night before

So, it seems Lightscribe might not be the most robust technology. It is great tho. I ended up buying another burner, that I've yet to install. Bought it locally so I could swap it locally in the short term should anything happen. Since I threw away my packaging, I can't return the new one. I still want to play with it a little more before I pull it out. I just so want it to be some driver issue, but I really think the deck isn't recognizing the lightscribe info on the media.

I'm teleslacking tomorrow. I do need to get some work done, but its easy for me to work from home, especially on a holiday week when there won't be so many folks around anyway. I can send out some emails I need to knock out. I just need to find something for the kid to do. Maybe I can bus in a friend.

Now, the ride report. I said that Thursday I did the muscle building bike routine, and sure enough on Saturday my thighs still hurt. It was looking like a spin day. Yet another chilly morning. I wasn't as cold this week, partially due to my new shoe covers I'm sure. I was a tad late getting there, which I hate. I'm, uh, slow getting ready to ride. I carry all my tools, a stand, pump, etc, everything. I really like taking my time getting ready, but it isn't always possible. Oh well, my neurosis can live to rear its head another day.

As soon as I got on the bike I could tell my legs hurt. Thankfully, spinning out of the parking lot warmed them up some and it was ok. It seems like its hard to ride fast in the cold anyway. Can't half breathe, snot running, etc. Its worth it tho. So we chugged on up to Ashland (after telling some guy that we'd never keep up with him) and had a nice ride. While a part of me misses humping the whole trip, its nice to do a regular pace. And, as I discovered on the ride back, my regular pace was about all I had. I decided to try and sprint some on the flat road and Richard took off with me. We were even the whole way and then my legs had just had it. That was all she wrote. Man, that sucked, I hate when I can't pass Richard. I think we're darn close in ability, which makes it fun.

A quick aside...I was in the back of the pack at the beginning of the ride. It is somewhat humerous to watch Richard and Diane as their styles are completely different. Diane rides in more of what I guess is a triathalon style. (I guess because A: I wouldn't really know, and B: the other Tri-Girls ride the same way). Basically they seem to get up into the big chainring, lean over onto that couch they call handlebars, and just push in a pretty even stroke and cadence. In contrast Richard stays in the middle chainring and spins like no tomorrow. Me? I'm not there yet. I spent last year spinning like Richard. Previously I hadn't had the fitness to do this. So, I worked on it and was pleased. Now I feel like I need more strength, so I'd like to push a bigger gear. We'll see.

So, we finished and were hanging in the parking lot talking. At some point Richard turns to me and says, "hey, I'm going to do a time trial up Wintergreen mountain. Wanna go?" My first response was pretty typical for me, "that's a pretty big hill, Richard". Then I said sure. What the heck has gotten in to me? First I say I'm going to do a century, now climb a mountain? Soon I'm going to have to alter my page like all my friends with the events I'm going to do. Meh. Natural progression I guess.

So Richard, when is that Blue Ridge Parkway ride?

Some Relief

Well, better mood today. Yesterday was awful. I do it to myself, what can I say? Twisted Sister helped, but nothing could make up for the Medussa touch I was sporting yesterday.

I ended up hopping on the trainer last evening and doing the muscle workout. Yeow. I can't do the whole thing, much less the whole thing at a cadence that matters. Still, its bound to help. I need to build my legs up so I can muscle up the tough hills. I ride a double, and even with compact crank arms I have a tough time up really steep hills. So, I need muscle to be able to spin. I now need to do the spinning DVD. I guess eventually I'll get a recovery DVD and that should be good.

Anyway, I pushed as hard as I could, and felt it. This was followed by yet more packing and finally a little PC time. PCs are such a pain. I'm not sure what I did, but now I can't seem to burn Lightscribe labels.

( I have just turned on the "Like, Oh My God" Its the 80s box set. This should be good for a laugh. Man, I'm Hungry Like the Wolf now)

I don't know what I did to the PC, but I stayed up until 2 messing with it. I could have stayed up all night. I have a hard time making myself go to bed when I'm doing stuff like that. Thankfully, I'm not too tired today. Pretty dead here anyway. I'll have to go to bed on time tonight since I'm riding tomorrow.

Ok, feeling guilty. I need to go do something legit.

Cold!

So yes, Diane, Richard and I were joined by Trigirl 40 this cold morning for our Saturday ride (where I immediatly announced the obvious, IT COLD). I had on 2 pair of socks, toe covers, tights, undershirt, jersey, coat, glove liners, gloves, balaclava and sunglasses. I was still not warm.
We didn't ride real long. I haven't bothered to look at the stats, can't amount to much. Worst part is the large amount of snot involved. I'm not sure about all my double layering. My toes stayed warmer longer, but, when i got home they were at that "needles" point, you know, when they feel like someone sticking needles in your toes because they aren't numb enough for you to feel nothing. Fingers didn't get that bad. Of course, my new booties showed up in the mail today. Maybe next week.
The afternoon was spent doing laundry, putting the candles in the windows and putting lights in the tree. Yup, had the tree for a week and its still not decorated. There is just never enough time.
I snoozed after that. My head has been killing me. I hope its the front moving through so it will go away in a day or so.
Tonight brought Alvin and the Chipmonks. Wow, not so good. The kids like it, so that's good. I just thought it was pretty bad. But, there was some light...to bad it was at the beginning of the movie.
That's right. The trailers. We were there early because I didn't know if it would be crowded, so we saw every stupid ad. But, we saw the trailer for Speed Racer! I am SOOOOO excited for this. Next May. It looks great! Very stylized. It should rock. There is rumor that the next Fast and Furious will be out next summer as well. That would be awesome!