June 8 -- mostly according to plan

We are in Exton now, having driven down yesterday from the cottage. All went well with the trip -- I left the cottage at 4:30 and met Sandy at the car dealer in Oakville just before 8:30. We stopped at Duty Free and picked up some Ontario Icewine -- some of which we will consume at dinner tomorrow night at some will go back up north with us.

We arrived at Stef's around 4:30 -- true to form a 12 hour trip. We have done the trip in 11 hours but that requires a) no diversions and b) more traffic (with somewhat more traffic you can stay with a fast line of cars). Along the way we stopped in Tully, the first town south of Syracuse to get gas and subs for lunch.

Jeffrey brought over pizzas from Bertucci's for dinner and Aaron arrived back from his bike race up the Manayunk Wall about 8pm. He was 11th -- his best time ever but there were some pros doing the race this time who beat him out by perhaps 5 seconds. One year I was there to watch and take pictures -- he came first that year. This year -- better time but stiffer competition -- oh well.

We packed three bicycles into the X5 ready for the a.m. -- we need to leave at 6 to get down for Aaron's time trial race and then Aaron and I will go for a ride from there so he needs his regular riding bike as well.

What happened that was not according to plan ? -- well, yesterday at the cottage I got more done on the floor than I expected -- is that a good thing ? -- well, that means that I did not get out for a ride. I'll partly make up for it on the weekend, but you never really make up for lost exercise.

It rained until almost 1pm and then started drying -- Osprey road would still be wet and not good for riding a bike -- so I continued with the basement. While I was in and out of the basement door cutting the 2x3 DRIcore a strange thing happened -- the temperature was still in the low 60's so it was cooler in than out. Then, I opened the door and went out and was hit with a blast of heat, or so it seemed. Well -- the temperature had risen to over 75 in the preceeding 15 minutes -- the warm front had arrived. I was 78 at dinner and still 72 in the morning when I left. As I drove south the temperature dropped into the low 60's and then rose as I approached Toronto -- over 80 at 7:30 in Toronto. That is actually unusual -- you can probably count on two hands the number of days over each summer where the early a.m. temperature is in the 80's.

The plan for Saturday -- Aaron and I are heading downtown shortly for his race. I'll do some riding and watch his race, take some pictures with the small digital camera. He and I will then go for a ride -- not sure how far or how long. We will head to Performance Bike in Paoli afterwards -- I have some returns.

I also have to get over to Lowes to pick up a piece of plywood and some ratcheting tie-downs and a tarp so that I can transport the Schluter Ditra from Exton to the cottage -- the four rolls arrived at Stef's that I ordered but I can only get two into the car along with our luggage and my bike. I brought down the Thule car-top carriers just in case but neglected to bring some tie-downs. I will have a lot of wind resistance going north !

I also have to find a church here in Exton or perhaps I can go to the one over in Paoli ... since we'll be downtown for the pro bike race tomorrow I will not be able to get to church in the a.m.

It's going to be a busy day .... the only thing that I won't get done is get my hair cut -- I don't think that there is any way that I can get to Trooper to see Laura before she ends her day at 2pm. I'll have to break down and go to the barber in Port Loring.

Sandy is going to take Lauren and go to see Mariadella ... I'm not sure what else she has planned.

That's all that I can think of, time to get ready.