Jul 22 - pre-ride jitters

Why do I do this to myself ? How many of these do I have to ride before I don't get anxious before the ride ? Perhaps it's because of the unknown on these overnight rides. Perhaps it's because I don't like biking in the rain and I know that I may have a fair amount of it on this ride. I don't know.

Anyway, I did have a good ride yesterday, doing my usual 70 miles. As I told Jason though, my legs felt lethargic -- but having said that, I did have one of my better times -- go figure. Winds were mild, it was warm and almost sticky.

Backing up ... I went fishing in the morning and had a great morning -- a pike and three bass. Today I went out again and got three bass. I lost two big ones today (they're always big when you lose them) -- one broke my line; the other dove beneath the boat several times and I finally was getting him alongside and he dropped the hook before I could get the net on him. Darn. Oh well -- there's one swimming out there with a snelled hook, leader and swivel attached to him. Undoubtedly he'll dissolve the hook in short order and live to fight another day.

Let's see ... what else happened ... or didn't happen. Well, for one thing, it didn't rain until we had a brief shower around six p.m. Oh yes, and Jason, Gavin & Kyle helped me get the fridge downstairs. Actually I take that back -- they took it downstairs. I'm fairly useless at these things. I can bike all day but don't have a lot of upper body strength. Give me something heavy and I'll show you a good application for winches, pulleys, ropes, come-alongs ... you get the idea.

So, the new fridge is downstairs. Had it been one inch bigger we probably couldn't have made it down. If it has to be replaced, I'll either keep the fridge in the laundry room or I'll have to replace that door downstairs. One of these years it should go and be replaced with French doors, but not this year.

What else ... no fishing last night. We got together with Jason and Lorraine before dinner at their place and after dinner in the gazebo. It was a perfect night.

Today it did rain briefly and more is on the way. I've been doing some packing, organizing my pack for the bike and my suitcase with the first day's clothes etc. I did a checklist last time. I'll review it now and see if I've forgotten anything.

That's it for now.