Aug 23/24 - a visit to Guelph

Well, I'm in Starbucks again, but this time it's not waiting for someone in the hospital. That's good. This time I'm cooling my heels waiting for my rack mounts to be added to my Litespeed (Hummer) frame. True North Cycles is a custom frame/bike builder and is doing this work. I'll be headed back there within the hour.

Yesterday was taken up with finishing the woodbox, other than shingles on the roof, and going for a bike ride. Afterwards, Jason, Lorraine and Gavin came over for a drink; we had pork chops for dinner ... and that's it !

It was a little coolish for the ride, so I wore my light jacket. It was borderline, but I'd rather be a little too warm than chilled. The wind was from the northeast, but not very strong and therefore not really a factor. It felt good to be back on the bike ... other than that 20 mile ride last Wednesday, it's been a week.

After about 50 miles my legs were warmed up and doing their thing without being the focus of attention. Of course that only left 20 miles to go for my ride. It's interesting -- on the GA1200 my legs felt stronger each day. Of course that is offset by accumulated sleep deprivation, but still, I could feel myself getting stronger. At some point, with the lack of sleep, there would be diminishing returns :).

This a.m. I left just after 5 and arrived at TN Cycles just after 9. The fellow -- must be the owner -- (didn't catch his name) -- commented on the scuffing and said that it would be easier to go to a brushed finish, which I could do myself, rather than the polished which requires lots of expensive equipment, skill and time. Well ... I have the time, but not the other two !

Once I pick up the frame, I'll head back towards Toronto. My dentist appointment is at 2pm in Mississauga. If timing is working out well, I may stop at the optometrist on the way to look at glasses. Eventually I'll need better biking glasses, i.e. prescription ones, rather than using my regular glasses at night. The ideal, of course, would be wrap-around, graduated, photochromatic lenses. I don't know if I can find something like that and if I did, what they would cost.

After the dentist, I'll be back on the road, hopefully back home around 7pm, give or take any traffic problems. It was an easy ride down, with only one minor slowdown on the 400 as I got close to Toronto. A fender-bender was off to the side at a truck inspection station, complete with tow truck and police car. The slowdown was for rubber-neckers, of course.

That's it -- oh, Sandy went into Sudbury this morning, intending to pick up her ring that was in for repairs. She almost lost the stones out of it due to wear.