Aug 11 - and the forecast is ...

... mid 60's high; mid 50's low ... for where ? for Loudeac France. A little warmer in Paris; a little cooler in Brest ... it's certainly going to be different than my last couple of long, hot rides. I'll be wearing more clothing !

Milan & Florence are even warmer, with temps into the mid and high 80's; Marseille France at 80 -- more considerations for packing.

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Here in the Loring suburbs, however, the temperature was in the high 60's. We got a few drops of rain a couple of times but that didn't stop either staining or biking. I completed my stint for the day -- kitchen end wall, roof wedge facing the same way, back bedrooms down to the mid-roof and then prepped for biking.

Since I hadn't actually gotten the bike ready for riding the prior day I went ahead and installed the tube and tire, had a quick lunch and hit the road around noon. It was a long-sleeved jersey day, not my heavy one but still quite a change from the heat of the 1000k ...

Crossing the bridge at the ESS Narrows, I turned off the music, pulled the earbuds out of my ears, shifted to the small chain ring and with much trepidation, stood and rode up the small rise. Silence !! Yes !! Silence !! No clicking !! Victory !!

I tested the rear brake ... smooth ... no more rhythmic pulsing. That wasn't a surprise; I knew that the rebuild with a new rim would solve that problem. By the end of the ride the wheel was still riding true, so I'm in good shape. I'll pull it off and check it on the truing stand for final adjustments and check spoke tension, but I'm good to go.

I rode my usual 70 miles, heading north this time into what was probably the strongest northwest wind that I've experienced on this ride. As I rode north I was thinking that the ride south was going to be a blast, and it was for part of the way but the wind was shifting to the south west so the last few miles before 522 I had the wind in my face again. Also during that time the clouds broke and I had sun ... thought about taking off that long sleeved jersey and stuffing in my bag but didn't bother.

It's Friday. I figure that I'll get two more rides before heading to France -- Saturday and Monday. Tuesday we head to Quebec. Wednesday night we fly. Once in France, I'll have to get out for a stretch-legs-check-bike ride, probably do 25 miles or something like that. St. Quentin en Yvelines should be all-abuzz. It will be interesting.

Packing looms ... yikes.

Today -- finish off the staining with my touch-up spots. Sandy finished her work yesterday ... it's been an amazing project, in my book. It took much less time than I originally anticipated, largely due to her help. It's not just that she did half the work, but I was able to concentrate on doing the ladder work while she did mop-up on the lower stuff. In sheer square footage I would have covered more territory, but she did most of the fiddly work in small areas, enabling me to work with a much larger brush.

My original estimate of the amount of stain required was 10 gallons. We bought 12, because the end wall facing Jason took almost three and I thought that we'd get into the 12th gallon ... well guess what, we won't quite have finished the 9th gallon. There will be a dribble in that can. We'll have two unopened gallons that will provide a start for next year, where I hope to re-coat some of the roughest areas ... or they'll be here for the following year when a complete re-coat of much of the house will be required.

The stain went so much further on the kitchen end wall, not even using a gallon. That's the difference that minimal sun exposure makes.

Today -- clean up, put away ladders and other stuff. I should also get over to see Bonnie and bring home her PC to update her virus database. The days are going to get away from me.

Today -- Jason, Lorraine and Kim come back north. I haven't looked yet but he either came late last night or will be coming this morning.

Today -- David has his "grand opening" at the Cadet drycleaners in Barrie. He got the key last night and today is his first day. They sign the papers at 2pm today. Last night he and the former owner took inventory ...

What do you think taking inventory at a dry-cleaners would involve ? Counting paperclips ? pads ? spare light bulbs ? Nope. None of the above. Inventory, in this case, is already-cleaned clothes that have yet to be picked up. Since the prior owner would have already paid Cadet for the cleaning, when the cash comes in it's David's ... so he needs to pay the former owner for the inventory.

... but it's not that simple. Sometimes clothes are never picked up. David said that there's a wedding dress that's been there for six months. So what ? Well, it costs $200 to clean a wedding dress. What if they never pick it up ? Well ... the legal papers were clear -- David owes the former owner for anything that's two weeks old and less. However, David is going to square this with the former owner, track some of this older stuff and send him money if and when it clears. I told him that in the case of expensive items like the wedding dress, he should collect in advance ... with Cadet approval of course. Everything needs Cadet approval.

How much inventory was there ? If I remember correctly, about $3,700.

It's 7:54 ... he opens at 8:00 ... I should call him at 8:00 on the dot.

Onward !