Sep 15 - retrospective

Interesting ... (p.s., the //'s are to separate the columns. There's probably a way to properly format this but simply inserting spaces doesn't work).

Ride // Dist miles // Rolling Time hrs:min // Avg Spd mph // Climb feet

Texas 1200 ////// 772 // 52:33 // 14.7 // 27352
Shen 1200 /////// 761 // 51:30 // 14.9 // 45991
Tor/Ott 1000 //// 637 // 45:39 // 14.0 // 22043
Paris 1200 ////// 763 // 54:24 // 14.0 // 37800

On each of these, I might have missed a few miles with forgetting to turn on the Garmin, but the accumulated time etc. are all vis-a-vis those miles when it was turned on.

The ascent figures have to be taken with a grain of salt -- they are accurate comparisons among themselves, but could be +/- 10%, based on what I've seen, due to method & device inaccuracy.

TOT was slower due to the heat and my cramps, no surprise there. I was crawling for many hours. PBP was slower, probably, because I was pacing Hamid at times. The Shen, in spite of the additional climbing, was faster because I was either by myself or riding the same pace as Peter, the Brit. I was never really waiting. I think that with the Shen, I could improve my overall time to less than 80 hours (currently 81.something) with quicker or fewer stops. PBP could definitely be reduced, easily to 75 hours or less, with shorter stops and drafting some fast groups. I had an easy ride.

My total time on PBP (official time) was 82:38 -- so there were 28 hours of stopped time, which includes the 16 hours of night stops and 12 hours of other stops -- Controls, food & nature breaks, wait breaks etc. This is all recovery time, of course, and cannot simply be eliminated without completely bonking or running off the road due to falling asleep :).

The sun is up; mist is hanging over the lake; it's cold out there !

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We were talking about our best/worst list from this trip. This is not comprehensive or definitive !

Most memorable meal -- for me that would be at the hotel in Radda in Chianti. The creamed pate appetizer and osso bucco were tops. Richer than my usual meal, it was simply "wow".

Best food -- would probably be at Hotel l'Avenue in that little town north of Nice/Cannes. From a purely chef standpoint, that was the best food, most creative. We had so many wonderful meals though, most of them simple cooking -- like in Corvara -- that it's hard for something else to stand out.

Worst shower -- I thought that might have been the one in Radda in Chianti with the pull-around curtain but no, this one in Mestre took front stage. Tiny so that you cannot turn around; temperature constantly changing; flexible hose-on-a-bar that will only stay at the bottom, waist high; nowhere to put anything ... yes, it only got better after that !

Worst breakfast -- would probably be at the hotel in Geneva. Bread and jam. Coffee was ok.

Best breakfast -- well, all things considered, that would be during PBP at the half-way point where we stayed two nights. The Interhotel in Meaux was ok.

Worst hotel room -- that same half-way point.

Best hotel -- hmmm -- I'll have to think about that one. Hotel l'Avenue would take the prize except for the lack of an assenseur !

Best hotel location -- three competitors -- Corvara (the castle); Radda in Chianti (in the vineyard); Florence (in the market)

Best meal-sized salads -- definitely Firenze.

Worst restaurant service -- that would have to be the Novotel in STQ.

Best scenery -- everywhere !!

Friendliest staff -- that would have to be Corvara, our hostess

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Yesterday was cold; today is colder. It was 31F just a little while ago. The internet temperature is showing 30F. Brrr. The house temp was down to 68 from the 73 last night. I had let the fire die down overnight, not being cold enough to get up and maintain.

When it's chilly outside, it's time for chili inside, so that's what I did. Unfortunately it turned out to be a little too hot for Sandy (spicy). Perhaps I'll just add a bunch more kidney beans and tomato and dilute the end product :).

We weren't originally going to have the chili for dinner but having had Jim and Bonnie over for drinks and snacks, we were mostly full by the time they left. It's the first time that I've seen Jim have three drinks -- Bonnie was agitating to go home and Jim poured himself another drink saying "we haven't seen them all summer". It was good to get together. They were originally going to Nashville this weekend but their Sault St. Marie brother-in-law is suddenly ailing and might not make it, so they are staying close.

I did go for a bike ride, but it was a short one - 20 miles. It was cold and I wasn't having fun with everything on from leg warmers to skull cap to winter gloves. I might as well get used to it though ...

I did some more "work" on the retaining wall, that in quotes because I was really just fussing with rocks, thinking with my hands about how to finish things under the pressure treated wood part. Jason needed to be here for a consult. I'll do some more today, not biking since I'll be doing 200k tomorrow out of Markham.

Sandy did some cleaning, running the vacuum prepping for Bonnie's visit.

Otherwise ... not much. Oh, I left messages at the Ontario Firearms Officer's office and faxed the existing 60 day permit for my hunting guns. They called back and gave Sandy the authorization numbers to write on the form -- this is new because in other years they've faxed back the updated form. Hey, whatever works. I'm now good until mid November, but we'll be gone by then.

Onward !