Jun 10/11 - post ride blues

There are always digestion problems after these rides.  A complete change of diet, dehydration and convoluted (or no) sleeping habits will do it.

This time my hips are also bothering me or perhaps it's my lower back or perhaps it's the couch that I'm sitting on, since I'm not used to sitting on couches :).

I noticed during the second day that I was looking at a significant amount of the left side of my front wheel as I was riding, continuously.  I'm leaning to the left and the bike is leaning to the right.  Looking straight down, I see the spot about half-way along the left side of my handlebars.  I don't know if that's something new or if I was favoring my right shoulder (?) or hips or knees (?).  I think that the riding position was aggravating my hips/back, no surprise.

The drive back to Reading was easy, since it's relative short, short for me I mean.  I wasn't looking forward to driving north the next day.  Wait ... Sandy reminded me that we weren't driving north the next day ... I did plan this correctly !  Now I'm wondering about my strategy after the Gold Rush and LEL where I'm flying the next day.  I'll be really stiff and stinky (remember the digestion problems !).

I didn't rush out of the motel, getting up after 6am, having breakfast and then hitting Harbor Freight in Reading before getting to Sara's.  I'm calling it Sara's because Jeffrey is in Waltham MA.   I didn't do much else all day.  Sara made meatloaf for dinner, which hit the spot.  Comfort food is definitely "in".

Early to bed and then early to rise -- my cell phone went off at 1:30 a.m. and after hearing a few words like "low battery", thought that it was one of those "your computer is having a problem" calls.  I hung up and then shortly after, Sandy's phone went off.  After that, I realized that "low battery" might be the security system at the cottage ... duh.  I called them back and sure enough, there's one sensor that's triggering the message.  I'll check that out once we're back.  Why do they have to call at 1:30 in the morning ?  Surely they wouldn't expect to dispatch a police car for that kind of message ?

I couldn't get back to sleep at that point, so I came upstairs and blogged about my new light and the ride.  Then I was overcome with a wave of tiredness and caught a couple of hours sleep on the couch.  Give me another day and I'll be back in the swing of things.

Today -- turned in Sandy's rental, bought beer, assembled a couple of shelving units for Sara, entertained Zoe -- just another day in the life.  The car is basically packed now, even has Emma's car seat.

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Back home from Red Robin for dinner.  They have (this is new), little portable DVD-sized wireless device on each table on which you can play games, check the menu, add to your order and pay your bill.  I opted to pay my bill, swiped my credit card and it has emailed the paid bill to me.  This is progress !  No more waiting for service to get the bill paid !

Zoe was very good in the restaurant.  She is fascinated by all the people and activity.  She had her first French Fry and then declined the fruit -- yes, salt is truly addictive.

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Sara noticed that I was starting to look relaxed.  Knowing that "look", similar to Jeffrey's, she got me to help move the shelving unit into place in the basement.  There were two shelving units -- one for the main floor and one for the basement, identical.  Actually to call it a basement is somewhat of a misnomer -- it's ground level.  Ground level has a powder room, furnace room, under-the-stairs stowaway room and one large room.   That's the way that it started but she had me construct a wall with  double pocket doors to separate the end of the room into a guest bedroom -- I did that in 2011, I think, or was it last year ?  I'd have to check my own blog to verify, but won't.

When I'd assembled the new shelving unit it was in the center of the floor since where she wanted it already had a chest against the wall.  There was no point in moving anything until I knew where it was all supposed to end up.  With some fiddling I also attached the safety strap to the wall - this is the kids playroom, often hosting "play dates" with other kids, and we certainly don't want them pulling the shelving unit down on themselves !

Back to "the look".  It seems to run in the family.  My Dad would always have a "snooze" after dinner. He'd ask Mom to wake him at a certain time, usually after about an hour, and then he'd stay up until after the evening news.  I simply prefix my snooze time to my bed-time, hitting the sack early.  I can stay awake, obviously, and do if there are things happening, but sit me down in front of the TV / Computer / book and I'll doze off.  That time window doesn't affect me when driving or riding, not sure why, but perhaps because I haven't had a glass of wine in those situations ?

The car is ready to go; I'm ready to go; someone is going to make Emma's lunch -- PB&J -- but Sandy and I will be having Subway.  Interestingly enough, I did that 1200k without having a Subway, although I did have a couple of subs.

Onward ...