Jan 30-32 - behind again !

Yes, yes, I know that there aren't 32 days in January but it does illustrate how one can fall behind !

Friday ...

The head/chest/throat etc. cold still hanging in there on Friday, I did make plans to ride 200k out of Gainesville anyway.  Surely I couldn't feel any worse ? 

I took Abby for a walk, as much to assure myself that I wasn't going to be wheezing around the block as anything else.  The outside air did me some good; it always does.  I packed my cycling clothing and the bike in the car.  I checked the forecast ... which showed that the low 30's temps were very unseasonably going to hang around until mid-day, and packed some more clothing !  It's one thing to be out there for an hour and tough it through; it's a lot different if I'm going to have 4-5 hours of cold.

Saturday ...

Up at 3am, my throat was raw.  Groan.  Oh well, the worst that could happen is that I'd drive 2.5 hours and turn around, I guess.   I left at 3:30 without breakfast but with coffee. 

The temperature at home was 58F.  It dropped 10 degrees once I got a couple of blocks from the water, no surprise.  It kept dropping.  Yes, as I expected, it dropped to 30F on the way to Gainesville.  I had fully expected that 35F in Gainesville meant colder in the burbs !

I nursed my coffee for about an hour along the way.  The hot liquid helped my throat immeasurably.   I felt human again.  I had another coffee when I got to I75 near Ocala.  I had another coffee at the ride start.  Hot feels good !

It was 37F at Westside Park where the ride was starting, much as I expected.  I knew that the temperature would drop from there; others were surprised.  There were two fellows in "summer kit" -- shorts and short sleeved jerseys, that I figured would be in trouble.  They were.  At the first Control, 19 miles into the ride, they were inside and shivering almost uncontrollably.  My advice to them was "stay here; you've got lots of time; don't risk hypothermia".  I'm not sure what they did.

From the get-go, I fell behind, as usual.  I rode with Terry Shuya, my friend from Saskatoon who lives in Jacksonville. He's been contracting with Blue Cross for years, ever since I've been doing these rides but his contract ended on Friday.  He's hoping to get another contract with someone, otherwise he'll have to go back to SK.  He doesn't have a Green Card.

Anyway, Terry was primed for the cold, as was I.  I had four layers, winter gloves, shoe covers ... I did fairly well but my hands were mostly numb by that first Control.  Some more coffee (a trend here) and they warmed up.  Soon I was able to open my pit zips, around noon off came the jacket ... but I ended the day with three layers up top.  I was able to remove the leg warmers and shoe covers later on as well.

When we got to that first Control, the first group was just about to leave.  We never saw them again.  We did pick up and/or pass several riders over the course of the day who had been dropped.  That's pretty typical.  We finished up at 4:09. 

My throat was ok for the day but I developed quite a sinus headache that came and went.  My nose ended up chapped and sore from blowing.  Without the heavy clothing and feeling crummy, I probably could have done the ride an hour faster, but who cares.  9 hours, 9 minutes is still pretty reasonable, given stops etc.

While Terry crammed some food down at at couple of stops, I played it safe with my stomach and stayed liquid.  The aforementioned cup of coffee plus a cup of hot chocolate at the next Control and a cranapple drink (really just 300 calories of sugar) at the next-to-final Control, were all I needed to keep me going.  Being cold out, I only drank one bottle of water and that was simply because it helped soothe my throat.  I did have one bar and three gels.  It was a light day but then again, it was only a 200k.

Jim and his wife had a good spread for us when we finished but I didn't have much.  A small sandwich and spoon of pasta salad and I hit the road. 

By the time I got home I was famished but Sandy hadn't ordered pizza yet.  I was feeling sort-of frantic, cold, head-cold, hungry but after a hot shower, I climbed into bed and rested.  It was only 7pm at that point.  I got up a little later and had a couple of big glasses of V8 but didn't feel like eating anything. 

Sunday ...

Sunday dawned ... another day.  I went to Mass and went through a half-box (seemed like it) of kleenex.  No one was close to me, luckily, and I wasn't sneezing or anything nasty, just dabbing my nose.  The rest of the day was mostly like that although Sandy and Abby and I did walk down Riverside to the Images art show to look at something that she'd like for the living room wall.  We've go a wall unit being delivered this week and need something over top of it.

I did some catch up, but not the blog.  Sorry.  Now's the time for that.  This morning I also caught up on some Sunshine 1200k work, reconciling everyone's payments, and wrote a missive on behalf of the Lost Channel Local Roads Board to be sent to the Provincial Land Tax Reform committee this morning.  Last minute stuff ...

This week ... who knows. 

My head feels much better this morning but, for some reason, I didn't get much sleep last night.  My head was stuffy at 12:30 a.m. and I got up, expecting to fall asleep in front of the TV.  I didn't.  I watched The Client until 4am and then gave up trying to sleep and started working.  Now it's time for breakfast, for me and Abby ...

Sandy's feeling quite a bit better too, but I've been hearing her cough for the last half hour.  She developed an ear ache and, a doctor's visit later, she's been on antibiotics.  That seems to have helped.  

Onward !