The Monday After
2007-06-04, 2:37 p.m.

Day 1016

Evidence that Saturdays 81 mile ride went better than last Saturday�s measly 60 miler?

Sunday, I could sit down anywhere I wanted with no regard as to the firmness of the seat. Last week? Sitting on 3� thick cushions was a problem.

This past Sunday I also snuck in 9 holes of golf with the kids. Walked all 9 holes. Last week? I was still walking funny on Monday, much less golfing (or even THINKING about golfing).

I first noticed route markers for next weeks ride just south of Scottsville (my mile 12 or so) and by the time I had made two turns (only 6 miles folks, I�m not THAT slow in the head) I kinda figured out what they were. I got to follow them nearly all the way around the 62 mile loop. Very cool assist in tracking the route. Towards the end of Saturdays ride (someplace in the last quarter or so), I ran across a couple that was obviously out to paint the route markers on the shoulder of the road. Seeing him with 3 cans of spray paint whose colors exactly matched the markers I was following was a big hint. I had passed them once as the gentleman of the pair got out of their car to do the painting. Seeing as I was blazing by at a whopping 16mph, I never really paid much attention to him. In about a minute or so they came zooming past me to make some marks at the next intersection. This time, the gentleman painter & I happened to catch each others eyes. I said something like �See you next week�, to acknowledge what he was doing. What I didn�t realize at the time was that the painter said to me, �See you Monday�. Apparently our greetings crossed in mid flight and I never really did catch what he said. Until this morning. It turns out the painter is a guy I�ve been in these weekday spinning classes with all year long. So this morning, ol� Tom was testing my memory, seeing if I even remembered where I�d been Saturday. What really threw me was that I was still 20 miles from home at that point, and I never expected to see anyone I knew out there. Small world I guess.

Um, so yeah � felt good enough to go to spin class this morning. I gotta admit though, doing the nautilus with the legs after was a real chore. The old pins have had about all they can stand for a while. And they still look scrawny.

Oooh � a nice thing about Saturday�s ride � the Locust trees are blossoming. Such a nice smell. Sort of a sweet, vanilla-ey smell. We�re flooded with locust trees around here, so the smell of the blossoms was nearly non-stop. I seriously need to consider getting one or two at home and plant them upwind of the house. Yum.

Bad thing about this Saturday�s ride? The Poplar, or Aspen or white birch or cottonwood (or what ever the hell they are) trees are letting loose of their seeds right now. That�s that freakin �snow� that�s floating around everywhere. In the church parking lot behind our back yard, it actually does look like snow piled up a couple inches thick. I can�t wait for the 386 billion little poplar trees to start popping up. The ones in the lawn aren�t a problem. It�s the 53 billion I�ll have to pick out of the foundation plantings this fall that just have me thrilled. At least it�s something to do.

Had this odd conversation with Cindy Friday evening, while she was all fubar�d (again). I was in the middle of printing out a map for Saturday�s ride when she stumbled in and asked if she could ask me a few questions. (Of course, I resisted answering �1 down, 2 to go�) Anyhow � she asked me why I do all these races. This coming on the heels of the Corporate Challenge, I figured she meant the running races. My answer was multi-tiered, but in essence I run them because A: I like running, B: I like to compete against others & my old times, and C: the races often are used as fundraisers for charities and it�s nice to help them out.

Apparently, that was the wrong answer. Or it was presented in the wrong order. Cindy mumbled something to the effect that since I was doing the races primarily for myself, she couldn�t support me in them.

You can imagine the look of bewilderment that appeared on my face. This led to Cindy saying she wasn�t willing to sponsor me for the Tour de Cure this Sunday. She won�t sponsor me because I derive some enjoyment out of the riding or racing or spending time away from her. Which � well, what ever. She�s already on record for saying she didn�t believe I could do the 62 mile route. That prompted me to decide to do the 100. Spite is a powerful motivator. Now, her drunken self won�t even consider sponsoring me? Fine. I hope she appreciates the irony when her drinking leads to her developing Type II diabetes in another few years. I wonder if she�ll accept treatment from people that are getting paid to help, or if she�ll refuse until she finds someone that�s helping just for the love of doing it?

I�m paying the sponsorship fee myself and doing the race because my Dad succumbed to diabetes, my Gramma had it and I have two cousins and a brother that have it. I won�t be needing her help � or approval. I have reason enough on my own.

After Friday night, Cindy had a rather quiet (hung-over) Saturday. I think all she accomplished was to go to a work friends daughters graduation party. She left before I got home from my ride, didn�t get home till early evening. Sober, but quiet. Sunday, she put up no resistance to the boys & I going golfing. When we got home and we saw why she didn�t complain. Way easier to drink when there�s no one around to witness it. Then she complained about the dinner that was prepared while she was sleeping off her afternoon toddies. It�s true the steaks weren�t as tender as they could be, but she was by far the most vocal about it (only one vocal about it actually), and she also had the least amount of effort invested in getting dinner on the table (that�d be 0). I guess the only way she could feel better was to try and make someone else feel worse. Too bad we�re all on to it.

In happier news, the mystery of the missing Orfe�s is over. Tried a new algaecide in the pond Friday evening. By Saturday evening, things were looking much better. So much better, that when I gave the fishies their evening chow, I was able to spot all 4 Orfe�s in one field of view. No small feat considering how fast those little buggers are. So it looks like they�ve all made it this far.

Starting to suspect that maybe the orange fantail and the solid brown shibunkin are females. The comets have been relentless in their pursuit of the fantail, and the other shibunkins have been dogging the brown one steadily. I think this is indicative of the boys trying to get their freak on. The brown shibunkin is definitely fatter in the abdomen than the other 3 and the fantail? Well, it�s the only one, so there�s no physical comparison, but wow, they won�t leave that fish alone. This treatment has only been for the last few days too � it�s not a constant thing. Weird, but maybe there�s more baby fish in the future. If they can find a place to hide till they�re too big to eat.

I�m gonna go get some work done. If I can concentrate. Meeting tomorrow night and I could use it.

Later

Ps � pictures � got �em, just have to crop & re-sample for posting. Show you what the road looks like, and how I cool down after.

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