No weekday riding again this week... I have to do something about that situation soon! There's still enough light in the evenings to get in a short ride, but by the end of the work day my energy level doesn't match what I'd need for a ride. For now, it's going to have to be in the morning - and I haven't mastered (or should I say re-mastered?) the early to bed, early to rise times that I'll need to pull this off. Soon.
It was a slightly improved sleep week in that I only had one night with that unacceptable 5 hours of sleep instead of the two nights I had last week. Unfortunately, that one short night was followed by a couple of days of dizziness. A small step forward in the sleep department, and a step backwards in getting rid of those dizzy days. I've started tracking both things to see if I can find a pattern, but nothing is jumping out at me so far. I guess this is just the post-accident version of Denise that the real version is trying to erase!
Saturday, August 21st was a good day for hiding indoors
The weather forecast for Saturday was for torrential rain, so I woke up thinking it would be a day without cycling. A downpour woke me at 4:30 AM - just in time to retrieve the still dry newspaper from its (plastic-wrapped) spot in the middle of the rain. I luckily fell asleep again, and awoke to a very wet day. In the afternoon, the sky grew lighter, and the pavement started drying out. I thought it was worth trying a short ride. I headed out on my bike, but I didn't get too far before the thunder started to sound pretty serious and it started to rain. I thought about continuing in the light rain, but given the increased sound of thunder I turned around and headed for home. I put the bike in its usual shelter - in the dry garage - and changed into walking togs. I headed out again - on foot this time - and luckily I was carrying an umbrella. After I'd been out only 10 minutes, an incredible downpour started. Even with the umbrella I was soaked when I got home. I'm very glad that I wasn't out on my bike in that downpour since the rain was coming down so hard that it was very hard to see, and the wind was definitely making its presence known too.
And Sunday, August 22nd was an excellent day for wandering on a bike
I'd have to say that Sunday's weather was perfect for cycling. I woke to a clear sky, little wind, and a favorite temperature range. It was probably in the high 60s or low 70s (Fahrenheit) when I was out on my bike - which I consider to be pretty close to perfect. I thought about driving to the coast so I could ride along the ocean, but laziness intervened. I couldn't convince myself that I wanted to drive 45 minutes to an hour to ride a short distance and then have to drive back again. I'll need beat that lazy feeling soon because I think I'm getting close to needing a change of scenery.
I wandered on roads close to home again, managing a 27 mile ride. I started out on one of my reverse loops - riding a loop I've done often, but in the reverse direction. Switching direction sometimes even makes the ride feel like a new one. It didn't today, so at one point I wandered off down a road I've never ridden before. It was amazing because it switched very quickly from a quiet wooded neighborhood to just woods. As I continued down the road I started to wonder if I was going to need to turn around to find my way home again since as usual I was wandering without a map. I kept going, and eventually met up with a road that I recognized. A nice diversion, and it turned out to be a road I will definitely follow again in the future.
The chipmunks managed to amuse me as I wandered on my bike. They managed to run across the road to find new trees to climb as I passed by. I definitely prefer the chipmunks "run and hide" behavior to the squirrels who seem to like to play suicide games with my bike. Luckily - for my sanity - only the chipmunks were out on Sunday!
Hey - it's only August! This tree seems to have its autumn clock turned on a bit too early. Beautiful, but I'm not ready for summer to be over!
The view to the side of the road. That mystery road was definitely a good choice.
And more beautiful wildflowers along the side of the road. Oh, you think these are weeds and they aggravate allergies? Yes, but I still think they are beautiful!
