Kinda spacy this morning, an after-effect of last night. A long soak in the spa and white mocha hasn’t helped much, but I like this loose, spaghetti-muscle feeling.

Since I’m not riding tonight, the book can be closed on September:

- Twenty-seven rides totaling 137.54 miles for an average of 5.09 miles a trip.
- 12:45:12 total time on the bike for an average of 28:33 minutes a trip
- 6,942 calories burned off for an average of 257.11 calories burned each trip.

These numbers are okay for someone at my novice level, except the stats become mediocre after subtracting the two longest rides (Bay Trail and last night). On the other hand, the overall numbers serve as something to beat in October, which will be a challenge in the changing weather. Good thing the winter riding clothes I ordered get here next week.

Serenity the movie tonight. And there’s a sense of serenity in my soul right now.

18 days until the USN

I’m writing this more than an hour after returning from the ride and just about everything hurts and/or aches: back, calves, left knee, right wrist, etc. etc. etc., and the manly yawns have set in, the kind that involve the whole body. Even the hair on the back of my neck has to stop and stretch in the middle of one of those bad boys.

And why, you ask, dear reader?

Distance: 15.17 miles
Time: 01:17:38 minutes
Average speed: 12.13 mph
919 calories burned

Check out those calories, baby! That’s a personal deep-dish pizza, girlfriend. Two snaps around the world and a buttsmack for Bob! Can I get a “Halleleuh!” from the choir?!

Back to the literary thing. I was getting happy feet at work, eager to shuck the immoral coils of the hourly wage life and excise the poisons I’d had for lunch. When the clock hit 5:00 PM, I was out the door before the PC finished powering down. Got home, packed some fleece in the backpack, threw on a bright orange shirt, and booked.

Above is a Mapquest picture of Carson and the blue line is a lame MS Paint expression of my trip (if you want graphical beauty, call Danielle). I call this, “The Three Albertsons,” but it’s actually two Albertsons (north and south) and the 7-11 on east Highway 50. I skipped the third Albertsons because that would shorten the trip (silly me).

There’s so much going through my brain about this ride that I want to remember but the flesh is weak. A quick recap:

- There’s no such thing as a flat road in this stinking town.
- The old couple holding hands, with him gently helping her over the curb.
- Me yelling at a driver for cutting me off in the Fifth Street traffic circle. She was on a cell phone, natch.
- Being blinded in both eyes by a sudden sweat attack and doing a fast stop without seeing where I was going.
- The frozen air around the pond behind the Railroad Museum.
- Pushing hard on the pedals to get an end result I could live with. I could live with those stats any day.
- Finishing the ride by going up the Fifth Street hill and not really minding at all.
- The other couple at the south Albertsons playing and touching each other, and the woman following them, admiring them, telling me, “Now that’s love.”

One last thought: there’s no way I would have gone as far or as hard if the usual afternoon wind had been blowing. The lack of breeze made all the difference in the world.

Going to bed now. Good night.

19 days until the USN

I’ve been really good on my diet but I got too hungry and gorged on a personal pan pizza from Round Table.

My punishment: The Three Albertsons Ride. Yep, gonna touch all three Albertsons in Carson. Will probably leave around 5:30 PM and not make it home until close to 8:00 PM.

That’ll show me.

Having a low-powered day; no riding of any sort this morning because common sense says the body needs a little recovery time from long rides. Dunno if yesterday counts as “long,” but what the heck. My legs want to rock and roll, though, so I’ll probably go out tonight and work off some energy and calories.

Got nothing more to add, so that’s all for now.

19 days until the USN

The workday ended, and it was me and Dollar for the road. The afternoon was bright and warm, and I was motoring around town in a t-shirt and shorts, scaring children and dogs with my lily-white skin, but I didn’t care. It was a great ride up the college hill which is getting easier after the third time.

And my fitness routine is working a little. Somebody today said I have “chicken-legs,” which could be viewed as an insult, but I’ll take all skinny innuendos I can get.

The above picture from August 2005 is courtesy of Chris and is probably the biggest gathering of our relations since 2001. Going left to right:
- Elaine (Aunt Lily)
- Uncle Mike
- Billie the Navigator (Mike’s sister)
- Dr. Robert, Billie’s husband
- Cousin Chris, Elaine’s oldest
- Cousin (Dr. Dr.) David, Elaine’s youngest
- Danielle
- Trina
- Lara
- The Bride
- Uncle Frank, Elaine’s brother-in-law
- Your humble writer, Bob the Blob

They are the brightest people I know, without exception, and a good group of people.

Distance: 8.00 miles (12.8 total today)
Time: 43:38 minutes (01:07:18 total)
417 calories burned (693 total)
20 days until the USN

Cold, cold ride this morning (35 degrees on the bike computer). Woke up before 0500 after getting to sleep after 0000, yet had the uncontrollable urge to ride. The Bride and I spent some time getting lights on my bike because it was still pitch black outside when I hit the road. A sweater, two shirts, sweat pants, and a stocking cap kept the cold out except for places that were exposed (neck, fingers, etc.), so I was pretty well frozen by the time I got to Raley’s via Curry. After two minutes inside there, my frozen sweat melted then froze again when I rode to the gym. Soaked in the spa for a long while.

Work is interesting. We’re getting a new phone system and there’s workmen right next to my desk tearing down temporary walls and reconfiguring rooms to make more offices. We’re on a help desk that lives/dies by the phone, and the construction dudes are making a lot of noise. At least it’s keeping me awake.

And somehow I gained four pounds over the weekend. Time to get a new scale.

Edit: Wow! - From CNN Breaking News: “House Majority Leader Tom DeLay indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy by Texas grand jury, according to Travis County clerk’s office.”

Distance: 4.80 miles
Time: 23:45 minutes
276 calories burned
20 days until the USN

Should not be allowed near a keyboard when I’m pissed.

Apologies, all.

Three weeks until the USN

[Writing these entries after the weekend, so everything I want to remember won’t be here, but not gonna let that hold me back. I’ll post them around the day and times they happened so it’s easier on my brain and the character maximum on Blogger is not at risk. You’ll want to read these from the bottom up.]

Woke up, all bright and shiny and ready to get back to Carson. Got the truck all packed up and Dollar out of bike purgatory and was about to put the truck in reverse…

…when a kind soul pointed out we had a flat tire. Again.

For those of you keeping score at home (or if you’re alone), that would be three flats on cars and one on a bike. Liz had the brains to bring “fix-a-flat” in a can, so we were able to make it to our old friends at Firestone Tires, where we waited ninety minutes for them to fix the tire (including thirty minutes when they did nothing with the truck in the bay and the hood up and no other customers). After they finally dropped the hood and relieved us of $32, we got on the road and had a completely uneventful drive home.

Had class last night where we did a worksheet in class, then came home, put my head on the pillow and crashed.

22 days until the USN

[Writing these entries after the weekend, so everything I want to remember won’t be here, but not gonna let that hold me back. I’ll post them around the day and times they happened so it’s easier on my brain and the character maximum on Blogger is not at risk. You’ll want to read these from the bottom up.]

BASEBALL!

Elaine and Mike took me to my first A’s game a couple of years ago when the team was playing the Texas Rangers. A-Rod was still with them and the ink on his ridiculous $252 million contract was barely dry at the time. We sat behind some tattooed gangbangers and we all gave Alex a bunch of crap the entire game. It was a great day.

Tonight’s game promised to be more fun because it was the Rangers, again, and the A’s were fighting for their postseason lives. Our seats were perfect: right behind the visitors’ dugout, close enough for me to spit in Buck Showalter’s left eye. One of my baseball heroes, Orel Hershiser, is the pitching coach for the Rangers, and Kenny Rogers of mini-cam infamy pretty much stayed involved in the entire game, despite pitching the previous night. I sat down and didn’t get up until the seventh inning stretch.

And I wish I could say good things, but here’s the bottom line:

The A’s choked away their postseason in that game.

Here’s the Chronicle’s article about the game and this paragraph is the final nail in the coffin:

“[Eric] Chavez and [Nick] Swisher were a combined 0-for-8, and there was nothing pretty about it. Both made crucial outs in two-on, no-out situations. Chavez popped out in the eighth after Kendall and Kotsay opened with singles, and Swisher struck out in the ninth after Jay Payton doubled and Johnson walked.”

There is the age-old rationalization that everyone uses in this situation: “We wouldn’t even had been in that situation if (Player X) hadn’t got us there.” And there’s a grain of truth to it, especially for the A’s. They were sucking this season and 3B Eric Chavez got tired of it. In a moment that will live in A’s history, he stood up in the team bus one day and let everyone know his thoughts on the quality (or lack thereof) of their play. From that moment, the A’s played better, especially after some key teammates came back from the DL.

On the other hand, what Chronicle didn’t say that Chavez swung and flied out on the first pitch in a key situation and killed the rally and probably the A’s season. I’ve said this a dozen times and have taken the heat for it: Pitching Wins and Good Pitching Will Always Beat Good Hitting. The A’s had ten hits the entire game, and men on third base with no outs twice, but suffered when they kept swinging at first pitches.

The math is easy. Ten hits + two runs = bad hitting + good opposing pitching.

All that aside, the call that changed the game was when Rangers catcher Rod Barajas successfully argued a strikeout and got the call changed to a foul ball. Two pitches later, Barajas hit a three-run homer. I was impressed by the home plate umpire who discussed the pitch with his colleagues, and they all agreed it was a foul ball. In the old days, there would have been no discussion and the call would have stood. A kinder, gentler baseball.

Even though the A’s lost, it was still a great day to be at the park. The company was perfect, the weather was outstanding, and everything was just fun. A bad day at the park almost always beats a good day at anything else.

23 days until the USN

[Writing these entries after the weekend, so everything I want to remember won’t be here, but not gonna let that hold me back. I’ll post them on the day and times they happened so it’s easier on my brain and the character maximum on Blogger is not at risk. You’ll want to read these from the bottom up.]

Sunday morning:

Got up bright and early because sleeping comfort was not to be found on the granite slab. Went downstairs to take advantage of the sumptuous morning buffet offered by this peachy-keen Holiday Inn Express that seperates a man from his horse (or bike). In the other hand, they offer heated pastries and free coffee so I forgave them (though not in Dollar’s presence).

Got Dollar out of the closet and headed over to Aunt Lily’s for breakfast and a ride. She and Uncle Mike have this odd fixation on breakfast cereals: they got enough to stock a 7-11. She listed them all (ten different kinds?) and I naturally picked the first one. We reminisced for a while and got mutually angry at the Republicans until Liz joined us. She wasn’t feeling too hot and had a sore throat, but she motored on like a real trooper. She took our picture (above) before heading back to the room for rest and Orange Juice.

Aunt Lily and I hit the road and what a day on the Bay Trail! No wind, perfect temps, and good company. Down Bancroft (or was it Dwight?), north along the Berkeley Aquatic Park, across the pedestrian bridge, then north along the bike trails through the Golden Gates Fields Racetrack, past the hills of El Cerrito, and into the shorefront of Richmond. Passed and got passed by numerous bikers and joggers enjoying the day and sucking in the exhaust of the adjacent interstate, but it’s not a perfect world.

At Marina Park, we took pictures of each other and of the Rosie the Riveter Memorial, which is sadly overgrown with weeds in spots. The women honored by this memorial changed the modern workforce and probably started Women’s Lib decades before it became an everyday phrase.

We headed back to the house and we carbo-loaded (French Toast) after easily the longest bike ride I ever took. It felt damn good.

Distance: 17.10 miles
Time: 01:51:47 minutes
692 calories burned
23 days until the USN