Three Giro Week

Part of the big Thanksgiving Giro group

There was quite a large turnout for Thursday's Thanksgiving Holiday Giro Ride, and although holiday Giro rides are sometimes easier than usual, this one wasn't. To make matters worse, I'd overslept, which meant a rushed ride out to Starbucks and, even worse, no time for coffee. On the plus side, the temperature was in the mid-50s, rising into the 60s by the end. It was windy, though, and that meant a fast section along Chef Highway where we averaged over 29 mph for five miles or so.

Stole this photo from Jamie who was apparently in town

Back at home, Candy cooked a big turkey, made stuffing, and two pies. There were only the two of us. I long ago stopped arguing about this sort of thing, but really.....

I didn't ride Friday morning since I had a 9:50 a.m. appointment with an Ophthalmologist to see about the cataract in my left eye. "Nuclear sclerotic cataract of left eye. Nuclear sclerotic cataract of right eye." So now I'm scheduled for a left eye lens replacement on the 9th. Looking forward to having functional binocular vision again. It's just a matter of time before the right eye will need the same, of course. Going with the regular single-vision lenses, I'll still need reading/computer glasses, but I'd rather have the best possible distance vision. Should be interesting. I'm just hoping it doesn't keep me off the bike for more than a couple of days.

Following up on the holiday Giro, I went out again on Saturday for another dose. That particular Giro was significant because we actually got a semi-cohesive paceline going on Chef Highway that closed the gap on a small break that had been out there since Paris Road. That almost never happens. Anyway, Candy has spent the last couple of days decorating for Christmas. I have no idea what that entails, really. All I know is that there are a bunch of plastic bins all over the living and dining rooms, and every once in a while she brings something to me that needs to be either repaired or polished. I did drag the artificial Christmas tree up from the basement, so I'm expecting the usual issues about why all the lights don't work. We added a couple hundred extra lights to the ones that came with the tree a few years ago, so it doesn't really matter much.

What could possibly go wrong here?

Saturday night another little cool front came through, but there was hardly any rain and the temperature was still in the low 60s in the morning, so the Sunday Giro was basically summer kit plus thin arm-warmers, and the arm-warmers were really just for the ride out to Starbucks. It was a pretty typical Giro for this time of year - some fast segments, some slower segments. On the way back, I took the new bike lane on Marconi past Delgado. That thing was definitely designed by a committee. Bike lane in the gutter, then parking, then a single car lane, with occasional concrete islands protruding into the bike lane where there are bus stops and where the buses will hold up traffic while loading and unloading, I presume. It all seems more dangerous to me than the two wide traffic lanes that were there before. The only nice thing is that the road surface, which had been in bad shape for a long time, has finally been completely repaired. Guess every cloud has a silver lining.

So Strava says I have ridden 11,183 miles thus far this year. It's a couple hundred fewer than usual, and so I guess I'll finish up 2019 well under 12k but still around average I guess.

YearDistanceΔ Prev. YearΔ With 2019201911,183 mi- 225 mi∅201811,408 mi- 19 mi+ 225 mi201711,427 mi+ 280 mi+ 244 mi201611,147 mi+ 204 mi- 36 mi201510,943 mi- 504 mi- 240 mi201411,447 mi+ 284 mi+ 264 mi201311,163 mi∅- 20 mi