Weekday Frustrations, Warm Weekend Rides

Really no excuse for this

There's been such a long list of things to get done that I haven't really known where to start. One thing I thought I'd be able to check off the list last week was setting up Candy's new laptop. It arrived as scheduled on Wednesday - in a torn-open, wet, box, compliments of UPS. I slid the computer out of the box and was pleased to see that it looked undamaged, at least externally, and was in a nice heavy plastic sleeve. Well, looks can be deceiving. I powered it up and was greeted by an unstable screen image that would disintegrate into random lines and colors and such with every touch. I assume there was something wrong with the cable going through the hinge to the screen. At any rate, I immediately shut it off and called Lenovo. After explaining the situation to two people I was told to wait for a phone call within 24 hours. 28 hours later I called back and finally got a nice woman with a heavy Indian accent who, after about half an hour on the phone, moved things one step farther. I was told I'd then receive an email within 24-48 hours about returning the defective laptop and getting a replacement. Still waiting for that email Sunday night. So, following that debacle, I figured I may as well bite the bullet and call AT&T to upgrade to fiber since the sent me a letter at the end of October that they were retiring my current network equipment in January and I have to upgrade (or leave) by then. I'd been planning on making the upgrade anyway, but also wanted to find out about AT&T TV as a replacement for our current Cox Cable, on the assumption that I could save a little bit that way. Well, that process resulted in an hour-long phone call with a nice woman who was presumably Chinese by her heavy accent. It would have take a lot less time if I hadn't needed to have her repeat practically everything at least once. So I ended up with the Internet 1000 plan ( 940Mbps) which should be a major improvement over what I've had for the past few years. I also signed up for the basic TV plan for Candy since I doubt she would ever adapt to jumping around from Netflix to Amazon to Hulu to Disney etc., etc. Anyway, the whole thing should be about what I'm paying now, and considerably less for the first year. The downside is that they scheduled installation for December 3 or something. 

Did I mention the car crash? Happened early in the week. I hear this loud crash outside the window, jump up to have a look, and see a Cadillac SUV sliding down S. Claiborne on its side. Guessing it was going more the 35 mph when it clipped another car. Amazingly, everyone seemed OK. I called 911 immediately but only had time to give them the location before a police car pulled up behind the wreck. Coincidence? They broke the sunroof and one of the neighbors pulled a skinny woman driver without shoes out. I suspect there's more to that whole story.

So last week was mostly warm and occasionally damp but nothing that resulted in any shortened rides. By the weekend the weather was looking really nice and when Lisa lined up a little group for a 65 mile northshore ride on Saturday, I jumped at the opportunity. We rolled out from the Lee Road ballpark right a 8 am with eight riders, and immediately Lisa went to the front and kind of hit the gas, setting the tone for the rest of the ride. In other words, it was a pretty fast ride. We rode up to State Line by way of Pine. I was feeling pretty good but my limited miles in the hills of late certainly took a toll toward the end of the ride. The average speed of around 22 mph doesn't seem so fast, but Strava called it a "massive relative effort" and my 174 max BPM heartrate told a slightly different story. Anyway, I really enjoyed the ride. 

There wasn't enough room for the "ulation" part.

Afterward I kind of rushed home because a couple of the neighbors were staging a little retirement party at the house for Candy Saturday evening. They had lured her out of the house to go to the neighborhood park with the next-door neighbors' toddler while the others came over and put up some decorations and heated up enough food for a small army. It was all quite nice and I ate and drank far too much.

Thursday on the levee

So this morning I went out to the Giro Ride planning on staying in the economy section at the back of the pack. I was still feeling some effects from Saturday's ride, and together with the previous night's festivities I figured a hard ride would be a bad idea. Unfortunately, today was apparently "bring your TT bike to the Giro" day, and looking around as we rolled out I knew it was going to be trouble for my plan. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the group split and I ended up with the second group of about a dozen riders, among which there were about three who knew what a paceline was, or which way the wind was blowing. Anyway, it did at least allow me to keep the effort level down a bit, which was good. On the way back, when someone at the front of the group basically attacked the turn onto Hayne Blvd., I just let that go and rode in with a few others. Not surprisingly, two of them had been on the Saturday ride.