Where to begin - it's been such a busy day. Grab the popcorn and head into the other room to watch American Idol - cuz this is going to be one long ass description of my uber domestic day.

Woke up relatively early after staying up way too late last night trying to get stuff done and chatting with a few friends - went and helped my dad prune a crapload of trees, cut up the logs, sort the branches and tie up for pickup then headed out for a haircut - not too short, but they did a great job. Looked at a few apartments, then headed to Capital Cycles for them to do a quick and free gear index tune-up and bought 2 new Specialized Pro tires (long story about the glass in my current tires), headed over to Target, got me some new shorts, bathing suit, and pajama bottoms - seems that I've become fit, and all my old summer clothes don't quite fit.

Parlow's Store, Ashburn, VA 2005 Photo by d. scott gregory

Headed on to Vienna, did the Jiffy Lube thang then headed to the community center, changed and went on a incredible 52 mile (84 kilometers) training ride, great weather...gentle breeze. Photo shown is of Partlow's Grocery store...it's a old mom & pop store out in Ashburn, they sell more Gatorade than any store in the state of Virginia - the store directly on the bike path. They also have some of the best home cooked BBQ beef (wood burning cookers out front) - interesting that today they had that old restored jalopy out front today.

Finished up training ride then drove to Performance bike to return a few things and pick up some replacement cork tape for my handlebars, more parafin lube, and two new tubes. Oh forgot to mention that I had two flat tires on my training ride (damn glass embedded in my tires, hence the new tires). It wasn't an ordeal changing them, it was such a beautiful day - I could have been shovelling maneur.

Came home, had dinner - then watched of all things "Dirty Dancing" - out of pure inspiration. YOu ask why? Well, next weekend is the Mountains of Misery...in Blacksburg, VA..the home to many things including the Mountain Lake Lodge - the actual scene where Patrick Swayzee (sp?) gyrated his fictional hips in the fictional Catskills in the movie "Dirty Dancing". It was fun watching such a fun old film - I was soo embarrassed by the "dated" dancing and 80s crap. But was a retrofun film.

Just finished putting on my new Specialized Pro tires and my cork tape on my handlebars - time to catch up on some email and hit the sack.

Tomorrow night, I am making some Gumbo with roasted chicken, shrimp, and chorizo - on a bed of wild rice..and a side of "Fiddle head" ferns sauteed in garlic and shallot basting oil. Drools thinking about it.

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rainy WO&D Trail, May 2005 Click on photo for enlargement Photo by d. scott gregory rainy WO&D Trail, May 2005 Click on photo for enlargement Photo by d. scott gregory

Rain Rain, Go Away, come back some other day! Actually, not. We needed the rain. It's just an inconvenience for us idiots who depend on the adrenaline of biking all the time to find rain to be such an annoyance. I'm already "so over it". We need the rain.

So it rained all day, hard. Lots of flooding. Twas quenching, but made for a sleepy yet productive day at work. I wasn't sure if I was going to go to a spinners class at the gym or actually get wet. I prefer the latter. I hate sitting on my lazy ass in a gym and sweat it out - as opposed to getting out there and getting wet, feeling the wind, the burn, the sweat, the rain, road juice - witnessing nature in all it's non-homebody splendor.

So, I chose to ride long and hard - not that long - only 39 miles. It was cold - had to wear long tights (pictures were taken tonight during ride, unfricken flattering).

I'm looking forward to a productive yet relaxing weekend - I have a lot to do before I can relax, in preparation before next weekend's MoM. Domesticity, chores, car shit, bike shit, hair shit, clothes shit, training shit, cooking shit....endliss list.

My highlight of the day was finding Fiddle Head (ferns) at Wegmans - OMG...they are gonna be a great culinary persuit this weekend - with some gumbo I'm making from scratch.

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Number one: My Mother had extensive wrist surgery today - she went through it well, and is recovering nicely. Even though it was an outpatient "procedure", it was still fairly extensive - I am happy to report that it went very well. One interesting thing, the nurses asked her if she had ever had surgery in that hospital before, she admitted yes - and in fact she became a nurse at the hospital almost 40 years ago. I was born there C-Section in that hospital. That hospital is like "home" to her - so it was comforting to be there for this operation.

Number two: work was ok, not too dramatic, just stressful. We are getting bigger as a company and busting at the seams. Change is good, especially when it's progress.

Number three: I was supposed to go out on my club training ride tonight, but I needed to get back earlier than normal to assist my parents after my mom's surgery earlier in the day - so I B-lined the ride with my cohorts and elected for a short stretch ride (I need to wind down a few rides to prepare for MoM - how ironic, the name). I only clocked in 35 miles. The weather was almost stormy - dark clouds & threatening sky - but no downpour. We'll get that tonight and tomorrow. It will be a really wet one tomorrow - if it's horrible, I may do the spinning class at the gym tomorrow night - should be hard core...NOT!

Number three: I have a packed weekend, tons of last minute preparations for next weekend of being out of town - and domestic stuff, apartment hunting, helping my gimpy mom (kidding) - some cycling, and hopefully trying to relax, cook, have fun, enjoy life....

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WO&D Trail, May 2005 Click on photo for enlargement Photo by d. scott gregory

Springtime, Springtime goes "Crick crick, Crick" - and I pull out my hairline "quick, quick, quick"

I forgot to mention (probably out of denial) that in the past few days, that damn "crick" creaking sound has crept into my bike frame slowly - like a sloppy wedgie. It started on the Capital to Capital Century, but I thought it was just an isolated incident. Heck no - I know now what it is - and it will be here for about three weeks and hopefully dissappear, uintil or before I rip out all my hair.

Drives me crazy - worst, is I'll probably biking the entire Mountains of Misery with that freekin' metronome click sound as I hammer my ass up the hills.

'Twas a beautiful Spring day - absolutely wonderful. Crisp, not too warm, no too chilly - just right. I got off work at a reasonable time and suited up for a "quick" 43 miler - but on the way, I sort of dilly dally'd around. I took this photo just before Leesburg on a nice stretch - trivially, I've been using that particular part to practice my silly "no hands" on handlebars, thrusting them high in the air as if I'm finishing a race or a century.

Tomorrow is supposed to be bad thunderstorms - and to top it off, my Mother is having major wrist surgery. I'm saving special thoughts for her procedure and recovery.

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Beautiful day, busy day at work, biked 44 miles with my bike club, domestic chores, making preparations for MoM (in less than 2 weeks), hard core apartment hunting...life moves on.

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"Posty, et al", 2005 Click photo to enlarge Photo by d. scott gregory	"Posty, et al", 2005 Click photo to enlarge Photo by d. scott gregory
"Posty, et al", 2005 Click photo to enlarge Photo by d. scott gregory	"Posty, et al", 2005 Click photo to enlarge Photo by d. scott gregory

Today was both a mess and a delight. I woke up @ 6:30am feeling horrible - uterly exhausted, in pain and with the worst allergy/sinus thang happening. I called the office and left a message that I'd be taking the day, took a few Zyrtek and went back to bed.

I ended up sleeping until 3pm, very unlike me. I guess my body knows when it needs to sleep. But I missed such a nice morning, but there was time in the afternoon to do some things. I finished my domestic things before I left the house, headed out to Centerville and looked at an apartment there - sorta a bust -- office was closed, but the car wash was nearby...so washed the car. I avoided rush hour by reverse commuting to Vienna and going on a really crisp bright 38 miler - more of a stretch. Saw a few of my "Tri Girls" - we cruized along for about 20 of the miles.

Tally of cycling mileage for this past week: 351 miles, total for this year: 5,146 miles.

I've been developing another casual Posty installation, it evolves - these are part of it (photos on the right, click each for detail, pops).

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107 miles Capital to Capital Century, 2005 Photo by d. scott gregory

...I woke up stiff (muscles, from yesterday...rolls my eyes at those women who [wink wink] have dirty minds), took some advil and some coffee - helped clean up the reminents of the party, then packed and headed to a brunch. Great "Sailor" sandwich at Joes Inn - Pastrami with Knockwurst, Swiss & Dijon - hit the spot. Said farewell to my friends and began driving back to NoVA @ 11:30am. As I said before - only 100 miles away, I got into Vienna (for a stretch cycling ride) at 4:15 - almost 5 hours of driving, AGAIN! I can bike 100 miles in a little more than 5 hours - see yesterdays' post.

Fuckers.

Welp, came home, unpacked, cleaned my bathroom, did laundry, caught up on mail, took more advil - avoided cleaning my bike - and into full fledge sunday night anxiety.

Overall, it was a great weekend!

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