photo by d. scott gregory Ride to Purcellville click to enlarge photo by d. scott gregory Purcellville 1 click to enlarge photo by d. scott gregory Purcellville 2 click to enlarge

photo by d. scott gregory Deck garden planting 1 click to enlarge photo by d. scott gregory Deck garden planting 2 click to enlarge photo by d. scott gregory Deck chairs + table click to enlarge

Had a late night last night...but managed to get up super early to beat the heat and headed out on a 64 mile training ride out past Purcellville (pictured) towards Hillsborogh and back. I was completely wiped out afterwards, went to the pool and just chilled for an hour. Came back to my new place and sat on my deck for a while reading (fell asleep), came inside and took a proper nap. Woke up @ 6 and did a few domestic chores, took a shower and headed out for errands.

Found myself at of all places Walmart gardening center and managed to pick up some gardenias, begonias, mums and some asparagus ferns for my deck garden - came home unpacked and schlepped all the plants upstairs and just layed them out in preparation to plant them tomorrow (pictured). Picked up a small table for the deck too, which matched my chairs (pictured).

Tomorrow will be a busy day as well...will plant the deck garden items and go out on a quick training ride and then enjoy the pool. I want to cook a few things for the week - will hopefully be a relaxing Sunday.

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What a day. I won't go into any detail - suffice to say work was a total mess. I'm glad it's Friday...and I finished up all what I needed to. Suited up and went on a 46 mile training ride - in 92-94 F degree weather, was muggy as hell..but it was pleasant in that there was clear skies...no storm to outrace.

photo by d. scott gregory New place to clean/lube bike click to enlarge

Finished up and went to my new fave store Big Lots and got 5 huge bags full of stuff I needed for under 20 bucks. Incredible....8 medium black painted wood frames (for photos (88 cents each!), 30 13 gallon kitchen bags, 9 rolls of extra soft toilet paper, a gallon of paint thinner (used to soak my bike chain), 4 small glass bowls for food prep, 2 large bottles of peppercorns (for my pepper grinder & making peppersteak), 5 white tall table candles, and a 12 pack of 12oz bottles of water. Total score.

Came home and unloaded stuff and brought bike upstairs to clean and lube - it's always an ordeal, but I don't mind doing it. Managed to set up my bike stand/cleaning station on the deck (pictured) - and spent my usual hour of dissassembling my entire bike: take off tires, dissassemble gear cassette & clean, toothbrush clean all derailer gears & crankshaft gears, clean and polish all frame parts & brakes...take chain off...soak in solution then toothbrush clean...then put bike back together - lubing central components, install chain and lube...then readjust brakes & indexed shifters...all done. Takes about an hour. Anyhoo..all finished now. Will spend the rest of the evening relaxing and catching up on correspondence. I have a full weekend of "settling in" errands and chores - but will hopefully manage to get in a few long training rides and some time at the pool to relax.

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Hot hot hot. Stress Stress Stress.... Work was just that - but the fast-paced nature of my job makes the day go by quickly...and a perfect de-stressing tool is to suit up and hop on my bike and do a hard training ride with my cycling club in 95 degree weather..outrunning a huge thunderstorm for 42 miles.

photo by d. scott gregory Dining room complete click to enlarge

Finished up parched and sweating buckets - felt great. Stopped by the grocery store on the way home to get a few provisions - and got some sushi. Came home...unpacked, chilled for a moment...ate my sushi..and then decided that tonight I was gonna spend the evening velcro-ing some artwork to my dining room wall...to finish it off (pictured - I still need to vacuum...oh i drool..i have a new vacuum).

Exhausted...I need to finish up some work that I brought home. Life is still good..tomorrow is friday. Will have the full weekend (sans training rides) to complete my settling in. I'm looking forward to going to the garden center tomorrow night to pick out plants for my garden.

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What a busy day - woke up super early to take care of some domestic stuff...went into the office for a frantic day. Non-stop drama. But finished on a good note.

Suited up and headed out on a really hot and long training ride out to Purcellville and back...did a farside loop completing a 46 mile total. Did the majority of the ride with a buddy from my cycle club - we were both spinning in the heat, both recovering from previous heat exhaustion rides. Spent the time swapping war stories of events and training - and just things in general, he is a competitive cyclecross rider and piqued my interest in the sport. I've thought about converting my old mountain bike into a cyclecross bike for the cold months. I'm now convinced I will do that this Fall..

Speaking of this fall...I got into an IM message with a cycling buddy of mine from down south who convinced me to register for the Bridge to Bridge Incredible Century Cycling Challenge in September. I'm proud of him for taking on this challenge once again and allowing me to tag along. I'm stoked! It will be a busy month (September) I have the Civil War Century on Sat 10th in Thurmont, MD...then the next day...I have the Indian Head Century in Indian Head, MD....then the following weekend...will drive down to Lenoir, NC for the Bridge to Bridge...then the following weekend...the Artie Levin 100 Century in Buchanan, VA... 4 centuries in one month. (glad I cracked open my calendar..I have another 3 to do in August - Tour De Cure Century in Columbia, MD, Cumberland Valley Century - Clear Spring, MD and the Reston Century - here locally) Good times.

I felt sneaky tonight while coming home after my ride - I snuck off the road near my apartment community into an area of construction to scoop up a 5 gallon bucket of gravel for my flower boxes..then made off. Drop in the bucket...no harm no foul. Came home and filled my flower boxes with gravel and top soil in preparation for the plants/flowers I'll get over the weekend. Garden is starting to take shape...in baby steps.

Life is good.

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photo by d. scott gregory Damn Traffic click to enlarge

Hot hot hot day. And to make it worse - I think I overdid it yesterday. I started getting horrible symptoms of heat exhaustion after I went to bed. Odd as it was - I obviously over did it. I developed a high fever and was dizzy. I did not sleep very well. I had a meeting with my insurance agent in the morn before work, and the symptoms came back - dizzy and a high fever. I came home and layed down for an hour and then headed back to the office to finish a major project. The day was a whirlwind and not feeling well just made it gross. The office had scheduled a "happy hour" so we could regroup - I joined for a few hours and skipped my training ride, just hydrating and then I left to run a few errands and came home.

Started feeling a little better so I decided to hang artwork (pictured - the process...not all settled in, click to enlarge). The place is starting to take shape. Had some dinner and now ready to just chill.

photo by d. scott gregory Settling in 1 click to enlarge photo by d. scott gregory Settling in 2 click to enlarge

photo by d. scott gregory Settling in 3 click to enlarge photo by d. scott gregory Settling in 4 click to enlarge

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photo by d. scott gregory Planters 1 click to enlarge photo by d. scott gregory planters 2 click to enlarge

There were strong warnings on the weather last night of the horrid heat index that was going to happen today. Suggesting that people stay indoors and if outside - not for too long and hydrate. Ha!

Work was very busy - one drama after another. But finished on a good note. Suited up and headed out on a VERY hot training ride. I checked weather.com before I left - it said 96 degrees F - and "feels like" (heat index) 106 degrees F. I was soaked in sweat even before I got my bike out of my car.

photo by d. scott gregory Soil and garden tools click to enlarge

I was determined - so I hauled ass out to Purcellville and back - 44 miles, barely anyone on the trail. Came back completely drenched in sweat - it did rain a little and some thunder in the distance. Paced with a few folks I knew on the way back - became a very quick ride.

Changed clothes at car and headed to Lowes to get some things for my garden - 2 huge bags of topsoil and potting soil, a watering can, few garden tools (pictured). Boring as all get out - but I like the thought of starting a deck garden (pictured - planter boxes in place on rail). Came home and hauled it all up the steps (I'm on the 3rd floor) - sweating profusely.

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What a hot day - got up to almost 100 degrees. Spent the morning out on my deck setting up flower boxes - wire-tying them to the railings. Will go get soil tomorrow and grab a few bagfulls of small rocks at a construction site nearby. Will try to aquire some perrenials and some teenage sized herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, et al). Crap - I need to get a watering can.

went on a really nasty 60 mile training ride - brutally hot. I ran out of water at about mile 50 - came back parched. Gulped down a 2 liter bottle of water when I got home. Went off to the pool and chilled for an hour. It's fun to watch all the ladies in bikinis, I'm only human.

Ran some errands - to all places Walmart and Target. The endless laundry list of things I continue to need to set up my new place. The best thing that happened to me today was after putting out 6 huge bundles of boxes (broken down) outside my door - ready to take down to my car...so I could drive over to the trash compactor....i heard a knock on my door. It was one of my neighbors, who asked "we noticed that you have a bunch of boxes...that it seems that yer getting rid of....do you mind if we could have them? we are moving in 2 weeks and have no clue where to get boxes" I was elated - sure...take them all....it'll save me a 1/2 hour of schlepping them around.

Welp, sunday night anxiety settle in. I've not been as productive today with the apartment - just laundry and organizational crap. But I needed a day off.

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