Getting back into the thick of things...

It's always a pain getting everything caught up from being out of the office for a couple of days and today, thankfully or not, is about the same. Ang and I ended up getting home at about 10:00 last night and falling flat on the bed. This means that the Santa Fe didn't get unloaded, but also meant that our apartment got to remain clean for one more day before being messed up with a SUVfull of stuff that we're not entirely sure we have a place for.

One of the things I was excited about doing over the weekend was getting at least a little bit of riding in so that I could appreciate the terrain and abundance of oxygen. I thought that it would be easier to ride, and in a way it was, but the main difference was in how wattage could be applied. Like I said, i was surprised that the heart rate was the same, it didn't go down. But I could in general go a few miles an hour faster. I'm not sure whether this is just because of terrain or because of atmosphere. My thought is that is has more to do with terrain because I seem to remember having about the same level of performance back when I lived in Minnesota. No matter what though, it was nice riding back home, and it reminded me of how much I like my Fuji Team. The mountain bike I bought is nice, but the shifting of my Ultegra components is buttery smooth.

Back to work, I've got timesheets and other stuff to finish, but maybe I'll post some journal entries that I found in one of my notebooks a little later.

YAWN...

Ang and I headed up to Minnesota last night to spend the weekend with family. While it usually makes sense to do the drive fromC olorado Springs in one shot, it sure does cause a lot of wear and tear. But we're here, and we have to figure out a way to squeeze visits with all of our friends into three days, have two birthday parties, have two fathers day celebrations, and attend a wedding. I'm also DESPERATE to squeeze a ride in while I'm here. I'm anxious to do a little bit of riding where the air is thick and the altitude is low before i head back up to the sky. It's hard to look up in the sky and realize that you live a mile above where you currently are. Anyway, we're spending the evening tonight with Angela's sister and brother in law and tomorrow night we spend the evening with my sister and brother in law (who I'm anxious to see). More later

 

Bri

You've seen electoral breakdown maps... but have you seen this?

http://www.popvssoda.com/countystats/total-county.html

how every county in the country breaks down when it comes to whether carbonated beverages are called "Pop" or "Soda" looks like little El Paso  county where Ang and I live now is firmly in "Soda" land, yet Minne'soda' is firmly in the pop column (which of course is the right term to use... Coke and Soda is wrong doncha know!)

anyway, thought it was interesting.

Bri

Monday morning starts like any Monday morning, a long slow ride into work (because it's uphill) and timesheets. Ah the joy of timesheets. I'm working harder on trying to put together my timesheets for the week prior instead of the six month delay I once fell behind on in my timesheets. Have you ever tried to fill out six months of timesheets in one sitting? It's a BIG pain.

The ride to work was nice this morning. It's still uphill, and it was warmer today than it has been, but it's getting to be more enjoyable than it has been. Riding home is always MORE enjoyable, but why ride to work if you're not getting some satisfaction out of it. So, with my gatorade to the left of me, my WACOM table to the right, I dive in to my timesheets.

Saturday, after riding to work to fetch my cellphone, I rode down to downtown Colorado Springs and then up to the Target at Union and Academy to meet Angelina. I was surprised at how good I felt when I finished, and it makes me anxious to ride in Minnesota this weekend. To ride on flat ground with air? It's got to be wonderful. I'm looking forward to it. I don't know that I'll be some sort of "mutant cycling beast" but I've got to ride better there than I do here. Anyway, the whole ride clicked in at a little over 30 miles, so I'm getting there. I don't know that I'm in any shape to do the Triple Bypass this year, but maybe I can do the Hotter than Hell 100 in August.

I'm listening to Five Iron Frenzy's FIF2:Electric Boogaloo and it just got to Spartan, a song that I once wrote about on this blog. Man, great song. I remember driving across Minnesota on my way to TCBC's Weekend on Wheels in southern Minnesota hearing that song at about 5 in the morning. I remember how much I missed Angela that weekend. It was only two days, but being alone in a dorm room trying to psych myself up for the Ironman really made me long for Angela. Man, that was only two days. I have no idea how I ever made it for the two months that Angela was still in Minnesota before moving down here, and I feel blessed that I get to go home and see her every night.

Angela gets Shape magazine and I was digging through it on Sunday while I was cleaning the bikes. There was an article on the inside talking about triathlon and how to go about doing a sprint. At one point in the article they mention that there's no need to think of triathlon in the same category as "Extreme Triathlons" like the Ironman, and that only a very small minority of people ever complete an Ironman distance triathlon. Reading that made me feel good, although I've got SOOOO far to go before i do another one. Someday, god willing, I will though.

Anyway, back to the timesheets!

A pedaling we will go...

Ang and I had the chance to go see the new Harry Potter flick Wednesday night which meant leaving from my office. The Elantra gets better mileage than the Santa Fe, so it got the honors of driving through the inter-city Colorado rush hour. Getting home late, meant that the Santa Fe got left at the office, demanding a fresh return to the bike. So, I'm now back to riding. It always seems that the second day is easier than the first. Although yesterday, I had the benefit of a tailwind. Today, of course, I got the headwind. Anyway, I'm buried under a pile of things to do at work, so I need to be brief.

The new Harry Potter flick? Pretty good stuff. I haven't seen the first two Harry Potter movies, but I like what Alfonso Cuaron did with what I had seen. Everything seems a bit more grown up. Now if only the audience had grown up as much as the movie. I'm a big fan of quiet theaters, too much noise of any kind, candy wrappers, laughing, nonstop talking? They're all at the top of my theatre pet peeves, and everyone one of them was on full display Wed. night. The worst part of the evening was when the two college girls behind us who had been talking the ENTIRE movie, SCREAMED at one of the names in the credits, making me recoil in pain. Thankfully they apologized, but I wanted to inflict righteous vengeance on them, whatever that might have been. Coming up next? Free Napoleon Dynamite screenings!