Back to Reality

Back to Reality

I’m slowly working my way thru the dvr’d Le Tour stages. Mt. Ventoux is next. Stage 17 was interesting to watch, cuz I saw that one from Col de Romme and had no idea that Thor Hurshoff lead most of the way, cuz he was in great difficulty as he passed by me far behind the leaders. I need to put a lock on that recording…ok, just did, now I can re-ride Romme any time I want..HA!

Finally put the bike back together on Friday night with the help from Jason. He was so excited to help, love that kid! link to pics of Jason helping:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85038&id=1038297795&l=fc90898d91

Then on Sunday I got back on the saddle and rode to the soccer game in Manor. All sorts of thoughts going thru my head, “I wish I was a better cyclist, wish I had climbed Ventoux, will I go back and attempt it on my 50th?, where do all these people who were on the trip and in incredible biking shape find the time to ride? How did they learn how to climb? Oh yeah, they live near mountains! And, they probably get up at the crack of dawn”.(I’m afraid to do that, there is something I love about hitting snooze!) oh and then there’s that little stroke issue! Anyhow, I do a lot of thinking on the bike, mostly because I’m by myself (group rides are too early and too far out of town and no one has stepped up to take Diane’s place) and riding w/ an iPod isn’t my thing—too dangerous, hard enough to hear while riding already.

What now???…get in better shape, get my shoulder to stop hurting, get my strength back on the left side, drop 10 pounds etc, etc, etc. Will I keep up the blog? Yes, probably more of just a personal diary that’s publicly viewable. Will prob write mostly about my boring bike rides.
Other bike rides since being home…Decided once a week I would bike home from work, then bike to work the next day…should be a 20% savings in gas and mileage on the car, and 20 miles I ride every week. Depending on how I feel I can always add more miles to the ride. My first commute home was kinda in the rain. One of those rare summer rain showers, I was actually excited, love exercising in the rain, but on the bike it adds extra things you have to be aware of—breaking soon enough, water in the eyes or dirty steamed up sun glasses, not turning too fast on any white spot on the road (they are really slick and you can wipe out), puddles –there was a huge muddy water one near Zilker yesterday and I had a car behind me, thankfully w/ a nice driver who let me go thru it first and didn’t try to pass me up and splash me! By the time I got to exposition, the streets were dry, so sad, no rain at my house.
No probs on the way back into work today, for some reason the hills are smaller! My hill I struggled on a year ago, no problem, but of course there is room for improvement…like not switching into that granny gear and going faster! I somehow made it to work 2 mins faster than pre-France! That made me happy.

Amsterdam

So, I arrived 20 hours later than I was supposed to. I will say Amsterdam (ok, the hotel was nice, really nice). Getting onto the shuttle bus was kinda a pain, it was crowded and I wasn’t about to stand for 20 mins, so I pretended like I was riding the metro and pushed my way into the line, didn’t let a lady cut, and found a seat!

While waiting at the gate to leave Amsterdam, I start playing the “I hope I don’t have to sit next to that person game.” First ‘winner’ was “Miss Swine Flu” she kept coughing and blowing her nose, then she’d take a quick nap and start the coughing and blowing all over again. Then there was ‘Mr. What Not to Wear’ on an airplane or ever wear, especially if you are so furry! He was my biggest fear…heavy set 50 yr old man in a black wife beater shirt, fanny pack and to top it off, he was a laser hair removal ideal client! I think I actually said a little prayer asking not to sit next to him. Finally the plane started loading, I had lost track of Miss Swine Flu (I figured I had a bandana (ie face mask) and hand sanitizer, but I could not handle sitting next to Mr. What not to Wear, besides, he was easy to spot. He loaded way before I did, meaning he was either in the way back or misplaced in business class or first class, part of me wanted him in first class!

Once on the plane I find the correct seat and continue w/ the game, looking at each person coming down the aisle, hoping for someone who had showered w/in 12 hours and used deodorant. Finally, someone catches my eye and says, “I hate to have you move, but I need to get to my seat” I WON! I WON! I WON! First of all, she spoke English, second she was average size, third, she didn’t stink and she was polite. Turns out she was from Houston and had been traveling w/ her best friend for the past 10 days.

Pics from the last day are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85525&id=1038297795&l=010f8e24ad