A Duck In Winter

After a couple of rough nights at work, the result of careless nutrition and sketchy sleep patterns, I slept well today.  The RV park decided to repave the road under my window while I was sleeping today.  I woke up to the noise long enough to think "Oh great!  Now I'll never get back to slee..... ZzzzZzzzzZzzz."  Isn't exhaustion a beautiful thing?

I also need to mention that while my life has been a little intense with the start of the horse show, the camper gremlins have been mercifully quiet (and yes, I just knocked on wood!).  So far, life in a vintage Airstream has proven, well, nice.  There is certainly a lot of though that needs to be given to placement and storage, as well as discipline when it comes to tidying the work/living space often.  But as with nutrition awareness, that mindfulness is a skill I need to cultivate anyhow.  I see this lifestyle as good for me.  On the upside, 200+ square feet is easy to clean if you do let it get dirty.

There is another airstream that has all kinds of plastic flamingos two spaces down from me.  They even have black skeleton flamingos.  Kinda weird, but I definitely feel like the Tri Cave is not keeping up the standards right now.  I wonder if I can get swim-bike-run flamingos?  I also wonder if they have bicycle light strands.  All the cool campers have light strands.  Ooof, seems complicated.  Maybe I'll just settle for a potted plant.

Florida: A1A at sunset taken from the bike

Anyhow, after pondering how I could rearrange my schedule so that I did not have to ride indoors on the trainer, I realized that even though it's 78 degrees outside, it IS January.  Being in the tropics doesn't change the fact that daylight hours are scarce and sometimes you just have to SUCK IT UP!!  I haven't been on the trainer (except the computrainer at the Doghouse) since I got to Florida.  I also realized that while I was feeling sorry for myself because my 3rd shift hours mean that I sleep away these beautiful days, every office worker in the world is no better off.  They spend the time indoors.

Biking in Michigan in July 

Trail running in NC in January

Broad River: taken on a trail run in January

I guess I have very little to complain about, since my job allows me the flexibility to often adapt my work schedule to accommodate the things I want to do and takes me to the most beautiful places in the country.  I get nice weather year round and a variety of training conditions to work with.  Not exactly suffering.  A little gratitude, as well as a little fortitude (get thee on thy bicycle) might be just what this duck needs.

I still miss home, though!!

Austin's skyline and Town Lake Trail

Amazing trails and technical difficulties

After leaving the MC Escher trail behind me, I headed up to Virginia for a night.  I got to ride on the W&OD trail near Leesburg.  My Facebook post summed it up...

"Yesterday I got a chance to ride on the W&OD trail. Almost 50 miles one way of two lane bike trail, framed by lush greenery, blooming dogwoods, redbuds, cherries, babbling brooks. I think I died and went to bicycle heaven... Or Virginia, as the case may be."

Then we headed to NC where I rode early one morning in the cold and rain.  I think I meee-e-e-e-lted a little, as any good Florida witch would.  I rode out feeling rather proud of my dedication, ahem (OK, I know people all over the world ride in much worse).  I had also forgotten to put in my contact lenses so in addition to the rain making my brakes sketchy and the mist reducing visibility, my own God-gifted vision left road hazards indistinguishable from puddles.  Sooo... I headed down every hill braking hard and then at the bottoms had to face nasty climbs with no momentum built up.  It was then that I got the memo about fixing that little gearing problem I have encountered in the past.  My chain wouldn't shift onto (and stay on) any of the largest rings in my back cassette.  In other words, no granny gear, not even an aunt Martha gear.  Can you say "push that bike up that hill in freezing rain"?....  yummy. 

When I returned to SC, I rode the Escher Trail again but this time, I was thinking outside the box (and I studied the map).  Somehow, the whole place made sense and I went thirty out of forty-five miles without being lost for a moment.  Around mile 25, I thought the bike handling seemed sluggish, but given the state of the bike, I dismissed it with a quick glance at my tires.  As my heart rate climbed, my speed dropped and no gearing in the world seemed to help.  Then I realized that my back tire, while not apparently popped was holding very little air.  Since I have changed that back tube roughly every thirty miles lately, I just rode home on low pressure and resolved that the bike needed to visit the bike doctor as soon as I got home.

Sure enough, the bike was out of adjustment and the tire was in desperate need of retirement.  So I venture out on the bike again today, and hope that Trigger will be feeling up to a fast, fun ride down the debris littered roads of Sunny South Florida.  Home Sweet Home.