Last bit of business before I go
I'm off to New Hampshire for vacation. I've finally trudged through deleting or filing +/- 70 non-spam e-mails. I've paid the bills. I've even updated my phone list. Those on the CNN and summerspam lists will see evidence of my work this evening.
I figured I would tell a little bicycling story that kingramsay might appreciate. He already knows about the result of the story, but this is how we got there.
Last weekend, July 2-4, I was invited by a friend of mine to his place on a lake on the NY / VT border south of Lake Champlain, specifically to bike there.
I, he and kingramsay went on a ride to Amsterdam, NY and back to Albany on my birthday last year. I had an extremely difficult time keeping up with the two of them, and was completely exhausted by pushing myself to trying to keep my speed up.
This past weekend, it was more of the same. I, my friend with the lake house, and a mutual friend with whom I play D&D go riding off into the wilds of eastern Rensselaer County, and then into Washington County. For the first, oh, I don't know, 20 or 30 miles, I was able to put on a pretty good show of keeping up. For the remainder of the 80 mile ride it was the following. I would be able to keep them within my sights on the straightaways and I might even make up some distance on them on the few downhills there were. (The trip went from Albany, elevation=0 to approximately 500 ft above sea level, which hey, ain't climbing the Rockies, but it's not scratch, neither.) However, on the uphills, they would go up, stop, and wait for me to come puffing up to the crest, to make sure I hadn't fallen over dead. Sometimes, they would even turn back to retrieve me.
I could only wonder what defect my body was having that I was having so much difficulty keeping up with my compatriots.
Well, I think it's the bike. I hope it's the bike. I have a Giant Boulder SE. It's the tank of a bicycle I use for commuting over the former streets of Albany and Schenectady. It is heavier and had a much bigger footprint than the road bicycles my bike mates were using. (Larger footprint=more road resistance, but also more traction) So, I got myself a Cannondale SR500 yesterday. I'm itching to use it, but unfortunately, the remnants of a tropical storm are raining on my parade. Sunday I ship off to NH for a week, sans new bike.
Damn.
I figured I would tell a little bicycling story that kingramsay might appreciate. He already knows about the result of the story, but this is how we got there.
Last weekend, July 2-4, I was invited by a friend of mine to his place on a lake on the NY / VT border south of Lake Champlain, specifically to bike there.
I, he and kingramsay went on a ride to Amsterdam, NY and back to Albany on my birthday last year. I had an extremely difficult time keeping up with the two of them, and was completely exhausted by pushing myself to trying to keep my speed up.
This past weekend, it was more of the same. I, my friend with the lake house, and a mutual friend with whom I play D&D go riding off into the wilds of eastern Rensselaer County, and then into Washington County. For the first, oh, I don't know, 20 or 30 miles, I was able to put on a pretty good show of keeping up. For the remainder of the 80 mile ride it was the following. I would be able to keep them within my sights on the straightaways and I might even make up some distance on them on the few downhills there were. (The trip went from Albany, elevation=0 to approximately 500 ft above sea level, which hey, ain't climbing the Rockies, but it's not scratch, neither.) However, on the uphills, they would go up, stop, and wait for me to come puffing up to the crest, to make sure I hadn't fallen over dead. Sometimes, they would even turn back to retrieve me.
I could only wonder what defect my body was having that I was having so much difficulty keeping up with my compatriots.
Well, I think it's the bike. I hope it's the bike. I have a Giant Boulder SE. It's the tank of a bicycle I use for commuting over the former streets of Albany and Schenectady. It is heavier and had a much bigger footprint than the road bicycles my bike mates were using. (Larger footprint=more road resistance, but also more traction) So, I got myself a Cannondale SR500 yesterday. I'm itching to use it, but unfortunately, the remnants of a tropical storm are raining on my parade. Sunday I ship off to NH for a week, sans new bike.
Damn.