Lost a co-worker today due to a stupid decision he made. Decided he didn't want to do the job anymore. It's a shame, he was a good worker , And I liked him as a person as well. Shame. But life goes on and this too shall pass.
Had a haircut by the Barberettes(well, just one them, chuk yuk yuk). Landlord came to solve the garbage disposal issue.
I don't mind that fact....just get the humidity outta here! Also I can gradually make my switch to my fall/winter scents.
Busy couple days of cooking. Between yesterday and today, I made a bunch of meat gravy (meat tomato sauce) with spicy ground wild boar using garden tomatoes, beer bread (first time making bread. whole wheat flour w/ stout beer), and pasta fagioli soup. The last was from a package of dry ingredients, but the rest was "all me." I had some of the meat sauce over penne tonight with a glass of an "ok" pinot noir and the dishwasher is running. I'll deal with the aftermath tomorrow.
I love this guy! He's got lots of covers (yeah, metal versions) of well known songs. Fun to watch! - and listen to as well.
He's supper talented, IMHO, and possible slightly crazy too. LOL. The Norwegian with the Italian name singing in almost perfect English. edit: Plus, it looks like he just loves doing this. His version of Toto's Africa looks like he was really having fun with it. Plus, the girl that does the guest vocals has a great voice. His wife apparently has a band too.
I have another bike story to tell. This one involves mountain biking instead of road biking. I just took the mountain bike into the shop to get the drivetrain and brakes adjusted when I got the rear derailleur fixed on the road bike. So, I took the mountain bike out on the trails near my house yesterday. Now, it's been at least 12 years, maybe more, since I've ridden those trails. I was 44 then. A lot of changes happen to your body at this age(56) in 12 years. And none of them good. So, I have to climb a pretty steep hill up my street before I can coast down to the park entrance. I had to stop twice to catch my breath. This 30 pound mountain bike is a lot different than my 19 pound road bike. I got into the park and slid onto the wider path that takes me to the single track. As I rode the single track I was struck by how many rocks and roots there are. I pressed on. I had to stop several times, either to walk the bike over downed trees that were much smaller than the ones I used to bunny hop over or because I bogged down a bit on uphill sections that were really rooted and rocky. Needless to say, I felt pretty shaky and less than super confident. But I was not deterred. I just stopped when I needed to catch my breath. Which was often. As I started to head towards a long downhill section it dawned on me that I would have to climb back up this. So I stopped and thought about it and decided this is my maiden voyage. Don't push it too much. So I turned around and decided to head back over the same trail in reverse. I wasn't going all that long when I came to one of the many dried stream beds that cross the trail. As I went down into one, I was braking and under control and as I hit the stream bed I let off of the brakes to roll over the rocks at the bottom of the stream bed. Only my front wheel didn't continue to roll. Instead it stopped short, only the rest of me continued going and I went over the handlebars, sort of in a slow motion but not really sort of way. Hard to describe. I went down, caught myself with my forearm (a good thing) to break my fall and slid a bit on my stomach. But I really hit my shins of both legs. Not sure what they hit but I looked down and within seconds there were two large nodules growing on the front of each leg below my knees. Fortunately no blood flowing. I sat up but stayed down and wiped the dirt off me and assessed how I was feeling. No broken bones. I pressed on the nodules and at this point they were just fluid. But no pain as I pressed. Another good sign. But the knowledge that those shins will be hurting really good tomorrow. I got up, checked the bike, wiped the dirt off the bar ends and the seat and decided I'd had enough. So I started to walk the bike back. As I walked I reflected on how nothing really hurt too bad. And then I thought to myself "you have to get back on the bike man." Kind of like getting back on the horse. I'll never get on another horse again in my entire life, but that is an entirely different story. So, I found a reasonably rock free flat section, got back on and started pedaling. And I kept pedaling until I pedaled my way out of the park and onto the road back to my house. I put together a bag of ice and switched off between the two legs, focusing on the left one which was the worst of the two. And now as I sit here typing, the pain in my legs is far more pronounced as is the swelling. And I have other pains now on other parts of my body probably from the jarring fall. I dropped two Aleve last night and got some sleep. And I now reflect on a few things. First, my bike is awesome. Because I used to use this same bike and would barrel down these same trails like they were nothing. Second, I'm getting old and have allowed myself to get out of shape. Third, I used to be a bad ass mountain biker because these trails are some of the best and most technical single track in the entire state (NJ) and I traversed them all without stopping and it used to make me feel like I was a 12 year old kid. So I'm now motivated to get back to riding these trails again and hopping over the trees instead of walking the bike over them. I'm going to start a new work out regimen of push ups, crunches, pull ups, chin ups and leg lifts. And I'm going to get out on both the road and mountain bike far more than I have been. And when weather keeps me from riding I'll get on the elliptical to elevate my fitness level. And I checked the bike and it seems fine. After all I rode it home. But I won't be going back to this same park until I've ridden at another park that has easier level trails. I'll be smart about this and work my way back to it. Sorry for the long winded post but I've got a touch of narcissism in me. Not my finest trait to be sure. All I can say is, RIDE ON! I would post a pic of my bike but every time I try and upload it I get a message saying the file is too large. I've posted the same pic to other sites so not sure what's up.
