Monster’s diary

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cate said:
How are you feeling TM? Any better?
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Yesterday was a bad day but today I’ve been feeling quite good. Celebrated with ... a bike ride

Thought I’d take it easy and go for a long, slow ride. Planned 80kms at about 20km/h but that soon got boring so went harder and stopped at 38.

Good news is though I took out 4th place (out of 129) for a sprint segment on strava ... not bad for a chunky monkey .

The ride looks one way but it’s because I retraced my steps exactly and came back the way I left.

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Truffle Monster said:
Yesterday was a bad day but today I’ve been feeling quite good. Celebrated with ... a bike ride
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What a surprise:D
Good for you!
 
No ride tonight and nothing health/fitness related but it’s 4 years today that my baby boy Bailey (dog) passed away. He made it to 13 and I still miss him terribly. I’ve been keeping this bonsai fig in his memory since (it’s actually the second one because the first one died). It happily lives in a lead light terrarium made many decades ago by my grandfather and his lead and a lock of his hair live in this trinket box. These are definitely the two objects other than my current dog and myself that I would save in the event of a fire. F75C6172-3DD6-491C-844B-BA21883155C7.jpeg 0E663209-C58E-46F7-BF7F-F34A58915FCA.jpeg
 
Dogs can feel a lot like family members, I guess other pets can be too, but I am a dog person. I miss all of my former dogs.

It was interesting seeing what Hurricane Katrina taught our search and rescue people about pets. A lot of folks stayed home because they had no place to take their pets, some even refused rescue if they couldn't take pets. Now many Hurricane shelters in the US welcome pets, it has helped with getting people to evacuate.
 
Your leadlight memorial terrarium is absolutely lovely & a testament to your kind soul. I am missing my little old dog more these days that I did when she died last December & am now getting around to the idea of getting another. What a beautiful looking boy, your Bailey was :beating:
 
Thanks guys yes he was and still is my baby boy. Such a beautiful dog inside and out. That’s my favourite photo of him. I’ve also got it etched into a silver pendant. My current dog Truffle is also a beautiful dog but very very different personality.
 
Also I’m back on the bike now after a week of rest and recuperation from a cold. I tackled the hill climb for the first time in a week and a half and boy was it hard. It’s amazing how much fitness you lose in such a short time. Made it up in a respectable time but it hurt like hell.

On the way down the hill on the other side I set a new personal speed record; one that I am in no hurry to repeat. I got up to 67.3km/h but I’ve got a slight buckle in my rear wheel that caused a terrible speed wobble. I knew I was going to crash and that it was going to hurt but I managed to regain control and pull it straight. I think I’ll be taking that descent a little more slowly from now on. 56D7F019-949C-4CF1-84D3-33BB24C9C56E.jpegE3A4F31E-A356-4A05-9A88-76CC8FBAD59D.jpeg88ED2D79-2F69-4EDE-95B6-7FEF73B82EE1.jpeg
 
That's a scary speed! Will you be watching Le Tour? I absolutely love it, but sleep usually wins with me. Glad you're feeling better TM.
 
Cate said:
That's a scary speed! Will you be watching Le Tour? I absolutely love it, but sleep usually wins with me. Glad you're feeling better TM.
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To be fair it’s an 80 zone.

No I likely won’t watch it. I’ve never watched it before. It’s just never interested me but I might watch a little bit this time.
 
Another day another ride. Much slower than usual but I had to sprint at the end to get home before my headlight battery went flat.

I took the climb (and the descent) much more slowly today getting to a top speed of 54 on the descent and an average speed on the climb of only 16.8.

I’ve joined a challenge to ride 100km in a day at some point in July. I’m thinking Friday night I’ll head up and down the Stuart Ogrady bike way and get that done nice and early. There’s also a challenge to climb at least 7500m in July. I’m considering taking that one too. It’s essentially the loop I do most days 23 times so should be way enough to do in a month ... what I’ve done so far counts so I don’t need to rush the decision but I’ll decide by this time next week. 3C7E56BB-94F6-45C4-9240-700C60C34BFA.jpeg
 
Also I was driving in peak hour traffic this morning and evening; something I don’t do very often because of the nature of my job I get to make up my own working hours mostly so I either start earlier or later than peak hour.

Since I started cycling I had noticed that I’d become more aware of cyclists and had started driving more towards the centre line than the edge. I’ve always been a courteous driver; I always let people in if I can without disrupting the flow too much and I always give thank you waves. It frustrates me no end when drivers don’t give a simple thank you but ... I digress. Today I noticed I was much less frustrated by peak hour traffic and was even more courteous than normal. I wonder if this is usual state for me now or whether it was an anomaly. I’ll try pay attention to what I’m doing in the coming days to find out.
 
Truffle Monster said:
... Today I noticed I was much less frustrated by peak hour traffic and was even more courteous than normal. I wonder if this is usual state for me now or whether it was an anomaly. I’ll try pay attention to what I’m doing in the coming days to find out.
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Good for you! It really warms community when people are courteous - and that's brilliant, to hear of your growing serenity in the face of others' discourtesy (or their refusal to acknowledge courtesy).
 
Regular exercise is so good for us in so many ways. Feeling more patient in peak hour traffic is a bonus.
I love watching the tour for lots of reasons. It has grown on me more & more over the years. Of course, I love the scenery, the photography, the carnival atmosphere surrounding it (forget the idiots who run out in front of them. I want to slap them!), the food (Gabriel Gate at the start) but mostly I love the Pelaton & how it works, the unbelievable stamina of the riders (forget Lance Armstrong-grrrr). the sheer length of it & the variety of the rides.....I could go on & on about what I love about it. It's a huge spectacle & I was really surprised that you don't watch it. The time trials I find really boring so I only watch the highlights of those.
 
Cate said:
mostly I love the Pelaton & how it works.

The time trials I find really boring.
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Yes riding in the peloton definitely takes a LOT of skill and how they work as a team is again very skilful. The time trials would probably be of much more interest to me for the same reason I much prefer to ride by myself than with other people. It’s just the rider and their bike. It’s a true test of that riders ability, strength, endurance and skill.
 
LaMaria said:
My sisters and I used to bike to our aunt´s house and back once every summer vacation: 75 km each way. But it´d take us most of the day!
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That’s a long ride to do with siblings! None of us would arrive alive if I rode with my brothers!
 
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