Gotta Find A Way

Saturday, in the desperate attempt at getting a ride in, I decided to ride to a party we were heading to despite the 40 degree temps and drizzling rain. I had hopes that the 30 ish mile ride would be enjoyable and would provide me with close to 2 hours of ride time (what can I say, I'm not all that fast right now). Once on the road I, again, thought it was going to be a good time. That is until about 10 minutes in when my right foot shoe cover soaked through and my toechies started to get cold. Oopsie. Within 45 minutes both feet and my hands were useless, stiff meat hooks. But, I'm a studly stud type and soldiered on at an amazingly fast 12 mph. Yep, I was tearing things up.

When I rolled into Gardiner, about 5 miles from the Inn that we were staying at, I stopped at a cafe to buy some food and grab some beer for a little pre-game before the party. I was able to fit two 22 oz beers from Oak Pond Brewery in my Ergon BD2's convenient side pockets. I'm not sure if that was the intended use of those pockets but it was a fit made in heaven.

Yes, I put the beer bottles back for the pic after I drank them.

When I left the shop, my feet and hands were feeling much better and the rain had stopped so things were looking up. Unfortunately, when I hastily looked the joint up online before leaving, I didn't write all of the directions down, just a couple of key turns figuring how hard can it be to find? Turns out it was pretty hard. After riding around for close to an hour all in my little ring (the front shifter had gone toes up from all of the sandy road spray) riding this way and that, I finally got some solid intel and made it to the inn.

bonked and cold, these miscues weren't all that welcome

Of course, once I got to the inn, had a beer, some food and a shower I was raring to go and get my dance and drink on.

er, lets pretend none of us saw this pic

Oh, and as of this morning, I'm only 5 lbs away from my goal weight for the season. I've dropped from hovering around 201-202 lbs a couple of months ago to, as of this morning, 190 lbs. Not too bad. Those first 7 or so pounds came off quick but that last few have been slow in coming. It could be that since we started working on the house I eat and drink to cope with the stress. I've slowly been able to cut back on the booze but couldn't shake the snack munchies I get during the day at work. One or two stops to the candy bin for some chocolate goodness is a daily thing. Once again I need to blame Marcy for this. Before we were together I could care less for chocolate but she slowly brought me over to her side and in my typical overly competitive behavior, I have surpassed her cravings tenfold. Take that Marcy, I win. Kind of.

In reality, 190 lbs was my real goal for the season but I set 185 as my wish goal so that I'd have something to shoot for. Maybe, with the intensity of my rides increasing, I'll actually stand a chance of hitting 185. (pudgy) fingers crossed.