We had a beautiful weekend here, unfortunately I was feeling kind of crappy all weekend. When I was laying on the bench outside yesterday afternoon and Ray’s son came over and asked why I wasn’t feeling good, I said “sometimes women feel like shit once a month, it’s best to just leave us alone” and he didn’t get it, LOL! He’s single.
Friday night I jarred all the bone broth (15L, thanks very much!), went to Costco, Liquor Store, Grocery Store and then came home and made potato salad and packed up picnic ingredients for Saturday morning. I wasn’t feeling too awful on Saturday morning so I got up at 5:30am and took Gracie for a 4.4km walk (2.75 miles) and then went home, finished putting together the picnic, showered and we headed out on a day ride. My first ride out of the area with Jezebel (who is now actually nameless since Ray buffed her name off the fender last night). We were both really, REALLY looking forward to it, the weather was gorgeous and we were more than ready to get our cruise on. We got about 90 minutes from home and stopped for gas and we should have just called it a day and gone home. I’d gotten hit with a wicked headache and cramps and instead of listening to my inner self beg to go home and go to bed, I sucked it up, took an Advil and we pushed on….for another 3 hours. When we were at our turnaround spot for lunch I realized what huge mistake I’d made. Now I was easily 5 hours from home in the heat with a borderline migraine and killer cramps…and no way to get back home but to ride. Not cool. Along our route there are 7 tunnels and every time we went into one, going from light to dark and back to light was like a hot poker in my brain. Nice, right?
With around 2 hours left to go before we got home, all of a sudden I heard a voice in my head say, “Wake the Fuck Up! Sit up Straight, Pay Attention And Look Where You Want To Go!”. If you don’t happen to ride a motorcycle you may not know…but it’s something you can’t really be lazy with. It’s not like driving a car and zoning out or relaxing back in the seat. Not at all. It’s push, pull, lean, look, assessing each corner, your speed, your gear, the road condition, the oncoming traffic (especially around a left hand corner, you’d be shocked how many people cross the centre line). It’s watching for rocks, wildlife, the person in front of you and the one behind you. The only thing protecting you from disaster is your own skill and the clothes you’re wearing. I’m not trying to be alarmist, not at all….but zoning out and not engaging in the process is a recipe for disaster. So anyway, once I sat up straight and took charge, things improved a lot. I still felt like shit and still just wanted to be at home…but I felt more in control and my riding performance definitely showed that.
Since I was all alone on my bike with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company I thought about how that relates to the rest of life. Wake the Fuck Up, Sit Up Straight, Pay Attention and Look Where You Want To Go. Engage with what you’re doing, give the right inputs so you get the right results. Don’t just coast along, hoping. Don’t look at the pavement right in front of you; at 100km/h (or the speed of life, whichever), what is 10 feet ahead is already happening and there is nothing you can do to change it. Look AHEAD, as far up the road as you can, plan for what you can see, anticipate what you cannot. There is no point in making panicky, last second alterations to your path because it’s ultimately a wasted effort. Better off, less energy and less potential for disaster if you can look way ahead, see what’s coming and have plenty of time to plan for it. And so it goes in life, too, right?
Anyway….my bike-musings aside, after we got home on Saturday I was basically done. DONE. I went to bed at 8:30 after having a bbq hamburger patty, some broth and another Advil. Slept until 9:30 on Sunday and called off a visit with my sister. As I texted to her, I loved the idea of having her come over and hang out but I really just wanted to be left alone. Really, really alone. Not ideal visiting situation. Fortunately, she completely understood! After a long coffee on Sunday morning we went out and picked up the new suspension for my bike to lower it and then came home and I did some cooking and otherwise sitting about while Ray worked on it. Around 7:30 I was feeling a bit better so we went for a quick ride to ice cream and so I could test out the changes he’d made. I love it! The kit lowered it by almost 2 full inches which is fantastic and hopefully makes it a bit more manageable for me. I’m no tiny woman but I’m not a 6’6” man either and having the bike lowered is only going to make it nicer for me.
This week the weather is supposed to be beautiful so my early am dog walk/jogs are still holding strong (another 4.5km this am) and in the evenings we’ll be tidying up the house and getting ready to spend a long weekend away…travelling on our bikes. It’s just for three days but we’re very looking forward to it!
Fitty vs Fatty 