Robert and I woke up at 5:30AM to the “alarm clock” at the boys next door’s house. Evidently, they are not there, and the bass on the stereo that acts as their alarm vibrates through my walls for an hour-and-a-half.
We got up at a little after six, and had breakfast. I typed up a letter about this constant inconsideration, and put it on their door.
THE TRAINING ROUTE
– We did an extended Lake Wheeler Road route today. This was the same route I missed last week due to my flat tire (and I missed the rain!), but with an additional 7 or 8 miles. That made it a 40-mile ride.
– I started this ride off very stressfully as we had been notified of a time change for this ride that I had forgotten about. When I turned on my phone at about 8:50, there were two messages from Joe saying that we were meeting at 8:30 instead of 9:30, and taking off at 9 instead of 10. I called him back immediately, he said the others had just all left, asked where I was, and then said, “Well, come on. I’ll wait for you.”
WHAT I LEARNED
– What a team player my friend, and teammate, Joe, is. I can’t tell you how good it was to see him, the only one left in the parking lot when I showed up, and how good it was to have someone to ride with on a most exhausting ride.
– A pit stop at the 11-mile point is not enough for a 40-mile ride.
– Road kill can be quite repulsive! Today’s fare included one of those huge geese – if you work at IBM at the Research Triangle Park, it was one of those like they have out at the recreation center. The things are huge. Later, we saw a cat, very dead, with one paw up in the air, almost as if waving goodbye. This was very disturbing to us, and Joe came so close to hitting it with his front tire.
– That our training captain might be straight. Joe said he’s pretty sure he’s heard him refer to his girlfriend before, and has joked about being one of the token straight guys riding. There are at least two other straight guys that I know of riding. The first week I rode, his wife was “due any minute” with their second (I believe) child, and he had a beeper with him. The other guy is Gordon, and his girlfriend is riding with us. There are several straight women riding.
WHAT HURT
– I was so exhausted at the end of this ride today. Joe and I both kept saying, “This has got to be more than 40 miles. I can’t believe we still have that far yet to go. That’s a long way!”
– My butt actually hurt for the first time today, but only slightly, and right near the end of the ride, not at the very end, but shortly before the end, and then it was fine.
HOW I FEEL
– Joe and I were both so convinced that this ride was longer than 40 miles that afterward, we got in my car and drove the 40-mile ride. Imagine our delight when it turned out to be 42 miles! “I knew it!” we squealed.
– So blessed for Joe’s friendship, and participation in this endeavor with me. It’s nice to have someone to share with who can really relate.
– Sunburned. I wore a tank top today.
– Thankful for another beautiful day. If I had to ride for forty-two (no, I can’t let go of it) miles today, I couldn’t have asked for a better day!
When I returned home, Robert was still there, and had cleaned my house. It smelled immaculate (like Pinesol) when I walked in. What a thoughtful, beautiful man.
We had a little snack of nachos, melted cheese, salsa, and sour cream, and then later on, ran out to get some slaw and either potato salad or one other thing to go with the dogs. We went to the Food Lion on Western Blvd., and had a little incident in the parking lot with a man begging for money, presumably to “go back to Rex Hospital, where his wife and a friend were stranded, and for all of them to catch a bus back to Fayetteville.” He wanted enough bus fare for all of them, at “only $9.95 a piece.”
We bought potato salad, hot dog buns, and a few other things at the store. We rode through the KFC drive-thru afterward, and bought a side of coleslaw.
Later in the evening, I did my TCW minutes from the April meeting (felt great about having those done so early in the month!), and then worked on a mock-up of results from my diversity survey to show at the run-thru tomorrow with the managers.
We did crossword puzzles before bed, and MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMed.