Dreaming of a Life Less Ordinary

38+  Miles: 38.77 miles Elevation Gain: 1,893 ft Moving Time: 3:55 minutes Avg Speed: 9.9 mph Temperature: 91F Let’s just get the stats out of the way first.  All in all, it was a good ride, although, I do hate the average speed.  I felt like I was faster than that yesterday.  However, with some climbing and some heat issues, I probably wasn’t as fast as I wanted to be.   The scheduled called for 38 – 42 for the group ride.  I had every intention of getting closer to that 42 than the 38, but sometimes you have human moments when you are out riding the bike.  It was one of the first time I went out without having a planned route, I figured I knew just enough to piece it together are I went.  I knew I was going to start by heading to Ellettsville.  Then I figured I could cut across campus and get in 5 miles, and by the time I got back home, I would be at about 40 if not a little bit more.   I was going out on my own because the temperatures called for 89/90 degrees, and I wanted to get o

  8/17/2024 The Power of Words   Friday the 16 th  was just another Friday.  It started off like so many days lately I got up later than I expected after I started my workday at 6 a.m. checking email seeing if anyone needed anything in EMEA.  There were no emails.  I sent one to myself just to make sure that my email was working.  It has been glitchy ever since my quarterly password change and since I resigned up for my personal Office 365, the personal and work emails had been confused on which accounts to login where, but we were over that hump.  The test email arrived.  No one needed me and I was content with that, so I pulled the sheets over my head and rolled away from the fan and drifted back to sleep.  That sleep is never really the best sleep, the mind has already started to wake, and it is running around and getting ready to go.  Dreams often fade in and out in this time and if it weren’t for these herkie jerky dreams I would wonder if I had gone back to sleep at all. Finally,

Cool Outside – Stronger Me!   Yesterday was one of my best rides in Bloomington.  I just felt strong!  Strong is a good way to feel when you are out riding.  I think a lot of it had to do with cooler temperatures settling in the Midwest over the last three or four days and thank the light it looks like they might hold for at least another week.  35 miles, 3 hours and seven minutes and 1,555 ft gained, and I felt good.  Real, good!  I think I already said that once before.  As I told Coach on Training Peaks after the ride “Felt great today.  Weather was cool and I felt strong.  I was riding a lot more upfront today.”  I over shot my target by about 10 miles, I was supposed to ride 25 miles, but what can I say, I got bored and wanted to get out and start riding yesterday, so I coned Kona and headed out.  Kona has some serious bad wounds on her back feet.  They have been like that since late May or early June.  Makes me feel bad.  So, for the last few weeks she has been on pretty

Me Billy b, me Hot   My own out and back… Hello friends - apologies for being gone so long.  It is funny how we can get sucked into our own little worlds and one day it is June 3rd and you have the entire summer ahead of you and boom next think you know it is August 5th and are wow what just happened.   I so much would l like to say that I have even super busy and wrapped in this project or that project, but the truth is I have just been adapting to life back in Indiana.  I am not used to have rain wash it bike rides.  I am also not used to heat and humidity canceling rides.  However, it is a change that one must get used too.  The elements are different here.  I know the climate was going to be a shock to the system.  I think the humidity of July affected my body in ways I wasn’t really ready for.  I started cramping up after riding.  Then one Sunday, I was about to miles from the house almost at the top of a hill when I got a big cramp in my left leg.  I fought through it to the top