Well, we are on our way into the shop this morning.  We have stopped off at Aroma Roasters Coffee shop for some refreshments and 10 pounds of coffee.  Yesterday we spent 4 or 5 hours in the back cleaning things up.  Boy, did that make a difference.  We can fit many more bikes in there.  I wish I had some before and after pictures.  Maybe I can describe it for you.  Close your eyes, now imagine a big room filled with bicycles placed safely, but chaotically around the floor.  Now imagine all of the bikes in a nice row with some hanging safely from the ceiling.  That is before and after.

It is back to work this morning, but not before Claire and I had a couple of good days off.  I was able, with Claire’s persuasion, to get out for some exercise 4 days in a row.  Saturday I rode into the shop, taking the hilly route.  Sunday morning, I got us out for a run around the neighborhood.  Monday I rode the rollers for an hour, see graph on the right, and then we went out for a hike in Armstrong Redwoods.  We got hailed on a bit, which made it all the more interesting.  Yesterday I went out and did my favorite loop again.  I felt much, much better than I did last week.  Last week my whole body was aching on the ride, and this week I felt great.  I was around 6 minutes off of my best time.  And to top it all off, yesterday I made 6 loaves of sourdough.

Well, after being off the bike for a couple of weeks, I decided that I needed to get out and hurt myself a bit. I did my favorite loop on Monday hoping to beat the rain.  I did beat the rain, but just barely.  I was about 20 minutes off of my summer times for this loop.  I knew that I would be slower, but I didn’t think I would be hurting quite so much by the end.  For the most part, the ride was uneventful as far as traffic goes.  I did see a couple of mountain bikers up in Willow Creek State Park, and I think I startled them as I cruised by on my cross bike.  Duncan road was a bear as usual.  It is around a 20% grade at the bottom, and it is always a hard transition after coming down the flats of Hwy. 116.  There were a couple of more trees down across the trail, but nothing that I couldn’t claw my way over.  When I got home I realized how sore my entire body was.  At first I thought it was the ride, but after even waking up the next morning still feeling the same way, I figured I had caught a little bug.  Claire knew I was feeling too good when I chose Sprite over beer and only one slice of pizza at Zachary’s in Berkeley.