Look at me, riding both days this past weekend! In the wind even!
On Saturday I did my first real group ride in a long time; it was the 21-mile ride that leaves from Atlanta Cycling in Vinings. The ride wasn’t too bad, though I did drop my chain at one point and had to scurry back to the pack.
On Sunday I did one of my old routine individual routes, covering 34 windy miles from East Atlanta to Stone Mountain and back.
Both days warranted a post-ride nap.
Take Me Out To The (College) Ballgame
Here’s something to keep in mind if you find yourself going to downtown Atlanta early in May… Are there graduations happening today? Before going to the Georgia Tech baseball game on Saturday night I met up with my boss and two of his aquarium cohorts for some beer at Stats. It was their desire to drink near the aquarium, so I relented. I did put my foot down when it was suggested we sit on the upper deck patio to get some sun — I had already gotten my daily allotment of sun during my morning two-hour ride. Fortunately for me I decided to park near the Georgia Tech baseball field, closer to the Biltmore actually, and MARTA downtown (turns out it may have been quicker for me to walk to downtown than to take MARTA on a Saturday, but I digress) because thanks to two graduations on a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend Saturday traffic was a fucking mess! By the time we left Stats things had thankfully cleared up somewhat.
The boss and I did go to the game, which apparently featured a pro pitching prospect for GA Tech. As Hank and I turned the corner to get to our seats we saw about five radar guns pointed at the pitcher. Hank cracked me up when he asked the guys how fast he was going as he climbed the stairs.
It always amazes me how great $10 seats are at a college baseball game. It also amazed me how many Miami Hurricane fans were in attendance.
We stayed until about the eighth inning. At that time the score was 8-0 in Tech’s favor and they were doing a very slow home plate umpire swap to relieve the man who took a foul ball straight into his mask.
I read on Sunday morning that Tech won 13-1. I love to see UM lose at any sport.
WTF, FOTL?
The underwear saga continues.
After mowing my lawn (for one of the last times, hopefully) on Sunday I showered and got ready to pack up my things for the lavanderia. Note to self: even on Mother’s Day doing laundry at 4pm on a Sunday is a bad idea. Because I had yet to do laundry I had to wear a pair of brand new underwear, boxer briefs this time, that I purchase from Target on Friday. As I’ve done many times in the past I purchased Fruit of the Loom, Large (36″-38″). I know, I’m fat. I doubt that I’ve put on that much more weight, or that I was retaining water, but I barely fit into the underwear! I even had to break the elastic at the bottom of the legs in order to get them to go over my (fantastic) quadriceps! Ugh.
With laundry done I’m flush with clean, fitting underwear. But, I now need to decide whether or not I want to spring for another package of underwear, this time XL.
It’s Dead, Jim
This morning I had to go to Target in order to buy a CR2025, the ubiquitous watch battery used by many modern-day devices. The device (seemingly) needing a new battery today is the M6’s key fob. I am replacing the battery because twice in the last two days I’ve had difficulty either starting the car, or getting into the trunk. I’m hoping a battery replacement completely ends these problems, else I’ll have a much larger problem dealing with Mazda, car warranties, etc. Wish me luck.
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Good job on riding your bike both days!
We went mountain biking Saturday morning at Allatoona Creek – met up with some friends that wanted to do the VooDoo trail – I should have known better & just skipped it – it is an advanced trail – they have built all kinds of cool features that make me hike my bike way too much.
The rest of the ride was fun – but I was tired by the time we got done, we ended up with 14 or so miles.
Then – the real fun started after we got home- got a text from Stephanie, she was just landing at Hartsfield & had a VM from Mike – he had a good crash on his road bike & thought he had broken his collarbone or something & probably needed to go to the ER. So, we headed up to their house in Acworth. He had gotten a ride home from some people that saw his crash, from what he remembers, he thinks he just hit a pothole wrong (not paying attention to the road). So, Allan did a little cleanup of the roadrash & we headed to Kennestone in Marietta for X-rays. It wasn’t very busy (made me happy, as I had to stay in the waiting room waiting for Steph, I hate being around all those sick people), so they got called back almost immediately.
He ended up with 5 fractured ribs but no broken collarbone, just a dislocated shoulder. And – a broken helmet, which did its job, as he didn’t think he had even hit his head. Finally got back home about 3 hours later, they were there probably 2 more hours. There is no way to get in & out of the emergency room fast.
Sunday – I was lazy – didn’t do shit. Allan worked.
Fob battery replaced, thanks to Paul’s Travel Pictures help. Walked out to the M6, unlocked and locked the car successfully.
Wow, that sucks for Coach. One of my worst crashes came from misjudging the size of a pothole. Hope he recovers quickly.
Back in the orifice!
Weekend mistake #1- I went running Friday evening for some reason- too windy to ride and needed to get some exercise. I still feel it today. Sad.
Weekend mistake #2- Drove over to our tractor dealer in Barnesville and got my parts to fix the finish mower (!!). really thought they would have to order, but was surprised they had it in stock and helped me get the remnants of the old one off the shaft. I also needed a couple of fuel filters, which I spied on a shelf. Mower repaired and fuel filter was the wrong size!! Now someone (Debbie) will have to drive the 40 miles back to Barnesville to swap out the filters. Thankfully, her parents are right on the way.
I finally rode yesterday, as my quads had to get some relief. As I rounded a sharp curve, there was a motorcycle parked out in the very tall grass of a powerline cut and a guy standing by it. I asked if he was alright (as all good cyclists do, even if they have motors) and he asked if I could help him push it out. I thought at first he took a photo, but he was putzing with his radio and went straight when the road curved. He was alright, maybe a little dazed, but managed to get his big Harley out of the grass and on the road.
Back to the salt mines.
-FP
Paulie, if you bought the same brand and size as usual, you may have gotten an irregular pack. Remember the good ol’ Value Village back in the day where you could go and get irregular everythings [sic] from socks to t-shirts to bed sheets? Ahhh I loved that place. It was in Doraville, right near where I lived when I first moved here. I used to be there ALL the time.
This weekend was nice. Cleaned and just lazed about the house on Saturday. Sunday went to church, and then Aron’s car was fixed early so he came down for brunch. We walked the Beltline to Ladybird Grove and Mess Hall…. and dined the table right next to Jon Hamm! The food was really good and affordable, but the bloody marys WAY too over-priced. It didn’t suck, but $10 out of a plastic beer cup? Eh. I’ve had better in REAL glasses for half the price. Still, had to say I’ve “been there, done that” and I would definitely go back for beers or something again. It’s a great little place to people-watch the Beltliners. 🙂 I also logged over 14,000 steps for the day so, hey. There’s that.
Wow, Barb, that’s frightening about your friend! I’m glad he’ll be okay and YAY for bike helmets! Still, fractured ribs doesn’t sound like my idea of fun. Hope he’s a fast mender!
Worst part about broken ribs is they really can’t do anything for you (besides pain meds). They just have to heal. You have to just keep your back straight & try not to laugh.
He said the worst part of the crash was when he couldn’t get a hold of Steph, he was contemplating calling the ex-wife for a ride. He was so happy when I called, he didn’t want to have to call her. I told him that his son, who has a learner’s permit – might need to get on the learning to drive………. for the next time.
So Stacy – did you go get a fan girl & get a selfie with Jon Hamm?
Hahaha no. It would have been WAY too awkward! 😀
I had to look up who he is. I was never a watcher of Mad Men, otherwise I might have recognized the name.
Jon Hamm! Damn, finally a celebrity that I would recognize! I think that I would have gone up and given the standard “I love your work.” statement, unless he looked busy or was entertaining someone else. To this day I’ve yet to see a celebrity in Atlanta, probably because I really don’t know who anyone is any longer.
This does remind me that Stokeswood Av was blocked this weekend for some filming. I thought about riding my bike down Stokeswood to see what was in the works but didn’t.
Also, I listened to a podcast in which they talked about the Marvel Civil War movie and they mentioned that it was filmed here too.
Allan is ready to go see Capt America – Civil War. We just have to find some free time. And yes – it was filmed around town, no idea where though. (maybe we will recognize something when we see the movie)
I don’t think I’d recognize celebrities out & about for the most part, just because I’m not expecting to see them. Unless other people are staring……
Definitely a weekend full of carnage. Aside from Coach getting hurt 2 more of my hooligan friends crashed in the Big Creek enduro, one broken collar bone and one separated shoulder. Rough weekend all around.
I went for a 25 mile ride on Sunday and was extra nice to drivers just to hopefully break the bad juju. I had an uneventful ride so hopefully the string is broken.