Last night I did a new-to-me group ride from Dunwoody Village. As do many of the rides in this area of the city many of the roads on this ride are shared with other rides. The ride was advertised as twenty-five miles at a moderate speed. The distance was correct at least. The group sped away, dropping one guy in the first two miles. I managed to keep up for a little more than half of the ride before dropping back and riding with a couple of others as we made our own “B” group. Given that the route wound its way near our office Al and I decided to break away from the group and shorten our ride. I got in twenty-five miles when you factor in the distance ridden to get to the ride.
And Then Again This Morning
Because I was relatively awake at 5:30am this morning I decided to invoke my plan to ride again this morning. This time I took my twenty-five mile route that leaves Dunwoody and makes its way around Chastain Park, before returning to Dunwoody. My legs were still a little spent from last night’s effort, but it was the humidity in the air that really took its toll on me. At points in today’s ride I dripped water constantly as if I were a spigot with a leak. At the end of my ride I had consumed both of the water bottles that I had brought with me.
ITP Flickr Pic
“Kölner Dom” (Köln, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
No tourist visit to Köln (Cologne) is complete without taking a photo of the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral), at least from the number of people I saw doing the same as me every time I passed this landmark. Supposedly you can go inside, and even climb stairs to the top, but I didn’t have time for any of that sort of nonsense — there was Kölsch beer to drink!
Back In A Happy Place
PBS is showing the “third” season of The Great British Baking Show! The first episode was shown last Friday night, the next episode should be available soon. This show continues to please me.
I Nearly Booked Another Trip To Germany
Yesterday I received a very intriguing email inviting me to inquire about an intensive German Language trip to the wine region of Germany. Here’s a blurb from their site:
Never say “Sorry, I don’t speak German” again.
From the moment you arrive at our retreat location, you’ll be welcomed and looked after. You’ll be meeting a small group of highly motivated learners just like you. From breakfast to dinner, you are going to be surrounded by sounds and conversations in German.
There will be no formal lessons, no grammar tests. Instead, you’re going to navigate new conversations and new environments. If you forget a word, you’ll have to be resourceful: mime it, describe it, use another. The learning in this experience comes from living the language and discovering the real people of Germany.
I was very interested. However two stumbling blocks arose:
– The trip is for October 16-21, conflicting with my already-set plans to return to Black Mountain, NC for this Fall’s LEAF.
– The trip, excluding airfare, is $2900. Given that I will be making no income then, it behooves me not to make with this sort of fee.
Cheesy Weekend
The highlight of the weekend should be Public Enema’s “Cheesy Yellow Tour de France” party on Sunday morning. I hope the weather holds, and that I see a number of ITP Readers there.
Have a great weekend friends!
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
You are doing a great job riding everyday – but you might want to do a long ride (or two) before heading to Iowa. Just a hint from previous experience.
Tell everyone we hate to be missing the Cheesy Tour party – but we will be in Norfolk, VA possibly out sailing on the Chesapeake Bay.
I’ll hopefully remember to check in here while on vacation.
And- I think I forgot to post it here – the Shedmahal has its final final approval from the county!!! We are done with that nonsense. (Shed isn’t done, but the permit process is over)
I was scheduled to ride 62 miles on Sunday before finding out about the party. I will get in at least one >50 mile ride before Iowa.
Look at you all fancy, sailing on Chesapeake Bay! 🙂
Congrats on getting past all of the permit hurdles.
Paulie, I second Barb on the riding every day- good work! Getting out the morning after an evening ride is doubly tough.
And Barb (and NFBR Allan) congratulations on the Shedmahal. Now you know why I’ve never tried to permit anything!! 🙂
I rode “round the block” last night. There were deer, turkey, one turtle (rescued) and one “off road adventure”!! I was just tooling along and saw something that caught my eye on the left side. I turned to look and started veering right. By the time I looked forward, I was almost off the road with plenty of momentum. Rather than swerve back, I just put it into the relatively good “ditch”. No harm, no foul, or as my late friend Sue would say, “no mud, no blood (no free lap)”.
We’ll miss you Sunday Barb! Looking forward to seeing the rest!
-FP
Well, I just saw something in today’s TdF stage that I’ve never seen before…
And another reason for me to do some more long rides, I just received my itinerary for my Vermont ride which is classified as “avid”, meaning the average distance is 55 miles/day, including some climbs.
Oh my!! Now I’m intrigued!
Barb, are you going up to see Barf Bag and go sailing with him?
Steve, it happened at the very end of today’s stage.
Pishaw… I’ve seen arches collapse! Hell, I think I helped hold one up so the riders could get under it!
no Barf – doesn’t he live in Baltimore?
visiting Gregg (Hand Solo) and his wife Deb.
I thought he lived in Annapolis, but that have been when he first moved.
I won’t even post a spoiler, but when I heard the name, I laughed- here are his stage results so far- there are 198 starters.
148 191 191 192 160 185 1
Whoa. He should apply his skills more often. 🙂
I figure he was just keeping his powder dry! I know he’s a worthy rider and have been surprised he’s been so near DFL all week.
Wow, my lack of sleep combined with this morning’s ride has really tired me out. I’m yawning constantly.