Hmm, not the greatest of weather we’ve been having. Even a two-bit farmer likes me wants to see some sunshine every once in a while.
I don’t recall what I did on Friday night, which means that I probably didn’t do anything outstanding. I know that I didn’t go to Comedy Night at Red’s Beer Garden because they postponed that until,Saturday night, and then had to cancel it the next day. Oh wait, I fried eggplant and okra for dinner. 😮
It wasn’t raining Saturday morning when Betsy, Bella, and I walked around East Atlanta, but it was humid.
On my trash pickup walk up to the village I was stopped by one of my neighbors who thanked me. It was a nice gesture and we chatted for a few minutes before I resumed my chore. Apparently this man’s family used to own some of the land around EAV, and he has been in his house for 27 years. I like meeting people who have been in EAV longer than my 22 years.
Toward the end of our walk Betsy and I stopped at a local church which was having a plant and bake sale. The farming snob in me didn’t buy any plants, but I did walk away with cookies, a zucchini bread, and a small rhubarb pie 😋ðŸ˜, and some caramel corn puffs that stuck to me teeth 😮😢.
Saturday afternoon saw Bonnie and me get together. We walked up to Midway Pub to watch the second half of the Atlanta United game, and ran into Betsy there too. I also kept one eye on the tv showing the Florida v. Alabama game, much the same way that most people look at a bad car wreck. The the wrong team eventually won that football game, the good guys put up a better battle than I thought that they could in a valiant defeat. It was good that Atlanta United won, because of the four soccer/football teams I follow they were the only one to do so this weekend.
After leaving Midway and the unexpectedly running into someone who doesn’t live in Atlanta, Steve who hosted the gang of us for a weekend of bike riding last fall, Bonnie and I put on our optimistic hats and went to the velodrome for bike racing. Well, we at least went to the velodrome, since it was clear within fifteen minutes of being there that no bike racing would occur due to the rain. Pity, it would have made for a fun evening.
Yesterday’s weather was no better, I did some choring in the drizzle and then a trip up to Schoolhouse Brewing occurred. There was a thought about going to Kennesaw breweries, but I’d like to do that when hiking at Kennesaw mountain can also happen. It turned out to be beneficial that it was just Bonnie and me at Schoolhouse, because just before we purchased our second beer my old buddy Hank called. Within a span of five minutes we had packed up and were on the road to Contrast Artisan Ales in Chamblee to meet up with him.
As much as I’d like to get more things in WLF sorted today, it’s supposed to rain all day so I guess that I will be staying indoors for choring. Choring in the rain is no fun, unless you are pulling magnolia trees out of the ground since the ground is wet, making it easier to do so.
Tonight’s Moonlite hash is in Marietta. Though I like tonight’s hare, I may use the weather as an excuse decide to stay at home, to rest, and to save money. We’ll see…
Hope that you had a fantastic and healthy weekend.
You come up to Schoolhouse (again) & no call……
Yep, I’m a dick. But, at least I didn’t abandon you there to go meet Hank. 🤷ðŸ»â€â™‚ï¸
Next time. I’ll even buy your first beer as my penance.
I seem to remember a motorcycle ride Friday as I did errands. I think we did truck stop Mexican for dinner.
Saturday was a stop at the hunt breakfast to conduct bid-ness. I might have found a truck for the Games to use from one of the hunt folks. That would be a big help. We got dressed or kilted and headed north to Flowery Branch for the weddin’. We were surprised to find the mother of the groom (a longtime friend) in poor health, confined to a scooter. We figure we haven’t seen her in several years, but this was still a shock.
The wedding was quite nice, at a neat venue with cows in the adjacent pasture.
Sunday had us sleeping in prior to me heading to a meeting at the Park. We worked out some details of traffic flow and trailer unloading location that really needed us to be onsite for. Some things can’t be settled on paper or over the phone.
There will be exercise this week as there was NONE except walking this weekend.
I heard there was quite a party at the velodrome despite no racing. Disco not your thing?
-FP
Disco has never been my thing. ðŸ˜
I successfully completed the Beautiful Backroads Century on Saturday. It rained lightly off and on most of the morning, and we were teased with an hour or so of sunshine midday. Minty wisely split off at the 60 mile mark to do the 66 mile route. I’d ridden slow with her up to that point, so I felt like I wanted to go for the full century. The 66 mile course stays east of I-75 and is hugely scenic. The 40 miles that go west of 75 are pretty, but there’s lots of hills, including a 3 mile hill that starts at mile 69. Add to that the monsoon that started when I was at about mile 75 and it made for a tough ride. The event had an amazing level of SAG support. The cars kept cruising the route checking on riders. I declined a ride amidst the monsoon when I was at mile 89. I was the last person on the course, but the guy said he’d come check on me one more time. I started watching my miles closely in the 90s, I formulated a plan that if he came back by when I was in the 90s I’d ask him to go up the road x miles and wait for me at the 100 mile mark. The course was 103 miles, and I lost trail twice in the pouring rain, so I would have closed it out at 105. SAG car found me at mile 102 and said “You’ve got this, there’s only 3 miles left.” I was so over the rain at that point that I said “Can I get that ride now?” Also I was lucky, the SAG guy said he almost forgot about me on his way home, but remembered to come look for me. I could have made it the last 3 miles, but I was glad to check out since I’d crossed over the 100 mile mark.
This was also my first time using RideWithGPS, and man, where has this app been all of my life? The voice prompts that alert you a 1/4 or 1/2 mile ahead of turns and then when the turn comes are just stunning, as is the in-ride elevation map. I’m so glad I tried that app instead of trying to just port the route over to MapMyRide.
We had a great day, and I had a great ride in spite of the rain. That was century #3 for me, and I’ve gotten caught in torrential rain on all three. Here’s hoping for a dry century one day. I want to ride that course again next year, but I’ll stick with the metric century, the scenery in the last 40 miles wasn’t commensurate with the hill suffering, although it was fantastic riding along a creek for a minute along side a heron in flight.
I started the ride at 8:00, due to the rain and riding slow with Minty I got back to the car at 5:40. Long day in the saddle, I’m still feeling that a bit today. Had it been dry I would have finished around 3:00. Also I couldn’t take my racing bike because it inexplicably had a flat. I’ve had two weird flats recently, I’m chalking it up to a bad batch of tubes from the bike shop and will source my next tubes from REI.
Well done, Lurker! Those days in the rain are doubly tough! Might I suggest a few minutes on the trainer or a short ride today to get the lactic acid out?
Thanks for the suggestion, Steve. I walked with my kids from Virginia-Highland over to Piedmont Park (walked through the crowd streaming into Music Midtown and felt ancient) and then walked from Colony Square back to Grant Park. 8.5 miles total, a great outing with my kids.
For those of you that like to read, Virginia-Highland Books opened a few months ago and is just fantastic.
Well done Lurker!
You (we) are ancient. 😉
I saw the bookstore while driving home from getting a haircut recently and was stunned that a book store has opened in these times. I almost convinced myself that it was a movie set. 😂
Thanks, Paulie! I was stunned by the bookstore as well, it’s really well curated.
*Fist bump*! I’m sure you know this regarding your flats, but be sure and look and feel carefully around the inside of the rim where the hole in the tire is to ensure there’s not a rough spot or a foreign body that got in there that’s causing the flats.
Thanks, Bonnie, I’ll do that. On the first flat the tire did have a worn spot caused from me getting accustomed to the hydraulic brakes. The second flat was odd though. Brand new tire, brand new tube, hadn’t ridden that bike recently. I’ll check the rim for sure.
Good work Lurker!!
Riding in the rain is tough, you are cold, tense, and can’t see very well. Props for pushing through.
For your flat issue take the tube out, put air in it, then dunk it in the sink to see where it is leaking. I have seen bad tubes leak from the base of the valve stem. If it is leaking somewhere else check the tire where the leak is, you may have some debris in the tire. I have never seen a bad tube leak from anywhere in the middle, only from the stem.
Thanks, Bob! Those last 25 miles were a test for sure. I wasn’t about to pull the plug though having gotten that close to a century. I went around one curve that opened up over a pasture and saw how ominous the sky looked and I knew I was doomed. At least there wasn’t any lightning.
That’s a good call to check and see where the leak in the tube is because the tire going flat of it’s own accord has definitely baffled me. Usually I know exactly what I was doing the moment I get a flat.
Way to go on finishing that century!!! You are way tougher then me. I’m a fair weather rider anymore. Someday you guys will get a nice day to ride!
There’s been some bad tubes out there, Allan has found a few that leaked at the valve stem. Sal has had some bad luck with that on her Mtn bike. (Allan has looked at that wheel more then once)
Thanks, Barb! That’s good to know about the valve stems potentially being the problem. This was at least a polite flat, it occurred at home and not in the middle of a century. I’ll count my blessings for that.
My strangest flat occurred after riding many miles in rain, with a little snow thrown in — those that were there that day remember it well. The wet got into the tire and worn out the rim tape. During the next ride a spoke rubbed against the tube where the rim tape had worn out, and created a flat while riding.
And I just made a liar out of mystery, again, by seeing a break in the rain and doing some choring. I transplanted a few greens, which are getting hammered by bugs/slugs, and picked some green beans that I will eat with lunch.
$240 for a bottle of 28% beer? I’ll pass. Oh, it’s illegal in Georgia anyway. No surprise there. https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/19/business/samuel-adams-utopia-beer-illegal/index.html
Speaking of beer, during the century I figured out why the Budweiser plant is in Cartersville. It’s a supply chain decision, they wanted to be near the source of the horse piss they use.
Haha
Taking a cat to the vet in a downpour isn’t fun. Just sayin’.
🙀
We just has a few wind gusts in East Atlanta that has messed with some WLF crops. If the rain dies off later I should go out and do some more choring.
Also it appears that the temperatures will be (unseasonably?) cool this weekend. Hopes for my zucchini plants producing a late round of fruit may be dashed by this.
Hmm, I thought that if I skipped the hash I could watch the football game on tv tonight. Buuuuut, it’s on ESPN and not ESPN+ (the name does not imply you get ESPN and more…) so I think that I am SOL (shit outta luck).
Tried to go donate platelets at the Red Cross this morning, but my hemoglobin is too low. The lady said it’s because I just donated last week, I had no idea. I guess it takes women a couple weeks to get the red blood cells back after donating blood.
I keep getting emails about it. The incentive is a $20 gift card && a haircut at Sportsclips.
I just thought I should do it since I’m not all that busy.
Stopped raining, hash might happen after all!
Can’t let Allan have free time, we went to HD & have a gutter project for the shed now.
Decided I don’t feel like going out tonight. Going to try to make dinner using some eggplant on hand.
What would Allan do without a project? 😉