Of Heat, Wind and Canines

Heat:
Well, it's been hot. 23 straight days (well) above 90 -- several of those in triple digits of 100 or 101. Many others at 98 or 99. Yesterday topped out at 101. But, again, it's not so humid here, so I can be outside without being drenched in sweat.

Wind:
Gusty times! Winds blowing from 20-30 mph, with gusts of near 40, made pedaling less than a "breeze" (sorry!) this past week. Take last Wednesday's Balcones ride which first led me straight into the fierce wind down Lake Austin Blvd., and later, as I turned a corner, got me and my bike pushed over a foot or so as a gust picked up and blew across me.

Canines:
Saturday we FINALLY participated in our first informal group ride. Again with the wind! Again with the heat! And something new to the mix: dogs. Country dogs that shot out of nowhere, two of them, not only to give chase to the five of us cyclists, but also to "go for the kill." The ride leader got bit by one of them. I narrowly escaped, as did the rest of the group. In any case, we decided to turn around with them, thereby ending the ride early...we still managed to log 24 miles, and hey, with the wind we had to work against, it probably counts for more!

Heatin' Up

The broil is on, having already hit 101 last week, and I don't mind one bit. Yes, it's warm; no, it's not unbearable, and I would even venture to say that I'm perfectly comfortable passing time on the patio, where I can lounge perspiration-free, an action never successful in Louisiana where the humidity keeps me drenched in sweat and the mosquitos keep me swatting.

Two drawbacks:
1. The air conditioned (dis-)comfort of my workplace. As I sit typing, there are goosebumps popping up all over my arms and legs, and I'm nearly shivering from the cold. In addition to posing too drastic a contrast from the outside tempurature, thereby making entering and exiting buildings shocking to my delicate system, it further compels me to over-consume the coffee in an effort to warm-up throughout the day.

2. Warm Accelerade. Unable to locate my insulated water bottle for our Sunday long(-ish) ride, I filled my regular bottles with Accelerade and ice cubes, but even before the mid-point of our ride, the 99-degree temp had rendered my bottle contents a nearly odd-tasting, lukewarm liquid.

Last Taste of Winter 2007/08?

How miserable was the weather yesterday? Seriously. It's March now. Why was it 37 degrees (and raining) at 4pm? Definitely not conducive to outdoor activities. And, dare I say, not conducive to much in the way of indoor activities either. I did ultimately manage to muster sufficient motivation to take a short spin on the trainer. First post-flu sweat, which I tolerated fairly well, in spite of a few coughing bouts!

Today marks our return to Sam, as we had to cancel last Friday due to the flu. Looking forward to getting in a good session to kick off what should be a good, warmer weekend. Hopefully, we'll be able to resume some road biking.

Today's Taste of Spring 2008

Recalls the spring that wasn't quite in 2007, for it was just over a year ago that my dad was first hospitalized on the very day that I was making the 7-8 hour drive to visit. I recall how it struck me somewhere between here and Giddings that I had forgotten my bag of clothes, but I had remembered my bags of music and food. I nearly made a u-turn on Hwy 290, but decide to plug on in lieu of adding another hour or two to the drive. When I did arrive, it was straight to the ER. I stayed the night in that ER cubicle with him, on a stretcher beside his. I remember realizing that the 15 hour wait for a room was another of the post-Katrina infrastructure problems that no one ever really discussed, incapable as they seemed of moving past the more palpable traffic issues.

And so it began, Spring 2007, observed through the windshield of various Enterprise rental cars and the windows of several hospital rooms. Challenging my si joints and illiopsoas, I climbed stairs in the hospital for exercise, slept on the overused, vinyl, fold-out loveseat-chaise thing in the hospital room(s), and, on several occasions, made the entire drive non-stop, just to see if I could. All the while, we were filled with so many questions and no answers...Why the low hemoglobin? Why the DVT? Why the swelling? Why the pain?

Fast-forward a year...these earliest indications of a soon-unfolding spring have me filled with hope as I inspect trees and other perennials for signs that they too have been renewed. Days lengthening in anticipation of all of the new season's rituals: our favorite 10Ks and festivals such as the Kite Festival, Eeoyre's Birthday, patio-living, late afternoon outdoor exercise, re-opening of Deep Eddy Pool...

Today was splendid...completely and painfully exhausted from Ricky's late night gig and my venture with a friend to a midnight movie, we were anxious to be outside in the late February warmth under a cloudless sky and to further our recovery from last weekend's half marathon. To the mountain bikes we turned (I honestly felt a little too fatigued to deal with the technicalities of the road bike) and to our old 18 mile route down North Loop to Balcones to Lake Austin to downtown and back up Duval...it's been since October, since just before Ricky's back injury that we've pedaled Balcones. It wasn't quite easy, but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, particularly handling that hill we hate on Pecos. In any case, it felt good to pedal like that again at a nice, slow pace.