I shall put my best effort into this, as always, but am feeling rather lackadaisical.  I should move this to Tuesday or some later day, when the grim reality of another week has set in and I’ve achieved a better level of acceptance.  Right now I just feel like going back to bed.

There is also the fact that I didn’t do a whole lot last weekend.  Donette was out of town with her little friends, so Gabe and I settled in for a few days of yardwork and relaxation.  Or at least relaxation.  She left early Friday, so I had to get home right after work before Gabe ate the house.  We fixed ourselves a nice little bachelor dinner (chips and dip) and hit the TV room for an evening of Rock Band and reruns.  Good stuff.

Saturday…  Well it was really too stifling hot to do much of anything.  I threw a brisket on around 7:30 in the morning, and that project ate up most of the afternoon.  Believe it or not I had some issues keeping the heat down.  It got finished way earlier than it should have, but didn’t turn out too bad.  I had planned on spending the entire day cooking it though, so it’s early completion left me a bit short on entertainment for the rest of the day.  So, given that it was kind of hot in the house and I was too lazy to turn down the thermostat, I ended up walking down to the Brooksider to sit in their A/C.  This ended up being a fine decision, they had it set on turbo-cold.  I hung out down there for the rest of the evening, then back home for more Wii.  I tried to teach Gabe how to play tennis so I’d have some competition, but his lack of opposable thumbs proved an insurmountable obstacle.

Sunday, I wish I never would have gotten out of bed.  I did though, and it proved an unfortunate decision.  It started off well enough;  Gabe and I took a nice long walk to enjoy the cooler weather.  We got back home around 10:00, and after 30 minutes or so on the computer I was getting bored.  I checked into the MS-150 website to see if they had any rides going on, and sure enough there was one starting at Loose Park at 2:00.  That sounded like a reasonable diversion, so I ventured into the basement and dug out my long-retired road bike.  A quick check showed the tires were rotten beyond all hope;  I was clearly not going to be riding that bike.  So, in what would prove to be the first in a long line of poor decisions, I decided to just take my mountain bike.  I hadn’t ridden it either this year, but it looked road-worthy at least.  I rode down to Loose Park to find a gathering of around a dozen people, all on road bikes.  Yeah, no big surprise there.  However, a quick assessment of the group made it clear that a few of them quite frankly were not going to be setting any land speed records.  So, I checked in for the 15 mile option.  Hey, I hadn’t ridden in a while, I was on a mountain bike, and I’m in horrific shape, but figured anybody who can walk under their own power can struggle through 15 miles.  Well, my intended riding partner fell out pretty quick.  In retrospect, I should have called it a day right then and turned around.  I was feeling pretty good though so I kept plugging on.  At around ten miles I asked “So, uh, where’s the turn-around for the 15 mile ride?”  Well, they sort of forgot to mention it, so I was now on the 20 mile ride.  Bummer.  Well, whatever, I was halfway done and feeling OK.  There were four of us on the 20 mile option, so we’re cruising along enjoying the weather and one them drifts off the road and wipes out.  Boom, done.  No broken bones luckily but she’s done for the day.  The other two stayed with her to wait for a car, leaving me with, yep, the 40 mile group.  Shoulda stayed in bed.  Next thing I know, my legs hurt, my butt hurts, I’m getting a sunburn (no sunscreen, I was only going 15 miles) and I’m in friggin’ Martin City.  So, I hung back a bit, pretending I was messing with my shoes, and when everybody was about a block ahead of me I hooked a right on Holmes and never looked back.  I managed to drag my carcass to 95th, and decided I would either have to find a ride or just die there, because I was definitely not going to survive the hill in front of me.  In what would prove to be my only good fortune of the day, I caught Donette just pulling back into town, so she came and got me.  She drove me to the Brooksider, where I ate dinner and retold my tale of woe, standing the whole time.  Not a good start to my supposed bike riding season.