Dead.

I am dead. The ride today was the most hellish experience on a bike ever. Met up at 9 with some of Madison's finest riders. 10-12 miles in I get dropped. Dead. Somehow keep trucking, even convincing myself towards New Glarus instead of back to Madison at the Madison turn. See the group about a minute ahead and chase for another 10 miles, on roads I don't know. Finally someone in the group has a flat. Back on. 5 miles later we stop in New Glarus for snacks. Back to Madison Mark, or with the group to some town like Blanchardville or something. We head onward. I get dropped on the next hill, they wait for me we ride again. We are now like 35 miles in. Next big climb I get dropped. Against the wind. They wait up, I catch up, they go, I get dropped, Jerry and Stephen come back, I say I can get home from here we start to climb, they go, I fade, 15 seconds after last talking to Jerry I flat. I go to the side of the road and watch them all climb away. I decide to fix my flat and ride it back. I get the tire changed and inflated. I release my CO2 valve and it tears the core off of my bike. Guh. I call Jess. She drives almost one hour to get me. One of my worst days on the bike, my legs are fried...my mind is fried. Burnt out after one ride? Yes. I used to think I was hell on wheels, but today the day was hell on wheels. 45 in the spring seems warm until you sit on the pavement for an hour. Badgers win and it's dodgeball time. Not really anxious to ride my bike.

The group went almost 100 miles for 5.5 hours and I guess it was really fun. Oh to be that in shape and be that good.

Time to give this whole cycling thing a shot…

This weekend will be a weekend of bike riding, basketball watching and dodgeball. On tap?
Friday- Leave work early, ride for 2 hours, watch the Badger game, fall asleep early
Saturday- Wake up early, play basketball, get home in time to get on my bike and ride for god only knows how long. Hopefully after that I can watch the Badgers play basketball and then off to Pooleys for our dodgeball tournament.
Sunday- Wake up early and get on my bike early because of daylight savings time. Hopefully ride for a couple of hours and hopefully watch the Badgers win the Big Ten Championship. Probably go out with Jess’ mom for supper. Fall asleep early. Bam! Monday morning.

I’ll tell you on Monday how well it went. Although I am not in great shape right now I hope to at least be able to survive.

Not much else going on since my earlier rant. I’ve decided to keep the Jeter card. I like it too much. We’ve been going to the dog park about every day. Chili loves it and yesterday he actually listened to me on three separate occasions so perhaps he is growing up? Looks like we also are going to get invited to a boxer birthday party. Honestly very few things in life sound better than that and I really look forward to going. Plus I need to replace some local friends. Any interest in being in my March Madness Pool? Leave a comment and I’ll send you the info. Is it Brewers season yet?

I got one!!!

I got mine...here's the current market for them.

I went to target and decided to buy two packs of cards for $1.99 each. You can see the top card on each pack and I saw three I wanted to buy. One had Tony Gwynn Jr., one had JD Drew and finally one had the Derek Jeter Gold Glove card. I figured that maybe the Derek Jeter Gold Glove card would give off some good karma. I was right! I got the Jeter/Mantle/Bush card in that pack. I also got two Brewer rookie cards and a David Wright insert card. The first pack had Gwynn Jr and Ben Sheets. The third pack pretty much blew. But for less than $6 I now have this sweet card. Not sure what to do with it.

A day of stuff I guess.

First off, Happy Birthday to Mary Jo (Sunday), Mom-in-Law (Monday) and Dad-in-Law today. One big birthday sweep! Weekend was good although we didn’t do much. Weather sucked Friday night so we just stayed in. Jess was gone all day on Saturday so I played basketball and then just did a lot of organizing and playing with the dogs and shopping and stuff like that. Saturday night we went out to celebrate MJ’s birthday which was fun. Jess wasn’t feeling good either so she went to bed early and was out of commission on Sunday. Did some more cleaning on Sunday. Didn’t do much else though until we took out Jess’ mom for her birthday for supper. Pretty unexciting stuff. Monday was basketball day and we pulled off a win, now we have a winning streak.

Seems like lately there has been a lot of changes with people I know. Whether it be a friend and neighbor trying to sell a house or a friend of mine who just bought a house. Whether it be a new job and location for a friend or another friend who is now looking for a new job. Whether it be a wife with two new tooth crowns or a friend looking to redefine a relationship. We are getting to that age where changes become bigger, more expensive and more real. It’s crazy. These are changes that can define people…we spend 18+ years trying to define ourselves and now one decision by someone can change that whole course. Having friends in all different situations makes life that much more interesting. Can I fix those with problems? Can I celebrate those who are celebrating? Can I be happy for and be sad for those who are leaving? Can I balance all those emotions all at once? Is it hypocritical to feel compassion for someone in a bad situation and then turn around and feel happiness for someone who is achieving one of life’s goals and go back and forth? Then when Jess gets home does my perspective change because her emotions to every event can differ from the ones I have? Anyways, today has taken a big toll on my mind. And it’s only Tuesday…

It's amazing what some fresh air can do. One trip to the dog park and I feel better!