Posted Up Out Fronta Popeye's in The Mayback

Another week has passed and after riding around in the city for 2 weeks and having no luck in finding a quiet country road I've finally found an area that has a bunch of non-stop roads and very little traffic. Along with farms and open fields, though, I've also come across two ferocious dogs who are free to roam and chase me as long as they feel necessary. The schedule calls for a low heart rate, but I tell its not easy to keep the heart calm with two pissed off dogs losing their mind 4 feet behind me.

I don't think that I've ever enjoyed riding as much as I am right now. I've never really followed any solid program before and have pretty much always just gone as hard as possible at all times, so to have a schedule requiring a bunch of easy riding enables me to happily cruise while taking in some pretty sweet scenery. Slowly bumping up my time on the bike, too, has been going well. I've been listening to the body as much as possible and on week 1 I didn't feel as if I could comfortably do anythign over 1.5 hours. I was a bit worried at first but I slowly started feeling better and better and on Sunday I completed my first 4 hour ride feeling great. Also as a result of riding here, I appreciate the amazing riding that we are so lucky have at home on the island. As opposed to the routine that I go through here daily of picking through 3 lane roads and 25 traffic lights to get to anything that resembles quiet country roads, at home I can walk out the front door, pedal for 10 minutes and be in the thick of the country.

Aside from riding I've been trying to keep busy doing a few different things. The walk to the library to use these computers takes about an hour and a half each way and isn't something that I enjoy doing all that often. I got super excited in the first week to find a university about 2k from my apt. but was crushed to find that a student password is required to use their computer lab. I hatched a scheme, though, and I now have a routine in which I throw on the kitbag for disguise purposes, pretend to be looking for a book, and then use the call-number/book search computers to check my e-mail and facebook.

While at home I've finished Lance's book "It's Not About The Bike", which is amaaaazing, and have made it about 700 pages into Lord of The Rings. I was a bit skeptical in reading it as I've seen the movies 2000 times and thought it'd be the same, but there were a bunch of things left out of the movies that the book offers in its 1300 pages. Along with reading I've been raiding Marv's hidden Pillsbury stash, killing about 400 cinnamon rolls that were slightly expired but tasty nonetheless, and practicing the dance that Keri Hilson does in that 'Turnin Me on" video. I'll have it dialed for my arrival home. I guess that's about it.

All Day