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Today wasn’t such a bad day.
It’s the end of November and the sun was out and the temp was up. 50s is not a bad thing this late in the
year. I did not ride my bike but I got a
good run in and took the bearded one with me.
He lasted about seven miles before he called No Joy and demanded to be
released so that he could retire to the comfort of his leather chair, which he has
commandeered from Beth and I. I got
another three in for a total of ten today.
That’s three ten-mile runs this week for a bike rider.
I hate riding bikes this time of year. It’s difficult for me to get motivated to
ride when it’s cold and dreary outside…and it’s only gonna get worse. So, I usually just run a lot and maybe do
three rides during the week, most of them on the trainer, followed by my brutal
and masochistic leg routine that includes many sets of different movements, all
to failure. This has been my routine for
many years. It seems to work just fine
for me and also serves the purpose of making me actually want to ride my bike
when January comes and I stop running so much and start riding loads of
miles. If I only rode my bike during the
fall and winter I would hate the damned thing and probably give up riding and
racing, all together…Chorus: If I only rode my bike during the fall and winter
I would hate the damned thing and probably give up riding and racing!
And so it goes with maintaining fitness during the off-season. If anyone wants to come and try my leg
routing, we have a pretty complete set-up in the basement. I promise you will know hors category suffering.
So Beth leaves Tuesday for Japan and I will be a de facto bachelor
here at the homestead. That means the
pups will be present at the shop a lot for the next couple weeks. Also, Chris Carr’s giant “dog” may joins us
also. Leo is a Rhodesian Ridgeback who
weighs about 140 pounds. He could probably
kill anyone or anything he wants to but, in fact, he is as gentle as a baby fur
seal and mostly just wants to sleep a lot.
This is the time of year, from now until about the first of February,
that we can have the pups in the store. It’s pretty slow and I don’t have to worry about
Bella jumping on people or Walter yelling his head off whenever the door buzzer
goes off. Should be a good time. Maybe we could start a dog daycare in the
winter for supplementary income. Yep…That
idea has some legs.
And speaking of supplementary income and business
diversification…we have six computrainers and are starting to teach classes
now! Chris Carr is leading that
initiative and we already have a couple of people who have bought packages. We used to do trainer sessions in the store a
few years ago when we didn’t have so much inventory and bike racks all over the
place; we sometimes had as many as twenty people riding trainers in the store
on weekend mornings and week nights.
That was a fun time…a really great memory of the store when we were
younger and just wanted to build a community.
I think we did. We have such
great customers and Pals of the store. I
met many of my good friends through the store and those trainer sessions. That is one of the most important, and
treasured benefits of owning the place.
The computrainer sessions, though, are much more structured
and we can display and record so many metrics now. This makes training much more effective and
enjoyable. Chris and I will split
teaching duties this winter so come on in and try it out!
And enough about business…for now. There are some very big and very exciting
things about to happen on that front. I
cannot say exactly what right now but change is coming. I’ll do an update when our plans are more
solid.
And holy shit that Arby’s guy is blabbering on about meat
and things that sizzle and how much money does that company spend on
advertising? It’s ridiculous! Where did this guy come from? I imagine they found him in some hole in the
wall barbecue place in a filthy bayou down south. Just gnawing on a half-dead hog and screaming
for more hot sauce and sweet tea. His
voice acquired that rich, deep, resonant pitch by being stretched and stretched
by swallowing great hunks of smoked meats until his larynx became thin enough
to vibrate like a tugboat horn. They
display images of huge mounds of what looks like perfectly smoked mastodon
thighs and expertly crafted sandwiches with fluffy white baguettes and layers of
sliced meats. When we all know (and they
do also) that what you really get at Arby’s is a soggy yellow bun with a pile
of grey spongy crud that smells like feet.
But that dude…what a trip. “What kind
of sheep…is a beef?” I love it. But I will never eat it.
This is too long and running on fumes now because I am
sleepy and the games are boring today. I
did get to ride the moto around the block, though. That was pretty fun. And I polished the wheels and body work so
she is all sparkly now. Good stuff. Beth put up a ton of Christmas decorations today
and they look great. She is a
dynamo. So much energy. We decided today that she is definitely an
overachiever and I am…well…not an overachiever.
But I appreciate her natural inclination to be productive because if she
was not, we would live in a house devoid of decorations, or pictures on the
wall, or even furniture. My natural environment
mirrors my brain: rows and columns and NOTHING ON THE KITCHEN COUNTERS!!! Oh, and clean floors.
That’s all for now…I can hear the underpants gnomes singing
in the other room so that means it’s bed time.
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