Yes, it's officially FALL. And then it isn't. Our weather here is very wishy-washy. One moment it's cold and very much like fall, then last week it was HOT (and we don't get HOT very often). We've had some high winds, but nothing like the Santa Anna's that blow down south, creating havoc with any spark causing an out of control fire. Thankfully that's very rare up where I'm at....further north they have the same problem....funny how the little bubble of not-crazy weather is over my area. I know the utilities have been shutting off a lot of peoples power in order to NOT cause more fires from their aging and faulty equipment (and even that hasn't stopped them from sparking off fires). And now everybody who is losing power wants to sue them for their inconvenience...they (the utility companies) just can't win...they got crushed into bankruptcy the last few years from the devastating fires their equipment caused because they DIDN'T shut down the power, and now that they are everybody is upset at that too. They can't afford to replace all the ancient equipment as it would cost BILLIONS...what are they to do? I haven't the foggiest idea...talk about between a rock and a hard place!
Anyway....lots going on...College football..WOW! Michigan beat-down Notre Dame yesterday (HOORAY!!) but lost a heart breaker to still unbeaten Penn State last Saturday (who has now moved up to 5th with Oklahoma's loss yesterday). Stupid Ohio State (sorry Rae!) is still up in the top 3..RATS! Ol' Blue NEEDS to finally break that curse this year...their game is coming up in a few weeks. But boy does OSU still look good, darn them!
What else...oh, gymnastics! And all that needs to be said about that is "Simone Biles". Greatest gymnast EVER? It would be easy to make a case for that...she is undoubtedly amazing! How many moves new to Gymnastics does she now have named after her? The saying "Dynamite comes in small packages" doesn't even do justice to her...she is more like plastic explosive...WAY more devastating than dynamite! And she looks to not even be slowing down a little...she is better than EVER!
Halloween is almost upon us....I am heading up (work travel) to Travis Air Force Base tomorrow for the week...head back either Weds or Thurs, depending on how things go (I'm hoping for Thursday...just need to be home in time for Trick or Treats...I have a ton of candy ready to give out!)
Did a HUGE road bike ride yesterday (my biggest ever in fact)....my first ever "Death Ride" (a century with well over 10,000' of climbing)....it was the "unofficial" Deer Creek Death Ride (starts in Thousand Oaks off of the 101 and is all over the place in the Santa Monica mtns). I'm finally back at the razors edge of being at my best ever fitness (took me a few months to get 'back' after le Tour)...I'm really pleased with how I rode...felt pretty great considering! So I'm taking my bike with me on the road trip tomorrow and plan to stop and ride Mt Diablo tomorrow on the way up, and again when I"m coming home...got to ride it many years back when the Tour of CA rolled thru and had a mt top finish (I was up working in Sunnyvale that year). Didn't even get to climb the whole thing as they had the last mile or more roped off for only the racers...had to walk up to the finish). Also it was HOT HOT HOT that year (that's the year they did the Palm Springs tram finish and it was so hot the pavement was melting at the finish area and a lot of riders were near heat-stroke).
Was just down in Yuma last weekend with my brothers, working on our Moms house...getting it ready to sell. We painted the entire outside, and pretty much cleared the inside of her presence (THAT was hard...hated doing it). Nearly all her 'stuff' is now gone...given to the local mission she supported. THAT was hard too...I really wanted to put all her 'stuff' (ceramics and all her nic-nacs she collected these last 30 years or so) out on the curb of her house with a "Mary Halvorson/Chapeks stuff, please feel free to take some of her things to remember her by" sign.... (she lived in a large retirement RV park where there are very few RV's anymore...almost all have "park models" installed on their lots...moms park model is VERY NICE) so that all her friends and acquaintances could have that...but my brothers wanted to give it all to the mission...so there it all went, and it was pretty nice stuff...all going to complete strangers (whatever survives the gauntlet of making it to a shelf in their store and isn't broken). I was pretty crushed by that...none of her friends will have ANY of her stuff...people who knew her. But I was over-ruled...I kept what I could but sadly almost all went to the mission. I'm still hurt on that...nobody will be going "oh, that's cute, where did you get it? Oh...that was Mary's, you remember her?" She had a giant footprint in the park for a lot of years....church, choir, plays, crafts, fundraisers, dances...she touched a lot of lives.
I still feel bad...like we stabbed her in the heart tossing ALL her stuff basically in the trash to get a few $$ for the mission...heck, I would have given the mission money to NOT give them her stuff. Sheesh...there I go again. Got to let it go...can't fix it, it's a done deal. Damn. Anyway...had to vent on that...I'm better now...(not really).
OK...back to more pleasant things...our weather here has been mostly pretty great...but typical Central Coast (all over the map, but generally pretty decent, which describes it almost year round). Which is a good thing as it fueled my cycling comeback (4 rides a week) and was critical to my success...as I am VERY MUCH a "fair weather" cyclist. I've been riding very strong on my Saturday morning Group Rides, and I've been adding distance to further my comeback...my every other Friday off has typically been a very hard ride and been doing great on those too. Yep...I'm BACK! Soon enough will be the STOOPID TIME CHANGE, which is where the decline of my hard-earned late-season form starts to decline (again). The Holidays almost seem to crush my riding.
And so...I should be going...today is 'chores' day, as are most of my Sundays. And packing and getting ready to roll out early in the morning heading north to Travis.
Later Gators...have a great week!
Cheers!
