Tuesday morning I made my way to work on the Cortina. I've quit doing the crazy high pedaling thing on Tuesday. I need to come up with something else like pedaling the whole way with just one leg or something. Anyway there was a black and white cat on it's back in the middle of the sidewalk on 34th st. This never happens. I rode closer and the cat didn't budge. I thought it might be dying but at the last minute it rolled over and looked at me. This was one mellow cat. As if to underscore that a mouse ran by a few seconds later. The cat didn't move a muscle. It was an odd scene.

I rode in listening to a bunch of different stuff Rolling Stones, New Order... Exile On Main Street is good background music for most things. I started thinking about one of our patients. This guy is 78 and he's a pretty cool dude. I've known him every since the store opened. He grew up during the depression, traveled the world, lots of stuff. He'd tell me stories and unlike most people I was actually interested and didn't immediately want him to shut up. Which as you know is rare for me. Anyway this guy is quickly losing his mind to Alzheimer's and it's breaking my heart. He'll forget a conversation we had five minutes earlier.

A pharmacist called out sick so I had to work a double. It wasn't very busy which was a relief. It also meant I didn't have to ride home in the afternoon heat. A minor consolation.

Rode the Millhopper loop this morning (Monday). Beat my best time by 1 second. My heart rate was way up there for the whole ride, 160's-170's. My max heart rate is around 183. If my heart rate is too close to my max for a couple of minutes I start to get short of breath and light headed. This was happening quite a bit on today's ride. That sensation holds me back from going faster. It's kind of like getting the wind knocked out of you. It's just a factor of being older. As we age, the max heart rate decreases and the heart cannot pump blood as fast. It kind of sucks, but that's life. At least I'm still able to do some exercise. I remember doing track work outs as a teenager and my heart rate would be routinely be well over 200.

Anyway I averaged over 20 mph which was cool. Cars turning out of side streets waited for me to pass. I gave them the friendly hand wave. Saw a deer hanging out on the side of the road. Still rocking the harder gear and trying to bump my cadence back up to 90. It's getting there.

Had good luck avoiding the rain riding Friday and Saturday. The Sempre was pretty mucked up from riding on wet road though. There was a bird slowly flying a few feet in front of me on the Hawthorne trail today. I almost could have reached out and touched its wings. Later my mind wandered and suddenly realized that I had drifted to the left on the trail path. Which would be fine except there was a dude heading towards me in the opposite direction. I swerved out of his way. It wasn't really that close but he exclaimed, "Damn!" I just make friends everywhere I go.

The ride started to get pretty boring after about 90 minutes. I don't know how people can stay motivated to do those 5 hour plus 100 mile rides. That just seems incredibly tedious. I miss riding with the Cyclist on Fire.

I did manage to set new personal records for watts on Friday and Saturday for 90 and 120 minutes.

Later I went to Bikes & More to return the old bike computer. Business was slow due to the rain. I am constantly amazed at how many people are working there at any given time.

In other news I have entered week 3 of the beard. The hair on my head is also pretty large. Last week at work a developmentally delayed woman in a wheelchair wearing a helmet rolled back to the pharmacy. She looked at me and said, "Your hairy!" and started laughing maniacally. I found this awesome picture of Vangelis (the Chariots of Fire dude) looking rather hirsute.

The cigar is a nice touch.

Then there is that guy with the giant afro from the band Boston.

I like how you can't tell where his hair ends. Physics tells us that afros abhor a vacuum and left unfettered will expand infinitely.

Rode my Sempre to work today (Thursday) to do my 1 minute interval commute work out. Four 1 minute bursts of faster riding to work and four on the way home. It is tricky to do this safely on 34th st. This was complicated by the rain on the way home.

The rain gave me an excuse to give the Sempre I much needed wipe down and chain lube afterwards. I have the replacement bike computer set up. Just need to test it out. Hopefully, I'll do that tomorrow, but insanely I strained a muscle from this massive sneeze this evening

Had a decidedly lackadaisical Glider ride today (Wednesday). I was still feeling fatigued from fighting a cold. Plus none of the usual pace pushers (Boss Hogg etc) were in attendance. The parakeet harrumphed at me a few times because I was weaving around a little and slowing down at times to avoid hitting the person in front of me. Since the ride finished up along 53rd ave I peeled off I mile early to arrive home sooner.

My court subpoena date was moved to today. I went to the courthouse and chilled in the witness room for over an hour. Finally it seemed like the court was recessing for the day. The bailiff came in and asked why I was in there. The plaintiff's attorney then came in and said I wasn't needed after all. The whole thing had been a waste of time.

When I retrieved my cell phone from the courthouse locker I discovered Keith from Bikes and More had left a message that my replacement bike computer had arrived. I went down to pick it up. All the B&M'ers were just standing in a giant huddle by the jerseys. It was a sight to behold. Paul has an impressive work force. I felt like they all should have been wearing gold blazers.

Anyway I am charging up the computer now. Hopefully this will fix the cadence bug. I still need to program it. With my lack of technical expertise I'll probably inadvertently set it up so it mistakenly initiates nuclear missile launch codes whenever I go on a ride.

I'm thinking the lawyers probably saw me with my new beard and realized that it was way too dangerous to allow me to take the stand. They'd ask me a question and I'd begin to thoughtfully stroke my facial hair while formulating a response. Then I'd have the jury under the thrall of beard power. If I had a pipe to go along with it I probably could have convinced them to give him the death penalty.

So it is day 12 of the beard. Apparently I haven't accomplished much yet except for managing to look like a creepy European fitness instructor named Raoule. "Eh, how you say, ... hello."

Biked the Millhopper loop this morning (Monday) before work. I've been fighting a mild cold for the past few days- sore throat, mucus, some fatigue. Somehow set a personal course record for watts (197) even though I was off my best time by about 45 seconds. It wasn't windy at all so I don't know why. I probably wasn't riding as aerodynamically as I should.

Saw a deer standing still in front of a subdivision for what seemed like forever. I used the harder gear (50:17) that I was in Friday. My longer range goal is to average 90 rpm in that gear for a whole ride.

There were some July 4 cycling club bikers heading out just as I was coming back in.

The beard is still coming along. I'm on day 10. They say to wait 4 weeks without shaving before trying to refine it. Not loving having to testify in court tomorrow.

Biked out around 6:30 Saturday morning to do the Hawthorne trail thinking about my temporarily sidelined comrade the Cyclist on Fire. The recent rain has resulted in a welcome increase in the water levels of the creek under the bridge. Wildlife spottings were limited to a lone disinterested deer. I made it out to the halfway point in good time. Probably a little faster than I intended. I looped around and headed back quickly realizing that I overdid it a little and I was going to be tired going back into town. The early start meant it wasn't warm yet and there were few people out. Exiting out onto Waldo road I saw these three people briskly walking in matching silver sweat jackets. The kind people get to lose weight because they don't realize that sweating and losing water weight is not the same as losing fat. I had seen the people before and I was annoyed with the stupidity and futility of their efforts. Oh well, at least they were out doing something and maybe they know something I don't. And silver is a pretty cool color regardless of the circumstances. Going down the big hill on Glenn Springs Rd by my house I managed to get over 36 mph which is the fastest I've ever ridden. Wrecking at that speed would be really bad. Made it back home by 9:15 AM which I won't lie was nice.

The day before was Friday which means I did the Racetrack loop. There was very little wind and I knew I had the opportunity for a special ride. I made an impromptu decision to ride in the next hardest gear than my usual. Of course I used other gears but that one was my "home base" for the ride. It seemed to be paying dividends even though my cadence was mostly in the 80's rather than 90's rpm range. I interspersed four 5 minute intervals of harder riding. As the ride went on I realized I had a shot at a personal course record. When I was able to sail through the intersection of 441 and 53rd ave on a green light I knew it was on. I was out of the saddle for much of the last mile and brought it home in 1:28:50. That shaves about 30 seconds off my previous mark. The average speed for the just under 30 mile ride was 19.8 mph. Afterwards I ate breakfast and fell asleep before having to go to work.

The previous Wednesday (6/29) I rode with the Gliders. Two people had flat tires during the ride which held things up. I haven't flatted recently but it is inevitable. I don't understand people that just do group rides. I can't overstate the difference between being in front doing all the work and being behind someone drafting. In the home stretch going east on a Millhopper road I was stuck in front pulling up the steep (for Gainesville) I-75 overpass hill. After my time in front was over I didn't have enough gas to stay reattached to the remaining group.

Except for Tuesday I drove to work every other day last week due to various circumstances. I have been subpoenaed to appear in court as part of a Walgreens lawsuit next Tuesday so I have to drive that day. Also I have to drive Monday because we have 9-5 holiday hours and I want to get in my morning Millhopper ride. Hopefully things will get back to normal after that.

Oh and I am growing a beard. It's been a week since I last shaved. It's coming in ok. Although one of my customers said I looked exactly like Howard Stern. Impossibly he actually thought this was a compliment. Another customer who is basically a homeless guy said my longer hair and nascent beard growth looked good. I'm not really looking for compliments but these are the types of endorsements I can do without. I'm sure a patient will come in today and say I look like a young Charles Manson. At this point if my head was a movie it would be Teen Wolf Too. I don't know what my endgame is. Just keep growing everything like a giant bush and then have it trimmed back into something mildly manageable I guess. At least the skin under the beard hair isn't irritated by my bike helmet strap.