I’ve been riding really subpar recently. Yesterday was no exception. I met Bill out at the Governor’s mansion and planned to ride a couple laps before it got dark. It had rained a ton here on Saturday night, so the ground was slick with the wet leaves. I had no spunk. I wasn’t dying, but really couldn’t get out of my own way.

Then, I pinched through my front tire and didn’t have enough latex in the tire to seal the cut. So, I needed to put a tube in. Unluckily for me, the “bolt” or valve stem nut, didn’t seem to want to come off. I’ve had this issue before. I have a really small pair of aluminum, foldable pliers that I used to carry in my seat jar, but I don’t seem to have them now. Anyway, it was in the mid 30’s and our hands just kept getting more useless by the minute. We tried to grab the nut with a rubber tube, then tried a chain tool I had on a multi-tool. Nothing. We tried to put Gorilla tape on the cut, but it wouldn’t stick. Finally, I took the multi-tool and we stuck the torque bit down the valve stem from the inside and used another part of it, I’m not sure what it is for, to grab onto the nut and unscrew it. It was very lucky it worked.

We didn’t really ride much at all, only 15 miles, but I was really out of sync anyway. I could hardly follow Bill down any of the descents.

So, when I got home, since I didn’t get much exercise, I thought I’d try to do some situps, pushups and stretching in the living room. I figured it would be a bust, but at least should make an effort. Normally, when I’m riding really poorly, everything else physically follows. I started doing situps and it was a breeze. 50 not a problem, so I did another 50, no problem. I was thinking something was weird. So, I started doing pushups. I usually do 50 in a row. I got to maybe 10 and was pretty much done. I rested for 30 seconds or so and did another ten. My shoulders were so weak and sore I quit.

This is the first time I can remember in my life where my situps and pushups deviated from the same course physically. I have no explanation. If I’m not sore from situps later today, then I’m really lost for a reason. Normally when I’m riding this badly, my stomach would be sore from situps, no matter how used to doing them I am. Rarely, something like this changes. I’m not sure what to make of it as of yet.

I did a bunch of manual labor things yesterday. I recharged the ac on the diesel van. I had the ac lines welded where I had jerry-rigged some patches with JB Weld, aluminum shims and hose clamps. This worked for over a year, but since the engine was lowered to replace the fuel injectors, they were easy to get at. I only had a pound of 134a, so I still need to add nearly 3 more. Not a big deal.

I was playing on the kitchen table with my new Di2 shifters for my cross bike. I still haven’t put them on yet. It is kind of fun wiring them up and watching them move on their own. The front derailleur adjusts automatically for the trim of the rear derailleur, so when you’re shifting the rear, the front aligns it self.

Then later, I went over to my friend’s, Adam Gatewood’s house, to help him remove a cast iron tub. The problem was that is was built into the space it was in. I was going to take it to use, but the bottom was pretty beat up and I have no intention of getting it fixed. So, out came the sledge hammer. Cast iron is very brittle and cracks easily. Below is a short video of the carnage.

I’m driving over to Lawrence this morning to get a blood test. I ordered a ton of tests actually. I do it through a website call Econolabs.com. A complete blood test is $26. You can add what you want after that. I got a thyroid test, cholesterol, iron, and a few others. If you have a Lab Corp. near, you just walk in with the order you print out and get the results back the next day. Very easy.

Trudi and Bill are going too and Bill and I are going to ride back on gravel. It’s only 30 miles, but it’s not supposed to be very warm yet. I’m heading to Texas tomorrow. The weather there is in the 70’s.

Adam smashing his tub to remove. The thing weighed about 350 pounds, so we broke it up a little more.

Adam’s grandfather’s sledge hammer. It was a beast.

The pile of fuel injectors from my diesel van. They are way more complicated than I’d imagined. No wonder they cost $250 a piece. There is a $1000 core on these here.

Di2 functioning on the kitchen table.

It took nearly all our hands to remove this nut, which was seized on with dried latext. Luckily I didn’t flat a couple weeks ago in Berryman.