Steve Tilford

I didn’t get out until this afternoon. I didn’t have an exact plan, was going to just ride by feel. And I felt shitty leaving, so I stopped at the first coffeeshop to see if that would change something. It didn’t. I had been reading about how all the allergies in Austin are bad right now, so I thought maybe that was the deal.

I rode out West to Bee Caves and stopped at a Walgreen’s and bought some allergy medicine. I took one and kept going. This is the first in my life I’ve done that. Anyway, the wind was from the northwest and I had to ride that way to go back across the dam and back in. I’m not sure if I rode into the ride or what, but did feel remarkably better coming back.

I found two tools on the shoulder. That isn’t so unusual, but the tools I found seemed strange. I found a 10mm and 13mm open end wrenches. These are the tools I’ve used the most of all the auto tools I’ve used. A 10 and 13 are the most common bolts on a VW. The 10mm fits all the shrouding and the 13 fits a lot of things.

Another thing weird was my max speed. It was pretty windy, not Kansas windy, but pretty Austin windy and it must of switched to the west only, because coming back on 2222, down the hill off of 620, I had a max speed of over 60 mph. I knew it seemed quick, my eyes were watering pretty good, but it didn’t seem that fast. It is strange seeing a speed that high. The 50’s is normal, but over 60 is unusual. Especially in the midwest. (It’s on the latest Strava download to the right.)

Anyway, it was a nice day to ride. I only rode 2 hours, hoping to get in a big ride tomorrow. My shoulder is sore, but I don’t think I’m doing anything bad to it riding, so I’m not stressing.

The wrenches. Only one is a Craftsman. (I know Ann, “What are those doing on my kitchen counter?)

Seemed to make me feel better, but you know how that is, you never know.

It is strange trying to center yourself when you think you should be doing something and you are actually doing something else. The something else never seems as real and enjoyable because you want to be doing something different.

I haven’t been riding very good since I got to Austin. I had planned to do some big miles, but can’t seem to do any better than crack 50 and then I’m done. It probably a combination of a lot of things. I’ve been feeling sort of bad the last couple days. And have something going on with a tooth again. Plus, I seem to melt when it gets over 85, which is pretty common here now.

But, I still would rather be racing badly than not at all. That is strange to say. I wonder why that is? If I was racing badly, I would probably think, “Maybe I should go down to Austin, just chill, and do some miles until I feel good.” Sounds good now, but when you don’t have the option of racing, then you tend to want to do just that. Funny how the human mind works.

Austin has no bags. When you go to the store, auto parts, Home Depot, etc. they have no bags for what you bought. It has been sort of a hassle the last couple days. I need to stick a reusable bag in my car. Seems like a good law to me, but something you have to get used to.

I’m installing a dog door into a screen dog in Ann’s porch. It is slow going. I had a plan, but it fell apart when the plexiglass broke. Now I have a new plan, but it is going to take a lot longer and might look a little jerry-rigged. (I wonder who Jerry was?)

Ann has been out East and is getting back late this morning. She invited me to go eat with her, Sunday Brunch. I said sure. So, I’m going to try, for the first time in my life, of riding without eating. I hear that if you do miles before you eat then you tend to burn more fat or something. It doesn’t really make any sense, but I know I’ll be really hungry for brunch.

Okay, that’s about it for now. Feeling a bit uncreative.