anniversary and biking

As a 35th anniversary surprise, Phil took me to New Orleans for the weekend.

I was in New Orleans last year about this time, at the start of the Mississippi bike trip from New Orleans to Memphis, but was so busy with organizational meetings that I didn't have any opportunity to explore or enjoy.

So we drove over on Friday and spent the late afternoon and evening wandering the French Quarter. While we were wandering we came across a rug weavers' studio, Louisiana Loom Works, complete with 5 cats. Of course nothing would do but that we stop in and visit with the cats. The rugs were lovely and Ronda, the weaver and her husband were friendly and charming. They steered us towards a restaurant Mr. Bs and the gumbo ya ya and the barbequed shrimp which is not really barbequed but baked in a very rich roux ,were extra special.

one of the five weavers cats working hard at being display art

Saturday we spent the day wandering the French Quarter and the Garden District. The carriage tour of the district was very pleasant, with the guide very informatative and talkative.

mansion in the garden district

The Garden District was redolent with the scents jasmine and honeysuckle and something else that was strongly vanilla. Because it was brewing up to a storm, the air was very humid and the scents were even more pronounced. As the thunder increased, we took a bus back to downtown and sat and people watched from a sidewalk cafe. It was a non stop wet tshirt contest. Later in the evening, we had a lovely dinner at the Court of the Two Sisters. Unfortunately we couldn't eat in the patio because of the pouring rain, but the dinner was lovely none the less.

After an uneventful drive back to Houston after a late morning start and a joyful reunion with the animals who were all feeling neglected and put upon by having had had strangers keeping them, we settled back in for the week.

I have started with a new trainer, Andrew, my previous trianer, has been accepted by the Houston Fire Department. Good news for him as it means a pension, health plan, pension and best of all, it takes him off of the list of Marine Reserve available for recall. I will have four sessions with Taylor, but will then be gone for 6 weeks which will give us both time to evaluate. I can't really see making progress without a trainer, simply from a forcing me to do things on a level, and a structured, controlled, outlook point of view so I plan to continue with the training after the ride, even if I ease off some and am fond valuing reps over weight. I still need to lose a couple of percent of body fat and the inches wouldn't hurt either. Mostly it's because I know I will inevetably slip if I don't have to stick with it and be checked by another outside source.

Since having my bike refitted 10 days ago, I have been riding to see how I can accommodate the new fit. I sort of figured last weeks, very easy ride of 15.5. for 40 miles might have been due to the tail wind, but today's ride proved that the new fit has had a good effect. Again in spite of or because of the headwinds, I managed to maintain 15.5 mph avaerage over 42 miles so it looks like the fix has taken. The seat still needs a bit of tweaking but I can do that alone now that the seat, handle bars and brakes/gear shifts have been repotioned. I will try and ride again tomorrow to add mileage and continue to confirm that the change in position and gear spacing has indeed added an extrra mph to my overall speed. If it has, then it was worth everything, including the aggrvation of getting the appointment and putting up with the fitting itself and I will be sorry that I didn't do it earlier.

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary. I find it so hard to believe and yet I know the time has indeed passed even though I don't feel that much older or more mature.

I am lucky and blessed that my life has been relatively calm and stress free for the majority of time. Not that it has all been good, but at least the good times have been in balance with the bad.

todays ride stats

42 miles

ride time 2:43

average 15.5

My 1825 mile charity ride for Heifer International begins in 10 days. Iam beginning to feel like I might even make it through the 100 miles on the second day.