Awesome Early Ride

Cicely and I were both up really early today not by choice but because Zoey was having a bit of a breakdown in her room and we had to go find out why. Cicely went in there first and tried calming her down and seeing what was the matter while I went into the kitchen and started to get a bottle going for her, I knew that she would be hungry after sleeping all night.

Once I had the bottle all ready and in the heater cooking, well actually just heating up, I went in to ask Cicely if she figured out what was the matter with Zoey. I guess overnight she managed to get a pretty nasty diaper rash that was hurting her quite a bit. It is weird how quick it can come on especially because we are so adamant about changing her diaper and keeping her clean. Her school is the same way, they always make sure she is clean and dry.

Once Cicely got her to calm down a little bit the bottle was ready, it was perfect timing. I gave Zoey the bottle and she drank it down fairly quickly only stopping when she would move just right and her diaper rash would start to hurt. When she was done with the bottle I had suggested that Cicely give her warm bath with baking soda in the water. This always seems to help the diaper rash.

The bath seem to take the edge off of the diaper rash, as it usually does, and the bath itself always magically calms down Zoey. She loves to be in the water playing and it's just nice and calming as well as relaxing for her, diaper rash or not.

Once she was done with her bath and back out it was time for a more diaper rash ointment and a fresh, loosely attached diaper so her skin could breathe. She was pretty good after all of that was taken care of and ready to eat breakfast and get on with her day. We were happy and considered it a parenting job that was well done.

Cycling

Because I was up early I decided the best thing that I could do was grab my razor and shave. This way I was one step closer to being on my way to getting my butt out on the road and putting some miles on my bike. Even though I was up before 7:00 to help with Zoey I ended up having my usual mug of coffee and breakfast that Cicely made which meant that I managed to not actually get out on the road until almost noon.

That's okay though, otherwise I probably would not have been out until much later and I may have even been discouraged once I noticed what the weather was like. When I first left it was fairly cold and I actually had to wear a jacket over my jersey which is rare unless I am cycling at night.

The wind was kicking up as well off and on and so that made it a little more difficult to cycle. What I have been doing lately instead of getting pissed off at the wind is just thinking to myself that it's only making me stronger for the days that it's not windy. Of course I know in the back of my head that those days it may not be windy but it will probably be really hot and dry. There is always something to deal with it seems.

In the end I ended up taking some new routes or at times the reverse of routes I normally take which really made it a lot of fun. Once I got back home and looked at my Garmin 1000 GPS and data recorder I was stoked to find that I had racked up over 36 miles.

Big picture, other than my sit bones being a little bitchy and sore or my quads being a little more spent than usual from hard rides on the trainer this past week, it was a very successful, fun day on the bike. Heck even all of the motorist I had to deal with at certain points were overly nice, patient, helpful and quick to give me space or let me over - what a great day!

Now the 'downer' part of it all is that I'm still quite a ways off of my goal for the week of 130 miles. Not sure exactly 'how far' yet as I have not plugged the Garmin in to transfer my data. My guess is that I will need another 30 miles at least to just barely make it this week.

I keep telling myself and Cicely that I feel as though the goal is really far out there, almost to the point of being out of reach due to my legs not being as conditioned as those that ride 50 to 100+ miles a day! For them a month long goal of 1250 kilometers is not much of a challenge as it's what they already do week after week anyhow. Honestly for me, my plan is and always will be to keep at it and see how close I can get to the over-all goal of 1250 km for this month.

What's the worst that comes of it? I don't make the goal, I get to ride my bike a ton trying, lose some weight potentially as well as increase the strength in my legs. Oh darn that sounds like such a bad reward, not!

Cicely, Zoey & Cat

While I was out riding sisal he must have got a hold of Cat or Cat got a hold of her and they decided to hang out for a while. Cat is Cicely's friend she met a few years back. Cat does fashion that is more like artwork or paintings that you wear (if you ask my opinion anyway).

Basically her clothing line is always changing, always unique and consists of really cool, painted new, sometimes vintage or re-purposed clothing for women. Everything from jeans and shirts to tops and those things that used to be really popular back in the day to give women the hourglass shape when cinched up really tight with the lacing. Darn, the name escapes me but you know what they are. I could go find it, what fun is that?

Both Cicely and Cat think very much alike, so it's really good for them get together and do nothing more than sit around at a coffee shop, talk about things, fashion and all in between essentially sparking new ideas and getting old ones out of the way.

Hopefully Zoey was a good girl and Cicely and Cat were able to have a good conversation with each other, maybe spit-ball ideas or even come up with things completely new looking forward. That can be scary at times as well of course, but that's my girl, it's what she does!

Enough For Today

Alright it's time to wrap this entry up for the day and move on with the rest of my Saturday. I still need to get some things done like bills that I have been avoiding. It's not that I've been avoiding the bills because I don't have the money to pay them, I am just too lazy to sit there for half an hour and deal with paying them. Pretty sad I know right? Me and my first world problems!

Otherwise have a good Saturday, or what's left of it depending on whether you're ready this today or some random day in the future that is something other than Saturday, even so, enjoy whatever day it is, you won't have the chance to enjoy the exact same day ever again!

For me, the weather was awesome! Basically there were plenty of clouds to create the perfect amount of an overcast and the wind, while annoying and blowing strong at times, was mostly a very welcomed cool, slight breeze, which felt awesome. Especially because I was wearing a jacket over my jersey to keep warm.

Okay, seriously, this time I'm going to end the entry and get-on with the day, goodbye!

Photo: Had one of these at Outback Steakhouse last time we were there. Looks really good in this picture and is making me thirsty. I could use a couple of these tonight!