Day 5

Guess what? I am going on a bike ride today! Something new! Okay, so maybe I'm getting a little punchy. I slept well again last night, despite a rain shower. I was laughing to myself today, thinking that I'm going to have to move this cot into my bedroom at home to be able to sleep! But I have a hunch it won't be hard to re-adapt to a mattress.

Today's operating word is----drum roll----RAIN! It is extremely overcast and was spitting on me as I pulled up to the Internet trailer. Something new to contend with. But at least I won't get a sunburn. I think I wrote that I didn't get one yesterday, but my arms started turning red after an hour or so after the ride. And since I wear didn't pairs of shorts that are different lengths, I now have a gradient tan on my legs (ask a designer what a gradient is if you don't know). It'll be all the rage soon, I'm sure.

I almost got a temporary tattoo yesterday. What is happening to me!!?? I just might do it. I wonder if I could become a professional bike tourer (tourist? tourengineer?)?

Couple more new phrases. Well, the first one isn't too new.

MANDEX
This one came from me and my kids. To wear spandex is not the most attractive look in public, but it is the most comfortable method of riding. I objected to the term "spandex," because it sounded feminine to me. So I came up with "mandex," to be a man's spandex.

Clip-on/Slap-in/Hookup
This is a phrase that is used when you want to tag onto a paceline, which I think I explained yesterday.

SAG
This is the name of the vehicles that can come pick you up if you have become mentally deranged or your bike has a problem. I don't know what it stands for, if it is an acronym. Maybe because they sag behind the bikes. Or it could be referring to your body after riding 80 miles.

Okay, isolation. Last night I sat on some bleachers by a high school softball field and watched a bird on a fence. He was just a little guy, sitting all by himself. He would lift his head up and sing and sing. Then he would preen himself and look around. Then he'd sing again. He didn't seem to have a care and was quite content to use the noise that God gave him to the fullest. I sat and watched him for probably 15 or 20 minutes until he flew away. When was the last time you did that? Sat and watched something for that long that wasn't a computer screen, TV or movie screen. Hmmmmm...

Okay, back on the road. I'm in Chelsea, Iowa, in case you were wondering, and it is 7:17 a.m. It's a 76 mile day in the rain. Yahoo!