On Tuesday I'm riding the Yamaha YZF-R1 to work and leaned over in a slow speed corner at about 75-80 mph. At the last minute I see something on the road, but there's nothing that I can do. I just have to go for the wild ride as the gasoline or oil or fluid puts me into a sideways slide headed towards the outer guardrail. I just ride it out and manage to stay off of the guardrail. But it sure got my attention! After a productive day at work I have to prove that I can still have som fun, so I take a medium speed corner at about 105 mph with the knee out and it feels good. A good session with the weights at home gives me a good pump and leaves me feeling great.
Wednesday sees uneventful motorbike commutes and an uneventful day at work. It's when I get on the mountain bicycle after work to ride down and beyond the aquarium that things start happeneing. First I run into Person Ch_C driving to eat dinner and go run. He stops his car and we chat for a few minutes as I say, "You don't have to be afraid of me". As I'm down near the aquarium I have my head turned to watch some eye candy and a little girl suddenly runs in front of me. I don't even realize that shes inf ront of me because I have my head turned and I just barely see her squeezing past my front wheel as I return my head to a forward-looking position. I have enough time to look back at the parents and glare a if to say, "Get control of your kids". And finally I'm starting back up the Los Angeles river when I see a guy riding slowly. I yell at him, "Come ride with me because I'm going slow". But it turns out he has a flat tire and I stop to help, but I only have mountain bicycle tubes. It turns out he's Khmer and he's surprised that I can say a few words in his language and it turns out he has the exact same Mavic Aksium wheels. Anyway, he has a short distance to walk home but he thanks me for stopping and I continue on home.
On Friday the 13th we finally receive great news at work. We are notified that we are to build the weather satellite for a government agency. We've been waiting for this word since February and now we can interact with the customer and figure out what they want and build something. I leave work a bit early and have a great session with the weights, mow the lawn, do the laundry, and wash the Yamaha YZF-R1. I take a quick shower and pick up Person Ch_C and drive him to a previous apartment so that he can ride his bicycle home to his current living place (nearer my house). Afterwards I relax and plan a long Saturday morning ride.
On Saturday I wake up and the long ride isn't there. It just isn't there. Thus I get up and folow MotoGP and Moto2 qualifying over the Internet from the Czech Republic, wax the Yamaha YZF-R1, and then get out for an qauarium ride where I do a number of intervals down and up the Los Angeles river trail. At the end I am just crawling home because I'm beaten up pretty badly. It takes me a long time to recover from this ride, but it feels satisfying. Late in the afternoon I wax the rims of the Yamaha YZF-R1 and then get cleane dup to meet Person Ch_C and his friends for Thai dinner.
I meet two more of Person Ch_c's friends and they are also very nice. Because his friends know the owner of the Thai restaurant, I get introduced to the owner and to the head chef and I'm able to practice some Thai. And everyone wants to know why I am able to speak Thai, so I have to run through the preschool building story. The curry veegtables are just phenomenal and, even though I am sweating a bit, just the right spice. Afterwards Person Ch_C comes over to visit and we turn on the television and hang out until bedtime.
On Sunday I get up and watch the MotoGP race from the Czech Republic and I'm disappointed with the results, the racing, and the intervals. When Person Ch_C leaves I get out for the aquarium ride again with intervals thrown in. I manage to beat myself up pretty good again for the second day in a row. I'm wearing the same shirt as yesterday and it smells nasty! The toxins coming out from hard intervals smell nasty! In the afternoon I am so hungover from the recent two rides and late Saturday night and even a disppaointing Moto2 race from the Czech Republic adds to my woes. By early Sunday evening I'm hoping for the day to end so that I can go to sleep.
Throughout the week I try to stay productive at work and with workouts. On Tuesday I have another great interval ride and on Thursday I have a great workout with the weights (with other workouts on the other days). On Wednsesay after a workout I head to a community meeting regarding the crisis in the Long Beach city budget. There are three councilpersons there and many other heads of various departments. They present two plans to reduce the deficit but both involve a fair amount of pain. Towards the end of the meeting I get back on the bicycle and ride for home. Person Ch_C comes over and we hang out and talk until well past 11 pm when he leaves and I get down for sleep.
On Friday morning I intend to ride long, but get lazy in the early morning. When I pull the road bicycle out to still ride sort of long, I discover a burr or something in the rear tire and when I pull it out I lose all of the air. So I put the road bicycle away and bring out the mountain bicycle for another set of intervals down and up the Los Angeles river trail and extended beyond the aquarium. When I'm doing some errands I get a series of text messages from Person Ch_C and pretty soon we have started our Friday afternoon activities. We have lunch, then hang out some, try to go and play ping pong (though the facility is closing soon and we don't get to play), walk around the CSULB campus for a long time, and then have cold tea (of various flavors). Eventually we head for home and relax.
I stay in bed until 7 on Saturday morning because I got to sleep late and woke up and couldn't fall asleep again. I manage to squeeze in the aquarium bicycle ride in before many spectators get to the area for the Red Bull Flugtag. Today is going to be hot again, so I get some reading in, work on some shelves, repair the road bicycle flat rear tire, and relax some more in the afternoon. Later in the evening I get in a good workout with the weights, get cleaned up, and head for clubs in West Hollywood to meet up with friends and acquaintances.
I hit one club and hang out for a while. The DJ is playing some very good music tonight and it is a shame that I get phonecalls to meet people at another club. I meet up with Person J_VKPI and Person T_U at the second club as planned. When we're wandering around the club we run into Joe and Brandon. Brandon has not been out with us for a long time, but he's cleebrating taking his pharmacy board exam the previous day. I run into quite a few other acquaintances on this evening and have fun - though the DJ at the second club is not playing great music and has no rhythym for the evening. Tonight I leave the club right at 2am on Sunday morning, hang outside the club for a whiel (it is open until 4am), and then rush for home. I get a few minutes of reading in before turning the lights out at 2:56 am.
On Sunday I'm up at 6:30 am and relax for a bit before getting out for the loop road bike ride. Today I am feeling strong throughout the ride and manage to do the entire ride about one gear up from usual. Could it be that the one week of hard intervals is already paying off? After 4pm Person Ch_C calls and I head over and meet him at a coffeehouse. We hang out for a while and then Person T_U calls and visits us in the coffeehouse. It turns out that Person T_U and Person Ch_C met at a Christmas party 4 years ago. Later Person Ch_C and I go back home and relax to end the week.
On Monday morning I start my second CatWatch 2010 spell as the neighbor is out on a cruise with her boyfriend and I get to feed the cat and let it in and out of the house. I have a productive day at work on Monday and then I head for home. As I'm winding the motorbike up to 90 mph and beyond on a freeway transition road a truck decides to make a lane change and forces me to ride over the rain gutter and grating to avoid contact. Since this is the third close call I've had recently, I can relax since close calls always come in threes. I have a productive heavy workout with the weights as I change over to a segregated push/pull set of workouts on consecutive days. When I go back over in the evening to let the cat back in the house she is excited to see me and get into our CatWatch 2010 routine.