Tuesday and Wednesday are also very hot days in Long Beach with temperatures at 95F. I make good progress at work and then do what I can to stay cool at home. On Tuesday it's extra hot and I'm lazy so I just check the fluids on the Yamaha YZF-R1 and then do some work programming simulations at home as Person Ti_Ca goes off to take a statistics midterm. I also drink some Airborne vitamin C drink on Tuesday because I feel something coming on.
Friday is a blah day but I try to make progress at work. WHen I get home I lift weights and though they are the same weights as Monday and Wednesday, today I struggle makign the lifts. And afterwards my ebergy level is dropping sharply as I mow the front lawn and trim the roses. And a characteristic sore spot in my mouth has made its presence felt (which is what happens when I'm feeling under the weather).
On Sunday I get up at 6:20 am and everything hurts. So I sit back with blueberry muffins and watch the F1 race from Singapore. It's another exciting race throughout the field. After the race I get on the mountain bicycle and ride for two hours and I actually don't feel bad and I push at certain times. But I can tell I'm a bit sick. Person Ti_Ca and his family is taking his mother to San Pedro today since she is (probably) moving away from the area soon so I have a relaxing afternoon at home and try to get rid of the sickness. I used to get this type of cold/illness every February and every July, but it has been a few years since that pattern appeared. Maybe this year it appeared in September after ten days of very hot weather or I don't know why.
On Tuesday I intend to go out cycling after work, but I'm lazy and just buy a bottle of wine from Tader Joe's as well as a gift for an intern at work. I do a few errands around the house and end up drinking most of the bottle of wine before the night is over. I feel well when it is time to read and sleep, but soon things change.
So I work for 5 hours on Wednesday and then go home and go for a 35 minute walk. It's important to move the body and keep the metabolism and circulation going even if one is sick.
I start north on the Los Angeles river on the road bicycle on Friday morning. I can't quite get the body moving and so I just keep trying to work through the difficulties. I cross over the dam and head south on the San Gabriel trail - fully expecting to take the Del Amo cutoff that would make a 40 mile ride. But I team up with another rider and we take turns pulling each other. When I get to Del Amo I realize I can't really abandon him and let him fight the onshore ocean breeze the last 8 miles to the ocean, so I keep going. At the end of the trail we thank each other for the pulls and hope to ride again someday. I go accross the ocean trail and back up the Los Angeles reiver trail to get home. I don't quite know where the other rider went when I made my westerly turn to ride along the ocean trail. When I get home I don't feel too bad considering the illness and how I started the ride, so I edge and mow the lawn and then trime the roses. A cool shower and a few minutes of laying down on the bed help me recover from a surprisingly productive morning. Person Ti_Ca and I go have pizza for lunch since I say, "I haven't had a good marinara sauce, gooey-cheese pizza in a long time". After some grocery shopping I return home to take care of some financial matters including re-assigning some automatic withdrawls to a new Visa redit card that I just got because the last one was again compromised. It seems that I get fraudulent charges on this Visa card every two years and need to have a new card and number assigned.
On Sunday I start north on the Los Angeles river trail fully expecting to stop at the Del Amo cutoff for a maximum ride of about 40 miles. I feel slow north on the river trail and when a couple of groups of riders go past, that I would normally join in with, I am sure that I am going to stop at Del Amo. I feel a bit better after corssing over the dam and coming down the San Gabriel river trail and soon I hear a rider behind me holding my wheel. He passes me and I tag and then after a few miles a faster rider comes past both of us and we tag on to him. He's pulling pretty fast and I'm not up to pulling right now, so I just enjoy the fast pace from the back. We're approaching Del Amo and I can't let these guys go to the ocean without me, so soon I'm past Del Amo and taking turns at the front. The really fast guy (the third to join) drops off the back but the original guy and I take turns pulling each other to the ocean. We stop at the end, thank each other for the pulls, and simultaneously say, "I hope we ride together again". I ride along the oceand go back to a more relaxed pace and make it home for another 57 miles. The MotoGP and the Moto3 races are wild events with rain having just fallen with a drying track or rain starting to fall at mid-race. So they make for entertaining viewing. I spend some time looking through clothes (usually gifts that people have given me over the years) and take some of them to the Goodwill dropbox. And I tell the lady, "Most of these might be a bit old but have never been worn". I plan to continue some closet cleaning in the next few weeks.