On the way home, I ran into The Arborist and we chatted a bit. He's been trying to get Pink to move out of their apartment so he can keep it. That's probably the best thing as her family is very wealthy and she can afford to live anywhere with just a little call to daddy. The new GF, "Bunny"¹ didn't work out, so he's now back on the market. Apparently, this is not a good thing, as he would much rather settle down. Sort of. But not get married or anything.

So, ladies, if you're interested in a 35-year-old Arborist who makes a pretty good living, is very good looking and in great shape, friendly, good sense of humor, likes to dine out and go clubbing, and lots and lots and lots of sex,² PM your CV and I'll pass it along.

¹ her real name
² opinion of long romantic walks on the beach is unknown; however, if it ended in sex, I'm sure his opinion would be AWESOME.

Attention CRwM and Kellnerin infidels: Opine, please.

Footie fans: Adidas Chapel in the Köln train station.

Saturday was King’s Tour of the Quabbin. I didn’t tour the Quabbin, I cut it short.

What a miserable day. And it didn’t start off well. My phone went out,  (although the DSL is still working), I forgot my camera, I forgot my fenders, I forgot my glucometer, and I missed my exit off the turnpike which meant I had to meander through Worcester on 122 the hard way.

I got to Rutland shortly after 7 and stood around waiting for the rain to stop. It didn’t.  I’d planned on doing the 100 mi., but wanted to get started earlier to finish earlier since high winds were supposed to kick in around 2 pm. The 200k was supposed to start at 7:00, the 100mi at 8:00 and the 100k at 9:00. Several people standing around bagged it for the day and didn’t ride at all. I finally rolled out at about 7:35. In the rain.

I had to decide by mile 34 while route to do. That’s where the 100k splits from two longer rides. But by the time I got to the first (and only!) rest stop, I’d pretty much made up my mind that I wasn’t going to full 100 mi. It’s a good thing, too. I had zero energy left by the time I got finished. Two guys, Bill and Tom. rolled up while I was trying to decide, and I rode with them for most of the rest of the day.
I swear there are as many hills in the 100k as the 100mi, but compressed into 40 mi less. I will be mapping out the 100k shortly, so we’ll see whether that’s true. The 7Hill site says the 100 mi has about 7500 feet of climbing. All I know is I was completely wiped by the end of the day. I didn’t help, either, that the day’s high temperature was 56 degrees. Did I mention it was raining?

There were one or two very, very brief periods of no rain. In one place, the pavement almost got dry in spots, and the sky started to lighten. But that only lasted a few minutes and it was back to rain. I have a Fassa Bortolo cycling cap that I wear under my helmet when it rains. By the end of the ride, all I could do was grind out the hills watching that little bead of water sliding back and forth on the end of the bill. And now that I think about it, I must have left my cap in Rutland. I can’t find it.

The wind also started kicking up, but since so much of the ride (or at least the 100k) is in the hills, you’re pretty much sheltered from the brundt of the wind by the trees. In the 100mi you’re pretty exposed out there on US 202.

I got home around 3:30 or so, and had the car reserved until 11:00 pm, but didn’t have any energy to do anything else. It was a cold, rainy, miserable day. I have a 200k ride next weekend that I’m now wondering about. It’s much flatter ride (Boston to P-town) but it is 130 miles.

I spent Sunday cleaning the bike. It's all sparkly now.

Since the ride Saturday was supposed to be a long one, I took the dog over to my friend who is also a contractor at the same client. He vented for nearly an hour about $manager. She's really worked my last good nerve fairly often, but I never work in the office, whereas he is physically there two days a week. I guess there are a few times when it's nearly come to a shouting match.

That's actually good to hear. I was starting to think all this issues were communication trouble on my part, but it seems it's a systemic thing. I tell myself I should feel better about that now, but really, what it means is that this is as good as it can get.

Bought a bunch of stuff for the bike today. It should be here next Monday.

4D Man
[Netflix] [IMDb]

Tony Nelson (James Congdon) (no relation) develops an amplifier that allows objects to pass through each other. I’m not sure what the amplifier is amplifying, but it might be brain waves or something. In true scientific spirit, Tony's older brother, Scott (Robert Lansing), experiments on himself and he’s able to pass through walls and whatnot. The cost is that, as he’s apparently doing this by transitioning into the 4th dimension (time), he ages rapidly but he’s able to stave off the aging by passing through other people and reclaiming their energy but killing them in the process.

There’s a potential story here, but this isn’t the way to do it. The movie is too disjointed and badly acted, with attrocious beat music (bongos and high hat cooldom) that’s it’s really tough to watch. "No! Scott! Don’t!". William Shatner would be proud. And Speaking of Mr. Shatner, Scott Nelson is played by the guy who played Gary Seven. This also has a very young Lee Meriwether and an even younger Patty Duke.