Not Me or New Me.

I haven't ridden in a while.

The day after we got back from Fairbanks, I noticed my fence was falling down. Given that there is a limited window for such work in Alaska, I threw myself into rebuilding it. A few days later I was a broken man, but the job was pretty much finished. 

The wife loves Homer, AK for some nonsensical reason. I hate it for a thousand logical reasons. So, of course we packed the RV up and drove down to the Homer Spit to park in a gravel lot, crammed next to hundreds of drunk fishermen. It poured rain the whole time.I was tasked with getting up every morning at about 5:00AM and feeding and walking the dogs. In the rain. My body, abused by the fence project, locked up as I got soaked by the cold rain. I got sick. The bike was with me, but I did not feel like riding. So obviously my opinion of Homer took a complete 180 to the point that I'm looking at real estate in the area. Or not.

Once I got home it was tie to clean out the garage, or at least dig a path through it. While I was out traveling, the wife and children had been packing all sorts of treasures not good enough for the house in the garage. They threw them (literally) on my bikes and wheelsets and other expensive stuff, until you had to peel back the layers like an archeologist to figure out what was there. I couldn't even walk from one end of the garage to the other, but instead choose a specific entrance to get to a particular part of the mound.

It wasn't that way when I left it.

I dug in, making multiple trips to the dump to redistribute the treasures. I discarded old "good stuff" of my own, hoarded over the years. I sorted the shelves somewhat. Slowly but surely, I made it somewhat reasonable again. My bike room is accessible again, if not organized. I'll get there. Little by little, I'll get there.

Then, to cap it all off, the ditsy girl who bought our old RV, Daisy, was having issues and asked for help. Because I have a soft head, I pitched in and was soon armpit deep in 1983 Chevy grease. Another couple days down the tube.

The projects all gave me a small sense of accomplishment, to go with the back issues, It was like I was a real adult. However, I didn't ride.

I don't want this to become the new me. I like the old me better.

During the last few days they held the Tour of Anchorage(ish). Even if I was in any sort of shape, I probably wouldn't have participated. Kudos to them for trying to do anything, but it wasn't for me.I would have gotten my ass handed to me in the Novice category. I'm just a broken down old man who doesn't ride bikes anymore.

That said, the sun's out today. A spin would probably do me a world of good. Maybe I'll meet the old me out there. 


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