Riding with Cali

The sunrise was beautiful this morning!

Sometimes I wish I had a time-lapse video camera to capture the amazing sunrises I get to see. I thank God for them every morning!

Wednesday I went for a quick run (5K run + 1 mi walk) at lunch. Since I discovered the drying power of baby powder and the temps are below 90*, I feel OK about running and then returning to the office without being a sweaty, stinky mess.

Then Cali and I rod our bikes through areas of town I'd never been in nor even knew existed. We were fairly close to the Donelson area, where I work, and right across the river from the Opry Mills Mall--who knew there were neighborhoods back there? Well, I do now! I got a flat about 15 minutes into the ride and while I was fixing it, I was talking to her about our flat-changing contest at our team camp back in April. The one that I won but messed up because I didn't seat the tire back on the rim correctly and left a huge bulge and had a breakdown at the top of Signal Mountain and called Todd to come pick me up. There was really no reason for the desire to not continue that I could reason except God's protection--descending on a tire not seated correctly could have been disastrous.

So I was telling Cali all this when a pickup truck slowed and Cali looked up to see a "JESUS" plate on the front of the truck. She said something about how Jesus was now coming to help us with this flat, and then the lady driving asked whether we needed anything. As she drove away, we joked about how I'd never realized Jesus was my grandmother. All joking aside, Jesus was definitely a man who lived, died, and rose again, and because He is still alive (though not on earth as a man anymore) He manifests Himself through His people in humbling and encouraging ways. I am so thankful for His sacrifice for me!

Our ride was almost 16 miles and just under an hour. We had to stop a few times to check the cue sheet and basically just enjoyed being outside. I am thankful also for friends who love to ride and be outside and enjoy exercise!

Thursday I did nothing until 4:30pm and was definitely missing my lunch-time walk! But we played Dalmuti at lunch and I ended up on top, so I'm glad I didn't skip it. I rode my bike to RB's Cyclery and dropped it off to have mechanics Jason or Jay see if they could fix what might or might not be wrong. Ever since Saturday, the braking has felt wrong/strange/ineffective/slow/different. I couldn't really explain it except to say that it felt like carbon braking on my aluminum wheels, and I wondered whether they'd just send me and BB home and say I was going crazy :-) But Jason said it was likely that sweat/salt and gotten to a few of the cables and was causing sticky breaks/slow reactions from the components, and he could fix it. Evidently it's a common problem among heavy sweaters, but it can be combated by frequently cleaning the bike (which I do) and frequently lubing any pivot points (which I don't).

Then I ran to the CSY, did 5 minutes of work, ran/walked home, and went to Inversion. All around a great afternoon since I got outside for a while and still got home in time to eat dinner and go to church.