A full day...

Friday, August 8, 2014
I was feeling like a million bucks since having the stent removed.  What a difference such a small change can make.  It left me continuing to wonder how people manage to do with permanent discomfort.  I guess there much tougher than I’ll ever be.
I had some work to do.  I’d been looking for the right conditions to stain Joan’s deck and they were finally presenting themselves.  I drove to her place for the job, which I figured would take me the better part of the day. 
It was hot and I was in the sun.  I needed to take each spindle off the rail, there were over 75, set them aside to be brushed out, and do the area from which they’d been mounted before returning them.  It was tedious and boring and the sun was beating down on the back of my neck.  I knew I was getting too much sun, but was without sunblock and feeling like I just had to work through it. 
I worked all morning and by four in the afternoon, realized I’d be pushing up against the dark with what I still had to do once the deck was stained.  I’d arranged to drive the Toyota to Dan’s for some brake work.  I had the bike stored in the back seat for the ride home from his place – about 18 miles.  I arrived there exhausted and began pulling the bike from the car.
“You look pretty tired.  How about I give you a ride home?” Dan asked.  It was quite tempting.
“It’s time to toughen up some,” I said.  “I’m planning on a trip back to the Adirondacks next week before I start the new job and I’ve got to get back some of my conditioning.”
He promised to have the car ready for that trip and I pedaled out his drive wondering how my body would respond to the ride.
It went quite well.  Chardon is the highest point in Northeast Ohio, so riding from there means essentially downhill.  The only problem with that theory is that between my house and his is the Chagrin River Valley.  I enjoyed reaching the river, but had to climb out of the valley for the final miles of the ride.  It proved to be no problem at all and I was quite pleased when I rolled into the driveway in one piece and feeling like I could have gone lots farther.
Bike Workout: 60 minutes. 
Training Heart Rate: 120 bpm biking.

Calories Burned: 840.