……..was the name of the bike ride I did today – turned out to be 74+ miles but I felt nary a raindrop and while it was incredibly humid, the cloud cover kept it being unbearably hot. The route was moderately hilly but 90% of it was on roads I hadn’t ridden before which let me enjoy some great new scenery. I was able to follow yesterday’s original schedule including floating in the pool and relaxing when I got home. The ride was a fund-raiser in honor of Kevin Umlauf, owner of Sunshine Bike Shop, who died a little over a year ago – and all the $ raised will buy bikes and helmets for the kids at Boys and Girls Town of Missouri. His daughters chose the name to remind each of us to Celebrate Life today since we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Good advice!
My bike is now with a mechanic friend who will be sure it’s checked out 100% for next weekend’s 165 mile ride – 85 on Saturday and 80 on Sunday. My saving grace to ride on Sunday is getting a 1-hour massage on Saturday night – I’ve already booked with a massage therapist who will be at the overnight headquarters in Joplin.
Finishing the ride today was my #1 accomplishment but my second victory involved winning an item on eBay. Many years ago I gave my mother-in-law a set of Boye knitting needles – it included all the tips sizes 6-15 along with extensions to make circular needles. Somehow I lost the size 9′s and when Tammy found them, they were practically welded to the extensions and Burl broke them while trying to extract them. Good-by size 9 and an extension!
Boye has since updated their needle sets and the new sets don’t match with the pieces I have. Thanks to eBay I was able to buy a set of sizes 2-4 and another set with sizes 6-13 – complete with the cases and 5 more extensions. I know I could just go out and buy a new set but I really wanted to use these – and now I can! I think my bidding fingers will take a rest now – I’ve bought 7 items in the last 6 days but with the items I’ve scored I predict someone will receive a very nice Christmas gift.
