Ten Brisk Miles

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Contrary to popular belief, I am still around and still live in Jax. For how long I’m not sure but I’ll talk about that later.

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve ridden. I turned an ankle a few weeks ago (I have bad ankles to start with) and had to take a week off. That wasn’t bad. Then my life was turned upside down and I felt no desire to ride. Again, more on that later.

This is not me. I’m probably worse!

This morning I wanted to get back out and ride. I could tell I had taken time off as it felt my pants had shrunk. That wasn’t good. So, the alarm went off at 5:00 AM and I headed outside to ride.

Upon opening the garage door I was blasted by cold air. Similar to what you experience when you open one of the freezer doors at the grocery store as you reach for that half-gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I had anticipated the cold air and had put on a long sleeve shirt on under my short sleeve jersey. I don’t own a long sleeve cycling jersey and after this mornings ride I’m beginning to think I need to invest in one. Contrary to popular belief it does get quite chilly here in Northeast Florida. The temp this morning was 48F. That’s down right cold! As my dad would say, “It’s colder than a witches _ _ _ out there.” The weather dude on the radio said it could be even colder tomorrow with the potential to have to break out the ice scraper! Dude, this is Florida. That’s just so wrong.

Constellation Orion

I roll out of the driveway and everything feels ok from the lack of use. I didn’t even need WD-40 to lubricate the joints. It actually felt quite good except for the cold. It was dark and clear too. The constellation Orion was unmistakable in the Southern sky with the Sirius (The Dog Star) to the lower left. Later, while driving to work, I saw the moon just creeping above the eastern horizon. You see the entire outline of the moon but only a tiny sliver was shining. It was stunning.

Like I said earlier, it was cold. My little sausages (fingers) were starting to feel it after a couple of miles. My oldest daughter, who is taking an Anatomy class, would have said my phalanges were cold. That said, so were my toes. I’ve got a pair of long-fingered gloves somewhere. I should look for them tonight.

Wanting to get warmed up quickly, I took off at a good pace but was able to maintain it for my 10 mile ride. I maxed out at 17.5 mph but averaged 14.8 mph for the ride. That’s not bad considering I’ve taken a few weeks off.

I did see a couple of runners this morning and one other cyclist so I wasn’t the only idiot out in the cold.

Gantt Chart

Now, what’s been going on in my life? A lot. About three weeks ago, the company I work for laid off all their temporary and contract employees. That’s about 300 people. The reason for the layoffs was due to the frozen bond market that prevented the company from acquiring bonds for construction. So, what they did was basically freeze all construction and started cutting costs. First thing to get cut was temps and contractors. I fall into the contractor category.

Luckily for me my parent company is a great company and their looking out for me. Amazingly enough, I’m still working at my old job. The financial arrangements are different but I’m still here until they figure out what’s going on. In the meantime, I’ve been nominated as a potential candidate for a position in Dallas, TX. Hence my post last week about wanting to know if anybody lived in the Dallas area. The big negative about Dallas is that I’d have to leave my family here at least for the short term. There’s just no way I could sale my house right now without taking a huge loss.

What does all this mean? I’m not sure right now. At the moment I’m still in Jax. That could change next week but I just don’t know. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I’m just going to get back on the bike and try and reduce my waistline.