There's only one way to describe Big Riders: Brain dead.
No, we weren't this way when we signed up for the ride. We weren't even this way when we arrived in Seattle to begin it. But, we are all brain dead now.
Ask any Big Rider where he was staying two nights ago. His response will be a blank stare. If you ask a Big Rider to tell you the date and/or day of the week, she'll fail miserably. In psychological/medical terms, we are not "oriented to time and place."
The one item that we all rely on to keep our lives intact is the daily cue sheet.
It tells us what day of the ride we're on. It tells us the date and day of the week, and it has the town we were just in and the town we're going to. Oh, yeah, and it has the directions to get to the next location.
Yes, I do need to look at it before I make each blog post. (These rest day posts are a little stressful. I don't have a cue sheet for today!)
I've also learned to decipher road names. I already mentioned in a post that I never want to ride a street with the word "Pass" in it. Passes are never easy . . . at least for me.
Not long after we entered the state of Illinois a few days ago (don't ask me which day or how many days ago that was, please!) we turned onto a road called "Prairie Hill Road." I was riding with Rosie, and I said, "Uh oh. It has the word 'Hill' in it." Sure enough, that road contained hills, and Illinois has no hills. (Okay, I exaggerate.)
We started talking about other road names that hill-climbing phobics should avoid. Here's a partial list:
-"Skyline" or anything with the word "Sky" in it
-"Pleasant" never means pleasant
-"Valley," because you know what valleys come between
-"View" - I think that's self-explanatory
So, that's the post for today, my rest day. Oh, Valparaiso is a nice little town, but I'm resting so I didn't see much of it. I saw the Broadway Cafe for breakfast this morning. I saw Culver's for lunch, and I went to the Broadway Cafe again for dinner (it was VERY good). I washed clothes yesterday, I washed my bike this morning, and I washed my helmet and water bottles this afternoon. I even took a short nap.
Now, I must rest some more. Today's Sunday, right?
3 comments:
Sunday night's alright for resting.
Take it easy now. It's all downhill from here...
Well maybe a smile will help. :)
Hi from:
Zach Rider#8 ALA-BRAA2004 - I am following your blog and few of the other BRAA2008 rider's blogs this year and they all bring back memories. Thank you (all) for the posts.
Your post about "Brain-Dead" brings to mind a saying we were fond of in 2004:
"Your Legs Turn To Steel, Your Butt Turns To Hamburger, And Your Brain Turns To Mush!"
The other observation was that your fitness level tends to increase as your slowly wear yourself down by the day after day riding, the result of which is this interesting equilibrium point that you only appreciate after the ride and you are back home a week or so: You notice that [a] you have probably lost a lot of weight and [b] you can really fly around some route that you just went around normally before the ride.
Well...I did that research on Valparaiso like I told you I would. It IS Spanish...means Paradise Valley. I told you that on Guam, "para iso" means "for the soul."
What a convenient name for the place to have a rest day.
I hope you rested well. Not many more days left. You're almost there.
Love,
~fe
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