Summer loving

I biked to work yesterday and Hubbyfink met me at the Smith's Switch rest stop to bike home with me. After cleaning up, we piled the bikes into the back of the truck and tootled over to Spokes, Etc to have their techs adjust our brakes and straighten my slightly-out-of-alignment back tire. While the techs worked their magic, I perused the bikes and, per killernurd's suggestion and my follow-up research, took a test ride on a Specialized "Ariel".

Oh.
My.
Gosh.

She was so incredibly light and glided across the parking lot with barely any effort on my part. I actually hollered to Hubbyfink, "She's like buttah!"

I was smitten.

I took her back inside and asked the salesguy if they will be running any kind of deals on the bikes later this summer. Yes, but only for the extra small and large sizes. You know, the ones that the majority of folks don't need. I thought and thought. I hemmed and hawed. Hubbyfink was absolutely no help and kept repeating, "Do what you want to do; it's your money. But remember that you have dental work tomorrow that your insurance may not cover..."

Drat! Plus, I didn't want to stack such a beautiful bike in the back of my truck. She needs an honest-to-goodness bike carrier. And I'll be getting a trailer hitch installed in Memphis. That sealed it for me. I decided that I will buy her next month when we return from our trip south.

I'm so excited about riding her to and from work and everywhere else that I can.

History and histrionics

This picture tickles me greatly. It's a photo from the 1920s of the intersection of Smiths Switch Road and W&OD railroad. This is the place where I leave the trail and ride surface streets to get to work and where Hubbyfink occasionally meets me to ride home together. That intersection looks very different today, of course. :)

I am snaggle-toothed. The oral surgeon removed the molar next to my lower right canine today. The extraction itself was quick and relatively painless, aside from the three humongoid shots of novocaine, and I stopped drooling on myself a couple of hours later. I have forbidden cameras in my presence until after the braces are applied. There are enough people who think I'm a redneck -- the comment I made during today's staff meeting about saving money by coating a pair of pliers in Tool-Dip and having Hubbyfink yank the tooth didn't alleviate that impression -- that I do not need photographic evidence floating about on the intarwebs.

I've typed all that to say that the place where my tooth used to be hurts. Boo hoo. Okay, so that's not much of a histrionic, but I liked the alliteration for the post title.

In other news, my primary care physician was beyond pleased to see how much weight I'd lost. I saw her as a follow-up to the bike accident and because I still have occasional dizzy spells. She tested my reflexes and balance and assured me that I was fine and was still healing from the concussion. I figured as much since the spells have become fewer and much, much shorter over the past couple of weeks.

Jenny Consultant called tonight to remind me of tomorrow's appointment. I'd forgotten that we'd scheduled through the end of June. I told her why I've decided to quit and she understood the money issue. She would still like for me to come in tomorrow so we can go over how maintenance works since I've already paid for that part of the program. I'm game and will go tomorrow afternoon. I am happy to report that in the five days I've been "doing my own thing" and tracking calories in and out, I've lost a pound. My average net calories is just above 1400 per day. On the days I bike to work, my gross intake is nearly 2000 kcal because I'm expending about 600 kcal on the commute. I find myself in the bizarre (for me) position of trying to eat enough since the staples of my diet are fairly low-cal.

Fascinating stuff, nutrition. I still need to figure out a good source of snacky protein to prepare my body for the evening rides home. belfebe, expect an email from me this week. :)