xyla ♡

Yesterday's bike ride was better than Friday's, mainly because there was very little wind. I still had to rest for 7-10 minutes at the halfway point (9.5 miles downriver), and spent a lot of time coughing my lungs clear. But I didn't have the headwind on the way back that just exhausts me. So, that was encouraging. I actually would not have stopped to rest again on the way back, either, except that my right hand was getting persistently numb. And yes, my rides are shorter now. They used to be 20-21 "speed" miles long, and now they're 18-18.5.

All that coughing makes me wonder if the inhaler I use for exercise-related asthma is really doing the job? This is the second one I've had that sometimes ejects only part of the dose. There's a Cipla recall, but that's not the manufacturer mine uses. :(

After the ride, I cleaned up and ran some errands, including getting cat food and a new scratching post. The old post was great, because I could buy replacement 'towers' for it. But the fiberboard finally degraded to the point where the tower wobbles, and the cat won't use it. So, time to start over again.

HalfshellHusband and I saw The Heart Of The Beast last night, which was really good. Harrowing and very moving. Never take the Alaskan wilderness lightly! We're hoping to get out for at least one more movie date before HSH has his foot surgery at the beginning of November and we become housebound for 3 months. Sadly, we seem to have missed The Dog Stars, but we'll catch it on streaming at some point. Or, I will and maybe The Boy (we both read the book). HSH is not big on post-apocalyptic anything, whereas The Boy and I love a good dystopian tale. :D

I'll ride again today, and hope the wind holds off. Maybe also on Monday? My office has a regular 2pm Monday meeting that usually torpedoes that possibility, but it might get cancelled. Tuesday goes back up to 94F, kicking off at least a week of temps in the 93-97F range again. Uggghhhh. Why does summer never END here? :(

I lost a little more riding strength & stamina over our 10-day vacation, partly because the onsite gym no longer has a bicycle! Though I used an elliptical machine 3 times, and it did NOT aggravate my plantar fasciitis. Could that finally be cured?

I've also ridden outside only 9 times in the last 2 months, thanks to heat and/or wind over the summer. Normally, the garage-biking would help me maintain my level of fitness, but it's also being affected by the same issues. I hope this eventually gets better, once I go into maintenance mode (probably 3-4 months away) on the Zepbound. I haven't increased the dose lately, and hope not to, but we'll see.

Today's ride included going under a 5-engine train at the busy trestle. That's a lot of horsepower, but it might have been needed as the freight cars were double-stacked. Sadly, the manure smell is still heavy near the Business 80 over-crossing. I think we're going to need some rain before that diminishes. On Tuesday's ride, someone had a campfire going near the bridge where I stop for one of my rests. Holy moly! IDK what they were burning, but it smelled like someone had set an outhouse on fire. /o\

Now that Idol has started, I'll probably be slower at reading books, but I got through about 4 on my vacation. Recent reads:
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (novella) - Good, if predictable. Tyler has a real flair for dialogue.
Cinder House by Freya Marske (novella) - an unusual and terrific re-telling of Cinderella, in which she is a ghost bound to her father's house.
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz - good, but I didn't love it as much as the authors who participated in the NYT "Best 21st-Century Thrillers" poll.
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - An okay fantasy novel featuring an unpleasant boy mourning his lost mother. WWII background setting.
Ralph's Party by Lisa Jewell - good, although not a mystery or thriller in any way, which surprised me.
Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane - the final Kenzie & Genarro book, which I didn't like as much as the others. I hate it when characters become stupid for the sake of the plot. :(
Mr. Yay by Emily Jane - a bizarre and wonderful combination of regular fiction and light sci-fi.
Here And Now And Then by Mike Chen - another soulful sci-fi story about a time-traveler trying to save the daughter he was never supposed to have.

Annnnnd I'm currently reading the 5th Dungeon Crawler Carl book, which has kept up the series' tendency to briefly break my heart for Donut at least once per book amid all of the story's ongoing whackiness and creativity.

Now, some overdue yardwork awaits...