but on the bright side, fighting off boredom has become the task of my bike, and my bike alone. i know this for sure after attempting a run earlier this week and failing miserably. it's just been too stinking hot lately. it's like running in an oven. i hear that even the locals are getting a little fed up with the 90+ degree days at this point, which makes me feel better. i'm not as big of a pansyass as i thought, hurrah! the past 2 nites we've been graced with beautiful thunderstorms, making for decent sleeping weather AND a free car wash...a welcome bonus.
so between the boredom and the frustration of living in a house with the least bend-ish person i can imagine who drives me absolutely insane, i've been spending a lot of quality time on 2 wheels. it's my new part time job, really. it's pretty awesome.
today i ventured out on a hutch's bike shop sponsored ride...if you're in town and need anything pertaining to bikes, go see them, they are sooo good to their customers. $5 for a 50 mile ride- the cascade lake loop. i did it because it was cheap, i didn't have to carry food- their rest stop was top notch, and i thought maybe it would be nice to chat with some like minded people, ride with someone for a change. i had heard that the hutch's crowd were a force to be reckoned with, but whatever. it was 50 miles. i had all day. in fact, the longer the better cause i sure as hell didn't want to go home and get another lecture in anime. so i envisioned a quiet, long, relaxing ride.
yeah right.
seriously, does anyone in this town cruise under 25 mph...uphill??
granted, i foun
d out later that 2 of the guys riding were just off the tour de france, so i'm sure it was a full out sprint for them. but the thrill of getting to boast that i rode in a group with tour riders was immediately lost when they dropped everyone pretty much by the end of the parking lot. it was a brief 2 minutes of fame. and while i had nothing to prove, it did sort of suck to be dropped by pretty much everyone else within the first 5 miles or so. but it did fulfill that vision of a quiet, relaxing ride. until the last 10 miles (bonus!! it was actually a 60 mile ride...surprise!!) that were all uphill, 5-9% grade...and hot. by the time i got back up to the summit at mt. bachelor i could hardly see straight. highlight of the ride was having a little blue butterfly land on my handlebars for a bit while i was drudging uphill. that should give some sort of indication of how slow i was going... meh. but i made a bit of a recovery when it was all said and done and decided that a swim might cure the double vision, so i headed over to todd lake apres ride and did just that, which totally did the trick. at that point, the thunderstorms were beginning to roll in again, and i resigned myself to going home, hoping to avoid my roomate once more because i didn't want to hear anymore about how wonderful her cat is. in baby talk.i can't stand that cat.
so i took a nap instead. and then i avoided her some more since i could hear she was watching a movie. she is the kiss of death to any sort of movie enjoyment. i tried (really really hard) last nite to watch one with her. she told me when to laugh. i pretended not to hear her. she asked me why wasn't i laughing because it was really funny. it wasn't dark enough to roll my eyes, so i pretended i had a phone call that i had to take. (like that ever happens to me).
***but if anyone out there has EVER had a reason to call me, this next week would be really good timing. the best. really. truly. make an effort, people. i'm nearly begging.
yesterday was a similar story, trying to find something that would keep me out of the house from morning till nite. i decided to check out green lakes, not because i really wanted to- it has the reputation as being the most overcrowded spot in the 3 sisters wilderness area- but because i figured everyone else talks about it, i should know what they're talking about. just this once. it's like going to yosemite valley. hard to resist despite the fact you don't want to admit to doing it and adding to the cluster.
so i hiked up the fall creek trail, the wildflowers were unbeliveable, the waterfalls stunning, the bugs unbearable. not too much foot traffic, actually, so not very dusty, a pleasant surprise. got up into the green lakes basin- very nice alpine lakes, not the most amazing i've ever seen, but still nice. hiked up to play in some snowfields on south sister. went for a swim. had a picnic lunch. enjoyed the bug free breeze. didn't actually see all that many people. good times. hiked back down just as the thunder and lightning started. went home, fixed up my bike for today's ride (new tires, whistle
whistle cat call) and watched it pour rain.and now i'm back into the avoidance holding pattern. there's (horrendous) music playing in the living room, and she is singing along at full volume. she does this a lot. i suppose i should be glad for the distraction of background music that's actually in tune this time. i suppose i should also be glad that (as far as i know) she has not yet cast a spell on me since she's a witch after all. she told me so with great fanfare. it was another important phone call moment for me.
i seriously could not make this up if you paid me. it's that good. for one person to have so many annoying qwerks is almost mind blowing.
or miserable. but tomorrow's monday and it's back to real work. the kind that will hopefully be better than the last 5 weeks combined. fingers crossed...
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