Awesome Day

Tuesday was an awesome day.

I guess it started with going to bed at 1am - not the best way to get ready for a big workout day, but a start non-the-less. The 6am alarm (this was a day off work, after all) begged me to hit the snooze, but I relented. We had spent the prior evening painting our front dining room - a huge process (Mrs. Bigun is a designer, so there's no such thing as "merely" painting a wall) - but it's really coming together nicely - I'll put some pics in a future blog. I stole some time to do some work on the bike - I had to put the new Look cleats on the shoes and I put my e-bay acquired DA brakes on - still need new cables BADLY! So that kept me up 'till 1.

I'm "wheels up" right at 6:30 and feeling pretty good, actually. Got a couple of gels in the Bento and nothing but water in the bottles, but I'm thinking about pushing pretty hard for the first 25 since my riding partner, Bacon, isn't showing up until then and he's a bit slower, even with the draft. A couple of riders in a two person draft were just ahead cooking along at 21.5 - so I keep them just ahead of me for a couple miles, until they turn off in another direction. I hit the 12.5 mile mark feeling just about warmed up and averaging around 20.6 - the second loop went better, and I upped the average to 20.8mph. But, no Bacon.

It was still an awesome day, and I was feeling my oats, so I head out again and blasted back in after 37 miles keeping it steady at 20.8 average. A thought enters my almost-tired brain - try and do 50 at 21. The next 6 miles were amazing! With a purpose and the motivation of a man on a mission, I watched that average mph LED move to 20.9 - with just 7 miles to go. Of course, I forgot my HR strap, but I'm breathing heavy and loudly now, cranking along, pushing my new Looks with everything I had. I wish this story had a happy ending to it - but I just could not nudge that .9 over the top. I headed out for another lap to cool off after what was a monster effort for me, and wound up doing 62 @20.5mph - it's funny how quickly the tenths drop off compared to how hard they are to roll up. Bigun's new biking short term speed goal: 62 miles at 21mph.

But the day wasn't even close to being over. After my legs stopped screaming at me, I got the mop on my head cut - I was getting pretty shaggy. I got such a good flat top that I tipped the barber all of $8 on a $12 haircut - yes, I was caught up in the awesomeness of it, but I had just spent a month with a cut I would characterize as the worst I had ever gotten, so I was pretty stoked.

After lunch (yes, I waited entirely too long to eat after the bike) I went to most men's and some women's favorite shopping store - Lowes - and picked up a few items to help with my chores for the day. Mrs. Bigun came with, picked up some flowers and some mulch (nice not being covered up with snow) and home we went to commence with the chores.

I gotta tell ya, right around sunset, Mrs. Bigun had the front yard "stand-up" looking good! My job was inside - I had put a wood floor down in the living room and back hallway, I'm ashamed to say, over a year ago (probably 2...) and had yet to finish with the baseboards and quarter-round. Ta-da...still not finished, still have to caulk and paint - but damn near done and it looks 1000% better than it did. I know why I waited so long, however - with the big guy's knees and back, all that work low to the ground is painful at times.

So that was my day off - I would have liked to get a swim in too - but the house took priority. I could use another day off, just to relax from yesterday's "day off"! Oh well, no rest for the weary.