The Long Weekend

Cathy and I tacked some vacation time onto the front and back of the holiday to weekend to make for a nice mini vacation. We spent part of the time up at our place in Maine doing some long overdue painting and general work. We'd never painted the bulk of the rooms since we purchased the house back in 2002, save of course the mudroom which we built, the bath which was a nasty mint green before and the spare bedroom. The rest of the place, which fortunately is small, was in need. This meant the walls and ceilings needed a fresh coat of paint in the hallway, the kitchen, the livingroom and the loft. Fortunately, there is also lots of pine t&g in the livingroom that we didn't have to deal with.

Anyhow, we spent the better part of a couple days painting and doing chores and part of a third moving the lawn and doing some yard work. The weather was mixed with an oppressively hot and sunny day Friday as well as lots of overcast the other days. My parents braved closed roads from a Thursday storm to came over for dinner and a visit on Friday during the heat. The house has lots of glass and a western exposure so gets really, really hot in the end of the day. In terms of riding we only did a couple of short road rides. Good weekend to take it easy and try and recover from the past few months of hard training. I've got to say though, painting and doing chores on the second floor doesn't really translate to much rest on the knees, legs and back. I was sore as sin after.

Back home on Sunday mid day, in order to beat the traffic. Sunday evening we went for a nice, easy SS MTB ride out to Estabrook. This felt great and made for a nice way to end the day. At home we planned to have pork ribs and salad but alas, 2 minutes in the grill ran out of gas and thus we have salad alone. Good stuff though followed by a relaxing evening on the couch in front of the TV.

Yesterday we did go try a new Donut place, Donuts with a Difference in Medford, MA. It's a real hole in the wall, mom and pop type of independent place but they have a very good product. Mid day, during the heat which was a pretty brutal shock, we went out on the TT bikes for a couple of hours. That may have been a bad idea as those bikes are not super comfortable for that length of time. We survived though. Luckily, I got a chance to mow the lawn here as well. It's nice having two places that way. At this point, vacation is almost over and so are the bulk of the chores. We got a lot accomplished and I'm hoping that the easy time on the bike as well as off the bike will help in the long run.


At this point, vacation is almost over. Today started with a few chores and some remaining yardwork, then a trip to the moto shop to get the bike inspected. I've got to say though that I could really get used to this laid back lifestyle. If only work didn't get in the way of things.