This road down a criminal path gets me into new territory. I’ve seen a lot more bad drivers since my fall from grace. I know that animals seek “their own kind”, so maybe that’s why I seem to be surrounded by the vehicularly (is that a word?) challenged. But the animals do that for mating purposes. You don’t think I’m being stalked do you?

Thursday Jean and I were going to the Y to lift weights. Jean saw me relaxing in the chair after I had run a 4 mile tempo run and decided we should do something. Even though this is off-season from triathlon training, apparently rest isn’t allowed. Anyway, on the way there the traffic was moderate and all 3 lanes going North were full of cars going about 50 or 55. A young guy apparently wanted to go faster so, when we got to one of those merge lanes coming out of a business, he passed the cars in the far right lane by darting into the merge lane and then back onto 19.

On the way back, we were going down County Line Road. There were quite a few cars, but the speed limit was 50 and I was going…you guessed it…50. A young guy passed me on a double yellow line and went between us and an oncoming car. He passed several cars ahead of us and the last we saw him he was passing another car on a double yellow line and an oncoming car had to veer toward the shoulder to keep from hitting him head on.

Our friends, Ernie and Barb Strong called and asked us if we would like to go to dinner at St. Sebastiaans that evening for the “grouper special”. They picked us up at 6 and, when we left our place, Ernie blew right through the stop sign three doors down from the mobe. Oh well…I chose to break the law and now I’m dragging my buddies down with me.

The weather has been good the last few days and Saturday was about as perfect as you can get. Sunny with a few passing clouds, low to mid 70s and a light wind from the SSW. We wanted to go for a long bike ride at San Antonio, but they were racing on the same roads we wanted to ride, so we went to Anderson Snow and did the North route. Our longest bike has been around 37 or 38 miles. We both wanted to kick it up a notch. Since I’m just getting over a cold that went down into my chest, I wanted to go around 50 and Jean wanted to go around 60. Dr. Phil says that marriage is a compromise, so we compromised at 58.66 miles.

I don’t have good endurance…never have…never will. My legs got a little tired but my butt was really sore. That rarely happens to me. I started squirming on the seat at around 40 miles, got very uncomfortable at 50 miles, and I was in agony the last 3 or 4 miles. Maybe I’m getting “geezer butt” and that’s just the way it’s going to be.

We were planning to go to Dade City (about 5 miles past San Antonio) and watch some of the road races today, but Jean got a bad blister running and we got some bad news from Hastings, so we probably won’t go. Besides, the Pro 1 and 2 race starts at noon. Here it is 11:55 and Jean still hasn’t taken her shower after the run, so we’d get there just in time to see them finish.

My second batch of beer is percolating in the closet wrapped in my YMCA t-shirt to keep the light out. Later in the week I’ll test the specific gravity and bottle it when it’s ready. When we get back to Michigan we may have to have a combination “Run Around Crooked Lake” and beer tasting at the same time. However, believe it or not, after I run the 8.6 miles around the lake, one of the last things I want is a beer.

‘Til next time,

Just (My Butt’s Sore But I Still Love To Ride) Jack

P.S. Sorry to hear about Mary Youngs. Our thoughts and prayers are with Steve and the boys.