Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Independence Weekend

This was possibly the best Fourth of July weekend I've had in years. Take this timeline with a grain of salt, to be honest I don't really remember much of it. But there was a lot of activity, a lot of fitness!

On Friday, I started the morning with Bikram Yoga, a lovely start to the day. Clear-spirited, I showered and spent the rest of the day taking care of chores and editing and doing paperwork. I don't remember much else about Friday except that E. and I went to Dairy Queen and bought some Blizzards for us and for our friends when we went to their house so he could pick up keys to open the coffee shop.

On Saturday, I dug out ye olde mountain bike, threw my laptop in my bag, and embraced one of the great pleasures of living where I do: mountain biked to the library. Granted, I took fairly easy trails and for a spell walked up some pretty steep cobble steps, because partly I was concerned about spilling it with my laptop and sandwich in my bag, and partly because I was navigating the best way to head out that way. I edited a good 50 pages of the WWII manuscript (yeah, serious Woah is right) I'm working on for someone, then road additional trails back to the house in time to feed the dog and take him for a nice walk through the woods until he just wanted to lay down. E. came home from work, he took a much needed nap while I grilled up some barbecue chicken and other goodies, then we checked the time, loaded the bikes onto the back of the car and hit the trails in Frick Park until it was too dark to ride. I got mad when he took me on a super sweet new trail neither of us had ridden before that was beyond my comfort level and skill level, being the first real ride of the season. Then it was off to a punk show at Gooskis, partly to make up for my grouchiness.

Sunday was more mountain biking in Frick, this time alone and hitting all my favorite single-track, interrupted quick thankfully by a picnic with friends.

Monday, E. and I eventually made it out of the house and went riding in Boyce Park. A big factor in choosing this park was that there's a Wave Pool there so we could go for a swim after. As soon as we left the house, it started raining, but cleared up by the time we got on the highway. The whole time we rode, there was threatening thunder but no rain, thankfully.  It took a while for us to find out groove and get on the good trails, but once we did, we were slooping all over the place, having a great time. the trails are fast, not too many obsticals, not too many climbs, lots of quick turns and just a real fun place to ride a bicycle. We got to the Wave Pool just as it was opening (having closed temporarily, I presume, due to the treacherous thunder), hung out for a good wave session, and headed back to the dog. There was the usual barbecue, party, fireworks, but that's for a blog on why I love summer and how awesome my friends and Pittsburgh are, not a blog about being healthy and trying to get stuff done.

Hope everyone else had a great time as well!