Who thought this was a good idea.

I'm doing a little traveling for the next couple weeks, and I brought the bike with me. I scouted a course out on Google Maps and came up with the below "plan". The plan included a coffee shop (a must for any good bike ride), though it was starting to look like rain was coming when I got there, so I just grabbed a juice to go.

 Continuing on, it seemed like my rolling hill ride was going to be great. Just cruising around on well paved country roads in clean air. What a great day.

Then as I approached mile 44 of my 55 mile ride, I saw something like this:

Only it wasn't quite like this. The hill went the other way.  Since I was already on a smaller hill and wasn't moving very fast I had plenty of time to stare at it and fully comprehend what it meant. I really tried to figure out how it might POSSIBLY mean a 14% decline. (That is, am I seeing this photo on the right? No, I was not.)

A very unexpected 14% grade for 0.75 miles. Ow.


Maybe I'll do it again. Who knows.. my brain isn't that bright anyway.

For those who care, the Garmin stats are here for your enjoyment.

My Baby

It seems as though all of our friends who have a blog are blogging about their babies or their efforts to make a baby these days. They're proud of their babies who are sitting up or rolling over. They're proud of their baby's first day of school. They're proud of their baby's first college football game or Labor Day cookout. In an effort to make sure that I keep up and continue to belong to this evolving and remarkable group of friends I felt compelled to blog about my baby.



My baby is so stinkin' cute I can't stand it. Look at that face. Not only is he adorable but he can do his own laundry and pay for my drinks! Now without being too boastful I would be remiss if I did not point out that, while your baby is sitting up in a Bumbo chair without any help, my baby is riding his bike on the highway in Cairo, Egypt on the first full day of Eid after Ramadan. Imagine a highway in the States on the day after Thanksgiving and the Superbowl just let out. Just sayin'.