slow pace

There is nothing like a springtime cold to slow you down. All winter for the past three years I've eaten a grapefruit every day and haven't had a cold. But at this time of year the quality of grapefruit is sketchy, so I haven't been eating them as much -- and I came down with a cold. I'm not sure whether I should be glad or mad that it happened during my week off work. I am glad not to miss work, but sorry to be feeling under the weather when I could be enjoying long country bike rides.

On Wednesday I just lazed around all day, feeling completely lacking in energy. Thursday I felt better, so I went for a long bike ride (25 km) around town, did a lot of baking and housecleaning and then went for a longish walk (7 km) in the early evening. After that I was completely wiped out and on Friday I felt worse than ever. Yesterday, Saturday, I felt slightly better -- short bike ride and longish walk.

As I rode my bike through the woods, I saw patches of these flowers. As flowers go, I can't say that I find these particularly attractive, but as a sign of spring, they are beautiful beyond compare! According to my Alberta Wayside Flowers book, they are called Arctic Sweet-Colt's-Foot and are good to eat, unless you're a pregnant woman.

sign of spring in the woods nearby

My plan for today is to stick to a shorter ride around town, but I'm thinking that tomorrow I'll head for the hills and try to get in 50-60 km.

I did take my new-to-me Vita in to the bike shop to have them check it over and replace the rear brake pads and cables. They also attached a back rack and fender. Now the bike is in tiptop shape and I hope to ride it all the way into the city to work on Thursday. I'm not really sure what to expect of riding in at 6:30 a.m. -- traffic? temperature? wind? -- but I figure it's worth a try. If it is a horrible experience, I'll just continue  my system of driving in to the west end and cycling the rest of the way. But if it goes well, I'll try to do it more regularly -- maybe every Thursday.

I'm trying to get somewhat organized for starting the next session, but it's always hard to know what the classes will be like -- how many students I'll have, what levels, etc. Maybe that's a good thing, as it means I can't spend my whole time off trying to prepare. I do know I'll continue with the idiom lists, which the students love, and I found a good news story -- about people finding unexpected "treasures" and returning them to the owners -- to start us off.

And some good news for my first week back to work -- apparently the 95th Avenue bike lanes have been repainted! I noticed they were looking a little worse for wear and was wondering whether they were on their way out. Since I've seen other cyclists using them and even saw an elderly man in a motorized wheelchair zipping along, I know I am not the only one to be happy about this!