Hmph.

Was gorgeous and warm this morning – upper 60s into the lower 70s, beautiful sun, a nice breeze. I decided, on the spur of the moment, to go for a bike ride instead of heading right to the gym after dropping Gabe off at school. Of course, as it was the first bike ride of the season, I first had to check my tires…which involved a Learning Opportunity for me. Hey, non-bike-riding friends! Did you know there are two different kinds of tire valves? And skinnier bike tires have a different kind than the “regular” (thick) tires you find on kids’ bikes – or, likely, on the kind you probably had on whatever bike on which you tooled around when you were young? Yeah, I don’t know how I’ve managed to go this long without checking the air pressure on this bike’s tires, but I guess I never have, because these were some weird-looking valve stems I’ve never seen before. (Presta, they’re called. The more you know…) I wound up checking the internet for videos and phoning my brother for help.

But once I was out, it was a glorious day for a ride. Did have an interesting moment when I stopped for lunch. I went into a restaurant, and the table kept vibrating unnervingly under my forearms. I remarked to the waitress that I hadn’t thought the roads were that bumpy, that I should be dealing with the reverberations so long after I stopped riding, and she told me that that particular table vibrated, due to something on the other side of the wall.

Now it’s feeling a little chillier, due to wind picking up, so I came home and checked the weather site…and there’s a Tornado Watch until 8 this evening. Yay? Some storms are supposed to crop up around 7, turn into real gangbusters later on, and then (HOPEFULLY!) disappear in time for my friends’ marathon and my own long run tomorrow morning. Going to be a warm one for that sort of running, but that’s better than storms or tornadoes…which will also HOPEFULLY not re-arise tomorrow afternoon or evening and make Eric’s return in any way complicated. Up with that, I will not put!

Trying one of these for the first time, in Cherry Pomegranate. It’s mushier than the picture indicates, with less delineation between the fruit and the crust. I think I like it better this way. It reminds me a lot of Larabars, except that since I sometimes find the dates overpowering in those (except in the peanut butter varieties), this is a pleasant alternative! Go, Clif! (Wish your pace teams were doing Green Bay. )