back to a group ride

 I led a ride today for the club; my first in about six weeks. The ride was about 32 miles; with my trips to and from home, I went about 38 miles.

 To regular riders, that won't sound like much. To me, though, it was huge.

 If you read my last post, you may remember that I was having trouble due to a hypertension medication that was slowing me down. I could barely finish the 30-mile ride I did that day; I was dropping off the back of the group and had to stop and rest often after the stop. 

Subsequently, I saw my doctor again. I tried to get him to take me off the medication that slowed my heart, but he did not agree to that (my blood pressure numbers are still problematic). He did cut that medication in half, and added another medication, a centrally acting alpha-2 adrenergic agonist, to go along with the angiotensin II receptor blocker I've been on for some time with no complaint. I was to split the beta blocker morning and evening, and take the other two medications once a day.

The medication he added is called clonidine. I took one dose, and it sorely and severely affected me. I had all of the symptoms of a bad flu except the respiratory effects - but I did have bone aches, arthralgia, weakness throughout my body, poor focus (I surely should not have been driving that day!), and insomnia. 

Clonidine was a drug we used in the 1980's and 90's to treat opiate withdrawal, because the reported side effects sounded like they would ease opiate-withdrawal symptoms. Clonidine was famously ineffective for withdrawal, though. And if it did to the poor opiate patients what it did to me... we should never stop apologizing to them.

I stopped the clonidine immediately. And I moved both doses of the beta blocker to nighttime, figuring that if I'm trying to sleep, slowing my heart might actually be beneficial. And I started doing short rides four or five times a week. 

I slowly started getting stronger, until I could do my short rides at a pace that was as fast as I could do them before. And even though they were short, this week I felt like I had enough stamina to complete a group ride.  So I posted a 32-mile group ride, at a pace I thought I could manage for today.

I limited the ride to fifteen, and it filled up; I had a club member contact me to see if he could drag along! And then I had five or six cancellations. Still, I wound up with eleven to start.

When I got to the planned start, though, the park was closed! There was a firetruck rally, of all things.

 

My riders found their way to one of the available lots, though, and we left from there.

 

 I like this route, although some of it is traffic-y: it goes over roads with which I'm familiar, and it's not too hilly. a couple of the riders said they liked it, too.

We stopped at the Bagel Bazaar in Dayton (which used to have other names...):

 And from there back to the start, including fighting a headwind on which I had not counted.

For me, it was quite a good ride. It was a good mix of people I knew well,  and people I did not. They were friendly with one another, and rode together well.

And it was a personal victory. For much of the time, I was leading from the front; I never fell far behind; and while I was tired at the end, I was able to take care of my usual other responsibilities today...

...including writing this post. Thanks for checking in. You can check out the ride page.

song parody that got me fired

 When I was doing substance-abuse treatment, all those years ago, I had a certain number of clients how had histories of physical abuse with partners. All but one of the women were the recipients. I hated dealing with abused women, because, first, at the time, the folks on the referral lines (for emotional support, for shelter) always presumed that, as a man calling in, I was lying about being a counselor and having a referral, and instead wanted to find their location so that I could bring havoc down upon them, and second, because (in my experience anyway) the women always went back to the abuser. (I at least had some success in getting my alcohol and drug clients into recovery!)

Some of the men seemed to see the error of their ways... but most of 'em claimed that "she knew what she did; she made me hit her." I got so sick of hearing that refrain, that I came up with the following song parody:

You made me hit you,
I didn't wanna do it, I didn't wanna do it.
You made me hit you,
And all the time you knew it. You really put me through it.
You made me happy, sometimes, you made me sad,
And there were times when,
You made me get so mad.

You made me hit you,
I didn't wanna tell ya, you oughta go to hell ya,
I lost control, it's true (yes, it's true, yes, it's really really true).

I won't do that again, and that'll be my promise,
Until I do and you go sleepin' at your mama's,
You know you made me hit you.

(instrumental, because, of course...)

When the cops come we'll be runnin' helter-skelter,
I'll go to jail and you'll go to the women's shelter,
Because you made me hit you.

I sang it on a break at a state meeting, and was overheard by both my supervisor and department director. They were horrified that anyone in the counseling field could think such a thing was funny. Although it didn't actually come up in the termination, I'm sure this was part of the reason I got fired ten years ago.

It's good to be retired. 

that the music might be freed

 

Back when the world made sense, over two decades ago, the cassette machine and the speakers for my home stereo system (remember those?) died at about the same time. The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I moved to a new home in North Brunswick, and I never set up the stereo system. When we moved to this home about a year ago, we moved in the LP's and cassettes, even though we had no hardware on which to play them. 

We plan to stay here as close to forever as possible, and, finding myself with a little unallocated time and money, I got some speakers, and assembled what I could of the stereo system. With a bit of finagling, I found it worked. I had a caucus with TEW, and we came up with a stand that was agreeable to both of us. It arrived; I assembled it today, and set up the system.

 I don't have the cassette player yet, but I've been playing some of the neglected records. And there's something telling me that the records feel like they've been freed from prison, or resurrected after a coma, or something, and are relieved and delighted to be able to sing freely again.

I know I'm out of my mind. But I've got a cassette deck on my Amazon list, for purchase after the next set of checks comes in. The cassettes are jealous now, and complaining.

enjoying retirement

 

It was a great day for a ride.

I went out for the club's Wednesday C+ ride, and it was just a great day. At the start:

Pat might actually take more pictures than I do.

It was a fun ride with club members on a great day. Not exciting, not competitive, just pleasant and enjoyable.

We went down to Columbus and did a piece of the Kinkora trail before stopping at the quick-stop there.

Ride page.

It's good to be retired.