Training Log Archive: PG

I'd been planning on another go at Greylock this year, but waiting for a cool day and so expected it would be sometime in September. But I told Phil he could choose where we went today, and he opted for Greylock. Off we went. Sunny and warm, well into the 80s.

It seems I have never managed hot weather or hills especially well, and today was no exception. Took two bottles, polished both off easily, but I'm sure weight was down a good bit by the time we were done.

Up the south side this time, by the numbers it shouldn't be as hard as the north side, but it sure felt hard today. Made it up the first steep section (1,100' climb over a couple of miles) reasonably well, but that would have been a good time to turn around. There's a dip and some flattish miles before the last 1,100' up. This was maybe 7-8% vs. the 10% for the earlier section, but it felt as hard, or harder.

The legs, well, the image I had was of jello. That is not a positive image. Moving slower and slower. I thought about pulling out my phone and calling Phil to tell him to meet me at the junction a ways below the top. Occasionally it leveled out for a moment and I tried going up a gear and it felt like I'd just shifted up about 5 gears. Gave up on that.

Eventually I made it up. It was still Sunday. It was not yet dark. Phil looked well rested. Hey, there has to be some benefit.

Back the same way, contrary to original plans to go down the north side. Whatever, got it done.

Good company, always fine to go someplace different than usual, have a bit of an adventure. Just that some days are pretty depressing...

A day trip to Burlington, VT, to attend a memorial service for a running friend of long ago (she moved to Alaska but grew up in Burlington) who died way too early at the age of 59. Sad to have to have the event, as these things always are, but also good to see some friends not seen for a while, especially her husband. She was a wonderful person, he too.

Corn ride, plus a side trip up South Sugarloaf (9:18) on the way out. I figured that made more sense than on the way back, both in not having the extra weight plus not knowing if sudden altitude changes might do bad things to the corn.

First time up SS with my new low gear. I think about 30 seconds faster than last time, though I'm guessing the difference is in having done a bunch of biking in the meantime. The lower gear just makes it less likely that I stall. Though even with it, the last pitch after the hairpin is still pretty unpleasant. Looked at my HR about 100 yards from the top and it was 169, PR for the year I think, didn't look again.

Rest of the ride was blah. Pretty hot out, tired legs, sweating a bunch, low energy. But the successful climb made it a good ride.

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A question -- in the book I just started, a favorable comment is made about Bibles, that the thin pages are really good for rolling joints. Laughed out loud, never heard that. Is it true?

Though perhaps I am asking the wrong crowd....

Though also maybe a crowd less likely to take offense.... :-)

Sort ride up the river and back, south wind. Easy going out, working hard coming back.

I've spent a good bit of time over the last five months dealing with my mom's house, both the disposition of contents and the selling process. It's been an interesting journey.

It was actually supposed to be my brother's responsibility to take care of this, but it didn't turn out that way. A lot of things were just easier for me to do (he lives in Austin, so a plane trip away), plus he was traveling a lot. And I didn't have any grand plans for the spring and summer (such as an O' trip), and I'm retired, so I had the time.

The house is not your normal house, and selling it did not turn out to be a normal process. It's in a style I believe is called mid-century modern, designed by Marcel Breuer, built in the mid-70s. It was a smaller version of the first Breuer house the family had (and the one I lived in during my teens), just up the hill from the current one, but when the kids were gone the big house was way too big. Hence the downsizing.

It's a beautiful house, but like any unusual property it might not appeal to a lot of people and we figured it might take a long time to sell. But we thought we were in good shape because there was already a possible buyer.

But life was not so simple.

Over the couple of months from late March to late May, we went from having one possible buyer, to a second possible buyer (a letter of interest out of the blue), to having the second possible buyer drop out after finding out what the house was appraised for, to having the first possible buyer drop out because it wasn't the right time. Well, damn.

In late May we talked to a real estate broker, friend of the family. Said we'd list it in a week or two if nothing came up in the meantime. Let the two possible buyers know it was a last chance for a private sale, the house was about to go on the market, and that we would entertain an offer for less than the appraised value. And much to my surprise, within a week we had a deal with the second buyer. A price that they could just manage and that we were willing to take. And no contingencies.

The negotiations, well, a sign of how times have changed. My brother was the only one who could sign papers, but he was in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida). A variety of phone calls, texts, e-mails with various attachments, and a couple of days later I was sitting with the buyers in the house, and at some point they asked, "Do we have a deal?" And I checked the laptop again, and there just arrived was an e-mail with the signed contract, and we had a deal.

The nicest part of it was that they really liked the house, had had their eye on it for a long time (just waiting for mom to pass...). And I really liked them, couldn't imagine nicer people to sell the place to. The closing was set for mid-July.

And we gone on with cleaning out the house.

You read of family feuds because of fights over who got to keep what from the estate. This one actually went pretty well. Got the whole cast of characters together (sister, brother, his two kids, and the boy's wife, plus Gail and me) to see who wanted what. And there were very few conflicts. Not that it wasn't stressful, not that I didn't come close to a meltdown. But we got it done.

Stuff got shipped off. And then Lina took a few things, and then the new buyers wanted a few things. And for the rest I found an older couple who do clean-outs (and various other stuff) for a very modest fee, with as much as possible the stuff going to the area homeless shelter or local churches.

We ended up closing last Friday, a month later than planned, but it's done. Various paperwork/money issues with the local bank and the IRS that left me just shaking my head, amazed and appalled that things that could be simple were just unbelievably complicated. But it's done.

So no more regular trips to Lichfield (a couple of hours each way), except occasionally to visit Lina and Angelo and their kids and grandkids, just a wonderful family. Can never repay them for what they did to take care of mom, though I will certainly try...

C • Estates 1

Nice ride in Whately and Hatfield, no ambitions... :-)

Shelburne Falls to Charlemont, then north on 8A into Vermont, then back on 112 via Colrain. Never been on 8A north of route 2. Not flat, but almost no traffic, good pavement, and really pretty.

The part on 112 I'd done about 35 years ago part of a Amherst - Brattleboro - Wilmington - Amherst solo century ride. This was the easy part, all down or flat, though the headwind just seemed to keep getting stronger.

Nice day to be out.

Nice loop north of Bernardston. A hint of fall in the air, 70s, low humidity, windy out of the north. Had several miles right into it, but then the last few miles it was at my back. I seem to work just as hard in either case, just the speed is a lot different.

Sure is a lot more fun than what little running I've tried to do recently.