A little update

Of late it seems that I have been doing more commentary on the blog than anything else. What can I say, I prefer to do that rather than recount the day to day details of my life. After all, I want people to come back and reading about my day at work isn't likely to inspire many people. It's not like I'm a real doctor, or even a fake real doctor, I'm a real fake doctor...did anyone else get lost in that train of thought?

Anyway, as far as my work goes, it goes rather well. I've been here for 11 months now and I finally have a full grasp on what I'm doing. The projects are moving slowly forward, as is always the case with research, but I'm hoping that I can get things to move a bit more quickly shortly. I've also been working on ideas for my future, scary as that is. One day I may have to find a real job and actually apply for it. So I'm trying to come up with research proposals and I've been keeping a watch on the job market.

Things with Deirdre are great as always. We have been enjoying the gradual arrival of spring, and cursing the snow every time we see more of it. We've been spending a lot of time together, going out to see plays and movies and just enjoying the great indoors until it's warm enough to venture outside comfortably.

Speaking of the comfortable outdoors, I wasn't able to find them on the club ride I went on Sunday. Things started off nice and easy. We were rolling at a moderate pace and chatting to those nearby. Then we got out of town and someone decided to jump on the accelerator. I don't know how or why but I ended up in the front group (damn racing instincts). Of the group of about 20 riders I found myself in a group of 6 hammering pace-line well off in front of the rest. Unfortunately, I'm not in any condition to be doing those things that my brain remembers doing. See my brain forgot that spent far too much time this winter sitting on the couch and not on my bike or in the gym. So even though I would like to believe that I'm one of the strong/fast guys, at the moment I am not, and believe me my legs reminded me of that. So it wasn't too long until I was spit off the back of the pack and in that no-mans-land between groups...oh the joy.

And I don't know what it is about riding out to Afton, but every time I do, I suffer, badly. That was one of my earliest rides after getting here, when I rode it with three well trained Cat. 2 racers. I hurt big time. The last time I recall going out there was in July, when it was over 32 C (90 F) out and I thought I was going to die. Well this time, I didn't think I was going to die...well maybe I did a little, but it would have been kind of pleasant as I curled up in the ditch and drifted off. I seriously bit off more than I could chew and I suffered. I didn't eat enough in the first two hours so after the 5 km or so of climbing to get out of Afton I was shot. In the end on the way back I was no longer in the front group but in the group at the tail end. But hey, that's where I belong at the moment. I'll do my bit work my ass off and hurt and then try and recover. Just maybe next time I might want to get a couple more rides in before doing a 100+ km hilly ride...probably unlikely though.