Bloke on a Bike in the Tropics: September 2011

The first weekend of September- here in the tropics, it's the first week of spring- a new beginning. Time to cast off the cold (cool by anyone else's measure) weather gear and luxuriate under the clear blue skies which so soon will fade to a washed out blue in the tropical summer. In the land of my birth, it's Labour Day weekend- that last gasp of summer holidays before the return to school.

Today (Sunday) is also Fathers' Day in Australia and Dee and I spent the day on the hop as it were. Not that we usually have a slothful Sunday- just that we usually spend the day puttering in the yard and garden. Today veered a bit from the normal course we steer.

No early morning ride and coffee. My legs were strident in their refusal, "It's not fair- you made us do something different....and we don't like it!!!" That "something" was a run. On Friday I thought I should start working a bit of running into my exercise regime. Nothing too strenuous, just a couple of km's to start out- at a pace which most runners would probably consider to be just "slightly above shuffle".

And I felt good- even the "morning after" I felt good- 55+ km ride with a few good hitouts thrown into the mix. I felt good....until this morning. Sometime during the night, I'm sure a troop of Gimli and his fellow dwarvish warriors descended and made merry with their axes and hammers upon the flesh of my legs. I could hardly walk this morning let alone pedal a bike.

After a Fathers' Day breakfast of French toast with strawberries and maple syrup, we made a trip to the local beachfront promenade, The Strand. This year is the biennial art display "Ephemera". And so we walked the Strand and took in the artworks that make up this year's Ephemera. (It made my legs "happier" and my soul)