Patrick Dennis: Carrot au Beurre

So it turns out that when you ride many many hours in a week and don’t let yourself recover, you end up super tired. I pseudo dedicated this week to resting myself back to health so when outdoor riding comes along this week, I can be nice and fresh. All in all though this recovery week has been a blur of reading, eating organic pancakes out of an aerosol can, swimming, bits of riding and welcoming new guests to the residence!

My Monday last week was a rest day as scheduled, did some cleaning and puttering around in the morning but ultimately ended up downtown on 4th to go grocery shopping at my new fav place. Speaking of shopping in general, who would have thought that Tucson would have some of the most amazing vintage shopping around. Im never buying anything from kensington again. Especially not when leopard print onesie ski suits are essentially available in bulk here. Tuesday was two and a half hours on the bike with 40 second on 80 seconds off intervals thrown in there for some good measure. Wednesday was a crazy day that included 5 hours on the bike. 3:30 endurance with some micro-bursts in the morning finishing up before noon followed by another trip downtown and then 1:30 in the evening just easy easy endurance and one legged exercises. Wednesday was just super easy 45 minutes on the bike with a trip to the pool for some reading. Started an awesome new book about history of bicycle advocacy and such that Im enjoying quite a bit. Learned that the US almost had camels. The secretary of war in 1853 , faced with the increasing cost and general difficulty of hauling freight from the Kansas Territory to New Mexico introduced the idea of using camels for this purpose. An initial test run led to the request to import over a thousand to the region. Then the civil war came along and everything got put on the backburner which led to railways taking over but think of it...for a second there in United States history. CAMELS.

Continuing, thursday was a great tempo day. I say great only because my comfort level at tempo is starting to greatly improve from what it was when I first arrived. Usually, its not something I would look forward to. 3 hours later followed by some day trip planning and then off to bed. Friday I took off to entirely to spend lounging around by the pool with my feet up. Saturday only 90 mins easy before Laura and I had to clean up all my stuffed animals and go get some last minute grocery shopping done at Trader Joe’s before our guest arrived in the PM. Laura 2 is here with us now and seems to be enjoying herself a bunch and is comatose after her ride this afternoon. Friday’s antics included a bit more intensity on the trainer. 2.5 hours this time with reps of 20 seconds full gas and 10 seconds off. Man, those suck big time but the numbers and sensations that Im getting are looking better and better so it’s not all bad. Finished off the night with Chimichangas courtesy of yours truly. Those things can knock me out faster than any intense exercise. Managed to stay awake for a screening of Hamlet 2 which takes place in this lovely city. Great film.  

As I mentioned briefly, this week I was fortunate enough to give something called “Organic Batter Blaster” a shot. Pancake batter in an aerosol can. Im pretty sure that anything with peanut butter and syrup on it will taste delicious but these definitely had a distinct je ne sait quoi. I shall not be purchasing it again. Today was the last rest day of the week so we went to buy Laura 1 some hiking shoes and went for a long walk along broadway. Tomorrow it is back to the grind with wednesdays doctor appointment holding much promise. I will update the second I know what the status of my recovery is. Until then, here are some photos of the week. Also, my good friend Tim Carleton has added a dot com to his name and revamped his website so check it out in the link secti