Lauren, Emma and I headed into downtown Asheville yesterday for a little shopping spree and boy did we live it up in the shoe store. As were there just browsing the store, taking our time looking at the hundreds of shoes spread across several levels, a massive rain storm hit, which meant we weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. To pass the time Emma and I started trying on the most outrageous shoes we could find on the clearance rack. You know the kind. The ones that are buy 1 pair and get the 2nd pair for a penny – snake skin, leopard print, shoes with bows and flowers, some of the most dangerous stilettos on earth. And then, of course, it became a game to see who could find the ugliest, most heinous shoe on the rack (the competition never stops). But, lo and behold, the rain stopped and Lauren was dragging the both of us kicking and screaming out of the shoe store before we had had our fill. Eh, it’s just as well since I was actually starting to convince myself that I DID like some of the shoes I had tried on. Wait. Yes? No? Yes? Noooooooooo!!!!
As you can imagine, the storm punched the humidity through the roof…just in time for the Tuesday night group ride. Holy moly it was a sweat fest. Speeding along the river in our paceline my glasses immediately fogged up and sweat dripped from every pore as my body heat went up and up and up. It was a good spin up for the legs, although my body has been not taking kindly to all this moisture in the air. The dry heat in CO (and OR) certainly has not prepared me for this type of stiffling heat, but I figure it’s good preparation for what I might experience in Europe in a few weeks time.
This morning we woke up to an overcast sky and the threat of rain. Sure enough, just as we were about to roll out of the garage the rain started coming down in a steady stream. The kind of rain that isn’t so bad if you’re caught in it while already riding but sucks to start in it, but since the forecast later in the day didn’t look anymore promising we decided we were kitted up so we should suck it up. Eventually we ended up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which on a clear day would have amazing views I’m sure, but on a rainy, foggy day like today it was much more mystical. The clouds hung low in the tree tops and the constant drizzle made it feel as if we were riding through some sort of tropical mountain top jungle. Many people might think of that as crazy talk but for someone who comes from an arid, brown region of the country like me it wasn’t an exaggeration. Ahh, I miss the trees and all the green.
Figures we missed out on the river, though. With the rain and all we were feeling more like visiting a hot tub after the ride then we were thinking of tubing down the river which meant we didn’t buy any tubes which meant we weren’t prepared when the sun came out later in the afternoon to hit the river straight away. Damn. But, it did mean it was a great evening for a BBQ with 15 or 16 of our closest cycling groupies. Haha. The party was going smooth, everyone enjoying themselves, the food and beer, until Mike decided to shoot the baby possum who was eating its mother’s dead and decomposing body (thanks to Pinner putting a cinder block on top of its only way out of the crawl space) underneath the house with a BB gun. At least he hit the disgusting little marsupial on the first shot. Now if he’d only get the TWO dead animals out of the crawl space before the rotten smells completely takes over the house.
A day and a half left in Asheville and then it’s onward and upward to Chicago for the weekend.
Happy days
M
