three naps, el loco, washington park

9/10/2022

Yesterday, my seventh day of riding, I felt pretty good. A little tired after the hard ride at the end of the day, but overall okay. I even thought I could probably do without a rest day, but I’m ahead of schedule and I’d rather stay in Albany than a smaller town.

However, this morning, even after eight solid hours of sleep from 11:00-7:00, I could barely keep my eyes open. So, at 11:00 AM, I took a nap for an hour and a half.

I only remember my dreams 3-4 times a year, and last night was one of those rare occasions. I’ll share what I remember, if only because it’s so goofy. The only part I remember is that Donald Trump snuck away from the Secret Service and was driving away in a tiny Smart Car, mumbling unintelligibly as his hair was whipped around wildly from the open window.

I worked on my To Do list, which included washing clothes (there wasn’t a washing machine in the apartment so I washed them in the sink with the detergent I brought, then hung them to dry), attaching the USB port for my dynamo hub (but it still didn’t charge my phone for some reason), replacing the battery in my headlamp (the one I use in the tent, not the one on the bike), calling some Montreal bike shops in order to get a bike box so I can ship my bike back, recharging my 35 mm camera batteries, and cleaning the pungent-smelling tuna fish juice off my mattress pad.

I went out on my unloaded bike for a late lunch, stopping initially at Son of Egg. I couldn’t find anything I was in the mood for, so I continued on to El Loco where I sat in the shade for a pleasant two hours eating, drinking, and reading my book. The temperature, in the mid 70s, was as good as I could ask for.

When I was done I walked across the street to the bike shop and chatted with the mechanic about why the SineWave might not be working. He admitted he didn’t know much about them, but still offered some helpful insights.

I rode my bike around Washington Park for about ten minutes, then stopped at Ben & Jerry’s for some ice cream.

Amazingly, when I got back to my room, I fell asleep for another hour, which makes me think I might have needed a rest day more than I realized.

Upon awakening, around 6:00, I packed everything up for tomorrow then cleaned the place up. Of course after 10.5 hours of sleep I wasn’t sleepy, so I read until 12:30, then lay in bed for another hour before finally slipping off.

Albany is the capital of New York, so I was surprised to find there wasn’t much of interest. Maybe I should've done more exploring, but when I did an online search I couldn't find anything that grabbed my interest. My overall impression: uninspiring. I'm ready to get back on the road.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	6
Comment on this entry	Comment	0