When Black Friday Comes

Well, at this point it's come and gone, and taken Thanksgiving with it. Definitely a good holiday this year, here are some high points:

Thursday Morning: no ride. Rain and thunderstorms allowed me to sleep late, then I read about half of Travis Hugh Culley's The Immortal Class, really a great book, though I'm usually not sympatico with that whole bike messenger thing.

Thanksgiving Dinner: was at my parents' house. For once the drive wasn't intolerable, even Route 9 wasn't too bad, at least not bad considering that it was Route 9 South, south of the Raritan River, on Thanksgiving... But I got down and had a really nice dinner with my parents. Mom wasn't too happy with the turkey (substandard bird), but dinner was fine by me.

Dessert: We went down to my mom's cousin Laurence's place, had dessert with Laurence and Marie and their two kids, also Marie's aunt was there. Very lively conversation, mainly about cool movies and bands etc -- influence of the college girls; when family friend Brian showed up, about the same age, things got very lively, very 20-something, young-adult vivacious, kind of neat the energy they all brought to things. Alas, we were old and went home around 10:30 or so...

Ride: I got up a little late, but went out about 10:00 to ride Huber and Hartshorne Parks in Red Bank, actually just down the road from Laurence and Marie's. I brought the Surly, and was riding by about 10:45. It was really sweet, but I think I'm getting a little afraid of that bike -- I can ride just about anything when I'm fresh, but I lose my freshness very fast. About two hours into things I got so tired (arms and back as well as legs) that most hills became either hike-a-bikes, or at least required a rest partway up. It's literally like I'm starting over with this bike, at least in terms of fatigue levels I'm like a neophyte. I rode for almost exactly 3 hours, then went back to Englishtown.

Lunch: My brother and his family went to his wife's parents for Thanksgiving, so they came over today for leftovers at my parents. I got there and Chris was setting up my mom's computer in the downstairs bedroom -- my mom gets that tendon surgery on Tuesday, and she will be living downstairs for a while. Everyone else was in the kitchen, eating Turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry sauce, so I joined them in the kitchen, played with my nephew. Good times, then they took off about 3:45: Tara to work, and Chris & Christopher to see the Spongebob movie. I got out of Dodge myself not long after.

Now I'm home, just did some laundry, and the traditional weekend is just starting. After a quick shower I'm heading down to Which Brew for to catch the Insidious Rays. Later, and Happy Thanksgiving!