I stayed home from work yesterday because I had really bad bloating and tummy pains Monday night. We’re talking Prilosec helped the top-of-tummy pain, but Pepto didn’t take care of the massive-bloating-pain. So eating was tough, and I just sat groaning on the couch, watching a movie on my laptop.

So, that was Monday night. Tuesday, I called in sick to work and took it easy. I figured the whole stress of moving, closing out projects, etc., was really getting to me and I needed to do something to at least make a good dent in that stress. Being wary of eating anything, I did manage to have a yogurt and a Kashi cookie (one of those health-food cookies with nothing but real stuff in it, instead of the good ol’ high fructose corn syrup we know and love). I waited an hour or two, then had a scrambled egg. Tummy was still doing fine, so I decided to mow the lawn that desperately needed mowing. Note here – this was at around 1pm. Good Z at least put sunscreen on.

But that just wasn’t enough for me. I was itching for a bike ride. After all, my last ride was two weeks ago! I needed to get out and get cycling! I got inside, packed my camelback with a granola bar and filled it with water and ice, and figured out how to pump up my tires, got them pumped up and headed out. Note here – it was about 2pm when I headed out. I really had no idea how hot it was, and I was feeling adventurous. I had already had a bottle of water before heading out after mowing the lawn, which probably should have clued me in. But we know I don’t “clue in” to anything.

I decided to take back roads to Sylvester and get to the park we reached on our ride, but make it to the Blue Bridge. Originally when I started, I had thought of making it a 10 mile ride – nothing too strenuous. My HRM had already put me at 600 cals after mowing the lawn. I had definitely not eaten that much yet, so I was already at a calorie deficit. So I wasn’t going to go too far.

By the time I hit the park, I was already at 5 miles. I was disappointed. I didn’t want to turn back YET. So off to the Blue Bridge I went. I got to the Blue Bridge and then saw the Cable Bridge and thought, hm, well, it can’t be THAT far, maybe just 1.5 miles. I had to know if I estimated correctly, and, besides, I had only hit about 8 miles on my bike so far. So off I go to the Cable Bridge. Proud that I estimated accurately, I decided to turn around. I was at something like 9.2 miles on my bike. Hm, so much for a short ride. Oh well, I’m still feeling fine, though I’m sweating like mad and drinking like mad.

Part way back from the Cable Bridge (I almost continued to see where the bike path took me beyond the Cable Bridge, surprised it kept going), I started struggling to get water out of the camelback. NAH, I couldn’t have already finished the couple LITERS of water in there?? I’ll just keep going. Hm, it’s a little sunny out. My bike odometer has a thermometer on it, so I ventured a look (I’d had it on the screen that shows average speed until then).

WHOA. It says “02.” Um, is something wrong? NO, it suddenly registers, that means ONE HUNDRED AND TWO.

I’m not quite at the Blue Bridge yet.

Crap. I’m disgusting and probably can’t call anyone to come get me. Well, so much for going on the path through Chiawana park and up Rd 100 and back. And, crap, there’s a HILL to climb. Eh, I can make it. Uh, my water’s empty. And I don’t feel like pulling ice cubes out (though I probably should have at that point).

Oh, look, Rd 44. I can make it there, then climb that hill that always looks daunting even when I’m not exhausted. No problem, I know my gears now and I can shift my way up that puppy. Wait, Rd 44 has a dead end, so I have to go to Rd 48 to get to Argent to cross to where Rd 44 picks back up. Okay, now I’m a little irritated with the detour. And I still can only get sips of water. And now my head is starting to hurt.

Hey – it’s the Rd 44 hill! I had so much fun cruising down that hill and hitting 26 mph! Wait – that means a little steep, need to go UP. I started pedaling, then looked down and saw two things: a) it’s not 104 outside; b) I’m going at about 6 mph up this thing. Then I started feeling my heart go wild and I figured, screw it, I’m walking. This isn’t worth it. I’m about to pass out from pedaling up the hill.

So, off the bike, up I walk. I convinced myself the last part of the hill wasn’t too bad, so I got on my bike and got up to the stop sign at Burden. HALLELUJAH. The last leg seemed to take forever, and I thought I was going to collapse when I got home. It turned into 17 miles, which I managed to do in 1 hr, 35 minutes, despite the heat and the lack of water and slow ascent up the hill. I downed water when I got home, had a fudgesicle because we had no milk (still needed to get groceries), and waited for myself to catch my breath before showering. I was exhausted, and I had a headache from the heat.

I called Rich to tell him I was back from the ride, and said, “That was stupid. I didn’t realize it was that hot outside!” His response, “Yeah, I knew you needed to do something physical, but I thought mowing the lawn might take care of that. I figured you wouldn’t listen to me if I told you not to go on a ride, but I thought it was a dumb idea.” Sadly, he was right. I would not have listened.

I did take it easy at the gym this morning. I came late, so I didn’t do either step or RPM, which is probably a really good thing, because even the 40 minutes on the recumbent doing small intervals wore me out!

Genius Z. Pure genius.