Inside the Deductible

La Vida Bachelor while also avoiding the fumes from the polyurethane being put down on the floors of our still to be repaired to a livable state bedroom report.

Wednesday.  Get off work.  Head to Black Bear Adventures Paul's house to grab these:

He noticed my lamentations on Facebook regarding the loss of a sorta similar half a pair of wind layer lobster gloves (and the inability to replace them with anything made today), and he offered these up.  A key component to my three layer hand burrito this time of year.  A great start to everything.  Stoke level high.

Head To Birdsong Brewing for a free Bicycle Benefits beer and a couple more with Nick and Zac.  Then ride over to a fireside Fast Mustache meating about the upcoming (possible) Tour duh Charlotte.  Much good news and a heated as it gets for me discussion about the route, where I may or may not have said, "I'll go the mat for this one" to someone I'd prefer to not wrestle if I could avoid it.

Home late.  No shower... I think.

Thursday.  Chut around town ride planned with Jon Danger after work.  Chut we did, and I stopped at The Spoke Easy on my way home for a beer... when Merrill and Chris showed up and "just one" became more than one.

Home later.  No shower... I think.

Friday.  The weather was coming.  Or it wasn't.  It was changing every hour.  My goal was to get to The Spoke Easy with a dry ass, watch the rain turn to snow from the pleasant side of the window, ride home on the... tarck bike?  Well, it was most of a plan anyways.

Got off work, arrived at Spoke mostly dry, take my stool.   The whole world started trickling in as the night progresses... along with the trickling of a steadying rain.  Zac tried to convince me to go off with him and Andy into the good night, but we left under a drenching rain.  When the times came to split left to the next bar, I split right towards home.

Home late again.  Bad dietary decisions followed and maybe I took a shower but probably not.

Saturday.  I planned on riding out to the Grumble in the Grundle at the US National Whitewater Center... but it was canceled.  My backup plan was to ride the Tour duh Charlotte party pace course (as currently proposed)... no matter what.  I blabbed quite a bit about doing it, set a time and place to meet and everything.  I woke up to a world covered in a thin layer of ice and snow, but since I made it out to the empty mailbox in flip flops unscathed, I decided to go forward with it.

Of all the people that had said they were in, only Tod, Chris and Merrill showed. 

100% the kind of ride I would not do unless I could fabricate some kind of reason or justification.

Pretty much a fucking mess, but assuming no mid-March Charlotte "blizzard," you'll probably be able to do the ride without breaking out your three wheeler.

Back through town and return to... Spoke Easy?  Again?  I need to figure out a way to get my bar tab on the insurance claim.

And then it seemed like all of Charlotte went for a bike ride that ended here and the place was packed until it wasn't and I looked around and it was me and Dread bar tending and Chris (co-owner)... and I knew it was time to leave.

Sunday.

PTSD dreams the night before about a tree coming down on the house.  Maybe it was seeing all the trees coated with ice leaning at me.  Anyways, run around my domicile and do my best to make it look like I had not lived like a pig the whole time, take a shower with my bike (for real), and then head out to Legion Brewing to watch Cyclo Ross Nationals and come home at the earliest I had all week.

Pretty sure I'll be functioning like a normal person by the time The Pie returns this evening.