Out of sense of duty, Live, Red line, Naked
When I got home Friday night I traded doing a 10 mile road bike ride for doing the weeding instead. Because I was hosting the fantasy football draft on Saturday afternoon I wanted to make sure I had the time necessary to prep. I went a step further, staying up relatively late Friday night to get the furniture in the house rearranged in draft configuration.
Saturday morning Elsa and I headed out to run errands, I had more to pick up than normal due to needing some supplies for the party. My food spread has changed drastically. When I first started hosting the party when Cindy was there we would prepare all sorts of food which required all sorts of time. However the other guys would bring food of their own as well so the end result was tons of food that got wasted and thrown out. I provide much less food nowadays and there is still plenty to go around.
This was the first time the party has been mid-afternoon, normally they kick off at 7PM. In many ways this was a better scenario. Owners started showing up at about 2:30 and the drafting started maybe 10 after 3. We only had two owners that connected remotely via Skype this year, at one point we would have 5 or 6. This is literally the only time I see these guys during the year. It was nice to catch up but I have always been the outsider of the group as they all have working relationships that are centered around golf.
The draft went smoothly. As usual I did next to zero prep but somehow the draft rating system said I had the fourth best draft, I’m not quite sure how. I have been increasingly less enthusiastic about fantasy football for a number of years and have considered dropping out. I continue to trudge on because of a sense of duty with my long standing hosting of the draft. By 6:30 everyone was gone and I started cleaning up the place. I did a funny accelerated video of me putting furniture back.
As usual I had a decent amount to eat and drink but not quite the levels of gluttony as have gone down in prior drafts. I kept in mind that I had scheduled a live stream Saturday night for 8:30 PM. I was able to get the house almost 100% in order before the stream. I felt a little tired from the day’s festivities and kept the stream to a more reasonable 2 hours and change.
Sunday the yard was still a bit soppy but mowable so I knocked that out around mid-day. I later decided I wanted to try to do a high speed test of one of my new wheels, the S22. I really loaded up both on safety gear and camera equipment for the run, wearing my full upper body armor, full face helmet, and my new carbon fiber knee guards. I brought my 360, GoPro and Skydio drone to record the ride. I went to a side street a few blocks from me where I had done successful speed runs before.
The run was more challenging than anticipated. I was having a hard time getting up close to the listed top speed of the wheel. I later realized I was riding in a direction that was into a small head wind. When I reversed it was easier to carry speed. On my last run I crossed 40mph, hitting 40.6 on my tracking app which is still 3mph below top speed. It was close enough for me.
Instead of editing the video Sunday night I decided I wanted to watch El Camino, the Breaking Bad movie. When this came out I intended to see it but never did for reasons I am not quite sure of. Finishing up Better Call Saul reminded me that I never saw the movie (on Netflix) which gives a follow up to what happened to Jessie after the end of Breaking Bad. I recall some people speaking negatively about El Camino but overall I liked it and felt it carried the breaking Bad torch as I would expect. I’d give it an A.
On Labor Day morning I edited the speed run video. It was pretty tedious coordinating the footage. I had to sync the drone, 360 and GoPro as well as the screen recording I did of the app I use to rack speed. In total I bet I spent close to three hours on the project. I think it turned out relatively well.
I made arrangements to go up to Ali and Shugs place to hang out a bit in the afternoon. I brought my One Wheel with as I thought Babcock Ranch with it’s endless paths would be a sweet place to ride. Since I had been there last the two of them had made a lot of progress in getting their new house in order. Shugs had built a large shelf unit in the garage that held a bunch of stuff and I helped him finish off hanging some rails on the opposite wall that are used to hang a lot of other items off hooks. Compared to how it was when they first moved in it was night and day better.
We ate lunch at a nearby pizza place. They drove while I rode my One Wheel there. Ali said she felt very nervous watching me ride, she has not seen me ride PEVs very often. She said it looked unsafe. I would classify PEV riding as a lot of things, safe is not one of them. After lunch I threw the board in their vehicle and hitched a ride back to their place. They got inspiration to work more on the garage. I used that as an opportunity to go out and ride some more, this time with my camera gear in hand. I look forward to riding there more often. I rode my GT “naked”, meaning I removed the fender. I think I prefer it this way.
I was sweating my ass off by the time I got back. I tested out their pool which was a great way to cool off in a hurry. I also grabbed my stash of grape Pop Tarts that Ali bought for me which was greatly appreciated. Elsa LOVES hanging with Ali and Shugs so we will definitely try to get up there regularly.
Last night was spent editing the One Wheel footage as well as wading through some mental baggage which was not expected. I’m looking to reboot and start the new week with anticipation for the what is yet to be.