Kong, Prep, Knobs
On Friday I hit Bruninas to quickly grab a beer and dinner. It was a quick hitter because I needed to meet Ali and Shugs to pick up Elsa from her 4th of July safe haven. They agreed to meet me somewhat in the middle which was nice, saving me at least an hour overall of driving. Elsa was happy to see me but sad to leave them at the same time.
I played pickleball Saturday morning, getting in some decent play in some very hot and humid conditions. I recently put an over wrap on one of my paddles to help with grip when my hands are so sweaty. It has been the only paddle I have used since then since the others feel slippery in comparison. I clearly need to put the same over wrap on all of them.
The rest of my Saturday was pretty low key. I did do some preliminary planning regarding how to pack for California. One important thing was verifying my helmet will fit in my luggage. As you can see it does, barely. If I want to get everything in one bag I am going to need to do some careful and creative packing.
Saturday night I watched the new Godzilla and King Kong movie that is on HBO Max. It was just silly, nonsensical yet fun. Who doesn’t like watching monsters battle it out? It allowed me to disengage my brain for a couple hours and just enjoy the action. I’d give it a B.
Sunday morning I played some more pickleball with my buddy Rich. I only played 4 games in total but that was enough because of the heat and humidity. Later in the day I got motivated to take my V13 out for a ride to test the new knob style pads I 3D printed a week or so ago. I am going to need to do some more testing with the placement of them as the two spots I tried were not ideal. It seems like it’s hard to have a low mounted pad that is good for both standing and seated riding, at least for me.
The ride took me all over the place including the Cabana, an outdoor bar that I visited pretty regularly during season but have not frequented lately. I was originally planning to only drink a couple beers and roll but I wound up having more than twice that once I got rolling into a conversation with a guy named Joe who was sitting next to me.
Joe and I talked about a lot of things but the subject that consumed most of the time was our experience in relationships. He was 3 months out from breaking off a 3 year plus thing with a woman he loved but that was unwilling to do some simple things that he needed to feel happy in the relationship. I shared some of the cliff notes of my prior relationships as well. We both agreed that the most important thing a woman has to give man is respect. If that is absent everything else will fall apart. Joe appreciated our conversation so much that he bought my last Miller Lite for me. The experience at the cabana was more positive than I anticipated, so much so that it makes me want to add it back in to my regular hang outs, despite it being hot as hell. Unlike most of my trips in the past I sat directly at the bar instead of the peripheral area which I think made a difference.
In total I was out and about for somewhere around three hours, much longer than I anticipated. The video that I shot is very, very random. There is an awkward moment after I rode by Christine’s place, awkward because it seemed to me that perhaps she does not live there anymore. I evidently am far, far outside her loop nowadays. Oh well.
I spent most of the remaining hours in my Sunday getting the video edited, processed and posted. I need to really now focus on the trip the next few evenings. It’s weird, although I am looking forward to the adventure I am also looking forward to emerging from the other side of it.