Turn your head, now baby just spit me out

So Michael Jackson died. It has left me wondering what it must be like to die a different colour than one was born. I suppose it won't matter for much longer, unless they cryogenically preserve him against the time we discover how to breathe life into frozen dead people. Actually, they no doubt will keep him around. It's Michael Jackson. We'll need someone to make fun of in the future.

I got myself a brand spankin' new haircut today. I hadn't had a haircut in a long time. I let it go longer than one should, really. My split ends had almost reached the roots, is what I am saying. Anyway, I went to see Melissa at Acqua. I love Melissa, she is awesome. She's also currently very pregnant, it must be killing her to be on her feet all day. Anyway, she turned me into this:



I quite like it. It's pretty much what I had before, but the bangs are slightly different. It's plenty lighter. I will definitely appreciate it for the summer.

Next week is a 3 day work week for me. It's not ideal, I get Wednesday off and I'm taking Friday. Unfortunately I have to be in Thursday, so it will be a bit odd, but we'll make do. The boy and I are going home to the Waterfront Festival, as we do every year. It's the only time of year Cobourg is actually fun. I love it to pieces. I hope the weather co-operates. It likely won't.

I must go get ready to go for a run. The thunderstorms have paused for a bit and the boy will be back soon for me to join him. Off I go!

Today I rode my bike up a hill

This is your cue to roll your eyes and scoff at what I think a great accomplishment is. Aw, what a cute little girl, she rode up a hill! All by herself!

Fuck you.

Allow me to explain why this warrants an actual entry into this blog:

I ride a road bike. I ride a beautiful, excellent road bike. One that you would take home to your mother. And then take it home and fuck the daylights out of it. My point is, my bike is awesome and it's better than yours.

My bike has clipless pedals, which means I shove my feet into shoes that have cleats, then clip those shoes into my pedals. Thus, to effectively stop my bike without tipping over, I have to unclip one of my pedals before the wheels stop spinning. It took me a while to get the hang of that actually, and I got a few scrapes and bruises from the learning process. I still fall sometimes, especially if I have to stop unexpectedly.

When climbing a hill, it is imperative that the wheels continue spinning so that the bike moves forward. Simple physics, really. In order to keep the wheels spinning, I have to pedal continuously, without stopping. I am not able to unclip a pedal while I am spinning my feet in the pedals. Therefore, when the climbing of a hill has already commenced, I am not given the option to stop without tipping over, which, as discussed above, hurts.

The hill that I faced today was the base of the mightly Milton escarpment. It's a baby hill really, when compared to the roads that wind up and down the face of it. I was about 40 minutes into the ride though, and I had just climbed a somewhat smaller but steeper hill so my legs were wobbly. I looked at this hill ahead of me, and I started to cry. There was no way I was going to make it up this hill. A cyclist travelling in the opposite direction coasted down it at about 40 km/h and cheerfully waved to me. I cheerfully waved back through my streaming tears. Before I knew it, I had started climbing. Three seconds in, I was in my easiest gear, and I realized there was no going back. Thirty seconds in, I seriously considered just falling to the grassy shoulder on the right. About a minute in, my legs and lungs were burning so badly I was shocked I didn't see flames leaping around my face. At that point, I was almost at the top so there was no way in bloody hell I was stopping. The top of the hill was a busy intersection anyway, so if I had fallen close by I probably would have been run over by a car.

I made it though. I made it. I cried, I screamed, I wheezed and my ears bled a little, but I made it up my Big Girl hill.

It was a good ride.