Went out riding with Mike on Saturday and Sunday – 30 miles on Saturday and a 52-mile round-trip to Los Gatos on Sunday (Mike’s first half-century!). Mike is training to do a century ride in October, and I’ve been going out on training rides to keep him company. (I really don’t seem to be very good at staying off the bike, do I?) At this rate I might as well sign up for AIDS Lifecycle again; I’m already putting in the training miles all summer. What’s another six months after that?
Actually I’m trying to talk Mike into doing ALC with me. But that’s another story…
Anyway, riding with Mike is much more fun than riding on my own – he is faster than me and so challenges me to ride faster, which (curiously) I’m finding I enjoy more than I thought I would. Don’t know if it would motivate me when I’m on my own, but it is much more interesting than doing long rides by myself.
The downside is that (once again) riding is taking up all my weekends. I did manage to get to a bead store before it closed on Sunday, but it was one of the worst-organized shops I have ever seen, so I didn’t manage to find all the beads I needed. I looked online at Fire Mountain Gems, but they had such a dizzying array of beads that I got hopelessly confused. I really need a way to look at beads, compare them, and then decide what I’m using. Which brings me back to the physical bead shop. I think today I will leave work a little early and go to Baubles & Beads in Berkeley, which has an excellent reputation.
What sort of beads are you looking for?