I decided to hit the road early today, because there’s not a lot going on with work this morning and it’s always better to get the drive out-of-the-way before rush-hour starts at the end of the day. My plan is to hit a park in between home and Boston. That will give me a good break in this drive, which looks like it’s going to be 4 1/2 hours or so as I roll out of the driveway.
I take my first two calls in the car. One is internal and one is external. There was a time in the business world where taking a call from the car was moderately OK but somewhat frowned upon. I would say at this time, it is pretty much expected that at least one person on any call will be in their car or on the street or in a space shuttle of some form. I am pretty sure 1 of my engagement managers works from her car.
My travel time this morning is actually pretty fantastic. I got here much faster than anticipated. I had looked the night before and the ETA was a bit longer, so I was mentally preparing for a longer drive. Getting the first leg of this done in 2 1/2 hours is a great way to start the day.
The plan was to hit Rockland Preserve and do the northern exposure loop. A friend had given me this idea for something to hit on my way back-and-forth between home and our work headquarters. He said it was pretty technical and was super easy to follow so it’s a good loop to hit. I took him up on the suggestion today.
In summary, it was totally awesome. Super easy to follow and some really cool features in there. I did just about a 4 1/2 mile loop in an hour, so it checked the box for a technical ride. This was a great loop.
After the northern exposure loop, I took a look at the map and there are lots of trails on the other side. I put together what was a sample of the stuff on that side. I had been told it was hard to follow but looking at the map it seems pretty easy to link a few things together. This was supposed to be an easier side so I knew I could real off a few more miles than the first half.
I started with some goat trail (Goatboy) which was fine. And then I did Bambi which was green, obviously by the name would be a green trail. Then I did a Erratica which is a blue trail and it was trails freaking awesome. OK it may be due to the fact that it seems to have been designed by me. All the skinnies and the drops and the jumps and everything was designed perfectly for me. The person that designed this trail has almost exactly my skill set. It was really awesome.
I finished up with Mag 5 which was another black trail. I was starting to get tired so I was getting a little sloppy but the technical stuff was really awesome again. It was similar to northern exposure but maybe…it was pretty much the same kind of thing. This is a good park in that the blacks are blacks from a technical perspective. I finished with a big sketchy roller that I probably should’ve questioned myself in doing, but it seemed fine and I was fine so it worked out.
In all this was an amazing, methodical, fun as hell 11 miles in 2+ hours. The Strava link can be found here.
After the ride I picked up some lunch at the Cozy Corner Pizza place. I thought it was just a pizza place but it was actually a sit down restaurant type thing. I ended up getting a personal pizza anyway, and it was actually rather good. I took another call while eating my lunch and the call went really well and lunch was really good.
Then I hit the road and took another call which was partly with a client and partly with my engagement manager. He’s the one I am meeting for the next two days, so we talked a little bit about the client that we were just on with, and then the client we’re meeting with tomorrow. He’s a good dude so it’s easy to talk to him. We set some things up for the next day and then got off the call and finished out the drive to Waltham, Massachusetts.
I get to the hotel around 5 o’clock, or just a bit before. By the time I’m all settled in and checked in it’s 10 after, maybe quarter after. The room is nice even if the neighborhood is rather average. It’ll be a good enough place to spend the next few days.
For the next hour I do some work that I was not able to do on the drive up today. I guess it would be more accurate to say that I rode my bike instead of doing work in the middle of the day, but I figure a 5 hour drive for a work event affords me that luxury. I hop in the shower and then I am good to go for the time being.
After the shower I head over to Whole Foods to pick up a salad and some supplies for the next few days. This is how I typically travel for work. I try to hit a Whole Foods the first day that I’m there to stock up on the little things I will need like grapes and coconuts. I find it it ends up saving money in the long run. Not that I’m really that concerned about saving money but I try to be somewhat responsible. I mean let’s be honest here. I got paid to ride my mountain bike today.
Unfortunately, they don’t sell razors at Whole Foods. Somehow my razor has disappeared from my travel bag and I neglected to shave before I went. I usually do, but I was just too lazy this time. I went with the idea that the hotel would have something like this. It was a reasonably safe bet.
I land some free razors at the front desk then head upstairs to eat my salad. I turn on the TV in what is a relatively rare event of watching TV while I eat my dinner. And I am pleasantly surprised to find that they have a smart TV. There is a Chromecast which allows me to stream whatever I want. I get bored after 20 minutes.
The remainder of the night is me just wasting time watching TV and doing work and reading my book, as well as doing a load of laundry.
Traveling Normandy 