The Setup
I’m heading up to work HQ for the first trip of the year. It’s good for me to remain viable in the company, though these trips are often for client meetings. This one will be an assortment of clients, and in fact there was a 4th that would have met up with us but I didn’t want to be up here 4 days. The reasons for this trip are as follows:
- Boss meeting IRL
- General HQ drive-by to see people there
- Monday lunch with a client
- Monday 2-hour workshop
- Tuesday on-site then lunch at a client in Boston proper
- Wednesday meeting & lunch with a 3rd client
Sunday Recap
Before I get to Monday let’s recap Sunday. It was a whirlwind of sorts. In rapid fire form: woke up early, brought Simon to soccer, went home to pack the truck, went back to get Simon from soccer and watch the end of the game, dropped him off then took the dog for a walk at Chimney Rock, back home to eat lunch, out for a road ride, then home to have a coffee on the porch in the warm sun, took a shower, then had a cup of tea with D before heading north.
Then I stopped at Kaliubon in CT for ramen. I do like this spot. I got to the hotel around 9:00.
The Plan
Today is wake up, ride, head to HQ, meet a client for lunch, then see what happens. Day 1 is pretty much always like this. After lunch it’s really just, “See what happens.”
But first, coffee.
Vietnam 1
I start the day with a ride, the standard Hall of Fame loop. Given it’s the first ride of the year up here I wanted to see how much I could remember. I did most of it, but of course not all. You would think I might know it all by now but I don’t. I took it easy on the features as it was slick from all the rain yesterday. It was a good ride, and good way to start the day.
The middle of the park was hit by fire at some point. Image below.
The Strava link can be found here.
HQ & Lunch
The days at HQ are always a blur, and essentially unproductive. It’s really great to see & talk to people but I don’t get a lot done here. This is ok, getting actual work done is not the main focus of these HQ visits. It’s all about face time and working shit out. In reality, talking things out in-person is very valuable.
Lunch with the client is good. I got the salad with salmon, as seen below.
The afternoon was a 2-hour kickoff workshop with a client that started today and has to be live June 1. It is entirely unrealistic and I have no idea how we’ll make them happy. We basically have 3 weeks to gather requirements and do all the development.
Vietnam 2
The rest of the day, as it turns out, is mine to use as I like. I go back to Vietnam and so some exploring. I find that big rock teeter-totter and try it, and crash. I actually fall back as the bike sails down the teeter, and I land on my back and a bottle gets crushed and explodes. I sit on a rock for 2 minutes then continue on.
I ride a total of 3+ hours today.
The Strava link can be found here.
Depot Street Tavern
I don’t do this often, but when I ride this much I go and crush a burger. I got the truffle fries upgrade and this was excellent. Totally destroyed this and I deserved every calorie today.
Recap
These trips can often serve as a bike training camp if I am not required to do too much stuff for the client after hours. I can usually find the energy to ride before work if I need to. After is always a crap shoot. And if I have to travel for an early meeting, riding before that is a tough draw. Today was a good start to this, and I loaded myself up pretty good. The next 2 days are not well-defined but I think I can get in at least 2 hours tomorrow before the sun goes to bed, maybe even more. We’ll see how that really plays out.
That said, it’s 9pm and I’m ready for bed.
Traveling Normandy 