Finally, after struggling up hills all year, I can officially declare I'm back in condition and hills are fun again! We like hills, don't we? We like pain. We think pain is fun. Mm, pain. Yay pain. I can go on about pain like a Nalgene water bottle.

On Friday I rode up Market St. to Twin Peaks without much struggle at all, and then yesterday I did the Skyline Blvd. ride in the East Bay Hills and didn't go down to my smallest chainring at all. Rarely went below 8 mph, which isn't very fast, mind you, but all year I've been struggling to prevent from going slower than that. And failing.

I don't think the hills on the Skyline Blvd. ride are that challenging, but it just felt strong. The route started in Tilden Park in Berkeley and goes down Wildcat Canyon Road on the other side of the hills, runs along the bottom of the hills on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel all the way to Moraga, and then climbs back into the hills, and then runs along the ups and downs along the top of the hills back to Berkeley on Skyline and Grizzly Peak Blvds. A modest 29 miles total.

Afterwards I went straight to Terry and Mike's place for a big barbecue they were throwing for their birthdays/housewarming for Mike. Mike had been crashing on Terry's couch for a while and recently got an apartment in the same building. A bunch of Beale St./NTN trivia regulars were there, so there was the established contingent of smart, smart-ass alcoholics. I don't know what it is about Terry, who actually only tolerates me at a very minimal level, but he has just amassed the most interesting sort of people around him. I'm glad one of them is Mike, who I think genuinely likes me, and is a super fellow. I don't know quite how to describe it except to say that when Terry and/or Mike gather a bunch of people, my attitude going in is that I'm going to like, or at least give benefit of doubt to just about everyone. I won't meet someone and think I'm getting bad vibes, but I'll meet them thinking "a friend of Terry's is good enough for me".

Terry is a raging alcoholic. That's not talking shit, either, he's had it written up on his performance reviews at work (he's also incredibly smart and competent which is why he doesn't get fired). He's suffering from alcohol related gout now, so his joints are paining him. His liver is probably the size of a small boat, so it's a wonder why it's not his liver that's giving out first. My first run-in with Terry outside of work was when we were working at the same place, and me and my old boss were looking for a place to grab some drinks and we saw Terry on the outside porch of Holding Company. We didn't know each other that well so we tentatively joined him; I forget if he called us over or if Ritu invited herself, probably that latter. When the waitress came over to take our orders, she turned to Terry and asked, "Shall I get you your pitcher?". He discreetly declined and ordered a martini, but it didn't take long before he caught on to Ritu and was openly double-fisting a beer and a martini.

After a day of riding and a night of drinking, I crashed pretty quick last night and slept nine hours. I woke up having run out of half & half so my coffee is Irished up with Bailey's Irish Cream and hot chocolate. There was a message on my machine from my mom (what the hell was she calling me so early?!) telling me my brother's wife is now preggers. It is too nice outside to not go for a leisurely ride to the park to read.