California - Day Five - Rest Day, helmet cam

I woke up today pretty tired. Last night I was simply unable to stay awake and fell into a deep sleep. My body has a lot of accumulated fatigue and it's starting to pay the price. With my two Palomar attempts coming up, I'm inclined to work on recovery rather than training some more. So it was. Today marked my first rest day.

On a positive note, I saw a couple ribs on my body. It may not seem like a big deal but it's the first time I've seen ribs (without taking a deep breath) in so long I don't remember how long it's been. I've been famished too, and while we were eating lunch my friend asked if I was working on hiding the ribs again.

With a steady rain for most of the day, the priority was to do some chores around the house. The main mission for this weekend (with a Wednesday deadline) is to paint one of the rooms in the house. We're not painting it just off-white, we're doing a Steve McQueen "Lemans Porsche 917 race car" theme - light blue with a dark blue lower bit (shadow) and racing stripes - wide orange and narrow white ones - at our shoulder level. Since the room is for an 18 month old, he won't appreciate the setup for a while.

What this means though is for a few days I'll be borrowing a bed meant for a 4 year old girl since "my" futon is under a plastic tarp. I'll have a few stuffed animals, princesses, and things like that for company. Luckily I'm not that tall so I'll actually fit.

After we got the painting supplies, we stopped by Frye's. As this store doesn't exist where I live, it's a treat. Where else can you buy metal detectors, computer motherboards, night vision security cams, metal detecting wands, replica guns, and all the regular electronic and electrical goods?

For me, the emphasis was on getting the helmet cam back into action. Missing Horner, the Jelly Belly dude Alex, and the four-flat-tire Integra sliding all over the road, I'm anxious to have the ability to record events as they happen on the bike. After a bit of work, I've finally gotten the 120 degree lens into the ChaseCam. Initially I couldn't get it to tighten but I figured out a secret - put the retaining spring in first, then put the lens in. Presto! Some focusing and I have a fully operational helmet cam with two batteries (picked up an additional one today) and two tapes (2 hours each).

Oh and one other note. After taking a break from eating the Maltitol laden amino acid bars, my stomach has calmed down. I should have known. The bars are made by Ajinomoto, the company that sells MSG.

Still a bit tired but looking forward to a few hard days. With the weather good on Mon, Wed, Thu, and Fri, I may try a Palomar assault tomorrow. Rested legs, better idea of a schedule, and a full fuel tank could help pave the way to a successful attempt. And with temps expected to be in the mid/upper 70's later this week, it'll be an ideal time to take the helmet cam out for a spin or two.

Finally, since we now have an operating firewire for the camcorder, I may be able to upload some vids. I'm thinking of some how-to's but we'll see how things go.