179, -2, 62 pounds total

It's been a weird couple of weeks. All the weirdness is in my own head of course. Externally it's been pretty much business as usual.

A couple of weeks ago my diet counselor was talking about how Happiness is a Choice. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Happiness is a choice. I still don't know how I feel about that. I think that it can be to a degree.

I was so fed up with how things were going in my life that I decided I was going to do a crazy bicycle tour over my five day 4th of July holiday just to shake things up a little. My plan was to take the train to Monterey and then bike down to San Luis Obispo, where I would take the train home. Immediately I felt much better. Something different to think about and do, yay! Well, I went on a little test ride on July 1. I rode from my house to Solana Beach, over the Torrey Pines Road hill. That ride was only about 35 miles or so according to my cyclometer but it totally kicked my ass. As bad as Torrey Pines hill is, the hills on my tour would be 5 times worse. Ack.

But, instead of giving up entirely I decided to do the miles of my tour, but here at home, where I could rest up in my own bed. It worked out pretty well. I rode up and down the North County coast for those 5 days and logged 158 miles total, partly loaded. One day I rode to a picnic with a bunch of chicken salad in my panniers. It was just like old times. Two miles short of my goal, but hell, it was close. I have fallen back in love with cycling. It's great! I had forgotten how fun it is, and the North County coast is so lovely. I would kinda like to live there for a while. Who knows... Also, I've managed to get myself in better shape. Even though I've only lost a few pounds I have toned up a bit. Feels good.

I guess if I'm not happy, I can find ways to be happy. There are things I can't control, like the way I look, but I can deal better with how I react to it.