flotsam

well, i've gone from "mental shrapnel," to "flotsam," which surely must be less dangerous for all involved.
at the moment i'm trying things out on a new silicone keyboard cover, for which i've been roundly abused by both K and lara. (K: "that's like putting towels over your car seats to keep them from getting dirty." Lara: "Are you going to get one of those prissy little covers for the keyboard?") i'm finding it very odd to type with, but i'm just too sloppy to not have one. already, after not even a week of use, i noticed that certain keys were a wee bit grimy.
so. after purchasing a mac, i had to get a keyboard cover. (still getting used to the typing, if you wanna know. it's like you have to be extra firm and precise with the keystrokes, otherwise stupid things happen. this is going to make IM a bitch.) and then i had to get appropriate software, since i'll be putting together a powerpoint presentation for the talk i'm giving to the NWE on the friday of my return to the states.
and then i had my bike stolen on a fine thursday morning, as i've previously noted, and now have laid out a couple thousand more for a bike that i certainly do not deserve.
it is a Ridley Orion. it is a gorgeous piece of equipment and it scares me all the way to death and back. it is fast fast fast and stiff stiff stiff and has exactly two...gears...in...front.
ladies and gentlemen, i am SCREWED. this course a week from now is going to be hella hilly, and i think i'm pretty well bound already to be the damned last person on the course. it's not demian's fault--i ought to have specified that the stolen piece of equipment was a triple chain ring, but i didn't, and now i'm riding a bike that is more bike than i can handle.
there's no way i'm going to get stronger in the next week. i'll just have to suck it up.
it's easy to feel fast here in chicago, where there's nothing really to feel slow on. it's all speed and flat with the occasional very small rise. but this...this is no exmoor triathlon.
i joke with my friends that if i'm not back by july, they can look for me in the lake: i tell them that there is plenty of fresh fish and water for me to live on. but this...this bike is no joke. demian seems to think that it's going to be fine. i can only hope he's right.