Rouvy, Bathroom Remodel, and Men with Agendas

I was hoping to take my fatty to the river bottoms yesterday morning and ride the trails there but I'm still not recovered enough from my most recent rib injury 4 weeks ago. The injured area isn't all that noticeable to me, I can cough and sneeze and tie my shoelaces without pain, but pressing on the area or laying with my weight on it still hurts. That tells me it's still vulnerable to being injured again even in a mild crash. I think it's best that I wait a while longer. I've been using my indoor trainer a fair amount to improve my fitness on the bike and truth be told, I tend to work harder and get a better workout riding indoors than I do outside. I focus more on my effort when I'm on my indoor trainer, so much so that I've been stressing my knees more than normal. I need to back off a little.

I normally ride a program called Zwift, a computer-generated world where we indoor cyclists gather to ride the many worlds of Zwift. It's an awesome program and one I've been using for the last 5+ years, but lately, I've been using the Rouvy indoor cycling platform and I've been enjoying it even more than Zwift. In Rouvy, I have the ability to ride on routes that have been filmed from either a vehicle or a bike. The recorded video is then synced with the ride data collected from a Garmin-like cycling computer and uploaded to the platform for others to experience as they ride their trainer. Any elevation changes recorded during the data collection of the outdoor ride result in more or less resistance on the trainer creating a real-world ride simulation. It's very immersive. Where most people dread the idea of riding their indoor trainer for an hour or more, I actually look forward to it and will oftentimes, with somewhat excited anticipation, find a course to ride the night before. I'm maybe just a tad weird that way, tho. Saturday's ride was 56 miles (90 km) through some beautiful hilly countryside in Switzerland.

Our master bathroom remodel is in full swing—with supply line issues and all. Our tub was supposed to have been available to pick up last Tuesday but we got late word that it won't arrive until the 3rd week in April—if then. No worries. We were able to use the floor model temporarily so as to have it plumbed precisely where it needs to sit rather than rely on measurements taken in the store. Without the tub placement figured out, we would have been dead-in-the-water and waiting before we could proceed with the flooring. 

If I've learned anything from the pandemic that we're still in the midst of (and I've learned a lot), it's how interconnected we are and how dependent we are on one another. Not just now, but all the time. 

Trump is once again holding his rallies and continuing to push the Big Lie that the last election was rigged/stolen and that he won. More than 70% of Republicans believe him. If he stays out of prison and is re-elected president, he intends to pardon those involved in the 1/6 riot/insurrection on our nation's Capitol. A pardon carries with it an admission of guilt. He claimed at a recent rally that his VP Mike Pence had the power to turn his back on the will of the voters and overturn the last election. I'm not sure what more the Department of Justice needs to hear before indicting the traitor.

And speaking of pardons; considering the way presidential pardon powers were abused by Trump, it seems obvious to me that those powers need to be looked at and limited. He was able to use the power of the pardon to silence people who would testify against him and now he's planning to abuse it again if given the chance. That's a serious problem and one that a wanna-be authoritarian would love to abuse without hesitation or shame. Why nobody is talking about it bewilders me. I've contacted my Congressional rep as well as both of my Senators about my concern. 

Switching gears.

Conservatives across the country are in the process of whitewashing our history and doing their best to eliminate those things that show us, and them in particular, in a bad light. The people who are doing this are people with an agenda who wish to color our world in an inaccurate way but in a way that suits them. 

A realization that I've come to understand in the last several years is how easily people's minds can be manipulated. It's caused me to question so much of what I've until now accepted as fact in my life going back to my most basic understanding of my place in the world and what lies beyond.

For my Christian friends: can you imagine a scenario where Jesus returns as promised in the Bible but the journalists of the day don't write about it until decades, perhaps a lifetime later? Putting speculation about what happens upon his return aside, that's simply not possible, is it—that this sort of news is suppressed? But when I contemplate the gospels (believed to be eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus), that's exactly what we're being asked to believe. The gospels weren't written until several decades after the crucifixion of Jesus. It seems odd to me that such a momentous happening—the crucifixion on the cross and the resurrection of Jesus from the grave—could have been shelved for so long after happening in such a miraculous way. In what context does that even begin to make sense? 

I used to believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. I no longer do because I'm skeptical about its authenticity anymore.

I know it's much easier to not ask these kinds of questions but I think a belief in such a religion demands that they be asked, especially when I see the way people's trust is being abused today by men with an agenda—and their followers aren't questioning them. 

I don't mean to be a contrarian; these are genuine questions and concerns I have.

Time to get on my trainer. A ride along the California coast through Malibu awaits me!

That's all I've got