My Thermostat's Day

This is the description of my day as seen through the eyes, senses, buttons, what have you of my thermostat.

5am: It is time to switch to "day mode" and heat the house up for Matthew when he wakes.
8:30am: Good morning Matthew! I hope the house is warm enough.
10am: Have a great ride Matthew. Thanks for putting me on my 7 hour "night mode", so I can rest a little bit during the day while you're gone.
5pm: Wow, this has been a pretty easy day. I better switch on to "day mode" again and warm things back up. I really wonder where Matthew has been all day?
6:30pm: What do I hear? Is that Matthew coming home? Glad I warmed the house back up!
8pm: MMMM, dinner smells good.

Yup, I was gone a long time today. I had an epic ride with Caleb. We tackled one of my favorite rides in the area going northwest into the Pyrenees. The weather really could not have been much better. It was sunny all day and incredibly comfortable for riding. When we met for the ride at 10 this morning, I said to Caleb something about riding all day as a joke, but in the end, it was the truth! The sun was setting when we arrived back in Girona. We had planned on riding 6 hours, but either I don't know my rides very well, or we just had one of those rides where the time adds up really quick. It was weird though because we were going solid all day. Regardless, the day was incredible.

With such a long ride, we of course had to make a couple stops. Both stops were in Olot, the main town before going into the mountains. Given that it was a Sunday, finding open shops can be a trick. Thankfully Olot is a little bigger and had some options. The first stop was at a nice bakery for some tasty pastries. They were a scrumptious treat before tackling the next couple hours of relentless riding. Shortly after leaving Olot and heading into the mountains, I experienced my first lesson with the new Di2 electric shifting: low battery. With around 3.5-4 hours still to go in the loop, I had to to decide whether to risk it or not. Without much hesitation, I decided to venture on restricted to my small ring in the front (first mechanism built into Di2 for low battery life saving).

After another 3 hours, Caleb and I had ceased all conversation having transformed into survival mode. We desperately needed food and drink to recharge our souls and energy. We rode into Olot's center to see what we could find this time. At this time, many of the shops that were open the first time were now closed. Thankfully we had a saving grace though: a cafe with pastries, hot sandwiches, and coffee. We each had a cortado (coffee), sandwich, and pastry. Then when we paid, somehow another pastry was ordered to split. Whoops! Fully satisfied and re-motivated, we rolled on with resumed conversation and new energy. It took about 10 minutes after departure for each of us to realize we had overindulged! Our stomachs talked to us in anger and discomfort as they tried to digest everything. Despite the discomfort, we were still much happier. After another 20-30 minutes, the fire in our bellies alleviated the discomfort, and we were again on a strong rhythm toward home.

About 45 minutes from home, my Di2 appeared to completely die, leaving me as a single speed! Thankfully I was in a pretty good gear for climbing and flat riding. I rode it as best I could back to Girona, where I accidentally hit the shifter and wallah, it was partly functioning again. It actually was quite sporadic, but it seemed to work just enough to shift every so often. I think it was just trying to gather enough battery power to produce the shift in between each. Nonetheless, I made it home basically unscathed!

10pm: "night mode" on. I guess Matthew is going to bed. Wimp! Riding 7:15 makes him tired. Good night.