Ride 161 - Near death experience climbing Vancouver's Pt. Grey and cherry blossom hunting exposition

Today is Tuesday, April 19, 2022. The weather folks have been promising mainly sun with some cloud this afternoon and I have been waiting patiently for it. They promised the same for yesterday and it didn’t show up. But, I managed to convince myself to leave and go riding around 3pm. As it turned out, I did get a lot of sun and temperatures around 13 Celcius which was nice.

It’s hard to explain but winter here is so cold, wet and dark and everything seems so lifeless. Then March comes around and the cherry trees start to blossom and springtime arrives with a fury. It is the most colorful and exciting time of the year here to get outside and go cycling or whatever. I really look forward to it.

So for this ride, I am again going cherry blossom hunting. This time its for the large magenta blossoms. These will be the last cherry blossoms for 2022 and they should be magnificent. I expect the highlight will be Heather St.

But, this can’t just be a beauty ride so I first plan to head to Kitsilano and ride both 11th and 12th avenues west up the hill to Blanca and then south on Dunbar hill. That should get my climbing workout out of the way.

After that, I will head east to 49th and Heather and then cruise Heather St. south to 68th ave. I expect the cherry blossoms will be in full bloom though but I could be a few days early. But, early is better than late.

Normally I expect to get in 8 rides every month give or take depending on weather. For months now, my riding frequency has been decreasing. I am a low energy guy. By that I mean that compared to me, Jeb Bush is the energizer bunny. But, for some strange reason, when I get out on the road I seem to find some hidden energy allowing me to ride for hours. But, for several months now there have been occasions where I planned to ride but skipped out on them because I had no energy and instead ended up laying in bed all day wondering what the hell was wrong with me.
I had trouble sleeping and would toss and turn throughout the night. In the morning I would wake with a brain fog as if I had barely slept at all. That had me quite sleepy throughout the day. My mom often complains about her sleeping habits so of course I thought I got this from her.
Then I started having trouble digesting food. After I ate my regular greek yogurt, I would have to lay down for a while as the food digested. I had the same effect with other foods as well. That was something I had never experienced before. And, over time it got progressively worse so of course I started wondering whether I was developing some form of stomach cancer. You know, go straight for the extreme ailments.

Finally, a couple weeks ago I started having issues with coffee. I love black coffee and have been drinking it since my early teens and it is normal for me to have 5 or more cups per day. But, although the first cup helped relieve my brain fog, it seemed that each additional cup was making me more and more tired and that seemed quite strange.

I thought about that for the last week or so. I am not a doctor and I do not play one on tv and I have not stayed at a Holiday Inn lately. I am, however, a lawyer. We aren’t the dumbest people in society, though some days I do wonder about that, so I figured I might have a shot at working out was the hell was going on. And, while I was sitting in front of the computer after this ride, a couple thoughts occurred to me. Was I getting enough water, and is there a connection between hydration and energy levels?

I did a quick google search on the effects of dehydration and the first article I clicked on listed various symptoms of dehydration: low energy, poor sleep, difficulty digesting food, brain fog, and a few other things. Turns out I did not have stomach cancer. Instead, I had managed to unknowingly dehydrate myself for months and months.

And, though I don’t really like the taste of water, I easily consumed several glasses of water and had a great sleep. I have been drinking water frequently throughout the days since. So, lesson of the day. Don’t be an idiot like me. Hydrate regularly.

That dude came close to killing me. Good thing he saw me and quickly veered off otherwise I was pretty much a sitting duck for him. If my life passed before my eyes, it was pretty quick and I missed it.

There is a steady stream of fans heading to Rogers Arena to see the Canucks play the Senators in a must win game for the Canucks if they want to keep their slim playoff chances alive. Unfortunately, they lost in a shoot-out. It doesn’t look like they will qualify this year.

That was a good ride. My legs got a great work-out and I had lot’s of cherry blossoms to enjoy. I expect I will revisit Heather st. in a few days when the sun is out and the blossoms will be at their best.