Can you hear me now? Radio WLKA is broadcasting live from the West Seattle Tully's! We wanted a little change-of-place, so we scootered out here for a view of the bay while we play. It seems like we're in a different county, if not a different country - one that has really crappy roads, by the way. Oh, my aching tucchus!
Plunge: So, I went down to Banya 5, the Russian spa, yesterday. Beaucoup de mercis and gracias muchoses to Dingo, who gave me the gift certificate for a birthday present, like, 22 months ago. I am so late in using it only because I wanted a day with no other obligations, and it had to be a Thursday, since that's the boy-only day, and I'm not going to Russian spa unless I can walk around naked and hairy. Yesterday fit the bill.
I went early and got there just as they opened, so it was pretty empty and quiet. I have no way of knowing how it compares to Olympus Spas, since they are always girl-only, but it was clean and bright and modern and classy-like.
I started in the Turkish Steam Room; I had forgotten what low-visibility environments steam rooms are. It was like a really think fog, only lots hotter. After I had sweat sufficiently (because sweating = health, apparently) I got out and jumped in a pool, and then relaxed in a hot tub for a while.
Once I felt a little acclimated, I went into the Russian Sauna. This is a dry room that can reach 200-220 degrees at the top benches. It sort of felt like sitting in a pizza oven, but it was okay, because, you know, it was a dry heat.
Let me tell you, walking out of that room and jumping into a pool of 55 degree water was invigorating to say the least. I really don't know about the health benefits of any of this, but it sure is fun.
I took a break and went upstairs to a "napping lounge" for a while and drank some lemon water while reading a New Yorker. The facility was quite nice throughout, with massage and salt-scrub rooms on the two levels and a small room with tables and chairs for dining tea, playing games, and suchlike.
I finished off the visit with another Russian room/cold pool sequence and scootered home a happy (if flushed pink) boy.
Post-plunge: Otis took me to lunch at Bengal Tiger and then we both had naps in the afternoon! Relaxing takes a lot out of a fellow.
In the saddle: While Otis tended to a client last night, I took a little ride down to Gas Works Park, where I called Jon of Monmouth and did some past-due checking in with that noted former blogger. The ride marked three consecutive days of biking; I am hovering at a solid 6% of target for the year. Pitiful.
Spectration: After salad-bar goodness for dinner, Otis and I watched Donnie Darko (the director's cut). After all the hip-hype this film got, maybe my expectations were too high, but I thought it was just okay, although it would have made a nice little twilight zone episode if you cut it down enough. It was a bit erratic and disjointed, and not in a good way, but in a did-the-director-know-what-he-was-doing? way. Mary McDonnell is always watchable, and it was great to see Katherine Ross, but Maggie Gyllenhaal was wasted and Jake a bit too keanu for me. A definite meh.
Ride, captain, ride: Otis and I got up early this morning and hit the Burke-Gilman trail together, wheel and heels. While Otis took a walk, I made run from Gas Works to Matthews Beach, not quite managing a tripple-dipple, but pulling a solid hour at 14.4 mph. It made me feel a little more confident about gearing up for the commute in the next few weeks.
Riding anecdote: At one intersection where the B-G crosses a wide street on the UW campus, they have installed a big, blinking stop sign for bikers. I appreciate the effort to make bikers safer by encouraging us to stop, but I found a certain irony in coming upon two bike officers writing a middle-aged bike commuter a citation at this new sign just after having been almost struck by a car at the previous intersection while I was crossing in a marked crosswalk with the green light and a walk sign.
We rewarded ourselves with coffee at Mighty O donuts in Tangletown, and while I was there I read some encouraging news in the paper regarding the state of car-commuting in Seattle: apparently, Sound Transit increased daily ridership by an average of 2,000 during the I-5 closure, and in the week that the highway has been re-opened, they retained more than a third of that number, for a net 10% increase in ridership from before the project. Maybe we are less hidebound than we think!
(I know I haven't missed my car. I last turned it over to Sachet before she left for Montreal and who knows where it is now. Dingo suggested I start dudewhere'smycar.com to keep track.)
Indolence and industry: We came home and thought about doing serious housework and shopping, but obviously opted for a ride out instead.
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