Borscht, Bath and Beyond

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.

Almost like summer

Yesterday was a brilliant day, but aren't hot, sunny summer days supposed to lazily roll by? Maybe it's that we're in the waning days of the season, but even though it was summery the day seemed to speed along. Otis and I took a walk around Green Lake in the morning and had lunch outside, but I had school work to do at home and then was in my office on campus by 3:30, so maybe it was more truncated than rushed.

In any case, today will include active laziness: in a few minutes, I'll be heading off to the Russian Spa for a morning of hot rooms and cold pools.