After a week of clouds & rain… a week of IRONMAN recovery… and a week of blisters healing… it felt GREAT to finally get back out on my bike this morning! Sure, it was cloudy & windy… but so much to be outside playing along the lakefront again!

Lots of clouds & lots of waves crashing in! Kind of a chilly & windy morning, but it still felt great to get back out for a morning ride…as the last few days have been a bit rainy & wet. Welcome to Fall in Chicago… pedal on!!!

Beautiful blue skies & puffy white clouds at Buckingham Fountain after the triathlon… and after the storm! One of the most beautiful landmarks in Chicago. It’s hard to take a bad picture of it… and even harder to choose which ones to post?!

Fun with friends along the lakefront… swimming, biking & running! We all ran our own race while dealing with the heat, humidity & freak rainstorm! It was the first time that Tracy & I got to run together as we signed up for the “Clydesdale & Athena” division for we “larger” normal-sized people!

Fun to have Chris, Nancy & Don racing with us. Seeing Nancy in our favorite “Rapid Reboots” after the race… and Chris winning second place in her age group!

Despite the challenging weather today, we all had a great time playing down along the lakefront for the 2021 CHICAGO TRIATHLON.

Today was sunny, hot & steamy… with a side of gusty winds & stormy clouds with a quick deluge of a raining downpour!!! Not quite ideal… but another fun day at the 2021 CHICAGO TRIATHLON!!! Sure my finish time might not have been my best, but we had a great time swimming, biking & running with friends!!! It felt so good to get back to a little slice of “normal” during these crazy times! Luckily, we were all outside with plenty of fresh… err, make that thick & humid air!!!

With this being the hottest weekend of the summer, I’m tagged & ready for another Chicago Triathlon tomorrow! It’s going to be a sweaty race… as I’m currently in the studio sweating & racing to finish a new batch of oval vases. We’ve had no air conditioning on the second floor of Lillstreet for over a week now!!! Not good during the heat wave hitting Chicago this week! Just trying to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate…

Like walking on sunshine… whoa ho… and don’t it feel GOOD!!!
– sing it Katrina & The Waves!

So I decided to go for a bike ride today… seemingly through the hottest & most humid part of the day! Why?… who knows?!

I was a big sweaty mess… but so happy to find this secluded “rock beach” down on the far South Side… as I had the entire place to myself?!!! No one else to be seen!!! It was such a welcome respite as I took some time to play on the beach & take a dip in the lake to cool off before pedaling home!

The pre-dawn Chicago skyline!
Moody & dark with gentle shimmering reflections.

After what seemed like a week of rain & gray skies, it felt great to not have the rain today! Sure, the sky was still a bit gloomy, but I’ll take it. It just felt great to be back out on my bike this morning!