My last class was today - I'll probably write up something in the class blog as a final wrap-up, but I can say here that the class went well. We had the last few presentations and then I asked students to fill out student evaluations. I took some cookies and milk too, which I figured couldn't hurt. I mostly did it, because I really enjoyed this semester and I'm going to miss this bunch of kids. They showed real enthusiasm and jumped into all of the activities with both feet. Tomorrow I'll need to grade papers. Hopefully, I'll be able to get grades posted by Monday or Tuesday.
After class, I went home and did some work around the house (took the propane tank off the grill to get it refilled/replaced and installed Lucy's air conditioner). Then I took a good bike ride. I rode to North Amherst, Meadow Street to Commins, and then to Route 47. I followed Route 47 to Hadley. I stopped briefly at the North Hadley Sugar Shack with the goal of getting some yavender yemonade, but they were already closed. I rode on to the bike trail and then back home. I stopped at the Hampshire Bicycle Exchange to talk them about a problem I'm having with my bike. I think the bottom bracket is beginning to fail. Because of my weight, I tend to be hard on bottom brackets and I've noticed this year that I'm getting a "chunk" each time the pedal goes around. Hopefully a new bottom bracket will solve it. But they're not doing work right now -- too much work to do to get bikes ready to sell. I'm not in a hurry though -- he said to check back in a week and maybe by then they'll be able to do to the work. When I got home, I'd gone 14 miles at an average speed of 9.68mph. A good ride and I got to fill in another section of road that I hadn't ridden on before. That gets harder and harder. I realized this evening that I've ridden farther this year than I have in all the other years that I've owned this bike put together.
I also broke through a new plateau in losing weight. In the past few days, I've decided to cut back on portions and on the sugar-free candy I've been eating. I had mostly limited myself to just a piece or two of candy, but I had been allowing myself to eat large portions of meat. I've cut out the candy and I've been trying to eat only a single portion of meat. Very quickly, it's yielding results in terms of new weight loss. Maybe I'll get to that touring bike faster than I thought...