I've been trying to shake off my business trip this weekend with a couple rides, lots of sleep, and normal food. I could really use one more day of sleeping in, eating, riding, eating, napping, eating, and sleeping but I'll have to wait until Memorial Day. I landed late Friday night and have to be in early tomorrow for meetings so it's been a short recovery. At least I don't have another business trip until mid June.
I travel for work at least once per month, but this week's trip to Nashville was especially tiring. I flew out Monday night, so shuffled my schedule to get in an hour on the trainer before heading to the airport. With the time change and prep time for the customer workshop, I didn't get to bed until after midnight. My
training program called for 4 days of riding, but only 30 and 60 minute sessions. The hotel only had an old recumbent so it was going to be a challenge to get up early to ride.
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| Hotel Gym |
After a couple snoozes, I decided to go for a walk in the warm weather and battle the bike after work. It had snowed at home on Sunday, so Tuesday morning in 80F was a nice treat. A long day, followed by group dinner, and several hours catching up on emails kept me from the bike and set me up for another short sleep.
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| Hotel Hoop - such a better option than the gym, but only open 9-9 |
These 4 hour nights were going to kill me, so I pledged to get to bed early that evening and get caught up. I struggled through 30 minutes on the recumbent then off for another long workshop. We had to go straight to the airport to pick up colleagues in a weather advisory rain storm, then had dinner, and guess what, more work from the hotel room and lights off at 2am.
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| Working from the desk, I saw more of the bed than I spent in it... seriously |
Thursday was a big day with the customer and it was still raining, so I did a quick walk before meeting everyone for breakfast. While we are on that subject, each day I had mediocre oatmeal, a banana spread with sugary peanut butter, and some juice from the buffet. I was also stuck in a rut at lunch with very few vegan options at the customer cafeteria. Let's just say, I got to know the salad bar offerings by heart after 4 days. Thursday evening was a large customer dinner followed by a visit to a couple bars to listen to music. When in Nashville...
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| Tennessee Bluegrass |
Unfortunately, my other customers didn't care how my day was going, so back to the laptop once I got everyone safely back to the hotel. My body was adjusting to minimal sleep so I figured just one more and then I could sleep on the flight home and catch up over the weekend. I was also looking forward to catching up on food over the weekend. In addition to breakfast and lunch, dinner choices in the south are slim for vegans. I wasn't burning too many calories, but still felt hungry each evening after more salads and veggie wraps.
Friday morning I tried to do the recumbent again but boredom set in after 15 minutes so I finished on the elliptical. One last workshop, then a couple flights and I should be home before midnight. You've probably guessed by now, that didn't happen. Neither did sleeping on the plane. I finally fell into my own bed at 1:30am Saturday morning.
That's how glamorous business travel can be and why I'm not a fan, especially when I could be home with my own bed, bike, and food. The good news is my customer is very pleased with our efforts, which will make the next several months a little easier.
I slept in on Saturday, but not for long since I was hungry and we needed to get in a long ride. My legs were heavy from the flights, but after a slow warm-up I fell into a rhythm and climbed to 9500ft. We had a nice meal then I took a nap before eating dinner and relaxing while catching up on cycling coverage of the
Giro d'Italia and
Amgen Tour of California.
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| Wolf Creek Pass - from 500ft to 9500ft |
This morning I slept in again, then ate a couple breakfasts in between yoga and house chores. We headed out for another ride even though my legs and mind protested. Lunch and groceries took the place of a nap, but luckily bedtime is only a couple hours away once the laundry is finished.
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