P-A-I-S-L-E-Y

I'll spare you the sappy details but, sadly, this morning we had to put down one of our best friends, Paisley, our Cavalier King Charles.  Paisley was stricken with cancer and died a few days short of her ninth birthday.   Although it was absolutely the humane thing to do, it was also one of the hardest things that I have ever done in my whole life. Having just left the vet, I dedicated my ride to work to my fallen comrade.  Although Paisley went before she began to suffer, I decided that a sufferfest of my own was the perfect way to memorialize the day.

Before hitting the Bridge, I climbed the Headlands for some elevation.  But not just any normal Headlands Loop.  I opted for seven repeats of the Upper Conzumel climb - one repeat for each letter of Paisley's name.  I settled into my pain mantra and repeated the letters of her name on each lap.  P-P-P-P-P with every rotation of the cranks.  Second lap A-A-A-A-A.  I did the math in my head and settled into the groove.  I-I-I-I-I.  It was about 6 minutes to the top and then a two minute descent - eight minute round trip.  S-S-S-S-S. I told myself that I would be be done in an hour, so just buckle up and keep pedaling.  L-L-L-L-L.  The parking lot at the top made for a pretty nice, one minute reprieve.  E-E-E-E-E. And the descent finished with y awful squeaky cantilever breaks on the moto. Y-Y-Y-Y-Y.

Phew.  Done.  An extra 2,500 feet of climbing to start the day.  Before the last descent and trip into the City, I stopped to snap a few pictures.  Appropriately, I spotted a raven at my feet chomping on some left over tourist food.

Rest in peace, Paizers.