After my return from Key West, I noticed that I was much thinner than when I left. No surprise there, despite following a seefood diet and drinking beer nearly every night. So I have made a concerted effort to maintain my new weight. This involves not snacking on junk and avoiding alcohol, which I was sick of anyway. (I’ve had five beers and two glasses of wine since arriving in DC from Florida in mid-October.) I didn’t weigh myself when I came back but most of the clothes that fit me tightly last summer are rather saggy these days. I think I have gained a few pounds back.
Today I went to the doctor for some asthma drugs. (Don’t get asthma. As Bob Gibson used to say, “It’s bad news.”) In addition to the drugs, I asked for flu and pneumonia shots. And, as usual, I was weighted.
197 pounds. Fully clothed. After breakfast.
Dang.
I am below the Mendoza line for the first time in four years.
Afterwards I celebrated by getting my haircut. You might say it was time. I always hate my haircuts but this one I like. My barber is not a bicyclist but he was fascinated by the fact that I rode a bike alone to Key West.
Then I went for a bike ride to the gym. It’s four miles from home. I took the long way and got there after 17 miles. Then I rode another seven miles home. I’m not lost. As John Lennon said, “Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles.”
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
Chapeau sir I don’t think I have been under the mendoza line this century, got to 208 in ’06 but that was as close as I got.