Coincidentally, Co-worker Buddy and I were just talking about this last week.  Since I'm at work for at least nine hours every day (8-9 hours of actual work + an hour lunch), I usually don't get home until 6pm or later.  After eating dinner, spending time with Jen and the kiddos, by the time I finally get some time to myself, it's usually around 10pm.  Coupled with the fact that I'm a night-owl anyway, I usually end up staying up until at least 1am or later.  Thus this sleep-deprivation cycle repeats itself day in and day out until I can catch up on sleep during the weekend.  Because I only have a finite amount of time each day where I can have personal time, I feel like I need to stay up late to cram as much of that in as I can while I can.

Of course if I end up falling asleep earlier than I usually do (due to a hard day at work, or plain old lack of sleep), then I miss out on quality time to myself.  Co-worker Buddy remarked that it's because we as a society (Americans, that is) tend to work too much, or spend too much time working.  I would have to agree.  How nice would it be to only have to work a few hours every day, and have more time to enjoy the day?  As it is, we're usually stuck indoors for a good part of the day in our artificially cooled, no interaction with the outside, cramped "walls are closing in" offices. 

Co-worker Buddy recalled a memory from years ago when he had scheduled some appointment during the day.  And how when he got out of his appointment, thought how nice it would be to just take off and go do whatever the heck he wanted.  Of course being a slave to the machine, he had to return to work, and that moment was lost. 

I desperately would love to have more time to do the things I want.  I would love to spend a morning working hard, then take the afternoon off to take the kiddos to Wild River Country when the crowds were thin.  How fun would it be to sit on my porch and write when I felt inspired, whenever that may be?  Sometimes I do get jealous at those bloggers/diarists/journalers that are able to post/write whenever they damn well please.

Then of course the weekend shows up, and when I'm not catching up on lost sleep, I'm trying to cram the rest of it full of stuff I didn't get a chance to do during the week.  At this past weekend I was at least able to get out and go for a 21-mile bike ride Sunday afternoon.  I was getting bored of riding around our little town (I can only take so much of the lake and residential subdivisions), so I decided to drive out to the River Trail - a newly paved trail that runs along the northern bank of the Arkansas River.  The starting point this time would be Terry Lock & Dam, and it would be a mere six miles to North Little Rock.  I did the six miles in under 20 minutes. 

Of course part of the way I was trying to pace another fellow bike rider, a serious one by the look of his outfit.  Yes, he too was wearing the skintight spandex from head to knees like I was.  He was riding pretty fast, faster than I probably would've ridden had he not been there.  I managed to keep up with him for about a mile and a half, but as he crested a steep hill, my right foot became "unclipped" as I labored up the hill.  Usually, in flat stretches, this wouldn't have been a big deal, as I would've just clipped my foot back into my pedals without losing much momentum.  But when this happens on a hill (which shouldn't have happened to begin with), it's almost disasterous, as any momentum I had going up the hill is lost as I am unable to pedal.  Why did this happen?  Either I hadn't been clipped in completely when I started the climb, or I had rotated my foot too much which caused it to separate from the pedal.

For the cycling noobs out there, clipless pedals are funky designed/looking pedals in which special biking shoes with "cleats" clip into.  Essentially, your foot becomes a part of the pedal.  The benefit of doing so is that your foot is perfectly positioned on the pedal so your pedaling is much more efficient and you can also get more power on your upstroke as you pull the pedal up.  The disadvantage of course is that you are attached to your bike.  Supposedly with practice, you are supposed to be able to unclip instinctively, but as I've found out the hard way, that's not always the case.  The end result is a quite awkward toppling over while sitting on the bike. 

In any case, as I realized I wasn't clipped in, almost all of my forward progress was halted, and I struggled to pedal as my bike tipped dangerously sideways.  Fortunately, I was able to resume pedaling just before I fell over, but as I crested the hill, my cycling "partner" had become a speck of pink much further down the trail.  As there was no way for me to catch up to him without expending a huge amount of effort and energy, I slowed down to a more reasonable pace.

The rest of the ride was done quite leisurely (at least to my standards), and I ended up finishing the 21 miles in an hour and a half, with an average speed of 15.2mph.  It was nice to ride somewhere different for a change, and I realized just how much I missed riding on that trail.  The first time I rode on that trail was the weekend after I got my bike, except that time, I actually rode the 7 miles from my house to the trailhead, rode the 7 miles from the trailhead downtown, and back.  I wasn't quite prepared to ride the 30 miles I ended up riding that day, and the last 2 miles were brutal.

After my exhilarating ride this past weekend, I'm hoping to get out next weekend and try to do 50-miles.  But this time I will be prepared.  Not only will I bring enough water, but I'll be stocked to the gills with powerbars, bananas, and the most important foodstuff for any cyclist - gummi bears.  Ok, that's not exactly true.  That's the most important item for me personally.

At least my life has calmed down somewhat where I don't feel like everyday is passing by so quickly.  As a result, I've enjoyed each day a bit more, and actually look forward to coming home and spending time with my family as well as getting some personal time. 

Damn.  Once again it's 1:30am, and I'm just now finishing up this entry.  I may feel like my life has slowed down to a more manageable pace, but I sure as heck don't have any more time.

I do have to say that if the opportunity arose where I didn't have to work as many hours as I do now, I would definitely seriously consider a career change.  But that's a story for another time.