Sweet 16 and the Big 10

Well Sunday my little girl turned 16! Holy cow - where has all the time gone? I made a cake for her and the family came over...she really wanted that Mach 1 Mustang but alas, I just don't have the resources to do that for her - otherwise I probably would!

Monday G-man turned 10~ unbelievable! The kids are getting big so fast! I baked another cake and we celebrated last night. Both birthdays are big ones so I didn't think it would be fair to celebrate them together!

Only put in about 78 miles on the bike last week! UGH! That sucked! I'm going to ride Wednesday night and try to get a few more evening rides in this week.

June 1st is the Udder Century out of Union so I need to be ready....well, I'm ready I guess, but the more riding I do the more confident I am when I have to battle those "rolling hills" (Yes they may be rolling hills to some but to me they are HUGE EXCRUTIATING HILLS! The reason? I live in an area that is very FLAT!).

Okay, that's it for now. I'm off onto my bike for the ride home!

A Gorgeous Day to Ride

Today I had the pleasure to lead the ride with Karen from the bike shop. There was only one other person that rode with us - but hey, that's 3 people riding to the Kirkland breakfast instead of only 2. It was a gorgeous day to ride, very little wind, the sun was shining for most of the ride, the talk was good and we rode fast and hard. Okay, for you really fast people out there - maybe not FAST per se but fast for us! We rode a total of just shy of 40 miles, but I turned around and rode into work so that's an extra ten miles. Woohoo. That's just about a half century today. My legs were hurting as I headed into work though. I love it!

Tomorrow is mother's day - so I hope any Mom's who read this have a super day!

Oh, and on the Wednesday night ride - on the smoothest road we ride I got a front flat. HMPH! Thankfully Mike H. got me back on the road in a hurry - it would have taken me a lot longer to change that tire out - (I can change my own tires, I'm just not super quick)! Then after about 12 miles we get slammed with rain - I mean we road into the heart of it and got soaked! I was still dripping at mile 20 when I pulled up to my house lol! Took 2 days for my shoes to dry out - so I ended up riding Thursday into work with Tennis Shoes - first time since 2006 that I've not worn my biking shoes and clipped in - it was a little odd but I managed.

Take care and ride safe!

Back again....

Okay, it's been a little bit since I've posted. Things have been busy!

My Uncle John died. He lived in Terceira, Azores. There was a lot of wondering what to do etc...it was finally decided that getting over there that quickly was out of the question so we will be going in July to have a memorial service for him. It will be my mom, my baby sister and I.

Wednesday bike rides have started from the local bike shop (it's actually a group of us from the Blackhawk club leaving from town)...we do a little less than 30 miles but may increase that as the sun stays out longer! They have been fun and have certainly taught me that I can push harder and still live, without tossing my cookies or falling behind! Good stuff to know.

Cassy is signed up for Cosmotology School and will begin in the fall. She's very excited.

Gaven had an eye appointment today and will have new glasses soon!

Be safe out there and remember - I may be riding my bike down the road but it doesn't give you the right to hit me....share the road - my kids want to see me at the end of the day just as much as yours do....let's all get home in one piece! Safe and Happy Riding!

Heart of a Champion

I came across this article a little bit ago - everyone is ready for school and sitting around watching cartoons so I jumped on and was looking at some stuff and came across this.

She also has a myspace page.

Here's another reason to not feel sorry for yourself!

http://www.tarallanesroadtorecovery.com/

Ride Safe!

Thundering into Friday

Today we are in for thunderstorms. I like a good thunderstorm - I just pray for a break in the weather on the way in and home.

This morning I had the rare opportunity to sit outside for a few moments enjoying my cup of coffee and absorbing the smells and sounds of early morning. It's nice to get that kind of peace to start the day off. Sitting out there even for a short time makes everything in the world, all of our petty worries and even some of the bigger ones, seem so...stupid! Life seems so much simpler when we have time to step back and enjoy the ride of life.

Revised goal for the summer - take more time to enjoy the world around me by:

1. spending more time on my porch in the early morning hours
2. spending more time on my bike
3. taking more little rides with the kids
4. not spending so much time stressed out
5. not worrying about whether the kitchen is spotless or all the laundry is done
6. taking Sunday morning walks with Cassy and the dogs

All right, time to start the fun that will be Friday (unfortunately my work week will not be done today - I have to cover a shift tomorrow night...but that means a few extra miles on the bike...{see there's always something positive}).

Have a great day everyone and Safe Riding!

Wednesday Evening Ride

All week I've been looking forward to going on the Wednesday evening ride, especially after not getting an opportunity to ride over the weekend. The forecast called for warm weather and a little breeziness, I can live with that.

I rode the kids to school in the morning, the kids included 2 of the kids from the neighborhood who asked if they could ride with us the next time we rode - so I told them the night before that we would be riding...they were all at the house on time. It was a fun ride. I had a heck of a time getting 5 kids bikes locked up with one bike lock - thank goodness it was able to stretch and keep all 5 bikes safe for the day.
I left work and picked them up - my daughter (the 15 year old) hadn't had school yesterday because of ACT/SAT testing so she met us at the boys school and rode with us. The kids raced home (about a two mile ride with the route we took as it avoided a lot of the high traffic areas.

I left the house shortly after that to head up to the bike shop. I've decided I really hate those jersey's that have the elastic at the bottom...I have a tummy - and with the slick biking shorts, they tend to ride up and just make me feel fatter...so I wanted to look at jersey's there and see if they had anything on sale. To my delight they did have a few short sleeved jersey's on sale - I'm assuming the ones left over from last year as there were only about 4 of them. They were marked down 40%. It didn't take long for me to find the jersey I was going to buy - an aqua blue nike jersey...which goes along with my mtn bike cycling shoes that have aqua through them. Plus my trek is blue so it goes with the theme...oh yeah and my helmet is also a light aqua blue.

As I walked out of the bike shop, already wearing my new jersey, I saw that they guys for the ride were already assembling in the parking lot, so I went over and chatted for a while. My friend and riding buddy Karen didn't ride last night as she had to attend a scholarship committee meeting. So, I was the only girl riding, which always makes me nervous as I am NOT a fast rider ! I managed to stay with the guys just fine although I will admit that I stayed tucked behind the two leaders on the roads where we were heading into the wind - yep- I'm a wheelsucker and well, not really ashamed to admit it! No one had to wait for me, I kept up just fine - and on the other roads didn't bother to suck anyone's wheel :) I had planned on taking my camera to take pics but I'm just not sure I'm talented enough to ride and take a picture at the same time...I'm a little too clutzy for that!

Anyway, it was a great day!

Today will be my 36th commute to/from work this year! Pretty proud of myself as that's a heck of a lot better than last year. It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow but that doesn't stop me. Hopefully no lightening!

All right - I've gotta run! Have a super day and ride safe!

A Gorgeous Weekend

The weekend started out a bit shaky, woke up Saturday to pouring rain. My riding partner called me and didn't really want to head out in it - I can't say that I blame her, we really got soaked a lot last season. So, I decided instead to go to my daughters softball game. As we were heading to the field she got a call from her coach telling her to get to the high school because they had moved the game and were playing out of town instead of in town - the opponents had a nicer field that apparently drains better...so I opted to not drive over an hour to the game. Instead I came home and began to clean house with the boys...we got done pretty quickly as everything just needed a quick dusting and vacuuming. Within an hour of getting home it had stopped raining, the temps had risen considerably, the sun was shining and I decided to head out the back door and get the hard in better shape. So, the boys helped me pick up all the sticks and leaves in the back yard...along with some dog poop that had been missed in recent weeks. We also replanted some of my plants to the front yard. When Bob got home he seemed to like what he was seeing and began helping us, we ended up cutting down some branches that were dead and then started a fire in the fire pit. Gaven went to hang out with Devon so it was the twins, Cassy, Bob and I. Cass was tired and went inside pretty early...that double header wiped her out. The rest of us sat outside around the bon fire with marshmallows and enjoyed ourselves. After the boys went to bed Bob and I made coffee and sat out there for another hour or two...it was really nice.
The moon was beautiful, the fire was crackling, the coffee tasted so good and we didn't really even talk that much, just enjoyed each other's company and a gorgeous night.

Sunday we did more yard work, Bob even planted some grass in the bare patches (I blame the bare patches mainly on the dogs)! :o)

Mom made an early dinner so we headed over there and hung out with my siblings. It was a wonderfully relaxing day. We called it a night around 10 p.m. and hit the hay.

Needless to say there isn't any riding in there - other than the one mile ride Gaven and I did up to the local Mexican Store (it's called The Mexican Store) when I realized I was out of bread Saturday afternoon as I was making sandwiches for everyone. Although I did manage to ride just shy of 95 miles for the week.

Now it's back to the grind. Should be a busy and hectic week at work, and I had a receptionist walk out this weekend so I have to scramble to cover her hours and will probably end up working some of her hours until I get a new girl hired. GGRRR!

Have a great day everyone and Ride Safe!