Friday, April 25, 2008

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!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

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!

Monday, April 21, 2008

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!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Mild day ...longer ride

Today was pretty nice, started out a bit chilly (32 degrees F) but ended up right around 50 degrees F. It was a good day. I rode into work, hung out and worked (it really is too bad I can't just ride and get paid for it). My legs felt like lead for the ride into work. I mean each movement of the pedal stroke was a labor!

Left work and headed out towards Airport Rd. which is where my daughter was playing softball...sat and watched the game...she made some really good plays and I was impressed with her ability considering this is her first year playing. She even had a pretty good hit in the 3rd inning.

After the game she had to ride the bus home to get her homework, which was fine with me since I didn't have room for her on the bike. Haha! So, I called hubby and told him he needed to pick the boys up from my mom's and then go to the high school and pick up Cassy. I left my phone on vibrate and threw it into my bag...

Hit the bike path and headed home...got to the house and realized I had missed several calls from hubby, so I call him back because I made it home before him...which is crazy since I had a 10 mile ride home. He said he had been trying to call because he wanted to catch me and give me a ride...LOL...I'm so glad the phone was on vibrate and I didn't hear it, who'd want a ride home on a gorgeous afternoon? Not me!
But I appreciate his desire to make sure I'm not overworked! heehee!

So, I sat on the porch waiting for them to get home and enjoying the setting sun. As I came in the house I realized no one had checked the mail so I started looking through it and was elated to find that my rebate for some stuff I bought came in...woohoo! Now I can order those larger panniers and maybe grab some aerobars for the Udder Century ride in order to give myself an extra body position to be in to help alleviate some of the back cramping that sometimes occurs on longer rides for me.

All right, I'm going downstairs to have a cup of coffee!

Blessed Be!

Safe and Happy riding my friends!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

More Snow???

Well as quickly as the nice weather came, it is again gone. Taking with it the sun!
Today and tomorrow our forecast calls for rain and snow mixtures all day, and all night.

To say that I'm not happy about that would be an understatement. The past two days I rode in 25-30 mph winds, most of the time I was fighting said winds instead of having them at my back so that I could cruise along fast, fat, dumb, and happy!

So, I am glad to be off the bike the next two days! They are saying that next week we will be looking at temps in the 70's! HURRAY!
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Last night my little brother, RM, came to the door, asking me to take him to the hospital because he couldn't breathe. My mom had just pulled away and came back to take him...he was discharged from he ER at 4:30 this morning and has to see a cardiologist first thing Monday morning. So, I guess it's not something that's going to kill him right away but it's something that is pretty serious for them to have scheduled him to see the doctor first thing Monday. Pretty scary stuff. He's resting at my mom's house right now, and in a while I have to go pick him up because we don't want him left alone...So when I drop Cassy off at softball practice I will go get him.
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That's about it! Have a great day! Be safe!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

58 degree ride home


It was a beautiful ride home today - spring certainly feels like it's in the air. So I decided to take a little jaunt around the Lagoon on the N.I.U. Campus and at this bridge I thought, well I think I should take a pic.
So, here's my pic for the day :) I posted it on Bikejournal as well because I finally figured out how to do that! HURRAY!

Weekly Roundup of Information

Okay, it's Wednesday and I've been a little lax in making sure I get online to write on this blog...Sorry!

So, here's a quick update!

Sunday was nice, the kids played all day with their friends, I was the house to be at as the boys friends were all here...they built a fort in the back yard (think 8 - 10 yr olds) and grouped up trying to take each others areas. It was fun watching them, I fed them ice cream...I'm sure that made everyone happy. This was basically a repeat of what they did on Saturday afternoon.

Monday wasn't nearly as nice but what are you going to do...Spring in Northern Illinois. It was still pretty decent and I of course rode to work after riding the boys to school...this meant that I got to leave work early to pick them up and ride home with them...the only bad thing was the wind, Brendon had a hard time with all of it and really had to work at staying upright :)

Yesterday was very chilly, overcast and by mid morning it was pouring rain. By mid afternoon as I was getting ready to leave work it was thundering and lightening...just as I was walking into the bathroom/locker room my phone rang - Hubby "Are you still at work?"
Me "yep...why?"
Hubby "Till how late?"
Me "I'm just getting ready to leave."
Hubby "Well, I'm about 15 minutes from town but I'm picking you up, I don't want you riding home with all this lightening."

Isn't he sweet?

So, I'm counting the day as a commute day- I rode in and had every intention of riding home...weather didn't cooperate & that's not my fault!

Today I'm riding in as well, this will be 25 work commutes for the year. I think I'm getting close to 300 miles for the year. So, I'm certainly ahead of where I was last year...I think at this time last year I only had about 20 miles in.

Today is also payday. I have to say I'm thankful for it, especially since I already have it spent on bills ! I guess that's the way it always goes. I really had hoped to order those bigger panniers so that I can grocery shop but I will wait a couple weeks till next payday.

Oh, and I received a call yesterday from Denise at the church, she wanted to confirm that I'm still going to teach the RCIC class in the fall, which I am, and which I'm super excited about! She also wanted to have me decide what day I wanted the church for the retreat in March....um....I had forgotten about the retreat- so I told her we would do it the same weekend as Larry does it for the RCIA...maybe we can even combine the adults and the kids for lunch so that they can get to know each other.

All right, gotta run...almost time to go and the boys are starting to get off track.

Safe and Happy Riding!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Kirkland Ride for Breakfast

This morning I got up and got dressed for a quick ride down to the post office to pick up my package from Nashbar...which means biking goodies! I wanted to get there by 8 a.m. so that I could have my new long sleeved jersey for the ride today.

I rode back and was home before 8:20 a.m. Opened my box and there was my beautiful new jersey and Day Tripper Panniers (much smaller than I had expected). I'll keep the panniers but will probably buy bigger ones for stashing my stuff for work in.

Threw off the clothes on top that I was wearing and put on that new jersey...yeah it's cute! I got ready to go and managed to be ready by the time Karen came riding up. We rode the ride from here in town to Kirkland to join the club from Blackhawk for Breakfast. We had a nice tailwind while we headed north so we were flying on most of the 18 miles into Kirkland...had a nice breakfast...I tried the blueberry pancakes...YUMMY! The ride home was much more difficult and we dropped our average by ALOT...but it was gorgeous and sunny and warm, so even with the strong wind (12 mph but we has LOTS of gusts that were 21 mph).

After that Cassy and I went to the store to get the rest of the stuff that we needed for Debbie's baby shower tomorrow.

Gaven had a friend spend the night and they made smores and roasted hot dogs...they were loud and had a big bonfire in the backyard...courtesy of our neighbors who cut down a bunch of the limbs on a tree.

It was a fun night. Unfortunately I realized that both teams that I had going to the NCAA Basketball Championship were beaten tonight :( That takes me totally out of the pool. :(

Oh well, it's only a game right?

I hope to get up early and head out tomorrow for a quick 20 miles or so before I have to get all the other stuff done!

Safe and Happy riding!

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Sulfa Medication Allergy

So, that rash that I developed turned out to be an allergic reaction to the medication I was on for that nasty little infection....and apparently when sulfa based medications build up in your system they can cause a problem for some people...I happen to be one of those lucky ones.

It looks like I have 2nd degree burns on my back, stomach, chest and arms...which is slowly spreading to my legs....

Doctor was in the facility today and saw me, which was nice since I didn't have to leave work to go to his office. So, now he's given me a new prescription...and I'm on benadryl to try to get rid of the rash or at least alleviate how uncomfortable it is...I can also take what I have left of the vicodin in order to ease the pain/discomfort.

That's about it...I'm going to go to the couch now because I am going to pass out...benadryl puts me on my butt! lol.

Safe and happy riding!

Repeat the mundane

Well yesterday I didn't work as I was hanging around waiting for my fridge to be delivered...so that means today will be a 14 hour day as will tomorrow. UGH! It will be dark by the time I leave work and trying to avoid potholes on the bike in the dark is kind of difficult even with the lights on it. I'll manage though.

I broke out in a weird rash last night...think I might be allergic to something...trying to think if the one soap I used is different...anyway, skin feels like it's burning...I have super sensitive skin...and that sucks.

I did manage to get 12+ miles in yesterday, not much but that's all right - some is better than none.

Saturday Karen and I are taking the route we are going to use when we start leading the saturday rides from the local bike shop. We haven't ridden those roads since last year and want to see how much damage all that snow and ice has done to them.

That's it for now.