...Who knew??

...That spokes were so important! I can honestly say, I did not. I just thought, for all intents and purposes, spokes were there merely to make a wheel, I don't know, look like a wheel. Wow, was I off base on that one! Long story short, for a while now, David and I have been trying to figure out how to get across the river over to the "other side" for the longest time. The one bridge we knew about (pedestrian, bike etc.) has been closed for a while now and the only other bridges we knew of were for motorized traffic only.

We KNEW there had to be a way across and after much research a glimmer of hope did shine through. Hope came in the form of the OLD "Bloomington Ferry Bridge". So we decided to give it a whirl and left from our house in Burnsville and headed in that general direction.

About 10 miles in to our ride, I heard a loud pop coming from the rear of my bike but nothing that jarred me or made me suspect I had run over anything so I slowed down (mind you, didn't stop) and tried to asses the situation. Everything seemed ok so I kept riding and David, being quite a bit ahead of me, had no clue anything had happened at all. One and a half miles later, after slowing down for a stop sign, my bike definitely was not functioning properly at all. I called ahead to David, who came to a stop right away while I coasted the rest of the way to meet him.

We checked my bike and saw what "seemed" to be the rear brakes completely hugging the back wheel. Thinking they had seized up we tried to loosen them, just disengaging them proved to be harder than we had expected. No matter what we tried we could not get things to line up properly. At first we thought the wheel was not sitting true to where it should so we kept trying to readjust it but at this point it wouldn't even spin.

At this point our main thought was how do we get home. Do we disengage the rear brakes and drive home? This seemed like a good idea until I thought of all the hills we had gone over to get to this point and trying to go back down some of them without a rear brake just didn't seem like the smartest thing to do. So we did what we could to get the wheel to just spin and walked the bikes to the back of an old building to lock them up and try to get a cab to come pick us up.

We called a friend to get a cab company phone number but the only pen we had on us decided to take the day off and did not work so with stick in hand David scratched the number in to the dirt. We called the cab.

45 minutes later and $30.00 poorer we were home and picking up the car to head back out and fetch our bikes. We took my bike to the shop, told them the story and they took a look at it. VOILA! I broke a spoke and just riding on the wheel with the broken spoke for 1 1/2 miles bent the rim of the wheel throwing the whole thing off balance. Who knew spokes were so important???

As always...Click to super size...no extra calories included!

Didn't see many cars while we waited...but we did see some horses!



This was the final resting place...because it was Sunday, it was closed, of course





Etch-a-Sketch...the original version...
(cab number)


(my feelings on the whole situation)


(Waiting for the cab...)


(...Still waiting for the cab)


All in all it was an adventure to be sure. And in the end...we never made it all the way to the bridge but we came within a mile...we will be back! We WILL make it across the river!

Until then...

Peace out!

Lovin' Life!

Today started with a migraine at a little after midnight that lasted until 3:30am when I took 4 ibuprofen and tried to go back to sleep hoping to drift off in to blissful oblivion brought to you by over counter meds and a really dark room. So much for wishful thinking. Come 5:30 I still had a pounding headache (though not quite as bad). First thought? Damn it! Why on the weekend? Why not a work day when at the very least, if I have to be miserable, I can be miserable at my desk NOT when I want to be home enjoying much needed and earned sleep and a good few hours of World of Warcraft with my buddy?? Second thought? Do you think I can hold breakfast down if I try? Food might help. Food and coffee. Coffee...the elixir of life! So 5:15 I am in the kitchen making some cream of wheat and having some hot black coffee. While waiting for the breakfast of champions to simmer for 2 1/2 minutes uncovered I peaked out the window to see a blanket of white! IT SNOWED! It wasn't supposed to snow last night. My plan for today was, since David had to work, try a solo ride to Rosemount and back. My first significant solo ride...and it SNOWED!! I've never ridden in the snow, I mean I knew it would eventually come to pass but...ok...now is good. So, I played WoW (with a headache) until 8:30 then prepared myself to head out. I will admit, I was nervous.

As always, click for biggerness!

I have to say all in all it was a great ride!! Was 29 degrees, sunny most of the time and not much wind. It was a little harder riding in the snow as it seemed to take more muscle power to actually move the bike, was almost like riding in sand only slippier (not sure if this is a word but it works). Hills are much harder because of the having to work the muscles more but I made it up all but one hill at the end.





And at the halfway point I stopped at a coffee shop to warm up a bit and do some reading and was rewarded with live music, he did a great job and it was so nice!



What a great morning! 17.56 miles of ME POWERED GREATNESS!! Loved every second!



Peace out!

Blah..

...utterly how I feel right now. Been going in to work every day for the last 2 weeks really early. I've not gotten to ride except on Saturdays, it's cold, bleak, bare, brown, grey and dreary and I am feeling so demotivated I can hardly look at myself in the mirror right now. I know it's more than likely a pitty party that I've stumbled in to but how the hell to get out of it...not too terribly sure. I feel as though I am the guest of honor and it sucks. I've been eating like shit lately, too much crap...I'd say I fell off the wagon but I don't think it's bad enough to qualify for that yet but it has still affected my mood for sure.

I don't want to be fat any more! I wish my friend didn't have a candy bag hanging right next to my cube (though, I have not touched it in 2 days, I could kick myself for ever allowing that ONE treat after I had not touched it for months...I feel like I am starting all over). I wish I had more self control.

Good news is, if I HAVE put some weight back on it hasn't been much so I don't feel like much sabotage has been done to my progress thus far, however, with the holidays fast approaching I need to figure out how I can eat what I want to, in smaller portions, and still move forward, even if it's a millisecond at a time instead of a day at a time.

I MISS RIDING EVERY DAY!!

I did go and get some more apparel to wear for cold weather while biking, I got a hood/hat/neck warmer/face thingy last night, also picked up a REALLY large reflective full vest that will fit over my winter coat so if I have to ride in the road (while sidewalks are still snow covered) hopefully I'll be seen better and sooner and some thermal long sleeve undershirts to wear under my bike jersey, never did find a long sleeve jersey I liked and now I can't justify the 100 bucks to get one a.) so close to the holidays or b.) just when we are about to "not buy" anything for an entire year. More to come on this newest adventure.

David has to work this coming Saturday (normally our day to venture out for a long trek) so I am planning to go out on my own...however, I am nervous because I don't want to get lost...REALLY don't want to get lost. Will be sure to bring my camera, though, just incase I do misplace myself I can at least take pics to blog my trip.

ok. must get to work...J.O.B...back to the salt mines, someone crack the whip!

Here's to hope floating!
Peace out!

Wrath of the Lich King!!!

Well...it's FINALLY here!! Available at midnight last night! However, I was fast asleep at midnight so I waited...and waited...and waited...and went to work. I've been waiting forever for the newest World of Warcraft expansion to be released and it finally has!

So...this time I wanted to go with the "Collector's Edition" because I wanted the kewl sound track CD that came with it (all the other stuff was bonus crap). Anyway, unless you pre ordered it (and who has that kinda money laying around on any given day) you were SOL! So over lunch I went to a few stores downtown...they all had the regular expansion but NOT the Collector's one. I was losing heart. Finally I called out to the Lakeville Target and they had TWO left! It's a ways away from us but they were willing to hold one for me behind the counter till I could get there so I said THANKS!!! with a full and happy heart.

I worked until 4:30pm (or shortly there after), caught David's bus and rode to the end of the line. Waited at the car for him while he turned in his bus and picked up his stuff then off to Lakeville we went.

The boy was true to his word and had put one behind for me, I got it and we raced home. Gave the kids some of the stuff that it came with then raced down to the basement to install said expansion...

It is now 2 hours since I started and I try to log in and I get this!!!




well...what's one more day, right?

Over Hill…Over dale…and hill…and hill…you get the picture

Major milestone today. Today, instead of packing up the bikes and driving to Scott county to ride a few laps around Lake Cleary…we rode from home (Burnsville) to Scott county to Lake Cleary…rode a lap around the lake then rode home. All said, total was 29 miles. 29 very, very, very hilly miles. But another mile we hit was an ironic milestone. It is 2 days shy of exactly 6 months since we rode our bikes for the first time since we were kids. That day we loaded the bikes up on the back of the car and drove them to Cleary Lake. One lap around the lake is 3.5 miles, we could only do one lap that fateful day, we stopped 6 times at least due to exhaustion and walked up 2 hills…we thought we were going to die. Today was incredible, today felt full circle. Here are some photo-goodness of our day. Click to "Super-size"...



This was only one stretch of the hilly goodness we traveled, doesn't it look roller-coaster fun??



This is a snap shot of the park around Lake Cleary



...And another one...



David, Aaron and Matthew as seen at Lake Cleary during our "rest stop". Matthew is quite happy playing with Aaron's pocket knife. Kept him pretty occupied for the good part of 30 minutes!



...Wonder what he's thinking...

He's probably thinking...we have to ride all those hills home now...huh...

Don't ever give up!!
Peace out!

Happy Halloween!

Had a Halloween party at our house this year. Our first ever and the main reason for this soiree was because I found it very depressing that my children, after 16 years, did not want to go trick or treating with me. . However, after all was said and done, Bethany decided to go to a friends sleep over/party and go trick or treating with them!! Subtle message that tricks and treats with 17 year old friends trumps those with the fam?? Anyway. Took off Thursday and Friday with honey to get the house in order, shop, plan, spend time together, in general, have fun and not be at the J.O.B. The shindig was set to begin at 7pm on Friday night and I was nervous. Would folks have fun? Would they stay or come and then leave shortly after. We borrowed the neighbors fire pit for the yard and put a bunch of chairs around it. Made TONS of food and spent some time at the liquor store. David had a rough time getting the fire to catch and stay lit but nothing a little (lot) of lighter fluid couldn't fix. Very happy he still has both his eyebrows!! Our friends Myron and Alyssa brought "Kitty box treats" which was a litter pan with oatmeal for litter and melted tootsie rolls for the "treats" which you scooped out with a little kitty sifter. I thought it was incredibly funny...but I had done a few shots of whiskey before they arrived.

I was very happy with the turn out and the fact that folks seemed to not only be having a good time but that they wanted to stay. I finally got to bed about 1am...very tired...very woozy...and very happy. Here is a bunch of foto fun. As always, click for biggerness:



My sweet darling daughter...what? no pretty princess this year?



Blue haired Matthew...

My Punkin Bars


My sister-in-law Pam, in my kitchen


BESTEST neighbors in the world, Myron and Alyssa. Myron was a fawn (think Narnia) and Alyssa was a fairy


...and LOOK, they brought "Treats"...



Eeeeep!....Tammy....


Exactly HOW much "Raid" will it take to get to the center of this Lolly...er Spider...


VOILA!! The lighter fluid worked! And he STILL has both eyebrows!!

Well, I wish I had gotten some pics of me but, well, I forgot to ask someone to snap some. I will try to get better about that. Until then...

...Peace out!