Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Snow, snow, snow...
Well, here I am at work feeling like a complete wuss. My "plan" was to bike to the transit station this morning and bus it to work since David had to leave the house at 3am. Burnsville got a ton of snow last night but I didn't care, I was biking to the bus! David wanted me to drive, said it wasn't safe, said he was worried...but I wanted to bike. I miss biking. So I spent the extra hour preparing myself to head out. Several layers of clothing, face hood, ski goggles, ear covers, 2 pair of gloves, etc...open the garage and the plows hadn't come. A good 2+ inches on the ground (on top of ice), I still tried to go...but had to turn around and come back home, park the bike, de-layer myself a little and drive the car. NONE of the bike path was plowed yet. It was a mess and as much as I love biking, miss biking...and even though I ride on the road for about 70% of my commute. There is one section where it's just too dangerous and I need to use the bike route...I didn't feel it was worth taking my life in to my own hands to attempt that stretch on the road since the path was inpassable. Feel like I've failed =(
I want the snow to melt!! I don't mind the cold but really...the snow...sucks. Maybe as I lose more weight and get better it won't bother me so much. Will let you know.
...Peace out
I want the snow to melt!! I don't mind the cold but really...the snow...sucks. Maybe as I lose more weight and get better it won't bother me so much. Will let you know.
...Peace out
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Baby it's cold outside...
Biked in to work today, when I left the house to head to the bus station it was 15 degrees outside with a slight wind, weather man says 9 miles an hour. I Felt good and toasty on the inside though, only a little bit of remaining snow on the path with patches of ice, nothing major. One thing I hadn't counted on was when I arrived at the transit station, the snow plows had pushed the snow from the parking lot up in front of the bike lockers...whoops. Had to do some kicking to get the door open but otherwise went smoothly. Got the bike tucked in to her locker for the day and went to stand in line for the bus which was, in the end, late arriving. Was funny to listen to all the complainers about the cold and breeze, really, I didn't think it was all that bad. If you dress for the weather you should do just fine. There is never bad weather, only bad apparel. Supposed to be light snow today, tomorrow and tappering off on Wednesday...we'll see how it goes.
Learned three things this morning. First, don't bother bringing the coffee along, make it at work. It was luke warm once I arrived at the station and cold by the time the bus arrived. Two, wear hiking boots and two pairs of socks. My feet got very cold standing on the concrete waiting, biking I was fine. Go figure. Third and finally, bring a scarf! Again, riding was fine, it was the WAITING that sucked. Hmmm I am seeing a pattern here...biking is great, toasty and fun...waiting around is cold, sucky and boring. Could it be moving is better than standing? I really must resist the urge to start singing "Everyone move your body..." Time to get cracking on the J.O.B thing.
Peace out!
Learned three things this morning. First, don't bother bringing the coffee along, make it at work. It was luke warm once I arrived at the station and cold by the time the bus arrived. Two, wear hiking boots and two pairs of socks. My feet got very cold standing on the concrete waiting, biking I was fine. Go figure. Third and finally, bring a scarf! Again, riding was fine, it was the WAITING that sucked. Hmmm I am seeing a pattern here...biking is great, toasty and fun...waiting around is cold, sucky and boring. Could it be moving is better than standing? I really must resist the urge to start singing "Everyone move your body..." Time to get cracking on the J.O.B thing.
Peace out!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
...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!
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!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
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?
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?
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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!
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!
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!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Flat Fun...
Note: This all transpired yesterday morning as I was prepping to leave for work.
Having said that. It was a cooler morning so I decided to check the air pressure in my tires before heading out for my morning ride to the transit station. I usually need to leave the house by 4:30 in order to bike to the station, lock up the bike and get in line for the bus. So, at 4:15 I locked the front door and headed into the garage. When I checked the pressure in the front tire, it was as I had suspected, a little low so I pumped her up, checked again and moved to the rear tire. It too was a little low so I pumped it up as well. However, I could NOT remove the pump from the stem to save my life! At first I just thought it was a little stuck (like you can be a little pregnant...right?), anyway, I pulled and pulled, yelled at it to "LET GO!", cursed loudly, watched the time tick by and also, to my dismay, watched a tiny bit of the tube pop through the stem hole. I had pulled too hard. Too much vigor. Too much anger. This is not good, I thought to myself. Then it appeared. A tiny bubble...and it started to grow and within a minute my tire had blown! Shit! Thankfully my car DID start and I was able to drive to the transit station to catch the bus (it's been forever since I've driven my car so I wasn't too sure it would turn over).
(click for biggerness!)
(Scene change....Later in the day after work...)
Let me further explain, I had yet,up until this point, ever fixed my own flat on my own bike. So I thought about this all day at work. I knew I wanted to try and fix it myself, be self sufficient, etc, etc. I also knew that I would need to remove the wheel to do it, further more the real wheel, which meant I would need to deal with the chain and the derailleur. Oooo scary!
After getting home from work I changed out of my clothes and into sweats and headed out to the garage. After a good long look at the rear wheel and replaying in my head everything I had read earlier in the day online about how to remove the wheel, handle the chain and fix a flat, I dug in. Got the wheel off, laid the bike down on it's left side to protect the derailleur and proceeded to remove the tire from the wheel in order to extract the tube. After 20-30 minutes of hand greasy fun I was finished, wheel on, pumped up to 40 lbs (all we could do with our little hand pump). Feeling mighty proud of myself and looking at my WHOLE bike all put back together we find an extra part on the garage floor! Shit! Shit! Well, I don't know where it goes, don't remember it even being on there...but what the hell!...I have David load up the bike onto the back of the car and drive me to the bike shop. There he (aka the bike guy at the shop) looks at my bike, looks at the part and says it doesn't come from a bike at all (later we discover it's part of our garage door...who knew?). The bike guy said I did a great job and pumped up my tire the rest of the way to 80lbs for me and we left on our way. I gave her a test spin when I got home, it held! Again, I am super proud of me!! However...still can't get all the grease off...
Until later...Peace out!
Having said that. It was a cooler morning so I decided to check the air pressure in my tires before heading out for my morning ride to the transit station. I usually need to leave the house by 4:30 in order to bike to the station, lock up the bike and get in line for the bus. So, at 4:15 I locked the front door and headed into the garage. When I checked the pressure in the front tire, it was as I had suspected, a little low so I pumped her up, checked again and moved to the rear tire. It too was a little low so I pumped it up as well. However, I could NOT remove the pump from the stem to save my life! At first I just thought it was a little stuck (like you can be a little pregnant...right?), anyway, I pulled and pulled, yelled at it to "LET GO!", cursed loudly, watched the time tick by and also, to my dismay, watched a tiny bit of the tube pop through the stem hole. I had pulled too hard. Too much vigor. Too much anger. This is not good, I thought to myself. Then it appeared. A tiny bubble...and it started to grow and within a minute my tire had blown! Shit! Thankfully my car DID start and I was able to drive to the transit station to catch the bus (it's been forever since I've driven my car so I wasn't too sure it would turn over).
(click for biggerness!)(Scene change....Later in the day after work...)
Let me further explain, I had yet,up until this point, ever fixed my own flat on my own bike. So I thought about this all day at work. I knew I wanted to try and fix it myself, be self sufficient, etc, etc. I also knew that I would need to remove the wheel to do it, further more the real wheel, which meant I would need to deal with the chain and the derailleur. Oooo scary!
After getting home from work I changed out of my clothes and into sweats and headed out to the garage. After a good long look at the rear wheel and replaying in my head everything I had read earlier in the day online about how to remove the wheel, handle the chain and fix a flat, I dug in. Got the wheel off, laid the bike down on it's left side to protect the derailleur and proceeded to remove the tire from the wheel in order to extract the tube. After 20-30 minutes of hand greasy fun I was finished, wheel on, pumped up to 40 lbs (all we could do with our little hand pump). Feeling mighty proud of myself and looking at my WHOLE bike all put back together we find an extra part on the garage floor! Shit! Shit! Well, I don't know where it goes, don't remember it even being on there...but what the hell!...I have David load up the bike onto the back of the car and drive me to the bike shop. There he (aka the bike guy at the shop) looks at my bike, looks at the part and says it doesn't come from a bike at all (later we discover it's part of our garage door...who knew?). The bike guy said I did a great job and pumped up my tire the rest of the way to 80lbs for me and we left on our way. I gave her a test spin when I got home, it held! Again, I am super proud of me!! However...still can't get all the grease off...
Until later...Peace out!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Headwinds!!...and shoulderwinds...legwinds...and hills
Yesterday, instead of packing the steeds up for a ride through St.Paul or Minneapolis, we decided the starting line would be home sweet home. Aaron drove his truck over with trusty bike in back about 9:15 am. We were still getting ready but all in all just about set. After much prepping, water bottle filling, air pressure checking, setting the crock pot full of “after biking chili” to simmer and the ever layering of clothing we were good to go.
We set out about 9:45 and headed out. Made a quick stop a couple miles away at Eriks bike shop for a map and ear warmers...we are heading into our first winter biking and we realized quickly that the ears get cold quickly!
After much window shopping we picked up a map, ear warmers and a mirror for D's bike. We have been wanting a mirror so that he can see me pulling up the rear as we ride since I generally follow last to make sure we don't lose anyone. Oh…and Aaron bought me a pink bell for my bike....thanks Aaron! We MUST spread the zen!
It was a really pretty day and we didn't have a path set in stone, we were just riding. Had a general idea of where we wanted to end up but the getting there was completely random. Matthew had a party to get to at 2:00pm on Palamino drive so we needed to work our way in that direction around the 2pm(ish) time frame so that we could drop him and his bike off there for some good ole' 12 year old boy video gaming fun.
It was a very very windy day and no matter which way we turned it seemed we were riding into the wind. This made hill climbing even more of an adventure…and there were lots and lots of hills. I became a raging bitch about 1:45(ish) as I had hit my wall. We hadn’t taken a significant break all day and had gone about 22 miles. The Raisin Bran I had had about 8:30am in the morning had long since worn off and frankly, I’d crested my last hill as far as I was concerned! After a good 7 minute sulk alone along side of the road, I saddled back up and met the boys further down out front of Falcon Ridge Middle School. We were closing in on our destination, Matthew was getting really jazzed up about making it to his buddy Joes’ party soon and all I could think of was “there is a “Kwik Trip” at the end of Palmino drive…they have HOT DOGS and GAS STATION FOODS!!” I was a woman possessed!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Sweatin'
One hour Sweatin' to the Oldies and I feel great! Really didn't feel like doing it when I got home. Left work shortly after 3pm today (went in this morning at 4:30). David picked me up...WOOT "Princess Parking" for me today! We headed home then took a detour around Cedar to see if we could find the bike bridge that crosses the river. I think we did finally find it but will have to check it out on our bikes this weekend to see if it goes all the way across.
After that we headed to pick Bethany up from school as she stayed late to work with her team on a project they wanted to finish. By the time we got home it was 5pm and my thrill to work out had diminished =) Well, I decided to bite the bullet and do it (it helped that I had a caramel for a quick pre-workout pick me up).
Did one hour with Richard and now I feel great
Well time to destress and relax then eat some dinner, head to bed...then rinse repeat tomorrow =)
Toodle-oo!
After that we headed to pick Bethany up from school as she stayed late to work with her team on a project they wanted to finish. By the time we got home it was 5pm and my thrill to work out had diminished =) Well, I decided to bite the bullet and do it (it helped that I had a caramel for a quick pre-workout pick me up).
Did one hour with Richard and now I feel great
Well time to destress and relax then eat some dinner, head to bed...then rinse repeat tomorrow =)
Toodle-oo!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Out and About
Parked the car in St. Paul today across the street from the FORD plant, rode to the University of Minnesota, biked around the campus and in to Dinky Town. Then we headed from there down and across the Stone Arch Bridge into Downtown Minneapolis. Continued on in to Midtown and hopped onto the Midtown Greenway for a bit then headed to a little coffee / sandwhich shop called the Birchwood Cafe somewhere around 25th street and 33rd avenue for a bit of lunch (VERY good). After some nourishment we headed to our friends Tammy's house to patronize her garage sale and after spending a few hard earned dollars (and loading down David's bike to the point of almost calling him Jed Clampett) we headed back in the direction of St. Paul.
A gorgeous day of riding...10:00am till roughly 3:30 and saw tons of locals sites. Great company, our buddy Aaron came along and the three of us entertained more than a few folks along the way. Ahhh Aaron...I may not love you anymore...but I don't love you any less =)
We are going again next weekend and this time I will remember to bring the camera. The trees are FABULOUS this time of year...I hear a pictures worth a thousand words but there's a storm coming so you'll have to make do with the measly 225 words so far (I do get extra credit because a few of them are awesome links to fun places you have to see!)
Mega thanks to all the drivers who were courteous and paid attention to us bikers, it sure is nice when we can all share the roads without fearing for our lives!
23 miles of "Me Powered Greatness!
1 less car
It doesn't get any better than this!
A gorgeous day of riding...10:00am till roughly 3:30 and saw tons of locals sites. Great company, our buddy Aaron came along and the three of us entertained more than a few folks along the way. Ahhh Aaron...I may not love you anymore...but I don't love you any less =)
We are going again next weekend and this time I will remember to bring the camera. The trees are FABULOUS this time of year...I hear a pictures worth a thousand words but there's a storm coming so you'll have to make do with the measly 225 words so far (I do get extra credit because a few of them are awesome links to fun places you have to see!)
Mega thanks to all the drivers who were courteous and paid attention to us bikers, it sure is nice when we can all share the roads without fearing for our lives!
23 miles of "Me Powered Greatness!
1 less car
It doesn't get any better than this!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Bits and Pieces
I was going through all our vacation photo's and do you know how sometimes you see something while your working and it just makes you laugh out loud? Well, going through these tonight I came across a picture that just made me laugh. We are going to play a little game here. Take a look at this first picture and see if you can figure out what it "is". Yes, Matthew looks like he's in a great deal of pain, but trust me, no one was injured in the making of this vacation. Here it is (Don't scroll down yet):
Can you guess what's going on?? No? Okay...here's the REAL deal =)
Here's how this all came about. We were driving and up ahead down the road out in the middle of nowhere'sville I saw this HUGE Paul Bunyan! We HAD to stop and force pictures! Matthew was not happy at all, he said Paul creeped him out. But when mom begs...she tends to get her way so pictures were taken and all was well with the world.
And, just because I think these are really cute pictures of the kids, here are some of them fishing on the doc behind our cabin:
Here are two of our Cabin, the picture on the left is one of the front of our cabin and the one on the far right is one of the kitchen window. When we first arrived we, for the life of us, could not figure out what this HOOK was doing hanging from the middle of the kitchen ceiling RIGHT at eye level. All of a sudden about 3 hours later it dawned on me, it's to hold the WINDOW open! How ingenious!! The middle picture is proof positive that my children, do indeed, have THE meanest mom in the world. Yes...houston...that is homework they are doing...on vacation!
Well it's late and I'm tired, I have a busy day tomorrow and I really am longing for bed. Until we meet again.
Keep Riding...
Can you guess what's going on?? No? Okay...here's the REAL deal =)
Here's how this all came about. We were driving and up ahead down the road out in the middle of nowhere'sville I saw this HUGE Paul Bunyan! We HAD to stop and force pictures! Matthew was not happy at all, he said Paul creeped him out. But when mom begs...she tends to get her way so pictures were taken and all was well with the world.
And, just because I think these are really cute pictures of the kids, here are some of them fishing on the doc behind our cabin:
Here are two of our Cabin, the picture on the left is one of the front of our cabin and the one on the far right is one of the kitchen window. When we first arrived we, for the life of us, could not figure out what this HOOK was doing hanging from the middle of the kitchen ceiling RIGHT at eye level. All of a sudden about 3 hours later it dawned on me, it's to hold the WINDOW open! How ingenious!! The middle picture is proof positive that my children, do indeed, have THE meanest mom in the world. Yes...houston...that is homework they are doing...on vacation!
Well it's late and I'm tired, I have a busy day tomorrow and I really am longing for bed. Until we meet again.
Keep Riding...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Near Disaster Averted!
I almost lost every single picture taken on vacation today. The card in my camera received a fatal error saying it needed to be reformatted and refused to let me down load the pictures to the computer. Reformatting would have deleted ALL pictures on the card and started brand new. After some Google-type-searching I was able to find and download a free program called " PC Inspector Smart Recovery" and was able to recover all 388 pictures. Took a long time but they are safe on my PC. To hold you over until I am able to post my trip journals and some proper pictures. He is one of Matthew and his first catch! You can't fake that smile!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
WE'RE HOME!!
We finally made it home yesterday afternoon and boy am I glad to be back! Was a fun trip! Will post my trip journal soon as well as a bunch of new pictures!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tired
I have so much running through my head right now I really feel, at times, like my world is spinning as fast as my thoughts are. There is so much still to be done before we leave for "vacation" but by the time I get home from work I just don't feel capable of doing anything. Yesterday, for example, I biked from the transit station after work and made it home by 4:15pm. At this point I sat on the couch and "rested" because I still needed to cook the kids supper and I had to leave at 6:10 for a board meeting. Ugh
6:10 I bike to the meeting and it lasts until after 8:30pm. We had to clean up all the chairs and tables at the end so by the time I made it home it was a little after 9pm. I was so tired.
Fast forward to today. Up at 3:45am and off to bike to the station at 4:30am to catch the bus into Minneapolis.
I'm tired and there is so much I want to do before we go on Vacation that I have to wonder how I'm going to get it all done.
Feeling overwhelmed.
Finished my book "The Time Traveler's Wife" this morning on the bus ride in to work. Wow...what an amazing book! So good, so funny and sad and romantic all at the same time. I makes me think. I really think everyone should read this book, I absolutely loved it.
17 miles so far this week of "me powered greatness"
0 gas burned
1 less car
awesome...
6:10 I bike to the meeting and it lasts until after 8:30pm. We had to clean up all the chairs and tables at the end so by the time I made it home it was a little after 9pm. I was so tired.
Fast forward to today. Up at 3:45am and off to bike to the station at 4:30am to catch the bus into Minneapolis.
I'm tired and there is so much I want to do before we go on Vacation that I have to wonder how I'm going to get it all done.
Feeling overwhelmed.
Finished my book "The Time Traveler's Wife" this morning on the bus ride in to work. Wow...what an amazing book! So good, so funny and sad and romantic all at the same time. I makes me think. I really think everyone should read this book, I absolutely loved it.
17 miles so far this week of "me powered greatness"
0 gas burned
1 less car
awesome...
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursday - September 11, 2008
Weeeee hours of the morning, current time 5:57am. I am at work and have been here since 5am. Left the house a little early this morning (4:20am) as it was really raining hard and it would be my first ride in the pouring rain. I have to say one thing. What a rush! I loved it!! There are a few things I need to work out, like...how to keep the rain out of my eyes and glasses. I think, of everything, that was the biggest challenge. Being able to see. Will do some research on biking in the rain and see what others have worked out. Maybe some goggles and rain-ex on my lenses? Who knows.
Anyway, I rode to the station and locked up my bike, David drove down there and picked me up and drove me to work. He didn't have any desire to bike in the rain. So here I am, to work early and feeling great! All in all it worked out. More to come!
Soaked and Stoked!
Jen
Anyway, I rode to the station and locked up my bike, David drove down there and picked me up and drove me to work. He didn't have any desire to bike in the rain. So here I am, to work early and feeling great! All in all it worked out. More to come!
Soaked and Stoked!
Jen
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Promised Pics
Good evening and happy 58 degrees and dropping. Fall is in the air...and slowly slipping from the trees shaped like leaves. I am feeling the urge to write and it's all I can do not to completely give in to it and loose myself in a sea of words and letters. Happiness truly is...however, it's 7:45pm and I am exhausted. My ride home went well, again another 3.28 up hill miles (yes, I stopped and took some pictures) but those will need to wait until another time as they currently reside in my camera which resides UPstairs. If I head up then I am going straight up and into my bed. So, for the time being I will pacify you all with some pictures from our first trip out to Cannon falls. This particular trip we forced the kids to come with and the 4 of us did 21 miles. It was a fun day...and yes, we brought the cooler. Enjoy.
This is honey (well minus 52 pounds of him) and yes, this is our cooler and fun time supplies being pulled in the dogs trailer.
...Sorry Pickles...this is why the cooler got top billing this time.
....Let's play "Guess who didn't want to come". SAY CHEESE!
...Matthew and I found a path that went down to the river on one of our rest stops.
...No cooperation, I tell ya'. You can almost see her face!
I took this picture as we left that rest stop and continued on towards Welch Station. You can see Bethany (in the black), Matthew is in the red and blazing our trail is David in the blue. That's me, behind the camera...don't I look pretty =)
Well, it's now 8:04pm and I can hear my book calling my name (as well as my pillow, my blanket, my bed and possibly a tall glass of ice water if I listen REAL hard!).
15 miles so far this week of "me powered greatness"...
0 gas burned...
1 less car...
....Priceless!!
This is honey (well minus 52 pounds of him) and yes, this is our cooler and fun time supplies being pulled in the dogs trailer.
...Sorry Pickles...this is why the cooler got top billing this time.
....Let's play "Guess who didn't want to come". SAY CHEESE!
...Matthew and I found a path that went down to the river on one of our rest stops.
...No cooperation, I tell ya'. You can almost see her face!
I took this picture as we left that rest stop and continued on towards Welch Station. You can see Bethany (in the black), Matthew is in the red and blazing our trail is David in the blue. That's me, behind the camera...don't I look pretty =)
Well, it's now 8:04pm and I can hear my book calling my name (as well as my pillow, my blanket, my bed and possibly a tall glass of ice water if I listen REAL hard!).
15 miles so far this week of "me powered greatness"...
0 gas burned...
1 less car...
....Priceless!!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The most wonderful time of the year!
Tuesday – September 2, 2008
Today was the first day of school. Half of the house was thrilled…the other…not so much. I took the day off from work, spending a precious vacation day, to stay home and relive my “stay-at-home-mom” fantasy slash previous life. I was up early, as usual, kissed David goodbye as he left for work, made more coffee (Hazelnut) and then waited for my darling children to wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I knew they would be. Once they were up and moving I commenced to make breakfasts of choice. Bethany decided, time being short as usual, to have a egg on toast sandwich and a quick cup of coffee before chanting one more “I don’t want to go to school” as she headed out the door. Just in case I had forgotten and would quickly, upon that revelation, change my mind and extend summer vacation one more day. Matthew, on the other hand, opted for scrambled eggs, toast and coffee (cream and sugar with coffee for color). Surely sixth grade would be an undertaking worthy of large amounts of caffeine to get ones finally “almost teenage” brain motivated. Or so I am told…all the time.
The morning flew by quickly and much to my chagrin, Matthew did not like my idea of me and Pickles walking him to his bus stop. I, personally, didn’t see what the big deal was, this was a huge step! This new bus stop is NOT in front of our house but a block away. DOWN the street! Well, after his initial look of horror dissipated, he quickly threw on his best “I love you anyway mom” face and all was forgiven. He left, on his own…Pickles and I waving (and wagging as they case may be) goodbye from the door.
7:15…all is quiet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)