Crabby in MN

Now that I'm back in MN, I've found that I'm in a crabby funk. I think it's because we came back to snow and cold, and I actually feel guilty during the day for not riding my bike. And riding my bike on the trainer at night really sucks now (worse than normal)...I just want to ride outside in the sun!! And work is stressful...that never helps matters. But instead of posting a blog full of bitchin', I'll report some good news...

...Angie and Scot had their "Irish twin" on St. Patrick's Day! So here he is, Turner Liam Graham (and proud momma). Congrats!













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Hellweek - "Everybody's somebody in Luckenbach"

After a nice rest day on Thursday, I was ready to ride again on Friday. The weather was cool, probably around 60 degrees, and it sprinkled off and on, but it was a nice, scenic 70 mile ride, with a kick-ass downhill and some tough climbs. My legs hurt worse than I thought they would after a rest day...but I think it might have been due to dehydration (I had my fair share of sangria the night before). We rode the first 20 miles of the ride in a huge pack of about 40 people. After a quick stop at mile 20, Angie and I rode the rest of the day with Birchwood Annie and Nate, and another couple from Rochester NY. We all co-miserated about having to return to cold temps and snow at home. I'm really bummed about the weather in MN. When we left, it was about 50 degrees, and I was really looking forward to getting home and having it be spring and riding my bike. But now everyone's talking about bustin' out the cross-country skis again. I'm not looking forward to getting off the plane tonight. After our ride, we headed downtown again and went to this gourmet salsa shop that has samples of all of their salsas, marinades, spices, jams, and fudge. It was a nice little appetizer. Then we decided to go back to Luckenbach...the interesting/strange place we visited on the first day of riding. I was looking forward to another "cherry limeade"...they use fresh-squeezed limes! We enjoyed a little jam-session where a 12-yr kid was playing guitar with a bunch of the old comboys. Luckenbach, Texas, is a strange, but cool place. Notice the two different types of "bikers" in the picture below? We then headed back to town (and actually saw Marjie's zebra on the way), had dinner (and I finally got a yummy margarita), and got to bed early.
Today (saturday), the plan was to get up early and get a quick 40-mile ride in before having to leave. We awoke to the coolest temps yet, light rain, and storms in the forecast. That didn't stop Lieselot, Marjie, and Paula. But Angie and I had no desire to ride in that. Lieselot reminded us that this is the last day we can probably ride outside for a while...but I didn't come to Texas to ride in miserable weather, and I'm still technically on vacation. So I've had some time this morning to pack, catch up on my blogging, and send out a few e-mails.
Angie and I will be leaving for Austin again shortly, and the others will be packing up and driving north. Back to reality - snow, cold, and trainer rides.

It's been a great week, but I look forward to a good latte, my own bed, my guy, my friend's party tonight, and my little guys too (who I'll have to try to see ASAP).

Thanks for reading!


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Hellweek, Austin, SXSW, and more

On Wednesday, Marjie, Lieselot, Angie and I had decided to take a "recovery day" and go to Austin. However, our "recovery" ride still consisted of riding for an hour and 20 minutes in cool temperatures and wind, so Lieselot recovered, but Angie and I still felt like we got a normal day of riding in. Marjie went for a run instead of riding. We headed to Austin without a plan, except that Angie and I needed to pick up a rental car. And we wanted a good cup of coffee. We ended up walking around downtown on Congress street, and couldn't find a coffee shop besides Starbucks...which was very annoying. Apparently I'm a bigger coffee snob than I thought...Texans don't know how to make espresso drinks, even at Starbucks. The best latte I've had on this trip was at Dunkin Donuts in Oklahoma City. And I couldn't believe the lack of coffee shops in Austin, but I digress.

We stopped at a visitor's center for some information. The man there didn't have many suggestions, besides the capitol building, the museum, and the Whole Foods (which is apparently the corporate headquarters or something like that, so it's huge...but we have a Whole Paycheck at home, and we didn't go to Austin to go to the grocery store). Lieselot asked the man "Is there any Lance Armstrong stuff here?" At the very least, she was hoping to see a statue or a sign that said "Home Of Lance Armstrong". The man told us that the Lance Armstrong Foundation was based there, but he didn't even know where it was.

We ended up only having time to walk through the state capitol building and go to a shop at a the museum so Lieselot could buy a Texas t-shirt. Lieselot won't have a chance to make it to New York while she's in the U.S., so we seized the opportunity to take a picture of her with the mini-statue of liberty.

And we couldn't resist taking a photo of the former governor, and we tried not to snicker while doing so, because you don't want to piss off a proud Texan.

Marjie and Lieselot then dropped Angie and me off at the rental car place, then they proceeded to Chipotle for dinner. I gave my old friend Worm a call, and he suggested Angie and I go to the "Soco" part of town to check out a bunch of eclectic shops and restaurants that "chicks dig". Due to the South by Southwest (SXSW) film/music festival, there were a lot of people in Austin. We walked through a few shops, then stopped for a snack at a wine bar, and Worm ended up getting off work early and meeting us there. He then took us to a quaint little restaurant off the beaten path. We had dinner, then went downtown to meet up with a few other friends of his - Jamie (who lives in St. Paul now and flew in for SXSW, but also grew up in Roch and went to Iowa State), Tim (a friend of Jamie's from the Twin Cities too), and Chad, a friend of Worm's that I know who also went to Iowa State.

Angie and I had agreed that we needed to leave Austin by 8:30 if we wanted to get back to Fredericksburg by 10 pm so that we could get enough sleep to ride the next day. But we were having a good time in Austin, and it was difficult to leave early. Then we went to this bar where Beth Orten was going to be playing at 11 pm. Angie and I are both fans of Beth Orten and have some of her music, so we decided to try to get in to hear her play. The problem was that we didn't have the SXSW wristband - people pay about $150 for a wristband to get into all of the concerts all week. If you don't have a wristband, you can wait in line and pay a cover to get in IF the venue doesn't fill up - people with wristbands get priority. So while we were waiting in a line that wasn't moving, Worm realized that the staff member working the door to the bar was a co-worker of his...so he went to chat with her, and she basically pulled us out of line and let us in, FREE (I'm sure there were some pissed off people in line). She also informed us that they were not going to be letting any non-wristbanders in that night. So needless to say, we were lucky. Beth Orten was good, and by the time she was done playing, it was 12:30. My friends were trying to get us to stay, but we really needed to get back. So we headed off for Fredericksburg, and it was a strange trip home. Once we got about 20 minutes out of Austin, we noticed that the roads were desolate (i.e. no traffic), except for the million deer wandering around. Long story short, I ended up driving about 45-50 mph and we spent the entire drive scanning the ditches for deer because we knew our little Toyota Corolla wouldn't fare well in a tangle with a deer. It was a stressful drive, and we figure we saw about 50 deer, and we didn't roll into Fredericksburg until about 2:30 am.

When the alarm went off at 7:15 the next morning, Lieselot was the only one that got up. Angie and I slept in, and eventually just decided to take the day from riding which ended up being a really good thing - she's been fighting a chest cold all week, and I needed a day off for my body to recover. The unfortunate part was that it turned out to be one of the nicest days for riding all week. We went and got coffee and had a nice lunch, then walked around downtown with the rest of the tourists (Fredericksburg is a full-blown tourist town, although I can't quite figure out why). That night, we all went out for dinner (and pitchers of Sangria).

The Hellweekers (and some random guy)














If you want to see some actual pictures taken during riding, you'll have to check out Nate's pictures since I haven't been taking my camera with me on the rides.

more from Texas

I haven't been taking my camera with me on the rides...too much stuff in my pockets already. So for now, the pictures of our nightly festivities (or lack thereof) will have to suffice. So, here we are doing laundry and drinking wine. There were signs posted inside the laundromat that said "no alcoholic beverages" and there were security cameras, so we were forced to drink outside...actually, it was just nice to sit outside and drink wine. So after the brutal windy ride on Sunday, we decided to do the shorter 38 mile ride on Monday. It was still really windy, and the temperatures had dropped, but it was sunny and the ride was relatively short, and it turned out to be a great recovery ride, which I desperately needed. There were only about 30 riders doing this ride, so we started out with the Bellas leading the pack. Then a few bellas took a wrong turn, while I followed the rest of the pack. I kept expecting to see the other Bellas catch up, but they were no where to be seen. So not wanting to ride in the wind, I tucked in behind 3 of the people at the front of the group. I stuck with them as long as I could, but then they dropped me on a big hill. It was so windy...I really didn't want to ride alone, but when I looked back, no one was in sight. Then I turned off the main road to find the next 10-15 miles were a series of little, painful hills out in the middle of no-where...it wasn't uncommon to have to wait for sheep to cross the road (there are a lot of "loose livestock" signs and cattle guards around here). I didn't see another cyclist for a really long time...I was beginning to think I had a missed my turn. Finally, another guy rode up to me. He was clearly much stronger than me, so I was afraid he'd be gone in a matter of seconds, but it turned out he didn't have a map or directions with him...and I did. So I had someone to ride with, and someone to block some of the wind for me. He was from Dallas. When we finally got to a main road, Marjie caught up with us. Then we had to climb a huge-ass hill, so Marjie and I tucked in behind Mr. Dallas and he was kind enough to ride slowly up the hill and block the wind for us. At the top of the hill, at mile 25 of 38, was a little restaurant where we stopped and filled up our water bottles and had a snack. Angie, Paula, and Pam (Paula's sister) met up with us here. When we headed back for town, we finally had a tailwind. It was crazy...it took me almost 3 hrs to do the 38 mile ride--but the first 25 miles took about 2.5 hrs, and the last 13 took about 25 minutes. Climbing the little steep hills in the headwind, I would literally be going about 5-9 mph. Going back into town with the Bellas with a tailwind on a slight downhill we were often going 35 mph. It was an interesting ride. While my body was still sore from the previous two rides, I finally felt good after this ride...if nothing else, it was good for morale. And when we got back to the hotel, Lieselot and I discovered that the hot tub was finally hot...so we soaked for a good hour. Then we all went out for a huge Mexican meal, did laundry, and went to bed. I'm actually sick of eating. In the morning, I force myself to eat a big meal just so I don't bonk in the middle of a ride. And by the time we're done riding for the day, I'm so hungry that I can't get food fast enough. And I don't even feel guilty about having Ho-Ho's as my post-ride snack.

Today, we did a hilly, 66 mile ride. It was sunny again, but cooler, relatively speaking. I felt good for the first part of the ride, even when climbing. But as usual, the second half didn't go as well. Scott, one of the others from MN, has an altimeter of some sort on his bike, and he said we climbed 3200 feet today...the way my body feels, I believe it. We (Paula, Pam, Angie, Birchwood Annie, and me) were out for about 5 hrs, although we had to stop for a variety of reasons today, so we probably only rode about 4 - 4.5 hrs. But it made for a long day. My heart rate monitor tells me I burned 3000 calories. Lieselot finished 1.5 hrs before us...holy shit. She was riding with Nate (also from MN) and a few other guys who were often treating the ride like a race. The scenery was beautiful again today, and after climbing the biggest bitch of a hill so far, we stopped at a look-out area that is a Wildlife Management Area...it's basically a bat sanctuary. There was a gorgeous view, and apparently every night, there is bat viewing. The last 5 miles were the worst...I was hungry, we were going into a headwind, and like a lot of the roads around here, it was bumpy...and my tender bits could no longer take it!! But since Lieselot had been back for a while, she was kind enough to make Angie and I sandwiches right away...it was awesome. Lieselot and I hit the hot tub again, showered up, then we all went to the Hellweek banquet. Good food, but relatively uneventful. We got home at 8, and Angie and Lieselot got ready for bed, and got on the Internet. We're too tired to do anything else.

Tomorrow, Lieselot, Angie, and I will do a short 1 -1.5 hr recovery ride. Then Marjie's picking the 3 of us up to go to Austin to (a) do some sight-seeing, (b) pick up a rental car that Angie and I will need to get back to the Austin airport on Saturday, and (c) have dinner with my old friend Worm who lives in Austin. Paula's doing another long ride.

Oh, and I had a phone "conversation" with Jaxson today...he said "Hi Sarah", "miss you", "poppa...jeep", and "bye-bye".

Time for bed.

thanks for reading,
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Texas, the land of road kill

I'm actually too tired to even go into too much detail, so here's a bullet list for now until I get the energy to write more:

• 9 people, 9 bikes, 2 vans with slogans ("Hellweek or Bust" and "Belgian on Board"), and a lot of luggage.
  
• Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma are not fun places to drive through in March.
• The state of Kansas must have some special deal with McDonalds...the Kansas Turnpike has very few exits, except for little exits similar to rest areas that only have a gas station and a McDonald's...and the occasional Krispy Kreme. Their state motto must be "Get super-sized in Kansas".
  
• Highlight of Day 1 of the road trip...Kansas City, which we saw by accident. I've been to the suburbs of KC, but this was my first time through the City...it was actually pretty cool.
• Texans on I-35 don't know how to drive. It's scary.
• While I'm sure everyone has a certain sense of pride for their state, Texans are REALLY proud of Texas...and it's former governer.
  
• Highlights of Day 2 of the road trip...green grass, warm weather, budding flowers and trees, and Texas Motor Speedway.
• It is NOT a good thing when your gas light comes on in the middle of no-where Texas...especially when the nearest town is 24 miles away and may only consist of one house.
  
• 
• There are a lot of large trucks in Texas.
  
• Day 3...our first day of riding. Observations and lessons: (a) 85 degrees and sunny, 62 miles of riding, beautiful route except for all the large road kill (see note about large trucks); (b) lots of ranches...I swear one had rams, and Marjie swears one had a zebra?; (c) I'm glad the Belgian is on our team...especially this particular Belgian (she's been a blast and I'm so glad she came along...she even sang us a Dutch song in the car when we got bored at about hour 11.5 of our first day on the road); (d) keeping up with Lieselot is hard; (e) Belgians don't think they need to wear sunscreen...Belgians learn the hard way; (f) only in Texas will the halfway point of your ride be some weird cowboy/biker (as in Harleys)/bar/concert-hall/dance-hall where you can only order meat--I had a hamburger mid-ride; (g) eating hamburgers mid-ride is NOT a good idea; (h) trying to keep up with Lieselot for 62 miles will make me bonk; (i) who knew that one of the best Italians meals I've ever had would be in Texas; (j) the first Velo Bella flat tire came at mile 3.8 on our first day of riding (bummer for Paula; and (k) loosing the keys to all three of your bike locks that you have securing 5 bikes to a van is a problem...and it turns out those kryptonite U locks are actually pretty secure and take a while to saw through (or so Angie tells me).
  
• Day 4...2nd day of riding...the day I really discovered why they call it "Hellweek": (a) ? degrees, humid, overcast, WINDY, and HILLY; (b) windy, hilly, 55 mile rides after a hard first day of riding sucks, (c) I was hurting, hungry, and crabby...the only thing that seemed to help was swearing at the wind (and poor Angie had to listen to it); (d) Ho-Ho's are good post-ride sugar boost...and I didn't even feel bad because I burned 2300 calories on the ride (according to my heart rate monitor anyway); (e)tomorrow I will do a shorter ride to recover from being dumb.
  
• Last minute travel planning leads to problems...very long story short, Angie and I will be flying home.
  
• Love the new bike.
• It's very relaxing to only have to worry about biking, eating, hot-tubbing (aka lukewarm-tubbing), drinking wine, and sleeping. Repeat.

More from Hellweek when I recover and stop trying to chase a Belgian around.

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4 more frantic days...

Yes, I know, I haven't been blogging lately...it's because I've been at work, trying to get a lot done in preparation for vacation. Only 4 more frantic days before we leave. But, I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I'm taking the computer and camera along. And all I have to do every day is ride my bike. So presumably that gives me plenty of time to blog while having a beer poolside. In addition to Marjie and Paula, two more of my teammates have decided to come along! Angie, who just got back from traveling for 4 months in South America, and Lieselot, a high school exhange student from Belgium. We are also traveling with another group from Mpls: Annie, Nate, Sascha, and Scott. So we're caravaning to Oklahoma City this Thursday night, then driving the rest of the way on Friday. Then it's 8 days of riding at "Hellweek" in Texas hill country! I can't wait to wear my cowboy hat where it's considered normal attire. So stay tuned...it should be an interesting trip! If not, maybe Pete's blog will be more interesting since he'll be getting a much-needed vacation from me!

I went to see my sister, Chris, and the boys before leaving on my trip. I have nephew withdrawal if I don't see them about once a week, so Pete and I squeezed in a visit tonight. Plus, they have a portable DVD player that I'm taking along, so I had to pick that up. When I told Brenden I had to go potty, he offered to flush the toilet for me after going poop, because he's a big boy and he can flush the toilet, then I could get a "present" for going poop (just to clarify, I locked him out of the bathroom, and did not let him flush...I didn't want to scare the poor kid). And Jaxson has decided that it's fun to launch himself off the stairs into a pile of stuffed animals, seen here with me and the boys. I see stitches in the near future.

I finally got to talk to Jen last week and catch up on her new job and new city, so that was nice. And Steve was in town too, so he swung by for a few minutes and a beer one night. Sounds like things are going well in NY, and they'll finally get to spend some time together now.

And Chuck and Dianne just got back from a vacation in Florida with Big D and Lolo. Sounds like they had a great time and great weather!

I should have baby updates soon too...Jana, Angie, and my co-worker Jamie are all due any day now.

Thanks for reading!
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