Happy Birthday to our baby girl - Ashley!

We love you!
Mom & Dad

A hiily 47 miles ride: the Alcester, Hawarden, Akron loop

Thanks to Chad for hosting this great ride! The route was just the right amount of challenge, the company was great with 9 LaneHogs who showed up for the ride. The post-meal hospitality and food were wonderful. We even had the extra bonus of getting a lesson in chain cleaning by our host!

My stats for the ride:
Date: 09/27/2008
Time: 09:00 am
Total Time: 3:15:25.00
Average Heart rate: 150
Max Heart rate: 181
Calories: 1793
Distance: 47.29 miles
Average Speed: 14.52 mph
Max Speed: 33 mph

Race for the Cure - Be There!

I'm registered for the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Race/Walk to be held in Vermillion on Sunday. It should be a fun event, I'm walking with my sister-in-law who is a breast cancer survivor, along with my nieces and their kids, and hopefully my daughters as well! I've heard they are expecting between 1,000-2,000 people.

I am registered with the med school team and we are up to 45 people on our team - we're hoping we have the biggest team there!

Come and join us!

I tend to overdo things a little bit.....

Other than riding bike, I have not been doing any high intensity exercising this summer. And most of my bike rides have been on my own at a slower pace. So last week may have been a bit much for my old body with 3 days in a row of high intensity workouts. Boot camp exercise class on Tuesday and Thursday with the intramural bike race on Wednesday. I think I twisted my knee in Boot Camp on Thursday because I was tired and not using good form in the run and calisthenics (jumping jacks, pylometrics). I was totally exhausted Thursday night and Friday the knee was letting me know it was not happy!

The good news was the knee only hurt when I walked and felt fine on the bike! I went on the 52 mile group ride on Saturday and felt great! The bike ride did wonders for my knee, it felt much better. So Saturday night we're celebrating the wedding of a local girl who was like one of our own daughters and *maybe* I overdid the dancing (on the dance floor - I wasn't dancing on the tables or anything!). Sunday the knee was not happy again so it was a very lazy day for me.....lots of time spent on the couch reading a book. I overdid that too! I stayed up way too late to finish reading the book The Glass Castle. It should come with a warning label because it sucks you in and you can't put it down!

Monday I consulted with a couple of faculty members in the Physical Therapy Department (so nice to have a free consult by just walking up a flight of stairs) and found out the injury probably occurred due to my flat feet and a pronation problem. I was one of those kids who had to wear those ugly orthopedic shoes when I was growing up - I guess I need to go back to those! Of course the recommendation is to not run until it heals. I didn't go to Boot Camp class this morning. I hope to return to the class on Thursday - but if it is still painful I might crash Joe's spin class instead. Time will tell.

Perfect Fall Day Bike Ride

Anne posted a ride to the LaneHogs list serv for a 50 mile ride starting at 8:30 am from the bike shop in Vermillion. Four of us showed up; Anne, Joe, Kwen, and myself. We headed down the road to Burbank, Elk Point, and Jefferson where we turned around and came back. We all rode together and chatted and had a very enjoyable time. A few miles from Vermillion Kwen and I let the youngsters go ahead and we slowed to a more comfortable pace.

I was thinking how fun the ride was and how cycling has the ability to bring people together who may not normally hang out together otherwise. For example today, we had a minister, an undergraduate student/track star, a computer geek who is a master yoga and martial arts instructor, and myself (a nurse involved in higher ed). Four people that ranged in age from early 20's to 50's, all with different backgrounds. The love of the bike creates a special bond. Heck, if everyone rode a bike I'm sure we could attain world peace!

Intramural Bike Race - Pictures

I was late getting the camera out so I didn't get many pictures. This is a group picture, Team Warfarin: Barbara, Cindy, Erin, me, AJ, Paul.


Below is the women's championship team! We're tuff women!!






Our hero, Barbara - the individual women's champion. She ran the race in 39 minutes! She is also the new SD Senior Games Bike Race champion - is it any wonder with times like this one?

Intramural Bike Race - University of South Dakota

This was my 3rd year riding in the USD Intramural Bike Race. It was a beautiful day; but it seemed like we were going somewhat against the wind both ways, especially coming back! I have done no time trials or speed work this year but I was hoping my time would be about the same as the previous years which was 46:13 in 2006 and 46:55 in 2007. This year my time was 48:05 on the 14 mile course and I was the last of our team to cross the finish line. Oh well, next year I hope to improve! I didn't think I had anything to prove as I thought I was the oldest person in the race - and then just pass the turn around point Barbara passed me! She is a little less than a year older than me and she was flying. She wasn't at the starting point at the begining of the race, I found out afterwards that she started the race 3 minutes late and she still managed to pass all the women to claim the individual women's championship! This year there were more women's team than just our team but we held on to our title.....it did help that the other women (who looked very young - probably freshmen) were on mountain bikes.

My stats:

Date: 09/17/2008
Time: 16:15:00
Total Time: 00:48:05.00
Average Heart rate: 176
Max Heart rate: 186
Calories: 554
Distance: 14 miles
Average Speed: 17.47 mph
Max Speed: 26.2 mph

I think I gave it all I had by the looks of my average heart rate of 176, considering by age my maximum heart rate is 171 (you do the math!).

Our team was called "Warfarin" - by the name, you can probably guess this is a medical student team. We had two medical students, myself, and Cindy who we recruited from the nursing school! Warfarin managed to take both the women's and men's team championships as Biking Brady and the LaneHogs did not show up to defend their title - we missed you guys!

Chain Cleaning and TLC for the Bike

A lazy Sunday afternoon but it felt good to be home after a busy week and all the Friday night and Saturday activities (Margarita Ride, Rib Fest and play in Yankton). Charlie spent the afternoon working on his ’71 Torino so I thought I would join him at this shop and give my bike some tender loving care which it was in desperate need of, especially after riding in the rain the day before.

I have been talking about getting a stand to put my bike on so I could clean the chain easier but then I started thinking about maybe hanging my bike from the hoist in Charlie’s shop. When I asked about this he had a better idea, we hung the bike with some rope from the “engine lift hook.” That was sweet! I could adjust the bike to the height most comfortable for me and really give it a good cleaning. Most time consuming is cleaning the chain. Charlie thinks I over do it but I have over 8,000 miles on my bike and still have the original chain so I must be doing something right.

A good afternoon – Charlie detailed his car and I detailed my bike and gave it the pampering such a fine bike deserves!

Margarita Ride 2008

It was a great weekend! I got to see so many biking friends, starting on Friday night with a get together with the Watertown ladies, as I call them; Mary Jean, Bonnie, Sandy, and Janet. I first met Bonnie and Sandy at the first Margarita Ride I participated in in 2005 BRB (before road bike). They were sitting on the balcony of the winery post ride and they just looked like they were a really fun group! We started talking and became acquainted in the years since on other bike rides and through email. In introduced Melissa to Mary Jean and Bonnie on TDK this year and they ended up riding all week together.

The Watertown ladies got into Vermillion late Friday afternoon and Melissa and I met them at Mona Lisa’s for some pre-ride carb loading – I had the stuffed pasta shells (chicken, ricotta and parmesan cheese, touch of bacon in large shell macaroni with an alfredo sauce) – absolutely delicious!

Saturday morning was not looking like a great day for a bike ride; a light rain was falling but as it was 60 degrees it wasn’t uncomfortably cool. Cindy and I rode together and the time flew by as we chatted the entire route! I was happy to be riding a more relaxed pace than the last time we rode together on the Elk Point bike ride. I was sore from the Boot Camp classes I started this week (a story for another blog entry!), so I appreciated Cindy taking it easy on me!

Thanks to oldest daughter Ashley for manning the water stop in Wakonda, allowing me to ride! And to my husband for opening up the bathroom at his shop!

We regrouped with Melissa and Mary Jean and her group in Wakonda. We took a slightly different route back to Vermillion allowing us to enjoy the scenic Bluff Road.

The post-ride meal and Margarita were great! The best part was visiting with everyone – but there just wasn’t enough time! I totally missed the Biking Vikings and only said hi to the Hooterville Mayor. But I got to visit with lots of people, including Tim who we rode with on RAGBRAI, the Watertown ladies, and of course fellow blogger TEZ!! Along with of course great LaneHog team members Biking Brady, CDV, Ann, Holly, Cindy, Melissa, etc.! I would have loved to have continued the biking stories at CDV's but had to get home as Charlie and I were headed to rib fest in Yankton a little later.

Great job Biking Brady and CDV on spear heading another successful Margarita Ride! Many thanks also to Melissa for designing an awesome t-shirt and Eric for all that he does with the website registration, maps, etc., and all others who help with all the details!

I wish I would've gotten more pictures but my indoor pics did not turn out....maybe Melissa will be posting some??? And the the Hooterville Mayor has some great pictures on his blog!

Hoodlums Leave Graffiti Around Wakonda

A suspicious Fordzilla van with two equally suspicious caucasian males were seen in the Wakonda area on Wednesday night. Immediately after the van left town, locals reported seeing strange graffitti painted on the streets/roads in and around town; mostly multicolored arrows. Most disturbing is that these hoodlums seem to know me as they wrote my name on the street in front of my house!

20 Wishes - I'll start wtih 4

I’m reading a novel called 20 Wishes by Debbie Macomber. It is a light and easy read about a group of widowed women of various ages who decide as part of their healing process to each develop a list of “wishes.” What I liked about this is that the wishes are NOT goals or resolutions, just hopes, dreams, desires that may come to be once they are acknowledged by writing them down.

It’s a little like the story line of the movie the Bucket List but more hopeful!

When I was out riding my bike on Sunday I started to come up with a list of wishes related to biking:

1. Turn a corner decently. Anyone who has ridden with me knows I can’t turn a corner to save my life. My body just doesn’t want to lean into a corner so I slow way down, turn the corner, then sprint like ____ to catch up with the rest of the group. I read once that happy people focus on their abilities and unhappy people dwell on their flaws. As I really doubt my cornering will improve drastically, I choose to focus on what I can do well!

2. Own a Bike Friday. My husband and I would do long road trips in his mid-life crisis (red mustang convertible) and I would cover part of the miles each day by bike. This is my fantasy…..we would stay in cute little B&B’s, I would get up early and start biking towards the next night’s destination. Charlie would meander around and explore things I have no interest in (typically related to cars or tractors), he would pick me up at a designated spot and I would fold up the bike and put it in the trunk and we would drive to the next B&B where I would clean up and we’d have a relaxing evening. I need a Bike Friday because a bike rack is not allowed on the mid-life crisis. In other words, my mid-life crisis and his mid-life crisis are not compatible. It’s a good thing we still are after 29 years of marriage!

3. Own a touring bike and trailer and ALL the gear including the camping stuff and one of those cute little laptop computers so I could keep a travel diary on the crazyguyonabike website along the way.

4. Wakonda would be a cycling Mecca…there would be about 50 cyclists that lived here; some would be faster than me and some would be slower but the majority would be riders who average the same speed as me. There would always be someone to ride with no matter what type of ride you wanted. The fast ones would push me to ride faster. Okay, that’s my wish, as long as I’m wishing, I might as well wish big….but in reality, I would be happy to see at least one other person in my town or around the area with a road bike!

Sunday Bike Ride - Sep. 7th

I finally got out for a bike ride. It was overcast and cool with wind out of the northwest. My route was the familiar Irene, Viborg, Centerville loop for a total of 42 miles. I thought about trying out some different roads north of Irene, over towards the Marindahl Lake area, but I like the familiarity of my loop; no dogs to worry about and I like to stop at the convenience store in Centerville (on days the bakery isn't open!)for a snack.

I'd ike to mention a couple of cycling accessories that I absolutely love; my Smart Wool socks and my Tiofsi polarized sunglasses. The socks keep your feet dry and warm unlike any other socks I have ever owned. Since my mother had macular degeneration I thought it was important to invest in good sunglasses and I'm really happy with the polarized lenses. They're great in bright sun light but they're also great in low light conditions like today - they just seem to brighten everything up and give more definition.

I'm Lazy!

Seems like I have a lot of excuses to not ride my bike. This morning it was too cold. Shortly after noon I thought the sun was trying to peak out so I changed and got ready for a ride, planning on a 30 mile loop. But within a few minutes the wind had picked up and it started sprinkling. I turned around and came home and just rode around town for a few minutes. Charlie was in Tyndall on a tractor ride so my other excuse not ride was that he wasn't around to resuce me if I got stranded in a heavy down pour.

I'm looking forward to the Margarita Ride next weekend - I need to get out and ride with some people in order to get motivated!

Hopefully I'll get a ride in tomorrow before the county starts chip sealing the roads on Monday!!