Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Week 21 ~ Winds of Change Part II

Last's weeks windy ride turned into this weeks beautiful ride. Total miles... 72.5. Total hours on the saddle 6-ish.


I have learned to look at this time as my own. How often is it that I have 6+ hours to myself. Time to think. Think about what you ask?

  • Chores I need to get done when I get home
  • Getting the girls ready for what ever event is coming up
  • Who I need to call
  • Reminding myself what I need to read for bible study
  • Am I going to make it back to my car from the ride
  • The election (can't wait until it is over)
  • Dinner
  • The things I have negligted since starting training
  • Sleep
  • Nothing
  • Why I'm doing the ride
  • My wonderful family

But, when I get back to my car reality once again sets in. I get my messages on my cell phone "Mom, when are you coming home?", "Mom, do you know where my flat iron is? Call me", "Mom, where are you. Are you going to be home soon. I miss you.", "Mom, can I go to my friends?" The never ending story of kids. And, I wouldn't have it any other way. They have sacraficed just as much or more when I am gone on Saturdays.






We stopped at Camping World twice during our ride to rest and eat lunch. It was nice to stop some place with an nice area to sit and relax. My friend Aaron works there. He is my bible study leader and really kind person. Jan and I see every week.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Week 20 ~ Winds of Change



As Road Mom said... "The winds huffed and they puffed and they blew our ride away".


We made it 13 miles before the ride was called off. The weather man predicted a storm coming, but we didn't want to believe him. Well, we fought our way uphill against 25 mile an hour winds. I think my top speed was 9mph. It took us 1.5 hours to get in the 13 miles. I have to say it was a bit scary at times when we had gusts coming at us at 30-50mph. While I would have continued on the ride, I was glad it was called off. We made it back to our starting point in 30 minutes. Sure does help when you have a tail wind. We made it back just in time as the storm came with a fury. Sheets of rain were coming down.

The road we were on is called Universe. It is the Double Eagle Airport 2 lane road. As you can see from the pictures, there is nothing out there.
The two best coaches... Ed and Road Mom (Debbie)
The clouds looming... they only got worse.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Week 19 ~ Beautiful.. BDOTB





The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, confidence was there... but it wasn't in the cards. BDOTB stands for Bad Day On The Bike. The ride took us from Tramway and Montgomery to the top of Placitas. I didn't realize that Placitas was all uphill, but it was. And, the body was having none of it. I had to keep stopping the let my cramps subside and then continue. On the last rest stop I lost my balance and fell to my left without having my left foot unclipped. I thought "No Big Deal, get up and get going". Well, the clip of my shoe broke and I couldn't clip back in. I was done for the day. Frank was SAGging and we had no cell reception for him to come and get me. So Ed and I started walking to the top. I was only about 2 miles away. We were gone so long that everyone ahead of me started coming back down the hill. I got in the car and cheered everyone else on.

It was one to to avoid going back up the Tramway Hill. I can't avoid it forever. Thanks to Ed for sticking with me. I kept telling him to "Just Go and get Frank". He said "NO".
With only 45 days left to train I am feeling a bit panicked. I will be missing this weekends ride so it will be up to my to get my training in.

Congratulations to everyone who completed this past weekend's ride. You guys are awesome. Enjoy some pictures from the ride my kids took.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Week 18 ~ Lessons Learned

In order to succeed, Your desire for success
should be greater than your fear of failure.


Bill Cosby



Feeling more and more confident every week, I woke up early and got ready. Our ride started at 8:00 instead of 7:30 so I had extra time to relax, stretch and eat breakfast while I waited for Jan to pick me up. I kissed the girls goodbye and loaded up. Jan picked up the “tool box” Frank put together for me and started taking it to the truck. I foolishly said “let’s not take that today. We are going on a short ride and I have new tires. I won’t need anything”.

We started out on our “short” 47 mile through Los Lunas from the Tingly Beach train station and took the bike path until we reached the highway. For those of you who are not familiar with Tingly Beach, it is a stocked pond off of Old Route 66 (Central). The train goes between the Botanical Gardens and the Zoo. The beach has no waves washing ashore nor can you do any body boarding. It is a place to go and have a picnic with your family and while trying to catch a couple of fish.

I have always liked the bike path. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn so the scenery was great to look at. When we got to the highway, the scenery turned a bit brown and boring. Eleven miles into the ride the flat queen got a flat. I heard the “phish” going up the overpass and tried to ignore the noises the tire was making trying to repair itself. We rode to the nearest gas station and sure enough it needed to be changed. Well, I didn’t’ have anything… no tube, no tools only a co2 cartridge. Why would I need tools, I had new tires and tubes? LeeAnn gave me a tube, Nick changed the tire and Tom pumped it up because he did not want to use my cartridge for fear of freezing his hand.

We were off again and about 5 miles later Ed got a flat. We waited for him to change his tire and finally got to our official rest stop in Los Lunas. We didn’t stay long as we were already rested up. We trekked through Los Lunas. A bit scary at times because there are no bike lanes or shoulders to ride on. The cars didn’t seem to care we were there and drove very close to us at times. We finally made it to the road going back to Albuquerque. The road was a nice flat with one hill. I kept telling myself this is easy and tried to keep my speed at 16-18mph. Well, I was struggling. Why, Why, Why, I don’t know. The peddling was hard and butt was aching. Rides like this should be easy and rewarding. We rested at the Walmart on Coors and Rio Bravo. When we started out again, Tom M said, “your back tire looks low”. NOOOOOOO Yes, I had another flat. I rode approximately 10-12 miles on a back flat tire. No wonder I was struggling. When we returned to the bike path Nick pumped up the back tire and I made it back to the car.

Needless to say I was frustrated. I was mad at myself for being too confident and not having any tools with me. It does not matter what kind of tires you get or how much goo you have in the tubes, you have to be prepared with spare parts. I will ready this weekend.






Our route starting at point "A".

Heather and I getting ready to ride out.


Waiting for Ed.


The road we came from.

Scenery while waiting.



The bike path going back to the car.