2 weeks to go...

30 miles today! It took me just over two hours and 638 calories - according to the Cateye. I did the home-Forest Park-home loop again, but did multiple laps around the park once I got there, switching directions every now and then so I covered all of the hills every way possible. The park was very empty for a Saturday (I'll blame the 90 degree heat), which meant that trail traffic was light so I could get in some good sprints.

Because I was looping around inside the park so much, I ended up passing a man in a Barnes-Jewish jersey multiple times. On about our fifth pass, he said, "You must be training for the Bike MS ride," which started a brief rolling conversation about how both of us were just trying desperately to get as many miles in before the event. It was relieving to know that someone out there is struggling just as much as I am. Is that sick?

I can only hope that it's a bit cooler on the weekend of the event. The heat radiating off of the black pavement sure is a killer. Anyway, If I was truly dedicated, I'd probably get up a do a long ride tomorrow, too, to prepare myself for the back-to-back rides on the 6th and 7th. But, the idea of relaxing tonight over some beverages and sleeping in tomorrow sounds much more pleasant.

For now, though, it's off to the Festival of Nations! Delicious international food and highland games, here I come!

Spinning my wheels

Well, the bike is in the shop for it's pre-event tune up. Looking forward to getting it back and ramping up the training these last 2.5 weeks (yikes!).

T-minus 29 days!

It's August 8, which means it's Olympic Friday. It also means that the Bike MS ride is ominously less than one month away! These things combined suggest that I should put some miles behind me today, which is exactly what I intend to do. I reckon that if I can leave the office early and hit the park by 3:30, I'll have plenty of time to get in a few laps before the TV broadcast of the opening ceremonies.

Despite my lack of publishing, you can rest assured that I have, in fact, been riding when I can. I feel confident that I can - at the very least - bang out 40 miles on the first day (the hills day), and do the full 75 on the second day (flats) of the ride. I'm out of town the next two weekends though, so I've really got to be diligent about hitting the road, or the trainer, between now and September.

I plan to chock this weekend full of aerobic activity in an effort to rev up my training. I'll get those miles in tonight with moderate hills. Tomorrow afternoon, the husband and the dog and I plan to get our hiking boots dirty at Castlewood State Park. And with this Sunday all to myself, I hope to participate in the Tour of the Little Hills ride hosted by Trailnet. It'd be a nice confidence booster to get through the moderate 44-mile route. There may be some scheduling conflicts there though, so I'll have to report back re: whether or not I make it out for that event.

In parting, I'll let you know that the proofs for the jersey designs have come in and have been approved. They are pretty slick. When mine come in, I'll post a picture, if you promise not to be too jealous.

Hot Town

Having Fridays off is a great thing, and I'm fortunate enough to work for a company where the summer schedules allow for us to have every other Friday off.  Of course, this comes with the caveat of having to work 10-hour days on those weeks where our Fridays are free.  The real trick is to avoid the temptation of sleeping in all day to make up for how hard you've worked the rest of the week.

I somehow was able to drag myself out of bed this past Friday morning and get a nice ride under my wheels well before the summer heat sunk in.  I did the home-Forest Park-home loop again, although this time I did two trips around the park path before heading back home.  Felt great, and I probably could have gone around again, but I had to get home to let the pooch out. I'm sure he appreciated it.

In other cycling news, Pat and I put the final touches on the jersey design for the Bike MS ride.  Should be pretty boss.  Once we get the proof from the jersey company, I'll have to find a way to post it on here.  In the meantime, you'll most likely find me on the trainer tonight.  That 103F heat index has me craving an air-conditioned ride.

07/18 Ride Wrap-Up:

Dist: 14.51

Avg: 12.3

Mx: 23.3

Time: 1:10:17

So I've been busy...

Maybe my last post was in May. Maybe it was even nearly 2 months ago to the day. The point is, I've been a busy bee. And by busy, I do mean just that, but I also mean that I've been a horrible trainee. Sure, I've gotten in a training ride here and there, as well as some work on the stationary trainer, but I'm not 150 mile-ready - yet. It's never to0 late to turn over a new leaf of discipline. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here's some documentation of the nonsense I've been up to as of late:

training ride in St. Jacob, IL

campin' with the dog

Katy Trail with Mom and Dad

and...

killer storm in Omaha, NE!

Speaking of nonsense, Iwas also up to some of that this evening. I actually hopped on the bike, and did an urban ride that took me through Forest Park, and ended up at the happiest of places - the Maplewood Dog Park, with both husband and dog awaiting my arrival. It wasn't a long ride, but at least it was something.

07/16 Ride Wrap-Up:
Dist: 10.20 miles
Avg: 12.5 mph
Mx: 22.9
Time: 48.49

"Crusty Jugglers"

Something I saw on my ride yesterday deserves mention.  You'll be happy to know that I did make it out to Grant's Trail - which was surprisingly unpopulated for how nice of an evening it was.  It made for a beautiful ride, but that's not what what I'm here about.

Off in the distance coming down the other side of the path was a jogger - that much I could tell.  But there seemed to be a lot of, oh, miscellaneous movement around him that I couldn't put my finger on from as far away as I was.  Luckily, with my pace I was able to close the gap quickly.

All that miscellaneous movement?  Juggling clubs!  No joke.  This guy was jogging at an admirable stride, while juggling 3 clubs - like it was nothing!  I don't know who jogs and juggles, but, sir, whoever you are, you certainly give all those Bud Light Real American Geniuses a run for their money.  I am impressed.

(For the kids keeping track at home, here's the wrap-up:)

Dist: 16.14 miles

Avg: 14.5 mph

Mx: 22.5

Time: 1:06.39

Now that's a little less embarrassing that my previous Grant's Trail ride.

It's been a "berry" long time...

Oh, this is embarassing, folks. I have not been on the bike since the Spring Kick Off ride. Yup, do the math and that's a full 2 weeks since I've ridden. I'm going to go ahead and be soft on myself, and say that because of the non-stop torrential rain we've been having combined with my lack of any rain gear whatsoever (despite a co-worker's recommendation that I just use a garbage bag in place of a rain-proof windbreaker), I can't really be blamed. It makes me feel better about myself - don't judge me.

The lack of riding means not much to report. I have every intention to bang out a few miles tonight after work, and posting that intention publicly means that I have that much more motivation to follow through with it. What also looks appealing is the Berry Bicycle Ride in St. Jacob, IL, this Sunday. Come on, who doesn't like "free" strawberry shortcake at the end of a ride? We've got some friends coming over on Saturday night, so if I can stay responsible this looks like a "go" for sure.

P.S. For those of you who are wondering, I did not participate in Bike to Work Week this week. The portion of Big Bend in between our house and work is a bit too trecherous for my taste.

Spring Kick-Off (with pictures!)!

Whoooowhee! Are my legs tired! Yesterday was the MS Spring Kick-Off Ride out in Chesterfield. Dad and I decided to go for the 27 rather than the 37 mile-route, which ended up being a good thing because of a serious delay we experienced about half-way into our ride. Just 2.5 miles out from the rest-stop/turn-around for the 27 miler, Dad suffered a flat tire. It took about 15 minutes to repair the tube enough to make it to the rest-stop (conveniently located in a horse pasture!).

At the stop, however, we realized that the tire itself had been compromised, which meant even more delays as the generous and helpful folks from Big Shark saw that my Dad's tire was patched and fit to make it back to the start. I'll tell you what, though - I say it's a fine thing that we only rode 27+ miles yesterday. While it would have been an extreme psychological boost to have done the 37 this early into my training, I think my legs and ass-bones are thanking me today (that's not to say that they aren't still throbbing).

The route was much more hilly than any rides I have put myself out on to-date. There was one bastard of a climb that forced me off my bike and I found myself walking most of the way. Once again, though, I survived to cycle another day - which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

Today I took the much-needed bike break and walked the dog with my husband through Forest Park instead. I may try to squeeze in a ride tomorrow after work, but the weather looks thunder-stormy and we're going to see Glen Hansard and Markita Irglova at the Pageant in the evening, so we'll see. I've still got 4 months, right??? Right.




Dist: 27.34 miles
Avg: 13.5 mph
Mx: 31.8 mph - that was on the downhill side of the bastard hill
Time: 2.01.00

Maps!

Got another ride in last night - man, was it nice to go from low 30s to upper 70s yesterday. This St. Louis weather has been crazy, but I'm beginning to feel that I will have less and less complaints about the cold and rainy days and will find myself whining more about how hot and muggy it is as we get into May.

Last night's ride found me out on the roads of St. Charles. It was my dad's day off, so I met him out at my folks' house after work and we rode through the city, down Kingshighway to the new N 5th Street, and out to the Little Hills Expressway/Mueller Road. Not much of a shoulder there, which made things interesting when a rather aggressive fuel truck came barreling by, but again, I survived. The return trip meant a more than moderate climb up Zumbehl Road. Much to my surprise, I was able to stay on the bike the whole time! Did the entire climb in the saddle.

Finished up feeling good, but like I had really pushed myself both in speed and in tackling hills. This morning I'm hurtin', but in the way that makes you feel like you did something right. I don't know if I'll be riding again tonight - even so, I feel ready for at least the shorter of the two routes this upcoming weekend.

In the meantime, I came across this fairly cool website, www.mapmyride.com, where you can do just that. I'm going to see if it works here:

04/30 Ride Wrap-Up:
Dist: 13.98 miles (my map skills are approximate - I'm going with my CatEye numbers here)
Avg: 12.3 mph (hills brought this number down)
Mx: 28.7 mph
Time: 1.07.40

April showers bring excuses

Well, the rain has been coming and going, as have the after-work responsibilities of my old and my new jobs. These things - combined with my general couch-potatoness - have lent to my inability to start training as vigorously as I'd like; but, all excuses aside, I was able to get in a great morning ride at the end of last week. It was my first of two days off between my former and my new job, and the weather was wonderful if not a little breezy, so I threw my bike onto the back of my station wagon and headed into Forest Park. I split my time between the roads inside the park and the bike path in an effort to start building my confidence off-trail. Thanks to my new Take-A-Look mirror helmet adapter (and the relatively low volume of traffic on a late Thursday morning), the short amount of time that I did decide to ride on the park roads wasn't as terrifying as I initially anticipated. You have to keep in mind, I'm very much the amateur cyclist, and I like to ride with a buddy if at all possible, so riding along side cars for the first time - and ALONE - felt like a very big step. In the end, no injuries to report, I felt a lot less winded than my first ride of the season, and it was great honoring myself with the respect and the time to go out for this ride. I had every best intention to write it up after I got in, but things got in the way - so it goes.

04/17 Ride Wrap-Up:
Dist: 10.36 miles
Avg: 12.4 mph
Mx: 25.8 mph - hit top gear several times, but the downhills helped
Time: 49.57

I did get the chance to ride yesterday, and for the first time, I didn't shuttle my bike to a trail to get started - I left right from my front driveway! I'll say it was a bit harrowing to cross through busy intersections and ride up and down Clayton Road on a Saturday afternoon, but again, overall it was another exercise in confidence as the road riding forced me to be even more alert, all while tackling some big hills (which many trails have allowed me to avoid thus far). I have to say, I came off this ride - albeit a short one - quite exhilarated since I didn't let the afore mentioned hills get the better of me, and I have really started to notice an improvement in my endurance. This gives me at least a decent reason to hope that I'll be able to make it through, at minimum, the shorter 22 mile option for next weekend's Bike MS Kick-Off ride.

04/26 Ride Wrap-Up:
Dist: 12.52 miles
Avg: 11.4 mph
Mx: 24.5 mph
Time: 1.05.45

I would have liked to do a recoup flat trail ride today, but rain is in the forecast, and I don't even own a windbreaker, so I'll be walking the dog twice instead. I'm sure he'll appreciate it, and besides, it will be the perfect way to ensure it doesn't rain!

Weekend Warrior?

Despite the "dry spell" on this site since my last posting, we have recently had nothing but rain, rain, and more rain here in St. Louis which had put my training on hold. But, we had a gorgeous and precip-free weekend which left no excuse not to hit the pavement.

My bike needed a tune-up before the inaugural ride of the year, so my husband and I headed out to St. Charles on Saturday morning to drop off the bike at Granada and visit my folks in the meantime. We all decided to have lunch down on Main Street at our knew favorite St. Chuck restaurant, The Vine. We new we were in for some delicious patio-served food, but we did NOT anticipate to be flanked by tens upon tens of bagpipers and other kilt-clad men. Apparently this weekend was the annual Missouri Tartan Day Festival. Who knew? While I did not drink a Scotch Ale of any sort, I did celebrate with an ice cream cone. Yum!

But back to business. My first ride of the season finally took place on Sunday afternoon on the scenic (and heavily populated) Grant's Trail. It is beautiful, and paved, and flat for that matter - which I am always a big fan of - but the round trip was just shy of 16 miles. Now, my 59-year-old dad seemed to have no problem with it whatsoever. It was a different story for me, with me painfully struggling on the last 3 mile stretch to keep an average of 10 mph. Pathetic, I know. "Maybe a wiser person would have chosen a less aggressive kick-off ride," say my ass and legs a day later. I had grand plans to take my camera along with me to document the occasion, and get some photos of the Clydesdale breeding farm that the trail runs along side of at the western portion, but my battery was dead. I did, however, manage to wheeze out a few bars of the Budweiser song as I passed by!

All in all, a great, but ambitious ride. I'm feeling it today, and definitely don't see myself hopping on the bike until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest. I'd like to ride at least twice this week, since this upcoming weekend is completely consumed by work-related commitments. Bummer.

04/06 Ride Wrap-Up:
Dist: 15.84 miles
Avg: 12.1 mph
Mx: 19.6 mph - never even hit top gear :(
Time: 1.18.05

...a very good place to start

Last spring, I decided I'd start saving up for a sweet new MacBook Pro. I wanted to join the sleek, sexy, elite group of Mac users and put my old PC to rest. I knew that with this new purchase I would be considered infinitely more hip, particularly in the eyes of my super-duper programmer husband. So, I started putting the dollars away as much as I could, which was slow and difficult as I was working for a not-for-profit. But, save I did, and come the fall I finally had enough to satisfy my Apple-driven lust.

As it turns out, around the same time I had just saved up enough cash, I went down to Columbia, MO, to work at the MS Society's Bike Ride and support my parents who were both riding in the event. Seeing the hundreds of people pushing through the 150 miles through the hills of Missouri over 2 days was both impressive and inspiring, and it hit me that there was no reason that I could not accomplish this same feat. So, the following weekend, I went to my local bike shop and blew the money I had scrimped and saved for my classy Mac into an equally sharp road bike.

Since I bought my beautiful Specialized Dolce Comp near the end of September, I really haven't had all that much time to train for the ride in 2008. I was able to bang out only a couple short rides before the winter kicked in, and yes, they were all on flat roads. I have since been using the excuse, "Oh, I'll start training when it warms up," since I can't afford a gym membership or an indoor trainer yet. Problem is, it's warming up, and now I've gotta start getting in shape so I can ride 150 miles this September without a victory lap straight to the emergency room.

This website will chronicle my attempts at training for this ride, as well as my fundraising efforts. After all, I am riding to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society - to find a cure for MS, and to provide services to the thousands of people in my area - including my mom - who struggle daily with the challenges of this disease. Check back often for updates.