about me

I am a self-defined amateur cyclist, and really have no business riding in a 150 mile bike ride whatsoever. But as the daughter of a person with MS, I also have no business sitting around on my duff while a cure needs to be found, better treatments need to be researched, and an increased quality of life needs to be made possible. So, while holding down a job and hanging out with my husband and our trusty mutt, thus begins my saga of training for Bike MS 2008.

Monday, April 7, 2008

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
- at

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