A road ride in the rain

Scattered showers scattered over our Paragon route today. Our sunglasses became fogged up and wet rendering them useless against the pelting drops. The rain came down so hard at one point it was stinging our legs and sometimes our faces. We found a church porch that sheltered us for a couple of minutes until the rain eased. I snapped a couple of photos with my iPhone and also checked the radar...gotta love technology.

a road ride in the snow

Randi and I and 4 Teter girls road yesterday afternoon. The big snow of Wednesday left us with one option, straight down 446 to 50 and back, a little over 3 hours at our pace. It was a great ride. Despite the cold at the start, I never felt cold the whole ride (toe covers and booties do the trick for my feet). The snow along the road was beautiful, Lake Monroe was mostly frozen and looked very surreal compared to a summer lake, and at times the snow and ice sparkled like diamonds.

Wookie Pies

According to Wikipedia, Whoopie Pies are, “…a baked good traditional to the Pennsylvania Dutch…made of two small, chocolate, disk-shaped cakes with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them.” My mom used to make these for me when I was a kid (and sometimes throughout my adult life.)

While perusing the baked goods of Trader Joe’s a couple of months ago, I came across a package of these. When I expressed my excitement to my friends, I was surprised they hadn’t heard of them. Naturally Cheryl observed how much they resemble HoHo’s. In true Star Wars fashion, Meredith kept messing up the name. Imagine my surprise when she brought me a treat with the packaging below from her last Trader Joe’s run. Thanks, Mer! And kudos to MRLink for the graphic.

My Ride w/ Alison Dunlap

Having been Meredith's BFF for a couple of Winters, Alison Dunlap has given her motivation to train and race like the pros. After all, Alison is a National and World Champion. One dream I have is to attend an Alison Dunlap training camp--slightly different than last Summer's Jedi Training Camp.

Getting as close as I can to that dream, Meredith invited me over to ride with Alison. I packed my bike in the car, drove .9 miles to Meredith's, and unloaded the bike in her basement. Next we hooked it up to the trainer and started the CTS video featuring none other than Alison Dunlap.

So, I exaggerated. Alison and I didn't really get to chat, but it was still great motivation. The interval sessions got my HR near the top! It was refreshing to do those kinds of efforts again. Hello 2009!

Spinervals anyone?

First urban ride of the winter

When its too cold for an open road ride on the road bike, and the trails are just a bit too soft and wet, and you don't have a trianer ride to do, the next best thing is the urban ride. Bundle up, hop on the mountain bike and ride around town for a couple hours. Early weekend mornings are best, before much traffic is out, here were the highlights of this morning's urban ride (other than the fact that I rode by myself and got a little lonely at times):
empty parking lots with big curbs and parking lot dividers - perfect for practicing pedal wheelies and push wheelies (that's what I call them). I must have done over 50 of each. My pedal wheelies were kicking butt. IU stadium parking lot has this short steep (50ft long) grassy hill with a big curb at the top. The uphill is a 'get way over your handlebars so you don't lift your front wheel off the ground' climb. The downhill is a good pedal wheelie start, then (even though you don't have to, you can practice) getting your butt way back off the back of your saddle, stomach close to the saddle for the descent. The old state police post at 446/Fee has a short 10 ft burm with several small boulders out of the ground, good practice going down. The yet developed rails to trails section is a good 1-2 miles of big chunky gravel to practice on. And in town, always lots of small hills to practice a sprint up for a little extra heart rate elevation. Occasional stairs on campus to go down (not very easy to go up), the back part of the cross country course, and some fun hills on the golf course (on the golf cart trails). A few other places I won't mention (I probably shouldn't have ridden!)

This wasn't a bad option to get in a 2 hour ride without freezing.

Welcome 2009!

Happy New Year! In my confession to the world, below is a picture of how I welcomed 2009. Naturally, when I was perusing the ice cream cake selection on January 1st, the store didn't have any small cakes; so, I was, um, forced to purchase the large Cookie Dough Delirium. Upon returning home, I immediately cut me a piece, which was 1/2 of their own slice. mmmmmmm. This practice continued for 3 days after which time I knew I would consume the entire cake!

Later on the 3rd day, my brother-in-law stopped by the house. This was my chance to end the wickedness. He happily agreed to take the monster from my freezer to his own home. I quickly retrieved it and handed it to him. But he didn't leave right away. Now the temptation was staring me in the face--taunting almost. I wanted to scream, "Now give it back. You lost your chance to taste heaven." It was the longest 30 seconds of my life. No, wait, I'm sure suffering during some races seemed even longer. Alas, the ice cream cake is gone.

Now it's time to really start the training. The 1/2 marathon plan is still going well, but after getting dropped on hills--repeatedly--it's time to focus on power. One day a week, I'm going to incorporate running stairs as part of my cross-training regimen. Hopefully the ice cream cake didn't do too much damage.

60+ Degrees on December 27th

Cheryl, Randi, and I enjoyed record high temperatures Saturday during a 3-hour road ride. Yes, enjoyed. Such warm weather for this time of year was a treat despite the ferocious wind and occasional rain.

Although I managed to get a flat tire, I didn't dare complain. Much better to change one on a warm day than a cold one.

Again, these days give a false feeling of Spring approaching. Until then, we'll relish 60-degree, rainy, windy days.