gah

OMG!! Ragnar is getting so close. I'm screwed. Yup. Might actually die. I ran this killer hill near work today. The one I drive twice everyday. It makes my car go "rrrrRRRRRRRRaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggg" Or something like that. Seriously. End to end, it's 1.75ish miles. And painful, and I did it end to end twice, and then kept running. Yay me!  But I felt like an idiot slowing trudging up the hill with a look of sheer torture plastered on my face, commuters driving by and smiling while silently thinking I was crazy.   :)

We've been having some decent weather around here lately. Nice enough to ride one weekend day for the last few weeks, and even the other day after work. Last weekend I just rode this paved trail that goes around the north end of the lake (27 miles end to end) on my road bike. I'm having some problems with the computer on my tri bike, either the battery is dead or something is wrong with the sensor- i can't get speed or cadence off it. BOOO. Anyway, I was just turned around at my halfway point when I passed a little family on their bikes. Dad has little girl in tow on his and Mom was leading the way with two boys between them. As I passed by, one of the boys- probably about 10 or so says loudly "WHOA! Super fit biker chick!" It was adorable! And strangely the encouragement I needed to buck up into the headwinds I was facing. Kids are cute. It was much nicer than the "Keep running b*tch" I got on the hills today from some smart mouthed teenage boys. Seriously. Who says that??? At least I can revel in the idea that they will amount to nothing and their poor parents much be oh so proud.

updates to Ragnar

So, our Ragnar legs got rearranged a little bit, I have a downhill instead of an insane uphill and my longest leg is only 7 instead of 9.6.  I think it's a toss up with the downhill and the altitude... but instead of doing this, I'll be doing this:

I can't believe it's just over 5 weeks away!!!

On another note, I'm worried about this whole getting enough food issue. I tend to get sidetracked on the weekends. Saturday, I had a bowl of oatmeal and then half a protein shake (put the rest in the fridge while I was getting ready and forgot about it) then went for a 2 hr, or 35 mile ride.... let's count some calories here... yup, definitely in the negative. Burned around 1400 on the ride.  I headed down to mom's that afternoon, forgetting to eat before I left. No, I have no idea how. Had some cookies when I got go her place then I cooked a bomb diggity  Scallops Mascarpone dinner. Veggies. Angel food cake and strawberries. Yum.

Sunday, I had two Eggos and some coffee before we went to a movie. When we got back to Mom's I nearly passed out in the driveway. Everything went a little foggy and unstable, so I ate a granola bar and headed home.  To run 7.5 miles.  Soooo... .got back from my run and took off my shoes, patted the cat on the head and headed to the kitchen. Only to go black in the dining room, but only for a split second. Everything came clear again just before I hit the floor and smashed my elbow into a bookcase. Yup, that hurt. And my cat would definitely eat me if I died.  Or maybe he was trying to revive me by headbutting my feet and biting my toes.  Anyway, it took a couple minutes before I could get up- and yes, I ate immediately after while I iced my knees.  But ugh, it sucked. I just didn't feel right, like I couldn't breathe properly and my heart was hurting. WTH??? I've been through this already this year and it came back fine. So what's wrong with me???

the great bike rack incident of 2011

Now that this whole debacle is behind me I can laugh freely: Haaahhhaahahaaa. Ahhhhaahahahhaaa. And a tee hee, even.

So, I moved one month ago today.  A week earlier than planned due to the apartment coming available early and just some things I needed to do.  I started early that rainy, crappy Saturday morning. And it was horrible, the whole day was awful. My last planned trip was to bring one of my bikes over and pick up the other the next day.  So, I picked my road bike to go first. My passenger and I pulled into the new parking lot and saw my mom walking towards us with a 6-pack of refreshments. Yay!

"Sweet, she didn't take my spot!" and I promptly swung the car into it.... only to hear a horrific sound that can only be described as pain immediately followed by knowing and fear. All in the deep pit of my stomach.  My passenger, confused, "What WAS that?"  As I stood frozen in terror, gasping.... and finally... "my..... bike....."  I finally manged to get out of the car and see that I no longer had a seat.... or a rack that was actually fully attached to the car. But rather rattled around. F*CK!!!  So, we took the bike down, removed the rest of the rack and carried the sad little pieces inside. By some amazing feat, I didn't cry. However in working on the rack, I took my frustration out used my hand as a hammer.  A large bruise, much swelling and pain and two doctor appointments later, I'm good to go. 

I finally took my bike to Performance Bicycles near my place on Friday expecting to need to replace the carbon fiber seat post and possibly the carbon fiber fork. But wouldnt' you know, the guy said they were peach keen. Okay, those are my words. What's that? No damage- could this be??? So, I left it there for a tune up, new chain and new brakes. And as it turns out, new brake cables since mine were fraying out. Brakes= good. No brakes= ouch.  I just picker her up and she's as good as new! Except she's got a crap seat for now. 

As for the bike rack, I'm sticking to to the truck rack for now. Don't think I can be trusted to not to do it again. And you know next time it would be with the Cervelo. There would be tears. Rivers.