First 150 mile bike week, camping, and hiking

I wanted to give a shout out to one of my running friends, rather a woman I met through running and we became friends. She is in her 60's and started running at 59.  Her goal was to run her first 5K the year she turned 60.  And she did!  And we all know how that goes, the 5K was awesome so we roll into the next distance and we all celebrated her first 10K, and then the excitement and the feeling of accomplishment was so great she tackled a 1/2 marathon.  A HUGE undertaking!  After her 1/2 things just stopped going well.  She took a break for a few months and then got back to the Couch to 5K training to start running again, and that wasn't working, so she did a walking program.  It wasn't the same.  She hung up her running shoes. She was very sad, and you could tell how she longed to get back out there but her body was not going to let her.

Nearly a year later, a month before her approaching retirement at the end of June she had a long talk with her body and it agreed and she started Couch to 5K again!  Running is where it is at for her, clearly, now, at age 65, she can't give it up!  To say I am honored she calls me a friend is beyond measure.  

People like Connie give me the courage and motivation to keep on keeping on.  All of our situations are different, some of us have bad days and want to call it quits, some of us have hip replacements, and can't wait to get out and run and bike again.  

Never give up. Never surrender.

Monday (3.2) As unwise as it was I went out.  I ran into Mikey at the gym and he said "Walking or Running?"  I didn't really know what I was going to do, but for sure I was walking up that first hill. Sorry Shari, at least I went up the hill?  My body hurt, the only thing that didn't hurt was my nose, which was a surprise considering all the pollen I'd been breathing in and honking out.

Monday beer, mostly because Leslie can't.

Jax didn't get either of his peeps to take him anywhere, but I did take him on a ride in the car, it's too hot for him.  He is pissed with both of us, while he is nearly 8 and close to 56 years old in human years, he is very much a sullen teenager when he doesn't get to do what he wants to do. 

So this is it?  A ride to the store.  Sheesh, I should pee on the floor.  -- Jax

Tuesday (0) My greatest activity was mowing the lawn.  It desperately needed it and I had a Fat Alberta (Throwback Brewery) waiting in the fridge for me once I completed that task.  Jax helped me scoop poops in the backyard, pointing out that his reserved for poop area had been neglected and he had to poop in his pee area.  He is a quirky weird dog.

Lives up to the hype!

This is the first time I used the mulch function on the mower.  I think the lawn has been deprived enough of grass clipping fertilizer, right?  After all of that and actually mowing the stupid hill, Jax really wanted to play. I found Buddy the Glow Ball and we played with that.  I was surprised Jax was willing to play with Buddy, he'd been outside for quite some time, being relegated to an outside ball is akin to death for that dog.  But he was good with it and we fetched, yes both of us have to fetch because of someone throws like a girl.   He brought Buddy into the house and plopped him down near his food tray, I guess Buddy is back in the rotation. Oh, goodie it will be fun to see a glowing orb in the darkness.  It is kind of freaky from time to time.

Guard dog on duty!

Wednesday (76) Ro, Charlotte, and I went out to Long Island to do a Metric Century, we aren't really good with the metric system so we did 76 miles.  It was a nice loop Ro and Mark do once in a while and Dave and I joined them last year.  Long Island is flat.  You pedal the entire time.  I feel surprisingly good for pedaling for over 5 hours!  Ok, there were two ferry rides between Greenport and Shelter Island and Shelter Island and Sag Harbor...  SO really it was less than 5 hours of pedaling.  :)

me, Ro, Charlotte

Tom from the EBAC Tour de Testosterone suggested we three gals would click.  I was dubious as I always am, he was right.  It was like we'd been hanging out together for years.  I love it when that happens!

Relive the ride here.

Other than the old man in the bright red car trying to take the three of us out, it was a good solid ride.  

Me and Charlotte ready to sleep on the ferry ride home!

Can't wait for our next adventure where we roll our Ruby's!!

Thursday (1)  Off to camp!  The experiment this time was a late start and setting up camp while it neared dark.  Jax and I had a couple laps around the campgrounds.  All went well and we enjoyed some 'smores before bed.

Mmmmm melted marshmallows
You can kind of see Jax's glowing eyes at the tip of the stick

Friday (28)  Dave was off to Thunder Mountain in the morning, I dropped him off and then picked him up.  I really didn't need a vehicle, other than to find a package store and get some beer and a newspaper so we could start the evening fire.  Jax and I went on a hike and had a nap and procured beer and a paper in time to pick Dave up at 2.  We may also have been munching on some of the most amazing chocolate covered pretzels.

He's impatiently waiting for me, it was slippery!

My adventure was a road ride.  I found on eon Ride with GPS that would be about 40 miles.  I was a little unsure of a 40-mile ride with long climbs two days before a Connecticut hilly 45-mile ride so I found a shortcut.  HA!  Yes, it was shorter but with about 1,000 feet of the elevation in a one-mile climb (versus a 4 or 6 mile climb).  DOH!  I walked my bike up most of that, it was steep and littered with runaway truck ramps.  Not smart on my part, the elevation maps are there for a reason, as well as the segment being called "Monroe Hill the second steepest paved climb in New England"  I have no idea if this is true or not, it was no joke.

I accidentally trespassed on this bridge.

After that, I was rewarded with nearly 10 miles of downhill.  I did remember the write up on this ride, 20 miles of climbs with 10 miles of downhill.  The climbs to the point of my short cut were nice and enjoyable.  I missed the enjoyable climbs with my shortcut.

The Town Pound is where lost sheep are stored till their owners claim them.
For the local folks, you can see the remnants of one near Lenny Lane in Burlingame.

I also discovered I have to adjust my back derailleur to fully use my cassette. I still think I'd like a bigger cassette, I'm struggling more than I need to up hills.  But maybe actually being able to get into the 32 tooth cog will be all I need?  Pretty sure this all loops back to when the cable bird caged (frayed) and I never got it adjusted correctly (under Dave's watchful eye).

Relive the ride here.

All in all, I'm not disappointed I am 9th on the leader boards (out of 9) or that I walked my bike a fair distance.  I didn't give up and go back the way I came.  Plus I broke 40 MPH on the bike for the first time this year!!

Tardis!  - Rowe MA

Looking at the elevation profile, maybe a clock stupid route would have been ok?

Saturday (6) It was due to be rainy most of the afternoon.  Dave went off to Thunder Mountain, with the truck, I didn't need a vehicle and the cell service is so bad he could text me for hours to come to pick him up and unless I happened to stand on the picnic table I'd never get the message.  

Let's go this way Peeps!  -- Jax

Jax and I went on a short hike on part of the Mohican Mohawk Trail.  I suck at poorly marked trails.  We still had fun.

Another place for lost sheep!

After Dave got back we took another hike where I had a bit better of bearings and a couple map pictures on my phone.  We saw some beautiful areas and also hiked on a bit of the Mohecain Mohawk Trail.  I need to find some history about this trail.  

The picture doesn't do it justice.
The black dot is Jax

Sunday (45) I made plans months ago to do the Seven Lakes Ride Pedaling for Patients with Ro, Darleen, and Grace.  Since meeting up with Jess a few weeks ago for a ride, with Dave, Spud, and Jax in tow didn't go to bad, we decided we'd try it again.   This time the ride started from a school and Dave had a better idea of what he'd want to do.  He mostly cleaned up Spud and finally got an eMail sent off to the guy reviewing his Christopher DBG (Double Bass Guitar).  The initial review was excellent!  

Me, Dar, Grace, Ro

The ride was a charity ride raising funds to help cancer patients pay for medical bills.  

Me, Grace, Ro
Dar did the short course

Relive the ride here.

Mileage:

Feet: 10
Saddle: 150

Knitting:

Nothing to report, I think...  I can't remember, but probably no knitting this week.

Books:

"A Million Years in a Day: A Curious History of Daily Life"
by Greg Jenner 

Status: In progress

Still interesting!  



"The Loom"
by Sheila Gillus

Status: Finished

Parts were hard to follow because the female character names all started with L and male with J. After reading the prologue this was by design, and reading the prologue made me appreciate the book even more than I did after I finished it.

The lives of the slaves were horrible, some only ever wanted to be free, others to just die and be done with the torture.

Worth the time to read, pay attention to the names and the symbolism in the book, it is really striking.



"War Brides"
by Helen Bryan 

Status:  trying again for the 4th time, per Goodreads I've already tried to read this three times and couldn't get into it.  Maybe it wasn't good bedtime reading?

Personal:

My mother wrote a family friend passed away, he suffered a stroke in December and months later, when things didn't get any better he said he'd had enough.  I remember Mr. Kizer very fondly.  He and my father worked together and had a great friendship inside and outside of work.  Of the many Mr. Kizer memories my favorite is when I was an adult, working at Ford, his wife was our departmental secretary (they were called that way back then).  Mr. Kizer came to visit Pat and I greeted him with "Hi Mr. Kizer" as I had done since I was about 10 years old!  He looked me square in the eyes and with utmost sincerity said: "We are at work, you can call me Phil."  I said "OK Mr. Kizer."  Mr. Kizer and Pat (she was always Pat to me) laughed!  You don't undo 15 years in two seconds!

I remember Phil (that is still hard to say!) and his first wife Lynn visiting one night and getting raucous with my parents doing the twist in the living room.  I swear the whole house shook with the four of them acting like teenagers.  It was really cool to see that side of my parents.  

Definitely many good memories of Mr. Kizer/Phil.  I still have a hard time calling him Phil and it's been 40 years!  

Emily Dickinson said it best:  

Unable are the Loved to die
For Love is Immortality,
Nay, it is Deity—

Unable they that love—to die
For Love reforms Vitality
Into Divinity. 


Emily Dickinson

There has been an incredible amount of death of loved ones in the past month.  Maybe this will help ease someone through the pain.  I do believe Emily was correct, the memory and spirit of those who are loved never dies.  The body may no longer be with us, the spirit is.

Recap: 

All in all an exhausting in a really good way week, I'll be curious how my recovery goes and if I have any issues.  I feel like I did a good job of getting enough hydration and rest.  (As of publishing this on Monday night, I definitely needed to take today off and may take most of Tuesday off, my body isn't exactly happy or unhappy, but sending out warning signs I should listen to).


Sincerely,


Beth, kinda sad we can't have 'smores before bed every night.  (because she needed to end on something not so morose as death)