It's in, It's out

My more astute blog readers (all two of you) will have noticed that after briefly mentioning it in a previous post, I added the 6 Hours of Pando to my race schedule. The even more astute will have noticed I subsequently took it off my race schedule. Although I really wanted to do the race, I decided it was more important to spend this weekend in Traverse City with my mom. We will get in a long ride on Saturday and I will hopefully be able to fit in a shorter mountain bike ride, too. We still have the Drummond Island race on Labor Day weekend, and I am really looking forward to that one. We have also decided to start training with the intention of eventually completing Lumberjack. Chris is shooting for next year, but I think 2010 may be more realistic for me. At any rate, at this point my plan is to do fewer CPS races next year and concentrate on 6-hour races, with maybe a 12-hour or two thrown in for good measure. I'm really enjoying my foray into endurance racing, and right now it's looking like the direction I want to go.

I Like to Bike

Talk about obvious statements. This should be a given considering the subject matter of my blog. So why is it something I seem to forget so often? As I mentioned in a previous post, I have spent the past couple of weeks wallowing in self-pity and sloth on my couch. The success of my cruiser rides Friday evening gave me a good reason to get out on the trail on my mountain bike first thing Saturday morning. As I was riding the "Enter Sandman" trail (coincidentally named for my husband, who helped build these original trails years ago), I was enjoying the warmth and the sunshine and catching a little air going over some of the small dirt mounds (have no idea what the actual name for them is). I thought to myself, this is so much more fun and better for my psyche than reclining like a slug in my living room. And this strange phenomenon in which I have temporary amnesia about how much I like to ride my bike doesn't only happen when I'm in pity party mode. It seems to happen somewhat frequently. I'll be on a roll for a while, riding all the time and then suddenly, I can't seem to get motivated to get out there. Of course, as soon as I'm riding, I remember. This is the fun stuff. So, why does it take so much effort to get me out there sometimes?

By the Way

Our favorite performer at the Great Lakes Folk Festival so far has been April Verch.

Bicycle = Transportation

Due to some stress and the fact that my job is making me miserable, I haven't felt like doing anything lately. I haven't wanted to ride, post, clean the house. Okay, the cleaning the house part is normal and has nothing to do with my stress level, but the fact that I have mostly been unable to get myself on a bike and I have had several good ideas for posts but I haven't been able to make myself actually write them has been pretty disturbing. I'm not going to go into why work is so bad right now. Everyone around me is probably sick of hearing about it and I'm sick of complaining about it. Suffice it to say eight years is more than enough time at that place and I need to get out as soon as it's feasible.

At any rate, we spent some time down at the Great Lakes Folk Festival this weekend. It's always a good time. We enjoy hanging out there, eating the food and listening to good music. It also gives Chris great fodder for photographs. It was his idea to get out our cruisers to head down there since it's not far away and there's really no place to park unless you want to take the shuttle bus. Friday night was really my first time riding my cruiser since Chris bought it for me as a wedding present.

I broke all my own rules while riding my cruiser—no helmet, flip flops, etc.—but I quickly got over my discomfort because it was so much fun. (The coaster brakes took a little longer to get used to.) It was just great to be able to get on a bike and ride a short distance without having to put on bike shorts, helmet, gloves, bike shoes. We ended up riding our cruisers down there and back home two days in a row. Our local bike club even provides a free, guarded bike parking corral, so we didn't even have to worry about locking our bikes up or carting them around with us after we got there. We got a lot of compliments on our bikes, too, since they're so cool looking.

For reasons I won't go into too much (someone else counts on me for a ride, I have to leave for meetings sometimes during the day, I have to dress up, I go home for lunch almost every day), I don't commute by bike. I only live about two miles from my work though, and every time I see a bike commuter (and they're everywhere now) I feel incredibly guilty about the fact that I'm not out there. My jaunts this weekend started me thinking, though, and I think I can at least commute on Fridays and a few other days here and there. It won't save much gas, but it'll be one less car on the road at least one day a week, and it's a start.

Make Friends With the Badger

I understand that no one, with the exception of my brother who doesn't read my blog, would understand this obscure reference to a 1980s Dead Milkmen song. However, every time I look at my new bike, that's all I can think about. We're headed up North to our cabin after a half day of work. We should have a fun weekend. We've got lots of people coming. Before leaving, I just wanted to take a minute to post a photo of my exciting new bike (frame). I'll have to attempt to take some better ones when I have more time.

Still Safe

Well, the CPS rankings have been updated, and I'm still in first place—by 6 points. The margin is getting smaller and smaller. I'm enjoying my time in the sun and basking in my glory. I did, however, give myself a reality check by subtracting the number of points I got for my worst race (Ft. Custer) so I could see where I'd fall if I didn't have one more race under my belt than all my competitors. Turns out, the reality is that I'm in fourth, which is where I think I'll finish at the end of the season.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I picked up my Badger frame yesterday. I post some photos as soon as I can figure out where the heck my camera is.

I'm it!

Those of you who read a lot of blogs all know what this tagging thing is. In my experience, most bloggers are somewhat annoyed when they get tagged. They complain a lot and usually participate anyway, particularly if Fat Cyclist threatens them with leprosy if they don't. I, however, am out of the ordinary and am thrilled to have been tagged. This is mainly because it is proof that someone has paid attention to my blog for some amount of time at some point. I was tagged by Ali B., who must have been to my blog, and in fact, I think she's been twice. Check out her blog, which is much cooler than mine. The second reason I'm excited is that ostensibly, someone wants to hear my opinion. And, as my two loyal blog readers and everyone in my office who feels the wrath of my red pen knows, I love to tell people what I think. So, here goes.



If you could have any one—and only one—bike in the world, what would it be?

A 29er. I'm not going to be any more specific or picky than that.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you're not working toward getting it, why not?

I don't, but I'm buying the frame tomorrow. Then I just need to buy a fork, wheels, etc., which probably won't happen until next spring when we've financially recovered from the wedding.

If you had to choose one—and only one—bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?

I think I'd get sick of riding the same thing every day, no matter how much fun it was. If I had to choose the kind of ride I like best, though, I'd say it would be in a pine forest, probably mostly twisty singletrack with no gnarly downhills, but two track would be okay, too.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to do for the rest of her/his life?

A control freak

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrow minded?

I have and ride both. Last summer, I barely touched my mountain bike, but rode my first century and also rode from Lansing to Mackinaw City. This year, I prefer riding my mountain bike while my road bike collects dust sitting in the trainer, where it sat all winter. I think I'm probably stuck on the mountain bike thing for a while. The pros of mountain biking are woods instead of pavement, no cars and not having to come up with a route. So far, the biggest thing my road bike has going for it is that I don't crash on it anything like as much as my mountain bike.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.

I've ridden a stationary one at the gym. There is no other circumstance under which I would ride one.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?

I have done neither. I have little interest in running and even less in swimming.

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why?

Probably ice cream, because there are many good things to eat, but few things as fun as mountain biking.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it.

How many bikes do you currently own, and what are they?



Four

• Haro v5 (mountain bike)
• KHS CX200 (cyclocross)
• Bianchi Imola (road)
• Nirve Lahaina (cruiser)

And coming soon, the Badger 29er!

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?

Panic

Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below.



Ugh. This is the hardest part. I don't know that many biking bloggers personally, so I'll have to wuss out and just choose my husband.