Last Minute Ride

I got off work today at 1:00 PM and went to the grocery store. I was out of milk, eggs, sugar, and coffee creamer. I got home at 1:50 and unloaded everything from my car. Yea yea I got extra stuff. Who ever comes home with just the items on their list? Not me! To continue, I checked the mail and looked out the window. I saw big gray clouds sailing by but I also saw patches of blue sky and sunshine. The weather report this morning said sun breaks throughout the day and maybe a spritz in isolated areas. I decided to go for a ride and I'm glad I did. I had a super ride. My legs felt strong and even with the strong headwind I was flying! Today's route was uphill, about a constant 3-5 percent grade. There were some flat spots and a couple easy downhills too but mainly uphill for 31 miles. I finished in 2 hours and 2 minutes with an average speed of 15.2 mph. Not bad. I ran into a friend, Rachel and we stopped and chatted briefly before continuing on our way. She's training for a big ride just like me. And it did not rain on me! Not even a spritz!

I need to find a long steep hill to ride on. I need to begin hill training twice a week for my June 20th ride up and down the north cascade highway! I think I know just the hill and route! Stay tuned! :-D

Sunday Afternoon Ride

Joe, Jackie, and I went for a wonderful ride this afternoon. It was a bit chilly and we had a headwind but we all agreed it still was a great ride. It felt wonderful to be outside and on our bikes. There were huge big clouds that were constantly trying to block out the sun but every now and then the sun escaped them and shone through. And when it did we could feel the difference. It was a leisurely ride with our total average speed being 14.9 mph. Tomorrow I plan to get a longer ride in as soon as I get off from work at 1:00. Our spring has been unseasonably cool. But as long as it's not raining and the sun makes an appearance I don't mind the coolness. :-D

Sun, Mountain, and Bike

Another beautiful, warm, sunny day here in the pacific northwest which meant another wonderful bike ride for me this afternoon. I forgot my digital camera but I did have my cell phone. These pictures were shot with my cell's camera. As you can see it truly was a beautiful afternoon.

Mount Rainier in the distance from the town of Orting.
And that's my bike on the grass in the foreground.

Another shot of Mount Rainier.

A new born calf.

Carbon River

Daffodil Fields and Mount Rainier in Sumner.

Leisurely Ride

After riding the Daffodil Classic's hilly course yesterday Joe and I and our daughter too went on a very leisurely ride after work. We started riding at 5:00 PM and got a wonderful 15 miles in before returning home for a late dinner. We just spun and cruised along enjoying the weather and views. And views there were. Of course there was Mt. Rainier standing beautifully snow white against the bluest sky. We also rode by the Carbon River and saw people getting their feet wet. The sun was getting low and it was sparkling off the water like diamonds and streaming through the trees along the route. Days like this refresh the soul!

Daffodil Classic

Today Joe and I rode in the 34th annual Daffodil Classic. It was a beautiful day and a great ride. We had a blast! :)

Registration line this morning at the Orting Middle School.

Riders ready to start riding.

Joe and me before the ride.

Mount Rainier in the background with lenticular cloud formations.

Joe waiting patiently for me while I take pictures of the bridge.

This is the new bridge just completed that will connect the Orting Trail to Buckley, Wilkeson, and Mount Rainier eventually. Right now the Orting Trail ends at South Prairie.

Saturday Ride

Joe and I had a great ride today. We rode 33 miles with headwinds the entire time. We did not want to over do it because tomorrow we will be riding the 40 mile hilly course of the Daffodil Classic.

Great ride, nice weather, just a wonderful time out on my bike this afternoon.

Beautiful Afternoon For a Ride!

Today I got off work at 1:00 PM. It has been raining for almost 2 weeks straight (off and on) and yesterday we even had snow! Disgusting! Geeish! But today, oh my, what a difference! It was beautiful! Big huge white clouds cruising by and the sun was shining brightly. The air was chilly, reaching a high of only 52 degrees but once I began pedaling I warmed up nicely.

So I leave work at 1:00 and head home to grab my bike. The only negative things on today's ride was the headwind, which I had the entire ride, and a flat tire. A little over 10 miles into my ride I pick up someone's heal cap along with two long nails in my front tire. I pull over and remove the cap and nail and sure enough I can hear the air escaping. I pull off my front wheel and remove the tube. I get out my spare and place it inside the tire. I get the tire back on the rim and then I get out my hand pump. The hand pump was useless to me so I pulled out my CO2 cartridge and instant tire inflation! A girl's best friend when she has to inflate a bicycle tire! I'm so happy Joe bought me the CO2 cartridge tool. I love it!

I pack all my tools and garbage up and continue on my ride. I saw a field of cows with their new born calves, I went over a bridge with rushing spring water swirling by. I saw hawks and eagles and a lot of other cyclists this afternoon. What a great ride I had today, except for the headwind and flat it was pretty near perfect. I wish I could ride tomorrow and on Friday too but I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 and a baby shower on Friday at 4:00. I guess my next ride will be on the weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday look fabulous darling! :-)

Wonderful Ride After Work

It was a gorgeous day! 71 degrees and sunny! Joe got home at 4:40 PM and we were out the door by 5:00 PM! Jackie joined us and the three of us got a nice 30 mile ride in! The evening sun at 6:30 was casting long shadows and the Carbon River sparkled like a million diamonds were dancing on it's surface. So many other people were also out enjoying this wonderful spring day. Wow two rides in two days! I hope the streak continues tomorrow! :)

First April Ride

This afternoon Joe and I went for a ride. The weather was just perfect. Sunny, warm, and very spring like. Trees blooming everywhere. People out running, cycling, rollerblading, walking their dogs, just everyone it seemed was outside.

I returned from a week long visit to see my parents yesterday and I haven't been on my bike since March 21st. Between the weather and no time I just couldn't get out. But today more than made up for it. I'm happy again! :)

The nice weather is supposed to continue through the first half of the week. So tomorrow, when Joe gets home from work, we are going out at 5:30 PM for a ride. I can't wait!

Finally a Ride!

I cannot believe it has been one month to the day since my last bike ride! The time between February 21st and March 21st was not the best of times. Between the weather, illness, and the passing of my mother-in-law it was a bad month. I hope today's ride, and today's beautiful weather, marks a change for the better.

Joe and I went out this afternoon and did a hilly twenty mile jaunt. We weren't fast but we had fun. It felt great to be on my bike again with the wind blowing past my face. The climbs were doable and within a month they will be a breeze again. It's always hard in the beginning of a new season but as the new season passes your endurance, strength, and fitness return. The best part of today's ride were the thrilling downhills. They were as wonderful and exhilarating as I remembered!

Next Monday I am leaving for a six day visit back east to see my parents. When I get back from my trip my serious training will (must) begin. April will mark the start of my 2009 training. I have two big rides I plan to do this summer. The first ride is in June, a 128 mile ride over the north cascade highway; the second ride is in July, 154 miles around Mount Rainier. The second ride is still up in the air. The rider limit is 800 and the riders are chosen by lottery. The results will be posted the first week of April. Hopefully I will get a ticket in.

But back to today's ride. The route was one of my favorites. My legs felt pretty good but my lungs and breathing were not what I had expected. With time I'm sure they will come back. We had a head wind on the last two thirds of the ride. We saw a lot of other cyclists enjoying the spring like day too. As we passed the other cyclists we waved, said hello, or nodded. And the pastures along our course were full of new born calves, horses wrapped in blankets, llamas, and sheep. The Green River was a rushing torrent from all the rain we had been getting plus the melting snow from the mountains. We stopped on the bridge that crossed the river and watched for a while. We met a nice older couple out walking their old black lab. They stopped to chat and we indulged the lab with patting and friendly talk. We finished our ride tired but happy. I believe it's safe to say the cycling season has begun.

Finally a Ride!

I cannot believe it has been one month to the day since my last bike ride! The time between February 21st and March 21st was not the best of times. Between the weather, illness, and the passing of my mother-in-law it was a bad month. I hope today's ride, and today's beautiful weather, marks a change for the better.

Joe and I went out this afternoon and did a hilly twenty mile jaunt. We weren't fast but we had fun. It felt great to be on my bike again with the wind blowing past my face. The climbs were doable and within a month they will be a breeze again. It's always hard in the beginning of a new season but as the new season passes your endurance, strength, and fitness return. The best part of today's ride were the thrilling downhills. They were as wonderful and exhilarating as I remembered!

Next Monday I am leaving for a six day visit back east to visit my parents. When I get back from my trip my serious training will (must) begin. April will mark the start of my 2009 training. I have two big rides I plan to do this summer. The first ride is in June, a 128 mile ride over the north cascade highway; the second ride is in July, 154 miles around Mount Rainier. The second ride is still up in the air. The rider limit is 800 and the riders are chosen by lottery. The results will be posted the first week of April. Hopefully I will get a ticket in.

But back to today's ride. The route was one of my favorites. My legs felt pretty good but my lungs and breathing were not what I had expected. With time I'm sure they will come back. We had a head wind on the last two thirds of the ride. We saw a lot of other cyclists enjoying the spring like day too. As we passed the other cyclists we waved, said hello, or nodded. And the pastures along our course were full of new born calves, horses wrapped in blankets, llamas, and sheep. The Green River was a rushing torrent from all the rain we had been getting plus the melting snow from the mountains. We stopped on the bridge that crossed the river and watched for a while. We met a nice older couple out walking their old black lab. They stopped to chat and we indulged the lab with patting and friendly talk. We finished our ride tired but happy. I believe it's safe to say the cycling season has begun.

Enumclaw Hills

Today Joe and I rode through Enumclaw's back country. It was a great day. Warm and dry. The sun was playing a good game of hide and seek with us throughout the entire ride. We saw many new born critters on the pastures we cycled by. Calves, horses, goats, llamas, and Scottish highland calves. The Scottish highland calves looked like little wookies and were so darn cute.

Our route was very hilly. The hills were mostly rolling but there were two big climbs on our route this afternoon too. They were very steep and long. But Joe and I made both, of course we sounded like a couple of trains huffing and puffing up them, but we made the climbs! And for our reward we got to scream down the other side. I hit 38 mph and couldn't catch Joe! He was going down over 40 mph. He claims it's his size and mass that give him the momentum to go down so fast.

We only got 27.50 miles in but they sure were the best miles! Sadly rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. So maybe it will be the gym in the morning for some weight bearing exercises.

Wednesday Afternoon Ride

I forgot to write about my ride on Wednesday afternoon. I had the day off and the weather was beautiful so I went on a 33 mile bike ride. It was great! I rode my Specialized Ruby Expert instead of my old Trek. My Trek is my bad weather winter bike but Wednesday was wonderful. A really "spring" day. Mid 50s, warm, and sunny.


Half of my ride was on the trail and the other half was on the road. As you can see from my picture part of the trail was closed due to local flooding this winter. But when I rode by there was a work crew there repairing that section of the trail. They had cleared away all the mud, stumps, trees, and debris and had filled in the washed away section of the trail with dirt. When I rode by they had a big roller flattening the trail. All that's left to do is the paving! They really want the trail ready for spring. I think it may be ready this weekend. Perhaps if I get off early enough today I will take a ride down to the trail and check it out.

30 Mile Family Ride

Today Joe, the kids, and I went on a wonderful 30 mile ride. We decided to stay off the roads and ride on the Interurban and Green River Trails instead. It was a good ride and a great time spent with my family.

Fog . . . Elk . . . Movies . . . Great Day!

This entire past week was a sad one. All week long I did nothing except go to work, come home from work, watch tv, go to bed, repeat. I didn't even go to the gym or spin class this week. I was getting into a rut but thank goodness today Joe and I got out and we did a 22 mile road ride. Yeah! It wasn't a very long ride but it was a very nice ride.

It was chilly when we left at 11:30, only 40 degrees and cloudy/foggy. The weather report said sunshine and clearing but it never happened during our ride. But I must admit the sun finally did pop out about an hour after we finished riding around 3:20! But I won't complain because as I was saying it was a good ride. We did one of our hilly courses and we still managed to average 15.7 mph. Not bad. We also saw a herd of 40-50 elk in a farmer's field in Enumclaw. We stopped to watch them for a while and I tried to get a picture with my cell phone's camera but they were too far away for a decent picture.

After our ride this afternoon I got a text message from a friend asking Joe and me to come out tomorrow morning and do a mountain bike ride at Banner. I told her we just might show up for her ride!

In about 50 minutes Joe and I will be leaving for the movies. We are going to see Liam Neeson in his new movie Taken. I heard it was good. Actually I'm ready to go to bed but Joe has been wanting to see this movie so I guess it's the movies for me tonight.

What a great day today turned out to be! :)

Last Day of January - Beautiful!

I couldn't believe my eyes this morning. The sky was blue and the sun was out shining brightly! That could only mean one thing, a road ride! WooHoo! I started my ride at 10:48 AM. I must admit it was a chilly start. The temperature was a brisk 37 degrees but that sun was working it's magic. It was warming the day up nicely. When I finished it was 50 degrees! It felt warmer with the sun beating down on my black cycling pants. I was very comfortable on today's ride.

I wasn't the only one who thought today was a great day to be outside. On my ride today I saw runners, walkers, people with their kids on bikes, people walking their dogs, other cyclists, and people rollerblading. It seemed like everyone had the same idea as me on this gorgeous sunny winter day.

I got a good 37 miles in and made good time. I stopped around mile 20 for a snack break and a good stretch. After 15-20 minutes I was off again. I got back home at 1:23 PM.

I hope tomorrow will be a repeat of today. I could use another day like this one to wrap up my weekend!

5:30 PM Spin Class

Went to spin class after work today. Wish I could have skipped work entirely. The sun was out shining brightly. Even though it was a chilly 37 degrees I would rather be on my bike then indoors on a stationary. Spin class was good. Heidi had us doing intervals. Hopefully I will get two long rides this coming weekend.

30 Mile Ride

Today the sun was making an attempt to break through the clouds. Around 11:00 AM it looked like it was going to succeed. The outdoor thermometer showed that it was 37 degrees on the other side of the window. Chilly but with the sun it shouldn't feel too bad. So Joe and I decided to go for a ride. It was our first ride outdoors since December 6th.

We began our ride at 11:35 AM. The sun was out but the clouds seemed to be fighting back, and winning. The first ten minutes of our ride were the worst. The wind chill made me feel like an icicle. But soon I warmed as my body produced heat from the constant pedaling. Joe and I dressed in layers. We had on our warm winter riding gloves, our booties to keep our feet and toes warm, and are balaclavas which really helped keep our faces protected from the wind and cold. But the sun was what really made us feel warm but about 20 minutes into our ride the clouds won and the sun disappeared. As long as we kept pedaling we were fine. But when we stopped, and we did once, the chill settled in quickly and it took a good 5 minutes of hard pedaling to warm up again. Even so our ride was wonderful! Joe and I never felt better! It sure beat an hour of spin class indoors.

When we got back home we were tired but happy. We got 30 miles logged in today! I hope tomorrow will be a good day for an outdoor ride too. That will make this the best weekend in a long time for me!

Spin Spin Spin

Sunday and Monday I went to spin class. Although the snow, rain, and flooding have ceased we are now getting a lot of thick fog. So I continue to go to spin class. The fog did clear on Monday and the sun finally did come out but too late for me to get a good ride in before the sun set. I hope the weekend weather will get nice soon. I need to begin adding long rides into my workouts. So here's to sunny warm weekends in the up coming months ahead!

Foggy Wet Winter Day

This morning I was up at 5:30 AM. I am a morning person and no matter how late I stay up I am always up between 5:00 and 7:00 AM every day. Rarely will I sleep beyond 7:00. Now I don't mind getting up so early in the summer. Because in the summer the sun is up early like me, shining brightly, the birds are singing, and the world is still asleep. In the summer mornings are a quiet, peaceful, beautiful time of the day. But in the winter, now that's a different story. In the winter it's dark and cold. In the winter I can't take my morning cup of coffee outside and sit on the patio and watch the day begin. That's why in the winter I wish I could sleep a little bit longer. At least until the sun comes up. But no, try as I may I just can't sleep past 7:00.

After I got up this morning I shuffled downstairs and started the coffee. I turned my laptop on to check my email and messages. Soon my daughter was up; she joined me in the kitchen with her cup of coffee. Around 7:30 AM we got ready to go to the gym. We went to the 8:15 flex class and after the hour long class we went to the 9:30 spin class. By the time the spin class was over we were both exhausted. We left the gym and drove straight to Starbucks for Americanos before we headed home.

What I really wanted to do today was ride my bike. I thought the weather would be nice this weekend but I was wrong. Maybe next weekend the weather will cooperate and I will be able to ride my bike outside instead of a stationary bike inside at the gym.