A weekend of Grace

Saturday was the Tour de Grace in Louisburg, NC. My friend Kim and I drove out to the ride start on Saturday morning. We got there just in time...but we got a nice tour of Rolesville and Louisburg on the was there. Our original plan was to do the 52 mile ride. There were two rides to choose from 32 and 52 miles. As we got through most of the ride I was really feeling the hills of the ride and my neck and shoulders were bothering me, so we cut off a small loop of the ride and ended up doing 48 miles instead. No worries though because it's a RIDE not a RACE. It was fun going down some of the hills going 30 mph, but it wasn't as much fun going up the hills going 7 mph. Kim is an excellent cyclist and a great hill climber so this ride was right up her alley, I on the other hand have less skills, but really enjoy the challenge. I averaged 16 mph throughout the 48 mile ride....not to bad considering the hills!! After the ride and a quick stretch we went to get pizza (YUM), and wine as well. It was a truly wonderful morning through afternoon.





Sunday was the Race of Grace 5K at 4 pm in downtown Raleigh. I went again with my friend Kim and her Mom. We had a great time, even though it was toasty out. It had been threatening rain all day so I wore my long sleeve high viz yellow shirt. It was a nice little route. I had a really nice time. There were some kids that were running in and out of where I was running. They'd walk and then run like crazy and then walk again. Funny thing I heard while I was running along....after I passed a couple of ladies and mentioned that I would love to run like the little girl who went buzzing by. After I passed the ladies I heard one of them say, that she was amazed that I could run like I run since I was so big. Funny thing is that I am big...but not that big! HA!! It makes me laugh.

It was a "Graceful" weekend!*smiles*

My Friend gave me a Gift!

For awhile now I've noticed my "cool" friends have had these "safety" bracelets on. I think they are AWESOME! The cool thing about them is that they have vital information that is attached to you while you ride, run, or even swim. The Road ID is easy to wear and very visible. Of course I love it too because it's PURPLE!! It comes in many other colors if purple isn't your thing like it is mine. Check out the website to see what other products are available as well. So my friend surprised me with a Road ID, and I am so happy happy happy to have this cool safety bracelet!

http://www.roadid.com/Common/Catalog.aspx?C=RoadID#5

What a Run can do?

I feel like I was meant to go for a run today....I guess I was.

Today I wanted to go for a 40 minute run through the neighborhood. It's Wednesday and I didn't get called in for a job (for those of you who don't know I work on Tuesdays and Thursdays and do temp work or volunteer on the other day), so I decided to go for a 40 minute run through the neighborhood. Scout (my 7 year old Chocolate Lab) gave me the puppy eyes and "asked" if he could come along. Sure I thought, it's cool enough out I think Scout can handle this run. Off we go through my "normal" route around the hood, knowing that I would add on a little at the end (normal run is a 30 min run). We'll just say my neighborhood isn't flat, and I have the elevation levels from my new running app to prove it. There is one section through the neighborhood that I have to pull Scout through....and I do until I he calms down, it's funny because it's the Estate Section. After we got through 30 minutes of the run Scout had slowed down a lot and his tongue was hanging out, ohh and those eyes were saying: "Please stop Mommy....PLLLLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEEE!". So I decided to give up my 40 minute run and be happy with just 30 mintues. We ended up near some of the green spaces in the neighborhood. So I let Scout roam around (still on his leash) the green area. I kept hearing this weird sound....at first I thought it was someone "yelling" for help, so I looked down the street where the sound was coming from, but I didn't see anything. Then it sounded like a strange cat "meow". It was a sporadic "MEOW" "MEOW" "MEOW". I couldn't see a cat, dog, person...anything so I figured that the animal was in someone's backyard. Scout and I started to walk home when another lady with her dog came walking up the street so we split the road. Once we both (the other lady and myself) got to the cross street the "Meowing" came in earnest. We looked down that street and saw a little old lady who had fallen and couldn't get up. She was obscured to me when I was hearing her at first because she had a for sale sign in her front yard. I tied Scout up to a tree and the other lady took her dog back home (she lived around the corner) and we ended up fireman carrying her into her house and she called her son to come take care of her. After getting her a bottle of water from the fridge, the phone and some paper and pen we (the other dog lady and I) ended up leaving her with her next door neighbor. So I guess it was a good thing that Scout only wanted to do a 30 minute run today. I think he saved her day.

2010 Cycle NC Spring Ride, in Edenton, NC

What a GREAT weekend of Riding and Friends! I love being able to get out on my bike and just enjoy the day, I love it more when I am surrounded by others who enjoy the same thing.

The original plan was to drive to Edenton on Thursday night after work, pitch our tents and get a good nights sleep and do a 50-ish mile ride when we got up. After considering the time frame of when we would get to Edenton we decided to wait to leave on Friday morning and get to Edenton in time to set up, eat lunch, and do a shorter ride. Well, I'm glad the original plan didn't work out for us because Thursday night in Edenton was a doozy. Apparently it rained cats and dogs all night long (as it did here in Raleigh) and on top of that a small tornado popped out and had a little fun at the camp site. I didn't hear that anyone was hurt, thank goodness, but I did hear some stories. One tent flew 6 blocks away, a tree landed on a tent with someone in it (but not on the person), a chimney fell off the Barker House (one of the places hosting our big dinner Saturday night), so needless to say there was a lot of noise and wetness on Thursday night.

When we arrived on Friday the weather was still iffy. People were in pretty good spirits, but there were lots of puddles to go around to find a good spot to pitch the tents. Kim, Bob, and I drove down together. Kim and I have been friends and training partners for awhile and we did the Spring ride last year together. Bob is Kim's 71 year old neighbor who (when the weather is good) does a weekly 45 mile ride with Kim, along with other rides throughout the week. Ohh the joys of being retired. Kim and I were sharing a tent, and in fact she had pretty much lent me most of the camping stuff I have (minus the camp mat that I wrote about in the last post). We found our "ideal" camp area (anyway from the main group but not to far away from the showers and toilets), and set up 3 tents (one for Kim and I, Bob's tent, and one for Ruth and Jake), we didn't have Janet and Jason's tent but we held a spot for them with our camp chairs. After getting all of our stuff together we changed into cycling gear got our bikes together and went out in search of lunch. A very nice woman from Edenton suggested our lunch location (The Edenton Bay Oyster Bar) and told us how to get there on our bikes. Off we went with happy thoughts of a good lunch to fuel our ride. Ahhh but on our short little jaunt to the restaurant it decided to down pour on us. So we ended up soaked to the bone and barely able to see the sign to the restaurant, but we made it there. They welcomed us in and gave us a warm batch of hush puppies (YUMMY), because the felt so bad for us. While eating the sun came out and it looked like the day was going to turn out alright after all.



After our satisfying lunch we went out and did a 10 mile ride to test out the weather, and after the 10 mile route we did a 23 mile route and it was beautiful. We passed by the sound, the marshy trees, beautiful fields, and a few cows. There was a little bit of wind but it didn't seem to bad. There is a paper mill in a near by town so there were a few big trucks coming by and the only scary moment of the "ride" on Friday was when we were waiting to cross over a street a big truck came hauling down the street we were waiting to cross and nearly knocked us over as we were standing with our feet on the ground. When we got back to the camp site, Ruth and Jake had arrived and we all set out to get dinner (after our shower). We ended up at Watermans and just in time, got a table right away and had a good dinner. Kim and I stayed up and sampled some of the beer out of the canoe at the Trading Company's back patio, while waiting for Janet and Jason to arrive. They made it there at about 9:45 and we held lights up while they set up their tent. It was a cold night and I was really glad I brought my snuggie, cause it kept me nice and cozy through the night.


Saturday was an Amazing Day. Woke up a little cold still, but knew it was going to warm up to a comfortable temperature. Went in search of some Hot Chocolate (it was cold and I don't drink coffee). The first place we went to turned out to be a dud, it was sad because we waiting to see if they had hot chocolate, then ordered it 3 times and finally gave up as it seemed they were never going to actually make it. We ended up going across the street to the coffee house (DUH) and they were AWESOME!! They had their act together and Kim and I were sipping some tasty hot chocolate in no time. Back to the camp site we went and had our breakfast of bagels and peanut butter and Kim had her orange. Into our cycling gear we got and decisions were made about mileage. The Girls (Ruth, Kim, Janet and I) had been out on our bikes a few more times then the guys (Bob, Jake, and Jason). So the Girls decided on the 53 mile route while the Boys decided on a 35 mile route. Kim, Janet, and I were wearing our cereal jerseys so our tradition of being the "Cereal Killers" could continue, and Ruth wore her Oscar the Grouch Jersey. We had a fun time, but the wind was brutal and it felt like it followed us around to taunt us at every turn changing direction just so it could be a headwind. Needless to say our 53 mile bike ride felt like it was 153 mile bike ride. I don't know if there were any truly easy spots on the ride (because of the wind).

At the first rest stop we reloaded with a few M&M cookies, empty out what needed to go out in the porta-johns, and got our picture taken from a guy who works for Kellogg's. Our cereal jerseys are all Kellogg's- Frosted Flakes (Kim), Fruit Loops (Janet), Corn Pops (me), and Stephanie who wasn't here on this trip has the Rice Krispie Jersey. At the second rest stop they had COKE and I was HAPPY! They also had PB&J sandwiches, bananas, trail mix, cookies, and a raffle for free beer. I am very lucky to be able to ride with some of my very speedy friends and some day I will be able to keep up with them. Towards the end of the ride the wind started to die down, but of course by then I was spent and Janet was hurting a little. Kim was happy, but Kim is ALWAYS HAPPY. Ruth who pulled us a good bit of the way decided to put her legs to use and ride the last 5-7 miles going 20mph.....she is a ROCK STAR!! I was never so happy to see our shower truck! Lunch was found after we took a shower and a some time to stretch. Saturday night was the free dinner that came with our weekend, but after our late lunch I was having a hard time finding room to eat anything. I did however find room for the free beer. The night ended again with a bunch of us at the back patio of the Trading Company.



Sunday dawned after a very windy night....or at least it sounded like it in the tent. We reevaluated how we felt and some of us went out for the 23 mile ride. We made Jason lead because we figured his legs were in the best shape of all of us. It was a beautiful ride (in fact it was the same ride as I did on Friday), with great friends. Jason and Ruth even ended up switching up bikes so Jason could see what a Tri bike feels like. I'm not sure he fully understood the awesomeness of Ruth's bike. I mean I haven't even ridden Ruth's bike. In fact I am scared to ride Ruth's bike (I don't want to be the one to fall and scratch her baby). After the ride we took our showers, packed up our camp sites and got all the cars packed up for the ride home. Ruth and Jake said goodbye and headed back to Raleigh, while the rest of decided to find some Sunday Brunch. Yummy food was found again, and after brunch we said bye to Janet and Jason and Kim drove us back to Raleigh.

I had wonderful time hanging out with my bicycle friends this weekend. I love to be on my bike, outside, enjoying my surroundings. Maybe next year more of you....will join me!!

Getting Ready for Cycle NC Spring Ride....

Whew....it's been a little crazy around here. Lot's of fun stuff happening, and lot's of Yellow Pollen falling from our Carolina Pine Trees. Allergy Season is HERE!!

I've packed up all my stuff (I think) for the drive down to Edenton, NC, just waiting for my ride (my friend Kim is picking me up along with Bob her neighbor and cycling friend - he's only 71 years old and still kickin'!). I realized that I hadn't blogged about this yet so here it goes.

Cycle NC has two rides a Spring Ride held this weekend that is a weekend of riding from one location (that changes every year), usually near the coast (flat). They also have a Fall Ride that goes from the Mountains to the Coast and is a week long. On the Fall Ride you go from point to point camp and hang out. On the Spring Ride you set up camp once and have different routes you can to every day. They have routes from 5 miles - 100 miles. The routes they have available for the day have rest stops on them with food (trail mix, fruit, pb&j, etc) and drinks (water and sports drink). It's not a race, and no one gets a medal for coming back the quickest....and there is no official start time. Ahhhhh, so nice.

I debated on which bike I was going to take this weekend. I was 3 bikes now, a mountain bike (that wasn't in contention for doing a lot of riding), my Trek Pilot Road Bike, and my new Kuota K-Factor Tri Bike. Since I haven't been riding my road bike lately and have been focusing on my Tri bike I decided that is what I'm taking this weekend. Only problem with the Tri bike is that I haven't changed out the bar tape (The colored tape that is around the handle-bars) to my normal cushy stuff. And the reason I need such cushy bar tape is that I don't usually ride with gloves on (except in the winter when it's cold) because I have yet to find a pair of cycling gloves that don't make my hands go numb. Not a good thing to have numb hands on the bike. So pretty new white bike is coming with me this weekend.

This is a Camping Trip. Camping is not my forte. However I did go out and buy a sleep mat for this trip. I'm borrowing everything else....still. It depends on how many times I end of using stuff as to whether I'm going to go buy more "camp" stuff. So I debated on this sleep mat. Last year my friend Kim let me borrow one of her sleep mats, in fact she let me borrow her newest and most comfy sleep mat. I felt bad afterwards because I didn't fully enjoy the plush of her sleep mat and didn't truly enjoy the sleeping experience. So when I went to REI (with my 20% off coupon and $18 dividend + a gift card from Christmas) I thought I wanted to get the Mac-Daddy of camp mats (which is about $200), then I thought....since I didn't really enjoy the plushness of my friends camp mat, I should just get a "normal" camp mat and live through the experience. So I just got the 1.75 REI Trekker Mat, instead of the Thermarest Dream Time Mat. I'll have an update later on how the sleep was.

Tempetures have cooled off after last nights thunderstorms. Making this weekend seem like it will be more tolerable for being outside. I woke up to it being in the low 50's, which is refreshing after that last week I think our lowest low before this was 68, yes I said that was our LOW! Looks like we'll have mid to upper 60's during the day for riding with Sunny Skies, and the lows will be mid 40's. It's going to be GREAT!!

Well....I better get the last of my stuff together and have it ready by the door. My ride (Kim and Bob) will be here soon. I'll post pictures afterwards and maybe some of you will join me next year??