It’s funny because a bike seat is also called a saddle 🙂
I have biked 3 times in the last 3 weeks but today I made a commitment to get back on my regular schedule. Mostly because I realized how out of shape I felt riding today but also because I remember how much I like it.
I have lots of excuses on why I haven’t been out and some of them may even be valid. But I have signed up for my Apple Cider Century ride at the end of September and am planning to do 50 miles so no more excuses. I want that ride to be fun and enjoyable, not a death march.
Went farther south then I have been before and discovered the rt 137 underpass. It was deliciously close to a Starbucks so I am excited for my next longer ride to take a break in the middle!!
On the way back I spotted this log with 3 little flowers growing out of it. It almost looks man made but it was definitely of the path so I think it’s natural. Either way it made me smile.
Today I wanted to do a 6 mile loop but was getting bored of my north route so decided to go south. Â There isn’t a good turn around south though so I thought I would just go for a bit then double back.
At about the turn around point I saw a well worn trail heading off into the woods. Â I had been down there once before with Brent and thought it lead to a park.
Well it kinda does but its a deserted park and part of a Serbian church in the area (I found this out later by using google maps). Everything is a run down and my active imagination was making it a bit more spooky then it probably was.
Received a moving soliloquy from Brent today that motivated me to ride even though my legs were jelly from yesterday. It was worth it, good riding weather, a dash of wildlife, and a race with a train.
Brent racing a train
Here is a tiny toad. After snapping his image for my pokedex, I shooed him off into the grass.
These are mushrooms that when I first ride by I thought might be morels. On the way back I stopped to inspect closer and could clearly see they were not. Ahh dissapointment.
South is still flooded but the north is open although the wildlife doesn’t seem to know yet. I saw a deer happily munching on leaves and when she didn’t run as I drove by I stopped to take a picture.
I also saw this feisty little crawdad crossing the path. After taking some pictures of his attack pose I found a dead branch with some leaves that he eagerly grabbed on to and then I moved him to the side of the path.
So it appears the rain on Saturday has once again flooded the trail. I rode my inner loop (flood to flood) then decided to cross the street and explore a bit.
I found a nice park with some paved walking trails before heading home. Best part was that doing it this way I missed all the hills in the neighborhood back to my house!
Also check out my awesome new accessory! Now I can bring juice with me on short rides when I can’t be bothered to fill my camelbak.
Its been mostly bike posts here lately so I thought I would switch it up a bit with some recent manicures I have done. I love love love my UV gel system that I got from Brianna – it has totally changed the way I paint my nails. I don’t think I ever posted about it – so here is the kit I received. It includes the UV curing light, prep/base/top/oil coats and polish remover. Bri was also kind enough to get me a starter set of neon polishes!
My first attempts at designs with this polish set weren’t very good. The polish is thicker so it takes a bit of getting used to. I do all my designs free-hand so far so it definitely takes some coordination. Here are two designs I did around Christmas:
The tree one turned out pretty great, the candy canes I obviously used too much polish. 🙂 After that I focused on single colors but really understanding how much you had to put on and how long to cure the polish. I also realized if you completely finished one hand before starting the other it was much easier. I don’t have any pictures of my solid colors but it did make me brave enough to try some designs again. Here are some recent designs I did as well – I am getting much better at the straight lines!
Recently I participlated in a Reddit Gift Exchange for nail polish and my secret santa got me a pretty great neurtal collection called “Oasis” from BMC. The colors are very pretty and much different than I would usually by myself (I am a sparkly glitter kinda person). The colors are really pretty though and I have already received many compliments on my purple paint:
I think I am going to use the peach color in the set to try this comic book nail design. (see example here) I will post and let you guys know how it turned out!
Had some errands to run today so the plan was to ride then stop at the Walgreens on the way home. Started drizzling a bit about halfway through then the thunder started.
Still not a big deal – I rode last Saturday in the rain no problem. Then it started raining a bit harder, I’m still okay since most of the trail is through a forest so I wasn’t getting that wet. But when I left the trail to go to the store it started coming down in sheets!
Just as I arrived The Other called to see my plan. He was also grumbling cause I left all the windows open. I told him to finish cleaning up and closing windows. I would do my shopping and hopefully the rain would end. It didn’t.
Eventually Jackie and Brent were alerted to my predicament. They came to keep me company and help in case my bike didn’t fit in my car. The Other came and got me though and my bike fit no problems.
Now its all sunny out so if I had just waited 2-3 hours I could have ridden home!!!
Honestly wasn’t planning on riding today but it was such a beautiful day I decided to go out. The Other cane with and we went to Independence Grove. We even rode around the park a little bit and rested for a while in the shade by the lake. A great ride!
It started “spitting” right as I left for my bike ride today but I really wanted to try and up my weekly mileage so I left anyway. Pretty consistently over the last couple weeks I have been doing 20-25 miles a week and thought it was high time I upped it to 30. It shouldn’t be hard to attain – a couple 5 mile rides during the week and a longer one on saturday.
However, as is always the case, I only got out twice this week so was down about 20 miles when I set out today. The first 3 miles are always the worst and I was thinking that I would only go 3 miles out today (10 round trip). But when I got to 3 miles I was feeling pretty good so I planned to go a bit farther even though the rain was coming down harder now. When I got to my normal 5 mile turn around point I will still feeling great and the rain hadn’t increased so I thought I would try to go for the full 20.
It was a trail I hadn’t been on for a while so I didn’t want to go too crazy lest I get lost. So when I made it to the next major road crossing and was still about 3 miles short I went with the “at least I tried” mindset. I also saw this women taking in the sites at the park in the drizzling rain and thought it was very pretty.
But on the way back I saw this sign for a canoe launch and was still feeling pretty energetic so I detoured. However it was pretty far to the trail end but a nice ride. Even with that I will still about 2 miles short when I was back at the turn off for my house. So now the rain is coming down harder but I really want to hit my goal so I went about 2 miles south down the trail. I figured this would surely be enough to get me a 20 mile ride today. It wasn’t. I ended back at my house rain-soaked and .05 miles short. Luckily my rides earlier in the week were enough to put me over my goal!
I love Kinder Happy Hippos. The chocolate ones are my favorite but I like the cream ones as well. They are hard to find in America. I buy them off amazon.com and they are usually shipped from the UK
Only about 2 inches long they are filled with such yummy goodness that they are 120 calories each. It’s worth it though, trust me.
I have been trying not to overdose on hippos and have been limiting myself to one after a bike ride as a quick carb boost (and much tastier then those gel boost packs they sell at the bike store).
Today though I was in a hippo mood so I had 3. Any guilt I might have had was forgotten upon eating that delicious happy hippo!
In the end I decided to go on a bike ride even though it was late at the very least to work off some energy. Then I realized that the calories I burned turned those 3 120 calorie hippos into 3 zero calorie hippos. I love a good loophole 🙂
Seriously though, if you see these in the store, try them. You can thank me later!!!
Had a horrible migraine yesterday which had me sleeping most of the day and nauseous the rest. It pretty much ruined my day because besides the obvious reasons it was a great day and I would have loved to go for a bike ride. Instead I sat home and ate junk food because it makes me feel mildly better while my eye are being pushed out of my head like Oberyn Martell vs The Mountain in the Game of Thrones TV Show.
Today I still had a migraine but – work – so I suffered on normal pain meds (not my super strong uber drugs) until about 5:30 PM when everything just hit me and I felt like I was gonna bust out crying. I can’t drive (migraines make me very dizzy – almost like being drunk or on drugs…so I have read in the medical journals) so I thought maybe a bike ride would help. Basically I just couldn’t stand sitting in the house anymore. I still wasn’t sure it was a good idea so I ran it past The Other (my voice of reason when I am freaking out) and he said that if I just stuck to the neighborhood it should be ok. Then at least if something happened there would be people around.
I was going to disobey him and hit the trails anyway but it was seriously hard to ride today so I thought better of it. I rode all around the neighborhood and hit about 5 miles. Looks like I only miseed 2 streets so that is pretty good considering my state of mind. There was this one hilarious moment when the voice updated on my app and to my migraine-addled brain it sounded like a demon! I freaked out a little and then started giggling so I must have looked like a fool while riding around.
When I got home I still had a headache but at least all my nervous energy was gone so mission accomplished. 🙂
Beautiful sunset ride today. Planned to only go about 5 miles out but was feeling great when I hit my mark.
I decided to go up to a turn around point which was about 1 mile farther. At the end, there was a fork where i usually go right. I went left instead and found a lake and picnic spot!
On the way back I stopped in the woods to take another picture of a sunset over the bridge and got crazy assualted by mosquitos so my picture didn’t tien or good. Maybe next time.
I felt my pace and cadence were good today. I’m getting stronger everyday!
The Other got an outdoor wok station. It is 168000 btus of woky goodness.
It cooks food so fast and since its outdoors there is less cleanup. (Kinda – still pans and dishes but no grease/oil splatter that typically happens during stir fry cooking)
The best food so far is the fried rice. It’s pretty much restaurant quality. I could eat it every night.
The Other tells me we are not limited to stir fry. We can make anything that requires a pan over heat! (That’s a huge list! ) I’m told we can even deep fry. I’m just not sure if I should request cream cheese rangoons or french fries first. Maybe deep fried oreos…
Finally the river is receding a bit so the underpasses were open and I was able to bike farther. I saw a deer today on the trail but I didn’t get a picture. It’s okay, I really don’t want a deer thinking I am threatening it.
Recent Comments