This is for all of you out there that keep pestering me to post something new. I'm telling you, my life just isn't that interesting lately. We've been doing a lot of house projects - we're hoping to finally move into our master bedroom within the next few weeks which is exciting for us, but not all that exciting to read about. But I will have some before and after pictures, so I know you will all be on the edge of your seats until then. We're also getting some roof work done this week, and some new carpet soon. And I'm still hoping to plant some perennials yet this month...exciting stuff. The for-real excitement we've had is the news that Mikey and Renee got engaged!
I did my first cross ride of the season a few weeks ago with Casey, Pete and
Donimator...and I took at least
one photo. Donimator tried to get me to drive the Hummer, but I refused, so he decided he should drive something a
little less obnoxious. While Pete and Don were having their annual date at Chequamegon last weekend, I spent the morning
drinking coffees with the kids then went on an "easy spin" (not my words) ride with Dale,
PattyCakes, and Casey. It was 35 degrees when I got up, so I had to dig out some winter riding gear which was no fun for a ride in September. Dale took us on roads that I have never even been on...I was so lost, and it was so hilly. In fact, it may have been the hilliest ride I've done all year. We had a quick stop at
318 in Excelsior which has the best and most bike-friendly staff in the Twin Cities, along with some great coffee and food. I was also using this ride to try out a new pedal system and new shoes and insoles, so I spent a lot of time trying to clip in and catch up after every stop sign/stoplight. It ended up being a 3-hr ride, which was fine, but my little Cat 4 legs were hurting. And instead of taking a nap, I had to hit up the recovery drink, shower up, and throw on a dress and high heels for a big fancy fun party that night. We had a great time (and I had my share of gnt's), but we didn't end up getting to bed until about 3 am...not good for people our age. I'm still sleepy. But Margot convinced me to meet her for some cross practice tonight which was really good because my mounts and dismounts are a bit rusty. I haven't done any cross races in a few years, but since I'm not burned out on bike races just yet, I figure I'll do a handful of cross races...preferably the less difficult ones because I'm lazy like that. I've always sucked at cross, but I'm hoping to do a bit better this year, especially after the sweet skillz Margot taught me tonight.
I'm looking forward to a few non-eventful weekends at home, watching the marathon in a few weeks, getting the nephews for a full weekend, and spending a week in October as my company's site supervisor for our annual Habitat for Humanity work week - I finally got a good excuse to order up the lined Carhartt bib overalls (which they now make for women too) that I've always wanted. Now I just need a tool belt.
It's been a few years since I've done a cross race, so I figured I'd give the Hudson CX race a shot since Margot recently taught me some new dismounting skills. I thought the Hudson course was tough and I struggled, especially with the sand. I even had a half-ass crash on some easy part of the course, but I don't even remember what happened. I'm super bruised and sore today. I liked the part of the course that ran along/on the St. Croix river even though I didn't really have time to enjoy the scenery. After the race, everyone asked me if I had fun, and I wanted to answer "yes" (because those CX racers all love CX so much), but I just couldn't lie. I'm sure if I were better at CX I'd like it more, but for now, I just don't get excited about getting off of my bike during a race. In fact, I found myself thinking "I wish this were a crit" on multiple occasions. Props to my teammate AmyC who won the women's C division. I think I ended up 8th out of 10, but I'm not sure. Here's some video of my sub-par cross skills:
