Twenty miles and a bee sting!

I am trying so hard to get to 400 miles by July 1st. Today I decided to start at Harvard road and head to Argonne.It is about twenty miles round trip and would put me at 370. I did it!

What another glorious day. I wished I had video camera on my helmet. I keep thinking this trail cannot get more beautiful and then it does. More flowers blooming . Don't get me started on the birds. The river is running so fast and hard it takes your breathe away . The mock orange are blooming and then the smell of the dusty pine trees and we are talking about a heady experience. Everyone of my senses are alive as I ride.

When I got to Mirabeau I called my sister Lizzie to see if she and her husband were going to ride today and maybe we could meet. She had just got back from Downtown Spokane watching a Hoopfest Game you know the largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the world. She tells me about the parking and the craziness of it all and then says they will meet me at Mirabeau on my way back. The other direction is Couerd'alene and Post Falls and a huge triathlon Ironman.

Here I am in the middle surrounded by beauty and peace. I feel blessed today!

I did get stung by a bee twice but sister was there with her handy bee sting kit. yea sister and brother in law!

Share the road or hey how about the trail!

Dear Super athletic teenage girls,
I was enjoying one of those bucolic rides on the Centennial Trail yesterday. Perfect temperature, everything alive and blooming and then I got to the other side of Sullivan by the mall. I looked ahead of me this is what I saw: Going the same direction as myself a young family walking, coming towards me an elderly couple and then folks on a bike then then you three. I slowed down and looked and got off to the side. Everyone pretty much got out of your way because they had no choice as you barreled down the center of the trail as though you owned it and the rest of us needed to just get the hell out of your way and god forbid you lose your pace.
I admire and am a little bit jealous of your youth and athleticism .But here's the deal someday you have to go out into the world and paying attention to other humans on this planet will be part of what you need to survive. So next time you are busy challenging your body on a rigorous run feel free to notice the river, the flowers, the birds the squirrels, and oh yea the fellow travelers on this planet. oh and though I don't recommend this politically I do when I am driving, walking running, biking swimming, and skiing STAY TO THE *^(*& RIGHT SIDE.
Sincerely ,
Ms Crabby Pants

Summer time

So it has been hit and miss as far as the riding goes. However I am now forced to ride on streets and it is not fun. Two rides ago I left the house so flustered I forgot my helmet and gloves. When I got to Barker I thought huh I am going to try out this new bridge. Well long story short instead of going to Wellesley I got to Trent. Now I could have crossed over two lanes of traffic going 50 miles an hour and gone up the ramp to Wellesley but that seemed nuts so instead I did the nuttier thing and rode on Trent until Harvard Road. I guess if you don't have your helmet on you are unable to make good decisions. I made it but next time if there is a next time I will ride back to Barker.



The weather has been so crappy that I have not done much riding. My sister and I went on the Fish Lake trail. That put me at 330 miles. Today I rode from Barker rode to Sullivan, that was another 10 miles. So I am at 340. If I get my butt out of bed tomorrow I can get in another 10ish:)So my goal is to be at 400 by July 1st.

275! yes

So yesterday I did a short ride on the STREET near where I live (Wellesley). With three road construction projects and the loss of our bridge I have to find a new route to the trail. hmm so trying to be positive about this whole crappy road construction I tried out the STREET. The shoulders are barely there and there was not a lot of traffic, but I was scared. I am a terrible driver so I don't have very high expectations for other folks, that " Share the road thing " isn't all the popular out here. I will need to branch out and find new rides which is a good thing. There that was positive.
Today I added 15 miles and it felt glorious! The next two days are nuts, but who knows by Monday I will have made it to 300.

the Good the Bad and the Ugly

So since my last post I have finally hit 250 miles. The first and second weeks in May were warm and sunny.
So I got a bunch of rides in including one with my sister. How delightful to ride along the trail and chat with my sweet sister and take in the beauty of the Spokane River.
Then the third week of May reared it's nasty windy cold head,mother nature can be such a b*&^& well you get the idea. Not only did I not ride my bike but the lovely tomatoes I planted the weekend before froze.
Today is Sunday and I was heading out the door to go pick out new plants ( I was going to give up but have changed my mind I will have fresh tomatoes ..dammit) the sky had cleared and I thought I can shop anytime get on the bike and go. Into the nasty wind I rode and I am glad I did. It was tough going and a little easier coming back. Well worth it to be at 250 miles. Oh and you should see my new tomato plants they are tucked upstairs in my house where they will stay until there are no more frosts. They can go out during the day if it is not windy!
I on the other hand need to take every opportunity to get going on the bike! So I will be going out in the wind, guess I am not as fragile as I thought.

210

So it has been a while since I have ridden. April was just horrid weather rainy and super windy.
But May has been lovely, well the last couple of days. I am not any where near my goal. This summer I will have to ride every day if I want to get to 1000 miles. Yesterday was the 200th mile and that was very cool. Today I did another 10 miles. Biking on a full stomach is not the best plan. But dinner smelled too yummy to wait: delay of gratification jeez. Still the ride was almost perfect the river is alive with all the kinds of critters and the mock orange blossoms smell heady.
It is suppose to be nice the next few days so hopefully by Monday I will be at 250. One quarter of the way to 1000. Hope I can do a fun different ride this weekend.

Riding bikes in Japan!

So I rode about another maybe mile along the river in Kanazawa in March. So March gets one more pitifiul mile:) On April 1st... no fooling I rode about 8 miles from Matt my son's apartment to downtown Kanazawa. OMG it was on a cruiser bike and as you know I do not usually ride on streets here in Spokane because they are too busy and dangerous. Well picture riding bikes in downtown Seattle and that is what it was like. The streets were all either alley size or intersections that had 12 lanes. Still it was fun. Then Matt said oh by the way I have no brakes. Really... I just could not believe it! Everybody and their brother rides bikes here and in fact bikes are registered just like cars. We made it back to his and his finace's apartment in one piece so even though it was not a very long ride it was pretty exciting just dodging people and cars. Now about the date. It was the 1st in Kanazawa but the 31st in America so technically I could count it for March but since the ride was in Kanazawa I'm going with April. So now I am at 176 miles so far this year. yea! Now I can say I have ridden a bike in Japan which is cool.