Saturday, April 11, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
% Grade 0f Climb
Today I am giving myself flowers. I have lost 10.2 pounds of the 20 I am working on....my polka dot dress is in sight and more lean hill climbing is a probability in the near future!
I am working on hill climbing and as you can tell from the music, I would much rather fly over them than cycle over them...but the reality is that I must cycle over them.
So, every Saturday and then once more per week, I climb hills. I do not like it, but I do it. I think of my mom, I wear her necklace and I think... what I am going through panting and heaving is nothing compared to what she went through for 17 years with 4 different types of cancers. So, I am giving her flowers too. And so it goes. I start climbing and then I start crying thinking and grieving. This is how it goes.I bring my mom with me on every ride. The anniversary of her passing is coming up and I will be on my bike that very day riding 85 miles by then....and crying up the hills, knowing that perhaps one day a cure will be found for these horrible cancers.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
1253 Feet of Climbing...Oh My
What a Day! 1253 feet of climbing! But I made it and we all made it so that is fantastic! Going up hill, luckily, we had a tail wind! 
We climbed over 11 miles up, up and away! The weather though was very cold and blustery! On the way downhill we had a head wind and I had all I could do to keep my shoulders centered and supporting me on the bike. All that climbing and then all that wind to fight, really exhausted me and by the time we reached Tramway and had to climb back up to Montgomery, I had about exhausted my shoulder strength! I will talk to my PT about this on Tuesday when I see her again!
As you can see from the pics below, we always have fun!
We climbed over 11 miles up, up and away! The weather though was very cold and blustery! On the way downhill we had a head wind and I had all I could do to keep my shoulders centered and supporting me on the bike. All that climbing and then all that wind to fight, really exhausted me and by the time we reached Tramway and had to climb back up to Montgomery, I had about exhausted my shoulder strength! I will talk to my PT about this on Tuesday when I see her again! As you can see from the pics below, we always have fun!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Dodging Tumbleweeds with Brother Wind
Again no pics! With heavy gloves and the wind as it is, I am unable to photograph anything! I am just holding on for dear life!
Saturday, we had about 42 degree weather and increasing winds. The winds were supposed to be 25 mph by 11am. As a result, we changed our ride destination and ended up riding along the Bosque Path. My group rode 37 miles.
With all that strong wind,we were dodging tumbleweeds from one side of the path to the other. For this NYer, tumbleweeds are strange things. I remember driving in Kansas after Thanksgiving and watching the tumbleweeds gather on the shoulder of the road as if hunkered down in a bunker...only to fly out and across the highway at the next gust of wind. They looked like aliens invading...an army of tumbleweeds. The bike ride Sat. was no where near this bad, but it brought to mind my Kansas adventure into the land of the gremlin invasion! LOL
I love the Bosque and I love riding along it...seeing familiar land and water and wildlife...watching the seasons change as if greeting a new friend.
Monday, March 2, 2009
20 mph Winds with wind chill at 24 degrees
WHY DO I RIDE?
No pics from this ride! I had all I could manage to stay on my bike at times! We had strong head winds and then side winds that were difficult to manage...but I remembered the challenges that Lance had in the beginning of the Tour of California...and that made my suffering seem like nothing!
WHY DO I RIDE?
I was wondering if my runny nose was going to freeze on my face...but it froze on my wind jacket instead! My fingers were numb as were many other peoples...and worse than mine. I am taking every remedy I can think of to avoid getting sick on these early morning and cold "not for the faint of heart" rides...taking my inhalers....and I am a girl...after all.... who does not like the cold....that's why I moved here from NY after all!
WHY AM I RIDING in the winter with this frigid wind? The answer was obvious to me when we were given a photo and ribbon of Dennis a cherished supporter of TNT and a person with blood cancer who passed away a few weeks ago. As I received his pic and put it on my sleeve so I could see it and remember him, I choked up for a moment and tears came into my eyes...I did not know Dennis but he symbolizes WHY we are riding.....for a greater purpose than our own.....to find a cure for blood cancer so that NOT ONE MORE person will have to pass away.
No pics from this ride! I had all I could manage to stay on my bike at times! We had strong head winds and then side winds that were difficult to manage...but I remembered the challenges that Lance had in the beginning of the Tour of California...and that made my suffering seem like nothing!
WHY DO I RIDE?
I was wondering if my runny nose was going to freeze on my face...but it froze on my wind jacket instead! My fingers were numb as were many other peoples...and worse than mine. I am taking every remedy I can think of to avoid getting sick on these early morning and cold "not for the faint of heart" rides...taking my inhalers....and I am a girl...after all.... who does not like the cold....that's why I moved here from NY after all!
WHY AM I RIDING in the winter with this frigid wind? The answer was obvious to me when we were given a photo and ribbon of Dennis a cherished supporter of TNT and a person with blood cancer who passed away a few weeks ago. As I received his pic and put it on my sleeve so I could see it and remember him, I choked up for a moment and tears came into my eyes...I did not know Dennis but he symbolizes WHY we are riding.....for a greater purpose than our own.....to find a cure for blood cancer so that NOT ONE MORE person will have to pass away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
