The Glory of the Cottonwoods : Beauty Unsurpassed

There are just some days that nothing will soothe you except  nature.  And so , on the day after Cece had to orchestrate the comings and goings of her staff and medically fragile clients during a multi-hour SWAT team stand off, Cece took the afternoon off to find solace...and....she knew what would soothe her.

On her way to work,  she saw the glistening cottonwoods along the Bosque as she crossed the Montano Bridge.  She saw the glimmer of leaves and thought they resembled gold coins flickering in the sun.  She has been riding on her trainer indoors lately or not riding along the Bosque...and she thought that morning, on her drive in,  that she should see the beauty along the way with her own eyes  She did not want to miss the color before it darkened.. So off she went to ride a 22 mile loop.

As she rode along, even when this guy passed her, she did not care.  She was soaking in the beauty.  It was like a trip down memory lane.  She has been riding her beloved bosque for many years now and she rides it  all year round.  She sees the seasons change and she feels like she knows every inch of this land....every turn, every tree...she is able to notice the small changes too.  When she met Kind Daniel of the Open Space he showed her which tree to watch for the eagle when it gets a bit cooler and  he showed her a picture that he took of it last year.

Today, she was remembering....

She remembered a berry fight she had with her friend Gilbert as he took her riding off road.  They shot the berries  at each other like kids....and rides with college kids and men in the army who taught her to go fast on the corners, rides with the team along this path to get to another path toward a hellish climb, then socializing with friends as we rode....meeting new friends...surprising friends along the way.....today it seemed sentimental to her as she remembered her friend Tom and how he taught her, years ago,  to shift and how he made her laugh.....and how none of them could hear....

The memories were as alive as the fluttering of all the leaves...and the memories spoke to Cece.  The old trees were speaking to her and reminding her to have gratitude for all the paths she has ridden down.

You never know where they will take you....

First Laugh on a Monday? 7:31 am

Add sweat and suffering to this laughter!

Riding the drops and grinding through a grueling workout with...you guessed it...Troy Jacobson.  Sweat is pooling and puddling on my glasses.  Drip, drip drip I pushed through interval sets going harder,  softer, slower and faster...with a 15 second break....up and down the gears and chain rings I went pooling sweat for over an hour.  Then all of a sudden the sets were over and we got a break.  "Guess what?" Troy said, "This time the sets will be similar except you will get a little more rest....meaning 20 seconds instead of 15 seconds." That is when  I bust out laughing! 

Wild Women and Water! What Fun!

Put a bunch of wild women with a lot of water and what do you get?  Hmm.....Let me see.

 It was a beautiful and warm day in the North Valley of Albuquerque.  The sun was out...there was no wind....it was a perfect day to......

Wash our bikes!  Yes, that is right!  Women Riding Well, the cycling club,  had a bike washing party at one of the member's homes in the North Valley.  It is so much more fun to get wet and wash your bike with friends!  Cece's bike, Little Red,  was absolutely filthy. She was sure she would get the prize for the most filthy bike!   To show you just how filthy it was,  she embarrassingly presents this photo.  Too many rides after the monsoon rains.  Dirty!  Dirty! 

It was a big job to clean her up real pretty!  At first when she began, Cece could not really see the dirt, but then she met  Diane...who became her assistant...well really she was the bike boss...as Cece cleaned the drive train, Diane "passed" her and gave her the green light to move on to the next part of the bike.  These women take cleaning a bike VERY seriously.

She looks nice, but she can spot dirt a mile away!  LOL!  Actually, she taught Cece how to see dirt!

A fun time was had by all and  our bikes have passed the Margie, Diane and Debbie "White Glove" test.  Here is a pic of Debbie:

That is all she would allow!

The Virtual Boyfriend

Every woman should have at least one virtual boyfriend.  Cece has several and they really come in handy!    She has the men at her bike shop...and of course...she has Troy Jacobson!  And she called on Troy today to fill a void!

Cece has spent most of the week at the ER with her client. She had to hop out of bed at 7am and go to the ER and finally hours later, she dragged home.  She had intended to cycle, but it was raining...and thus went her week.  Lots of stress and little ability to exercise.

So finally, today,  she called upon her virtual man...Troy.  Before she could do so though,. she had to put in a different rear sprocket so her bike would fit on her trainer....and thus she began her suffer fest!

 It was oddly comforting to feel the sweat begin to drip drip drip down her face and puddle up her glasses....to begin to feel her jersey get cool and wet and to hear the incessant clapping of her virtual man  shouting, "push, push push."

As a curse  escaped her lips,  she did not have to worry about insulting her virtual man...see...everyone should have a virtual boyfriend...or two!

Chase the Balloons Ride: October 1, 2011

The ride started early on Saturday morning at 7am.  This was the opening day of Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque.  The ride promised many sightings of balloons and many opportunities for photo ops.  Actually they say this is the most photographed yearly event in the world!  The weather was a bit brisk, but comfortable with little wind!  Ideal weather! 

There was a rolling start ...and they were off!

The sun was just coming up and there was a beautiful silhouette over the river with the mountains as backdrop.

As it got lighter, we got a better view.

 A fun ride in the beauty of New Mexico!

"Can You See Us Now?"

High Desert Yoga and The Duke City Wheelmen sponsored the annual "Can You See US now?" ride in honor of cyclists who were killed by cars. Since they have been keeping track, 114 cyclists have been killed in New Mexico alone!  There are many Ghost Bikes around town to honor these fallen cyclists.

Each cyclist was given a number for their back and on that number was the name of one of the cyclists who had been killed by an automobile.  This is Cece's number and her name.

 A crowd of over  600 cyclists gathered at High Desert Yoga to register and organize for the ride.  While  waiting, Cece met a man named Abel who had a prosthetic leg.  She watched him with interest as he put his  cycling leg on and as he spoke to  a man about how his bike was specially outfitted for the leg.  Cece knew that if she did not go over and talk to him, she would regret it later, so over she went.  It turned out that Able is a wounded warrior and cycles with a team called "Amputees Across America" that is sponsored by Health South.  They cycle across America doing various rides and bring attention to the fact that you can still be active and healthy and happy even if you have lost a leg with the help of a prosthesis.  Abel told Cece that their goal is to get 2 more amputees on the team each year.

After an evening full of surprises and a grueling yoga class that morning at High Desert, Cece should have been soaking in a hot tub, but she was happily at this ride and looking forward to riding with 600+ cyclists down Rt 66 in Albuquerque.

The police support was outstanding!  Yesterday a friend told Cece that the Duke City Wheelmen had requested 40 officers and Cece bets that there were probably that many cops present...on motorcycles, along the way and directing traffic to keep the cyclist safe.  Thank you APD!

And...with much fanfare and flourish....we were off.  The police guided us down Central Avenue (Rt. 66) and there were many spectators along the way clapping and cheering us on. We arrived at Tiguex Park without incident and proceeded to have a peaceful gathering that got quite emotional as the names of those killed were read one by one.  There was  a man who was dressed in white with a white face painted on... that symbolized the Ghost Bike and the cyclists who had been killed.  He read the names.

This ride was meant to call attention to the fact that cyclists share the road with vehicles.  The show of numbers and the phrase "Can you See US Now"  was a powerful reminder of this fact and also that so many have died as a result of not being seen.  Let us hope that not one more cyclist is killed by a vehicle.

On Call and On the Bike!

The Two Italians!

The last time Cece was on call it was a 5 day Labor Day Weekend and she got a resentment.  The crises kept coming and she was stuck indoors or in her gym the whole 5 days. She did not dare to venture forth on her bike because every other moment she had a crisis to deal with. She could not carry the on call book and a notebook and schedules etc.  But,  she resolved that the next on call,  things would be different! 

This weekend  came all too quickly, but Cece still had had time to figure out her plan. Friday early morning she rode.  Then she waited to see how things would go Friday night and Saturday.  She watched the weather and plotted her strategy!  Saturday was a disaster!  She had to fire someone and there was police involvement.  The Verizon phone network was down because they were upgrading (?) to 4G and in New Mexico they had failed.  Each call was either lost, dropped or she could not hear the other person.  Cece was stressed out.

She determined that she would go to a party  of cycling friends that evening and she did that, but her friends saw that she had developed this strange appendage hanging out of  her ear...oh yeah...it was the phone. In and out of the house she went...looking toward the sky trying to get better coverage...standing in the middle of the street trying to avoid the coverage of the ancient cottonwoods lining the North Valley along the Rio Grande.

No exercise,.  No freedom!  URGH.  Cece was just about growling!  But she was developing her plan.  Come Sunday morning she planned that if she did not get any calls by 9am and things were calm, she would be off on her bike!  She checked the Weather Underground 

perfect weather,,little wind.  Her plan was forming.  She called the other on call....across the city and told him she was going out on her bike.  Cece is in charge of the Westside of the city and her friend the east.  She checked in to make sure all was calm on his end too. It was.

She looked in her closet for a jersey that had very deep back pockets and found a hot pink jersey by Terry with flames on the sleeves...perfect.  She took the volume of schedules and things she would need if she got a phone call and rolled them up in a tight roll and taped the edges.  That went into a back pocket along with a note pad and pen.  The phone went into the bento box and she was off...finding matching  pink watermelon socks to complete her pinkness on her way out the door!

She wanted to climb some hills today and that necessitated venturing out a bit from the city...but not too far that she could not get back quickly if she got an emergency call!.  Off she went. Climb she did.

On the way back a little skinny girl passed her and that pissed Cece off.  It was on.  She put on the speed and caught that girl and they battled all the way back to where they both had inadvertently started from.  A nice challenge for 2 women who were not at all competitive!  LOL.

As Cece pulled into the parking lot and dismounted her bike, her phone rang. She answered with a breathless smile...what good timing!  She was back to work, but this time without a resentment!