Giving and receiving

Hmmm... tomorrow is the first day of 30 days of biking. It might snow pretty much every day this week. The snow is a bit of a slap in the face after getting out for a ride with my teammate Matt on Saturday, and then a nice little ride to the falls with my cute nephews on Sunday.

After returning the boys (they slept over, and we went to the Angry Catfish to read over donuts and coffee this a.m.) to their parents, I went and donated blood.

And then I switched gears entirely and went to the Aveda school, where a nice student named Juan gave me a facial (Aveda facials apparently involve a foot massage, a scalp massage, and a lot of neck and shoulders, your face is just part of the picture). He told me he loves doing it because it makes people happy. I'm a sucker and fell for his “you should do this regularly" pitch, despite the fact that some things about it could've been better. I want Juan to succeed and have lots of practice before graduating. So, guess what I'm doing in early May?

Here's hoping for some long biking days before then, making my face feel as though it wants to be nurtured.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Everyone's got a story

People are really generous. I shouldn't be surprised, and I'm really not, because they support me in amazing ways in all aspects of my life, including with my bike rides. I guess I just am humbled to be a recipient of all of this generosity.

I know that almost everyone who donates for my rides knows someone with MS, and that's why many people donate. A lot of people have told me that they appreciate my commitment, and that's why they donate repeatedly.

Other people haven't said why they donate.

One of my most generous donors hasn't said why she donates. And it hasn't come up in conversation because we don't ever see each other. In fact, I haven't seen her for nearly 30 years, about a year after we nearly accidentally killed her guinea pig by jelly bean exposure at her birthday slumber party. We've exchanged some Facebook messages, and maybe one Christmas card after she started donating, and that's mostly it.

I don't think I'll ever know the whole story, but I'm very moved by this generosity and support. What is crazy is that  has a story like that.

...like my first friend from the U of M, whom I haven't seen in 20 years...

Thanks, you guys, whatever your reasons.

Go, I guess!

Today I rode to work for the first day since the fall.

I took my fat bike, but removed the fat tire wheels and replaced them with 29" wheels with knobby mountain biking tires. (If you want to sound like an experienced and/or hipster biker, you can call these wheels "29ers.") The heavy bike and the knobby - very frictiony! - tires made for a very slow ride to and from work. Those factors, the weather,* and my out of shape-ness made for one tiring 15-mile (total) ride. I'm beat.

Fat bike, with 29ers

For those of you who don't live here, you can see that there is still ample snow in some places, like on our back patio. The roads were clear of snow, had just a bit of ice, and were covered with all the debris that's been sitting in the snow for many months (but what feels like an eternity). Most of the bike lanes contain parked cars due to the snow/ice piles that are still next to the curbs.

I am happy that I was able to ride today. Last year, the first day I rode was 3/28. Two ridiculously long, snowy winters, even for Minnesota. Climate change naysayers can come shovel my driveway next winter. I'm ready for another season of biking, after I get some rest.

* It was 11 degrees when I rode to work. The 15 mph winds meant that the wind chill was -5. It felt relatively warm, though, except on my numb feet, with the bright sun. It was 23 degrees when I went home, with a wind chill of 11 due to the still-15 mph winds.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Ready, Set, . . .

It is still cold, but the sun is shining, the snow banks are slowly melting, and the roads are becoming more clear of ice.

My bikes will be out of the shop, hopefully, on Monday. I got the training rides tentatively scheduled and mapped out, got the flat fixing class scheduled for tomorrow, and have made good progress on starting my fundraising, despite the fact that I have not officially started my training.

Last year, I started riding my bike in the final week of March, and I'll be damned if I'm going to wait much longer this year to start riding consistently. (My few fat bike rides don't really count, in my mind.)

To that end, I was either the 3,087th or the 3,402nd person to sign the pledge to ride some distance - any distance - every day in April, despite the fact that I'll be out of town on two trips in the month. I hope others will do the same. Due to donations made based on the number of people who sign the pledge, it helps get bikes in the hands, and under the butts, of kids.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

This a.m., I took my bike off the trainer and wrestled to get my durable, yet nearly impossible to install, beaded Continental Gatorskin tire back on my bike. I had one bloody thumb and got two blisters on the other thumb. I'm going to try this technique next time, to see how it works.

I was admiring my neighborhood when I took my road bike to the shop for a tune up and my fat bike to get the spare wheel set ready.

When we moved into our house, uhm, 17 years ago (Crap! I'm old!) there wasn't a ton going on. A park, a small hardware store, a sort of non-descript bar with okay burgers, a rib joint.

Now?

* Updated park
* Better location for the hardware store
* Coffee and bike shop - trivia donor and host of our team fix-a-flat class next week!!
* Bakery
* Gastropub
* Brewpub - trivia donor
* Cupcake shop (which just used the brewpub's beer in a recipe) -trivia donor
* Coffee shop
* Yoga and massage place
* Gift shop
* Fly fishing/outdoor gear store
* Rib joint
* Good restaurant

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Railroad Bridge #9, #9, #9

So, I'm sick for the first time in a couple of years. I thought I was going to make it through two whole winters without getting sick, but that probably was an unrealistic goal, especially with the junk going around here.

I had been thinking of trying to ride a bike to work today for the first time this year. There's still snow, puddles, and ice, but the temps stayed above freezing last night, so I was going to try taking the fat bike on its longest ride yet.

Instead, I was sitting here, blowing my nose, thinking about the rides I'll go on this spring and summer, including showing my team the Dinkytown Greenway and how it connects to bridge #9.

I learned some things about ol' bridge #9 this morning, including that it used to connect to tracks that ran straight through the U of M campus, on the north side of what is now Northrop Mall (before the Mall was designed by Cass Gilbert). Trains on this route used to carry passengers to Chicago and connect to Great Northern routes out west.

I also learned that there is a guy who is more obsessed about railroad bridges than I am about river confluences or the Donner party. He's got great photos of the bridge on his website, but way more than are remotely necessary. I thank him, though, for having many to borrow from for this post.

Getting in the spirit, I'm also posting a photo of the stone arch bridge I took last weekend while at the Guthrie Theater (in the room with the yellow windows). It, too, was a railroad bridge and now is a pedestrian bridge.

I'm nearly at 50% of my fundraising goal. Thanks for your help!! I've just organized a fix-a-flat class for my team for a couple of weeks from now, and a teammate has managed to get The Firm to host a free spin class on 4/19. We can bring friends, so let me know if you want to join us. We'd love to have you!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Limerick Edition 2014

There once was a bike team captain
Trying to stay atop of all that was happ'nin'      
Thinking up routes
And substitutes
While she was diligently mappin' 'em.

(Let me know if you want the link!)

There was a woman from ol' Minn
Who was feeling a bit snowed in
She dreamed of her road bike
And what it'd be like
To take it around the lakes for a spin.

There once was a nice mother
Who was really like no other
She sent some pjs new
In leopard print blue
And presumably none to my brother.

Luck of the Irish

I think I will have the luck of the Irish when they draw the names for the beer contest. My name will be entered in 11 times due to the generous donations made this week to the MS Society in support of my fundraising goals!

I even had corned beef and cabbage at my brother's and sister-in-law's house this weekend, to help bring the Irish luck to me.

This is my second year of the blog and I'm pretty sure that last year I posted a photo of a leprechaun on a bike. So this year I'm switching to a different type of image. My dog is so grateful that I didn't do this to her.

Thanks for the donations! The snow is starting to melt! Woo-hoo! It will take a long time, but being above freezing is major progress!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Gonna try to win me some beer

To do list:
- Arrange for a fix-a-flat class for the team
- Get bike tuned up
- Thank donors again
- Email team about jerseys and sponsorship plans for the fall
- Melt all the snow
- Win 288 bottles of Summit beer

"I'm confessin' that I love you
Tell me, do you love me too?
I'm confessin' that I need you, honest I do
Ah baby, need you every moment..."

It is a little weird to solicit donations before I actually get on my road bike for the season. But how can I skip asking during MS Awareness Week, especially when each $25 that gets donated through March 9 gets me entered into a drawing to win a case of beer every month for a year?

I'm optimistic about the warm temps we will have Sunday and Monday and what that might mean for riding, but there's too much snow for me to pull out my road bike for a while. The snow on a trail I sometimes ride on has turned into about 9 inches of slush. We will see how creative I can get with the fat bike...

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Just let a bit of air out of the tires, you'll be fine

A couple of hours ago, it was 1 degree above zero with a wind chill of negative 13. But it was sunny. To give myself some stability for riding on the thick layer of ice, I dropped the air pressure in my fat bike tires from 11 psi to 5 psi.

Not a cyclist? To underscore how ridiculous this is, let me tell you that I regularly ride my road bike at 100 psi. And normally you pump UP your tires before you ride. These tires were flat, f-l-a-t, flat!

And I took a short ride to Minnehaha Falls.

I'm a chicken, so I went too slowly and gripped my handlebars too tightly, but I did manage to go up some small hills (sort of challenging with big, flat tires) without straining my back. That's progress for me.

Last night I put together a training schedule for the team and put together some new biking routes and mapped them out. Tonight I will send that info to the team. Baby steps, hoping that spring will come fast...

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150