Maybe it's because I was on the receiving end on some recognition, and wanted to share the love. Or maybe it's because I was just super relieved to find friendly and skilled people in a strange town. Regardless of the cause of such warm feelings, I spent a chunk of the car ride back from Illinois giving high online ratings to the clinic, pharmacy, and hotel that helped us navigate a weird allergy situation in the 'burbs of Chicago yesterday.
I have only twice before rated anything online. I've nearly tripled that record in one day.
Actually, maybe the reason I felt so reward-giving is because I wear a blue ribbon bike jersey. I bet that's it. I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with my bike and donning that jersey for the TRAM in a few weeks!
The day after the MS150, I wore this year's event t-shirt on the plane, where some passengers nodded and the flight attendant told me excitedly that her mom did the ride.
I'm en route to Chicago to get that work award, wearing last year's shirt, which often is a good conversation starter, and a good way to raise awareness about MS and our fundraising efforts. The photo (below) is pretty funny due to the angle. It doesn't look like my body except for the fact that you can see my little neck.
I'm on a little biking hiatus, as we are driving to Chicago rather than biking there. :) But, dear friends who've been asking about my back, you'll appreciate knowing that in addition to seeing my chiropractor, doing yoga, and starting pilates, I also started PT this morning (thanks, Jen, for working the system to get me in sooner, and with someone good!).
I'm really optimistic that I'll be comfortable for long bike rides before long!
This weekend involved a lot of forced relaxation, and fried foods.
I have distinct memories spanning 30+ years
of irises growing out of that old log in the water.
I ate fried perch and bluegill at a traditional Wisconsin Friday night fish fry, went for a drizzly walk around my favorite little lake with my dog and my mom, took my mountain bike for a spin on a narrow, rutted and wet old abandoned sandy lane, went for a super spidery canoe ride with my trusty pal, and did lots of crossword puzzles.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Tons of little baby fish
were in the clear, calm water.
I was settling in for a night of cleaning up our disaster of a yard, but realized that, due to other obligations, I'm not going to have much opportunity to ride in the next couple of weeks, which is a bit of a bummer. The 300-mile TRAM is just over a month away! I went for a short, but fast ride along some of my favorite parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul. That's a great way to end a great weekend.
Since the last episode in this story, I spent an inordinate amount of time packing to go to Duluth, spent the night at Fitger's, rode my bike from Proctor to Hinckley, spent the night, and rode my bike to White Bear Lake. I then went home, unpacked the stinky clothes, packed fresh ones, and went to Atlanta for work. I've spent the night sorting through the bike ride photos, updating the team's Facebook page, and sending out a tweet or two on Bike MS-related things.
Over the past few days, I have been thinking about the ride, which was probably my favorite one yet. The weather was great, my teammates are really nice and fun, and Tara and others did a super job of feeding and hydrating us. I really appreciate that Matt rode with me both days. Two days of chatter on the bike distracted me from worrying about my back too much.
Day 1, an unusually quiet portion of the Munger Trail
Towards the end of the second day, I always start getting punchy. Everything is funny, I can't form sentences, and normal things don't make sense in my brain. I had mentioned to Matt, while riding into the rest stop near Hugo at Bald Eagle Lake, that we were at the point where I start losing my faculties. He thought that I said that it was the point where I start using my faculties, causing much laughter and speculation about the ways that I'd been holding back.
In this picture, I look quite pained. In reality, I was totally cracking up.
It was a great ride. I feel uncharacteristically at a loss for words to describe all of my feelings about this year's ride and my team's remarkable attitude and fundraising abilities.
Thank you, friends, for helping me contribute to my community in such a meaningful way.
And that's a good thing, otherwise I'd owe someone a lot of money.
Last night, I dreamed I was at a work meeting in Atlanta and riding a bus from the hotel to the meeting site with other meeting participants. There were a lot of federal agencies represented: FDA, CDC, SAMHSA, etc. The bus driver was going to drop me off at the beginning of the MS 150 bike ride, and nice people handed me cash to give to the MS Society. It was mostly in $10 increments, but one guy, who was not dressed in work meeting attire maybe thought it was a city bus, handed me a super sweaty $1 bill.
I went to the ride, realized I missed the check-in time, realized that my helmet was still on the bus, etc. Usual anxiety dreams related to forgetting something or being late. I had them last year, too. No biggie. And the usual dreams where work gets mixed up with non-work. There's a bus ride to the bike ride and then a work trip to Atlanta/CDC right after the bike ride, which in my sleep turned into a bus ride with work people in Atlanta to the start of the bike ride.
I woke up appreciative of all the civil servants in the world, especially the guy I barely know from SAMHSA, he was particularly generous.
I was looking for photos for this post and came upon this ridiculous photo of a spinning class being held inside a bus. For people who aren't comfortable riding in traffic? For people with a too-long commute to still get exercise? For people who just need to be different?
My brain sometimes puts things together in a weird way. I like to blame a lack of blood sugar, like after toiling in the yard on an empty stomach and racing downtown on my bike to go to the Twins game today. I saw a portion of a sign on a building downtown, which said, "ary Hospital." In the depths of my brain, I knew it was an animal hospital, yet I couldn't think of the word "veterinary" - only "canary." I then giggled for about 1/2 mile about a vet's office just for canaries.
So after the game, after I had food in my system, there was really no reason for the particular mashup of two totally different songs that popped in my head when a bee flew down my shirt into my sports bra. I instantly thought, "Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet? Bra? Say I'm the only bee in your bra?" simultaneously with "Shit! Bee!"
And then I thought, "That's not really flattering, is it? To be a bee in someone's bonnet?" And then I pictured, based on some old piano music we had at home when I was a kid (although we had no piano), a grey bonnet with a blue ribbon on it, while a guy hitched old Dobbin to a shay.
And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, here are the links:
https://youtu.be/NAbZzdalZh4 (They Might Be Giants; guess I have canaries on the brain?)
https://youtu.be/o0rwEpbK4fA (who knew that Bugs Bunny covered "Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet"?)
Apologies that the links weren't embedded. My phone isn't liking hyperlinks today.
I'm including a nice photo of Stacy and me from our bike ride yesterday, in lieu of going to work.
Last weekend's rides were pretty fantastic - a team training ride from 7th and Payne in St. Paul through lovely Swede Hollow, along the Vento and Gateway Trails, and into Stillwater, where we took this picture.
Some of our team on our last group training ride before the MS150
Because no ride is without some sort of interesting event, to get from the Gateway Trail into Stillwater, I decided we'd ride to Pine Point Park and then take a series of roads down to the river. Little did I know that they're resurfacing the major road we would be riding on. It was a little bumpy, but it made for good conversation, like when you were a kid and someone hit you on the back repeatedly as you said, "Ahhhhhh." Or was that just in my family?
After leaving the river, we tried out the new Brown's Creek Trail. What a pleasant change from a pretty massive hill that usually at least one member of our team has to walk up! We all were able to ride smoothly back to the Gateway.
Brown's Creek Trail, before it got really pretty
After the ride, some of us had lunch at the Dancing Goat coffee shop, which I think we all agreed will be on the list of stopping points next year, too.
Later that night, Dan and I went to see an outdoor concert. Some sort of combination of biking, being cold, and standing for hours made for a bad scenario with my back, which has been causing me quite a bit of discomfort this spring. Trying to get in the car after the show was rather excruciating, but somehow I got it all back together by morning and went for another ride.
Matt and I decided to start in Stillwater. Our great scenic ride through Afton and back, followed by lunch at a super great little place in Stillwater, was slightly marred by the fact that, after the ride, Matt had to drive me home because I'd locked my car keys in my trunk before we started the bike ride. Jen had to let me into my house, and then Dan took me back to Stillwater to get my car and bike after he got home from the Twins game.
I'm a little nervous about the MS150 - just 10 days away! - this year, due to the unpredictability of my back. But, in the words of Schoolhouse Rock, ready or not, apples, peaches, pumpkin pie, here I come.
Maybe I will just count the miles in 5-mile increments, like the song. Or just really treat each 15-mile stretch between each rest stop as its own little bike ride.
I did get this free pass in the mail yesterday, due to having raised over $3,000. Thanks, donors! I think this year I'll actually get the massage where we overnight in Hinckley instead of giving it to another rider who looks to be in worse shape. Maybe my new combo of chiropractor, yoga, and Pilates will result in some sort of magic before the ride?
