Numb feet, Surly, and chana masala

I haven't ridden much this week, and raked the yard yesterday - rather than ride in the beautiful weather - to prevent my dog from encountering further injuries from sticks.

So when this morning rolled around, I packed up my bike, despite the rain and lightning, to do the MN Ironman bike ride.

After much hemming and hawing, consideration of my goals and competing sanity, and reflection on the rain pelting my eyeballs and the puddles in my shoes, I took the turn for the 36-mile route instead of the 67-miler.

A guy tailing me complimented me on my pace, I talked with a nice woman who has had good cycling adventures and took a picture of me drinking a beer at 10:45, and now I'm eating warm Indian food in a strip mall in a suburb to recover from the numbness of riding in the rain at 50 degrees.

You know, a typical Sunday.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2016

Comfortably pedaling outside the comfort zone

On Sunday, I did a 70+ mile ride with a group of people I'd never ridden with. They were an energetic bunch, considering that I think most of them were hung over - as I had secretly hoped they would be, once I saw their very nice bikes and very non-grey hair. We rode at a faster clip than I normally ride, which was a nice challenge and fun, and they all were really nice people. I really needed a day of biking and no obligations.

Post-ride stop at East Lake Brewing and Taco Cat

It sounds like I might cross paths with one of these nice riders at the Ironman ride next weekend (just a cycling event that had that name before the Ironman you're thinking of), a few of them at the Fulton Gran Fondo Ride in a a few weeks, and a few others at the MS150. I'm excited to have additional people to ride with occasionally, assuming I get invited back. (They have uninvited people to ride with them, I hear, but I think those were super intense riders, which I am not.)

Now that I have that ride under my belt, despite not wearing a belt, and have more miles in than I did last year at this time, I'm feeling a bit better about the Ironman (where I'll do a minimum of 67 and up to 100+ miles if things are going well) and the more hilly and intense-feeling 100-mile Gran Fondo. I certainly am on track for both the MS150 and MS TRAM rides, in terms of the cycling parts! Now that fundraising business...

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2016

This week in Haiku: Odd, unusual moisture

On April 15, 2012, I sent out an email summarizing my training/fundraising progress in the form of three haikus.

That has inspired me to describe my week in haiku form.

Twins Home Opener 

brisk headwinds to stadium 

left early to thaw

St. Louis work trip

Piper tried out a new house

Cuteness and success!

(apologies for the lack of a reference to nature, and weird cropping out of kids I didn't have permission to show on my blog)

Beautiful Wash U

Spring walk through non-scary zoo

Great aunt and uncle 

Scenic route to work 

Odd, unusual moisture?

Oh! humidity

Morning uncertain

ride with new group of people

new things are okay.

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Lookin' Dam Good

Today I took advantage of the not-freezing weather and followed an ol' standby 50-mile route that I haven't ridden in a long time, which included my first 2016 ride out to Hopkins and on the Cedar Lake Trail, remarkably.

I took some time to stop and give someone directions, to look out over the river from a bridge, and to check out this big turbine by the Ford Dam. It was installed by the Ford Motor Company in 1924 to generate power for its car/truck plant. It was retired in 1994. I liked that it was in use for 70 years and has been on display for another 22. I hope I look as sturdy at 92 years of age.

It was shortly after stopping here that I learned that port-a-potties on the edges of the parks in St. Paul are a bit more abused than those in skate parks in St. Louis Park, and lamented passing up using a nice stretch of woods for my business.

On my way back home, I stopped at the Fort to stretch because I could tell that my back was not going to be happy with today's ride. By the time I had stopped, it was getting cloudier and windier, but it was a good place to get the kinks out.

Don't mess with me, man.

I accomplished my goal by going on a longish ride by myself - I managed to purge some of the stuff that was rattling around in my head and get recalibrated for the big week ahead: work, Twins Home Opener, busy work trip to St. Louis, and hopefully making some more progress on a looming grant proposal that is rather important. I must have had weird mechanics (body movement, not people fixing my bike) on the ride because my quads are really sore, but in a good way.

The 100-miler Fulton Gran Fondo in a month will be interesting, as they say.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2016

Swedish Gargoyles

If you fell victim to my England blog posts or photo album, you'd know that I have a thing about grotesques - little creature statues on buildings. I have at least double that level of love of gargoyles - little creature statues on buildings that divert water. Like the lions and other creatures built into the Turnblad Mansion, which now houses the Swedish Institute.

After a partially clear and mostly cold and certainly windy Saturday (including a group 30 Days of Biking ride originating at Gold Medal Park), I found myself at the Swedish Institute with a long-time friend, to check out the fantastic Lars Lerin watercolor exhibit. (Do you live in the Twin Cities? Go. I implore you. I might even beseech you. I need a dictionary.)

I'm not sure why my crappy circulatory system thought biking there in 60-degree temps put me at risk of hypothermia and diverted my blood away from my digits, but I had to share an example photo of what I've been trying to sort out this winter with assorted warming devices.

All in all, it's been decent enough riding for early April, but I'm ready to ramp it up to prep for my bike rides.

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If I were a rich man

Well, I'd be a man, for one thing. That aside, in addition to buying a new road bike, I'd donate more money to good causes. Of course, I'd still support the MS Society, but I'd give a lot of money to the school for autistic students where my friends' son is thriving.

In the meantime, like as in for the rest of my life because I'll never be rich (financially speaking), I will keep on working for non-profits, volunteering and writing thank you notes to the friends and businesses who support my fundraising efforts, and find cool events to go to that support good things.

Don't let the can koozie fool you. It's still windy and in the 30s here. I thought a beer might alleviate my onion breath (or at least compete with it), but I didn't want to touch a cold can. Says the woman wearing a stocking cap with her pjs...

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