Holy sh*t

I am still flabbergasted.

It was a great post-work, 40+ mile ride, muchly in the dark. Near the end of it all, the manhole cover I rode over must have been a bit deeper set than it appeared.

I hit it, both my hands shot up off my handlebars, I swerved yet maintained immediate control likely due to being clipped in, and caught my handlebars with the insides of my wrists when my arms came back down. I'm amazed I didn't crash to the ground, am even more amazed I didn't crash into Matt, and am very appreciative that he is a totally unflappable rider.

I had been planning on posting either about my sweaty fast ride this past weekend or the pretty yet short fall rides I've taken around town, but really, all I can keep thinking is exactly what I said to Matt after disaster was averted: "Holy Sh*t!"

Caught between two extremes

I spent a lot of time on my bike this past weekend, and then not at all since. Still haven't figured out my new work routine.

Saturday's highlight was a slow moving bike tour of St. Paul buildings designed by Cap Wigington, a lead civil architect of the first half of the 1900s - - a noteworthy accomplishment, given the fact that he experienced a lot of racism as an African American. Coolest thing to learn? He designed most of the winter carnival ice palaces that have ever existed.

We went to a church he'd worked on - St. James A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal). Interestingly, the congregation built its first church in 1880 (scraping together gifts averaging $0.55). The first A.M.E. church was started about 100 years earlier after the Methodists were total jerks, in short, to their own church members who were black.

Sunday, I rode as fast as possible to and from yoga, met some Bike MS teammates and did a nice ride that meandered along the Mississippi, ate a great burrito, and bought myself a glass mosaic at the neighborhood art crawl. The mosaic artist has a lot of her stuff on display at the coffee shop where I ate my burrito, and I've been admiring it for months. Her work, not the shop or the burrito. Although I would recommend the burrito without hesitation. Plus the coffee shop now sells beer, which goes great with burritos.

Tonight's MS Society fundraiser event was a good reminder to me of why I do much of what I do on a bike. I'm lucky to be able to support their work.

Excuses, excuses

On the bright side, I do not have a blood clot in my leg again, I managed to get my flu shot, and clinic staff think I am fit.

I *am* curious to know what the heck is up with this weirder-than-my-normal-swollen-ankle-tendonitis-10-day mystery calf pain and new random swollen calf patch.

I was going to take my fat tire bike on a dirt trail tonight. Are leg ultrasounds and the embarrassment of being seen in my least flattering undies the lengths I go to, to avoid trail riding??

Seriously, though, I suspected that all was fine (my only risk factors that are the same as in 2010 are my genes), but if there's anything I learned this year from a good friend's experience is that you don't mess around with the vascular system.

And now, to reschedule that trail ride...

The Power of Music

As we are headed to Duluth to see country/folk musician John Prine [our debate in the car (me: "it's country, admit it"; him: "no, it is folk") was settled by Wikipedia], we are listening to U2's Joshua Tree album again.

Last night's discussion of this tour being the 30th anniversary of the first Joshua Tree tour reminded me that I'm kinda old.

It apparently has been 30 years since I was a freshman in high school, meeting the cool, public-school skateboarding boys at the library, trying cigarettes in Jones Park (so glad they were disgusting), listening to this album a ton, agreeing with my friend Adrienne that the drummer was the hottest member of the band (uh, not anymore - yikes!).

It is amazing to me how things like scents or music can strip away decades and return you to a point in time.

When my grandma was in her final years, she mentioned to me that her body felt old and she surely was wiser, but she still felt like the same person as when she was a young girl. I get that, especially when I sit here singing about running to stand still and one tree hills.

A few of my favorite things (Sept 3 and 4 bike ride edition)

1. Riding on new routes (e.g. I'd never heard of Centerville before, much less ridden there).

2. Missed turns and unexpected discoveries (thumbs up to Egg Lake Road).

3. Riding by lakes, horses, and cows.

4. Taking unflattering photos of myself because they make me laugh (cue sweaty grey hair and crinkly eyes).

5. Being able to offer others something that I had been carrying on my bike just in case, like a snack.

6. Not being the one with a flat tire.

7. Standing at a familiar vista point and seeing something unexpected (like a tall sailboat on the Mississippi).

8. Riding where a race just ended and there are lots of biffies.

9. Chocolate chili brownies.

10. Being able to take the lane less stressfully due to riding with someone (and even better when it's around a pretty lake).

11. Lemonade stands.

12. Having the windy, cold rain storm pass through after I'm home.