Weekend Memories Propel Woman Through Iowa

Greetings from somewhere in Iowa (husb is driving, so I'm not really paying attention) en route to the Show Me State. It appears that cornfields are being prepped.

I'll be gone for a week. A week (and weekend) of no riding when I'm trying to ramp up for a 100-mile ride in less than two weeks, and 150 miles in a month, is an interesting strategy, to be sure.

Saturday's team training ride had all the elements you'd expect from a first team ride of the season: lots of layers (I had two long-sleeved shirts, a jersey, andarm warmers), some cold people with fewer layers, a couple of riders tipping over while clipped into their pedals, one flat tire, and a detour due to a flooded road by the Mississippi. A few of us stopped at a brewery afterwards and ran into other riders from our team. We might not be the most fit, but we have fun.

On Sunday, Matt and I went for a ride that totally did not go as planned, due to flooding of the Minnesota River. (See photo below of Matt, facing the submerged trail, researching an alternate way home.) It was a funky ride, in terms of route and our moods, but it was still good to get out. I kept arm warmers on for sun protection more than warmth (because it was warm - yay!), and got weird bracelet-like sunburns in the gap between the arm warmers and my gloves.

I'm glad I remembered sunscreen everywhere else, and that I had the 25mph wind at my back for the final few miles!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN

"I was in Iowa one time, and I kept trying to fire up the crowd, and I kept saying, 'How's Ohio doing?' For some reason, they just weren't coming around!"
- Eric Church

Unleash the dragons

Ohmigosh. Oh--my--gosh. Finally, warm weather! It was around 50 on Friday afternoon, 58ish? on Saturday, and 62-ey? today.

Unleash the dragons!

This weekend, I got out on my bike for 110 miles. (Sadly, this doubled my mileage for 2018, which is still half of the distance I'd ridden by this time last year. It is also the distance I signed up to ride in one day, not three days, just three weeks from now.) After riding 28 miles Friday and 43 yesterday, I did what I normally consider to be the unthinkable: I wore chamois padded shorts today. I apparently need to reacquaint all parts of the body with the bike!

But did you notice that I said I wore shorts? Shorts! One week after killing myself shoveling nearly 18 inches of snow. Oh, Minnesnowtah, how I love thee.

A sure sign of spring in Mpls: a jam-packed bike rack

A bare knee! Sunshine!

There was some cool fungus or lichen on this tree.

While my job is great, I am sad that the weekend is ending. I really just want to keep on riding my bike, soaking in the warmth and sunshine, and feeling comfortable outside and not all clenched up. I think the endorphine-o-meter in Minnesota surely broke this weekend.

I even figured out (I think) how to eat sufficient, non-processed foods to keep my energy up, and rewarded myself later with some rather delicious homemade guacamole, if I do say so myself.

Now to make some progress with my fundraising, which is proving tough this year! I'm only a third of the way to go for each ride, and the MS150 is about 6 weeks away. Time to get creative, whatever that means. 

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN

Taking Care of Business

Oh,  yeah, I'm going there.

I'm taking care of business every day.

I have been doing some sort of extra-curricular worky thing every night for the past couple of weeks.

I'm taking care of business every way.

Figuring out which combination of our 40+ riders get 8 hotel rooms after the first 75 miles of our 150-mile ride, wrangling jersey sizes out of riders, shoveling and shoveling some more over the weekend, paying some bills, paying some taxes, wrangling, figuring out how much money our team has, placing a jersey order, and stumbling across a photo of our house from 1996. Oh, and re-adopting 6 storm sewers at the end of the block.

I've been taking care of business, it's all mine.

I'm the team captain, it's my yard, it's my tax liability.

I've been taking care of business and working overtime.

This is what I do at night. And, dang it, I have not practiced all week for dance class tomorrow.

Anyhow, I am getting all the indoor things out of the way so that I can bike, bike, bike when it is a smidge warmer and if it doesn't snow again. Maybe this weekend??

The MS150 is less than two months away and I am not even halfway to my fundraising goal. Please consider a donation to either ride using the links below!

In the meantime, check out my house in the fall of 1996, last spring, and last weekend (crabapple tree was trimmed a lot a few weeks ago). The house was crazy ugly when we bought it, but still kind cute, in a 90-year-old man way.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018 

Rat Patrol

You may be shocked to learn that this is not a photo of me. While I obviously have a Rat Patrol vest, I live in Minneapolis, not Chicago. And my boots are more insulated.

Well! My teammate Andy had his bowling fundraiser event on Sunday, which brought in over $10,000 for the MS Society. Wow. It was fun, despite the fact that I won no raffles and just won coupons for restaurants in the east Metro due to my mad bowling skills (a/k/a "luck).

And then it started snowing again, and was icy. But today I snuck in a bike ride after work on trails out to Hopkins - a route that often is a season opener and closer. It was my second road ride of the season. And then it is supposed to be snowy and icy over the weekend again. I don't really know what to make of all of this, other than some lemonade. But I can't actually do that because I'm following the Whole30 eating plan for April and lemonade has sugar in it, right?

I'm using the Whole30 as a form of elimination diet to see whether any specific foods make my circulation better or worse. I believe, based on my bike ride today and the chill I had despite getting hot and needing to remove a layer, that foods might not play a role. I am learning, though, some interesting things about my eating habits. For my circulation, I'm also trying acupuncture. I'm hoping that this will keep my hands and feet from going numb, which is dangerous not only to my body, but also because last year I totally lost my grip on my handlebars when riding due to numb fingers. The acupuncture seems to do something, in addition to providing some solid relaxation moments, I'm just not exactly sure what yet!

Thanks, friends, for the boost toward my fundraising goals last week - that helped! If you didn't donate, never fear, there's still time. 

In the meantime, I'm going to stretch out some parts. I sure enjoyed the fresh air. I hope we are worthy enough to receive spring in our lives sometime soon!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN

The Photo Album of Things That Didn't Happen

You know how you sometimes catch something out of your eye and think it is something else? Like maybe that little shadow was a mouse? One time, I was riding my bike in my neighborhood and could have sworn that I saw a full-grown donkey in someone's driveway. (For those of you who aren't from here, there aren't many donkeys in South Minneapolis. [Insert your own joke here.])

Anyhow, here are some photos from the last couple of weeks that don't quite represent what you'd think.

1. Stanford - I was in California and worked on the Stanford campus, like my lucky sister does. You would think, based on this photo that it was so hot that everyone was inside or that no one actually goes to school there. 

2. Toby - You'd think that I am a huge proponent of little dogs, considering how much I bonded with this little dude. You'd also think that I would have gotten motion sickness or something wearing that pattern of PJs while on that pattern of rug.

3. Nieces - You'd think that these smart, funny beauties were unrelated to me.

4. Sisters - You'd think that this smart, funny beauty was unrelated to me, especially considering our coloring, body styles, and facial features. You'd also think, for some reason, that going to tea was somehow painful for me.

5. Bike ride - You'd think that I would have taken pictures on a bike ride with my brother-in-law rather than pull photos from Google Maps after the bike ride to revisit our route.

6. My dog - You'd think she was some sort of an unkempt stray rather than a pampered princess.

7. Yet more canines - You'd think the bigger one would be stronger, more dominant, and the more snuggly of the two.

8. Bike ride - You'd think that my friend Matt and I actually rode our bikes to the 30 Days of Biking kickoff event at Surly Brewery. Then again, you'd think the weather would be spring-like this time of year. 

9. Fundraising - You'd think that I'd be closer to meeting my goals this time of year.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MS150Maggie2018

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/Maggie2018TourDeMN