The last time I put fingers to keyboard, I had included this Madonna lyric:
"Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
Can make things better"
I unknowingly was typing that right around the time that George Floyd was being killed a mile and a half from my home. Before then, I was still feeling grief from the fall, compounded with the oddness and worries associated with a pandemic and not being able to see my sick mom or my too-isolated stepmom, and worried about living in a country where it took three months for charges to be even be considered in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. And then this horrifying murder and resulting turmoil in my city. I can't do justice to the issues in this space and won't try, especially as a white woman. I just need to acknowledge, though, that this happened. And, to my friends who are people of color or Native Americans, I know that this is one in a series of sad and difficult events for you and, regardless of whether you're from Minneapolis or somewhere else, you have encountered systemic racism, and I'm very, very sorry. I am encouraged by the fact that there seems to finally be an appetite for change and some things may be in motion.
So, it is against this backdrop that I have been going out for rides, partly to continue my training and partly for maintaining my mental health, especially when there were military helicopters hovering over our house for over a week. I've seen wildflowers, pretty water birds, an array of turtles, baby eagles, baby geese, baby ducks, deer, and a dog that took a big lunge at me the other day. I've posted some photos on Facebook and have included some others here, today.
This weekend is normally the weekend that I ride 150 miles from Duluth to the Twin Cities with roughly 3,500-4,000 other people. Obviously that didn't happen. I took Friday off of work, though, and rode 92 miles. I rode mostly on trails, since it was a weekday - - something I haven't done all year, and something that I've missed. I decided at mile 75 that I could do almost another 20, despite the fact that my body hurt, thinking it would be easier for me mentally to get started on Saturday if I knew I didn't have to ride 75 miles. On Saturday, I rode 58 miles and I felt really good. Today? I'm sore from weeding the yard for 8 hours - - not from biking.
This was the second of the three Minnesota BikeMS events of 2020. I still plan on doing my own personal variation of the 300-mile ride in the end of July to raise money for the MS Society. It will be tricky. 150 miles by myself got a little... too Maggie-ish. And I need some new routes. Thankfully, I have a Bluetooth speaker for my bike that allowed me to stream a radio station for a good chunk of my ride, taking my mind off of, well, my mind. On Saturday, I finished at the outdoor patio of a taproom that had amazingly comforting social distancing measures in place and had some beer with my husband, who kindly surprised me with some salty snacks. An unconventional but successful MS150.
It seems appropriate to say again:
"Let love shine
A way to come together
Can make things better"
I unknowingly was typing that right around the time that George Floyd was being killed a mile and a half from my home. Before then, I was still feeling grief from the fall, compounded with the oddness and worries associated with a pandemic and not being able to see my sick mom or my too-isolated stepmom, and worried about living in a country where it took three months for charges to be even be considered in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. And then this horrifying murder and resulting turmoil in my city. I can't do justice to the issues in this space and won't try, especially as a white woman. I just need to acknowledge, though, that this happened. And, to my friends who are people of color or Native Americans, I know that this is one in a series of sad and difficult events for you and, regardless of whether you're from Minneapolis or somewhere else, you have encountered systemic racism, and I'm very, very sorry. I am encouraged by the fact that there seems to finally be an appetite for change and some things may be in motion.
 |
| Lots of gardening time, the Minnesota River on a recent bike ride, the National Guard on it way into position for wherever they went during curfew. |
 |
| Yes, tobacco control colleagues - I use Walgreens. I can explain. Except my Walgreens was damaged and looted and has not yet reopened. But it fared better than our post office. The big pile of mulch is 1/3 of the huge pile we frantically relocated to the flower beds when the city told us to remove all flammable items from our yards, due to the risk of people setting stuff on fire. I have gotten it down to about 1/2 this size in the last two weeks. |
So, it is against this backdrop that I have been going out for rides, partly to continue my training and partly for maintaining my mental health, especially when there were military helicopters hovering over our house for over a week. I've seen wildflowers, pretty water birds, an array of turtles, baby eagles, baby geese, baby ducks, deer, and a dog that took a big lunge at me the other day. I've posted some photos on Facebook and have included some others here, today.
This weekend is normally the weekend that I ride 150 miles from Duluth to the Twin Cities with roughly 3,500-4,000 other people. Obviously that didn't happen. I took Friday off of work, though, and rode 92 miles. I rode mostly on trails, since it was a weekday - - something I haven't done all year, and something that I've missed. I decided at mile 75 that I could do almost another 20, despite the fact that my body hurt, thinking it would be easier for me mentally to get started on Saturday if I knew I didn't have to ride 75 miles. On Saturday, I rode 58 miles and I felt really good. Today? I'm sore from weeding the yard for 8 hours - - not from biking.
 |
| I had choice words for my Garmin which, on Friday night, after I had burned an estimated 5100 calories, told me to "move." Stillwater gets a C- in terms of its COVIDing. No masks. A locked biffy led me to flush toilets and soap and running water - - great! Except they really, really need to disconnect the hot air hand dryers. Oy vey. |
 |
| Saturday. I had to stop to take a picture of the food truck for my husband and accidentally turned the volume way way up on my speaker. I'm sure the people in line were really confused. |
This was the second of the three Minnesota BikeMS events of 2020. I still plan on doing my own personal variation of the 300-mile ride in the end of July to raise money for the MS Society. It will be tricky. 150 miles by myself got a little... too Maggie-ish. And I need some new routes. Thankfully, I have a Bluetooth speaker for my bike that allowed me to stream a radio station for a good chunk of my ride, taking my mind off of, well, my mind. On Saturday, I finished at the outdoor patio of a taproom that had amazingly comforting social distancing measures in place and had some beer with my husband, who kindly surprised me with some salty snacks. An unconventional but successful MS150.
It seems appropriate to say again:
"Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
Can make things better"
Although I know we need more than just love. But it is a good place to start.
http://main.nationalmssociety.
A way to come together
Can make things better"
Although I know we need more than just love. But it is a good place to start.
 |
| I rode here, but grabbed these photos from the Internet. It was a moving experience. It felt inappropriate to take photos. I wish I could show the scope of these scenes better. |
http://main.nationalmssociety.
