35+59+6 = 100!

I had been planning for yesterday to be my second attempt at a century ride. (You may recall that since I can't do a 5-day, 300-mile BikeMS ride this week like in past years, I said I would try to do 3, 100-mile rides this year. I've never done three centuries in once season, so it is a formidable goal. For me, anyhow.)

I got a nice route suggestion from this great woman Jean but ended up scrapping it when I saw a 51-ish-mile ride pop up on the Twin Cities Bicycling Club calendar for yesterday. I thought that I'd do 50 solo and 50 with the club. 

I ended up riding 35 miles to the start of the club ride, leaving my house at 7 a.m. 

[Observations: I never realized that in the Belly song (I was listening to music on my solo stretch), "Super Connected," there's a change at the very last part of the chorus at the end and, instead of Tanya Donnelly (who all the slightly alt-ish frat boys looooved in college) asking whether your heart strings are connected to the wings you've got slapped on your back, she asks whether your heart strings are connected to the poison coming out of your mouth. I like this twist. Also, I can confirm, again, that there are a couple of Cloud Cult songs that I just 100% love and feel are relevant for life.) Where was I? Oh yes, I rode 35 miles to the start! I stopped in one disgusting biffy by Harriet Island Park. Gross.]

Because I wanted to make sure to not be late for the club ride, I planned a route for closer to 27 miles and then rode back and forth on pretty Lilydale Road a couple of times, watching the rowers on the river. The club ride was great. It was generally some of the same areas where I've ridden before in Bloomington (13, Black Dog, etc., which Facebook reminded me was an area where I rode exactly one year ago) but with a twist. And then we rode in one area I've never ridden before: the huge boardwalk 9-Mile Creek Trail out by Edina. I didn't realize it went that far west or was so winding. 

A woman on the ride stopped and took photos
of people as we went over the 35W bridge.
That's me, on the right, in my BikeMS team jersey.

A much-needed water break on a very hot day.
And that's me, stretching in the back.

That's me, in front of the tandem. I assume this
was in Edina, but I thought we were all more 
spread out by that point, so I'm not sure.

The very kind Linda asked me whether I wanted to do the alternate ending (like a choose your own adventure book!), so she, another woman whose name I can't remember, and I tacked on 8 more miles than the rest of the group by swooping up a little further north before heading back to the ending point. This was mostly familiar territory but one cool new trail to connect from Theo Wirth park to downtown Mpls. I'm not sure how I never noticed it before.

[Note to self: This would be a good trail ride for a brewery tour ride (that I always talk about but likely will never do) since it goes by Utepils and La Dona breweries.]

I stopped back at the ride start, met up with some of the other riders on a patio, had a celebratory beer, and then backtracked back the six miles home, for a total of 100.25 miles. My motivation to get home largely stemmed from a mysterious text from my husband: "There's a treat for you in the freezer." I couldn't resist eating half of it before dinner. 

Showered and ready for that treat!

A DQ oreo blizzard that held up in the freezer
pretty well for several hours.

I've lagged in my general updates. First, a funny story. Last weekend, Kim and I planned to ride 50 miles around Prior Lake/New Prague. Thankfully, I forgot my Garmin with the 2018 route on it and had to download a free 30-day trial for Ride with GPS to do a very recent alternate route that had been posted by the Scott County cycling club. If we'd used the old 2018 route it would have stunk because everything was under construction. Nonetheless, due to some operator error, I wasn't sure how the Ride with GPS navigation cues worked at first (causing us to go an extra 5 miles) AND I did something that made every single app on my phone open and tweet a photo of my dog. (It wasn't even a recent photo of her, so I had a slight panic attack wondering what else I had accidentally posted on social media - nothing - - - I think!)

Also, here's a photo someone posted from a Tuesday night club ride from about a month ago. Riding with the bike club has been the best decision I made this year. 

I'm on the right, wearing my vintage (okay, old) PBR jersey
on my old bike while my better one was in the shop.
The guy in the yellow jersey joined us for the first time that night.
He's really nice and we mostly stick together on Tuesdays.
He sent me a list of all the best international restaurants
within 15-miles of my house, along with his family's
top recommendations of what to eat there.

Thank you for your donations of $4,310 for the MS Society for 2021. I'm not exactly sure when I'll try to do a century ride again - - I have some weekend plans in the upcoming weeks to see assorted family members, so it will be one of those "hey, that's a free day and the weather looks decent" decisions. 

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo-2021

My Teeny Triathlon

Somehow (not many hours of sleep and most of it being of crummy quality?!?), between going to bed last night thinking, "I need to leave here at 9 to be able to bike to the start of the ride by 10" turned into, "I need to be there by 9." This then turned my thought of, "I'll take Haley for a longer-than-normal walk before the ride" to "I'll need to run with Haley to get in some decent distance." And thus, my friends, the foundation of today's triathlon was established. After running and biking, I thought, "I should swim, too," but I also need to get home soon. So, I waded in Haley's pool. That technically is a water sport, right?!?

Straight off the bike, sunglasses on my forehead.
And no, that is not a gremlin holding my leg.
That's the shadow of a milkweed. Also, my
legs look uneven because the wind was
blowing ("like a smoke machine") to the side
my non-bikey shorts I rode in. In which I rode.

Granted, none of my distances are the types of distances you'd see in an official event. But they are mine, uniquely all mine.

I stopped and started my Garmin
three times on the bike ride.

Astute readers may ask, "But wait, so what happened when you got there an hour earlier than intended?" I actually got there 75 minutes earlier than intended because it didn't take me as long as I'd budgeted. The ride start was at Urban Growler Brewery, so I ended up riding around the U of M St. Paul Campus which is so pretty and shady. I sure enjoyed taking classes there as an undergrad. I had to use a bathroom, so then I went to a cute little neighborhood by campus (where there was a 5k run, but the little neighborhood 4th of July parade had not yet started), and got a coffee and a cookie to pass the time and to justify my use of their bathroom.

I picked a chocolate cookie with powdered sugar that ended up landing all over my shorts. 

I then rode to the start of the ride, saw the Urban Growler owners who said, "Too bad we're closed today - this would be a great place to have lunch and a beer at the end your bike ride!" Then another rider rode up and said, "Did you see the ride has been cancelled because the brewery is closed?" What? Anyhow, four of us were there (including the ride leader who had officially cancelled so no one had false hopes of the brewery being open), and we ended up doing the route, but in reverse, so that we could stop at the Como Park Pavilion for some lunch and a beer before heading home.

Nothing played out exactly the way I had planned, but nothing bad happened. And it was a good day. A hot, good day! 

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo-2021