Ready, Set, . . .

It is still cold, but the sun is shining, the snow banks are slowly melting, and the roads are becoming more clear of ice.

My bikes will be out of the shop, hopefully, on Monday. I got the training rides tentatively scheduled and mapped out, got the flat fixing class scheduled for tomorrow, and have made good progress on starting my fundraising, despite the fact that I have not officially started my training.

Last year, I started riding my bike in the final week of March, and I'll be damned if I'm going to wait much longer this year to start riding consistently. (My few fat bike rides don't really count, in my mind.)

To that end, I was either the 3,087th or the 3,402nd person to sign the pledge to ride some distance - any distance - every day in April, despite the fact that I'll be out of town on two trips in the month. I hope others will do the same. Due to donations made based on the number of people who sign the pledge, it helps get bikes in the hands, and under the butts, of kids.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

This a.m., I took my bike off the trainer and wrestled to get my durable, yet nearly impossible to install, beaded Continental Gatorskin tire back on my bike. I had one bloody thumb and got two blisters on the other thumb. I'm going to try this technique next time, to see how it works.

I was admiring my neighborhood when I took my road bike to the shop for a tune up and my fat bike to get the spare wheel set ready.

When we moved into our house, uhm, 17 years ago (Crap! I'm old!) there wasn't a ton going on. A park, a small hardware store, a sort of non-descript bar with okay burgers, a rib joint.

Now?

* Updated park
* Better location for the hardware store
* Coffee and bike shop - trivia donor and host of our team fix-a-flat class next week!!
* Bakery
* Gastropub
* Brewpub - trivia donor
* Cupcake shop (which just used the brewpub's beer in a recipe) -trivia donor
* Coffee shop
* Yoga and massage place
* Gift shop
* Fly fishing/outdoor gear store
* Rib joint
* Good restaurant

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Railroad Bridge #9, #9, #9

So, I'm sick for the first time in a couple of years. I thought I was going to make it through two whole winters without getting sick, but that probably was an unrealistic goal, especially with the junk going around here.

I had been thinking of trying to ride a bike to work today for the first time this year. There's still snow, puddles, and ice, but the temps stayed above freezing last night, so I was going to try taking the fat bike on its longest ride yet.

Instead, I was sitting here, blowing my nose, thinking about the rides I'll go on this spring and summer, including showing my team the Dinkytown Greenway and how it connects to bridge #9.

I learned some things about ol' bridge #9 this morning, including that it used to connect to tracks that ran straight through the U of M campus, on the north side of what is now Northrop Mall (before the Mall was designed by Cass Gilbert). Trains on this route used to carry passengers to Chicago and connect to Great Northern routes out west.

I also learned that there is a guy who is more obsessed about railroad bridges than I am about river confluences or the Donner party. He's got great photos of the bridge on his website, but way more than are remotely necessary. I thank him, though, for having many to borrow from for this post.

Getting in the spirit, I'm also posting a photo of the stone arch bridge I took last weekend while at the Guthrie Theater (in the room with the yellow windows). It, too, was a railroad bridge and now is a pedestrian bridge.

I'm nearly at 50% of my fundraising goal. Thanks for your help!! I've just organized a fix-a-flat class for my team for a couple of weeks from now, and a teammate has managed to get The Firm to host a free spin class on 4/19. We can bring friends, so let me know if you want to join us. We'd love to have you!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Limerick Edition 2014

There once was a bike team captain
Trying to stay atop of all that was happ'nin'      
Thinking up routes
And substitutes
While she was diligently mappin' 'em.

(Let me know if you want the link!)

There was a woman from ol' Minn
Who was feeling a bit snowed in
She dreamed of her road bike
And what it'd be like
To take it around the lakes for a spin.

There once was a nice mother
Who was really like no other
She sent some pjs new
In leopard print blue
And presumably none to my brother.

Luck of the Irish

I think I will have the luck of the Irish when they draw the names for the beer contest. My name will be entered in 11 times due to the generous donations made this week to the MS Society in support of my fundraising goals!

I even had corned beef and cabbage at my brother's and sister-in-law's house this weekend, to help bring the Irish luck to me.

This is my second year of the blog and I'm pretty sure that last year I posted a photo of a leprechaun on a bike. So this year I'm switching to a different type of image. My dog is so grateful that I didn't do this to her.

Thanks for the donations! The snow is starting to melt! Woo-hoo! It will take a long time, but being above freezing is major progress!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Gonna try to win me some beer

To do list:
- Arrange for a fix-a-flat class for the team
- Get bike tuned up
- Thank donors again
- Email team about jerseys and sponsorship plans for the fall
- Melt all the snow
- Win 288 bottles of Summit beer

"I'm confessin' that I love you
Tell me, do you love me too?
I'm confessin' that I need you, honest I do
Ah baby, need you every moment..."

It is a little weird to solicit donations before I actually get on my road bike for the season. But how can I skip asking during MS Awareness Week, especially when each $25 that gets donated through March 9 gets me entered into a drawing to win a case of beer every month for a year?

I'm optimistic about the warm temps we will have Sunday and Monday and what that might mean for riding, but there's too much snow for me to pull out my road bike for a while. The snow on a trail I sometimes ride on has turned into about 9 inches of slush. We will see how creative I can get with the fat bike...

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150

Just let a bit of air out of the tires, you'll be fine

A couple of hours ago, it was 1 degree above zero with a wind chill of negative 13. But it was sunny. To give myself some stability for riding on the thick layer of ice, I dropped the air pressure in my fat bike tires from 11 psi to 5 psi.

Not a cyclist? To underscore how ridiculous this is, let me tell you that I regularly ride my road bike at 100 psi. And normally you pump UP your tires before you ride. These tires were flat, f-l-a-t, flat!

And I took a short ride to Minnehaha Falls.

I'm a chicken, so I went too slowly and gripped my handlebars too tightly, but I did manage to go up some small hills (sort of challenging with big, flat tires) without straining my back. That's progress for me.

Last night I put together a training schedule for the team and put together some new biking routes and mapped them out. Tonight I will send that info to the team. Baby steps, hoping that spring will come fast...

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/MaggieMS150