Fact: Your presence here just shimmers, now let's dance.

Those of you who are on Facebook (and are connected to me there) know that I recently posted this photo of a pep talk generator. I really want to make better use of it. I decided there's no time like the present!

Anyhow, I haven't posted anything here for three months because there hasn't been a whole lot to say. I have no outdoor biking stories to tell because I've been using my indoor bike. (Really glad I got that since it was essentially below zero for the bulk of the past 5 weeks!) Things are still COVIDlicious. I've been working a lot. I laid pretty low over the holidays, but got to see some family members here and there, which was good.

So, as I sit here, drinking a yummy Belgian beer while incongruously wearing my Leinenkugel's leiderhosen sweatsuit for the first time since Halloween (makes for great pjs!), I thought there are a few things that may interest you fine reader(s).

As much as possible, I've been getting out with the dog for adventurous hikes. (We also had an epic 8+ mile hike with my friend Marcy, which was fantastic.) She is more limited by the cold than I am, since I don't know where to find ear muffs or a snout-warmer for Haley. A few times, I've realized, once we've started, that it is chillier than I thought it was, due to the wind. So, I've ended up doing a fair amount of jogging in nature parks wearing snowboots and a winter coat. Apologies that some of these dog photos may not be new to some of you, given my "Haley Daily" posts on Facebook (it's a bit of a misnomer, but "Haley Semiweekly" just doesn't have the same alliterative effect. (Is that the right word?)

From Nov, when it was just getting cold.

Late Dec, at Lake Elmo Park. It was icy and windy and
we ran much of the 6-mile trail. She is quite the hunter!

Late Dec, Minnehaha Falls. My cousins from 
St. Louis unfortunately visited - to attend an 
outdoor hockey game - when it was below zero.
The falls were pretty tho'.

Haley and Pierre, in January, when
Dan and I were in... Mexico!

So, in January 2020, Dan and I went to Mexico for a Wilco-focused music festival. Even though we thought it was kind of ridiculous when we booked it, it turned out to be a great thing because (1) it was great, (2) we had the shittiest end to 2019 with my Dad dying and my mom's cancer, and (3) a big surprise was waiting for us in March 2020. In May 2021, after getting booster shots, we though, let's do it again in January 2022! After much hemming and hawing due to Omicron, realizing that I did not actually get the cancel-for-any-reason travel insurance and instead got really expensive insurance that would cover adventurous deaths (e.g., skydiving with sharks) and the repatriation of our remains, and a lot of emails and back and forth to the festival organizers about how exactly things would work if we got sick in Mexico, we went to Mexico. 

That's me. :-)  It was pants weather at night, which was fine!

It was not quite the same, but it was really, really good. It was warm, sunny most of the time, and not our house. We got to see good music. Our flights were not delayed. We have TSA precheck AND global entry. We just had to wear masks for many hours for two days and I was annoyed by jackasses that refuse to just follow the rules. So, you know, less annoying than a typical workday for anyone who has worked in the service industry in the past two years. 

A bit warmer in Mexico than at home.

The main stage. People were pretty spaced out this year.
Geographically, I mean. Only a few people are actually
really drunk, which is good for an all-inclusive resort.
They wisely have food all over the place.

 

This shady overlook thing where you can watch
the afternoon bands in a comfy chair.

They have a lot of activities. Like in 2020, my priority
was the mezcal tasting event with Nels Cline and 
John Stirrat. I didn't want to be too close to people,
so we sat in the back, which was nice.

The mezcals. One was definitely not my style.

Side stage where Nels Cline talked about playing 
guitars. Dan was very happy.

I started every day with a short run (monkeys and lizards were seen),
and then we usually had breakfast in a spot like this.
Not too shabby.

After breakfast, before the mid-afternoon music
started, we just read. And I swam and looked
at cute little hermit crabs and other creatures.

After Mexico, I had a couple-three, as they say here in Minnesota, COVID tests and then went to visit my mom and stepdad. I bought a harness for this year-old, muscular pup - and a waist leash - and took him snowshoeing. I became his new BFF.

Haley, with her keen nose, was not thrilled about the scent of Alvin all over my clothes. So, I tried to win back her affection...

So, what's on deck in the upcoming months? Well, we have an Irish dance performance for St. Patrick's day, I'm going hiking in the Grand Canyon in the spring. I've got a couple other trips sprinkled in that hopefully will happen, and then a beercycling trip in Belgium (knock on wood - rescheduled from 2020) and.... the Bike MS Ride Across Minnesota in July - - - which will be on the North Shore of MN, a truly lovely place. (You can donate here! https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo-2022)

I'm a little out of shape due to working too much, and spending a good chunk of December eating pastries/cookies and drinking beer (not a ton, but too much for me). Although I've been healthier these past couple of weeks, I did still eat the requisite post-platelet-donation Oreos today. I actually had skipped them but then was feeling a little shaky, so decided it was necessary from a public safety standpoint if I was going to drive home. 

It is supposed to be warm and melty later this week. I may have missed my window for fat biking this year, and think we still need more snow after last year's drought. I normally am able to be out riding around St. Patrick's Day. We'll see how this year pans out...

A full fall

Well, the days are definitely getting shorter and it is getting colder. After an amazingly nice day on Saturday and a "great for November" Sunday, I see some snow in the forecast. Which means that I hopefully will be ramping up my visits to the fancy new bike I bought and put in the decidedly not-fancy, nearly 100-year old basement. It (the bike, not the basement) has a screen and whatnot, and a variety of biking and non-biking classes, nearly all of which are really quite good. I should have visited the bike today after a long day at work, but instead decided to do some bona fide cooking for dinner, which was restorative in its own way.

What follows isn't a full report of what I have been doing since I last posted, but here are some highlights.

In early October, we went to NYC with our friends Kristin and Steve, while Haley had her first-ever (and successful!) slumber party over at Pierre's house. It really is noteworthy because we've worked really hard to make her less reactive around other dogs and, while she'll never be a dog park kind of dog, she can apparently stay in at least one house with another dog when we're out of town and peacefully co-exist. Many thanks to Susan and Eric for being amenable to that. Oh, NYC! It was a great trip, with really effective COVID precautions. The weather was great and we did a full-day bike tour of Brooklyn. Riding in NYC is pretty different than riding in MSP.

Little dog on the big bed,
big dog on the little bed. It never fails.

I did several rides with my friend Matt, did a western suburb ride with a guy I met through the Twin Cities Bicycling Club (TCBC) named Adams, sadly stopped doing weeknight rides with TCBC and the Major Taylor Bicycling Club, started taking Irish dance classes again, and had a fun trip with my friend Marcy (we don't get to see each other enough) to see Beth (my stepmom) and got to do a big nature hike and watch lots of Ted Lasso. That was a big sentence. I also took Haley for lots of walks at the state park after work.

For Halloween, I pulled out the lederhosen sweatsuit that I ordered during the fall of 2020 to make me laugh on dark COVID days, and ordered a hat. I got to wear my costume to Irish dance, on the TCBC Halloween bike ride that Matt and I did (he won third prize for his costume!), and when I handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. It was pretty chilly on Halloween, so I pulled the fire ring thing out front, sat by the fire with lots of clothes on under my lederhosen, and pointed kids toward a big bowl and said, "take 3 pieces." It was so fun to have a costume, and a decent one at that!

Matt's costume garnered lots of comments on the bike trails
from people coming from the other direction.

I am still laughing.

Jess is a TCBC rider and was the
most welcoming person when I first
started riding with the club in the spring.

Stacy always has her feet
lined up better than I do. 

Last week and this past weekend, I spent a lot of time consulting with Stephen from the Angry Catfish about new biking shoes and the bizarre placement of my old cleats. I rode about 60 miles with Matt on Saturday (beautiful weather!) on a really fun route he put together with lots of zigzagging and backtracking throughout the city. And then, on Sunday, I rode about 55 miles with Adams to show him the route to Grey Cloud Island. It was a colder day, which always makes my muscles more sore. It was also the first day I wore my new biking shoes, and with cleats in more normal spots. My back hardly hurt. I am wondering if half of my back pain was self-induced by not noticing that my left cleat was really far forward in my shoe. In a way, I hope so (even though that is annoying), because maybe that means my back will feel better down the road - provided I do all the core stuff I'm supposed to be doing. 

Matt's Saturday route. I made myself a cue sheet.
Thankfully, there was nothing resembling snow.
It was sunny and perfect. 

Grey Cloud Island on Sunday. It was chilly,
but still nice for November. Lots of birds.

Generally cleats (especially for a shorter person)
should be toward the heel of the foot (like on the right).
Regardless, they generally should be in the same place
on each foot. For some reason, I feel like this
was purposeful placement four years ago,
but Stephen says that seems pretty unlikely and
likely was something that was loose, shifted,
and undetected by me. Who knows?

And so we'll see what the conditions are like for the remainder of the year. Last year I rode pretty solidly into mid-December, but I'm glad to have an indoor option this year to supplement whatever I might do outside. October was a full month. I was packing it in, in anticipation of the change of seasons, and am grateful that I was so lucky to do so much.

Three is a Magic Number

"Yes it is, it's a magic number
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number
The past and the present and the future
Faith and hope and charity
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number

It takes three legs to make a tripod or to make a table stand
It takes three wheels to make a vehicle called a tricycle
And every triangle has three corners
Every triangle has three sides
No more, no less, you don't have to guess
When it's three, you can see
Its a magic number..."

We had plans tonight to meet a group of old friends for dinner on one couple's deck. 

One of the six friends who Dan and I hung out with: Christine!
I hadn't seen her since just before COVID. (p.s. 53 degrees)

Since I had that preexisting plan, I couldn't attend the Major Taylor Cycling Club end-of-season BBQ. And since I couldn't go to that, and the days are getting shorter and colder, I figured today would be a good day to meet my goal of doing 3, 100-mile rides this season. And I did! 

But it was hard. I haven't been riding much. Also, when I left my house just before 7:30 this morning, it was 43 with a wind chill of 39. Oy! 

~ 8:30 am: Hat, headband over the ears,
arm warmers, wool shirt, yellow pullover,
yellow vest, and a wool neck buff.

Biking shorts, street capris,
knee high wool socks, shoe covers,
two pairs of thin full-fingered gloves.

And I didn't drink as much water as I should have. And there was a tail wind for the last 10 miles or so. I couldn't quite figure out how to work the Club ride in to my longer ride for today, and I really wanted to catch up with my cycling friend Matt, so I did a 30-mile, not-direct ride to his house, we rode 44 miles to Hastings and back, and then I rode 26 back home.

I forgot how pretty it is around Hastings, Spring Lake Park, and the Mississippi and Vermillion Rivers. We got chased by some fat dogs, saw a lot of chickens and turkeys, and had to dodge people as they did a Beer Run. About 14 miles from home, when riding into the wind, thinking of my sore back, calculating how to make sure to hit 100 miles, and likely dehydrated, a very good looking man came up beside me on his bike - like a mirage. He slowed down to say to me, "I thought this would be a less windy road!" and then he very politely picked up his pace and left me in his dust. That little interaction put a little spring in my... pedals, and I'm grateful to him. 

So yeah, when I realized I couldn't do a 300-mile week of riding, I told my BikeMS donors (thanks, guys!) that I decided to do 3, 100-mile rides. I tried four, but had to bail on the first due to a thunderstorm. I'm tired and my back is sore, but I'm very glad that I was able to get that in before October. (Last October, we had a huge snow storm, so who knows what is on deck for this year?)

Livin' La Vida Loca

Well, not exactly. But I sure have done a lot of biking this week, in addition to other things to keep me out of trouble. From Tuesday through today, I've ridden 223 miles. And, if you add in last weekend's rides, that's another 91 miles. I have about 2,300 miles in for 2021 so far, which is pretty much on par with last year when I rode shorter distances but much more regularly to stay sane during an unvaccinated COVID summer.

So, what's been keeping me busy since I last posted something here?

Well, I went to St. Louis for a memorial service and to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Then, I went to Wisconsin with my sister and niece to visit Beth (my stepmom).

I took my fat tire bike, rode with Beth,
and then rode to the state park.

We then caravanned (that looks weird, but I think it might actually be correct?!?) to northern Wisconsin and visited my mom and Terry. Terry took this photo of the ladies, but I didn't have their permission to post their photos and my niece had not yet put on her makeup for the day, so I redacted them from this photo. It makes me laugh. What is that face? Ha.

Well, hello.

I ate so many desserts on that trip that my clothes are still a little snug. Success! 

I did some bike rides with a couple of friends, went and saw the dancers at Irish Fair, met friends from the east coast for dinner on a patio, went to an outdoor concert with my brother and sister-in-law (compliments of my other brother who was unloading tickets for free), took a meal to a friend who is not well and had a nice talk with her, and took the dog for some walks and had a private backyard training session with the dog trainer (and the dog, of course).

Look at that tongue. She's so cute. I really like her.

I also, perhaps obviously, did some rides with the clubs I belong to.

There's a cooler shot of this background view
that I posted on Facebook, but I thought
 I should show some proof that I was there.
Someone on the ride had a flat, so we had this nice scenic break.  

The Major Taylor club, including me, eating a
Pearson's Nut Roll, provided support for
the Ride for Reparations. I rode at the back
with a walkie talkie and helped change
flat tires and things like that. It was a ride
to different sites in the city to learn about
the practice of restrictive covenants - a
form of structural racism with impacts
carrying over to today - with funds
raised going to organizations serving Black people.

I'm really trying to get better with the selfies.

I took this photo of the totally dry creek while
on the Ride for Reparations. We've been hit hard
with a drought, although the creek has some water
now - we got just under of 5 inches of rain this week.
That's more than we've had all summer.

This week, I did my third attempt at a 100-mile bike ride this summer and succeeded (for the second time)! I rode up the river to the Coon Rapids Dam, rode over to Elm Creek Park, and to the city of Maple Grove. I met up with some members of the Twin Cities Bicycling Club and rode to places I'd never been. Who knew there was a Rockford, Minnesota? There was a pretty river that we rode by and, unfortunately, there were a lot of dead turtles on the road. I then navigated my way home through Plymouth (I think?) and some other western suburbs and around the lakes and back home. 

The Luce Line trail - - still about 15-18 miles from home.
I almost ran over a snake in this area.

Then, this weekend, I rode with the Major Taylor club and, after that, we met up with another group that was hosting a ride to help a diverse group of inexperienced riders get more familiar with riding. I hung in the back, transporting someone's water bottle that kept falling off her bike and then providing moral support to a guy who was changing his flat tire. 

I never really knew what
I looked like from the rear.
This is the bridge really close to my house.
I rarely ride over it, but I walk over it
nearly every day.

The outreach ride.

Then today my friend Matt and I did kind of a crappy route. The scenery was good (I didn't take any pictures - doh!) but the traffic was not ideal. And there were a lot of dead snakes, in addition to other roadkill. But it still was a great day of riding. 

So, on the fundraising front - - people very generously donated $4,800 ($300 and $4,500) to the MS Society in support of my riding/fundraising, and I am so appreciative. https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/GoMaggieGo-2021

Technically, I have met my end of the bargain - I did TRY three 100-mile rides this season. But I only did two. It seems like I really need to still do that third one, so stay tuned! 

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