One Happy Puppy

Woo-woo-woo! 

Yes, I am the happy puppy!!
Photo credit: Kim, after today's ride.

I have met my $5,000 fundraising goal for the BikeMS Ride Across Minnesota (TRAM), thanks to the generosity of many friends - one of who donated twice to help me get closer to my goal and another who donated a second time within one week to get me to $5,000 even! I am very humbled by people rallying behind me and this cause that means a lot to me. There was a fundraising match this past week, and apparently another $500+ will get added to my fundraising total in a week or so.

I didn't ride much this week and didn't swim at all, given that we had thunderstorms pretty much every day, which I really hope won't be the case July 21-26! 

We've been watching the golden retriever, Wallace, this week. I've taken to calling him "Big Boy." He is so big. And he can be stubborn. Like today, when he plopped in the grass in the park and rolled on his back instead of walking home. It is pretty hard to get a big inert creature up and moving, but we got home! He's a sweetie, though, and he's liking summer camp at our house. (He stayed with us in the spring, and liked long walks when it was cooler out.)

They don't really play, and sometimes Haley steals
toys from Wallace, but they do like being together. Haley
really only has a couple of friends, so it is good for her
to remember how to interact with them.

He is loving the kiddie pool.

They are also happy puppies. I mean, really, what have they got to complain about?!?

This morning, Kim, Deb, Jill, and I (all of us are doing the TRAM) met nearby, rode 30 miles with a heat index of over 90, wiped off our sweat, and had brunch on an airy, shaded patio. It was fun to talk about the upcoming ride, and it got me more excited. 

I stopped at the bike shop on the way home because I recently ordered one new tire for the bike I'll be using for the TRAM, but realized that both of the current tires have pretty good gouges out of them and I should get another one, too. I hate flat tires, and especially don't want one on the side of some random county highway. So, I ordered a second one.

I then came home, and set up one of the two tents my brother dropped off for me to try for the TRAM. (We just have a backpacking tent that won't work for Dan, me, and our gear - yes, Dan is riding this year, too!) The tents my brother has for me are not very fancy (appear to be kind of old, but well cared for, and have oddly small rain flies), but they are gigantic. So, I think they will not keep the rain out, probably. But, they are so big that we can probably just move around any puddles that gather inside? Ha ha. My options were 10x10 or 8x12 and both are 6 feet tall. I haven't been able to stand in a tent since I was a kid. I picked 8x12 and will take an extra tarp, rope, and stakes in case we need to get creative. 

I then put the new front tire I had already bought on the bike and noticed that my rim tape (a piece of fabric that protects your tube from the little holes where the spokes go) is all wonky. I don't have any spare rim tape, so I called the bike shop and gave them a heads up that when the other tire comes in, I'd like them to put new rim tape on both wheels and then remount this new tire and put the other new tire on the back wheel. I then was feeling inspired and washed my bike and cleaned the cassette for the first time in, well, years?

I was so disgusting and sweaty from the bike ride, the tent wrestling, the bike stuff, and then a walk with the dogs that the shower I took before dinner was probably my most favorite shower, ever!

I was telling Kim today that since I raised $5,000, I get to do another BikeMS ride anywhere in the country with no fundraising obligations. We spent a good section of the bike ride talking about where it would be most fun to ride. We'll see what happens!

Thanks to all of you who have shown your support through donations, words of encouragement, etc. And I know some people wanted to donate but it wasn't in the cards for them this year, and that's totally understandable, too!

Check it out! Woo!

https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Go-Maggie-Go

Grasp the World Firmly

I was going to title this post, "Grasp It Firmly," but realized that my brothers would have a field day with that, if they ever read one of my blog posts. (Sorry, not sorry, Mom.)

This is the quote: "The world is a nettle; disturb it, it stings. Grasp it firmly, it stings not." It is by Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, who apparently coined the phrase, "The pen is mightier than the sword," and was the first person to start a piece with, "It was a dark and stormy night." 

Nettles have been on my mind ever since I saw an article about the 2024 World Nettle Eating Championship, but resurfaced (and warrant a quote) today, on my ride with Matt, when I got stung in the tongue by a bee or some similar creature and I said that the sensation is what I imagine it feels like to eat a bunch of nettles. 

Post-sting

I can't even blame the bee sting for this look on
my face, my crooked helmet, or the horrible angle.

Thankfully, ever since a particularly bothersome wasp season several years ago, I keep Benadryl in the little bag on my bike and quickly swallowed some and was fine. I am not interpreting this quote to mean that I should have embraced having the stinging insect in my mouth. That's just a no-win situation. Nonetheless, I've been trying to embrace (or grasp, I guess) the world/my life to just keep on plugging along when things in this country do just not make any sense - - and totally deviate from everything I learned in law school. 

After my last post, I went to California to see my oldest niece graduate from college, and then spent a couple of days with my sisters. (I'm giving my brothers-in-law, nor my other niece, not enough credit here!)

After getting home, I then did a great bike ride out in Washington County with Matt, and slightly tweaked that route for a ride a few days later with a group I'm just calling "The Thursday Night Ladies" for short, even though I rode with them on a Sunday.

I then went to visit my mom and stepdad in Wisconsin, got the dogs (mine and theirs) out for a walk on my favorite route to the river (a/k/a "the bear route"), went out for dinner with my mom and aunt while Dan and my stepdad, Terry, held down the fort, went for a chilly swim, and went on a loon-rescue-mission pontoon ride with Terry.

The same photo I take EVERY TIME.

The towel I have wrapped around my
shoulders looks so... festive!

After the visit with my parents, I got a steroid shot in my left SI joint - the side where I also had the frayed labrum and the femur stress fracture last year. I have been enjoying a relatively pain-free week (yahoooooo!) of bike riding when I rode on Wednesday (Thursday Night Ladies plus Saturday coffee ride crew) and Saturday (Thursday Night Ladies), and then again today (OG Matt). I'm hoping that this steroid reprieve, combined with continued PT and pilates, will help me feel okay when everything wears off, although last year's imaging and last month's MRI concluded that this hip is no bueno (medical term of art!), so I'm not holding my breath and just embracing the moment.

Other than that, I've been working hard on keeping the dog sane during Fireworks Season. That's quite a job; one that involves much sleep deprivation.

I had some issues posting a cute video here,
so am posting this photo the morning after
two nights of sedation to help her not
freak out over the fireworks that were
being shot off until 2:30 a.m. So annoying.

So, the week-long bike ride starts in two weeks. This is going to be a harder year for me - probably on par with the first year I did it (or even harder), but I'm still looking forward to it.

Have you been meaning to donate to the MS Society, to support me? I'm at 3/5 of my fundraising goal and could use your help! You can donate now so that you don't forget, or you could set a timer to donate on Wednesday night. Starting this Wednesday, July 10, at 9 Central, an anonymous donor will be matching online donations (up to $1,000 per rider, up to $17,000).

In the meantime, I am going to keep on grasping some nettles! 

https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Go-Maggie-Go

Urban Adventures and A Lesson Learned

After some boredom with the available, not-under-construction routes, I did some exploring over Memorial Weekend to plan a route for the following weekend that we ended up not using. I resurrected it today in a slightly tweaked form, when riding with Laura and Cheri. It was a ton of fun, even at the points when we were riding directly into a northern headwind, going up the Lafayette Bridge. (A guy walking south on the bridge simply said, "good luck!" and then Cheri hilariously said "At least we're going uphill.") We stopped at Malcolm Yards about 3/5 of the way in and had some chips and salsa and an adult beverage (mine was a Bloody Mary) to rehydrate. 

Laura and me on Thursday, with me showing
off my tattoo sleeves that Beth and Dad got me 
several years ago for Christmas. I don't
have a photo of the three of us from today.

Yesterday was a day of urban exploration with Matt, weaving our way SE through the city that we don't usually take, literally riding right in the middle of the Major Taylor club riders for a short stretch, and then discovering that the road and trail along the Minnesota River in Bloomington were most definitely closed due to flooding. We then headed pretty much due east, through St. Paul, up a big hill, down a big hill, and up a hill. 

The Minnesota River, upstream from where it
meets the Mississippi.

The bike trail was even more under water than
this road that Xcel Energy says you can't ever ride
on. I would have ridden on it if it hadn't been under
water, though. The lady walking has clothing very
similar to the zebra print wallpaper and bright pink wall that
were in the main bedroom of the house at the end of the
street that took FOREVER to sell because it had
things like zebra print wallpaper. 

View of St. Paul from the top of Ohio Street,
by the High Bridge. This was just a bit more than 3/5
of the way into our ride.

After yesterday's decent ride, Dan, Kristin, Steve, and I went to a MN Aurora women's soccer game in Eagan at the Viking practice facility. It was a lot of fun.

Minnesota won!

Back to Memorial Day weekend: I was looking for a route that several of us could take for a ride Steve wanted to do for his birthday. I was riding by myself through Swede Hollow, which I love, because it is this green, dark, lush ravine in the middle of the city, in the shadow of the old Hamm's brewery. After passing an encampment of unhoused people, at the entry point to the ravine, I saw a guy who seemed normal and nice walking an old-style dirt bike. English was not his first language, and after two tries, I realized he was calling out to me to see if I had a pump to help him pump up his tire. I said no, because I was alone in this secluded part of this ravine, and there weren't other people walking or riding through. If I had been with other people, I would have stopped. If it weren't in a secluded area, I would have stopped. But I didn't. I dwelled on this for the rest of the day. I should have stopped. The chances of anything bad happening from this guy who didn't give off any creepy vibes were really low. I was talking through this with Matt on our ride yesterday and I have decided that I'd rather be a nice human than a paranoid one and, if I am in a similar situation and I'm not getting a creepy vibe, I will stop.

Other than getting in some good bike rides, I've been catching up on yard work and enjoying the amazing weather we've had lately.

These huge bees are loving the 
wisteria I planted.

This one loves to try to catch bees,
so we are working on that.

I've used the number 3/5 a bit today. It is because I realized that I'm at about 3/5 of my fundraising goal for the BikeMS ride next month and have that number on my mind. I should probably step up some efforts there. The MS Society recently worked with partners to educate members of Congress, who by very wide margins (remarkable for this Congress!), passed a bill that reauthorizes the Federal Aviation Administration law and adds many new provisions to make air travel more accessible for people who have disabilities. President Biden signed the bill into law. Your support matters! 

https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Go-Maggie-Go

This Matters

Since my last post, I did my first two Thursday night ride of the season. This is my 3rd year doing Thursday night FTW rides from my local bike shop, organized by my now-friend Laura, and they are an absolute joy! They are about 20-25 miles, end at either my local taproom or the outdoor restaurant in the park at Minnehaha Falls, and are rides where no one is left behind. We have split into 2-3 groups the past two weeks, because people are at different fitness levels starting off the season, which is good so that no one feels like they are holding up a large group of people. The first week, I helped the middle group find their way back home, and the second week, I led the slow group back. I would have been okay with pushing myself more, but if needed, I'm happy to help make sure we create a welcoming environment and not accidentally lose anyone.

Last weekend, on a bit of a whim, I decided to do the BikeMS Twin Cities Ride. I paid the minimum fundraising amount and, did the longer route (45 miles), and rode to the start and finish (another 12 round trip). Then, the next day, my friend Matt and I rode about 35 miles. Those were my biggest back-to-back days since 2022, and it felt pretty good! 

Sweaty Selfie at the end of the
BikeMS Twin Cities Ride - - over an
empanada

I haven't ridden on
Shingle Creek Parkway for years and,
well, it is okay :-)

Our BikeMS team is named in honor/support of my friend Stacy,
whose dad and daughter also did the Twin Cities ride that day

We've had some good rain lately (fingers crossed we 
don't have a drought again this summer), so Matt
and I took photos of the falls

Yesterday, I walked the dog for quite some time and did yard work (not totally comfy on my hip), but then today I rode about 63 miles (my new, longest ride since 2022). I'm a little sore and I was kind of hungry at the end, but otherwise feel pretty good. 

Photo from the middle of the week, on my walk with Haley
along the MN River - - the high river accentuates the
work of some busy beavers

Lilies of the valley, which always remind me of my
maternal grandmother - - in a little pitcher of hers that she 
gave me before she died - - I love them and miss that sweet grandma

Thankfully, Matt and I didn't ride exactly the same
route to/from the turnaound point near Stillwater

All this riding makes me feel pretty optimistic about the July week-long BikeMS ride. 

In the middle of the past week, I connected via Zoom with a woman I've known nearly the entire almost 20 years that I've worked in public health, and who I learned about a dozen years ago has MS. She is one of the people I know who has a version of MS that is pretty progressive/less forgiving. She is having some big physical challenges, and we talked about the MS Society and my fundraising efforts. She confirmed my beliefs that the MS Society really is doing pretty cutting edge research and that its advocacy efforts are making a difference, too. So, thank you to all of  you who have donated over the years.

Last year at this time, when I was truly injured and decided I needed to see a doctor ASAP, I was "walking" my parents dog on my favorite trail when my mom was having knee replacement surgery. I saw the largest bear and was grateful that it didn't want to try to attack me. My stepdad just recently sent me video footage of a bear on their patio below their deck from earlier this week and then said that today they saw a bear - - near where I was walking last year - - that is easily 2x bigger than the bear that was at their house. I am wondering if it was that same huge bear from last year! The trail it is walking on is an old logging road, to give you a sense of its size. 

In my last post, I failed to mention that I took a vacation day with some friends on a Friday and just hung out eating and drinking around assorted patios on town and it was an amazing day.

Kristin, Susan, and me - early in our adventure!

So, I think I mentioned that my fundraising goal is $5,000 this year - partly because that is challenging, yet achievable, but also because if I hit that goal, I can do another BikeMS ride anywhere in the country without raising additional money - - like the San Francisco/Wine Country ride I did in 2019. I'd like to keep that option open, if it is feasible. https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Go-Maggie-Go 

I have decided that I also need a biking goal for this year other than, "better than last year," which I've essentially met. So, I'm mulling that over...

Middle Distance Ru... Cycler

Today was a beautiful day in Minneapolis, and a great day for biking. My friend Matt and I rode to Grey Cloud Island. It was around 60 degrees when we started, around 70 degrees when we finished, sunny, and with a slight headwind for just a bit at the end (of course, but it wasn't bad). 

I keep a spreadsheet each year of each of my rides, including information about where I rode, who with, and which bike I rode - - because I need a hobby, I guess. Anyhow, it turns out that given last year's injury, this was the longest bike ride I've done since 2022 and the first time I've been to Grey Cloud since 2022. Because it is such a nice rural route, I rode to Grey Cloud seven times in 2020, when I was trying to stay away from people (although we saw several people doing a similar route today) and kill lots of time. That was my biggest Grey Cloud year to date.

It is weird to think that I didn't ride this distance even once last year, when in normal years this has been an average cycling day (a little over 50 miles). When pondering that, it made me think of this nice song, Middle Distance Runner, by Sea Wolf, although it isn't really about running, either. (Click on the arrow to hear it.)

I didn't do a good job of taking photos, which is too bad - - Grey Cloud Island is pretty. And we purposely rode through the winding trail down through Battle Creek Park, just because it is so scenic. My photos are kind of meh. But the trail crosses back and forth over the creek, where there are a series of human-reinforced waterfalls. (Meaning humans constructed some erosion-proof waterfalls, versus humans standing in the waterfalls.)

I was taking these photos for my friend's dad, who apparently thinks I haven't been taking enough pictures on my rides and sharing them. These crappy photos are for you, Mark Hochhauser! 

Anyhow, when I do the weeklong Ride Across Minnesota in July, we'll be averaging about 60 miles per day, so I will need to start getting some more rides in like today, and do them back-to-back. My hip was a little unhappy for part of the ride today, as was my other knee which I tweaked somehow this week, and my butt was reminded of the fact that I prefer to ride with no padded shorts - just regular shorts. 

Just like this was about 1/5 of the bike ride, it looks like I'm at about 1/5 of my fundraising goal. Better get on that! I've been aiming for $5,000 because I think I'd like to do a ride in another state next year, and, like how it worked for me in 2019 when I rode in the Bay Area, you only have to fundraise for one of the two events, if you bring in $5,000. Plus, of course, the MS Society does great work and is a trusted resource for friends of mine with MS. https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Go-Maggie-Go

I'm pretty excited that the Thursday night FTW rides that my friend Laura leads are starting up again - - that's always a good way to get out there and move, and with fun people.

Spring has sprung

 

Well, we had some false starts - including our most heavy snowfall of the winter - in February and early March, after an otherwise mild winter. But there are now buds on the shrubs, the trees will leaf out any day now, my chives are happy (i.e. tall), and there are baby bunnies inconveniently nesting in my flower bed. 

Now I'm just waiting for temps consistently above 50 so that I can clean up the yard without displacing the pollinators, and so that I can continue the good cycling trend I've recently been on.

The weather this weekend was pretty amazing. I got some shorter distance bike rides in, but rode with more intensity and sought out hills. And I got some nice long walks in with Haley.

3 weeks ago - many layers!

Today! 

My hip was bugging me going into the weekend after being in DC this week for work and doing A LOT of walking (yay!) but doing very little of my PT exercises (boo!). But after doing all the stretches and the exercises tonight, I'm feeling pretty good.

In the third week of March, I went to Zion with the sister and brother to whom I'm fully blood related. We did a lot of hiking (the second and third days I used hiking poles, which helped my stability and my hip on uneven terrain), and talked about how much my dad would have wanted to be right there with us. We all miss him so much. 

Early on day 1 - wondering if we'll
survive vacation together. (Also, I didn't 
get their permission to share this photo. Whoops.)

Day 1 - we walked down this
river valley, further than the hoards.

Day 2 - a less crowded area of the park,
with lots (>50) stream crossings.

Day 3 - super isolated hike - - 
other than the evidence of coyotes
and mountain lions.

Day 3 - it would be oppressively hot
on this trail in the summer. We lost the 
trail a few times, but found it again.

It was a great trip - so good to be moving, hanging out with people I like, and getting a mental break from work. Nonetheless, I was feeling pretty discouraged after the trip, due to the discomfort despite all the effort I'm putting into getting that dang hip better. But with some recalibration by my PT person, I'm now feeling much more optimistic about the future, including my ability to comfortably-enough do the fundraiser 5-day bike ride.

Thank you so much for your donations to the MS Society of $1,225. I am optimistic that I can meet my goal of $5,000. I found this interesting image on the MS Society website about its research initiatives. They're doing really good work. (And they don't just do research; they also provide services and engage in advocacy work to ensure that people who are affected with MS have health care, access and protections, etc.)

You can help support them! Here's the link to donate for the 5-day bike ride I'm doing in July. https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Go-Maggie-Go

A bit of fresh air

Today was very warm for Minnesota this time of year and, since I will be in ATL soon, I thought I should compare the two.

After doing some chores and a bit of work, I went for a 30ish-mile bike ride. Nearly 2/3 of it was roads that I haven't yet been on in 2024. 

Some highlights include seeing my brother's M-I-L walking and stopping to talk with her for a while; seeing at least a dozen boats fishing at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers; seeing several eagles: and discovering that my idea of making fruitcake, cutting it into pieces, wrapping them individually, and freezing them was a great idea. 

A couple of cars underestimated my speed, but only car put me in a true, unsafe situation. Lacking originality, the license plate on that car was "DevlDog"

It was a great ride nonetheless!

https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Go-Maggie-Go