Tap, tap, tap... Is this thing still on?

A lot has happened since we last saw our superhero; I'm no longer working and therefore have much more free time. As a result, my interests and pasttimes have expanded.

On the fitness front, I am still cycling, have recently returned to yoga, but have also developed an interest in indoor climbing at the gym.

We are fairly new owners of a used Itasca Navion and therefore have been experiencing fun adventures as novice RV owners.

I've found more time to work on my artistic/creative side and have been exploring different creative outlets.

And we've been spending a bit of time updating the house through some DIY projects

I'm thinking about returning to the blogosphere, possibly with a few different blogs differentiated by subject matter.  Not sure what platform might be best or what subjects might be most interesting.

Please do me a favor of you've stumbled upon this post and let me know what might be most interesting: fitness adventures, RV adventures, artistic adventures,  DIY home improvement adventures, some combination, or none of the above.

Thank you!

"It took 50 years to look this good"

I don't know what this is called, but it's a good glute stretch

Hopefully it's not bad luck to hit a milestone birthday on Friday the 13th.

I've decided to go with the mantra "fifty and fabulous"  although I made need to "fake it 'til I make it" because most of the time I just feel old.

We have forty miles on tap for tomorrow and it looks like the weather will cooperate. YAY!

Meanwhile, I'm keeping busy with my daily yoga. Here are a few more photos.

Some Side Stretch pose that I think I was doing wrong

Extended Child's Pose - note trapped cat in background. Hahaha!

The screen has been wonderful at keeping the dogs out.  However, one of the cats (the old one) got trapped on the wrong side the other day.  You can see him in the last photo trying to figure out what to do.

He actually had an alternate path through a cutout passthrough to the kitchen, which he eventually figured out.   Silly cat.

I think the half-century is in six more weeks. Our training plan peaks at 55 miles four weeks from now. Hopefully that will be sufficient to get us ready.  One thing I'm not sure about is the course profile.  However, we will be riding at a significantly lower altitude, so that will work in our favor.

Enjoy your day. Happy Friday the 13th and Happy (early) Valentines Day.  Hope you enjoy it doing something you love.

Fickle February

Bundled up for a chilly ride

 Last weekend, Sunday looked to be the better day to ride.  It had snowed/rained on and off Friday and Saturday, but the skies were blue and the temps had increased to upper 30s/low 40s.

Enjoying a spring-like day

I was sporting a balaclava under my helmet and had donned a winter jacket. All things considered, it was a decent day to get out to ride.  But it was definitely a wintery February day.

Fast forward to this weekend.  Much to my surprise, Saturday's high was 67.  It felt like spring!  I was able to ride with just arm warmers.  I didn't even need a light jacket, although I was wearing an extra short sleeve layer under my jersey.

Hard to believe the change from one weekend to the next.  Of course, this pleasant weekend was a rare event.  It looks like winter plans to return on Wednesday. But no complains for the spring preview!

Uninterrupted yoga!

Now for some yoga news. After a particularly frustrating few days whereby the dogs just would not leave me alone, I decided to invest in a folding four panel screen.

You may notice a few things from this next photo.  A few panels of the screen are visible; it's blocking off the arch to the kitchen. More importantly, no dogs!  They are trapped on the other side of the screen. I'm sure they could nudge it out of their way if they wanted to, but so far they haven't figured that out.

It is really nice to have uninterrupted yoga for a change. I'm not sure why I didn't think of this solution earlier; I expect it to enhance my yoga experience immensely.

Yoga (with dogs)

Long time, no blog.  Yes, I know.

Jan was filled with two things fitness: cycling and yoga. I've given up on the trainer for now and we're back to riding outside, at least for long rides on the weekend. We have 6 more training weeks until the half-century. That's where my training focus happens to be.

But what I feel like sharing today is my yoga journey. I've had an on and off relationship with yoga over the years. I've usually gone into it thinking that I don't like it and am not good at it, and end up fulfilling that destiny.  Recently something has changed. I feel like I'm truly embracing it, and the result is that I'm starting to enjoy it and see improvement in strength and flexibility. Surprisingly, I've been doing yoga daily for 20+ min and sometimes more (longer or a second session) for the past month.

The biggest obstacle right now is that I am attempting yoga at home with dogs. For some reason, they can't stay away when the mat come out. Some photos of my escapades:

Downward Facing Dog (with dogs)

Every morning it's the same, the dogs want to be on the mat!

Sunbird Bow in a rare uninterrupted session. Dogs happened to be outside.

Swan Pose (with dogs)

Cat Pose (with dogs)

Tell me about your experiences with home yoga practice. Anyone else accompanied by dogs/cats/kids?

Five Things Fitness

It's been at least 5 weeks since I've last updated my blog.  To catch you up quickly, here's a list of 5 things fitness that have happened since my last post.

1) Remember the Ab Challenge?  That didn't happen.

Actually, I am still working on my abs, but I abandoned that challenge because it was way too difficult for me. Instead I'm now doing a combination of plank, prone plank, and bird-dog (both sides). Holding everything for 30sec and working on increasing repetitions.  It's more aligned to my ability, yet I'm still strengthening my abs.

2) Cycled on a new path.

cycling - Kauai style

Rented a couple of beach cruiser bicycles while we were on vacation in Kauai in November. The island has a multi-use trail on the east side along the ocean that is scenic and quite pleasant for cycling.  However, I know now that I do not at all like that style bicycle.  Despite the large cushy seat, it was pretty uncomfortable.  Given a choice to do it over again, I'd look for a place that rented hybrids. But don't feel too sorry for me. Afterall, we were riding up and down the east side of Kauai enjoying ocean views!

proof!

3) Got back in the water.

Even though I'm always reminded that swimming is a good way to exercise and it's easy on my knee, I had put it off for well over a year.  I can now say that I've been there several times this month and intend to keep at it for awhile, especially since I bought a multi-use pass (use it or lose it!). Every week I've been timing a 400yd front crawl, and I'm seeing improvement. It's giving me something to word toward.

I still don't love swimming laps, but with my waterfi ipod it's a whole lot more tolerable. I do enjoy having the distraction of music.  And I think I'm secretly the envy of the other swimmers who are stuck listening to the sound of splashes and bubbles. Or at least that what I keep telling myself.  Hahahah.

jingle bell 5k

4) Walked a 5K, this time at a more leisurely pace.

The last 5K that I walked was competitive and I took 2nd, but then I was sore for several days afterwards. This one was untimed, I went much slower, and no after pain.

 Husband finished (running) in 23 something.  I finished (walking) in 47 something.  Walking isn't as fun as running, but it' more fun than sitting on the couch.  So there.

5) Changed focus from running to cycling.

As of the moment, I have no plans to do any running.  Right now it looks like we will do a Tour de Cure in March and an MS ride in August.  The Tour de Cure in March means that I need to get back outside on my bike probably in January and start training. May set up the trainer inside as well.  

30-Day Ab Challenge

Boy am I in trouble.  I decided to go for a 30-day Ab Challenge that I stumbled across, but my abs are so weak that even day 1 was a challenge

Day 1 starts with 15 sit-ups.  Well, it turns out that I can't even to a single sit-up without tucking my toes under the sofa.  Yeah, not a good sign.  But in the spirit of starting where I am, that's what I did.

I would also like to add that 10s plank seemed like eternity.  But at least I could do that part properly.

So we'll see how this goes.  I figure that if I get stuck, I can always repeat a day.  What's more important than following the plan is strengthening my abs, right?  And it's pretty clear from day 1 that my abs could use some strengthening!

What are you doing these days to improve your fitness? Trying anything new?

Hunt for a commuter bike

Sorry that I haven't been blogging or commenting much.  I'm in the middle of getting my injections and I'm supposed to be staying off my left knee while I'm getting the treatment. As many of you know from experience, it's hard to get excited about blogging when you're benched. The only thing interesting that has happened recently has been my hunt for a commuter bike.

After commuting to/from the Balloon Fiesta in the dark (twice) on my road bike, I decided that I'd like to do more commuting by bike.  In the past, I commuted on an aluminum road bike that I no longer own. It wasn't ideal for that job for several reasons. I still own a 90s steel frame mountain bike that I thought would work, but it's heavy and not very pleasant to ride. After about 1.5 miles, I'm pretty much done riding that bike. So I decided to look for a used hybrid.

my nifty upcycled pannier bag

I should back up and say that I'd like to be able to use it for "quick" trips to the store, riding to meet a friend for a walk on the bosque, and for commuting to work a few days a week.  I live on a gravel road, there is a hard packed trail that is a more direct route to the bosque, and my commute to work includes a half mile or so stretch with a decent climb up onto the mesa.

While I believe most people are better off commuting on a touring or city bike, given these conditions, a hybrid with decent traction really seems like a good answer in my case.  Also something with decent gearing so I can haul my mass up that hill (carrying laptop, change of clothes, etc).   Buying a used bike seems like the way to go for a utility bike, so my search was on...

Scott P6 Sportster hybrid (2009?)

After trying a half dozen or so bikes from a combination of craigslist and a shop with consignment bikes, I narrowed my search down to two options.  A 90s era Giant Innova with a steel frame that needed work (derailleur adjustment, new brake pads, new tubes, etc) to get to a ride-ready state and a more contemporary (2009?) Scott P6 hybrid with an aluminum frame that was ride-ready as is that had some pretty cool cyclocross tires installed.

Richey SpeedMax tires

I ended up going with the Scott because asking price was only $35 over the Giant, was ride-ready, and those tires really handle well on a variety of surfaces. Overall, I'm pleased with my find.

I plan to replace the seat post mounted rack with a frame mounted rack.  I also have a bike computer that I want to install along with my lights.  And I need to fix up an underseat bag with the right kind of tubes for these tires.

I won't actually be able to start commuting for several weeks because I need to give my knee time to get through the treatment and begin healing, but this gives me a project while I'm benched.  When my knee is ready, the bike will be ready as well.  Win-win!

Bike Valet at AIBF

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta offers a free bike valet service.  This is the first year that we have tried it out.

The Balloon Park is about 8.5 miles from our house, which is not too bad.  The downside is that we needed to leave in the dark and when we got out onto a more major rode, we needed to ride along some traffic congestion for a little while.

The upside is that we didn't get stuck in traffic, we didn't need to pay parking or pay the premium charged for the park-and-ride bus service combo ticket.  Plus we got some exercise.  And it was a great morning.

There are a few things that I'd do differently.  I left my bike gloves at home and wore regular full fingered gloves on the way to the park. I should have stuck with the bike gloves.  I also wore bike shorts under running tights.  I think bike capris would have been a better choice.  Finally, there was a section where we rode in a bike lane among car traffic that actually had a multiuse trail off to the side (we found that on the way back); should have taken the multiuse trail whenever possible and stayed off the road because there was debris and some signs that we needed to dodge.  Other than those few minor things, it really worked out well.

It was special shapes day.  Sharing a few photos.  Enjoy!!

Can't see much? Either could I!  It was dark when we left the house.  My bike light lit up the path ahead fairly well though 

A Balloon getting ready to launch

The Bees are a crowd favorite

AIBF is one of the only ones that lets spectators out onto the field to walk among the balloons

Another crowd favorite.  It inflated today, but didn't launch

Back at the Bike Valet to pick up our bikes and ride home.  A really nice service!

This, that, and the other

new jersey!

Don't have much to blog about.  Let's see what I can come up with.

I'm still riding most weekends, 30-40 miles is a comfortable distance.

Waving the white flag with regard to my knee. I've ordered another round of Euflexxa injections and am waiting for the orthopedic to call to schedule them. Running is out for now and maybe for good this time.

Hoping to bike commute one morning to the balloon fiesta.  Got a bike light that I need to install and test out first.

Bike clothes are fun. Started getting tired of the jerseys in my closet so ordered a new red/white/black one from Voler.  Also appreciate having the Intel jersey in rotation now.

Intel jersey

Bike knickers (aka capris) are becoming a new staple. Finding that they protects my legs from the sun, keep the chill off in the cool morning, and stay comfortable enough as long as the days don't get too hot.

Thinking about doing an MS ride (or two) in a state other than NM next year. If you have one in your area that is particularly scenic, let me know in comments!

Fun arm warmers are becoming an obsession, similar to fun beanies for winter running.

Will be trying the half buff under my helmet soon. Bandanas aren't working very well for me for some reason.

Sorry for my lack of blogging and commenting.  I miss running.

What's Next, Elevation Profiles, & Never Forget

What's Next:  The short answer -  I'm not sure.  But that doesn't make for a very good blog post.  So I'll try to explain a bit of the longer answer.

So while my knee is generally okay with cycling, it's not generally been okay with much else.  I called the orthopedic to get things started to get going with my next series of injections.  Depending on when those are ready to go, one of the following scenarios is likely to occur:

If they can be ready to go by Oct 17:  Will plan to attempt to commute to one day of Balloon Fiesta by bike, weather permitting and if I get a suitable light for my bike.  Husband will attempt the century at Day of Tread and I will sit that one out. Hopefully my knee will be in good shape for light hiking by mid November.

If they can't be ready to by Oct 17th. Will still plan to commute to one day of Balloon Fiesta by bike. Husband & I will likely attempt the half-century at Day of Tread. Light hiking won't be possible by mid-November, but I'll try to set up the injections to begin immediately after Thanksgiving.

Elevation Profiles:  Just to give some idea what the "short course" ride was like.  The scale isn't the same between the two graphs.  Trust me, day 2 was much more challenging.

Day 1 - 36.8 miles, short steep climbs beginning and end, overall not too bad

Day 2 - 38.1 miles, due to scale it's deceiving - long steady climb first 10 miles, remainder easy peasy

Never Forget:

Pedal Los Pueblos Reflections

packing up to head out

Packed up on Friday to head up to Pojaque, NM which is where the home base for each day of the MS ride was located.  The elevation is higher than it is for us at home.  We're at about a mile above sea level and the start location was closer to 7800 mi above sea level. I was nervous about the elevation as well as the hills more so than the distance that we planned to ride.

Day 1 in team jerseys

It's a fully supported charity ride for MS.  There are rest stops roughly every 10 miles. The first day had distance options of 36, 58, 88, and 100.  The second day had distance options of 40 and 58.  Last year, Husband did 58+40.  This year, I joined him for the ride and insisted on the shortest distances, 36+40.  He's quite a trooper and was fine planning to ride shorter and slower so that we could ride together.  We we part of a corporate team, with me clearly being the least fit on the team, so we didn't ride with the other folks.  But our small team of 14 riders raised almost $8000 for MS and it was pretty cool to be a part of a team rather than an individual rider.  Plus our team jerseys rocked!I was pretty happy to see the finish line on day 1 feeling good.  The weather forecast for that day seemed iffy: it was grey clouds overhead when we started and chance of thundershowers.  Instead, we actually had a nice ride day.  The clouds were welcome to keep the relentless high altitude sun off our skin and the temps comfortable.  All in all, it was a nice day to ride.

Finish line on day 1

We actually booked a 50 minute soak and 90 minute massage Saturday afternoon at a spa up in the Sangre de Cristo mountains.  That was a really nice treat and it did wonders to loosen everything up and prepare us for day 2.

Ready for Day 2

The majority of our company team wore last year's team jerseys for day 2, but I didn't ride last year and didn't have one.  Husband opted for his tier 2 fundraising jersey from last year and I wore one with orange for MS.  This made it hard for us to be identified from a team perspective, but since we weren't really riding with the others, it didn't seem like it mattered too much.  Plus a lot of repeat riders that had earned the fundraising jersey had chosen to wear it that day, so Husband fit in with that theme.

Made it to rest stop 1!!

I felt amazingly good on day 2 and was hopeful for a good outcome!The skies were clear for day 2, so it was cooler in the morning and the sun was back to it's relentless self.

earned my medal

Husband had told me the night before to just focus on getting to the first rest stop.  The first segment was the most challenging of the day and after that it would be relatively easy.  He wasn't kidding! That first segment was tough!  But I made it. It was also extremely scenic.  Lots of opportunities to stop and take a photo, but I was afraid I'd have a hard time getting going again if we stopped, so we just took it in as we observed it.

About midway through the ride, of of my colleagues joined us as his wife had opted for the longer route.  It was nice to have company and new conversation to finish off the ride.

All-in-all it was a good weekend.  I was also happy to see that I had raised a total of $505 for MS, which is what the weekend was really all about.  And I proved that you can just be a middle aged woman with an exercise habit and still complete an event like this.  Win-win!

Riding, riding, riding...

I didn't tally everything for August, but I did tally my bike mileage: 279.6 miles total for the month.

Rode a little over 120 miles over the long weekend.  I won't bore you with details, but I have had some successes and some failures and have come to the following conclusions:

• I will probably do okay the first day of the MS ride, but the second day will be a real struggle for me. 
• I will need to focus on replenishing spent calories after each ride to avoid "tapping out" afterwards.

I've happy to say that I've met my original fundraising goal, but now I'm actually trying to beat my husband's amount and I'm about $80 short.  You can find out more about MS and why I'm riding here: Lisa's MS Fundraising Page.  As I try to remind my friends and family, don't mistake me for an athlete, I'm actually just a middle aged woman with an exercise habit, and probably the least fit of the folks that I'm riding with next weekend. The MS ride will be a challenge for me, but less of a challenge than those faced with MS deal with on a daily basis.

It's not too late if you'd like to sponsor me on my ride.  No donation is too small.  Just ten cents per mile that I plan to ride that weekend works out to a donation of $7.60.  Best of all, no ice required. ;-)

It's complicated...

Friday afternoon -  went to packet pick-up and got (among other things) my VERY pink shirt for the event. Assembled my stuff and got my bike number put onto my bike.

very PINK event shirt

bike ready to go with number

I don't know about you, but when I do a repeat event, I start thinking about previous years.  That's where things got complicated for me.  I remember getting a calf cramp last year.  I remember that Husband was out of town doing the MS ride.

Then I remembered the call from my sister.  The one where she told me that she had seen mom for the first time since Christmas and didn't recognizer her.  That she had lost a lot of weight and was weak and in a wheelchair. And that she probably wouldn't make it though the next year. And a flood of memories and emotions all came back.  I told Husband that I wasn't sure that I wanted to do this event this year because it now had some bad memories associated with it.  But I decided that if I slept well, I'd just do it anyway.

This morning I got up, got dressed, and started packing the car and had an emotional melt down.  I went back to bed and cried for awhile. Then I decided to get going and go do this.  I was running out of time and it was now or never.  So I grabbed my keys got in the car and headed on my way.

Unfortunately...in the midst of the melt down I guess I forgot to put my helmet in the car (d'oh!). When I showed up at the venue fairly last minute without my helmet, I decided that it simply wasn't meant to be this year and turned around and went home.  Yes, I'm sure there were work-around options. I'm probably not the first person to show up without a helmet and probably could have borrowed or bought one this morning at the site, but my heart just wasn't in it.

We're now on plan B for the day, a bike ride with Husband.

Maybe the aqua-bike or tri will happen for me next year. But this year I'm a DNS.

Updated to add:

Plan B turned out to be a 32 mile bike ride on a path that was mostly new to me.  I really enjoyed it.  So at the end of the day, it's all good.  No harm; no foul.  Here are a few photos from the ride:

potty stop at a library.  bathroom mirror selfy fail. hahah

our bikes resting at a pit stop

a cool looking old tree.  love the bark pattern.

Weekend Day 2 - RailRunner Bike Tour

If you haven't read my post about Weekend Day 1, consider reading about Saturday's training adventure there first.

All caught up now?  Good.

Bikes on top of the car ready to go before sunrise

Today's adventure required us to get up at stupid-o-clock in the morning because the RailRunner ride was scheduled to begin at 6:30am and it's about a 45 minute drive from our house to the start point.

I'm really not sure why they thought it was important to start THAT early in the morning for a 40 mile ride, but it is what it is.  Part of the reason we opted to participate in the event was to give us a solid day2 ride in prep for the MS ride in early September

A variety of types of riders participated

This event has a photographer and I'm hoping there is at least one good photo of Husband & I.  I really liked one of the photos last year and apparently the event folks did too because they used it on their event page!  Anyway, I didn't take many photos today, just focussed on riding.  I am including this one that shows some of the diverse types of riders that participated (tandem and hand bikes shown) The majority were road bikes, of course, but we also saw a few mountain bikes and recumbents.

Unlike the course we rode Saturday, this course is mostly flat, with one section starting around mile 23 or so that had some slow gradual climbing.  We started off surprisingly strong, averaging 17.5 mph until the first aid station.  Slowed down a bit after that. And I was pretty slow on that climb part. Overall average ride speed (when moving) ended up being 15 mph for the ride, 2 hours and 31 minutes.  We ended up stopping three times, two aid stations plus one stop that we added.  No flats today.  Yay!  Also, it's worth mentioning that the course was very well marked and had alert and helpful volunteers.  Thank you!!

I should have mentioned that I had one of the worst nights sleep in a long time last night.  I was pretty tired when it was time to go and I was very low on energy once we got back home. Took a nap, but I'm still dragging.  Hopefully I'll sleep better than that in between day 1 and day 2 of the MS ride otherwise that 2nd day is going to be very difficult.  I decided to order a white noise machine to help with my sleeping issues.  I hope it works.  It's small enough to take with me when I travel too.  More on that later.  Should arrive Wednesday.

Weekend Day 1 - Aqua-Bike training day

out of breath after loop 2

Given that the Aqua-bike is a week from today, I figured maybe it would be good to ride the course.  And since we're doing the MS ride in a few weeks, we decided to ride the course twice.

I wanted to give my wardrobe choice a trial run as well.  I decided to go with tri shorts and a bathing suit top with a shirt over it.

The tri shorts were okay although I obviously prefer bike shorts. The bathing suit top however is a no-go.  I found it to be very uncomfortable.  I think I'l wear a run-bra thing with a shirt over it instead.

My race times on this course have varied from 42-46 minutes.  I did it in about 43 minutes the first time today and 48 the second.  It's a short, but moderately hilly route.  I feel confident now going into the bike part of the aqua-bike next weekend and I learned that I need alternate wardrobe choice.  From that perspective, it was a good training experience!

True be told, I haven't been swimming laps since sometime in 2013.  I should probably at least check my goggles to make sure they don't leak.  Yeah, you may have noticed that I'm not really all that serious about training for this event.  It's really just for fun anyway and news flash, I'm not going to win anyway. :-D

Tomorrow we have an early wake-up for the 40 mile ride event that we entered.  It has a 6:30 start time and the starting line is about a 45 min drive from our house.

Three (mostly) successful rides

partly cloudy skies!

Thursday - Solo ride of a local 16.5 mile route with some hills.  The weather was quite nice, partly cloudy which is a treat for us in central New Mexico. I was feeling good and had four tubes, a bike pump, and two C02 cartridges just in case I had flat tire issues so that I wouldn't have to call for a ride home.  Ride started out well, but noticed front tire getting soft on the back part of the ride.

Rather than deal with it on the road, I rode on it carefully.  Tire pressure was down to 60psi at home; it was a slow leak not an all out flat. I put in a new tube *and* a new tire on the front. My bike is now sporting a matched set of Vredstein Fortezza tricomp tires. Was another frustrating ride experience, but it is what it is.

new front tire

Saturday - The plan was to complete a ~44 mile route with husband that includes much of the upcoming bike tour route.  I checked to see how my new front tire/tube was holding up before we left the house and it was in good shape.

I'm happy to say that we completed the full route as planned this time. Hit some debris under a bridge at ~mile 32 and had to change the front tube, otherwise an uneventful ride. I felt pretty good when we got home and was encouraged about our planned day 2 ride.  We really need that second day of training since the MS ride is two hilly days in a row, but we don't usually ride consecutive days in training.

ready for day 2

Sunday - Chose a local 18.5 mile route with hills to ride with husband with hills. Neither one of us was all that happy about being on our bikes for a second day in a row (saddle soreness), but once we got going it wasn't too bad. However, it quickly became clear that hills are going to be a challenge for me. Was struggling on the hills and was exhausted afterwards when we got home.

I'll admit, the struggle I had with the second day of riding was discouraging. However, I'm not ready to give up.  I'm just really glad that we're doing the back-to-back riding in training so that I'm in better shape the day of the event.  Besides, "Life's not about limiting your challenges, but challenging your limits."  Right? RIGHT?!?

So here's the plan for the upcoming week:

• Thursday - Solo ~16-20 miles with hills
• Saturday - Ride the 15 mile live.love.tri course (aquabike is the following week) with husband - possibly starting from home to add some distance?
• Sunday - RailRunner 40mile bike tour with husband

Domino effect

sidewall puncture

Friday morning, I was meeting a friend to walk.  I decided to ride my bike to meet her and kill two "training" birds with one stone.  It was about a 20min ride to meet her and I left 30min in advance.  What I didn't anticipate was getting a blowout flat 2 miles into my ride and getting another flat with the first tube I tried when attempting to get rolling again on the side of the road.  I ended up having her pick me and my bike up. In the process of loading my bike in the back of her truck, I bumped the derailleur fairly significantly.  Just great.

We walked.  When I got home, I went through two more tubes and finally realized that my tire had a sidewall puncture.  You can see it between the two red tire levers in the picture posted here.  Too bad it took me three tubes to figure out that the problem was with the tire!  Even worse, they were the last three tubes that I had on hand. Out of supplies (and out of patience), I took my wheel, a new tire, and my bike to a local bike shop for help.

I told them my tale of woe and asked them to put in a thorn resistant tube, install the new tire, and check my derailleur.  I also bought some spare tubes, a new frame pump, and some CO2 cartridges.  With my bike checked out and ready to go, I was ready for Saturday's ride attempt.

two bikes ready to roll

The plan was for husband & I to do 44 miles.  What I didn't expect was that my legs/thighs would be sore from the squatting position I was in while trying to take care of my flat on the side of the road. Hence the domino effect title of this post.  Funny how things just add up some time. I ended up cutting my ride short to 28 miles.  He did the full 44.  At least I got out there!

It's frustrating to have mechanical problems get in the way of ride goals.  I feel like I lost last weekend.  But the good news is that I'm now carrying four spare tubes, two CO2 cartridges, and a new pump.  Plus I have a brand new tire on the rear wheel.  I feel better prepared now for getting rolling sooner if I have problems while riding along again. Of course I'm also considering installing the lyft app so I can call for a ride if needed.

So at this point we have one free weekend, then the 40mi ride, then the aqua bike, another free weekend, then the two day MS ride.  I'm a week behind in my training which was already cutting it close  But, the show must go on. You can only do what you can do.

Ever have unplanned issues like that get in the way of your training goals?