Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tiny Rant

We are CYCLISTS, not BIKERS.

Bikers wear black leather and chains, ride Harleys, drink beer, and engage in bar fights.

Cyclists wear brightly colored Lycra and spandex, ride Cannondales, drink Accelerade, and shave their legs.

ARGH! Get it right, people!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

First Race

Today I raced the Wells Ave B race - my first race of the season. I am happy to report that I didn't get dropped and I finished in the middle of the pack. There were a lot of women in the field, including Christine, Loraine, Katherine S, Julie L, Natalia G and most of the NEBC women's elite team. It was really fun and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Springtime in the Desert (Tucson Trip)

On Monday I reassembled my bike, then cut my hand open and spent a couple of hours in urgent care (see last post). :-(

Tuesday I had a pedicure and took the LeMond to a bike shop for a slight derailleur adjustment. My thumb was still hurting a lot (making it painful to brake), so after lunch I just took a quick 1.5 hour spin looping around my parents' neighborhood, which was lovely. I got in 1100 feet of climbing and saw a hawk, eight Gambel's Quail, a lizard, and houses with oranges and lemons growing in the yards. I also saw some cattle up on the ridge. The second time I went by they were nearer the road and I saw about seven calves. They all watched me as I passed. Very cute!

That evening I had dinner with Mom & Dad at the golf course restaurant and we all went to see "The Boy in Striped Pajamas". Wow - that was a powerful movie.

Sadly, I had gotten an email that morning from Catherine explaining that she had stomach flu and was in no shape to fly. She wouldn't be arriving until Thursday.

Without Catherine joining me, I had more time to ride, so Wednesday I went out for 4 hours. Luckily, Geoff had gotten me a Garmin Edge just before I left, and I was able to plot a nice route and not get too lost. I did take a couple of wrong turns in one neighborhood, because many of the roads were dirt, and the Garmin didn't realize it.

It was a really fun ride - the longest I've had so far this year, and it was an absolute joy to be wearing short sleeves and shorts. There were no potholes and I even enjoyed putting on sunscreen. :-)

On this ride I saw about 6 different hawks, often in pairs, majestically circling in the air currents. Unfortunately, each time I stopped to photograph them, they would fly off by the time I wrangled the camera phone from my jersey pocket. I also saw more quail and a jackrabbit.

At one point I was in the middle of nowhere, and I got blocked at a railroad crossing by a train that was stopped on the tracks. I couldn't see the end of it in either direction, and I wasn't sure which way it was headed. It didn't move for about 5 minutes (which gave me a chance to take some photos, stuff my vest into my pocket, eat some sport beans and consult the Garmin).

Wednesday afternoon I went to the gym with my mom and lifted weights and did core exercises while she walked on the treadmill. Then we all went out for authentic Mexican food with my aunt and uncle. (They used to live in Hawaii, but moved a mile and a half from my parents about 3 years ago.)

Thursday Catherine wasn't expected until 10am, so I decided to go for a quick morning ride. I road out Oracle up to the Biosphere and then turned around and came back. It took me 45 minutes to go out and 37 to come back. I didn't really realize it was uphill most of the way out, because it was so gradual. I was flying on the way back!

When Catherine arrived, we visited with my folks for a bit and then she and I went hiking in Catalina State Park. It was beautiful and wild and we felt we were on the set of a Western movie.

Then we met my parents for lunch and we all headed out to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which is to the west of Tucson over Gates Pass near the Saguaro National Park. It is a beautiful museum of desert flora and fauna in a natural setting. I was thrilled to see an ocelot, two adorable bobcats, and a Mexican fox. We also saw some groundhogs, a few hummingbirds and a roadrunner! (We did not see Wilie Coyote, unfortunately.)

Catherine went off to her conference, and my parents and I headed back to their house for dinner and my last night there. I did some computer tech support for my mom and then off to bed and up early to catch my flight back to Boston.

It was a nice escape and it was wonderful to be in full sunshine for four whole days!

All my Tucson photos are posted here. I only had my camera phone, so they are not the best quality.