Harpeth River Ride



This past weekend, some friends and I traveled to Nashville for the Harpeth River Ride.  It's sponsored by Nissan, so some to the Nissan/Trek pro's rode, too!  Chris Horner was one of the pro riders.  He.  Is.  Awesome.  I didn't get the chance to meet him, but talked to someone who saw him along the route.  Just as I suspected, he said that Chris Horner was as genuinely nice as he is during interviews and such.

Pre-ride!

The girls

Who's gonna chick Chris Horner?  Me!  Me!

 So, I did see Chris Horner and yes, he did get chicked (passed by a girl) by us.  He was standing with his teammates on the side of the road, but the details aren't really important.  What's important is that we "chicked" Chris Horner!

Let's get this party started!

PICKLES at the SAG stop...brilliant!

Still smiles at yet another stop.

And, still smiling after - although, I'm catching a quick nap.

It was such a good time.  It was a win/win; I got to ride my bike and visit with one of my best college friends who lives in Franklin, just outside of Nashville.  She and another friend of hers rode with us, as well.  The ride did have some hills, but they were NOTHING compared to 3 State 3 Mountain.  The route was absolutely beautiful.  There were wild flowers and gorgeous farms as far as we could see.  In true Memphis Hightailer fashion, we made new friends along the way, too.  This is a ride I would gladly participate in again.

St. Vincent!

Recently, the (absolutely amazing) musician, St. Vincent played at Minglewood Hall.  I love her music, so of course, I HAD to go to the show.  Her show was just as incredible as I thought it would be.  Her voice is just as clear and versatile live, as it is on her albums.  With the way technology is in studios today, you just never know what you're gonna get live...

Here, it looks like she's giving someone the "one fingered salute," but, she's not.  She would occasionally give the sound guys instructions, via hand signals.

Giving cue's to the sound guys

Although, she didn't really "crowd surf" during the song, "Krokodil," like she normally does, she did stand on a guy's shoulders in the crowd to sign the song.  Did I mention that she's awesome?!  Well, she is.

File This...

...Under "What Are They Thinking?"  This is a real display...brelts and bow ties, not to mention the hazard cone orange tables and chairs on the sidewalk.  Enjoy.

3 State 3 Mountain "Challenge"

More like "torture."

My friends and I love riding bikes and torturing ourselves, it turns out.  So, we traveled to Chattanooga for the annual 3 State 3 Mountain torture ride.  We went to Niko's for dinner and good gracious was it deee-lish!  I had the farmer's pie.  It included all sorts of veggies rolled up in flaky filo.  Mmmm-mmm!

 

The day of the ride, we started climbing about 2 miles into the ride and climbed and climbed all day.  There were a few sweet descents sprinkled in.  When we topped the first mountain, it started drizzling.  Within about a minute, we were riding in an - all out - down pour.  Now, I'm a big ole scaredy cat when it comes to just riding in the rain, much less descending a mountain in the rain?  No thanks.  But, I was there, and there was only one way down.  So, cautiously, I descended.  My hands were cramping from my death grip I had on the breaks.  I was kinda freaked out, but survived.  This was the view from the bottom of the mountain.  I guess it was a nice consolation for living through that descent.

 
After climbing the 2nd mountain, we stopped to enjoy the view and take pictures.

Here is our rendition of 3 mountains. 

After the walk (yes, I walked and have no shame) to the top of lookout mountain, I was relieved, because, all we had to finish the 102 miles, was descend.  Well, yes, and no.  The route had so many hills left to climb on the descent.  Needless to say, it finally broke me.  About 90-95 miles in, I tried to cry about it.  However, I was so dehydrated, I couldn't even cry.  I even said, "I hate this ride...and I can't even cry.  I fail at life."  Once the climbs stopped, I was back to my old, smiley self.  Ok, after the climbs stopped and I had a fat beer in my hand...

On the descent from the last mountain, I got up to 45.8mph.  One thing I learned on this ride, I LOVE to descend - as long as it's not raining.  Climbing, not so much, but flying down a mountain, yes, please!

Would I do it again?  Probably not...unless my friends do some fancy convincing.

Ladies Night

Some time ago, Bikes Plus hosted a ladies night & the Giant (bikes, not people) rep was there.  I love ladies night.  Usually, there's alcohol and give-aways.  Two of my favorite things.  Add bikes and, waaa-waaa-weee-waah!

These two "ladies" crashed the party.  They were such fun.  However, the Giant rep did not have a good sense of humor about the whole thing.  Sad, really.  The Trek rep would have thought it was hilarious.  Just saying.

My friend won this door prize & since, she already had some good sport glasses, gave them to me.  I have such good friends.  Who doesn't need "Enthusiastic Eyewear?"  Sunglasses with a good attitude make such a difference.  

ENTHUSIASTIC EYEWEAR!

Later, in RB's Cyclery's, "Ride Into Spring," I won a coffee mug holder.  It was promptly installed on "Big Bertha."  I heart coffee...a lot.  Combine coffee & bikes and I'm a happy camper.  The only problem was that I filled the coffee mug too full, so coffee was splashing out of the mug with every bump.  Lesson learned.  Mustn't go overboard with the coffee.

Hola Y'all

Well, I started riding again and have been struggling to catch up with everyone who seemed to have gotten faster over the winter. Who does that? The St. Patty's Day ride was the first organized ride in which we got to wear our new, cycledelic girl gang jerseys! Kathrine, who's the best SAG support person ever, happened to be wearing her tie dyed shirt and, therefore, was a cycledelic chick, too!

Cycledelics!

Rear view:  "you got chicked!"



We met a new friend along the way!

It happened to be a friend's birthday, as well! He and his wife were decorated to the gills in shamrocks.

And this joker was wearing his "crash test dummy" jersey. Evidently, he tested it out, earlier.



I Get Paid to Wear This Hat

I've watched this about 1,000 times. It's so hysterical, I just can't get enough. Beware, I'm going to be sooo annoying this year, repeating ALL of these quotes. "They have the best espresso here."




This one about triathletes is pretty funny, too. "You can read all about it on my blog...this? Or this?"




And...the one about runners:




I'll leave you with this...I get paid to wear this hat:



...and that's what happens when you have enough wine on a weekday!

A Message From A Friend

This guy wants to wish you a happy extortion...I mean, Valentine's Day.

Funnies for Friday

Here are a few pictures, circulating the "interwebs," that I found amusing. Hope you enjoy them, too!








Don't stare or they'll steal your soul!!

Now, There's an Idea!

So, earlier this week, I attended an event at my local bike shop. It was "ladies night" and the Trek Representative talked to us about WSD (women's specific design) bikes. Local physical trainers talked to us, as well as, the City of Memphis Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator, Kyle Wagon-(something I can't ever pronounce, nor spell). I like ladies night mostly because of the free food, booze, chance to catch up with my friends and swag bags. Yes, I'm a sucker for free stuff.

While I was there, I met a girl who told me that she rode a Bianchi road bike that her boyfriend (now husband) gave to her as a gift. I thought about it for a second and came to this conclusion: if a guy gave me a bike as a gift, I'd marry him, too.

All the single fellas??

I'll be more than happy to provide my wish list.

Dreams Really Do Come True

This is what I woke up to this morning. Brady cat is anxious about the game today, so was doing some pre-gaming online. She's so annoying. I told her that super-fans make me vomit. She responded with a cutting remark about how my losing a few pounds wouldn't kill me.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked if I'd heard the news about the company for which I work. I did a quick search online and found a New York Times article about my company being sold to a competitor. CRAP! It immediately reminded me of a dream I had. I was walking along and found some pennies on the ground. I was so excited to find the pennies. Probably an indication that I should get out more. I told my friend this dream and said that perhaps it was a premonition...soon, I'd be scrounging for change? He said that there had to be a better way of interpreting that dream. I replied, "well, I don't recall thinking, 'if only I could find 500 more of these, I can buy a sandwich and eat today!' So, at least I wasn't hungry."

Fast forward a few weeks. I'm walking home from having lunch with a friend and find this:



Now, if the Patriots win today, I'll know, with 100% certainty, that I have a gift. My next dream will be to win the lottery.

So, I'll leave you with this lesson: if you can dream it, it can happen!

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do (One Handed)

So, there!

Last week, I had another follow-up. After my routine cast removal & xrays, my surgeon walked by and asked (jovially), "are you all healed?" Of course, I said, "YES!" Here's hoping, at least. Later, he pulled me aside and said, the bone is coming along. It still needs some more time. You know yourself and your activity level...you can either get another hard cast or a removable cast. The removable cast offers less support so you have to be REALLY careful! Like a little kid, I said, "I swear, I'll be good! Removable cast, please!" I was told, no gripping and no applying pressure to my wrist. So, no outdoor bike rides and I can either sit straight up (no hands on the handle bars) or use the aerobars on stationary bikes. He stressed "stationary" bike. I know, I know. I miss my bikes, but I want my surgery to be a success. I'm paying for it, after all!

After 6+ weeks, here's what my arm looks like. I'm really pleased with how the incision looks. Dr. Cannon at Campbell Clinic did an amazing job!



My wrist is still a little swollen and a lot tender. Also, I have gnarly dark hair growing everywhere. Do not like. I'm sure once exposed to the sun, it'll thin out and lighten...but...do not like!



Here's the removable cast.





If I pull the circular thing up, it releases the tension on the wires, so I can remove my hand. In order to tighten the tension, I just push down to lock the circular thing and twist the button until the desired tension is reached. It's pretty nifty.

Positives:
It's removable! I can remove the cast in the shower. No more gnarly skin & no more wrapping my cast within an inch of its life.
I have more wardrobe options!
I can loosen and tighten as need be - my fingers no longer go numb when I exercise.
It's hand washable. I can't really hand wash at the moment, but I can see who really loves me and will do it for me!

Negatives:
It's not comfortable. Where my humerus ties into my wrist, it rubs. It even wakes me in the middle of the night.
It allows more action and movement with my thumb and wrist. I can unintentionally move wrong and cause immense pain.
The material holds in odor and sweat. It often feels kinda sticky against my skin. I have to take it off and hold it in front of a fan to dry out.
After day 2, I started getting rashy looking skin. It was red and inflamed. Now I apply aloe on my arm, wait for it to dry completely and put the cast back on.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably get another hard cast. Believe it or not, the hard cast was much more comfortable. Showering was a pain, but I was getting used to it...