Myrna CG Mibus - Idyllwild

It's  a lovely spring day here in Minnesota and I really want to be outside reading a book or riding my bike or something fun like that. Instead, I have work to prepare for my Memoir: Writing of Family class so I'm in my office with the windows open getting ready to get to work. First, though, I'm allowing myself a chance to do some fun work. I've decided to write a quick blog entry which will help get my head in the right place for the writing I need to do for class. At least that's my rationale. I reality I suppose I'm goofing off and avoiding my class writing. Oh well. Last night we took our bikes to Valley Bike and Ski for a few adjustments. Owen's seat was too low and I've been feeling like I'm putting too much weight on my arms when I ride. Dan, one of the guys at Valley, took care of our adjustments while Jerrod, another guy who works there, answered Ryan's questions about shifting gears. Rose announced that she wants a road bike so she...

Had a wonderful day. Church this morning. A birthday party at our house (for me - I turned 43 on the 25th)  and after we said good-bye to our last guest, a quick bike ride around the neighborhood. Days don't get much better that this. For my second ride on my new bike, I put on all of my cold-weather riding gear, I think cyclists refer to this as their "kit" but I'm not 100% sure about that. Whatever all of my stuff is called, I'm glad I have it and I could use a few more things to make sure I'm comfortable riding in cooler weather. I rode around 7:00 tonight with a temperature of about 43 degrees. I had on my shorts, my long biking pants which are kind of fleecy inside, my Marmot long-sleeved undershirt, a short-sleeved jersey, my windbreaker, helmet and fingerless gloves. I was not warm though I probably would have been okay if I went on a longer ride. What I still need is probably a skull cap sort of thing for under my helmet and/or something to cover my ...

I picked up my new road bike last night. The nice young man at Valley Bike and Ski taught me how to clip in to my Shimano SPD pedals. It took me awhile to figure it out but I got the hang of it enough to feel like I could practice more at home and do fine. And, since I know just about nothing about riding a road bike, he then showed me how to shift my Shimano 105s, the gear shift things on my handlebars. He answered more questions for me, helped me pick out a bike bag, filled my tires and helped me load my new bike and Owen's in my van. To say I was excited is an understatement. Excited and nervous and also wondering a bit of what I've gotten myself into. Remember, I only started riding bike for real last summer when I bought a helmet and decided to ride the 30 mile Jesse James Bike Tour in September ( you can read about this adventure if you click here ). I rode regularly for a month to prepare for the ride on my old Specialized hybrid bike and finished the ride averaging a...

We'll I'm back home now and had a great time celebrating my birthday yesterday. I had my memoir class at The Loft in the morning then went out to Perkins for a Birthday dinner with my family last night. It was a great day, the kind where I remember how much friends and family mean to me, how much I enjoy relatively simple things like good conversations with family members and friends. The final fun part of my birthday was a trip to Valley Bike and Ski where I finally picked out my cycling shoes and Owen picked out some cool weather cycling gear. Our bikes are there in the shop all put together and ready for us to take home. My plan is to head back to the shop tonight and have the guys check me out on how to clip in and out of my pedals. Then, thoroughly checked out, I'm planning to load the bikes up and bring them home. That means I'm going to be cycling soon, maybe even tomorrow. Our plan is to ride the 30 mile Iron Man at the end of April. I have some cycling to d...