Myrna CG Mibus - Idyllwild

To finish off my 30 Days of Biking challenge in fine style, Owen and I are heading down to Lanesboro, Minnesota, to ride the Root River Bike Trail and celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. At the moment, though, we are sitting in Tires Plus waiting to get two new tires on my van. That's not so fun, but it's giving me a chance to update you on my 30 Days of Biking experience and tell you a bit about Loving the Bike . One unexpected side benefit to my 30 Days of Biking experience is that I've been "meeting" all sorts of super bicycling people. I say meeting in quotes because I'm not actually meeting these people in person (though I expect I may at some point in time). Instead, I'm getting to know people via social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook. I've started following the tweets of 30 Day founders, Patrick and Zachariah (aka @patiomensch and @zachamon) and, much to my surprise, they are following mine. Another person I've met is ...

Today was a day full of fun and a lot of bicycling activity. For starters, today was the day of the Minnesota Iron Man. Owen and I had been talking about riding the 30 mile route but decided mid-week that we would opt out this year. Too much going on and we didn't feel ready - then add in a flat tire, rain, and a sore butt (Owen's - he's still searching for the ideal bike saddle) and we were very okay with our no-go decision. Still, we did feel like we were missing out on something this morning when I read tweets from some of the 30 Days of Biking guys who were doing the 100 mile ride. Yes, I tweet now, or do Twitter now. Or something. I'm not really sure what it is that I'm doing with Twitter but it appears that I am posting my progress on #30daysofbiking for the 30 Days of Biking Challenge. Oh yes - update - I've  biked 23 days in a row. Only seven to go... So what does a biking family do when no one from said family is riding the Iron Man? Stand in the ...

A couple of days ago I stopped in to Fit to be Tri'd , a multisport store in the heart of downtown Northfield that opened several months ago. Tom Bisel, the owner and a seasoned Triathlete, carries a wide variety of clothing, shoes and gear for triathletes plus offers a lot of support for athletes in the community. He has a great selection of clothing for cyclists and also carries a lot of stuff for women. Since I've been biking every day and only have one pair of cycling shorts, I went in to the shop with the hope of finding another pair of shorts. Inside of Fit to be Tri'd - Northfield, MN I have tried on a lot of cycling shorts in the last nine months. The pair I currently wear is the Pearl Izumi Attack Short. I like the shorts, they fit well, have a thick chamois (the padding inside) so my butt doesn't get sore on long rides and I feel like I look decent in them.  I know, who's going to care how I look when I ride? Well, I do. Because if I feel like I look...

I'm happy to report that I am keeping up with the 30 Days of Biking challenge and have biked every day since I started. I even hauled my bike to a belly dancing forum and biked when I had a break from my workshops. Biking through the hotel parking lot I found a path and followed it for three miles or so. It was great fun! Today was a day when I didn't really feel like biking but I went ahead and rode my bike anyway. Glad I did. It felt good to get out and forget about the day and think only about miles per hour and how fast I was spinning. I'm starting to view riding my bike as a highlight of the day. I never thought I would end up viewing exercise of any sort as a reward but I am starting to view cycling that way. This is progress. I also never thought that I would come out of a belly dancing workshop with tips on how to better ride my bike. But - surprise! - I did. I attended the Northland Belly Dance Forum on Saturday where the featured guest teacher was a belly dan...

I just settled in at a little table at Kip's Irish Pub in St. Louis Park. I'm at a Marriott for the evening because I am attending the Northland Belly Dance Forum all day tomorrow and didn't want to drive here in the wee hours of the morning. The morning starts with yoga at 7:30 and is followed by five workshops where I will be learning all sorts of stuff, even learning about dancing with a sword. I expect watching me in that workshop will be very entertaining because I have no clue of how to dance with a sword on my head, my hip or anywhere else. After the workshops, which finish at 5:00, I'll be going to a belly dance show that my instructor, Kate, is dancing in. It will be a full day but because I promised to ride my bike every day (see my previous entries and the 30 Days of Biking website ), I packed my hybrid bike in my van and plan to ride around the parking lot or something tomorrow. Gotta do it - because I said I would. Although belly dancing and biking are v...

So I decided to ask if I could participate in the 30 Days of Biking challenge even though I was starting two days late. I figured out how to tweet Patrick, one of the guys in charge of getting people on the 30 Days of Biking list, and he said I could do it. Yay! I'm in! I just got back from a very quick ride around the neighborhood on my hybrid. The kids are home from school today, their last day of Spring Break, and I looked at our schedule and realized that if I was going to ride my bike today I had better jump on my bike and do it now. So, even though I had already showered and was dressed in real clothes, I stuck my helmet on my head, rolled up my jeans, grabbed my Specialized hybrid and took off. I have not ridden my hybrid since last fall. Now that I've been riding my new Giant Avail road bike the hybrid feels really strange. Very upright and much harder to pedal. Now I'm  kind of amazed I did the 30 mile Jesse James Bike Tour on a hybrid. As for my first two da...

Yesterday, Owen told me about a spot he heard on MPR about two guys who have vowed to ride their bikes at least once a day each day during the month of April. Since making their pledge, dozens of others have joined in the fun and have also pledged to ride every day. Sounds like a good goal, though one I won't be making because I didn't ride yesterday or today. Still, I could shoot for the rest of the days of April, I just won't be signing the 30 days of riding pledge since I've missed two days already. Hey, I wonder if they'll let me in if I promise to ride twice a day for a couple of days to make up for the two days I've missed. Hmmm. I suppose I could ask. Whether I sign up or not, I will certainly visit the 30 Days of Biking website and read the blog entries and tweets. There's a lot of fun stories up on the website already, I expect there will be many more as people post their stories. The more I think about this the more I think I should see if I ca...