Myrna CG Mibus - Idyllwild

Well, after a two week break I’m back on my road bike and glad to be riding again. I can’t believe I spent two weeks not riding - it was a struggle because I missed biking so much. Some of the break was vacation related but the other part of my break was self-imposed to get some healing time for some bike-related bruising. I realized the smart thing to do was to take some time off, heal and then start over again and see if I can figure out why I had troubles. Here are the theories of what might have happened to cause my discomfort gathered by bicyclists, my doctor, the people at my bike shop and my own intuition:  1. I’ve been slightly misaligned on my bike all along and over time irritation and bruising built up. Perhaps the saddle is the wrong size for my bum. 2. My bike got bumped of adjustment therefore I am sitting the bike differently. 3. As I’ve gotten to be a better rider (faster, more aggressive on hills etc.) I’ve changed my position on the bike (ie: leaning more forward ...

Now that it's Monday and Owen's back at work our vacation is officially over and I'm struggling to figure out what to do with my first day back at home. There is so much to do. Laundry. Gardening. Writing. Office work. The kitchen counter is covered with vacation stuff, the dogs need a walk, I need to get to the bike shop and still haven't made my bed or put away my suitcase. Rose at her post Rose and Ryan, however, are having no trouble figuring out what to do this morning. They have turned our house into a Nerf Gun war zone. They've turned gates into barriers, blankets into bunkers, and are running around wearing safety glasses we purchased yesterday at Menards and are yelling things like, "temporary truce!", "no fire!" and "start!", while they shoot Nerf bullets at each other. I'm not a huge fan of shooting Nerf guns but I will say this, the kids are using their imaginations (perhaps somewhat in response to seeing the Northfie...

Sunday we loaded up our 1955 Piper Pacer, took off from our airpark home and spent five hours cruising along at 7,500 feet above the ground to Middletown, Ohio. What’s in Middletown, Ohio? It’s the location of this year’s Short Wing Piper Club Convention and it’s where we’re spending our family vacation. This summer marks our eighth summer vacation spent with our Short Wing Family, a group of aviators who love vintage Piper airplanes, at the Short Wing Piper Club Convention .  2010 - Rose and Ryan strapped in and ready to go to Middletown, Ohio. Before you think we have some big fancy airplane, let me tell you that our Piper Pacer is not big or fancy. Inside we have less room than you would have in a VW Bug, the avionics (radios and navigation gear) are basic, the cruise speed relatively slow (about 123 mph) and the purchase price far less than most new Sport Utility Vehicles. We bought the plane eight years ago because we wanted an inexpensive, economic family airplane. New...

Owen just got back from his first group ride with the Northfield Bicycle Club . He had a great ride, 33 miles with an average of 16 mph and I’m so happy for him but, I confess, I’m also a little jealous because I didn’t get to ride with him. I’m not just jealous because he got to spend the morning with eight fit guys in bike shorts, it’s because going on a group ride has been one of my goals since I started cycling and I stayed home. And it’s not that staying home is all bad. In fact, I had a great morning and flew my airplane. The real issue is that I’m forced to sit on the sidelines for awhile. Why? because I have a sore bum and, well, other “girly parts” for lack of a better way to say it. To be honest, talking about my sore “girly parts” is kind of embarrassing and I’ve wondered if I should blog about this at all. But most bicyclist deal with some soreness issues so I’m not alone and I’m hoping writing about mine will help someone else. I’ve been riding my road bike, a Giant Avail,...

Owen and I went on an 18 mile ride yesterday to the nearby town of Lonsdale. It’s a decent ride with moderate hills and long stretches of flat. Owen’s ridden the route before but it was a first time for me and I always get a little anxious when we tackle a new stretch of road. On top of that, I hadn’t ridden in several days because of the weather and because I needed to give my body a rest. I don’t know what a normal ride is for other bicyclists (the ones I see all look like they are having a good time of things). Owen doesn’t seem to be bothered by much of anything when he’s riding. He always in a happy place, it seems, says he’s having fun and tells me that he thinks of nothing but riding when he’s on his bike. I wish I had his brain sometimes. Mine doesn’t quit. Ever. Even when I’m asleep. There are moments when I’m riding when I am able to concentrate on just riding but most of the time my mind is going every which way and it often works against me, especially when I’m pushing my l...

I planned to get up early and go on a nice long ride with Owen but two things happened that got in my way. One - I stayed up too late last night so slept in really late this morning. Two - by the time I got up it was raining like crazy. I can't do anything about the rain. I'm hoping it clears up enough that I can get out and ride later today and log some miles towards my 50 miles of cycling per week goal. I could have done something about going to sleep earlier and waking earlier but I can't do anything about it now so will not beat myself up for it and let it go. It's easier said than done though, this not beating myself up and letting things go, and between not riding and the weather I'm feeling a little low this morning. So, you know what I did? I turned on my iPod and played my "Happy Songs" playlist. What's a "Happy Songs" playlist? A few months ago my friend told me to make up a playlist of songs that make me smile so I could play...

I honestly don't think of myself as a girly-girl. I like playing with power tools. I fly airplanes and tend to do activities, like bicycling, that are male dominated. I seldom look at fashion magazines, usually wear a t-shirt and jeans and don't bother with much makeup. That said, I do have an affinity for coordinating my bike accessories, for the color turquoise, for pretty fabrics, nice dresses and for a little bling in my life. My favorite little bits of bling are cute charms and beads made out of bottle caps that were created by a friend of mine, Cathy Collision, who owns a bead store, Glass Garden Beads (I wrote a story about Cathy and her Bottle Cap Beads that you can read if you click here ). I stopped in the shop today to pick up a bottle cap charm they made for me and noticed some cool new jewelry they made out of enamel pieces and bottle caps. Guess what? Some of the enamel pieces were shaped like sprockets and, even better, some were turquoise! My new pendant - ...

I like a challenge, I guess, and am missing the accountability of the 30 Days of Biking challenge I did in April so I decided to set a goal of riding 50 miles each week. Fifty miles is peanuts for some riders but a pretty good number for me, I think. Fifty miles a week works out to 200 miles per month and when you work in the 200 miles I've already put on my bike, a thousand miles by the end of September! The 50 miles a week goal seemed reasonable when I set it but I've already discovered that life can get in the way and even a reasonable goal can feel, well, unreasonable. I planned to kick off my 50 mile goal with a nice 18 mile ride with Owen on Monday morning but before I could suit up and go my mom called and asked if I would go to the ER with her and my dad. Of course I would go, I told her, my bike ride could wait until after our trip to the ER.  What happened to Dad? Long story short Dad fell from a ladder Saturday morning and bonked his head.   The ambulance...