Weekend Update

So, I started my ride yesterday thinking #1 - not such a good idea to run 3 miles the day before a ride when I haven't run in about a year, and #2 - 60 miles won't be so bad. Turns out that 60 miles swiftly became 96 miles! :P 96 wonderful miles with Sally, Luly, and Marianna, but 96 miles nonetheless! It was a beautiful day and we saw some wonderful sights while previewing the course of the Sturdy Girl Century next weekend. I didn't have my camera with me, so I can't show a photo of the trees beginning to change, but I assure you they were fantastic. We also crossed paths with a rather large male deer, who leaped across the road in front of us. But my favorite encounter of the day was this one...

Riding through Wissahickon park, we (Marianna, Luly and I) pass a male cyclist. Keep in mind that all three of us are dressed in our kits from head to toe. Jersey, Shorts, Socks...the whole nine yards.

Rider says, "You guys on a racing team?"
We reply, "Yes."
He asks, "Which one?"

hmmmm....

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever you are!

Hmmm....don't mind me, just looking around for my motivation! Wow...it's amazing how my mind checked out the second I crossed the finish line at the Rodale race. I still want to get on the bike, but my Seasonal Affective Disorder (honest to God, I have this!) has already started to kick in. All I want to do is sleep and eat. I feel like a bear preparing for hibernation. I swear, it's a terrible thing. When I do find myself pulling on my shorts and shoes, I get suddenly happy and ready to ride...but it's the drive to pull my butt up off of the couch that kills me.

I did ride today, between my class this morning, dentists appointment and return to work for a department meeting, I did an hour on the bike doing intervals. The other thing that kills me is that the fall in our area means one major thing...WIND! Whether you're trying to rake leaves or trying to bust your butt around the river at 21 mph, the wind seems to be coming at you from every conceivable angle...and always STRONGLY coming at you! Alas, I should consider this a great training tool, but it really just makes me feel like I'm constantly going uphill in the wrong gear.

All in all, I actually had a nice ride today. It's still summery in terms of weather - 85+ degrees out and sunny. I'm looking forward to the more seasonally appropriate weather that we are supposed to get this weekend...more like the lower 70s. I love it when it gets cool enough at night to leave the windows open and make a fire in our chiminea! :) Bring on the Fall, baby!

Karyn's Big Race!

Karyn did her first 'Cross race EVER this weekend! That is one tough sport, but she's such a beast, she rocked it out! I'm posting one of her pics here, but check out her blog to read the whole story and see more photos!

Nice job, Karyn!!! Can't wait to see you kick some major booty at your next race!

A Beautiful Day for A Ride!

Today is the first day of Autumn. You wouldn't have known it to look outside. It was a gorgeous day. A perfect blue sky without a single cloud, a warm 80 degrees with a lovely breeze to keep you from getting too steamy. It was perfect. Thank goodness I spent 5 hours on a bike with my friends, enjoying the day! I love days like this one. We started out from Manayunk and headed out past Graterford Prison and eventually back into town. We made our way down some beautiful, quiet, tree-lined roads and up some nice climbs as we wound our way through several PA counties. All the time, enjoying the opportunity to chat with one another about the changes from summer to fall. Many of us are back to school, teaching at high schools and colleges. Others are working nine to five, but feeling the impact of our shortening days. All in all, we realize how great it is that we have days like today to enjoy.

One sad turn...

unfortunately deserves another. The verdict is finally in on good old, Floyd. Despite the acknowledgment of the screwy nature of the testing process, Floyd has been given a 2 year suspension from cycling and his Tour title has been taken away. I think that I'll continue to be naive in thinking that anyone who put up that kind of a fight must be fighting for some kind of truth and not just defending a lie. All I can hope is that he will make a big comeback in two years to whomp some major butt, a la the new Brit on Slipstream, David Millar.

Good luck Floyd..since you won't be so busy...stop by one of the Lancaster County races next year and check out the racing ladies in pink! :)

Gearing Up for Halloweeny!

My favorite holiday is right around the corner! Halloween is on its way, in all its costumed splendor! Gosh, I just love Halloween!!!!!

And, of course, as per usual, our Halloween movie night party is also coming up. We just decided on a date and sent out our evites, so we will hopefully get a good crew out to the Backyard to party this year. And hopefully, none of the bad luck of past years will befall me this time...our last two movie nights have included me slicing my little finger open (including cutting through a nice, gushy vein and some nerves) and being diagnosed with mono! :) This year will just be full of fun and games, without the bandages or trips to doctor's offices! :)

I have to decide on a costume...something fun and silly without being too much work! The countdown begins!

Slipstream Jersey!

OK...so this is the current Slipstream jersey....well known for rocking the orange and blue argyle! The team has recently opened a contest to design the new team jersey...and we get to vote.
To cast your vote...go to the Slipstream website starting tomorrow! They'll have the top 5 choices out of the 400 entries that they received. Some of them were GREAT, some...not so much. Still, I'm interested in helping to determine the jersey that will grace the up and coming BEST team in US and Pro Cycling. GO SLIPSTREAM!!!!!

Life in the Fall....

This was my second full week of classes. Things are going really well...my students are engaged, AWAKE, and seem interested in the material and reading it...which is a good thing! My grad class is also going well...I chose a topic for my research paper and am anxiously awaiting some digital copies of a collection of 1893 lithographs so that I can really hunker down and get it done. It's an exciting project because it is completely original, no one has written on these lithographs before, so I have a possible article in the works with this one.

Riding is still on the docket of things to do every day, but it's getting harder as my days are more filled with scheduled events and the days keep getting shorter! I was out on the bike yesterday at 5:00 and it seemed like the sun was about to disappear already. Man, I don't like this time of the year! :( Looks like the trainer and training wheel will be getting more and more use as time goes on. Maybe tonight, I'll set it up in front of the TV to ride with whatever race is being shown on Verses?! :)

I guess that's it from the front for now...hopefully, we'll do something exciting soon that I can share! :)

Now I remember...

why I tend to NOT highlight my hair with light blonde.

I actually had a guy on the subway stop me and signal to me to take off my iPod so that he could ask me if I was related to Ellen Degeneres. Hmmmm...gee, dude...thanks. Couldn't ask me if I was related to Julia Roberts? Cindy Crawford? nope...Ellen. I got this all through High School, too. grrrrr....

Note to self...make hair appointment.

Wedding Festivities

Well, I could give you a recap of the wedding itself...or, I could let the photographer's STUNNING images speak volumes more than I ever could. To view the Slideshow from Julie and Scott's nuptials, please click HERE! Enjoy!

A Bit of a Recap

Again, I can only give you bits and pieces of a wedding recap because I have to get some sleep tonight (I'm riding a century - aka 100 miles ) tomorrow morning and it's getting late!

I got out to Colorado on Tuesday morning. I got from the airport to Fort Collins and immediately, we set to work getting things ready for the wedding! This included going shopping for gifts for the couple, picking up items at the hardware store to get the wedding itself finished, visiting with family a bit, and generally running around town until I thought I was going to fall over. Eventually, we ended up back and Julie and Scott's for a great home-cooked dinner. It was fantastic, and we were joined by Aunt Linda, Kelly, Uncle Gig, and Jody. It was so nice to have the family together like that and we really enjoyed ourselves that evening.

In all honesty, I don't remember all that we did on Wednesday. I know that Mom finished sewing the runner and we did some additional shopping. We also made the directional signs for the Friday night party so that people could find the lodge at which the festivities were taking place. And, I know that we ended up being late for the first multi-family dinner at the Rio. We got there in time to catch most of the family...Mike, Will and Annie are Scott's siblings, Scott's mom Diana, and the husband and wives of the sibs. It was great fun and we ended up taking the party around to Coopersmith's (?) for Ping-Pong and Pool (see photo gallery for the pics of the fun!).

Thursday was the last big run-around day. We hit Sam's club to stock up for the Brunch on Sunday and had to rent an additional car just to get everything up to Beaver Meadows where the wedding was going to be. We managed to get up there and unpack into the BEAUTIFUL Bear Dance Lodge just in time to get to Annie's place for a dinner she was making! Whew! We had a nice meal, although the bug that I caught on the plane had whacked me good and solid by then, so I was less than party-able!

Friday morning was the rehearsal at Beaver Meadows. We then spent some time making sure that the place was spic and span, setting up the centerpieces on the tables and getting some lunch. Then....back to Bear Dance to get ready for another night of partying! This time, we hit another lodge (the Lazy A-7) and had a fantastic BBQ with Linz pickles!!! We dragged Julie out of there around 9:30 so that she could get home, open up her girly gifts and get some sleep before the wedding!

Saturday morning included a short hike, a lot of getting ready, and then...the WEDDING!

Wild Wedding Week...

Chuck and I returned from Colorado this morning on a red-eye flight. The wedding was Saturday, but the festivities lasted from Tuesday of last week thru Sunday morning! It was an amazing trip, a beautiful wedding, and an incredible mingling of families. Our family really hit it off with Scott's family, and since we live near his mom and brothers, we're hoping to see them from time to time for dinner and other fun events.

Since we are both back to school tomorrow, and I haven't even scrolled through my digital photos...I'm going to save the wedding recap for another day (hopefully tomorrow!). For now, I will say this...as we were heading up into the mountains to stay at a GORGEOUS log cabin lodge, I was joking about never having seen a moose or a bear. I have always wanted to see these two creatures in the wild. The bear because...well, it's a BEAR! You see them in zoos, but how crazy to see one in the wild. That dream was not to be. BUT...the moose dream was a reality. In fact, not only did we see a moose...but we had a moose and her calf hanging out in the little pond by our lodge. They were there several times a day for a few days, eating yummy goodies out of the lake and drinking the water. Here they are!!!




This last one is my artsy-fartsy shot of the moose! I just have to photoshop those wires out of it! :)