New Year - New Theme

I am not one for new year's resolutions. I do what everyone else does - I make three huge, unobtainable goals and then beat myself up when I have given up by Valentine's Day.

So, this year, I am trying something new. I have a theme. Just one simple word - BALANCE.

After driving myself close to a nervous breakdown last year with trying to juggle work, school, riding,and everything else I realized (with the help of a few close friends) that I cannot let any of the balls drop. I have to work, and I have to spend the appropriate time in and out of class studying. AND I also HAVE to get back on my bike! For the sake of my sanity and well-being, I have to make cycling just as big of a priority as work and school.

Even if it's 30 minutes on the trainer (which totally SUCKS for those of you who do not cycle), it is better than not riding at all.

Plus, like everyone else I know, I too have eaten WAY too much this holiday season, and I have not been burning it off. This is unacceptable...

- B A L A N C E - This is my mantra for the New Year -

Maybe I'll make it past Valentine's Day this year.

"Full Moon" weeks SUCK

This past Friday was a full moon, and there was certainly in the air this week. My week started off by getting very angry at one of the guys at work. He wanted to take all the girls in the office out to lunch to tell us how much he appreciated all of us and to thank us for helping him out his year. It is impossible because someone has to stay and watch the front desk. So, we asked him if he minded bringing lunch in instead. He agreed, and then asked me to do everything. This is very typical of this guy, he delegates everything...literally. I asked him why did I have to plan my own appreciation lunch, and told him that I didn't feel very appreciated. He said "Well if we would have gone out like I wanted..." BTW - This is all via email, which is very fortunate of my job. Anyways, I told him that you don't say that you are going to do something nice for someone and then ask them to do all of the work for it. He said that he asked me to do it because I had the experience in doing this, and had all the the info already. Then he apologized for inconveniencing me, which was what did him in. I told the girls what he said to me, and we all agreed to boycott his little lunch. We ended up eating lunch with him anyway, but not after all of us letting him know how we felt, and then HE called it in, HE picked it up, and HE served it, just like he should have to begin with.


I also finished my class this week, much to my delight. However I had a long debate with my instructor about the final first. I have never worked so hard to take a test in my life.
My class was online, and all tests and assignments are submitted online. Well, I had finished all of my tests, and had asked my instructor when would the final be available online, because it wasn't on the class website. To sum up, we literally argued back and forth over if the final was there or not. She said it was, but it was not. I even sent screen shots to try to help, and she sent some back. The ones she sent were completely different from anything I have ever seen.
She FINALLY realized that She thought I was in a different class. She apologized, and then told me that since I have taken all of my tests, that I was done. There was no final in my class. She then told me that I was done with the class, and that I had a 97 average. Needless to say I was excited about my grade and that I didn't have to take the final. However, I had been studying for 4 days for a final that I now didn't have to take, so I was also a little mad at the same time.

Next week has got to be better, right?

Holy Crap! Where has the time gone!

Yes, yes, I know... it has been FOREVER since I updated. That's because I have dug a HUGE rut for myself! Sleep, work, study, repeat. That has been my life.

You might notice that "ride" was not in there. This is not a typo. I have not been able to ride hardly at all this quarter, and it totally bites. Especially since I have signed up and paid for a 50 mile mountain bike ride in January! Whereas it is very safe to say that I'm not doing the while 50, I do hope for at least 20-25. I'm fine with half-way, considering that I have not been very active.

Now, the current quarter is almost over, for which I am very grateful! I have had a very hard time this quarter. I am certainly ready for a break.

Well, speaking of, I need to start preparing for my final exam.

Later days!

Taking a breather

I know, I know.... it's been a while since my last post. There really hasn't been much going on worth telling. Work has been hella busy for Dave and I. I have been riding every chance I get, which hasn't been much because of work and hurricanes.

I did get to ride in Thursday night for the first time in almost three weeks. Dave, Diana and I set out on our road bikes and did the Thursday "C+" route, which from my understanding is the normal Thursday route plus the Haneyville hill. It's a good 25 miles, but that day it felt like a lot more because of not riding!

I also got to ride Saturday morning. This time it was a 25 mile loop around Perry, also on the road. I know that some might think I'm loony, but I have actually missed not riding road, so that's why I chose this instead of mountain. Shane and Diana met us at the Welcome Center, and we had a good ride.

Today was church, grocery shopping, yardwork, and laundry. Really exciting stuff!

There is talk of some kind of riding tomorrow, but the jury is still out on what we will actually do.

Biker Chick

Me starting off at the Ice Cream Ramble. Dave took this pic "Dean Thorton" style while we were riding.

Going the Distance

Yesterday was my longest road ride to date. I rode 54 miles! CGC did an Ice Cream Social Ride to William Browns Farm, which is about a mile outside the Montezuma city limits. We started at the Perry Welcome Center, which is across the street from the Fairgrounds. Our first stop was at a cute little shop, deli, and Welcome center in Marshallville called Rosati's Cafe. We met the owner who was so wonderful to us, and talks of breakfast rides have already begun.

Shane was gracious enough to drive his truck and provide support for us. He was also my personal coach. I felt just like a member of the peleton, getting direction, encouragement, and proper motivation from the team car. (The motivation was a beer that he literally dangled at me with 2 miles to go saying "Look what I've got!" from the truck.) He thought that I was pissed off at him for that, but I was grateful. He saw things I needed to correct that I wouldn't have known to do otherwise. I don't think I would have done as well as I did without my coach.

We stopped for ice cream, and man what ice cream! There is no doubt that it's homemade! Since they grow peaches, I opted for the fresh peach ice cream. That was certainly worth the trip! There were several people who bought peaches and veggies, since Shane was there driving.

The trip back was not as bad as I expected. I was expecting a lot of pain and agony, but I really didn't start to really hurt until 38 miles in. Thankfully for me, right about then the group stopped to wait for everyone to catch up. Unfortunately, they stopped on a turn, so with the advice of Shane, we continued on to the next shady spot. When Dave took off, there was a loud noise form his rear tire. He broke a spoke. We continued until the next place to safely pull off so he could take a look at it. I stopped too, because not only is he my hubby and I wanted to know what was going on with his bike, it gave me an opportunity to stretch my legs. Coach made sure I was okay, told me to keep drinking water, (I wasn't drinking enough earlier), and told me that I was doing a great job. Dave decided that he would ride a few miles on the wheel to see how it did, and if it didn't blow up he would continue on riding. He ended up making it all the way back on the bike.

It was so wonderful to see everyone just riding along talking and enjoying themselves. Several people would come back to the back of the pack where I was and check on me, ask me how I was doing. They would talk to me for a while, and then ride on up the the front.

I made it back in one piece, and I was even able to walk afterwards!

I rode 54 miles, and I had a great time doing it. I can truthfully say that I had a good time on the road bike!

Thanks to everyone who went for a great ride!!!!!

AHHH Vacation!

Last week was a long awaited, and well deserved vacation. My husband and two of our friends took off to Fort Mountain State Park for 6 days of camping and biking goodness.

Fort Mountain State Park is in the North Georgia Mountains, near Dalton and Chatsworth.
At it's summit, the mountain is a little over 2800 feet above sea level. The park is probably about 2700ish feet above sea level. But we didn't know that until we got there.

Our adventure started on Saturday, June 28th, when we met Shane and Diana at 6:00am and headed out on the road. We arrived mid-morning, and had camp set up by lunch time. We snaked bay down the mountain to go shopping. First, we went into Tennessee to fetch some of our favorite beer that sadly we cannot get in our own state. A couple of stops later, and we are stock up ad ready to go. On to the grocery, and snake back up to the mountain.

I do mean snake up and down the mountain! I haven't seen such switchbacks in quite a while. It took me two days to get used to it. I didn't have to take anything for motion sickness, but I was very thankful when the truck stopped.

The next day I learned that I don't do so well with riding in higher altitudes. We were eating breakfast and Shane said that he wanted to get to the top of the mountain before the mist rose. So, we literally finished eating, suited up, and got on the mountain bikes.

The trail was right by the campsite and at the time we thought that was very handy until we saw it. What we saw was a trail carved in to the mountain and was rocky, switchback, and seemed like it was almost straight up. I did not give my system any time at all to digest the bagel that I ate, and I almost lost it a few times.

But I made it to the out look. I walked a lot of it, but I made it. I have to say that the views at the overlooks more than made up for the suffering! The next day, Shane took mercy on me and we decided to hike instead of bike. We hiked all over, and have a great time.

Tuesday Diana got to cross something off of her bucket list - She and Dave and Shane climbed Hogpen! This is a mountain, in fact it is the third highest mountain in the state, and they climbed it on their road bikes!!! I however, wussed out and drove the truck and played SAG for them.

After they conquered the mountain, we took the short drive to Dahlonaga, ate at the Smith House and rambled the downtown area. We were also planning on going to a couple of Shane and Diana's favorite local wineries for wine tasting and buying, so Shane decided to call to make sure they were open. It's a goods thing he did, because they were not open, but since they were there working, and he mentioned that he wanted to buy a case, they were gracious enough to let us come and buy some wine. Then we went back to Dahlonaga and finished hitting the shops.

The next day was sleeping in and checking out a easier mountain bike trail called that Lake Loop, because..well...it went around the lake. It was wonderful, except for the whole altitude making my heart feel like it's going to fly out of my chest like it had been shot out of a cannon thing. I did a lap and a half and decided that I just couldn't do it, much to my severe disappointment. So I headed back to the camper, while I encouraged the others to go on and have fun. And fun they had! They discovered that there was actually some screaming downhills and fun stuff after the hellaicous uphill we found the other day.

We also had fun hanging out, and in the evenings, Shane set up his projection screen and we watched movies. Luckily, they had a pretty secluded campsite, so we didn't bother a soul.

We came home on Thursday, just before the traffic got bad for the 4th.


As said in the movie "Hook" - "That was a great game."