Jesus lives in Tennessee and Gearing up....(pun intended)

After a long hike yesterday I took it easy today and did some stretching,

some light strength training and rode my bike to pick up some groceries 

from my favorite local store Sunny Farms! 

It's a flat easy ride that gets you outside

without to much of a strain on the body! 

A few weeks ago I spotted this bike outside the store! 

I remember purchasing a small license plate for my daughter for her bike 

when she was a child! I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that the owner of 

this bikes name wasn't Jesus! I do admire that he is willing

to witness his belief publicly. In a world full of political correctness to 

put yourself out there can be viewed as someone who is crazy! 

Well my friends, I hope Jesus lives in Tennessee.

 I hope He also lives in Washington State, Hawaii and all around world!

They say that when you publicly commit to a 

plan it makes it harder to abandon.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a journey. 

I will begin training to complete my 

first Ultramarathon. I will continue to ride my bike 

at least one day a week for cross training and recovery.  

I will focus on my nutrition, training plan, stretching 

and strength all in an attempt to reach my goal. 

Having completed four marathons 

completing a 50K isn't a far stretch. But it will be the start.....

http://www.coastaltrailruns.com/bizz_johnson.html

As you can see I'm not very consistent with blogging!

Life has many speeds and mine always seems to be in overdrive! There are many things I'd like to find the time to do but never seem to work it out and blogging is one of them! I have found several blogs that I enjoy following so just keeping up on the reading is a challenge!

Winter was rough this year and not conducive to riding! I managed a few times but spent most of my exercise allotment training for another marathon which I completed in March!

With the arrival of better weather and the temporary reprieve of some responsibilities for the summer I anticipate riding more often!

May was National Ride to Work month and I did manage to ride a few times! I love the mountain views on the ride. However, this photo does not do them the justice they deserve! Blame it on the phone!

Time flies...

I can't believe it's been 2 years since my last post! It's a good thing I don't write for a living or I'd be poor.  I would like to say that I have been diligently riding my bike with every passing season that has occurred between then and now but.....well......Pinocchio comes to mind!

I must say as I boarded the bus the last few weeks it was interesting to notice how some things never change. Greetings from daily commuters, friendly hello's and where have you been from the bus driver's make you feel like you've walked into a reunion.  Crazy people at bus stops, yelling at the passing cars, yelling at you that if you try and kill them they will just kill you back! (Am I missing something with that one? I think that occurs only on The Walking Dead!) Smells that move you to chew gum or in a pinch floss! (hey, I clean teeth for a living, I ALWAYS have floss, and it's tasty too!)  It has all been there patiently waiting for me....yup, a reunion all right. You know the kind, the ones with the mix of all the people, some you can't wait to see and others that you avoid like the plague!


On a more pleasant note...I dragged my husband out for a ride on the Olympic Adventure Trail.
We did the section from off of Joyce Access Road to Log Cabin Resort on Lake Cresent. It is beautiful ride with some uphill grinds but you get rewarded with some beautiful views!

We encountered some hazards on the drive up. We are lucky this oversized branch didn't ruin the spokes in my husbands bike!

A good picture of us but it doesn't do the view justice. We could see Canada in the background!

One of the disadvantages to not owning a small truck.
Ghetto style bike rack! 

My mechanic would KILL me if he saw this photo! 

He tried to tell me last time I was in for service that I had been off

roading in my car (which wasn't true).

My husband says I can no longer lie.

Alive and Riding...

The sun is out and I decided to make a quick trip to the store to pick up a few things for dinner. Sporting my bright orange vest that my sister gave me for my birthday last year. Just proving to her that I'm being safe!

 Here are a few things I saw a long the way!!!

Th Beautiful Olympic Mountains!!!

 

 Babies, babies, babies!!! Its cow time!!!

Destination reached!!! 

Sunny Farms Country Store!!! The best little store on the peninsula!

Loaded up with veggies, vegan bars, and whatever else fit in 

my pannier and headed home! It was a good day.

Riding and other maladies....

Well, well, well....It's been awhile.

It's been awhile since I blogged because frankly, it's been awhile since I rode. I felt kind of sheepish blogging about something I'm not participating in so why bother. But today I pumped up the tires and off I went.

 I wish I took this route....

Or better yet....

 I wish I had the ability to do this....

But sadly....

This is a more apt description of how I feel.

Injuries are a bummer. Sounds funny to say that I'm injured and riding but my injury isn't FROM riding. Not sure what caused it. 

Could have been several things, maybe the running that I recently took up so that I could run a marathon this fall to honor the death of my cousin. 

Or maybe those box jumps that I decided to start doing so I WOULDN'T get injured. 

Anyways, here I am, pining away about my aging body. The upside is that I've started riding again. Last year my work schedule changed and along with the fading daylight so did the riding. Now with daylight creeping in earlier the thought of riding to work again has been playing with the fringes of my consciousness. 

We'll see...all I know is that for now running is out, swimming takes a trip to town and my bike tires are pumped and ready to go. Officially.....I started today.

Up, up and away...in my beautiful, my beautiful....

Bicycle??? Well as the song goes a balloon would have been a lot easier but I have to confess it was fun in a morbid, self torturing sort of way. I set out to accomplish something that has

long been on my "to do" list or as they now call it "bucket list".

I have always had the desire to ride up Hurricane Ridge on my bike and this 

year with all the commuting under my belt I thought it was high time!

The elevation at the ridge is 5100 ft. The City of PA is 32 ft. That about sums up the ride.

Up!

So the day before the ride I got this idea to attach a camera 

to the front of my bike a video. So below are some photos and the

video. It is a little lengthy but hey, at least you don't have to do the ride to see it!

Me! And yes I was crazy enough to carry a pannier. I needed something to hold gear for going down!

 One of the tunnels that you travel through on the ride up the ridge. I have a cool video on going through the tunnels on the way down!

Victory photo at the top!!

The Video!!  Enjoy!

Victory Breakfast! Swedish Pancakes!!

And YES!!! A stupid flat at Mile 2.5!

Surprising....with this being the day after....I was expecting some soreness.

I was pleasantly surprised to only be fatigued this morning an gone this afternoon.

Guess all that daily riding has paid off after all!

Christmas in July (well I guess August now!!)

New Stuff!!

Everyone loves new stuff!  I just received a package in the mail today

and I was very excited about it! It contained new bike stuff.

I usually wait until fall to buy new stuff but I couldn't wait.

The WSDOT has had a serious problem keeping the side of 

road clear this summer. There is tons of debris on the shoulders, ranging

from glass shards to rocks. Perfect combination for a flat tire. And

I've had a few lately. Last week I had one that made me decide

it was time to make the BIG purchase. Puncture proof tires.

The main reason I haven't purchased them is the cost.

I took the plunge and bought them over the weekend.

Good thing too, cause on Monday I had 2 flat tires on my ride

to work. Yes, 2 flats, same tire, different locations, different holes.

I gave up, caught the next bus, and walked the rest of the way to work.

This evening my wonderful husband put my awesome new tires on....

Now....we wait and see!

(Oh, I also got new gloves, and a new CO2 repair kit!)