07/12/09: And, we're off ..... perfect day for a 25K. The weather was gorgeous, well, still is, as I write this. I'm at my younger son's house near Kzoo. His place is very cool. I call his windows great framed living art. There are no window coverings. Sitting at my perch in his living room I can view nearly 180 degrees of outside w/ zero bugs bugging me. The sunlight filters through the trees; birds search for food in his yard; the wind shusses through the leaves; insects chatter; a gentle breeze stirs through this room; cars hum nearby; bugs bo-ing into the screens; fireflies glow at night - perfect! He sits across the room on his computer and here I am on mine. We can communicate w/each other in many ways.


My daughter joined me on the 25K adventure; she on her bike and me on my trike. This was my (& our) first "biking" event. Had no idea what to expect so decided to have no expectations. My child won a registration prize (she's very lucky at winning prizes) - I think that geeked her up even more. Our only instructions were to follow the green arrows.

We had a green map, but she's map reading impaired. Generally, I'm quite adept at reading maps, but this one confounded me. I could not follow it. It was a very clear map. I think I didn't know my orientation from the beginning so the directional arrow on the map made no sense to me. Worst case, which happened to us, is that we get off the marked roads. We didn't go far out of way. My nose knew something was off (besides the fact neither of us had showered pre-event).

You know how significant milestones occur in life and we remember exactly where we were and what we were doing? Like JFK being shot. Baptisms. Weddings. Babies being born. The Challenger blowing up. 9-11. Farrah Fawcett dying. Receiving bad news. Receiving good news. Sometimes milestones occur and we don't even pause to acknowledge them. Another birthday. An anniversary. Pet dying. A promotion. Spending time w/ someone you enjoy.

We treat events & people like ordinary occurrences. A moment that disappears; we expect another moment. One of those milestones happened along today's trip. I passed the 200 mile marker for outdoor miles on my trike. To capture the "where was I when this happened?" I took a picture for the visual reminder:

One place where we "got off track" was at a SAG (support & gear) stop. We assessed we didn't need anything so we passed by it. Turns out this was a point where the route doubles back for a few hundred feet. Once we figured out we were on the wrong road we returned to the SAG stop to get "support" in reading the map. Glad we stopped. Not only was this our food (Subway - veggie subs, nonetheless) & hydration (Gatorade & H2O) station, but it provided a porta-potty & technical support. Biking Dude (pictured below) helped her w/skill development, adjusted her seat and handlebars to help w/ her posture and comfort. She was elated to get this help.

There were several vineyards along our journey. If there'd been a wine tasting event we would have definitely stopped. Our legs were aching (& daughter's butt -- I think she needs to wear biking pants, but NOOOO, she's not gonna wear those "diaper" padded pants at her young age) and we were of mind that some good wine would make us forget about the aches & pains. Perhaps all the vineyards were owned by the same person and we were merely riding circles around the same vineyard :-)

I took pics of a couple roosters by the road, but they were in the shade by the time my finger hit the button. Surprisingly, I only saw daisies two times. Once was a single daisy by a driveway. Not a single bunch of daisies, but one solitary daisy. Odd. The other time there were several daisies, but I was zooming by too quickly for the picture to capture anything but a blur of white dots. We saw several chipmunks and many dead animals. The scenery along the journey was beautiful, but I guess I wasn't expecting so many hills. The brochure said, "gently rolling hills." I ran through Hell, MI several years ago and have the t-shirt to prove it. I suppose if one drove along the course through Hell, one could call it a "gently rolling hillside". It was torturous on my running legs. I think I would have been swearing if running today's course. Thankfully, I was triking. None of the "gently rolling hills" were as steep of grade as the one at my local lake, but the upgrade continued on and on and on. Cresting the hill was a thrill until I realized a series of new "gently rolling hills" was ahead. On one of the downgrades I zoomed up to 29.1 mph. That was amazing! Descending many of the other hills, I easily accelerated to the mid-2o's range.

My daughter and I rode like rubber bands. She was much quicker at ascending and I descended more quickly. Often, she'd linger at the top of the hill waiting for me to catch up, then I'd zoom by her and she'd pass me on the next ascent. During our connecting times we'd catch up w/ whatever we wanted to discuss. Isn't this how life goes? Especially when we're so busy. It is imperative we spend time together. Being intimate - being in time together. The here & now. Present.

We had a lovely time together. We'll talk about this the rest of our lives.

Running would've been a lot easier to prepare to do. All that's needed is good running shoes. Well, and socks. And moisture-wicking clothing. And a supportive athletic bra. And nipple guards or Vaseline if you're male. But, that's it. Triking requires all the above + a trike (or bike) and a helmet and loading/unloading muscles. Thank goodness for my muscular son today. HOWEVER, if I'd been running those hills today, I know I would've been swearing. But, I would've sweated and burned a lot more calories and felt like I'd actually done something when I finished. I miss running. Very much. Running events do not provide Subway at the mid-way point. No way. That was a bonus for today :-) And the ability to carry on a conversation while participating in an event was a reward. I'm working on re-framing how I view the inconveniences of triking and the loss of running. I am very grateful to be able to choose to trike. I am grateful to be able to choose to go outside whenever I desire. I am grateful. GOD is good in all things.

Blessings Abound!

~A~