Update Your Bookmarks and Links!

I've moved my blog to the web server where my web site is hosted. That really does make sense. I've been having lots of problems logging into Blogger and viewing and posting comments. I get a lot of blank pages and decided to switch to a blogging program that resides on my server.

So, for today's blog, and every blog hereafter, goto http://www.moronacity.com/blog.

As always, Moronacity.com will also lead you there. :-)

47.6 MPH

That was my top speed, today.

Heading toward Eagle River from Ahmeek, Pat took off in a mad sprint down a hill and I chased after him. We reached almost 40 mph and I joked with Pat about his sprint. He told me that he had to try to reach 40 mph after watching those guys in the Tour de France doing 50 mph. It wasn't until later in our ride that we rode a great hill with new, smooth pavement heading toward Lake Linden that we hit 47 mph. It was incredible.

The three of us, Jerry being the third, shifted into our hardest gears to make the most of the hill, but we had no idea what was going to happen. Pat rode by me and I pedaled a bit to chase after him. Then, we all tucked low to lessen the wind resistance and let the bikes take over. We were not drafting. Midway through the hill, I looked at my computer, then I had to look at it again, and again. I couldn't believe it - 47 mph! I have never gone that fast before, not even descending into Copper Harbor.

As usual, it was a hard effort road ride. I was riding with two guys who are in better shape than I, and who can climb hills with much more ease, even into the hard headwind we had. With the exception of the hill climbs, we traveled anywhere from 20 to 30 mph.

The important thing is that I do feel good about this ride. I was out for three hours and I've found that road riding can be quite beneficial to my mountain bike racing.

Pat is picking me up this evening to head to Michigan Tech to help with the kids' ride, so I'll get a chance to spin down and loosen my legs up, along with putting more time and miles on for my weekly goal.

Tomorrow, I fully intend to ride Churning Rapids, again, but I think I'll switch it up without pushing it too much. That will take some planning because there really is no easy route in the Keweenaw, unless you ride certain trails at Tech.

Thursday, I won't ride, because I have a long shift at the hospital, and it will be wise to take a day off before my 12-hour race. Friday, I've decided to do a light ride, because I won't race well after two days off. I would feel heavy and lazy. I have a short day on Friday, so I might just commute to work. We'll see what the weather blows my way.

47.6 mph . . . wow!

Day One

It's Monday, so this is the first day of the week for me. I rode for two hours and forty minutes. This is a great start to reaching that ten hour mark! I rode Churning Rapids, again, and managed to squeeze out a little more mileage. I hit twenty. Man, I feel good.

I'm pretty optimistic about the upcoming week. I plan to ride Michigan Tech tomorrow, so that may end up being a three hour ride. I'll ride Churning, again, on Wednesday. You may be thinking, "Jeez, Di, take a break," but realize that I am. I have a twelve hour shift on Thursday - so no riding, and I can't ride Friday because I have a twelve-hour race on Saturday. I'm estimating that I'll have eight hours of riding in before Saturday. Yes, this will be a great week, and I plan to see some weight loss as a result.

Horse Vs. Bike

One would think that any given day in mid-July would be spectacular for mountain biking in the Keweenaw. One would think.

Today held firmly at 58 degrees F and the air was quite lively with a strong wind that was heard rushing through the leaves. The trees swayed with more animation than I was able to muster today. It is summer. It is summer. Yes, it is summer. I keep telling myself that, but it just doesn't feel like it. It feels like spring.

I had to deliver the registration papers for the horse I sold a couple of months ago. I met the new owner at a horse show that was going on at the Houghton County Fairgrounds. I kept watching his daughter ride my horse and thinking to myself, "I really want to ride." They offered several times, and I finally hopped on when she was done showing. I gave the daughter a few tips and made plans to show up to the stable Tuesday morning with baby pictures and a desire to ride. I'll have to pack my half chaps and get my riding boots out.

It certainly is not mountain biking, but over a decade of horseback riding prepared me quite well for my new sport. Balance, strength, relaxed muscles, it is all key to both sports.

Return to Mountain Biking

It took some convincing, but I managed to get myself out on the trail for a great ride. I did almost all of the Churning Rapids trails (practically all) and rode home in less than two and a half hours.

I felt strong. Even though I am sore from yesterday's weight training, I pushed through my climbs and felt good. Some of the climbs even felt easier. As I was climbing High Point, I thought to myself, "This isn't nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago!"

Plans Change

I was going to set out for a long ride, but thunderstorms were forecasted. Instead, I weight trained for 75 minutes - it's been a while - and I pulled up some grass where my garden was going to reside, now resides . . . yes, I know it's late. The gardening caused me to sweat bullets, even though I didn't feel hot, or even warm. Interesting.

I showered and moved on to a partial movie. I proceeded to, yes, you guessed it, KBC (Keweenaw Brewing Company for you rookies) for good times with good friends. Oh, and I knew I could pay my teammates, Chris and Tammi, for my entry to the 12 Hours of Potluck in Marquette. Yeah, you saw right through me. That was just an excuse to go drink beer.

It is the Strawberry Festival in Chassell, this weekend. If I can get the money that is owed me for the sale of my horse, I will ride out there to get it, then head on to Chassell for the festival. I will then finish the ride, shower, and proceed to KBC for good times with good friends. ;-)

Planning

My parents have been visiting this week. That's part of the reason why I haven't been riding. They're leaving bright and early, tomorrow morning. What does this mean? It means I'm riding my bike tomorrow.

My plan is to ride to Michigan Tech, do some loops, and ride back. I'm packing a lunch and plenty of water and Heed. Hopefully, it won't rain.

Weight Loss 10

I saw one of the Bridget Jones movies, today [again]. They're fun movies, and it always blows my mind how Renee Zellweger managed to gain thirty pounds, and then lose it, more than once . . . successfully.

Yes, I know she has professional everythings helping her along, but there has to be a way that I can lose my fifteen pounds. Oh, wait! There is!

It's called my ten hour rule. I must ride ten hours a week. I haven't been doing that, but I've had good weight weeks when I hit at least eight hours. I haven't ridden this week - my week starts on Monday - so I have some catching up to do. I've been splitting wood for the last couple days, and tomorrow is another wood day. Yes, winter will be here and I want dry, perfect little cuts of wood for my stove.

I plan to start riding on Friday, again. I'm going to put in a long mountain bike ride. I might even ride to Michigan Tech and do a ride there. With the return trip, I could be out four hours. I better pack a lunch for the ride home.

My Honeymoon

I feel like I just returned from my honeymoon, which is funny because I've never had a honeymoon. Just bear with me, here. Like all great honeymoons, I had one great ride . . . actually, several.

I've been riding, but more effort has been a requirement to get me out on the trail, lately. I just haven't felt like riding. I went up to Copper Harbor for the Thursday night group ride and stayed with some friends for the weekend. Three of us gals did a "B" ride while the rest of the group did the "A" ride. It wasn't so much a separation of skill levels as it was just three girls wanting to do a fun ride without feeling like we were imposing on a bunch of guys. It turns out that both groups hit some of the craziest trails. It was our little "B" group that did Paul's Plunge.


Di riding the Ma Maki trail.

Friday, I did a ride by myself. I really did not feel like riding, but felt compelled to do so when I saw all the guys leaving in different groups. I took off and set out for a challenging, technical, and fast ride. I found myself climbing quickly and confidently, and my riding was spot on. For the first time this year, I had a perfect ride. Things just felt great. I didn't feel awkward on my bike.

Saturday was a true testament to what my weekend at Copper Harbor was doing to me. I started off with a huge Harbor Haus breakfast and met some teammates for a ride. We rode for two hours and did a pretty grueling ride. It was grueling for me because I didn't get very much sleep (people screaming outside all night) and that breakfast weighed me down quite a bit.

We finished our ride after about two hours. I kept my cycling clothes on because I was going to do a road ride after lunch. My friend, Trash – yes, Trash – was chatting with me while deciding where he wanted to do a mountain bike ride. I mentioned my ride on the Kamikaze trail and he said, "That's what I'll do! I'll ride Kamikaze!"

"Seriously?" I totally took note.

"Yeah. I'm going to do it right now."

"Wait for me! I'm coming with you!" My legs felt like Jello, but who cares? This was going to be fun!

Our friend, Chuck, showed up and the three of us headed up to the top of Kamikaze for a funky, crazy ride down. We headed back home and decided to shuttle the bikes up to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge for a ride down Garden Brook. After twenty-two miles of riding the ever-so-awesome trails of Copper Harbor, I had a couple of beers with Chuck and we called it a day.

I left the Harbor, today, with a renewed sense of enthusiasm for mountain biking. I got my groove back. I found that honeymooning with your mountain bike can do a lot to help you regain the joy, freedom, and awe that got you into this mess in the first place.

Nothing to Do But Ride a Bike

Today was just like the camping days of my childhood. There really wasn't much to do but ride my bike! I would ride, come back for food, get bored, and then ride again. I went out three times and rode twenty-two miles in Copper Harbor. It was a blast!

Copper Harbor fireworks as seen from my kayak.

It was such a long day, it seemed like two. I started the day off walking the dogs to Ft Wilkins State Park and back. I heard sirens toward the end of the walk indicating the fine Copper Harbor parade had begun. I rushed back, put the dogs away, and watched a parade truly in Harbor fashion.


Indian Paintbrush grows all over the Keweenaw. This was seen during my walk back from Ft Wilkins.


View of Lake Fanny Hoe from Ft Wilkins State Park.

It was a day that was difficult to settle into. I felt lazy and didn't want to do much. Many people were heading out to the trails to mountain bike, and I finally headed out myself. For the first time this year, I felt great! I didn't feel clumsy and my bike went right where I wanted it. After 90 minutes and 12 miles, I returned to town with a big smile and a great feeling. The ride was good.

We concluded the evening with a sunset kayak tour through the Keweenaw Adventure Company. The Independence Day sunset tour is special because the kayakers get to hang out at Hunter's Point and watch the fireworks. We were directly under them. It was freaky, cool, and amazing.

As usual, a few of us capped the night off with Tequila Sunrises at Zik's Bar. Life is good.


Looking out into Lake Superior from Copper Harbor.


Sun setting over Copper Harbor.


Hunter's Point.

Nice To See You Again, Paul!

Thursday night group ride in Copper Harbor . . . the three of us, the girls, broke off from the rest of the group to do a "B" group ride. We did the first part of the Fat Tire course backward . . . well, sort of. We went the wrong way, thanks to me, and ended up at the beginning of Paul's Plunge. "It's a sign!" I said. They agreed, and we progressed down that ever-so-gnarly trail.

I led, and I finally reached the top of the plunge and laid my bike down to walk the plunge in an effort to psyche myself to do it. Amanda went flying by and I just said, "Feck it, I'll follow you!" I got on the bike and did the first part of the plunge like I was an old pro, which I kind of am.

I was afraid because it was my first time doing Paul's Plunge on *this* bike. I did the first part with no problem. The second part was a different story. I knew the line I had to take, but I stopped before going into it. I picked up the bike and went back to try it again. I froze within three feet of beginning it. The third time, with my friends cheering, I did it. I conquered it on my new, squirrelly bike.

Paul, it's nice to see you again.

Analyzing My Internet

It is quite frustrating when your Internet runs slowly. I have satellite DSL and it hasn't been the best, especially as of late. Within the last few weeks, I started noticing "google-analytics.com/..." in my status bar every time I loaded a web page. For example, it would show up whenever I went to MMBA.com, Google.com, even my own web site! While my blog is hosted by Google, my web site, Moronacity, is hosted on a virtual server that I pay for. I never installed Google Analytics, and I was pretty upset to find that I was loading more than the desired content every time I clicked on a link.

What did I do? I did some searching, via Google, and found a simple solution. I use Firefox. I clicked on the ABP (AdBlock Plus) icon on the upper right hand corner of my browser, and located the google-analytics urls in the window that opened at the bottom of the screen. I right-clicked on the google urls and blocked them.

Suddenly, my surfing life is faster!

From 8-Track Tapes to Banana Seat Bikes

This post is entirely Ali's, fault, because she inspired me. You see, she was kind enough to show us a pretty sweet picture of some 8-track tapes she saw at an auction. That got me thinking about the 8-track tapes I played with as a kid. It was kind of sad, really. The only two tapes I remember were Barry Manilow and Chicago - not exactly my cup of tea. Don't worry. I moved onto something more likable, like my brother's Queen record (yeah baby, vinyl!) with Another One Bites the Dust.

You're probably wondering what any of this rambling has to do with a banana seat bike. Well, nothing, really, except that this is a cycling blog and I had to tie it in somehow. ;-)

The 8-tracks, however disappointing the music, were a fond memory of my childhood. I would play with my parents' 8-track player and color, so crayons are also tied in with this memory. I had a lot of cool Crayola crayons - the big box - 64. I also had a Smurf coloring book, of which I can find no equal. I wonder what ever happened to that coloring book. Doh! I got away from the bike, again!

I had a pink, banana seat Huffy when I was a little girl. It was the bike that my dad taught me how to ride. It was my first bike without training wheels. I rode that bike all over town. My brother would hop on the back and we would head to the swings at a nearby school, or the Southside Market with the greatest candy selection, ever!

My pink, banana seat Huffy was also the first bike I would take off-road. We had some little trails around our neighborhood. There was a hill that we'd have to ride over - a little hump in the land a little higher than the bike - to get to the creek. We called this hill Snake Mountain. I'm sure the great, dangerous garter snake could be found there.

8-tracks, crayons, banana seat Huffys . . . I also had a Barbie Tonka Truck. That thing rocked.