The Austin Marathon

The Austin Marathon is always fun to watch, especially in a gorilla suit. I talked MB into going with me. I carried the camera, bananas, wig & cowbells. MB carried the gorilla suit, bike locks and sketchpad and complained about how heavy it was! after picking up the bananas, I felt like we were on the Amazing Race, but we were just headed to the split in the marathon.
Locked the bikes to a street sign, walked across the street & set up shop. MB wrote out her sign & proudly displayed it while ringing her cowbell. I put the gorilla suit on, had a little trouble with the shorts, MB got me all straightened out, put my number on and grabbed a cowbell.
Loved how runners would 'high five' me, want their picture taken w/ the Gorilla! One guy even ran up, put his arm around me & did self portrait!
MB saw Christie run by, then she saw Margaret run by.
Saw Christi & Margaret

Then there was the cowbell incident. The guy sitting on the truck apparently thought that going to a marathon was the way to listen to live music in Austin. He kept telling us to move away and not ring the cowbells so he could hear the band! Dude, this is a marathon, not Antone's, we are cheering on the runners. So, I asked the runners to wave their hands in the air if they liked the cowbells, most of them within earshot did. Eventually we won and he left.

Yung came running up. He stopped and talked with us for a bit. I went to go get his banana since he had commented on FB that he hoped the gorilla would bring him a banana. On my way back to the course, I had 3 bananas w me, one for each of us, a marathoner ran bad and said she'd love to have one, so i gave her one, seconds later she was back saying she didn't mean to take someone's banana, we made her leave with the banana. So, Next year, more bananas!

Miles for this ride: not sure, the odometer is in kilometers and I didn't look, guess I could map my ride it, but then again, I don't think I'll count the urban adventures for the total miles...
Roadkill for this ride: lots of runners..joking
Total miles for the month: 21 (rounding)I need to ride some more...been running...
Total miles for 2011: 82
Miles to go: 1418 to hit 1500!

5.8, 7, 34, wtf

I was chicken proofing the garden, time was running out, so I could continue working & run later or bike and shower before I had to meet Da Queen at 5. Not knowing what to do, I wrote 'ride' on one side of a scrap piece of wood and 'run later' on the other side, tossed it in the air and it landed on 'ride.' So, I picked up the tools, etc, changed into my super hero outfit, aired up the tires & off I went for a 30 min ride.
30 mins doesn't leave you many options...I could do the 6 mile loop on Shoal Creek or 2 loops of Hancock, Shoal Creek & Bullcreek, OR I could 'be like Lance' and ride the hills on Balcones!

Balcones is a 2 lane winding road w/ steep hills. I managed to avoid the steep hill heading out (I followed the bike route signs the safer route) made it to Pecos, decided to turn around and head back. the last time I remember riding Balcones was in 2006 when I was inspired by Lance and going up the steep hill on the way back, my mantra was "I'm not Lance", so on the way back this time, I thought taking the bike route would by pass the "I'm not Lance" hill. And as far as i know it did, but either way, Balcones now contains two "I'm not Lance" hills, or at least my 5.8 mph going up the hill before the bike route turns is now the "I'm not Lance" hill and I'm kinda afraid to not take the bike route from here on out...
It was a short ride, but got the heart rate up high and made me use muscles I hadn't in a while, that or building the garden fence really strained my hamstrings!

Miles for this ride: 7
Roadkill for this ride: a squirrel with meat showing
Total miles for the month: 21 (rounding)
Total miles for 2011: 82
Miles to go: 1418 to hit 1500!

Hello February!

February came in like a lion! it was roaring cold last week! I figured there would be no way I would ride over the weekend, but this is Texas and the weather likes to change quickly & dramatically! Saturday was gorgeous, but I had already ran (4 miles!) and thus ran out of spoons after doing work around the house.
But on Sunday I managed to find time before the Superbowl to get some miles in...14.4 to be exact. I took one of my favorite routes just outside my hood. It has smooth roads a few hills, sometimes lots of deer, but more importantly a yellow house with blue trim! (next time I'll take a picture of it!)
So after the hill & the blue house, I found myself on a street (West Rim) that brought back post stroke biking memories and I was once again reminded of how far I've come. I remember I was training to go ride in France, so this was Spring 2009, I think it was very hot, but I'm not sure. As I was riding down the street, I noticed I was having a hard time catching a jogger ahead of me. When I finally caught up to him, he wasn't a jogger, he was a runner, he was running about 8 mph! Slow in the biking world but fast for distance running (esp for someone who looked to be in his 30's) Well this time I was taking it easy at 13 mph and when I noticed I was going so slow, I kicked it up a notch!
On my way home on Shoal Creek there's a hump in the road that when I was tri training I would try not to let my speed dip below the speed that I was traveling at the bottom by the time I got to the top. So, I haven't been following my stupid rule (oh and you can't shift either) and today I picked 16 as my number (that was my speed when I crossed 2222) as I approached the hill, I was at 18.something, so 18 was then my new number..almost made it...speed dipped to 17.9, but I brought it back up to 18 to finish.

I keep wondering if I was upset w/ myself for being so slow that day when I finally passed the runner, but now looking back on it, I'm glad I have that memory, cuz it gives me a milestone for every time i ride on West Rim.

Miles for this ride: 14.4
Roadkill for this ride: a big rat!
Total miles for the month: 14 (rounding)
Total miles for 2011: 75
Miles to go: 1425 to hit 1500!