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SubscribeOur Save the Date cards arrived today. Because of the way pricing works, it was cheapest to order 250 - way more than we need. So David and I did the only logical thing. We build a card house.
| posted at: 22:00 |
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I'd just like to share some random search queries from the last week that showed up on Google Webmaster Tools:
What is Jillian writing?
| posted at: 16:06 |
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Don't you love it when you're cleaning out a box of stuff you ordered a while back and you discover something you'd totally forgotten about? I found this Spoke Wrench
Which is something I might need to do before I go for a ride again. A couple of days ago I had my first flat on a ride - ever. Thirteen years of serious riding, several thousand miles, and I end up with a flat less than a mile from my house. It was getting dark, and while I had the equipment to change the tube and be on my way, it was so very much easier to call Dave and have him pick me up.
I don't think there's any way I'm going to be able to catch up to Jillian in this competition.
| posted at: 15:49 |
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My New Year's Resolutions were apparently too ambitious. I have definitely not been averaging 100 miles, 3 lifting sessions, and 3 ab workouts per week. In fact if I received a resolution report card it would be mostly Ds. The riding has been steady but closer to 60-70 miles per week and until very recently I was totally slacking off about weights and abs. I've finally started using more of the gym, however, and I have a new and more attainable cycling goal: to finish the 1000 mile challenge within 100 days of starting it. It is currently Day 76 of the challenge and I've ridden 765 miles, so I'm right on track. I can taste my victory meal already... I just need to make sure that Kyle doesn't sneak in too many marathon rides in this nice weather.
I've been doing a better job of eating regular meals, which was my other resolution, though a disturbing majority still come out of a box. I've cooked a few real and healthy meals though - baby steps I guess. One major accomplishment has been increasing my calcium intake. I can finally finish a half gallon of milk on my own before it goes bad, thanks largely to the honeynut cheerios and peanut butter that I was championing a few entries ago (Brian Regan bonus: lunch with no cleanup!) It is truly a milk miracle. If only the rest of my goals were so easy to accomplish.
The thesis doesn't help with my plan to get healthier, of course, since it means a lot of sedentary time mindlessly munching on 'brain food' and downing caffeine. Graduating is more important than being perfectly fit, however, and I need a draft to my advisor by the end of the month so it's crunch time already. Which reminds me, I should stop writing for the blog and get back to writing about Shakespeare; I need to get in a few solid hours of thesis work so that Kyle and I can enjoy our Valenhundriversary Weekend (Valentine's Day + one hundred days until the wedding + our 6 year anniversary). :-D I hope everyone else has a lovely Valentine's Day and weekend as well!
| posted at: 03:03 |
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The weather this week has been gorgeous. I know spring isn't really here yet, but I can enjoy the illusion while it lasts. On Sunday I reveled in being able to play ultimate frisbee in shorts; I think I even got a little color on my face from the sun, though it was probably just windburn. I was still so excited about the weather afterwards that I hopped on my bike. I expected it to be a very short trip around the neighborhood - I just wanted to enjoy the sun while it lasted and to try out my shoes for the first time (other than that park parking lot debacle) but I was feeling energized and comfortable in the shoes so I ventured farther away and stayed out for about an hour until it started to get dark. As I rolled towards home I decided to do a brief hill workout in my neighborhood to finish off the ride. I was thinking back over the enjoyable ride and congratulating myself on avoiding any mishaps...I think you know where this is going. I prepared to stop at the bottom of the hill. I clipped out successfully. And then I leaned the wrong way. Yeah, I don't know how I managed that either. I fell away from the car-filled road, thank goodness, (which is why I always take my left foot out) but I still managed to scrape my shin on the decorative rocks in someone's front yard. Whatever happened to grass, people?
Someday I swear I will learn how to ride my bike...
| posted at: 01:49 |
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Jillian is still destroying me in the thousand mile challenge. First finals week and the time leading up to it left me with no time. Then we had beautiful weather and I put outdoor tires on my bike, only to have terribly cold weather the next day. I'll admit, I'm too lazy to change the tires back to indoor tires. But now there's nice weather again, so I'm riding outside again. Unfortunately, the sun still sets too early to ride during the week. I have this feeling she's going to win.
But I did go for an awesome ride on Saturday. I decided to go to Gettysburg and accidentally ended up riding over all three covered bridges in Frederick County.
I also saw an incredibly beautiful house:
And some really weird landscaping:
I ended up doing almost sixty miles on Saturday, and another twenty today. They felt good and I had a lot of fun. So if Jillian wins by riding in the gym, and I lose loving the warm weather outside (it was 66 today), I'm totally ok with it.
| posted at: 13:22 |
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Broadly speaking, there are two ways to bicycle tour: camping and credit card. In the interest of time and comfort we'll be doing the latter.
Of course, lodging is expensive. It will probably end up as a third of our budget. The best way to save money on lodging is by staying with friends (Thank you all in advance), but unfortunately our friends don't live in even one hundred mile increments across the country. I'd always thought our next best option was cheap motels. But then I stumbled on three websites.
The first is CouchSurfing. There are almost one million CouchSurfers around the world, willing to lend you a couch to crash on for a night. You're not even obligated to pay for staying there, though no one will stop you from treating your host to a meal.
The second is Airbed and Breakfast. This is what it sounds like. You spend a little bit of money and get accommodations for the night, anything from an airbed to a house, depending on the host and the fee.
The third is Warm Showers, which is like CouchSurfing for touring cyclists. Hopefully these people better understand the crazy travel schedules and funny smells of cyclists. Plus they'd all offer insight about routes.
Is there a guarantee you won't stay with a serial murderer? Well no, not really. But all of these sites have a rating and reputation system so that you can monitor other people's experiences with that host. Not a perfect system, but it gives you some idea. You also get to choose your host, and they need to agree to host you. So we'd be able to choose not to stay with the guy with the profile picture of him in the hockey mask with an axe. Again, not a perfect system, and you end up stereotyping someone based on a little profile picture, but it helps.
Of course, there's some advantages. We'd save money - anywhere from $30-$60 a night, which means a lot over the projected thirty nights we'll spend in hotels. We'd also have an opportunity to meet people that can really teach us about where they live and hopefully make a lot of good friends.
No decisions yet, just more things to keep in mind. I'm currently working on arranging for someone to be our logistics head at home - someone I can call and say "Hey, we're going to be in Podunk, Nowhere in ten miles, can you call ahead and find the cheapest room for the night?" just in case things change (and they will).
| posted at: 19:50 |
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