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Chasing · sea-foam · dreams · around · another · dirty · old · town.
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I walked to work this morning, since Janie was in the parking garage at work following the 24 hour Chicago-Milwaukee-Madison-Chicago whirlwind that started after work Friday. (It took about 20 min to walk in today, and I really enjoyed listening to music and stretching my legs after the morning run.) Friday night I got to hang out with my nephew, Saturday was the beer festival, and Saturday night I was home in time to wake up Sunday and make ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cardst0ck a birthday breakfast. Sunday, we did nearly nothing in celebration. I opened boxes and did the easy stuff to make it seem like i was getting somewhere on my new project.
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Tomorrow is the Great Taste of the Midwest. This is an event that I've been attending since I turned 21, and I've only missed twice in 8 years. (Once it was for this race, the other time it was for some work related stuff). Yes, I even flew back from DC for it, about 5 times. Maybe 6. The magic of the beer festival is what happens when a beer fiend like me spends 5 hours drinking beer. I've lost two phones, one flip flop (see, it's in this photo, top left, yet i would never locate it), gotten lost on the way back from the bathroom of a mexican restaurant, slept 4 hours in some random dude's car, and had a wedding officiated by elvis where i married my already-married sister.
 If you want to know how to be the slowest biker EVER, keep reading. Pierogies, beer, whatever... ain't nobody knowin' how to keep it slow like me! oh, and Molly told me to post this:
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there's nothing more sad than getting on two flights on the same day and having the flight attendant remember you. yup, that's just sad. yeah, yesterday in Louisville, 4am pouring rain, yadda yadda. got home at 8pm and went to watch Lisa's hockey game. didn't get much sleep, again. this morning's run was miserable, partially because the mad humidity made me slow, and partially because Molly was pulling me because I was going slow. I ordered one of these. Dear god, i hope it works. It's gotten rave reviews on my usual internet hangout. B and I are both cranky lately. We're both short on sleep. He's pissed that his brakes aren't working right. I'm just generally pissed at myself for being so slow. No good. His birthday is this weekend. Must do something special. |
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 Photo: Rustyputting on my ATAC cleats to go to work today, i got mud all over my legs. this, despite having hosed them down in the sink to the point that i was afraid to turn on the disposer, because there are probably piles of rocks stuck in there. ugh. yesterday was an experience. Amanda and I were completely intimidated by the large field and the very-official-looking everything, so we decided that, although it was a 3-lap race, we both pledged to do at least 1. We had no idea what was in front of us. We started last, rather admit it than have everyone pass us. The downhill start that i remember being so fast from WEMS was a mud pit. The singletrack that I had worked up a pretty good rhythm in was a mud pit. The fire roads were sticky, the flat part at the top of the first climb- which i rely on for recovery from that climb- was sticky and slow. The singletrack became doubletrack and quadruple track as riders tried to avoid the deep mud. The trails were ruined, but mostly, they were slow. oh, and some dude asked to mud wrestle amanda and i. ugh. Amanda and I rode a lap together, getting lapped by the leaders before the bonsai downhill, and finished it in just over an hour. I decided to try to finish the race, and set off for lap two. I was lapped by just about the entire field by the end of lap two, and as they climbed the hill to the finish, i was the only person to go on the "lap" side. I asked around and it seemed like I could keep riding even though I was probably the only sport rider still out there. I did, but about 1/3 way into the lap, the elite's came around, one by one. They had a game to play, and I was just doing what I did just to finish, so I'd jump off my bike and out of the way for them. After about 5 minutes it became clear that I was getting nowhere and had to choose between getting in their way or just dropping out and not finishing the lap. I chose the latter. I can't let my slowness ruin other people's day. So, DNF. 2/3 lap short of 3rd place, but hey, it was fun. -ish. ok, it was muddy and mostly miserable. but i smiled, got to call cardst0ck ben "sexy tights," I got to meet Megan, who i'd seen at so many races on that sexy pink cannondale, met lots of friendly riders, and saw Rachael really eat up that course. Oh, and 3 $2 beers. Mission sort of accomplished. |
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i don't like going too fast. i don't like people watching me. i don't like a race with 700 people in it that finishes at the top of a hill that i know i'm going to be walking up (that they'll be watching me walk up). i don't like tomorrow. i said one of my goals for this season was to race WORS at least once, so i figured tomorrow was as good a day as any to make good... but it's also the same course we rode two weeks ago that I know (1) I'll be pushing the time limit on, and (2) I'll be walking to the finish line. i guess it doesn't matter if i laugh it off, but i'm so intolerably proud. i wish i wasn't. i'm nervous about tomorrow and it's making me have to pee. see, that's the thing about wems. There are maybe 50 people there. there aren't really spectators. nobody watches you race. and there's no DNF. either way, wish me luck. i'll prolly ride half a lap and get distracted by some violets or something and never finish. who knows. |
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though the weather report said we weren't supposed to today, molly and i still rocked our usual 5k. we just took it a little slower, and she wore her cooling collar. it was just another day. yesterday i had a meeting in Pittsburgh, and seeing the hills was just painful. Years ago I attempted this race when the season had been too rainy and I had to drop out because the trail was a muddy slippery mess. I immediately thought of that day, and of how i used to love trail running/hiking. I miss the hills. I especially miss Massanutten, Signal Knob, Elizabeth's Furnace. I was thinking of doing this in September, but didn't get my sht together to register in time. Hopefully when we go out for Dave and Elisa's wedding I can get more trails in. |
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 (photo: Lisa.) How to get faster on my bike: Lay around doing nothing all Saturday, then eat my weight in saurkraut-stuffed pierogies on sunday. Yes i think this strategy will work quite well. Truthfully, though, Saturday morning Ben made me the most awesomest gourmet three course breakfast (with fresh squeezed OJ) ever. Later we went and mingled with the other half at the Northbrook location of Crate and Barrel. ("Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.") Sunday I made scones, then met some friends for getting lost on the South side and Pierogie Fest. This morning it's back to the 5K every day promise. Molly's an awesome runner EXCEPT when there are squirrels around. In which case she becomes an awesome tree climber and whiner. And I was quite happy that adding a little chain lube solved Janie's little loudmouth problem. When I have a handful of bikes, I've found, it's difficult to keep them all happy and maintained, so if something is annoying or off with one, I kind of just don't ride it for a spell. The front wheel of the SASS is out of true (again), the headset on the fish is doing some weird stuff, Okashii's chainring makes a crunching/grinding, and Janie was just riding loud. Now, Janie's happy. Eventually, I'll fix the rest. |
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i got service on my developer. which means, i basically won my case. huzzah! i'm getting more aggressive in my search for a new MTB. steel hardtail with gears. I really really really want to build up one of these, but let's face it, at $799, that's an effing pricey frame. i'm hoping to get one used. yeah, good luck. |
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 so, i had a great time at saturday's race. we ended up taking second to our own teammates, but the three of us all rode clipless this time, had a blast on a really great course, and most of all improved our skills and had fun. this is the first course where i think having a singlespeed wasn't a huge detriment, and while rigid wasn't totally comfortable on the downhills, it was ok and better for the tons-o-turns. there's still annoying crap about the whole team nonsense, and as usual the lunch tables were segregated, but nobody said anything blatantly stupid this time, but whatever, we're three people awesome and we're happy to stay that way. i honestly think we'd have more fun unattached, and i think it's something i may bring up at the end of the season. sunday we went to noah's ark. why? cuz it's the world's largest waterpark... duh. there were more tacky swimsuits and bad tattoos and rude people, but we had fun. especially on the toilet ride. molly and i ran again this morning. it gets easier every day. |
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it's another WEMS race tomorrow, and honestly, i'm not too excited about it. i brought work home and ended up working till 9pm twice this week, and my days have been insane. i need some sleep-in-relax time, and getting up ungodly early tomorrow to get to the trailhead ain't going to cut it. i also abhor the fact that the trail this weekend is out in the open so everyone can watch my sucking-at-riding. i'm very self conscious about that sort of thing. but, whatever. there's lots of stuff that's making me not really like the whole race-team-whatever thing lately, but i can't let it get me down. the three of us ladies, we're all awesome, we're going to keep it awesome, and everyone else be damned. molly and I ran 12 miles this week. i somehow bruised my foot badly yesterday, so today we walked. it's funny how walking feels boring once you're used to running. and on a completely unrelated note:
i've become somewhat intrigued with the salad selections for lunch near my office. they range in price from $4 to an astounding $7, and they range in nutrition from good for you to omygod-a-big-mac-has-less-fat. i was amazed to look at the nutrition facts for the corner bakery harvest salad: 860 cal and 68 g of fat- hot damn, that's a salad? between pockets, qdoba, panera, au bon pain... so many salads. you just have to guess whether they're good for you based on ingredients- cheese bad, olives bad, avocado bad, nuts bad. if anyone cares, i'm going to keep looking for the best salad at the best value. so far my favorites are salad spinners, but they don't disclose nutritional data. hmm. |
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ARF House Chicago, a volunteer-run no-kill shelter, is having it's annual Ride for Rescues this Sunday. Please consider helping out!  Click here for information about registering for the ride. We adopted our dog from ARF House and she's the sweetest. If Molly had gone to City of Chicago Animal Control, they would have killed her because she's a pit bull. Thanks to ARF House, she's alive and well and the most loving, climb-on-your-lap, crazy-for-peanut-butter dog you've ever met. She even knows how to dance. ARF House provided us with the info we needed to keep Molly. They spayed her and registered us for free training classes. They even provided her medications as she nursed back to health. Anyway, we're trying to give back to the shelter that gave so much to us. Our fundraising page is here. Please consider helping! |
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We loaded 5 bikes onto D's car- and a Molly in the back- for a weekend adventure. 3 MTB's and 2 roadies. In the end, only the two roadies would see any Kettle Moraine action, and only 9 miles at that. It turned out that relaxification played the trump card. We swam and ate and sunned and went to the dog park and rode in a motorboat. It was pretty sweet. I somehow killed the front wheel of the SASS and scrambled for the last two days to find a replacement. Who comes through? D of course! Super team player, never races but always supports, willing to drive and share his house and be super awesome D. * superhugs * He's the awesomest. Molly and I are back on our 3mi morning runs. People were a little more scared of her than usual this morning, and I can only hope it has nothing to do with this. Seeing those photos, ugh. SO completely sad and infuriating. The worst is the neighbor that said "I knew he was breeding but I thought it was just to sell." NOTE TO NEIGHBORS: lots of pit bulls? Call it in. If it's not for fighting, they'll be fine. Better safe than sorry. |
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3 days. 8.5 miles of running. I promised Molly 5K every day, and I'm pretty much sticking with it. Last night was supposed to be self-declared TP ladies' night at the track clinic, but it poured rain at 5:30pm. Regardless, we piled 3 bikes, 4 ladies, and an honorary lady into the car and drove up. The track was dry and there were just two riders on it. I loaned B14 my bike and she rode her first clipless pedals and her first laps around the track. It was awesome. (B14 gets the "I can" award for the year, no doubt. No matter how frustrating or difficult. Never having been on an MTB, she raced a 12 hour. Never having been on a track, she rode it clipless. She's just an awesome can-do kind of girl.) Molly's new collar came on Monday. I think she likes it. I just about lost it when a number of people, on my first walk with her in the new collar (with matching leash) asked what kind of Terrier she is. I mean, she's a pit bull, plain as can be. But with a cute collar, she's a new, nicer dog.
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 so, yesterday we learned why everyone thinks we're so hardcore for riding a rigid singlespeed. it's because, honestly, it's not the best tool for the job- and in this case, far from it. the trail at blue mounds was full of slow grinding uphills with big rocks n' roots that you either need good momentum to get over (or soft suspension) or you're gonna stop dead. our gearing was too big, we weren't climbing fast enough, we weren't rolling over stuff. we walked alot. but all three of us did a lap, we again took first with no competition, but for girls new to trails, it's nice encouragement to get the medal. i'm now an auntie to a lovely three day old boy named Pascal. He's a cutie. i wish i met him. soon.  |
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My sister's baby is now 11 days overdue. I'm excited to meet my first niece/nephew, and since she's inducing tomorrow at 6am, i'm just going to stay in MKE till it all goes down. This would usually be ok with work, except that my computer's charger ate itself somehow and doesn't work, the battery ran out earlier today (i'm on my folks' machine), and my work cell phone is completely dead as well. Oh, and my personal cell is also in need of a charger I don't have with me. Freaking battery powered machines. I miss B and I've been gone all of two days. He reports that he taught molly how to run alongside a bike today. Wish I had been there for it. Today I baked in the sun for 5 hours with the best friends I have (excepting B) on the planet, one pregnant and with her husband, the other with her two year old and her husband back in Jersey City. They're, well, a little more settled than I am. They have baby dreams and yards and houses and things like that. I have bikes and corner stores and 4am bars. We're just different now. But we're still the same. They still see right through me. Good times. Wish B was here for it. (have i mentioned i'm in love?? all together now. "awwwwwwww.") Saturday we do another WEMS race. Sunday I'd really like to get on the Fish and see how far the Prairie path really goes, and then go a spell farther. |
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thankfully D drove out to Palos this sunday, and although my hangover was part of what was holding me back, there was other stuff too. i have the strength to get through these trails, no problem, but i'm really timid. really. notes to self: 1. know what size stuff you can roll over and then only worry about the big stuff. i need to stop fretting every rock, root, and bump more than 4" and just plow through. toward the end of our ride i was doing that and it made me significantly faster. this is just kind of culture shock for a girl that avoids potholes and cracks and bumps on the street like it's a game.
2. move hands to far outside of bars and power up hills using upper body. i can push this singlespeed up hills, but the 1-2" leverage difference between being at the inside or outside of the grips makes a ton of difference.
3. increase cadence. since i'm on a SS, i can't just roll it like i roll my street bike. when on flats, i need to pedal up to a higher cadence before freewheeling.
4. saddle height matters. at the WEMS race I didn't adjust it after my shorter teammates rode my bike, and it HURT. the 2" difference gives me a lot more power for seated climbs. It's worth the 30 seconds to raise the saddle. ok. now to work on this stuff. |
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Day 3 of the bike hanging ordeal would end with promise of having a working solution but without completion. It turns out the loctite doesn't work, and the plates were just falling down from the ceiling. In a fit of frustration, we posted a "Failed DIYer Needs Rescuing" ad on craigslist and got a prompt response. The respondent directed us to purchase two of a specific kind of drill bit ($22 ea) and a box of special concrete screws ($18). He came over, drilled the holes, showed it would work, and left. Now, we have 12 plates (2 per bike) with 1 screw each in them and the holes drilled. Tonight, we have to sink the additional 36 screws. Then, it should finally be done. It's amazing how frustration like this can tax a relationship and really make people cranky. I can't wait for it to be over. |
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tonight will mark day three in the Struggle to House 10 Bikes in the Small Extra Bedroom. You see, we decided that with the 13' ceiling we'd use the bike hoist system.
Day 1 was punctuated by drilling-into-the-ceiling failure. Prognosis was ok, since we assumed it was the not so powerful cordless drill's fault.
Day 2 revealed that there was indeed a sheet of steel above the concrete of the ceiling that firmly refused to be drilled through. I rode to home depot and polled the employees of the paint and adhesive department about which form of liquid nails would hold a metal plate to a painted concrete ceiling and then could hold up 20 lbs. i came home with a few tubes of loctite, and we attempted to attach 3 of the 6 bike hoists.
Day 3. We will hope the 24 hour curing time will leave our bike hoists solidly attached to the ceiling. If they work, we glue three more up. If not, we drink alot and B gets cranky. Wish us luck. Photos to follow. Hopefully not of us drinking. |
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Last night, to get the final items out of my place, we walked from the West Loop back to the old 'hood, met some friends at Feed for dinner, collected the tandem, and rode it home. It is now, officially, empty. And we have our tandemnation back. Yea! Molly and I ran this morning and finished our usual route 5 minutes faster than usual. I think it's time to get a longer route. I'm completely spoiling her with treats and other nonsense. I think we need to get her a sexy collar with matching leash. I recently purchased the brooks mud flap and the effing hardware's already falling off. Note to self: loctite for mudflap hardware. It seems my tolerance for the struggle that is getting to the track has evaporated. I'm done even trying. If it's easy to get there Friday, I'll race. Otherwise, I'll drink beer on the balcony. The balcony is guaranteed happiness. The track, well... I ain't no winner, and Fridays there haven't been enough people to have a women's field anyway. |
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