It has been a while since I posted. I have not been riding as much as I did when I was training for the Tour de Tucson but I am still riding. Last weekend I took part in the Tour de Cure, a fund raiser for diabetes research. The weather was lousy. We had rain and hail. The route was very hilly. I opted for the 45 mile route which I completed. There was lots of support on the ride. The people at the rest stops were very friendly and helpful, the route was well marked and there were volunteers stationed along the route in case of breakdowns. At the end we enjoyed barbecue pork, chicken, beans and potato salad.

One of the other things I have been doing is working on my embroidery. We had a Japanese embroidery class last month and I got quite a bit done on my piece. I have also been working on a Hardanger piece.

On Fridays this past year I have been teaching embroidery to my grandson's kindergarten class. I had the children draw their own design which they then traced onto muslin. They used floss to sew the design using a running stitch. Most of the time I spent threading needles and teaching them that the stitches went in and out not round and round. I also did a lot of unstitching when they made their stitches too long or went around the hoop instead of in and out of the fabric. When they finished I had them sew a backing on and we then turned it right side out, they stuffed it and sewed it shut making a pillow. It has been lots of fun!

Finally made it on the bike again. I tried to ride on Thursday but I could not get the tire pump to attach. I finally went on the internet to try to find out what I was doing wrong only to find a lot of posts from people saying not nice things about that brand of pump because of the impossibility of getting it to work correctly. Friday I bought a new pump.

Today the weather was still nice so I decided to go visit my sister. It is a short ride but I figured it would be long enough to let me make sure I had put everything back together correctly after Tucson. As I was riding I decided the handlebars weren't quite straight but I figured I could fix that when I got to my sister's. I was almost there when I felt my chain go. No problem, I know how to get my chain back on. Then I looked at it. The derailleur had completely sheared off and was caught in the wheel. I couldn't even walk the bike. Don came and got me.

I took it to the bike shop as it should still be under warranty. Apparently they have to send the defective part back to the manufacturer and get their OK before they can fix it. Result: no bike for at least the next few weeks.

New Year

It is a new year and time to get the bike back out. Yesterday I finally put it back together after getting it back from Tucson. I am hoping to be able to go riding this week some time if it stops raining. I have also signed up for the Tour de Cure here in Washington. This ride raises money for diabetes research.

After the Tucson ride I came home to a new kitchen. I immediately started putting things back away in the kitchen trying to get as much done as possible before leaving for Hawaii on Dec. 1. I enjoyed my trip to Hawaii with my family. We stayed on the Big Island and went swimming practically every day. The boys loved swimming with the turtles and fish and going to see the volcano.

After we came home I went back to fixing up the kitchen, washing everything before putting it away. I also had to get the Christmas decorations up as I had a party the next week. Between parties and Christmas shopping there has been no time for bike riding.

I finally did my long bike ride. I completed the 66 mile loop of the Tour de Tucson!. Saturday morning started early with the ride from the hotel to the start line where we cheered our team members off on their 108 mile loop. Because I am so slow Coach Russ then took me to the 66 mile start point where we started early (otherwise I would not have been able to finish in the time allowed). We arrived at the point where the 66 mile loop joined the main route before the professionals got to that point. We crossed the dry wash and then waited for the leaders to get past before continuing. The last thing I wanted was to get in the way of the front runners. After several of those groups had passed we continued up the hill. I had people cheering me on and saying how wonderful I was doing and I kept wanting to explain that I was not one of the front runners, don't cheer me. Russ said the riders would come up behind me and look at my bike and look at me and shake their heads wondering how I got where I was. Eventually enough riders passed me that I did not feel so conspicuous anymore.

The weather for the ride was beautiful and the temperature was moderate although I did get a little warm going up the hills. The countryside is very dry and there were lots of cacti. My favorite part of the ride was coming down Tangerine. This is a very long gradual downhill that went on and on. I didn't want it to ever stop. My least favorite part was a very bumpy road towards the end. I think it was worse than the hills and I hate hills! Eventually I made it to the finish line after about 6 1/2 hours. I don't know the exact time because of my irregular start.

The boys had sent Flat Stanley with me and he rode in my pack all the way. At one point one of the riders passing me spotted him and called out "Flat Stanley! How cool is that!"

After checking in and grabbing a bite to eat I rode back to the hotel for a shower and a nap before the Victory Party that night. My total mileage that day was about 69 miles. This is the furthest I have ever ridden.

Since my last post I still haven't done any long rides. The flu was still affecting my performance. Two weeks ago I managed to do 50 hilly miles but I was not feeling at all well on the hills. Last Saturday I finally was feeling back to normal but the weather was so foggy and icy that we got a late start and the coach only had me doing 40 miles. This week is the Tour de Tucson. The decision has been made that I will do the 66 mile loop rather than the 109 mile loop as the flu really set me back and I was borderline on being able to do the 109 miles in the time allowed. It will still be further than I have ever ridden before.

The boys gave me Flat Stanley to take on the ride with me. He is a paper doll that they and their classmates color and then send all over the world. The people who receive him then write about his "adventures" in their part of the world and send that back to the children. It is a way for them to learn geography. Debbie made a Team in Training jersey for him and the boys made a bike helmet. We are ready to go.

this past week was a lost cause as far as biking went. Last week Saturday it poured rain and the ride was cancelled so I went to spin class instead. Sunday was nicer but I could feel I was coming down with something so I just did a short ride around Point Defiance. I figured the hill practice was good for me. The rest of the week was a dead loss as I huddled on the couch with a fever, aches and pains and loss of appetite (something that almost never happens with me). Tuesday was the worst day and things started to get better after that. By Saturday I felt I was able to ride again. The weather turned out to be beautiful. Our ride was scheduled to be about 70 miles - Kent, Auburn, Black Diamond, Enumclaw, Mud Mountain Dam and then return. It did not take me long into the ride to realize I was still feeling the effects of the flu. I just could not get up the energy to go faster than about 9-10 mph. (Lately I had been riding 12-13 mph). By the time I reached the sag stop at Black Diamond I figured that was as far as I was going. So after a brief rest Russ and I headed back. Instead of 70 miles I only did about 40 miles and that was enough for the day. This week I have to work hard on building my stamina back up so I can do next week's 70 plus miles. There are only a few more weeks of training left before Tucson.

Yesterday's ride was another long one. One person told me 58 miles and another said 56. There were lots of hills but I managed to ride up every one of them - a first for me. There were 2 hills in particular that almost did me in. The first one was a long one out of Woodinville. My coach who was watching me said that there were a couple of times he thought I was going to fall over I was going so slow. The second one was towards the end of the day as we approached our last sag stop. I was very rapidly running out of steam and I still am not sure how I made it. When I got off my bike I had to hold on to it for a minute as I was dizzy from the effort. Sitting down for a few minutes and eating something gave me the energy I needed to finish the ride. It also helped that the coach took me a different way than the others which had a much more gradual hill. I think the prettiest part of the ride was the ride down the hill into Snohomish with its view of the mountains and the valley. The stop at the bakery in Snohomish was also nice.