Last weekend was perfect for riding. We did the Fall City Carnation area again but went about 35 miles this time. The weather could not have been better and the temperature was probably in the 70's just right for the amount of exercise we were doing. The last time we did this ride the corn was just starting to come up and now it was full grown and probably close to harvest time. The ride was very comfortable and I am apparently averaging about 13-14 mph on the flat which is better than I was doing when I first started riding. The few hills there were I rode up.

Yesterday I had planned to go for another long ride but decided that I didn't feel like it. Instead I decided to work on my hill riding by riding from my house to my sister's on the other side of the Narrows. I did much better than I thought I would and only had to walk twice. That was on the steepest parts on the approaches to the bridge. My sister-in-law who is an expert biker says that a lot of bikers end up walking those sections. To my surprise I made it all the way up the hill to my house although I came close to getting off a couple of times. The distance was short but the accomplishment was great!

Saturday was practice again. We rode in the Fall City, Carnation area. The weather was beautiful and although it was warm it was not impossible. We were scheduled to do 20 miles but instead we did 29 miles. By the end I was tired but I still felt good. My knee was starting to bother me a little at the end but was fine afterwards.

Yesterday I went riding on the Foothills Trail. I had intended to ride the full trail (30 miles) but when I started my knee was bothering me a little and I was feeling very tired (I think from a cough I have had for the last week). Therefore I only went as far as Orting which I think is about half way. Since I won't be able to make pracitce this weekend I will have to make sure to get my 30 miles in sometime during this next week.

I had bought an odometer for my bike but when I tried to install it I couldn't get it to work. I will have to bring it to the next practice to see if one of the others can figure out what I am doing wrong.

While my teammates were riding the STP I was sitting at Debbie's at a garage sale to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We raised over $200 thanks to donations from Debbie, my sister, a friend and me. We had beautiful weather on Saturday when we had the garage sale. I am very glad we did not do it on Sunday when it rained.



Last week the doctor also cleared me to ride my bike again. So today I took it to Orting for a short ride (about 5 miles). It is amazing how fast one loses conditioning when one can't exercise. I am now signed up for the Tour de Tucson in November and have been told that the credit for funds raised will transfer. The training starts next week so I still have a little more time to get ready for the first ride. At least this time I have all the gear.

Last week Saturday I again helped with the team sag wagon. I was definitely needed as two people had mechanical problems with their bikes that required transport back to the cars. Since I was there I was able to take them and leave Bill to support the others with the sag wagon. Luckily this happened last week rather than this week when they are in Tahoe doing their ride.

This week I had the boys overnight so I wasn't able to go sag with the team. I figured trying to get them up early enough for me to go was not worth it. Instead we met Yangguang down on Ruston Way and worked a water stop for Debbie and her team of runners. The boys wore their Team in Training shirts. This week was Debbie's 20 miler. Only a couple more weeks before she has her big run. Go team!

I am home again after a lovely trip through the Netherlands and Belgium. We started with 3 days in Amsterdam then took a barge through the inland seas and canals to different towns and cities. It was a little early for the tulips but we did see some. Most of the fields we saw were daffodils and hyacinths. One of the most fascinating things we did was to go to the Aalsmeer flower auction. This is a huge warehouse where they auction off flowers that are then sent to florist shops all over the world. Instead of bidding up the price there is a clock that starts at a high price and then goes down. The first person to press the button and stop the clock wins the bid at that price. The flowers are then loaded onto a different pallet and sent to the loading docks to be shipped. They can be on the other side of the world and in your flower shop by the next day. It was an amazing thing to watch with people scurrying all over the floor of the warehouse with carts of flowers of every description. It also smelled wonderful with all those flowers.

Our last three days we spent in Bruges, Belgium. From there I was able to take a train and go visit some friends in Ieper for the day. It was a lovely trip!

I had hoped to be able to use the exercise bike on the ship to keep up my training while I was gone but that did not work out very well. The exercise room did not open until 8 at which time I needed to be getting ready to leave for whatever excursion was planned for the day. The bike they had was not very good either. On one of the few times I did manage to get on the bike the seat collapsed on me about a half hour into my session. I never was able to adjust the seat nor was I able to adjust the wheel tension. The exercise room was also small and hot even when the hot tub wasn't filled. However I did get in a lot of walking, at least enough to offset the calories I was taking in from all the good food they served us. I walked all over Amsterdam, Bruges, Delft, Ghent, Antwerp and a number of smaller towns.

Now I am back home and trying to get back into my routine. At least the weather is much nicer now for bike riding than when I left.