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.

I guess I have missed a few weeks on these posts and need to do some catching up. My only excuse is I have been doing a lot of riding lately. Last week's Saturday ride was supposed to be 50 miles. Somehow it grew to 58 miles which is my longest ride to date. There were a few hills and Mitchel, the coach who was riding with me would not let me walk them. He told me if I stopped and could not start on the hill again then we would go back to the bottom of the hill and start over. What an incentive to stay on my bike! He also pushed me to get my speed up on some of the flat sections. By the end of the session I was tired but still not as tired as on the rides I did last spring. I am definitely improving.

Sunday I did not ride but went to watch Nicholas run in his first cross country race. The kindergarten distance was 1/2 mile up and down a hill. He did well. As Brian couldn't run with his broken arm, he cheered Nicholas and the others on his team.

Monday I rode with the Tacoma Wheelmen for the first time. That ride was around Point Defiance which has a lot of hills. I made it all the way around (albeit very slowly) and only had to walk a couple of steep hills coming out of the park.

Thursday I went with them again. This time it was a flat route on the Foothills Trail. Therefore I worked hard at keeping my speed up so I did not fall too far behind the others.

Yesterday's Saturday ride was around Vashon Island which is very hilly. I managed to ride most of them but some were just too steep so I walked (after going as far up them as I could). It was a pretty day for a ride and there were even a few places where I could enjoy the ride and the scenery rather than just keeping my eyes on the road in front of my tires.

Today I am going to enjoy lunch with my cousins.

This Saturday was another 40 mile ride. We started at Mercer Island, rode south along Lake Washington, back up the other side and across the I-90 bridge to Mercer Island where we rode around the southern half of the island. The weather was perfect for a bike ride. Coming across the bridge the water was so peaceful to look at. There were several hills on the ride, some of which I walked up. Coming down to the bridge on the Seattle side I took a tumble but luckily did not hurt myself. I more or less landed on my camelback and the water cushioned me. I definitely was tired at the end of the ride.

That afternoon I babysat with Nicholas. Brian broke his arm the day before and was in the hospital. Debbie had spent the night there with him and not gotten any sleep so Yangguang went to stay with Brian, Debbie came home to sleep and I watched Nicholas.

Today I went riding with a friend on the Foothills Trail. We rode about 20 miles. The weather was again beautiful. Quite a difference from last week when it poured rain.

Last weekend was a 40 mile ride from Kent through Auburn then up to Black Diamond then down through Green Valley back to Auburn and return to Kent. I had done this ride once before but this time I rode up the hills I had walked before. I also ended the ride in much better shape than the last time. It is so nice to see that I am improving.

My riding the rest of the week has been across the bridge again on Sunday, although this time I did not make it up the hill without walking. I figure I was still tired from Saturday. I also went on the Scott Pierson trail. I am almost able to ride all the way up the hill to Pearl. I thought I would be able to make the other hill on that ride until I lost my chain when I was downshifting. It took me a while but I finally figured out how to get it back on.

The boys have started kindergarten this week. They have been very excited about getting back to school and seeing their friends again. Tomorrow they have off and I will be babysitting them. If it is not raining in the afternoon we plan to go bike riding with Mommy.

I am not looking forward to Saturday's ride. It will be up hill to Snoqualmie Falls and beyond and will probably rain.

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.