Last Saturday I did my duty on sag wagon support for the team. Since I can't ride I figure I will support the team by helping out with the sag wagon. Saggy Bill has things so well organized that there wasn't very much for me to do, but I did bring bags of ice which I was offering at the second stop where I figured it would be most needed. I also figured that I am there if anybody needs transport. This week nobody needed a ride unlike the previous week when there were two of us getting a ride for the last few miles.

It was a beautiful day for a ride. They started in Kent and went up through Black Diamond and Enumclaw. I think they did about 70 miles. I found that the sag wagon involved a lot of time sitting in the car and waiting. It was very nice listening to the birds and I had brought some stitching along to keep me busy. The first sag stop was at Black Diamond so I had time to go in and buy some bread from the bakery. Next week I will do this again

I went to the doctor today and it looks as if I will not be doing the STP. He said I should avoid riding until my knee heals which can be 2-6 weeks and then I should just start out with short rides and if it starts hurting I need to stop. He recommended that I don't do the STP and I know that if I miss that much training I won't be able to catch up anyway. I may be able to switch the credit for my fund raising for another event later in the year. At nany rate I know the money that I have raised has gone to a good cause and I now feel comfortable about continuing to ride which was one of my goals.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a ride, the nicest weather I have had on a ride to date. We started in Monroe and rode north to Granite Falls. There were two options for the ride, a 75 mile ride to Arlington and back or a 50 mile option to Granite Falls and back. The ride took us through the countryside and then through rolling hills around Lake Stevens and Granite Falls. For part of the ride we were on the same course as the Tour de Cure riders. I did fairly well on the first part of the ride and even made it up a few hills. However the hills took a toll on my knee and I started hurting with the result that I grabbed a ride with the sag wagon at about mile 36 (just about the point where we left the hills for the flat). Today I will be spending the day with a bag of ice.

Yesterday I had a nice long ride on the Foothills Trail between Puyallup and South Prairie. Although there was a head wind (both ways!) it did not rain. It is a nice ride through the countryside past rhubarb fields and cows and along the river for part of the ride. I was using my new clips and did very well until I came to the last crossroad before the parking lot. As I was slowing to stop I did not free my foot in time and fell. I got some lovely bruises on my arm and collarbone but the worst damage was to my knee. I didn't think it was too bad and was able to get up and start walking. I even was able to get back on the bike and ride the little way to the car. By the time I got home I was starting to hurt and getting up from the chair was not any fun. This morning instead of going on the scheduled 70 mile ride I went to the Urgent Care and they said I had a sprain and told me that I should not do any biking until it is healed. They wrapped my knee and prescribed some painkillers. The info they gave me said it could take 3 - 6 weeks to heal. If that is the case I won't be doing the STP because I will never be able to catch up on the missed training. I'll keep you posted.

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.

Today was cold and wet and miserable but we rode anyways. Today's route was from Carnation up to Snoqualmie Falls and then down through Fall city and along a pretty rural road back to Carnation. I made it to the Falls, RIDING all the way!! I did have to stop a few times but I DID IT!! A lot of thanks goes to Linda, my coach and riding leader who was there with me telling me to keep riding, that I could do it. The ride was not as long as originally planned as it was so wet and cold. I don't think I had a dry inch on my body when I was done and my toes were numb. I managed to wiggle out of my tops while sitting in the car and put on a dry jacket that I had left there for the drive home but the pants were still wet and I shivered all the way home despite having the heater on high. At the end of the ride all of us were a muddy mess. I even had road grit in my hair! When I get my new bike eventually I will be sure and get some fenders too. Those with fenders on their bikes weren't quite as muddy.

It will probably be several weeks before I post again as I probably won't have access to a computer. However I will be continuing with my training.

Last Saturday we rode 40 miles! We went from Kent to Auburn to Black Diamond and back. I started out quite well. The last few long rides I had done I would start off with my legs telling me they were unhappy until I got warmed up. This time I did not have that problem and really enjoyed my ride at the beginning. There was a long uphill on the way to Black Diamond and I made it further up the hill than I thought I would before I had to get off and walk. There were also a hill in Black Diamond that I took one look at and knew there was no way I would ride that one so I walked. The return part of the trip I was getting tired. On the return we rode through Green Valley which is a beautiful, flat ride through the countryside. Unfortunately by then I was really getting tired and ended up getting off the bike and walking a little when I couldn't stand sitting in the saddle any longer. When we hit the outskirts of Auburn I wasn't sure I would be able to make it but I kept thinking about all the people supporting me and the fact that if I couldn't make it on this ride what was I going to do next week when the distance would probably increase. So I got back on the bike and rode some more. In this way I made it all the way back to the cars in Kent.

After the ride I stopped at Debbie's as I had told her I would watch the boys so she could go on her run. The boys had been home with the flu and she didn't want to take them out. When I got there I found that the boys were better but she was sick and had decided not to run. So I gave them the bread I had bought for them at the Black Diamond Bakery and went home to a nice hot soak in the tub. I also went to bed very early that night.

So far this week my training has been mostly indoors as I don't like to ride in the rain. I went to Pilates class for strength training and spin class for a bicycle workout. I also have been using the exercise bikes at the Y. I hope tomorrow is a nicer day so I can get out on my bicycle. It is much more interesting then the stationary bikes. I did use the program with the hill climb option on the Y bike as I obviously need lots of work on climbing hills. The ride this coming weekend we are supposed to be riding uphill to Snoqualmie Falls!