Sneak Peek Pair-A-Phrase

My convention order arrived on Saturday.  I had so many things to choose from....but since I have spent so much time begging for bicycle stamps, I feel compelled to buy all of them and use them first. 

So here's your sneak peek at a few new items that will be available soon....

Supplies Used:

X7141B Elemental Paper Pack (Available August 1st)

Pair-A-Phrase Stamp Set (National Stamping Month Special - Available 8/15-9/30)

Tag with sentiment was cut using Art Philosphy cartridge!!!
Ooops - I think I may have used a retired stamp set for the striped background
Ink: black, desert sand
Markers: honey, tulip, garden green, sunset

Enjoy the Ride....

While Southern California doesn't experience "winter" like most of the country...it was pretty cold around here, and we did get enough rain to end the drought, and the days were short enough that I couldn't sneak a ride in after work....so I spent the winter spinning at the gym....And I fell in love with it! 

While I have definately noticed that I am getting better in class, for some strange reason I was avoiding riding outside.  I thought I would be out of shape.  I was absolutely shocked at how good I felt on my first ride...and then I got a flat....and then I had to replace the tire...and then I started another ride and half a mile down the road....I got a flat....  Suddenly, I wasn't enjoying my bike so much.  I never get a flat in spin class. :-)

Well, I had my mechanic check out my bike.  The bike is fine.  Apparently I have to do a better job at avoiding glass. 

Last week, the stars aligned, my bike was fixed and it was time to start riding... and I rode and rode and rode!!!  Joshua made me go up a killer hill in the neighborhood on my first ride.  I wasn't real happy about the route choice, but when I almost made it to the top without stopping....well....I ended up thanking him.  Then Candace and I did a couple of laps at Lake Murray and then... I ventured out on my own and did a great ride down by the bay...  No flat tires and it was awesome.  I couldn't believe how good it felt and I think I might actually be in BETTER shape than I was last summer and there's only one reason why....

Spin class!!  So I had to make my favorite instructor a little card to show my gratitude.  Yes, I actually thanked her for trying to kill me every week. hahaha!

And this card is from my Super talented Aunt!!  She always makes the BEST birthday cards!!  Gee, do you think everyone knows that I have a cycling obsession????

Bike the Bay - I did it!!!!

Woo Hoo!!!  So two years ago I did a little bike ride with my friends, called Bike the Bay.  The cool part of the ride was that we got to ride over the Coronado Bridge.  A bridge that is closed to pedestrians and cyclists.  I was not ready for the ride and I wasn't feeling well when we started.  I hit one of my lowest points ever on a bicycle.  I felt defeated and frustrated and slow and....  Here's my blog entry after that ride.

Every time I see the bridge, I am reminded of that day and I feel like I have some unfinished business. 

So this year I decided it was time to try it again. I'm lighter.  I'm stronger.  I know how to ride better.  Would it be enough to make it over the bridge without stoppin.... Oh yeah baby!!!!  It is!!!!!!!!

Candace is still nursing her fractured elbow so Su and I were on our own...

We have our own paparazzi (Josh) so we have some fun pictures.  This is the beginning of the ride.  I have no idea what Su is looking at. LOL

The let us go in small heats...so here's our little group heading out..

This time I approached the ride much differently.  Since I knew I got all excited at the beginning last time... this time I took my time.  We weren't in one of the very first heats.  We were in heat 8.  I didn't even attempt to follow anyone else's pace.  I just set my own warm-up pace and enjoyed the ride...  I was feeling great when we got to the bridge.  I downshifted and went right up the ramp!!!  As soon as I made it up the ramp, I knew I would make it the rest of the way.  It's still a decent climb for me, but I just kept pedaling.  I looked at the view and truly enjoyed where I was and what I was doing. And... I was actually passing people.  Trust me, many others were also passing me. LOL!! 

As I was climbing, I started to notice a couple of girls in pink tops way ahead of me.  Over time I could tell I was gaining on them.  When it started to get harder, I just kind of watched them and kept pedaling towards them.  I wasn't really trying to catch them.  It just gave me something to focus on and follow... Eventually I caught up to one of them and she was really struggling, but we were really close to the top, so I started chatting with her and encouraging her.  When we got to the top we celebrated and she said "I don't think I would've made it without you."  Ahhh...that totally made my day!!

Here's a picture I took from the top of the hill.  Not the greatest picture, but when you stop to think that

1. I could still breathe.
2. I could pull out my camera.
3. And I could take a picture...

This little picture takes on a whole new meaning!  (At least it does for me!)

A few miles from the end we met up with Sue!!  Yes, it was Su, Sue and Me.  We were excited to be able to all finish together!  It was a great day and a great ride and now??? Now I can look at that bridge and feel pride in my accomplishment. 

Here's Su and I after the ride...with that Beautiful Bridge behind us.  Unfortunately you can't see the part we climbed, but you can see the nice little descent we got to enjoy. :-)

The Washington DC Bike Ride

Biking the Mt. Vernon trail sounded so peaceful and fun when I found the info on the internet.  What a great way to see DC.  18 miles?  Easy, peasy....  Well little did I know that DC would be overtaken by a record breaking heat wave with high humidity.  Thankfully my buddies and I were dedicated to the idea.  Dedicated or Crazy...hmmmm.....

We took a shuttle over to Old Town Alexandria and then walked down King Street to the bike shop.  Our first clue that this was going to be a difficult ride should've been when we were way too excited about going into a Walgreens for a few minutes because it was air conditioned.

A few blocks after hopping on our bikes, we turned onto the trail and it was absolutely beautiful!!  I can only imagine what it would look like in the fall.  It was a nice, easy ride, but the heat was really working us!

At one point we stopped at a map to see if there was someplace nearby to stop, get out of the heat and get something to eat.  A local rider stopped and suggested that we head over to the National Horticulture Society, pick up some water and turn back!  Yep, it was so bad that a complete stranger told us it was time to turn back. :-)

We met James at the Horticulture Society and he escorted us to their kitchen and hooked us up with ice water.  He invited us to stay in the a/c as long as we needed and shared a little of the history of River Farm. 

After we cooled off we headed back and found that....it was all downhill.  We practically coasted the whole way back to the bike shop.  Once we turned the bikes in, we had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before we took the water taxi back to National Harbor.

It wasn't quite the ride I had pictured in my head and I would've loved to go all the way up to Mt. Vernon...but there's not much you can do when it's 104 degrees and you're on the verge of heat stroke... I'll have to save the rest of the trail to ride another day.

Catch Up Post

Ok, Ok... I'm back... I think... Whew... It's been a whirlwhind the last few weeks.  I had planned to keep up on the blog, but it just didn't happen.  Here's a little catch-up post to get back on track.

1) I'm now working 4/10's, which I love way more than I thought I would.  It's a bit of an adjustment.  Mostly I don't feel like getting on the computer when I get home.  Sorry about that!

2) I've officially lost 20 pounds!  Woo Hoo!!  And that means I got to open my 20 pound gift I bought for myself...ahead of time.  Remind me not to do that again.  It was pure torture.  I thought I'd never get to open it.  I bought the Wii Walk it Out game, which I am loving!  There was a point during my little plateau that I thought... "maybe if I opened my game and played it, I'd magically drop that last pound."  But I'm a little rule follower so I waited. 

Here's a minus 20 pound picture.

3) Since I have Fridays off this summer, my buddies and I have planned some bike rides!  Last Friday we rode 35 miles.  It was a little chilly in the beginning and extremely windy...which made a generally easy ride, a little bit tougher.  But hey, it busted my plateau so it made me happy, happy, happy!

This is when the wind was at our backs and we were flying down the strand...oh so fun...

Candace at the beginning of the strand

4) I'm working on my Zippidee samples so hopefully I'll have some artwork to post soon!

CTMH Splendor WOTG

Woo Hoo... Look who's been scrapbooking...with pictures even!!  I've been creating the samples for the Splendor Workshop on the Go and I am loving this paper pack and stamp set!!!!!!  I even pulled out some old pictures of my "baby boy" and scrapbooked them.  How about that!!  Kind of impressive if you ask me. LOL.

Here's a sample of the additional layout that is featured in the Workshop on the Go flyer.  You can see Close To My Heart's version on my website here. Shh... I like mine better. I swapped the flower paper with the green paper and used the adorable striped paper that comes in the kit instead of stamping the flower border.  Lovin it!!  It's so easy to personalize and adapt the layouts to suit your own creative eye!

And check out this great picture I took on our bike ride Monday... I'm trying to learn how to ride and take pictures at the same time.  I love this picture of Su and Candace!!

It was my first day back on my bike after my brutal cold!  I felt surprisingly good and cranked out two laps.  I seriously thought about doing a third one but there wasn't enough time...maybe I can do three today!

Road Bike Sedona - aka The Birthday Tour

Road Trip!!  Candace and I were itching to take another road trip to Arizona and this time we were

1. Going to spend more time in Sedona
2. Taking our Bikes

Because I'm a nerd and a planner... I didn't want to just show up with bikes and then try to figure out where to ride... so I started googling....  I found a couple of bike groups in Prescott and got some great information about local rides for my Mom and then I thought....

What about riding in Sedona?  Hmmm.... And that's how I found Road Bike Sedona.  As soon as I saw the website I decided "this is what I want to do for my birthday."  What a great way to really see a town!! 

And so...here's my review of Road Bike Sedona!

The website is easy to navigate and has a variety of tours to choose from.  I filled out the reservation form and sent it off.  Susan replyed the next day, confirmed that we were bringing our own bikes and boom...we were done.

The tour started at Absolute Bikes in Sedona.  We arrived a little early and checked out the shop and I am so glad we did.  They had THE best customer service.  We brought our own bikes, so we weren't renting from them, yet they still rolled out the carpet for us.  They offered us drinks and fruit that was leftover from another event at the shop, offered to install the water cage I purchased and let us change clothes in their bathroom.  And if you rent a bike from them... the bikes have names!!  (I am the queen of naming inanimate objects, so these are definately my people!)

As soon as we met our tour guide, Susan, I knew we were in for a treat.  She took a few moments to chat with us while we were unloading bikes and she listened to those of us who were a little nervous about the ride (Let it be known.. it was not me!! For the first time I was simply excited.  I knew we were going to have a great time... others...well... they thought they might die, or were nervous about traffic...or.....)  After chatting with us and checking out our bikes (hybrids) she thought we'd enjoy a different route that included a dirt trail...hmm....

Susan and Candace and Snow??

About one block into the ride...it started snowing!!  Look closely at the picture above and you might see a couple of snowflakes.  It only snowed for a couple of minutes, but it got things off to a fun and interesting start!

(Susan, Lisa, Candace, Diana (my Mom!)

Along the way Susan shared a ton of information about the area.  She talked about the geology, plant life, history and the lore of the land.  I'm sure the fact that we are so slow...oh wait I mean we enjoyed a nice leisurely ride...hahaha... made it easier for her to share more info.

 The beginning of our ride had a bit of a slow incine and then it seemed like we kept going down, down, down.  Finally someone asked, "Are we coming back out the same way we're going in?"  I think they were asking what we all were thinking.  You never get on a bike and just enjoy a long down hill run without wondering when you have to climb back out!  And then we came to the dirt.....  It had to be pretty comical to watch us trying to figure out how to ride on the dirt.  Susan gave us tips, it's not her fault! LOL.  I think we all hit the same patch of sand on the same hill and had to get off the bikes.  And we kept thinking "we have to go back out this way?"

Dawn and Diana - walking our bikes down to a spot to rest them while we enjoyed the scenery. 

Them bikes were tired, you know. LOL

We tried to forget about the ride back out while we enjoyed the scenery at the midpoint of the ride.  Supposedly you could get a better picture if you ventured into the stream.  We let Susan demonstrate that for us...and then being the good sport that she is, she also pretended to fall so we could take a picture!

Finally there was no more stalling and we had to climb back out.  My Mom told me she was sure I was going to have to ride ahead and get the car.  I tried to act like that wasn't a problem, but really... I wondered how I was going to get to the car!!  Susan assured us we were going to do great. We got on our bikes and started on the crazy dirt road and a few minutes later we were back on pavement.  Wait, was that really the road we came in on?  How did it get so easy?  

We had a couple of little climbs on the way back to the store, but we took it slow and easy and I am happy to say...nobody had to go fetch the car!  We all rode in together.  And truthfully...I like the hills... you need to work a little bit to feel like you earned the downhill. (I know, I'm sick!)

Susan was a great guide!  She knows what she's doing and while we may have doubted our abilities, I could tell she was paying attention to us and knew we were fine.  She knew when to be encouraging and when to let us work through it ourselves.  She offered cycling tips along the way and made the whole experience absolutely wonderful!!!!  In fact my Mom thanked Susan for her patience at the end of the ride and now Susan's bike has a name!! (It was nameless and looking for a name)  The shop is going to stencil "Patience" on her bike.  I can't think of a better name because if you know us... you know that we can be a crazy handful. LOL!  You need a lot of patience to deal with our humor.

I am looking forward to the next time we can plan a trip to Sedona because there are a few more tours I'd like to try! (And for the record.  I am not nervous, nor am I afraid of traffic.  I'm from California, you know...)

Lisa, Candace, Dawn and Diana

 

Want to read more about my cycling adventures? 

Check out the sidebar and click on the tag that says cycling. 

It's Spring in Southern California!

The calendar might say that spring is a few more days away, but spring has sprung in San Diego and it is absolutely beautiful!!  While I'm not so happy that my early morning walks are in the dark again, grrr, I am quite happy that it's sunny and gorgeous after work and you know what that means......

It's Bike Riding time!! Woo Hoo!!  A few little medical issues, road construction and a change in schedules kind of put a crimp in my bike commute so I have been driving.  But now that the time has changed and I am healthy, we can plan little bike rides after work at Lake Murray and Mission Trails.  (Everyone is welcome.  Email me and I'll add you to the email list with the details.)

And you know what's even better?  I have successfully infected the whole family with the cycling bug!  Hubby used his safety bonus to buy this for his truck

And while there was a misshap that included a bloody nose, it sounds like mostly he's suffering from a sore rear end.  Hey, that means he's actually riding it!! 

And then Joshua and Breanna bought bikes... Yep, my house is beginning to look like a bike shop.  We don't really need furniture, do we?

And best of all....this is what I'm doing for my birthday!!!! Red Rock Scenic Byway Tour in Sedona, AZ  I am sooo excited.  Let's just hope it isn't too hot when we get there.

Back to Biking....

So I forgot to mention in my post about all of my October "fun" that my bike broke down too!!! It was in the shop for 3 weeks!!!!!! I won't even bore you with the reasons it took so long. Mostly because I think the shop just messed up. The ironic thing is that I was supposed to pick it up the day after my car broke down....the day I was driving a rental car with no bike rack.

I couldn't make this stuff up. If you see me in person, check and see if you see a little black cloud following around behind me. LOL!

So anyway... I rode a couple of times last week. I took it easy and was picked up part way through so that I could get back in the hang of it. Then yesterday I rode the whole way home for the first time and it was absolutely amazing!!!! It felt so good. From the moment I got on the bike, I felt great. I felt strong. I felt invincible. It was one of those PERFECT rides when everything goes well. I struggled a bit up the last rise, but I made it....without stopping!!

Of course a couple of hours later, after the adrenalin wore off, my body reminded me that I'm 42 and out of shape. I was feeling pretty sore. I'm still a little sore today, but I'm looking forward to another great ride home.

Perhaps my PERFECT ride was the beginning of a better kind of "fun?" I'm thinking it might be.....

Laguna Weekend/Mtn. Biking

I read stories all the time about people who go on cycling trips/tours and how hard it is for them to reintegrate back into normal life. I thought I'd have no problems. I was only going on a week long trip, you know... Now that I'm back, I have a better sense of what they are talking about. It's not that I'm having any "trouble," it's that I'm having way too much fun! I kind of got into "vacation" mode and I'm not really wanting to let it go. It's summer. I want to play and have fun.

So instead of staying home this weekend, cleaning house, getting myself organized, prepping for my workshops... I went and hung out with my friends at the cabins in Laguna. I'd say I feel guilty, but really, I don't. I feel like I'm actually enjoying my summer!

On Saturday we went on a hike/bike. Hiking still isn't working out so well for my foot, so I brought the mountain bike and chose to "bike" the trails that the rest of the group hiked. Josh came along for the fun and we had a blast. I was slow and nervous, but I loved every minute of it. Even the part where I had hike my bike out. Yep, made the rookie mistake of not taking extra tubes, patches or even a pump with me. (last minute switch from road bike to mountain bike, left me unorganized) We were only going to go on a "little" ride. What's the worst that could happen? ha! Our "little" ride turned into three hours!

Josh ended up riding out to the road ahead of me so he could go fetch the car, while I walked. Of course this was after we had to argue about it. :-) He wanted me to ride. Such the gentleman. I believe he called me "stubborn" as he pedaled off. Hey, it was my bike and my mistake....and he's a much faster rider than I am. I made it out to the road, rested a bit and barely started walking when he came back with the car.

The hiking group and one of their many "map stops."

Of course our journey was nothing compared to the hikers in the group. Two of the hikers wanted to get their picture taken with the cows, so they ventured off the path. Josh and I were watching from up above and I said "look Josh... all the cows just stood up at the same time!" Then he said "look at the bull scratching his foot on the ground."

Thankfully the rest of the group talked some sense into the two would be photographers and they went on their way. All was well, until they attempted to go back. Apparently the cows remembered them. They let other hikers through, but they were not going to let that crazy group through. There was a bit of a stand-off and a little charge before the hikers decided to go the other way. Of course the adventure provided lots of laughter and endless stories all weekend long. Nary a conversation went by without at least one cow reference.

I'm thinking it's not such a great idea to try and get your picture taken with a cow. This view might be a bit better.

Day 6 - last Day of Bike Tour

Ooops, guess I've been avoiding writing about the last day of the tour. Maybe I'm holding on subconciously?

We were scheduled to do a 26 mile bike ride on our last day. In theory, it sounded great. It wasn't until we realized check-out was a 11:00am and we had a plane to catch that it sounded a little tricky. Hmmm...we either need to get done early or get on a plane stinky. Early definately sounded better.

We had another fine breakfast prepared by Linda and Patty at 7am. After breakfast everyone was kind of milling around and I thought... "hmmm... if I leave earlier, then it will take that much longer for everyone to pass me." I shared my thought with Judy and she said she was ready to go too...so we were off....

It was a beautiful morning! Cool and crisp. I even saw a moose! About 5 miles into the ride we saw Ann and Deb heading back. (They left before breakfast.) Ann said she had to turn back a couple of miles before the end of the ride because a herd of cattle were in the road.

The beginning of the ride was flat, flat, flat. Then we had a few rolling hills before it started a long slow incline. It wasn't "hard." I just had to find a comfortable gear and pedal along...slowly... At some point Jane, Michelle and Claudine passed us (of course, haha). A little while later the three of them came zooming back down the hill. Ahhh...we must be close to the top!

Just after we started flying down the hill, my cell phone started ringing. I didn't see Judy right behind me so I thought I'd better stop in case she was having trouble. Turns out it was Linda and she couldn't figure out where we were. Everyone who was behind us, had already passed her. How could that be? Ummm because they didn't ride all the way to the top! I think they heard the rumors about the cows. :-) We never saw any cows!!

Judy and I may have been "last," but at least we can say we rode all the way. It was just us and the "big guys." (Jane, Michelle and Claudine.) After missing a few miles the first day, I would've had to be dead to skip any more miles.

We got back in plenty of time to take a nice hot bath. I'm sure the people on the plane were probably grateful for that. We had a wonderful picnic lunch, waited for our shuttles and then headed off to the airport. And then the fun really began....

Waiting for the shuttles

We hung out for a couple of hours and then Judy's flight left. Jane and I hung out at the cafeteria. I played on the internet. She read. About an hour or so later I looked up and saw Judy. Jane said I looked like I saw a ghost. Turns out the Denver airport was closed and they had been sitting on their plane the whole time. Finally the airline decided to let them get off for a few minutes to grab something to eat.

Hmmm....what does that mean about our flight? By the time we were getting ready to leave, Denver was open again, but Jackson was in danger of closing. It was raining and I was already hurrying to the plane when the flight attendant leaned out the door and told me to run. Me? Run? Must've been a funny sight, but I ran... or attempted to run.... As I climbed into the plane, the flight attendant started doing her little speech in super fast mode. Only problem was, we were still getting fuel. I was seated and ready to go, but the plane was not.

And then... Jackson closed....but only for about 15 minutes. All said and done, we arrived at Denver ontime... but guess what?! Our next plane was delayed! We finally landed in San Diego around midnight and I think we spent about 5 hours hanging out in airports. I was more exhausted by the trip home than I was by any of the days of cycling!

Bike Tour Posts

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

Bike Tour - Day 5

Thursday, July 2, 2009

We got to sleep in today!!! My own room and I got to sleep in. Life is good. After a yummy breakfast prepared by the guides, we loaded the bikes on the van and headed up Targhee Mountain. Well, some of us went in the van....

Jane and Patty (tour guide) decided to add some extra miles and ride up the mountain. I was in the front seat of the van, ready to take pictures of the super studs, but of course they were stopped at a lookout when we drove by.

Once we got to the ski resort we took the ski lift up to the top. I've never been on a ski lift and I was a little nervous about getting on and off, but it wasn't bad at all. The view was incredible! When we got to the top we walked up to the observation deck and found the coolest view!!

When you face West (Idaho) this is what you see.... beautiful green fields and mountains.

Jane and Dawn

When you face East (Wyoming) you see snow capped mountains.

Laure and Dawn

Check out the mountain bike on the ski lift.
You can take your mountain bike up, then ride down!

After our sight seeing and picture taking, it was time to ride back down the mountain. As we started getting our bikes, big fat rain drops started to fall. Hmmm... maybe if we hop on and get going right away, we can outrun the storm. I rolled up my right pant leg and in my hurry to get going, I forgot to apply bug spray. That proved to be a VERY bad thing....

As we were leaving the resort we had one short steep hill to climb. The altitude sucked my breath away so I had to stop partway up. Apparently I was the only live thing to stop in that area because I was quickly covered in mosquitoes!!!! I started swatting them away and tearing into my bag...spraying as quickly as I could. My spray was a combo sunscreen/bug spray and I hadn't been spraying my clothes, but those stinkin mosquitoes were biting me right through my clothes so I sprayed them too. I didn't even care if it ruined everything I was wearing. Soon the onslaught was slowed so I jumped on my bike and got out of there as fast as I could.

I was so excited to get to the top of the hill and start zooming DOWN!!! As I rode the rain got harder and harder. I never knew rain could sting so much. Hmmm.... maybe because it was hailing! At that point I started laughing. I was pretty much drenched. The water was flowing like a river through my shoes. I didn't wear cycling shorts because we were only going 12 miles, right? I ride that at home in regular clothes all the time. Problem is that I wore the long yoga pants because we were going to ride down the hill to yoga. Those pants are mighty absorbent!! Thankfully the rain stopped once I got down the mountain and my cycling shirt dried pretty quickly. By the time I got to the condos, my shoes and my pants were still drenched though. So much for wearing yoga pants to yoga.


I changed clothes, got warmed up and then rode over to the yoga class. Of course it started raining again, but not quite so hard this time.


Yoga was nice. She showed us some poses that I haven't done before that were geared towards our cycling muscles, but it was very different from yoga here. No soothing music or water fountains. The studio was beautiful though!

Bike Tour Posts
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

Bike Tour - Day 4

Right before our first hill. This view alone was worth it!

(Wednesday, July 1, 1009)

Today we got ready for the ride back down to Jackson. Remember that "mostly flat" ride the other day that slowly brought us UP to Jackson Lake Lodge? Well today it will bring us "down" to Jackson. But first we have to take care of some hills at the beginning of the ride.

Since we have a tighter time frame today, our guides offered to give us a "bump" (car ride) down to Jenny Lake so we could save some time and start after the "hilly" part. A "bump" was not even an option in my mind. After skipping the last 10 miles the other day, I was anxious to try it. If I ran out of time towards the end of the ride, I'd let them help....but I wanted to see how far I could get.

It wasn't easy, I was sucking wind and I was slow, but I am happy to say that I rode those first 10 miles and loved it. It was beautiful, especially the trail from North Jenny Lake down to South Jenny Lake! I joked around when we pulled into the parking lot and I said "there are no tears at Jenny Lake today!" Turns out nobody really knew I shed a few tears behind those sunglasses the other day.

After a brief restroom stop, we continued on our way. I have to say I definately enjoyed the bike trail much more this time! But then I heard that telltale noise that meant.....flat tire....grrr..... Thankfully I was with Jeannie and Lori and they were anxious to practice some of the skills they learned at the bike maintenance class yesterday. I got the tire off and Lori was happy to inspect the tire. We were almost done when Rose (the Teton tour guide) showed up with the SAG wagon. Good news is that Rose helped me get the tire back on and put the stinkin difficult brakes back on. Bad news? She didn't have the floor pump on the van?!? That meant we could only put in as much air as we could with a hand pump.....and it's virtually impossible to get enough tire pressure that way!! (When I checked my tires the next day...I had 20 lbs. of pressure!)

Again, we were given the option to get a "bump." We were getting to the fun downhill part and we wanted to ride. So after contemplating whether we could make it by 12:30....we hoped on our bikes and went for it. They could always pick us up later... So I rode the last 15 or so miles on an underinflated tire and made it by.......12:15!!! Oh yeah baby!

After a picnic lunch, we loaded all the bikes up on the van and shuttled over the pass to Driggs, Idaho....after a brief stop in Victor for Huckleberry Shakes.

The condos we are staying at are absolutely beautiful. We have washers and dryers and..... our own rooms!!!! Jane is a great roommate, but it sure is relaxing to have my own space. There's a router in the master bedroom, but I haven't been able to connect to the internet. I can plug in directly....but it's not my room, so it's not really convenient. (which is why I'm behind on posting!)

My bedroom at the Condo

The view out the door of my bedroom.
Can't you just picture that pond frozen over in the winter?!

I plan to post laster about all the amazing food we have eaten...but just know that I had some fantastic prime rib and shrimp at this restaurant that was right next to the airport!

Bike Tour Posts
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

Bike Tour - Day 3

(I'm home safe and sound from my trip, but I'm a little behind on the blogging. Wifi was hard to come by for a few days so I got a little behind. Stay tuned for the rest of the updates.)

Jane and Dawn - River Float - Snake River

Day 3
I woke up feeling good. I’m not even sore from yesterday. Too bad I was struggling with my cold and the altitude, otherwise I think I could have finished the ride yesterday. The good news is that I’m on antibiotics now, so maybe I can get rid of the stuff in my chest and be ready for our ride on Wednesday.

I had planned to go on a little hike this morning, but ended up riding a couple of miles down the road towards Colter Bay. It ended up being a great decision. As soon as I got on the bike my right shoulder was killing me. I rode a while to see if it loosened up and then headed back to the cabins. Linda (one of the guides) was prepping stuff in the trailer when I got back and she helped re-fit my bike. We couldn’t adjust the handlebars, so she had me lower the seat a bit and boom, it was instantly better. It’s amazing how tiny little adjustments can make such a big difference.

This afternoon we had a bike workshop. We learned some bike maintenance and some tips on shifting. Every time I go to a bike maintenance class I remember something different. I think I could learn how to change a tire a million times and still learn something different from the person teaching it. Everyone has their own little tips/techniques.

Tonight we went on the Dinner Float trip down the Snake River. As we were walking down to the dinner area, it started to rain. Next thing we know, it’s raining pretty hard and we are all huddled under a canopy. By the time dinner was done cooking, the rain had cleared and the sun was coming out. It was amazing.

Our group was split between two rafts. Apparently the other group were the trouble-makers. I heard their guide "chastising" them for tightening their own life vests. :-)

The dinner was delicious. They bbq'd steak and trout, plus had corn on the cob, salad, mashed potatoes, rolls and cobbler.

Luke

We ended up having perfect weather for the rest of the float trip. Our guide (Luke) was really interesting. He shared so much information about the park and the animals that the time just flew by. The water is incredibly high on the river right now and it is cutting new channels every day. We saw many trees leaning into the river because all the soil around them was being washed away. We also saw a bunch of different animals including a bald eagle.

If you look closely you can see the Bald Eagle in the tree.

Michelle, Lori, Jane and Roberta

I felt so relaxed after floating down the river! I think I’m going to sleep good tonight.

Bike Tour Posts
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6