"You're A idiot!"

This blog is entitled, "You're an idiot" because those were the words that resounded in my head during my last bike ride. It went like this:

I'm riding my bike north on Cedar, which is a nice street to ride a bike on due to the wide, clearly designated "Bike Lane." It even has pictures of bicycles for ... illiterate drivers (?). So here I am peacefuly pedaling in the designated portion of the road, and as I look up I am surprised to see a lady sticking her head all the way out her passenger side window as she screams at me, "YOU'RE A IDIOT!!!" (yes, she said A, not AN, and if she had written it she most likely would have used YOUR). The part that really startled me was the ugliness in her voice and the scrunched-up, distorted look on her face.

I thought to myself, "Maybe so, but at least I'm not sticking my head out of windows to scream at people." My next thought followed, "Wow, what an ugly person." But those ugly words played over and over in my thoughts as I wondered "Why?" What has happened in this woman's life to lead her to do such a ridiculous thing and to be such a hateful person? I can understand some goofy teenagers acting like that, as they act on their impulses or try to impress friends with their gutsyness, but this was a woman in her 30s or 40s.

It's really not important. I've been told much worse things. If I had not been so startled and schocked I would have given her an enthusiastic thumbs-up and a big, cheesy grin. Have I mentioned the dream where I step outside and the streets are empty of cars, but packed with bicycles and runners? It was a great dream, I'll have to write about it some time.

Check out these before and after photos of my new haircut. I cut off a 14 inch ponytail!

I'm wonderfully happy about my new short hairdo!

Relief at last!

(image from spine-health.com)

After nearly four days straight of debilitating back pain, I finally felt well enough to work out today. I was miserable all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and part of Monday. I didn't get to run the half marathon that I was planning to on Sunday. I cried at least twice because nothing provided relief.

Finally, I saw a chiro this afternoon and finally felt some relief! The best explanation for the cause of the pain is a spasm in my rhomboids, most likely from overuse. In addition to the extra swimming I've been doing, I also lifted weights while extremely fatigued on thursday night. Sometimes your body just says, "enough already" and shuts you down.

New Blue Swimcap

I somehow made it to the age of 25 without ever having put on a swim cap. As you can see by that blue piece of silicone on my melon, I am no longer a swim-cap virgin. This must be what it feels like to be abducted by aliens. I must say, I have never had my head squeezed from all directions with such intensity. Can these things cause brain damage?

Despite the skull-sqeezing cap, swimming is awesome--a full-body resistance workout and cardio at the same time, with no joint impact--an excellent complement to swimming and cycling. I'm terrible, but working on my freestyle stroke.

Note: I have not "stretched" this image, that is really the shape of my head!

Who the Hell is Rubik anyway?

I was once one of the many people who would pick up a Rubik's Cube, fumble and twist until I was dizzy, and then throw it on the floor declaring, "Those things are impossible."

Well, here you have it: I have mastered that tricky sucker once and for all. It's laughable how easy it is once you learn. Thanks to a good set of video directions posted on youtube, I present to you:

Road bikes and Triathalons

This summer I bought a roadbike--that bright yellow beauty in the picture--$300 used from the manager at a local bike shop. I've been riding it a bit here and there, slowly collecting all the necessary gear. The only problem was that I didn't have any girlfriends to ride with.

I heard about the Valley Girls Ride, a beginner friendly fund-raiser ride, the perfect place to try out my racing legs and meet some other road-biking ladies. A 38 mile course seemed daunting considering I had never ridden more than 20 miles at one time. I signed up, but carefully planned an escape route in case I would need to bail out halfway.

The 38 miles turned out to be not so bad. During the race I stuck with the ladies that lead the pack. This quickly dwindled down to about 10 of us. By the last rest stop we had lost 3 more and as the 7 us made our way around one of the last big turns, somebody got a flat. Two stayed back to help her, and four of us rode on. Over the last few miles two fell behind while I pushed hard to keep up with the lady in front. She was really nice, and we had been chatting along the way.

With the finish line in sight, I thought it would be a sprint to the end, but instead she slowed down and told me to go ahead. What? Are you serious--I'm first? It's a pretty awesome feeling when you win, even if somebody gives it you. The rest of the leading 7 came in right behind me. Afterwards, the leader of the triathon club and another lady I was riding with congratulated me and invited me to join their traithlon team.

So I'm totally stoked. I had been wanting a reason to start training hard and now I have it, along with some really awesome training buddies.

Hello!

I have decided to delete my MySpace profile and keep family and friends updated with pictures and happenings with this blog instead. This is my first blog and it contains nothing of significance. I'm just figuring out how this all works.