Can you say dream weather?

I went out for a 2 hour 45 minute ride. Today was one of those weather days all of us in Tucson just love. After enduring 100+ degree days in summers a winter day with temperatures in the high 60's is just what we ordered. I road from my house to Saguaro National Park. The park has a beautiful 8 mile loop that has only one way traffic and very slow traffic at that. The whole look was repaved less than two years ago so it is so nice and smooth. There is a one mile hill on the back side that reaches 12% in some parts. Good training for the cross country trip It is so peaceful there.

Did You Know?The saguaro cactus only grows naturally in the Sonoran Desert. There are approximately 1.6 million individual saguaro plants growing within Saguaro National Park.

Last Summer while visiting Angela we has a Summer Olympics for all the grandchildren. They all had such a great time that once they found out they would all be together at Christmas they requested a Winter Olympics. Here they all with the flags they made for the opening ceremony. Events ranged from snow ball building to sledding. A good time was had by all.

A new way to ride

In Spring of 2008 Greg bought me a new bike. This beautiful Orbea Diva is the most comfortable bicycle I have ever ridden. It totally carbon from the frame to the handlebars to the seat post. It is a woman specific design so it is the first bike I have ever felt comfortable riding in the drops. It has a big task ahead of it for 2009. I will be riding from San Diego, California to St. Augustine, Florida with a group of women through Woman Tours. I have really enjoyed this new bike. The wheels on it right now are Greg's Zipp 303. I normally have Reynolds Attack wheels on it but Greg felt these would be better for the long bike ride.



Training for my trip has been going well. I feel very confident that I will be able to face all the challanges of the ride. I did 15 miles up Mt. Lemmon Thanksgiving weekend and have had a lot of miles under my saddle so to speak. More later

4,793 Miles in 2008

I am back for 2009 and hopefully I will get better at regular postings.

Last year was a very busy year in our household.

In February, I did a week long bicycle trip in Death Valley with Woman Tours.

In April, Angela and I went to Beijing for a week and had a wonderful time. Here we are at the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is located in southeast Beijing and was completed in 1420, but has been expanded over the years by two Qing Dynasty Emperors. Qinian Hall, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, with the three blue tiled cone shaped roofs, has become a worldwide symbol of Beijing. It was hit by lightning in 1889 and completely restored. No nails or pegs were used in the original construction nor in the restoration.

In May,Greg did Wildflower Triathlon Long course and we followed that by a Backroads bike trip with our friends Barbara and Jerry in Napa Valley.

Greg completed two I man Triathlons this year (yes that is 140.6 miles each). Yes, you read that right, two Ironman Trialthlons. He did Ironman Couer d'Alene in June and Ironman Arizona in November. Our daughter, Bridget, also did both of them as well! Here they are at the start in Couer d'Alene. Greg looks like he is not sure what he got himself into.

After they did Couer d'Alene, Bridget, her boys and I went back to Seattle to spend a month with Angela and her family in their new home in Woodinville. While we were there Angela kindly agreed to watch the boys so Bridget, my friend Susan from TriSports and I rode the two day Seattle to Portland ride.

All this and other activies to be told about in future post ment I was still able to get in a total of 4,793 miles in on my bicycle. I have been busy all year preparing for the ride of a lifetime. I will tell you more about it soon.

Spring Winds in the Southwest

I have had three days in a row of riding. I started to say good but the winds yesterday made it a little tough. Saturday I rode with Greg and we went 24 miles with an average speed of 15.5 mph. Definitely feel I am getting stronger (of course, he really pushes me). Sharon and I rode Sunday but with much different results. We rode 57 miles but only averaged 13.4 mph. Today I went out and did 31 but with much the same results as yesterday at 13.6 mph. Sunday's ride was up hill the first half and then the return was with a 15+ mph head wind. There were also stronger gusts with the occasional crosswind. I think today my legs were just dead.

I have been working on knitting a pair of socks as well as doing some needlepoint. I will post pictures soon of my progress.

Time moves along

I did finish my Mississippi River Bike trip last spring. We finished in Lake Itasca State Park in Minnesota. We had two nights in the park, the day we arrived and then the next day. We spent our final day together visiting the park, packing and saying our final goodbyes. There was no Internet connection in the park so I did not blog. By the time I got home so much had passed and I just never got around to telling you I DID IT. I swore that that would be my last long trip on a bicycle but of course, it will not be! More about my future plans in another post.

In February of this year I did a Woman Tours Death Valley trip. It was wonderful. If you have never bicycled in Death Valley add it to your list. It is a bicyclist's dream location, miles and miles of virtually traffic free roads. You are in a valley so lots of flat but if you want to climb there are hills too!