photo finish?

I finally moseyed on over and purchased the photos from the Tupelo 14.2 miler that I ran back in September.  For once not too terribly bad :-)

Bamarunner & I out on the course. The "tattoo" on the ankle is a stickon, no ink there as of yet

This photo really doesn't show how bad I was feeling, thank goodness.

If you zoom in there's a squirrel in the middle of the drive

I used to drive one of these back in 2001-2002 when it was an Atlas Carriers truck.  Gotta love Peterbilts. I very much miss driving one and pulling parts into the Denton factory.



The local zedonk.......yes, it really is a zebra/donkey mix. Zoom in on the legs and check out the stripes.

Did y'all notice my new & improved header pic?  A friend took pity on me and fixed it since I'm quite hopeless with photo editing. Thank you again :-)

I might whinge......

and I do.........a lot.  But that's a tendency I'm trying to curb.  Honestly, receiving what may be the last email ever from a friend has a very sobering effect on a person. So yeah, past time for me to stop with the negativity and actually enjoy life.

With that note, the past 2 weeks I've been decluttering like crazy, making countless trips to the consignment store, trashing what can't be sold or given away in good conscience and a yard sale this morning to get rid of even more "STUFF".  What didn't sell was immediately hauled off by a friend for a charity of one of her friends, yay!!!!!!!!  All except the books, I'll take them to another charity next week.

Next week or so, I'm making the rounds to ASU-Beebe and UCA to gather up my transcripts and speak to somebody about actually finishing up my bachelor's degree with online courses or Saturday classes. If I switch to a business administration degree and they won't make me take any classes over (it has been 11-12 years since I was in college) I should be able to finish up fairly quickly. Not that I want an office job and I do enjoy what I'm currently doing but I very much want to have more options available to me in case I do decide to move away from trucking.  And let's face it, I'm a 41 year old woman with sleeved arms, I'm going to have to work extra hard to get hired by anybody.  No grumbles, it is what it is and I think I have enough references from very good friends that will help but no blinders on, it will be difficult.

My running mojo seems to be returning but I've not gone out for speed or distance, just shooting for 3ish miles 3-4 times a week.  It's a good thing I'm not going for speed though, I'm SLOW, lol!!!!!  But it does feel good kicking my day off with the nice little endorphin buzzies again.

Leaving y'all with a couple of vids from another desert island band pick, 12 Rounds. 
WARNING: these are not for the easily offended, there are graphic images!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So don't click on them at work or if there are kids around!!!!!!!!!

12 Rounds "Pleasant Smell/Business
12 Rounds "Holed"

Random movie night

Ok, I have a tendency to like quirky movies, especially foreign films (hey Canada counts as a foreign country!) and if they have a rock music theme, well so much the better.  This brings me to a movie I rented last night from Hastings--"Suck".  Oh yeah, there's also vampires :-))). This movie had me literally laughing out loud, very cool picking out the various iconic rock n roll images and I'm sure I missed quite a few.  Plus it starred Alice Cooper!!!!!!!!!!  Do you need any more reason to watch?

Belated and then some

Last Sunday was the Arky 100 at Sheridan, AR which marked the 3rd century in a row for me, 4th for the year total..........so why in the world would I want to do that? Great company and to say I could, lol........With the offer of transportation with the same group from the Memphis century, how in the world could I say no????????? 

I'm not necessarily feeling like a giant recap here but the morning started out cold!!!! Goosepimply, rode for 5 miles before warming up cold, then it was really pleasant, then it got really hot--as in 94F hot, yuck.  Shouldn't complain too much because the previous 2 weekends were nearly perfect weather-wise but it still took it's toll.  Gorgeous route, great roads for the most part, lots of rollers, hilly enough to make it challenging.  Too bad my feet especially the left one felt like they were on fire the last 27 miles.  Oh and the right knee I screwed up at Tupelo?  yeah it was twinging before we even started, grrrr.  I've since taken the entire week off from workouts to try and rest it up and let it heal because I was limping for the rest of the day.

So how'd it go?  Faster than the previous 2.....5:15 saddle time, just under 6 hours total.  Minimal time at most of the rest stops and I pretty much stuck myself to the wheel of Steve, T's husband who is also one of the fast guys who decided to hang with us slower riders, for the first 50-60 miles.  I finally learned from the previous 2 centuries to not pull the line so much, lol.  Several of our group were struggling a bit though and while I stayed back with Tim for a while after we started splintering off, I kept looking at my time and mileage and thinking I could beat the Big Dam Bridge time.  Felt bad about not slowing down with him but that time goal was entirely too tempting.  Met a local rider who allowed me to draft in with him to the 80something rest stop, introduced myself but he was wanting to hang out there longer than I was so took off solo......got passed by a group, tried to hang on but couldn't for more than a mile. Oddly there was one of them who I passed on the hill, when he caught up with me again a few miles later he explained that he had a busted cable so didn't have any low gears for the climbs, ouch!!!!!  Caught up with a couple more riders for the last 6 miles and they drafted off me for the rest of the ride......I was struggling though, my left foot was absolutely killing me and I kept having to unclip and flex the foot as much as possible. 

My new nickname is pink tape girl.....I'd wrapped my feet with pink KT Tape to try and help alleviate some of the foot pain (my plantar fasciitis is rearing its ugly head again, grrr) and I had several people ask what it was and how it worked so hopefully there will be a few more converts.

Afterwards, pizza and beer at Dam Goode Pies, mmmmmmmmmm.  Too bad we don't have another century lined up for this weekend, lol.

other photos

 Middle Tennessee scenery

Approaching the sinkhole on Hwy 46 in Tennessee going southbound

The sinkhole going northbound

Detour around the bridge damage on Hwy 46 near unincorporated Santa Fe Springs

Detour around Santa Fe Springs on a different day.  There's one sharp turn where the bumper of your truck drags the ground.  Very pretty road though

My hair in it's natural state, albeit better behaved than usual



LMAO!  Lola the truck is in the background

My usual work wear, soooo attractive.........Or not, lol

Austin, TX in the rain at rush hour

This guy was using his tanker as a giant tanning reflector. He'd stand that way for a few minutes then switch sides

Awesome place to eat at Canton, TX



Pic of my abs this morning.  Still a pudgy belly but there's definition showing in the upper part!!! That's not even a sucked in belly there.  2 weeks of the facebook ab challenge and results already, yay!!!

BDB & other photos

Worn down bar tape on Buffy after a hard summer of training

The new tough looking black bar tape, I like very much!!!

Cute trike at the bike shop

Back of the jersey

The 2 trains that held us up for 15 minutes, grrrr

The yellow stuff in the cup is pickle juice. Yes it really is!

Fat Tire draft post ride, mmmm

Bacon, cheese, scallion covered spicy fries with ranch dressing, post BDB meal

Back to Back

Yes, I've went and done it again.......another century ride yesterday.  This is starting to become a habit, lol.  The Big Dam Bridge 100 had a flyer in it for the Bluff City Blues 100 at Memphis and I was looking it over, thinking I would really love to do that but probably really shouldn't and besides it wouldn't be much fun going and riding by myself........Then here comes Wednesday night and I start receiving text and facebook messages asking if I want to go and there would be room for me and my gear in my friends' vehicle if I did.  Hell, yeah, I did!!!  Sigh, peer pressure and evidently I'm easily persuaded to do crazy things, lol.

Friday I get all my gear packed up, nutrition sorted (hey, I think I've got it dialed in for sure!), and drop my bike off at the friends' house so it could all be packed up and ready to go at 0dark30 Saturday morning.  There ended up being 5 of us in that one vehicle, good thing they have an SUV :-))).  Lots of hilarious conversation, a bit of backseat driving from me (sorry, bad habit from driving for a living) and the 2 hours to Memphis flew by.

I40 River Bridge

The fast guy's bike that he refused to bring over with everybody else's the night before, lol.  Don't blame him though, you can buy a brand new sportster for what that bicycle is worth.

All the other bikes, all Jamis except for one Trek

Ummm, shouldn't that be "Bicyclists"?

We'd cut our time a little close so after getting bikes unloaded and getting geared up, the 100 mile ride had started, we ended up falling in at the rear of the pack approximately 1/10 of a mile in front of the start line.....Oh well, not like this was a race race for us anyways and I don't think we were the only ones.

Got the usual all packed up madness for the first 5-10 miles, kept trying to find a group to fall into a pace line with but right then they were all either too fast or too slow.  Found one group for a small time but they fluctuated way too much for my tastes, I HATE having to grab the brake constantly when in that situation.  I ended up breaking away and one of my friends gave me a tiny bit of grief about it afterwards, lol.  Just couldn't handle the wild fluctuations in speed though. T and I also caught up with the two other Searcy riders who had driven over in a separate vehicle at the first stop, the other 3 fast guys were long gone, as in within a .5 mile of ride start, haha!  

We did fall into a very nice group after this first stop, several of whom had done BDB the week prior also. I was the one that they recognized, go figure, LOL!!!!!!!  The sleeved arms do tend to be memorable.  Things were rolling along quite speedily & smoothly and then bam! We reached the 62 & 100 mile splitoff and they all turned for the metric century route. DAMN!!!!!!!  Left 4 of us all by ourselves with one lone rider approximately 3/4 mile ahead of us.  Caught up to him and told him to grab a wheel, no use in being out there all alone when you don't have to be.



Scenery at 2nd rest stop (36ish miles), nice to have real restrooms and this was a gorgeous location but you had to climb a hill to get back out of it, grrrr.  I was already hurting here, feet cramping and had just finished up a long pull of the group.  There's a bit of a story there with one of the riders but not going into it since some of them read the blog, but let's just say I got a bit screwed over when I tried to move over and let the next person pull.  I had a choice, mess everybody else up or fall back in and resume.  I did the right thing, although it cost me my legs.  Peeved me highly though, I'd even chosen a downhill to fall back on, grrr.  Fortunately, the guy that we'd caught after the 62/100 split was a VERY strong rider and he worked his way up and told me thank you for the work and to let him pull the line for a bit. Whew!

We passed one guy that said (jokingly!) y'all are just show-offs and he couldn't believe he was being passed by girls.......I told him that wasn't the worst of it, I was also a truckdriver, hahaha!!!!  Afterwards he came up to me at the beer tent and asked was I really a truckdriver. Yep, I really am, lol.

Quite a few riders had mechanical problems, tons of flat tires......We even passed one of our fast guys who'd had a flat and a hole in his tire around 50 miles in....he was waiting for the ONE sag wagon, hoping to get a tire. I think he had to wait a couple of hours and ended up having to get a ride back to the finish line because there were no tires available!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was one huge fast group that passed T & I several times, they kept having flats too.  Five total I think they said and when one would stop they all would.  At one point we'd lost our other 2 Searcy riders (1 ahead and 1 behind) and this fast group asked what us ladies were doing out there all alone, they even slowed down to 21-24 mph to allow us to try and hang with them for a couple of miles :-)

Me & T at the 56 mile rest stop, my bike Buffy is on the ground in behind us

Not long after this we hit the big hill that everybody was worried about....I couldn't believe how many people were getting off their bikes and walking up and these were people that had been passing us.  Yes, I was in granny gear and it was a steep hill but I guess it intimadated a lot of people or they miscalculated on shifting down.  There was also one woman who was screaming and grunting her way up the hill. The guys loved it but all I could think was that's a lot of wasted breath, lol!!!!!  But then again, perhaps I'm too serious when it comes to this..........T asked a guy we were passing did all that screaming help get up the hill, the guy said he didn't know but he sure liked it. 

Mile 70 on, I was dead.........I'd killed myself earlier in the ride and I was sure feeling it.  Thankfully T has endurance that lasts for days and she pretty much drug my sorry butt on in.  We did hit several spots where the road wasn't marked very well (or at all with one intersection!) grrrr.  Kinda scary with just the two of us in the neighborhood we were in, we're both on the small side and I had no pepper spray packed.

Ok, final thoughts & results........Saddle time for me was 5 hours 52 minutes and some odd seconds, 11 minutes slower than last week.  However overall time was almost the same, if not a tad faster.  I'd already stopped, grabbed my medal, and gabbed for a few minutes off the bike before looking at my finish time and it was showing 6 hours 30 minutes (last week was 6:27). 

The course was beautiful for the most part and challenging enough to keep it interesting. Majority of the locals were very friendly and chatted quite a bit, especially to T & I (wonder why? lol).  Very cool medal to all the finishers.  Road markings were confusing and nonexistent in several spots.  There wasn't any pickles or pickle juice at any of the rest stops (thought that was kinda mandatory!).  Only a couple of the intersections were manned by volunteers or police.  I never saw a single sag wagon patrolling the route--found out later that there were supposed to be 5 but none showed up.  The finish line was taken down by the time we finished and we were nowhere near the last.  At 6.5 hours it should still be up.......This was supposed to be a LIVESTRONG event and none of their volunteers were there, at least when we were there.  All the 20 milers got the Fat Tire beer, grrrr.  Although there was still Bud & Bud lite available (meh).

Funny story--Mike, T, and I all beat the fast guys in!!!!!!!!!!  They had 2 flats and took a wrong turn so extenuating circumstances, but we still beat them in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  LOL, we had a 17 mph average and I think they had a 21 mph average.

Most of us ended up changing at the vehicle, all of us giggling like crazy.  One thing about running and cycling I've learned to get over most of my modesty about certain things in public, maybe that's not such a good thing, lol.  One of the guys changed under a towel and T & I changed using a skirt she'd brought.  that actually worked quite well, I'm going to start bringing one along for that purpose, beats trying to change in a portapotty........and people only got flashed briefly, bwahahaha!

View of downtown Memphis

Two of the fast guys

Mike, T showing off the medal, and T's hubby--the other fast guy. Don't let his size fool you, he can click off miles at 25 mph and faster like crazy.

Da bling!  ugh.......I need a manicure desperately

Desert island pick

My taste in music is fairly eclectic but one of my favorite bands is Kasabian. This vid has a bit of a different twist....enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHtnkOoswFQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Rocking a century

Me and the Big Dam Bridge 100 had a rematch today and I think I might've redeemed myself somewhat from the 2008 meeting.......This was my first century ride and I bonked horribly......within the first 30 miles my cycling mentor that I'd trained with all summer noted that I just wasn't my usual self.  In 2008, it took me over 8 hours to complete including the rest stops and I didn't have lines like at the Hotter 'n Hell Hundred to blame it on.  It was just all me......Not much clue on proper ride nutrition, hydrating, electrolytes etc.... and quite honestly I wasn't as strong physically that year as I am this year.

As an aside, I just want to note that my cycling training is not quite what it should be.  On a good week I get 2 days to train, one long ride, one short.  On a great week I can squeeze in 3.  Most weeks I'm only able to cycle one day and my longest training ride the past 3 months has been last Saturday's 69 miler.  I did have the century from last month so I knew I was able to complete the distance but the BDB100 is much hillier than the HHH.

My (tentative) goal was to have a sub 8 hour finish time (including the rest stops) and hopefully a 6ish hour saddle time.  Well, not so secretly I wanted a sub 6 hour ride time but didn't know if it would be possible with how hilly this route is.  I did feel good this morning despite this week's limited and very screwed sleep patterns.  As is my habit, I had a very difficult time getting anything eaten.....stupid nerves but had all my nutrition mixed and packed up.  That is one thing I think I've FINALLY gotten dialed in for cycling, now if I could do the same for running :-/.

Get to Little Rock, catch up with all the Searcy crew, speak to a few of the Cabot people and line up.....Fortunately no 45 minute shuffle to the start line since this tour is limited to under 3000 people.  Immediately part of our group sprints out hard so we all get separated.  Hey, for once I didn't sprint!!!!!  Why can't I not do that in running races?  Settle in with 4 of the guys I train with and we start to make our way through the crowds of bicycles.

My immediate though after starting though was I have to pee!!!!!!!!!!  Managed to make it until the 25 mile rest stop but it was a throw down the bike and run to the portapotties issue by that point!!  Sigh, you guys have it so easy in that department.  At that stop we also convinced one of the guys who was signed up for the 68 miler to go ahead and ride the 100 mile route, while there we met his wife who had driven out to take pics and cheer him on.  Absolutely lovely lady who was very enthusiastic when we asked couldn't he stay out and play longer, lol. 

Next stop, we had planned to skip but a couple of freight trains had other ideas, grrr.  I'm starting to think I'm jinxed, last month I had to stop and wait for a train at Wichita Falls too.  While there though we managed to find part of our group that had sprinted out hard in the beginning. 

All of us that train together on Saturday mornings are fairly strong hill climbers due to our ride coordinator's hellacious routes.  We were rarely passed and usually passed most of the other cyclists at a fairly brisk rate.  I do think we need to add in some flat route interval speed training.  Ok back on track (haha) with ride report.

Speaking of interval training, one of the guys in front of me dropped his water bottle and I stopped to pick it up, we had a heckuva time sprinting to catch up with the group who slowed only a little bit, lol.  Stopped at the 50 and 61 mile stops but they were very quick ones.  I did get to see Iron Marianne at the 61 stop and one of the guys took a pic of us (her camera so will have to wait for her to post it).  I was doing quick twitter updates when I'd stop--and was completely overwhelmed with all the cheers from my twitter friends.  I was also getting some proper get your ass in gear messages that were very instrumental in keeping me going.

After that we had some monster hills so we all got kinda separated. Tim had skipped that one, Bruce sprinted out ahead, and Tanya, Bob and I formed a nice little pace line for a few miles with some people we didn't know.  Tanya and I even dropped the guys for a bit (Gurls Rock!!!).  However, my feet decided to start cramping with a vengeance so before Mayflower I fell way back trying to deal with them.  Thought I would catch up with them at the 75 stop but I was so focused on continuing to spin and not cry that I blew right by it.  Not what I needed!! I was so wanting to get the shoes off for a couple of minutes and I ended up not being able to do so until the 86 mile rest stop.  Oh did I mention this is a hilly route?  Killing me through here with the feet.

At the 86 I couldn't wait to get those shoes off!!!!!!!!! as well as the gloves and helmet, needed to cool off a bit as well as stretching the feet.  Despite all that I was there only a few minutes, with only 14 miles to go I was anxious to get it over with.  After this my speed was up and down, I'd get up to 20 mph for a bit then down to 15 mph.......up and down, I was starting to fade fast.  Tim caught up to me on the bicycle trail portion of the route, thankfully.... It was so nice having somebody to chat with and next thing we know Bruce has caught us!!!!!!!  They stayed back with me for a while but they still had some oomph left so once we got within a couple of miles of the finish line they pulled away, 16ish mph was all I could muster thru here :-(.  It was awesome watching them being able to finish so strong though.

I've discovered with my training that I really do hate looking at the mileage or time screens on my bike computer. I keep it on the screen with the cadence and current mph so it was a complete surprise to me when I reached the finish line and the clock read 6:27:10!!!!!!!!!!  That includes my rest stops, yay!!!  And saddle time?  5:45ish--I forgot to look immediately after finishing so that includes time walking my bike back to the pickup.  Below my 6 hour saddle time goal!!!!!!!!  And on a challenging course :-)))).

Oh, Sunday!

On Saturday's ride last week, the other girl that rides with our training group and I hatched up a plan to meet at 7 am Sunday morning for an easy ride of approximately 30 miles as a recovery workout.  It ended up being over 40 miles and a hammerfest, lol!!!  At least it was flat. :-).  After we cleared Kensett 5 of us lined up in a double pace line for a few miles, averaging 20-22 mph, well one of the guys dropped off fairly quickly.  Nice, doable pace, no problem, had a couple of strong cyclists pulling the line.  Wasn't even feeling the wind......However it wasn't long before the 2 troublemakers started whispering and giggling and next thing I know, one has fallen in behind the other and they take off fast!  As in 25-26 mph fast.........on a flat section that pace while maybe I can reach that pace, there is no way in hell I can usually sustain it.

Until this ride.......Everything seemed to fall in place just right, I was 3rd in pace line and I was damned well going to kill myself trying to keep up.  I didn't think I would be able to hold out very long and the guy behind me fell off after 1/2 a mile. I however managed to latch onto the wheel in front and held on until they slowed back down to the 20-22 mph pace.....this was not a matter of a single mile, it was closer to 3 and I'm still stoked that I could hold on.  Surprised the guys too, lol!!!!!  Of course after that I was burned out and fell off the pace less than a mile later with feet cramping, grrrr.  I did over 10 miles total at a pace over 20 mph, including that hardass sprint, yay!!!!!!!!

Some days a title escapes me

I think when I last posted I said I would have all week off........Didn't quite happen that way.  Tuesday, a call to International midday revealed that Eaton had approved the warranty work (finally) and that my truck was repaired.  Turned out to be a matter of the wiring harness to the xy shifter--yes, one of the parts that had been replaced last month.  James' truck however developed problems with the starter (again) and the air conditioner needed repairs so I agreed to take his load down to Laredo for him Tuesday night.  I did discover a wonderful thing though on the two days I was out--ever since I'd been assigned to this truck I pretty much had a constant amber check engine light--shops couldn't figure it out.  Well since, the wiring was repaired this past week, no more amber light, yay!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday--ran at Winfield, TX--yes, I paid the exorbitant $10 they charge to park but I wanted to get past the Mt. Pleasant scales and at 1245 am there was going to be nowhere else to park....It was only a little over 3 miles but hilly and there was NO knee pain, whew!!!  The trip to Laredo and back was fairly uneventful--dare I say even boring, lol.....and I managed to get 1567 miles done in exactly 47 hours.....that includes 2 mandatory 10 hour breaks plus showers and a workout. Not bad if I do say so myself, especially since I drive a 64.5 mph truck.

Friday--ran just over 3 miles plus 1/2 mile on the elliptical at the health club.  Not my choice but since James has been sick and out of working out for nearly a month he felt more comfortable there.  I also nearly did a face plant on the treadmill, ugh.......the new place doesnt provide towels and a sweaty hand on a slick bar doesn't work quite well.  That afternoon we met a personal trainer for the free consultation--got weighed, measured, poked, prodded, asked to do pushups & situps.  I managed 30 guy pushups then 20 knee pushups in the one minute alloted....not shabby since I haven't done any in a few weeks.  And the weight?  Well I monitor that every week so no surprise but I am in the 118 pound range right now :-/.  Good news is that this guy is trying to find space and buy spin bikes for spinning classes, YES!!!!!!!!

Saturday--Suffer day on the bicycle chasing the fast guys (mind you I didn't say keep up with them, lol).  I even wore the jersey to prove it was Suffering Saturday....Oh that brings me to my new shorts!  Rage Cycling offered to sell me a pair of bib shorts at an excellent price if I would be willing to test out a pair of the guys' version with the female chamois.  Unfortunately they're a size medium and I really need a small but they work just fine.  No shifting or bunching of the chamois and OMG the bib shorts are so freaking comfortable!!! No waistband to chafe or cut into you.

Back to the workout......today was going to be a repeat of last week's route that got cut short at 20 miles due to the storms.  Yikes, HILLS!!! Big hills in the first 15 miles, not my preferred way of riding......I kinda like to warm up for 5-10 miles before working hard.  Plus there was a little, tiny issue of only getting around 3 hours sleep, lol.  While I didn't feel as good as I did last week, I think I did pretty darn well.  Managed to bump up my ride average from the 15ish mph range up to 16.4 mph today for the 70 miles.  I was also able to keep the fast guys in sight after they caught us (slower group had a 15 minute headstart) for a while even.  Of course at that point they weren't pushing super hard for them, haha.

Image of today's route (the yellow dotted line) 

And image of the elevation chart (used my garmin 305 for this)

This is why I'm always so freaking slow, lol!!!!!!!  While these aren't west coast mountains, they're not tiny by any means either.

One high point of today's ride was when we all regrouped just south of Pleasant Plains on Hwy 167 and all 12 of us were in a double row peloton cycling 22-24 mph for approximately 3-5 miles.  Had to have looked impressive, I know being in it felt impressive.  Then we hit the big hills again and it was every man & woman for themselves.......

Two of us almost got taken out by a minivan today though.  She did what we thought was going to be a simple u-turn then pulled up next to us and turned right straight into where Tim & I were pedaling on the shoulder.  No turn signals, no nothing.  Me and Tim had to grab the brakes for an emergency stop and literally we could've pounded on her van if we weren't so busy with avoidance manuevers. 

Workout totals
95.02 miles cycling (will add 20-30 more tomorrow)
6.42 miles running
.5 mile elliptical
and of course yesterday's fitness test of pushups and situps

The waiting game

Yes, I'm still at home.........the shop where Lola is currently residing is waiting on Eaton to review and approve the warranty work on the transmission (again).  At least I am able to spend the time waiting at home, looking to get some good quality training rides in.  Kinda like today's that totally kicked my arse and trashed my legs. Went out chasing the guys in what I described as a full on, balls to the wall, take no prisoners sufferfest.  While my mph average is 15.9 over the 25 miles, you gotta remember that hills (and how!) were included.  During one of the recovery legs (read:  downhill) I spoke to one of the guys who handily (footily, haha) enough happens to be a doctor of the feet.  He says that I probably have neuroma, ugh........but at least I have a doc that I can consult with without having to go through the pesky referral process that you usually have to endure.  And since he has the same thing, he knows how to treat it without telling me that I can't train (oh, the horror!!!).

Puppy chow

Saturday's training ride........oh boy, what a morning.....Since it was gonna be a hilly sufferfest of a ride again, 4 of us slower riders agreed to leave out 15 minutes earlier than the faster guys.  Gives us a bit of a headstart and provides a bit of a challenge to the speedsters with us playing rabbit, lol.  It also doesn't burn me out at the very start by trying to keep up at a faster pace before I get the old muscles warmed up. 

The route started us out on Fairview Road.......it seems to go on forever and those damned hills just seem to get steeper.  Actually Tanya pulled up next to me at one point and asked was the road ever going to end, lol!!!  Appropriately enough I was wearing my Suffer jersey, yes it was a deliberate choice ;-).

On one of the few flat sections, Keith and I had the first run in of many with dogs that we were to experience. Some black lab mix came hurtling out of its yard to protect it from us interlopers and slammed straight into my rear wheel.  It then kind of stumbled, spun about and right into Keith's path where he went over it with both wheels.  Amazingly enough both of us managed to stay upright and the dog streaked back into its yard.  I can't imagine it not being seriously injured though with skinny wheels carrying over 200 pounds going over the top of it.  I feel slightly sorry about that but at the same time this wasn't just a dog that was looking to play, its intention was to bite.  I'm all for people having guard dogs but at the same time they should take the time to properly train the animals instead of just turning them loose to do whatever.

Near the end of Fairview Road it started to rain on us......cooled it down considerably but since I'm nearing the end of the life of my tires it was making me a bit nervous.  Last time I rode in the rain, I went down and the thump of my helmet off the pavement is still way tooooo fresh in my memory.  Just took it very easy on the downhills and curves, reminding myself to relax and not tense up--that's a surefire way to make sure you do go down, having a deathgrip on the bars. 

After the dog kamikazing my rear wheel I also discovered that I was having "transmission" problems.  It had bent the hanger with the impact so I couldn't shift down into my lower gears enough to spin going up the hills.  It was a stand up and power through, thankfully there wasn't any Dugout or Joy mtn type climbs, otherwise I might have been doing a lot of walking.

Next dog encounter was a yellow lab that thankfully just chased after us for a moment and then we happened upon the dog who wouldn't give up...........It was a smaller black lab/beagle mix(I think) and the dog just wouldn't quit........at least it was friendly and just wanted to play but it still kept darting at our wheels until one of the guys deliberately nudged it with his bike.  At that point it just ran along the side of the road with us--uphill section so we weren't terribly fast.  The dog stopped to take a dump and we thought it would give up.  Nope, caught back up with us.  We hit a downhill and lost it......momentarily.........the next uphill it was right back there with us.  5 miles down the road we stopped at our turnoff to decide which way due to the rain and the darned dog was still hanging with us.......sigh.....

At the stop, we held up to wait for part of the faster group (1/2 of them had already turned back because of the rain) and noticed huge storm clouds approaching.  Patrick decides he's taking off to try and beat the heavier rains but the other 3 of us decide to stay.........and then the lightning starts.  Once the other 2 catch us we made the decision to call for somebody to come pick us up.  Better to play it safe when it comes to very low visibility and the possibility of being electrified.....Patrick amazingly did beat the rains in!!!!!!  Oh well, looking at the hills on the trip home I don't know that I could have made it anyways with the bent hanger.

mish-mash

First off, I do have to give another huge thanks to my friends Brice & Patti for taking time out to help me last Sunday with my motorcycle tire issues.  I ended up running over a nail with my rear tire somewhere between Tupelo and New Albany, MS.  A stop at the Pilot to check the tire pressure (no doubt the tire was low, my entire bike was vibrating like most people mistakenly believe all Harleys do), a quick airing up and cursory inspection that I somehow missed the nail on, a bit of fuel splashed in and I was off again.  Only to have the bike start shaking violently again within 5 miles.  I pulled off on an exit ramp and this time examined the tire much more closely.....yep, found the culprit that time.  Brice and Patti had stopped at the same Pilot so I gave them a quick call to find out if they'd already left out....they had but hadn't passed the ramp where I was parked.  They very kindly agreed to go back to New Albany Wal-Mart to grab some cans of tire sealant whereupon they were guided to get the cans that had the fixed nozzle rather than the flexible hose type by an old guy who said those were the kind for "motorsickles".  Yep, that's how he pronounced it, ugh...... Unfortunately that type of can will not work on my bike because the brake rotor prevents a solid connection.....  Brice & Patti drove back then when we discovered the other problem, Brice very kindly offered to stay with my bike while Patti drove me back to Wal-Mart so I could get the other type and a cigarette lighter powered inflator.

After that they stayed with me, following me to West Memphis (with 3 more stops to check the air pressure)where James met me in the pickup just in case it had to be hauled in rather than riding on home.  I owe them big time!!!!!!!!!  No doubt that they are a couple of my best friends.  So why didn't I get it repaired out on the road?  First off, most places will NOT touch motorcycle tires, not near as easy to get on & off as car tires.  Second, this was Mississippi on a Sunday of a holiday weekend so absolutely no motorcycle repair shops are open.  I would have just been towed somewhere to sit until Tuesday so while the sealant stuff isn't the ideal way to treat a motorcycle tire flat it did get me home eventually.  And what a rough ride it was......the green slime stuff unbalanced the tire so much that the ride was miserable, it's not like my bike is comfortable to begin with.  I made it all the way home on it though, quite proud of that.

Monday I had a 70 mile training ride planned that I ended up skipping because during the ordeal of Sunday my period started........and it decided to be one of those that make me violently ill.  As noted in previous post, I spent most of Monday throwing up......and ending up with a nosebleed that I didn't think was ever going to quit.  Bad part of it was I still had to leave for Tennessee that afternoon, ugggghhhhhh.  Sometimes I wish I had a normal job where I could call in sick and stay home to loll about in bed feeling sorry for myself.  Instead I have to hold a steering wheel and feel sorry for myself, lol........

Tuesday, felt much better but like I've already written, I mucked up my right knee, which is still twinging a bit.  No running since then and I'm feeling damned cranky about it.  Didn't help that Mexico wanted my load asap on Wednesday & a tiny little tropical storm named Hermine was throwing some major rain, wind, and flooding into my path.  Despite H's best efforts I made it to Laredo by 1700 Wednesday afternoon and was hooked up to my return trailer by 1800......thought I was gonna be back up to Pearsall or Von Ormy before bedtime, yep, "thought".

My usual walkaround revealed decent tires and all lights working but the permit box on the nose of trailer was missing and a MAJOR air leak on one of the hoses leading to a brake chamber.  Oh joy......our Laredo shop used to be awesome about getting the trailers repaired quickly and properly but those days are long gone.  Got in line (only one in bay ahead of me), wrote up what needed repairing and settled in for a 2 hour wait.....

Finally it's my turn, knowing that a written account of the issues isn't enough, I pull down the trailer hand valve and walk back with the mechanic to show him EXACTLY where the air leak was.  You can hear the damn thing hissing  from the cab so I shouldn't have had to do that even but I know from experience that yes, I do, grrrr.  Truck & trailer is pulled into the shop and I have a choice, stand around outside getting eaten up by the mosquitos or sit inside our dungeon of a drivers lounge that has absolutely no ventilation.  Opted for the bloodsuckers, lol. 

1.5 hours later I'm out of the bay and I notice while at the exit to our yard that my brakes don't seem to be working as well as they should............stop, pull down the handvalve, step out of the truck and yeah, the airline has NOT been repaired.  They replaced 2 tires in 1.5 hours but didn't touch the 2 items I'd written up!!!!!  Do I need to tell y'all that I was highly peeved???????  I'm literally cussing but not very coherently because I'm that angry.  Turn around and find the shop foreman, who then tells me that they'd already pulled somebody else into the trailer bay and I would have to wait because they didn't want to ask that guy to wait any longer.  He even asked couldn't I go park in the back to sleep 2-3 hours then wake up to check back in.  NOOOOOOOO! I can't and won't do that.  This is a 5 minute job, I have 2 fucking crescent wrenches and if they would just give me the damn hose I can replace it, of course they wouldn't do that.......I knew that if I listened to him a second longer I was going to say something that would probably cost me my job so just turned and walked off.  He then realized just how angry I was and told me to pull up to the bay and he'd replace it in the parking lot. 

Oh, and Lola the truck had been making my life miserable this past week too.......The new thing was the Stop Engine light & buzzer going off several times a day starting on Wednesday.  Gauges read perfectly normal, a look under the hood revealed no issues, all fluid levels exactly where they should be and no billows of smoke pouring out of the exhaust stack.  After the first 5-6 times of popping the hood and discovering no issues, I just got to where when the warning would sound I'd find a safe ramp to pull off on and shut the truck off then immediately restart it.  Since there were no outward signs of problems I just assumed that a sensor had gotten moisture in it while being washed Tuesday, however, it was getting very irritating very quickly......The truck is now at the International dealer again.....The issue? Engine fault codes are indicating a problem with the XY shifter that was just replaced last month at Temple.  Sigh........

Not what I originally intended to write

Is there anything more irritating than writing a blog post then hitting the wrong key thus deleting it all?  My motorcycle flat tire adventures & my rescue by Brice & Patti will have to wait another few days now.  I might even add in Monday's adventure of vomiting so much that I had a nosebleed... Well maybe no more elaboration on that last is necessary, yuck :-(.

Just one quick note though. I seem to have injured my right knee this morning while on a recovery run in Tennessee. 2.6 miles in, between steps my knee just started hurting. Didn't twist or land funny, just an overuse injury I suppose.  No choice but to hobble back the 1.3 miles back to my truck.  Icing the knee as I'm writing this & have kt tape on it. Hopefully a day or 2 of babying it & I'll be back to normal. Cross your fingers please.