I have the BEST FRIEND anyone could ever ask for.

Tonight is Monday which for the summer has meant the Monday Nite Diva Ride leaving from Vertical Earth and led out by my best friend Jenni. For the last few Mondays the number of women showing up has decreased which was to be expected due to the fact that the racing season is pretty much over for the women that show up for the ride. So today when the rain started to fall neither one of us expected too many to show up. As you can see we were right! Yep just the two of us were there. Which actully turned out to be really nice. See we don't really ever ride together just the two of us, I think maybe this was only the 2nd or 3rd time. I love riding with the group don't get me wrong but it was really nice to just ride with Jenni and have the chance to just talk. With a race one the schedule for tomorrow we didn't really need to do much of a ride so we took off and were able to chat about the day and catch up. We haven't had much of the chance to talk the last few days due to both of us being busy so I think it was really good for both of us:)

Once we were done I realized how much I really enjoyed the ride tonight regardless of the weather and once again thought about how blessed I am to have such a great friend. Not many people are lucky enough to have a best friend that they can honestly and truly tell anything to without being judged for it. I know that no matter what I tell her she will be there to listen and tell me I'm being stupid or to just get over it, or say no you're right and I will do the same for her. Tonight was one of those rides that may have not been 'the best workout' of the week but it was one of the best for us to vent and talk:) So Jenni, THANKS, I had a great time riding tonight and as always feel so blessed to have you and your family in my life!

A day of riding, eating, and relaxing...

Our first stop for the day and out came the phones.
Okay, everyone off the phone lets keep going:)

Mike showing us his fancy bike, hey maybe we should have rode this one!

So today a friend of mine put together a little bike ride on the Trails of the Coeur d' Alenes, we all met out at the Snake Pit Bar and Restaurant around 9 am and headed out for Mullan roughly 25 miles away. The trail is an old railway that was used back in the day for moving the silver out of the mines. Cleanup has meant cleaning up waste from the silver that has penetrated the ground and putting in a trail for cycling, walking, etc. The ride takes you along I-90 through Kellogg up to where we turned around at Mullan. Heading out you are on what appears to be a nice flat easy going trail. The pace was typical heading out, not too fast but fast enough to get a good workout in. We stopped a few times to regroup, none of us were out to race and a few in the group had never ridden as far as we were going to, and even one had a brand new bike that she had never been on. The first 15-18 miles were like I said good, then the last 6 or seven I noticed myself slowly loosing touch with the lead group I had been riding with all day. I started thinking 'what the heck is going on', I wasn't feeling that pop in my legs, started to slow down and kind of was worried. I had been eating, drinking and doing everything I needed to for a ride that would end up being close to 50 miles. Once I got to the turnaround at Mullan, the rest of the lead group waiting for me and the handful of others behind me, I said 'what was that all about?'

Turns out that final stretch was a false flat, which was one of the things that went through my head as I felt my speed and cadence decrease. So once we were all at the turnaround point and fooded up I took off with Mike and Curt for what I knew would be a fun return trip. It didn't take long for us to break away from the others and get a great paceline going. It was so much fun to work with them and clip off the miles at what seemed to be a really fast pace. My computer wasn't working so I wasn't sure what speed we were going but Mike and Curt said they were hovering around 24-26MPH. That right there made me once again think of how much I have improved over the past year, I would have never been able to participate in a paceline of that speed for that long last year!

Once back at the car we all headed over to the Snake Pit for some much earned beer and food. Although the service left something to be desired, the food was excellent, along with the company. Then back to Mike and Leanna's house for more beverage, relaxing on the couch watching the Olympics, BBQ and the hot tub! What a great way to spend the day!

CDA TRI

Sharon and I before the race...ready to go.

A little post race goofing around.

More post race goofing around.

The whole gang, we had a great showing of CDA Tri Club members.

The pre race warm up, in the rain, causing a bit of a blurry picture.

This past weekend was the Coeur d' Alene Triathlon and Duathlon. I did the du with a friend of mine from school and we had a great showing, winning our age group by 25 minutes:) The day started out a bit on the rainy side as you can see in the picture above. The rain came down for a few minutes during our warm up ride, and while all the swimmers were out in the water. The thought came into my head that I would have to be pretty careful in the opening miles of the race due to the wet road. Things turned out well and the roads dried out fairly quickly. Sharon put in a great first run and got me out on the bike in a good position. I had an okay ride, staying within the time limit I set for myself. Looking back, as always I wonder if I could have done better. Then Sharon took of on her second run and putting us in the lead.

The rest of our Tri Club had a great showing as well. Mike and Jenni won their team age groups as well, Teresa and her team came in second and many others that ran the whole race did well.

I've said it before but will say it again, I am truly blessed to have such great friends and live in a beautiful area. Every race I do I am reminded of how great this area is. We all had a great time after the race and during:)

A Day of Reflection

Today, I took off for my ride with nothing in particular in mind other then the fact that I was going to take it a bit easy today. This Saturday is the Coeur d' Alene Triathlon which I will be doing as a team so once again I drug my body out over the course which I have (and I'm not kidding when I say this) rode to death!!! I could, along with the others I ride with, ride this course in my sleep. I will be SO HAPPY once it is over and I don't have to ride this course until next year. And honestly, I probably won't ride it until then.

I got to thinking however while I was out there that although I have rode it so many times, I have never taken any pictures. The course runs along the lake and is truly a beautiful ride. With the excuse that today's plan called for me to ride the course 'easy' I stopped a few times and took a quick picture.

After taking the first picture I started to think about how I really am blessed. I may not much in the way of money, or 'things', but I have the ability to do the things I love like ride my bike, I have the best friends and family a person could ask for, and I live in a great part of the country. Who can say that they can walk out the door and be surrounded by this!? Not too many.

Riding my bike has opened so many doors for me. I have met my best friend and her wonderful family through riding, not to mention MANY other great friends who share my passion for the sport. I have become in even better shape then before, and have become I believe a better person. Granted there are days that I feel like crap on my bike but the days like today far make up for the occasional 'bad day'. Even a 'bad day' on the bike is not really all that bad. Today's ride on a course that just the thought of riding this morning about made me sick:), was actually one of the best and most rewarding I have had in awhile. The easy pace of the day allowed for some time to reflect on how lucky I really am. The sun was out, along with many of my fellow cyclists and there was hardly a cloud in the sky, IF ONLY EVERYDAY COULD BE LIKE THIS!!!!!