Mud

This week was extra busy.  For starters, my birthday was Tuesday.  We didn't do anything too special Tuesday since I had work and then went to my first trainer class in Denver.  When I got back from my class Adam had cupcakes from a gluten free bakery for me and presents from him and a package from my family to open.   Adam spent all day making a photo album of pictures of us and the dogs, with room for more pictures as we take more.  Sometimes we get used to only looking at pictures on the computer and having them in an album is nice--you see them in a different way then on the computer.  Now we just need a coffee table to put the albums on...

The box from my parents contained some of the presents I couldn't fit in my bag from Christmas, some delicious gluten free molasses cookies homemade by my mom (even Adam agreed they tasted like "real" cookies!), a homemade reversible jacket for Frito (he is the only one with not much fur and needs the coats), a new swimsuit, and a necklace.  I will take some pictures of Frito in his new coat next time he puts it on.  Here is a picture from the other day of Frito getting a belly rub.

We had originally planned to go out to eat on my birthday somewhere in Denver after my class, but I knew I would be tired and we would be out to late for a "work night".  We ended up going out yesterday evening to a place I have never been before--The White Chocolate Grill which is at the mall near buy in an outdoor shopping area.  I actually haven't been to the mall since we moved here and I couldn't believe, it was actually more crowded that the mall in NJ.  Maybe because there are so many malls in NJ???  Anyway, after searching for parking forever, we went in an had a delicious birthday meal.  I had steak and fries and we both got deserts that we found out really were big enough for two people like the menu said.  Oh well.  We don't eat out often, but when we do we tend to eat a lot.  Perhaps it's good that we don't go out much--it's really a treat when we do go.

Anyway, that's all we did for my birthday.  I wasn't really up for anything big this year.

This week was the first week that I went to a 12 week trainer series in Denver with my team EPC multisport.  I hate riding the trainer and when I ride on my own at home, I tend to just ride easy in front of the tv for 45-60 mins while watching Law and Order reruns.  Obviously, what I tend to do is better than nothing but not all that beneficial.  So after going back and forth on the decision, I decided to sign up for the series.  It is 90 mins 2x a week for 12 weeks.  Much more than I would do on my own during the week and much more quality.  The first day was on Tuesday and getting there was not fun!  5 lanes of traffic heading into Denver from my office and none of them seemed to be moving!  So after a frustrating drive in I lugged my trainer, bike, trainer riser, clothes, water bottles up a flight of stairs and set up my bike.

I have not set up my bike trainer many times. I rode a Tacx fortis trainer for a couple years (I still have it but something needs to be fixed for it to work) and had it set up at the beginning of winter and left my bike there until March or April, and then took it off for good.  Recently, any time I ride the trainer, Adam almost always sets it up for me.  So I set it up and the lever wouldn't push all the way back, so I pushed it as far as it would go and figured that was good enough.  Well, 45 mins or so into the class in a room of 15 or so people, we are doing a 10 min standing interval and a couple minutes in, my bike comes loose and I am falling into the guy next to me.  Of all the places to fall off a trainer, I had to do it in front of an audience.  I'd like to say this is the first time I fell off the trainer, but it is actually my 3rd time, although the first two were in 2004 and 2005 (I think, they were a long time ago!)  I got some help getting my bike back upright so I could finish the session, and then at home Adam gave me a tutorial on setting up my bike in the trainer and made me practice.  And no crashes in the Thursday session.

I have been getting very antsy about buying a mountain bike.  On Saturday, Adam and I drove up to Wheat Ridge to Wheat Ridge Cyclery so I could get a mountain bike to test ride.  They have a great program where you can take a mountain bike out and test ride it for a couple days!  Unfortunately they didn't have the 2011 fleet of bikes to test ride yet and I was there and wanted to try something gosh darn it!  I test rode a Yeti AS-R 5 alloy.  When I get my bike I want to get carbon, but that is what they had so I took it home to test it out.  I definitely liked it and may consider getting the carbon version, but have some other bikes/brands in mind that I am thinking about. 

It wasn't as snowy this afternoon and I was feeling a bit more daring, so I kept going past where I turned around yesterday.  I soon realized how tough riding in muddy snowy conditions is.  I was going along well for awhile, then it felt like my rear wheel was braking.  I stopped and got off and saw that there was so much mud and ice on the rear tire that the rear wheel wasn't able to move.  It was this sticky, thick clay that was hard to get off the bike and stuck to it like glue.  I pulled as much off as I could, then went to get going and realized I had an inch or so of ice and clay stuck to my shoes covering up my cleats.  Of course, this is when I am all the way out at the end of a loop and have 5 miles or so to get home.  It was frustrating.  I would get going and was able to ride for awhile and then all of a sudden I couldn't ride at all.  So I repeated the rear wheel/shoe cleaning process and some uphill running with the bike a few times until I finally got past the really bad mud.  Lesson learned I guess and I did have a really fun time when the bike was moving.  I'm looking forward to getting my own bike and riding on some dry trails. 

 Here's me with the bike after I got home.  Note--a lot of the mud came off while I was riding on the non muddy and paved trails. 

 Here I am hosing the bike off.  The do clean the bike after it is returned to the shop, but I figured it was good to get off as much as I could.  And so a big muddy bike wasn't yucking up the car.

Long post.  I need to update more often so that I don't end up writing so much each time.