Mankato Area Cycling Team

Just have to say....
I had a BLAST tonight at Franklin School. I met some excited young cyclists who will join the local cycling team.
Singletrack High is so much fun. I made me want to just get out and ride right now, but it's late and dark and cold and windy. I'm hoping that it will be nicer in the morning, and maybe I can sneak in a ride before school.
Thanks Mike Busch and Matt Busch and Jenna and Justin Reinhardt from Nicollet Bike for all making this happen!

I got to talk a bit about Chasing AllieCat (and even read my favorite race scene), and we watched the trailer, too! It was much fun!


If you have a chance to see Singletrack High, and you have the least interest in cycling, see it!

Spring!

 Last night I squeezed in twenty miles after school. I didn't feel all that great, and I knew that some exercise would help. It did. It's lovely to be able to ride outside in shorts again!

 And here's Freya down at the creek this morning. Happy girl waded through the water.

Just seven days ago, this was us! How easy we forget!

Raising money for Aplastic Anemia

Once again, I'm riding the Jackson County Brevet century (100 miles near Atlanta, Georgia) to raise money for research and treatment of Aplastic Anemia and related blood disorders. These are pictures from when I did the ride two years ago with my son-in-law Tom McCaslin, who is a healthy survivor of AA. I feel as if this cause is one worthy of my work and  makes me not ashamed to ask for contributions. Tom and I are at it again.

My Jackson County Brevet Page

George Hincapie on the Brevet! : )

Spring? Biking

So...Bicycling Magazine is hosting a contest: submit 100 words about your favorite ride  (I take that quite loosely) and a photo. I submitted a couple weeks ago, and TODAY (two days before contest ends), I read that I can submit ONE entry EACH day! Holy buckets.
So here's today's entry:

 

I ride to breathe in the seasons: I watch snow melting, mud emerging, the grass and tiny corn plants sprouting, and foals standing on toothpick legs. Geese honk, winging north, and the baby calves bawl. I smell rain coming, lilacs blooming, mown grass, baled hay, and grain drying in bins. I’m in my upper 50s. I ride so I only have one chin and so my thighs don't rub together. It doesn't hurt if I can beat some people 30 years younger than I am either.  Somebody asked me what I use on my face. I said, "Sweat."

: )

Photo by Steve Pottenger

Fun at the Kasota Prairie

Here's a photo of the "dog party" at Kasota Prairie last weekend, before all the snow fell.

And here was my last ride, perhaps of the season--at least until the ice goes off the roads--which gives meaning to "snow tires."

It's back to the trainer for awhile. Sigh.

Riding, writing

Yesterday, my friend's dog peed on my living room carpet--quite out of character, but enough to push me over the edge: YES, I need to rip up the carpet NOW, and have a nice wooden floor--or at least a clean wooden floor--with rug(s) before Alec comes to visit and crawl around on it.

So, in the next days: I need to mow (before the next rains come), finish second and third drafts of Slider's Son (the pen and paper version is second, translated into computer for third), rip up carpet (doesn't that sound fun?), do a reading/signing at the New Ulm Public Library (5:15 Friday the 15th if you're interested and that will be fun), ride every day (finally feeling almost like my old self on the bike--why does it take half the summer!?), and watch the Tour (cause I'm addicted). Good news: I can watch the Tour and rip up carpet at the same time!

Oh, I have been riding in the mornings or mid-day most of the summer. Yesterday, I stole a 20-mile ride right before dusk, and saw two deer (in my path on the downhill--had to brake to avoid them) and a raccoon (on my path on an uphill so he saw me in plenty of time). Might need to ride later in the day more often to check the wildlife! Not sure if the raccoon's extra time to get out of the way was an indication of his speed or mine uphill. Ha.

Oh, and my man Voeckler is still riding in the yellow jersey today. Haven't seen the results today yet.

Back to work.

Okoboji

Great ride yesterday--"University of Okoboji Cycling Classic." Rode the 50-mile route around the lakes, and after the jammed-10-mile-an-hour start on a clogged bike trail, we broke into the open and flew along the roads and trails--gently rolling hills and curves. It rained for awhile, but still, the route was beautiful.

Then this morning, I volunteered for the North Mankato Triathlon. That's a great, well-organized event. Several of my friends had a great race--and everybody seemed to have fun. YAY!

Good week

Gearing up for some book events in July. New Ulm Public Library has a cool website. I'm there on July 15.

This is my birthday week, so on my birthday yesterday, I rode 55 miles -- Eeek. That's a mile for every year. Muddy, wet, rainy, windy, puddles, grit, but I did it.

Wrote all morning, then rode, then met my writing group for a birthday party/goodbye party for dear friend Jann who is moving to Fargo-Moorhead this weekend. Then Tom took me out. What a great birthday.

Now: back to writing.

Death in Italy

Wouter Weylandt, a Leopard-Trek rider (my new self-proclaimed favorite team for the year in pro cycling) crashed and died today on stage 3 of the Giro d'Italia.

I feel a strange kinship...since I'll be going to Italy by the end of the race. Such a sad, sad day for cycling.

SPRING! Theater, and Blog Tour continues.

Spring! Spring, spring!

Can anyone anywhere love spring more than Minnesotans and Canadians? It's not possible to be more grateful for melting snow mounds and the sight of bright green grass, is it?

And a bike ride outside (yes, I got one in this weekend in spite of an insane amount of work to do)!

Joe is on the block today on the Teen Book Scene Blog Tour. You can read his interview here at Reading Teen. And don't forget that you can click on the icon here to donate to "Give a Girl a Bike" through Global Giving. Every meaningful comment on one of the host blogs will result in a dollar donated, too. $50 buys a girl in India a bike, which means the difference between being able to go to school or not getting an education.

Besides trying to get a bunch of grading done this weekend, trying to finish my part of the Program Review for Liberal Arts and Sciences report, playing with Freya in the woods, and riding my bike, I went to two theater productions in the Twin Cities: "Annie" by the Immaculate Heart of Mary Middle School in Minnetonka, which was SPECTACULAR and made it hard to believe that it was all seventh and eight-graders on stage.

Five of my Humanities students and I went to the Guthrie on Sunday to see "A Winter's Tale" by Shakespeare. I'd never seen this play, or read it, which is sort of rare for an English major. I hadn't heard the best reviews about it, but I actually truly enjoyed it, and my students did too. We had quite a lot to talk about on the way home. The two time periods of the two acts made sense if we considered the first act to be about 1950, and sixteen years later put it smack-dab in the sixties flower children era.

At any rate, every one of my students can't wait to get back to the Guthrie, so it was worth every minute and every penny spent.

Oh, yeah, I also did a reading/book event at the Blue Earth County Library Saturday morning. It was small, but there were great questions, and we had a delightful discussion. Thanks, thanks, thanks to those of you who came, and to Jennifer Cassman for organizing it!

Friday, Friday

Last day of first week of Teen Book Scene Blog Tour for Chasing AllieCat. Three weeks to go.

Every "meaningful comment" on one of the Bloggers' sites results in a $1 donation to "Buy a Girl a Bike" through Global Giving. You can also go directly to the website and make a donation. A bike changed Allie's life...so why not let the book change some girls' lives in India--where a bike can mean they actually can go to school?

If we get more than $150 worth of comments--enough for three bikes--then the rest will go to Tsunami relief in Japan, or whatever emergency is at the top of the need list in three weeks.

Christmas walk and Grand Fondo!

Freya and I had a lovely Christmas walk this afternoon. Even though the snow was up to my knees and she has to barrel or bounce through it, we had a blast. It was quite the work-out. Lightly falling flakes, quiet, a few deer, and the glow of the snowy world. Christmas landscape as it should be.

And news: the Minnesota Ironman Bike ride will now be timed. A new venture! Grand Fondo, here we come!
http://ironmanbikeride.org/gran-fondo

Shorts on November 7

My 20-mile ride today was a breeze compared to yesterday. I could maintain 17 mph heading into the wind by myself, as opposed to the wimpy 10-11 mph yesterday. That was wicked. Of course the ride home yesterday (wind at my back) was like magic--flying. That always maked bucking the headwind on the way out worthwhile. Yesterday was some suffering, and I was tired at the end, but why is it that we love to suffer when it means being on the bike?

Anyway, today was beautiful, and though I should have been grading papers, I took a bit of time off to ride, and to walk Freya and play outside. I may pay all week, but I'm not actually sorry at all.

And I started Split by Swati Avasthi this afternoon. HOLY SMOKE! Wonderful read! I didn't want to put it down. More on that soon.
http://www.amazon.com/Swati-Avasthi/e/B002E43PJS/ref=sr_tc_tag_2?qid=1289183773&sr=1-2-ent

Random stuff

I got a new computer for my bike. It's Aug. 11, and I've ridden 383 miles this month. Not too bad. I think I'll get 5000 in again this season, which is my best summer for a few years.

I'm a great aunt! My brother is a grandpa. Ethan William Fjelland came into the world on Thursday. I'm headed to Iowa to meet the little guy today.

Watched "The Constant Gardner" last night with Tom. It's very thought-provoking, and worth the time. It's also very disturbing. I recommend it, but only if you want to think.