/dev/null

So I got an email yesterday informing me that I have 18 days until the MS 150 bike race. The MS 150 is a 2 day, 150 mile ride from Duluth MN to the Twin Cities. A couple of people on our kickball team did it last year so, in a moment of insanity, I agreed to give it a go as well. I’m excited for the challenge but _really_ pissed at myself for not managing my schedule properly. I signed up for the race then months later realized (thanks to Marianne and Aaron) that it coincided with our yearly hiking trip! I’m soooo bummed that I can’t go on the hiking trip. That has been the highlight of my summer (well other than getting engaged I guess) for the past 2 years and I’m gonna miss it so incredibly much.

Anyway, since I only have less than 3 weeks to get my lazy butt into shape I decided to do some riding this week. I really don’t know the trails out on the east side of St Paul so it’s been a fun exploratory experience. On Saturday, I headed over to Lake Elmo Reserve. My neighbor works there part time so I thought I’d check it out. The ride east was fun. The wind was at my back and it was downhill most of the way. At one point I hit 39mph going down a hill and had a blast. The park was pretty cool and I enjoyed buzzing by the ranger station without a permit. The weather looked ominous so I decided to start the trek home. Traveling home…not so fun. The 39mph hill was daunting on the way up with a strong headwind. Once I conquered that obstacle, the wind picked up and I felt like I was being sandblasted on several occasions! I finally made it home, wondering to myself how I could do 75 miles in day when I was so tired after just 17.

Tonight I went out for another ride. This time I decided to head south on McKnight to find the Battle Creek Trail. The Battle Creek trail was pretty sweet. It was very beautiful, except for the gnats in the mouth The trail was windy, downhill, and there were a few families around so I was constantly breaking. I eventually met up with Warner Road and continued into downtown St Paul. For nostalgia I decided to ride back through downtown and go by the old MindTouch office (singe tear streams down my face). Instead of heading back on the trail I decided to do some city biking and headed up East 7th. Climbing back out of the river valley was a LOT of work. Thankfully the road wasn’t too busy and it was fun to explore a new area. I eventually made it home and enjoyed the endorphin rush of working my butt off for an hour. Now I just need to stick to my routine and get at least 3-4 rides in a week.

Finding motivation to bike has been really hard lately, but I’m _always_ satisfied when I’m done. There’s just something so gratifying about traveling a large distance on only human power. I just hope I feel the same way after 2 75 mile days

P.S. I need to raise $300 for the MS 150 race so if anyone wants to give me money, I’ll take it! But seriously, I probably wouldn’t give you money so I’m not getting my hopes up

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 10:41 pm and is filed under /dev/random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.