Sunday, May 31, 2009

Happy Birthday(s) and other weekend news

I have several friends whose birthday's happen to fall on today and tomorrow. My favorite cousin, her brother, Soul Mate's sister and nephew, Sexy Hippy and her little rock star daughter and Legs! So...HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALL! I love birthdays...ahhh....

This has been a really low-key weekend for Trainer and I. We went to a birthday/congratulations party for Minnesota, as she turned 40 and got married, all in the same week. This was our "dry" weekend so we just stayed for a couple of hours and then went home to go to sleep. Saturday I went kayaking with Yoga Zen Babe down at Brushy Creek, which was super cool. We saw a lot of snakes and turtles in the water. Those of you that are squeamish, I won't take you there if you visit...promise. The coolest part was that in the three years that I have lived here I've never ventured to this park that is only 5-6 miles from my house! So, a big ass THANK YOU to YZB for showing me one more thing that I can love about Austin.

Had my massage Saturday afternoon and then we were just lazy. I actually cooked dinner instead of going to grab PeiWei or something else that was easy. I always have to remind myself that cooking at home is JUST as EASY as going out to eat. I didn't have much, but I did have frozen chicken tenders, balsamic vinegar, honey and couscous...wah-lah! Dinner - easy peasy! Healthy, didn't spend money....good stuff. Bed came early and I was out like a light within minutes of hitting the pillow.

Sunday, my favorite day...if it were only on Friday. Woke up, walked the pups, made breakfast, watched my sports shows and then we decided to go on a ride. Today was THE day. There are a couple of roads by my house that are really great for riding. One is called Parmer, my usual route, the one that I kicked ass on last week. The other one is called the 360 or The Capitol of Texas Highway. I've never been on 360 because it scares the crap out of me. Rolling hills and we're talking H-I-L-L-S! Trainer asked if I wanted to try it, and I did so off we went. He stayed relatively close by, making sure that I made it through the exits without becoming road kill. Yes, this is actually a highway, with exits and also stop lights. The speed limit is 60mph, although most people are going at least 70mph. The problem with the exits are that they are on hills...so it's almost impossible to book it through them.

There was no relief on this ride, none, nada. Just hills and pain and oxygen debt. We went 20 miles, that is all I could handle today. The kicker to this whole ride? On the way back, close to the end you have to ride up this terribly steep hill and it goes on forever. On some parts of the ride I got up to 35mph, and I could only squeak out 4.7mph on this hill. THAT is how steep it was.

Well, as soon as we got home Trainer went on a 5 mile run and I put on my swim suit, went to the gym and swam 850m. Needless to say I am done. Kaput. Tired. We ate (I was starving) at Galaxy Cafe, had coffee at Mozart's (and shared a piece of chocolate cake), then came home and crashed out. Of course I was out of food so I had to go to the grocery store...last thing I wanted to do...but I did it. Made dinner and now I'm blogging.

Oh, and on a side note...please be nice to cyclists. I know that some people think that they are a nuisance, but is it really going to kill you to wait an extra 5 flippin seconds to make a turn? We don't ride on the outer edge of the bike lane to be a pain in the ass. If you've ever LOOKED at the bike lane you'll notice that there is a TON of debris and if a car does start to come over into the bike lane the cyclist needs some place to go, over the edge is not a pleasant thought. So please, please, please...be nice, or at least tolerant.

Peace out and happy birthday(s) peeps!

2 comments:

YZB said...

Holy smack - the 360? You are a bad ass mamajama.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great ride! Also, as far as bicycles go, there's a reason we don't ride right next to the parked cars. It's because we can't always see if there's someone about to throw the door open, killing or maiming us, so we also ride along the left side of the bike lane, or in the middle of the car lane. It's too bad more people aren't multi-modal, so we can empathize with each others transit choices and needs better.