on bicycles and leaving

Not so long ago, leaving Denver wouldn't really have meant all that much because I didn't really have any connections at all, I was just floating on by studying and doing my own thing.  Now though, I actually have an amazing friend that I hang out with every day and bike with and work out with and drink mimosas with and commiserate with!  And now I am sad!!  I know I get to move to a city that has built in friends, and will spend the next two years with a family of sorts as 50 of us students struggle side by side to learn medicine, and that is going to be awesome in its own way.  I am just remembering how incredibly heart breaking it was to leave Minneapolis just a few years ago.  Eric, Pigeon, and I drove down the highway while tears just streamed out of my eyes for miles and miles.  IT WAS SO HARD.  I know this time is different in a million ways, but this time will be hard too I think in ways that I haven't yet considered.  BUT luckily I am bringing my best friend with me on this adventure, and our two ridiculous dogs are great for comforting even if all four of us will be smooshed in the cab of a u-haul for hours on end!  I think perhaps most big changes must be mourned and then let go so that the memories can live on however they will.  In any case, this is a sappy post and I am okay with that.

Now I will tell you that my friend Renae is raising money (soon) for a ride she is doing in August.  She is biking her first century (100 miles) in the Rockies no less for the Tour de Cure raising money for diabetes research!  Once she gets a donation site up I will plaster it up here and ask you all to support her, but for now you are off the hook.  We have been training together, and it has been so nice to ride my old training routes and do them with someone else!  I didn't realize how lonesome my training was when I was by myself!  In any case, Renae and I got out on Saturday for a 35 mile ride in 78 degree weather along Clear Creek and it was absolutely lovely.  She didn't even mind when I kept making her stop so I could take pictures, even when one of the was mid-climb..  Hope you all are having as beautiful weather as we are!