an unexpected encounter

Ok May, if you could slow down just a teeny, tiny bit I would appreciate it! It's Monday again, and I'm not quite sure how that happened. It feels like it was just Friday a minute ago! I had the day off on Friday and took advantage of this fact by going on a long ride relatively free of other people. On the weekends the paths and such are overcrowded by people whizzing by trying to keep their cadence high, families with double wide strollers ambling along and people walking their dogs with the leashes clotheslining across the path. It's nice to have a more peaceful secluded ride once in a while. I have surpassed my longest ride yet again, although it wasn't quite as long as it should have been, but 53 miles is pretty darn good I think. I think I've gotten to the point where I just need to knock these long rides out because every time I get back on the bike it's an easier, smoother and faster ride then the last. I did have the presence of mind to take some pictures for you, it was a great day to be out and about and I even remembered that my current phone has a camera! My last experience of the ride was a bizarrely coincidental one. I was biking in a tank top and stopped to cram a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into my mouth when I got a little cold and put on my Bike&Build jersey. Not thirty seconds after putting it on a biker screeched to a stop in front of me and asked me if I was riding this year! Turns out he is riding the South Carolina route and is leaving in two weeks! How random is that!? We are going on a ride together Tuesday after work and I will be able to pepper yet another person with my endless questions and maybe even answer a few of his. For now I will leave you with a few pictures:

1. I've never seen bicycle-specific roundabouts ever in my life, and every time I pass one I think how silly they are! I mean, even on the weekends with high traffic is there ever a real congestion problem? One of the roundabouts is right next to a golf course, and it's quite amusing to see the golf carts and the bicycles in the roundabout together....

2. The Platte River is a great river to bike next to, the path is nicely maintained and the water is such a nice thing to look at while cruising along. Last week the water rose so high in some places that the path was impassable!

3. & 4. These photos don't do the brilliant colors and contrasts justice really. Everything was so bright and sunny, and I loved the hot purple tree in between rows of white...

I'll just do it by doing it

It is getting easier, even though sometimes it's hard to see it in perspective. I just got back from a 25 mile ride, with hills that still kill me, but it didn't feel nearly as draining as it did in the beginning. Progress! As you might imagine I've got a lot of time to think while on these rides. I sometimes listen to This American Life podcasts while I ride, but on the actual trip we aren't allowed to listen to anything. I've been trading off rides with my ipod and rides with just my mind to entertain me. The super dork in me falls into repetitive sequences like counting the same numbers over and over when I'm going up a hill, or (and yes I am admitting this) I get stuck on Dori's chant in Finding Nemo "just keep swimming, just keep swimming". It's surprising how much it helps to have repetitious loops in my head. Or maybe this whole training thing is slowly making me crazy....either way you do what you have to do to push forward!

Aside from crazy mindless voices in my head I've got a few that can be distinctly identified. My dad reminds me at least four times a ride (in my head) that each successive ride will be easier and that every time I get out I am getting stronger. My sister reminds me to breathe, especially when I am stressed out, and that rest rides and food consumption are important too. I think of my mom pedaling away in the basement on an exercise bike so that she can join me for a day on the road. I think of all the families who will be helped from all of the generous donations, and I think of crossing the San Francisco bridge and how amazing that will feel. Sometimes, a lot of times, I don't know how I will make it but I suppose I will just do it by doing it which is true for a lot of things in life.

40 is a lot more than 25

Wow this weekend went by so quickly! My celebratory Friday ride came in at.....drum roll please... FORTY MILES! I can now say this with exuberance because it was few days ago and my body is recovered. Directly afterwards I felt like I was a dead pile of aching body parts, I was white like a sheet (for some reason I hadn't eaten), wolfed down about five meals in a row and then passed out for an afternoon nap. I am quite proud of myself, for the distance not the wussy aftermath, but am now a little more worried about the trip of 4,000 miles which will start in just under two months from today. PHEW, it is TIRING to bike for so long, and as my dad can contest, it is quite hard to push against the wind. It is unforgivingly strong! BUT as my dad also pointed out, the next forty mile ride will be easier and the one after that will be even easier. Just gotta keep going! I would have snapped more pictures, it was gorgeous the first half of the ride, but the ride back was devoid of sun and filled with great gusts of wind which necessitated that I not stop ever so that the meager momentum I had worked up could keep me rolling forward to my warm shower and five meals worth of food. Here are a few though:

The trail I've been working away at follows the South Platte River, which has so many beautiful portions! It's hard to believe it runs so close to Denver it's like a different place altogether!

The bicycle that never complains, and a peek of the mountains in the background.


Pictures (from a cell phone no less) never do it justice, and the mountains seem so much closer in person then they do here...in any case, they provide great scenery on these long rides!

This was the first Easter I can remember that I didn't spend with family, and one of the few spent away from the farm too. I was mostly excited to gorge myself on chocolate, my lenten forbidden food, and to spend the sunny day outside. JP and I took a motorcycle trip to Boulder where we had a mountain-side picnic with fresh fruit and cheese and of course chocolate! It was a really great way to spend the day, and although we didn't have the traditional ham or turkey we made do with a delicious shrimp dish that JP whipped together. Yummm.

It's a hard life, lounging by a mountain..

If my legs hadn't still felt like jelly-pile-of-ache maybe we would have made it further..

a vacation and a throughly soaked bum

Vacations are always so refreshing! Last year for spring break Emily, Joe and I went to NYC, the year before that I visited Joe in Portland and JP in Denver. This year took me from a blizzarding Denver back to a snow-less Minnesota! I love to travel, love getting to a different place so quickly and, once there, feeling as though I've barely left. This trip was a special treat for me because I hadn't thought I would be able to get home until after my trip, probably next Christmas. That would have been my longest time away from my Minnesota friends and family, and seemed so far away! Of course once I arrived I got right down to business and ate thai food four times almost back to back. In Duluth I talked at my parent's church and fundraised $200 for the trip! My mom tried her hand at homemade GF pasta and it turned out splendidly! I even heard that the leftovers were great, which is a true feat for that sort of pasta as it usually gets rubbery and inedible after a short amount of time. We relaxed at the beach and traipsed around Canal Park, played pool and stopped at Annie's favorite brewery for wild rice burgers that are to die for. Everything went by so quickly, but it was such a great distraction from real life work and school.

JP and the papa hiked at Tischer Creek on one of the gorgeous, sunshine-filled Duluth days and JP documented for me while I was busy shopping with my mom.

Looking for agates with Nora.

Snowy, weirdly blizzardy Denver kept me from my planned return flight and so I was treated to a bonus vacation day. Annie, my gracious host and even more gracious chauffeur this trip, and I got to spend the day together, getting out for a bike ride and run around Lake Nokomis and a day time tromp for little Abby. It was a perfect little extension of spring break, so much so that I almost didn't even mind the prospect of returning to work the next morning...almost.

Once back I had to buckle back down to training, and even though there was a slight drizzle Friday afternoon I figured I should brave the weather as most likely the trip this summer will not deliver two and a half solid months of sunshine. Geared up and ready for a 20 miler I headed out as the rain started to come down a little faster and thicker. It's nice biking in the rain most times, very solitary and meditative I think. For some reason, probably due in some part to my lack of training while vacationing, I was under the impression that I was biking against the wind and pushed forward to the 10 mile turning point, at which juncture I quickly realized that I had in fact been biking with the wind and was now in for a challenging back track. This would have been harder regardless of the rain, but as soon as I made my aboutface it started to hail. It started to hail in the direct path and angle of my face and eyes if I dared to lift either of these in an attempt to see the path in front of me. I had dressed for rainy, drizzly weather, not haily, wind whipping weather, and it turns out there is a pretty big difference although taking mental stock of my lycra-based choices I probably wouldn't have had too many other options anyway. I thought maybe I should stop under a bridge and wait it out, but as soon as I did this I realized that the sole reason I wasn't standing in the puddles of my own shoes was precisely because I was not standing and as soon as I changed positions I was sloshingly rewarded with two little miniature lakes inside of my shoes and socks. Showing no sign of ceasing I tried to keep going, but gave up when I realized that my hand were turning a purple-y shade of blue. Having no real idea of where I was in relation to things I would like to be near to, I picked up my bike and headed towards the road. I was in a warehouse district and spotted a mechanics warehouse with an open door into which I gratefully slipped. JP later told me I looked like a popsicle (probably in both color and demeanor) and so I shouldn't have been surprised when the men inside gave me such alarmed looks asking if I needed any help. They were more then willing to let me stand dripping all over the floor trying to warm up while waiting for JP to come rescue me. Clad head to toe in spandex, some portions of which are padded in a certain area which when wet give the distinct impression that the wearer is hiding a lumpy, very full diaper beneath her clothes was not the most pleasant thirty minutes I have ever spent. After getting home and peeling off all of my clingy, soggy, diaper-like garments I've never had more appreciation for my always absurdly overly heated apartment. Fortunately, for me and my remaining shreds of dignity, I have no photos to post of the hail face story so you can just go ahead and imagine drowned-rat-popsicle Elise in your head.

I think I can..

..I think I can, I think I can be a morning...exerciser? Ohhh the pure, amazing goodness of not having to go to the gym after both work and school. IT IS AWESOME. Seriously so, so, nice. Unfortunately the trade off is getting up at the crack and biking before work. Let's make this clear for those of you who haven't had the joy of experiencing such things, I am NOT an early riser, or a spring out of bedder, or a peppy 7 AMer. I've been drowsily spanking on my spandex, slogging over to the gym and clipping in to bike 14 miles every day for the past week and, although it does feel great once all of the steps in this process have occured, why oh why is it so hard to get up in the first place?! The neighborhood moms laughed directly in my face when I moaned about the alarm at 7:15 (I bet Kathy doesn't have too much sympathy for me either...Oscar, I'm looking at you!) but I loooove sleep AND I don't have kids...I just, apparently, have morning biking.

In other news of things in my life that are sorting themselves out, it turns out Colorado has some ridiculous rules (laws) in the way of cars that I never even thought about while living in Minnesota. The most pressing issue, which I was warned about, is parking. Oh parking, never have you been more frustrating! I live on capitol hill which is about as close to downtown Denver as you can get without living on the mall. This leads to a parking conundrum every. single. day. (and night!) If you are lucky and get home right before the evening hours you can usually find a spot relatively close (we're talking within two blocks). If you are unlucky, or simply return home from work at any time other then dusk, you have no choice but to circle around with all the other unluckys and hope something miraculous happens. Yes I just referred to getting a parking spot as being "miraculous". If you are one of the unluckys and also happen to be in a lesser known minority of parkers who don't have a parking permit yet, you my friend, get the added joy of moving your car every two hours (constant vigilance) or risk getting a $25 ticket. The meter maid people here drive around in these little jeepy cars and literally have a Ticket Stick, which allows them to slap a big yellow ticket onto your windshield without even getting out of their annoying jeepy little cars. OH THE INDIGNITY!! But, all of this is leading up to the fact that I am no longer in that little wedged between a sharp knife and a giagntic boulder of a minority...I officially have Colorado plates AND a parking permit good until 2014. I may never ever leave, but if I do, I know I will be able to come back here and park for longer than two hours at a time! Yeeehaw.

How about those bad boys, eh??!

a day at the park

This week/month/year is going by so fast, holy crapoli! On Friday I got out for a challenging 25 mile ride with my boss Mark. I survived, even on the hills, although my lungs wanted to whimp out on me. It basically went like this: "Lungs? Meet Hill. You should get to like Hill because soon Hill will become Mountain, and Mountain is much more intimidating then little Hill here." It is nice to have someone to bike with, especially since it's Mark who knows a good deal about the world of spandex road riding and about the routes around town. I have to admit that I lean towards being a one-gear-girl, and never remember that I can in fact shift! Mark has started on the wonderful task of reminding me to change gears when the terrain changes, and thus I am learning that gears are an amazing thing. Ahh it's the little things in life, eh?

After that ride (my longest yet since training started!) my legs needed a bit of a break so on Sunday we went to Longmount to drop off some congratulatory champagne for Jeremy and Karyn's engagement (!) and to take the girls to the dog park. I of course snapped pictures, while JP tried to dodge the camera. Luckily I am in the childcare field and have honed my pictures-in-motion skills. Here are a few for you:

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The Yin Berry

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She is such a kook...or is it just my miraculous motion-picture capturing abilities?


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Waiting patiently for treats, the ball for Layla and food for Yin.


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Then it was evening and we headed back to Denver to start a new week.

arnica, arnica, arnica, and a little calendula too!

Thanks to the wonderful magic of homeopathy, I am feeling much better! The first night was a hobbling night, but the next morning I could walk with ease if I avoided all stairs. After taking the remainder of the weekend to rest I am heading back to the bike tonight. The genetically weak Walsh (Buboltz?) knee will just have to buck up, I've only got about 90 days left to train!

Black and blue and some parts yellow!

Healing slowly but surely.

ok, enough with the snow!

This past week has been GRAAAAAAAY. Oh so gray, where is my Denver sun? Blech. We've gotten some dustings of snow, but no sparkly sunshine to make it all pretty/warm/theenvyofminnesota. Yesterday amidst a snowstorm, I grabbed a ride to school. That ride ended up being over an hour long wait on a busy road in stop and stop traffic. Stop AND stop. Why is it that people can't ever seem to remember that turn signals exist when it snows? Are they concentrating so hard on the task of driving that they can't flick their right hand in a movement that has become so ingrained in their heads over the passage of time that they literally don't even have to think about it? It seems that way. BUT, gray ick weather aside, I've been putting in some serious gym time lately and am tracking my way to June. I took advantage of the YMCA's one free trainer appointment, and finally learned the ropes that are the crazy weight machines (no literal ropes, just metaphorical ones for the time being). I've maintained gym memberships for the past few years, mostly at YMCA's, and go to them dutifully, but for some reason I am super intimidated by the weight machine thingy-s with all the men looking at their arms in the mirrors and grunting extra hard while trying to make eye contact..and thus have never done much with that section of the gym. Generally I run on the treadmill, and take yoga and pilates classes, sucessfully avoiding all weight lifting related things. This time, though, I feel like if I don't cross train with some kind of upper body weight lifting, I will look like the bikers in The Triplets of Belleville when I'm finished in August and that's something no one would enjoy:




See what I mean? Noooooo thank you. And SO, I have begun conquering my irrational distaste for weight machines, helped in part by my friendly trainer (for one free session!) Nic. The extraordinarily nice thing about my gym is that it is downtown, this mean it is a) very close to my apartment b)busy at predictable and easily avoidable times and c) has a huge membership and a lot vested in buying the newest equipment out there. All of these things are lovely, but the amazing new equipment makes my training so much more bearable. After the new year, they upgraded to these crazy high tech machines and the FitLinx program. FitLinx, for those who don't know, is this great, great program that allows you to log in every time you go to the gym, punch in your code at every machine, and tracks all of your workouts! It breaks your information into every possible equation: time spent doing cardio this week, time spent doing weights today, calories burned in the past month, amount of weight lifted in three days time...IT'S AWESOME. It's so easy to use, and it is a great help for a noobie like me because all I have to do is log in and the computer tells me what machines I still need to hit up, where to put the settings for my body, and how many reps of how much weight I should do. No need to remember anything except my five digit code which happens to be my old zip code because no one else here is from good old Duluth! PHEW, that was a really long promotional speech for my gym's tracking device, but I'm sure that if you have ever worked out at a crappy facility you can appreciate my love for this inanimate program. I guess what I was trying to say in the last paragraph is that I have officially begun training, it's making my body feel like I just might perish on the side of the road this summer, but at least I can sweat myself silly while watching the newest episode of The Office from the seat of my gym.