Pusillanimous Peddler...I think not!

Mother Nature brought rain this morning thus sparing me from any guilty feelings of not getting up for an extra-early ride. And I didn't have to make the long commute drive today as my class agreed to use today as a work day so I could be home to help my two dancing children attend their morning dance rehearsal in full regalia, which included putting their hair in a bun around a bun form. My hubby is talented in many areas but bun formation is not one of them. It is not exactly one of my fortes either but with enough bobby pins, hair nets, rubber bands and hair spray, anything is possible.

Thankfully the temperature today was cool so an afternoon ride was not a problem. I decided to try a new trail and started off on the North Cedar Lake Regional Trail, which heads a bit north and runs parallel to the trail I was on for my last ride. I discovered that I could, in theory, ride my bike to Target! The major problem being that I would have to have luggage racks to hold my purchases. Anyway, the trail has a few more rises and falls than the other local trails I've been on but flattens out once you get within a couple miles of downtown. It was my plan to hook up with a trail that heads south but I missed the connection and ended up backtracking a bit. Unlike many of the other trails which are built on old train beds, this one runs alongside the still used tracks. As I was backtracking a train was heading west out of Minneapolis. For a while it was ahead of me, but soon I was pedaling fast enough to pass it. My kids were impressed when I told them I rode faster than a train (see my cape flying out behind me?!). True, the train was probably only going 10 m.p.h. but, hey, it sounds good.

Once I got myself reoriented and heading south I found my way to Lake of the Isles. Riding there is enjoyable as there are all sorts of carefully tended and lovely gardens in the yards of the spacious houses that surround the lake. It fills my head with grand ideas of how to transform my yard. And truth be told, I toyed with the idea of sneaking back under the cover of darkness to steal chunks of some of the funkier hostas to replant in my yard. But I have too much pusillanimity to actually follow through with that crazy notion. Although my courage was tested when I came to a section of trail that was surrounded by my biking arch nemesis, Canada Geese. I almost drove off the curb and into the road in order to avoid running the goose gauntlet but thought that would not be the wisest option.  Instead I sallied on, pedaling a little faster so as not to give them much chance to attack and wishing I could momentarily turn invisible. Perhaps they had filled their quota of attacks for the day by the time I rode by because (thankfully, oh so thankfully) they let me pass unscathed.

My goal today was to surpass the max distance I've ridden, so after the lake I easily found the connector to the Midtown Greenway and rode that until Hiawatha Avenue, when I turned and headed for home, enjoying the tailwind. Now for some unknown reason while riding my toes fall asleep. One would think with your heart beating harder that the blood would be flowing all over your body and there wouldn't be parts falling asleep. But they do, and it is annoying. The longer the ride, the harder it is to keep them "awake". To alleviate this I hang one foot at a time off the pedal and shake it to encourage the blood to relocate the seemingly forgotten arteries and veins.This works for a short while and then must be repeated off and on for the duration of the ride.

As I neared home and my favorite two hills (cough, cough), it was necessary to get off and walk my bike for a couple hundred yards to get the blood flow going again so I could pedal that last amount. I remounted, headed up the hills and was quickly shifting into the "grannies"...some bike term that Terri used for those gears that you pedal like crazy but only move a tiny amount. But it worked and I made it to the top again gasping for air and uttering expletives, which really seems to help, a lot. Today was a 27.13 mile ride and my knees and some little muscles in the arches of my feet are still reminiscing about the trek. Perhaps tomorrow the memory will be a little sweeter for them and the soreness will subside.

It's just over two months until the La Crosse ride, which will hopefully occur on a heavily overcast, sixty degree day in August (what are the chances?). Funds are still needed to help meet my minimum goal of $2000. Please let friends, family and people you don't know that they can donate to a worthy cause by directing them to http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/gjengdahl where they can give any amount, big or small to help find a cure for type one diabetes. My family thanks you, my knees thank you, my sore foot muscles thank you, and the rest of me thanks you too.


(I've been listening to Don Quixote on my commute to work the past four weeks and Miguel de Cervantes uses a lot of fun-to-say 'p' words in his writing. Pusillanimous, peregrination and profundity are my three favorites.)