VERY Random thoughts.......

* Had fun at the TT turn around point last night.
*Ordered up a new house, new SUV, new bikes and lots of other fun stuff then realized I was not the one from South Dakota that had won the powerball : (
*Happy our state has moved up the ranks of bike friendly states from 41st last year to 28th this year! Good job everyone!
*Wondering why my niece wanted to know my blood type. In case you are wondering my RoadID says A+.
*Had my first wood tick crawling on my sock last night after walking in some tall grass.
*Bummed my paycheck is sort a weeks pay from being sick all last week. We do not have sick leave and my vacation time is spoken for already.
*Heading to the Clubhouse tonight just for an evening of fun with Kris's brother-in-law and then some work tomorrow.
*Glad Abe didn't kill the bunny today. Abe slipped out of his collar and almost got the little furry hopper.
*Two biking events going on this weekend. I hope everyone stays safe and as one friend said "I hope the wind is light and the beer is cold!"
*Why did I eat so much at lunch?
*Called the doctor twice already today about my scratchy throat. It started up again yesterday afternoon. Still no return call. Makes me crabby. I think I need one more round of antibiotics.
*Hitting the Ribfest tomorrow evening for supper....YUMMY!
*Lots of work to do next week and I know already there is not enough time to get it ALL done.
*Seems my co-worker is not all that worried about her father having cancer. She didn't even go up and see him last night after his surgery but was quick to tell us her dog was being spayed today. What?
*Picking up the flowers from the Obert cemetery tomorrow. They told us they will only be allowed on the graves for one week. Used to be two weeks. Wondering why this has changed?
*Wondering why Carlos Zambrano (Cubs pitcher) can't control his temper better. Good job showing kids what NOT TO DO, CARLOS!~~~UGH!
*Looks like Lance is riding into good form during the Giro d'italia. Scary for a bit today when he crashed but he seems to be ok.
*Wondering what Alberto Contador is thinking about the Astana team dynamics these days and why he didn't try and defend his Giro title?
*Who will be the next sponsor of the Astana team?
*Hope to get back on the bike next week and do some commuting and more base riding.
*UPDATE-Doctors office finally called back. I will shortly have a 10 day supply of bactrim to kill this bug I have....HOPE IT WORKS!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Graduations and bike rides..........

Hello, kids...

I am finally feeling better although I still have a cough, my voice is still not "normal" and I am tired but everything is going in the correct direction anyway! I missed the first night of golf last night, since it was cold and wet out there, I just didn't think it was wise for me to be out in the elements.

Last weekend Kris's nephew graduated from Augie with a degree in Business Administration and mathematics. Not sure how that all adds up..haha. It was a fun time. I think it was very cool of him to sit around and talk with us even though his college friends were around. Sunday after the official ceremony he hung with us again, so we decided to take him to Famous Dave's for supper. Plans were then made to hit Ribfest this weekend at some point. The boy is growing up!
Kris's niece also graduated this past weekend from St Olaf (with a degree in museum administration and woman studies?-not sure the exact degree SORRY!)and will be heading off to grad school this fall at NYU. Congrats Zach and Maren-job well done!!

The weekends are filing up VERY fast this summer. LOTS going on and I need to get on the bike!

Bike rides I plan on doing this summer----
FABRAD (July)
MS150 (August)
Margarita Ride (September)
Biking 4 Breast Cancer (September)
I also joined Snakebites-Bike 2 Work Challenge. With being under the weather May has not been kind to me for the B2WC. I hope to change that SOON!

Memorial Day

This weekend as many of you know is Memorial weekend. It is not just a day off from work or a day to rush off to the stores to get the best sale on whatever product. Memorial Day is a day to remember. A day to remember family that has passed but mostly a day to remember the military men and women that gave their lives for all of us! Head over to CycleSD blog to put this into perspective. Pretty eye opening isn't it.

This weekend, thank a veteran for their service to our country. Thank them for your freedom.

To any service member or veteran out there that might read this blog.....THANK YOU!

FREE PANCAKES!

FREE PANCAKES! Yes, you heard it FREE PANCAKES!

May 15th is Sioux Falls Bike to Work Day. Hit the Museum of Visual Arts between 6a-9a. Have fun talking with other bikers. Have a great breakfast to power you through your morning and the best part.....well, besides riding your bike to work, getting your head cleared out, exercise, less carbon on the environment and stress relief, is that it is FREE! More details here. You might even get to meet this years poster boy for the event or join in on his bike to work challenge, which you can read about here!

RIDE YOUR BIKE ON FRIDAY!

SEE YOU ALL THERE!

How many lives does a blinky light have?

I hit the road this morning for my commute. It was a nice and sunny commute, just a little cool but all was good. I was making good time when I heard something fall and hit the road, behind me. I looked back and laying helplessly, in the middle of the road was my little red blinky light! I got turned around and started back to rescue it when a car came in it's direction. Was I going to see my little blinky light murdered right in front of me? I was hoping not and found myself saying, "Don't run over my little blinky light!" and of course repeated it a few times as the car drove over the top of it and MISSED IT! YEAH! I made it back to pick up the little scratched guy only to find that the clip was gone that holds it to my trunk. So I went searching for it and didn't see it anywhere until I looked on my trunk and there it was, clipped on and hang on for dear life! The blinky and clip were reunited. Now, the big test, was he going to work after hitting the deck----YES!

So, my blinky light is a Viewpoint blinky (el-cheapo), how many lives does it have? If I had a Cateye blinky would it have 9 lives? So, do assume that this little blinky might have 8 lives left even though it is not a Cateye? I am guessing it's life will be a bit shorter from this little mishap but the little guy lives on to illuminate my life, keeping me safe, for a few more days, I hope!

Be a responsible pet owner!

An unfortunate thing happened to a couple of friends last night on a training ride. You can read about it here.

All I want to say is, PEOPLE, BE RESPONSIBLE PETS OWNERS! If you can't afford to take care of them or at least control them, you should not have them-PERIOD! Things could have turned out a lot worse for our friends. Thank GOD it didn't!

Dead wrong?

After I tweeted on Twitter about a 20.85 mile bike ride, a funeral home is now following my tweets! Should I be worried?

Planting, poker and pacelines

Great weekend to be OUTSIDE! Yup, finally no rain, a little wind but hey, it is South Dakota after all.

We got our flower bed all planted. Flower pots planted, tomato plants in their containers along with the marigolds to keep the bugs away from the little sweet 100s! Lawn mowed and fertilized. Bike chains and rear cogs all cleaned and lubed. Now there must have been some sort of payoff for doing all this work right? You guessed it, a bike ride. It is was not just an ordinary bike ride it was the annual Harlan's Anniversary ride / Harlan's Poker Ride / Harlan's customer appreciation ride, but this year we rode in memory of Cal's daughter who was killed in a car accident four months ago. I didn't know her but I am sure she was a great person given how nice her dad and uncle are.

Not sure how many attended the ride but there were quite a few. We opted for the bike trail ride instead of the Harrisburg ride. I was nervous about this as we rode counter clockwise around the trail. Now, to some of you it is not a big deal. To the ones that are novice and dislike hills it is kind of a big deal as you have to climb out of the falls area up a hill and up the switch backs by the the State Penitentiary. I am proud to say I did it without stopping! I think the part leading up to the bridge that goes over the spillway is hardest part so it makes the switch backs a little hard but not so bad. Kris had a hard time with them but she made it about halfway up which is excellent!
We regrouped at the bridge / dam area out by north Minnesota and met a couple of Lanehogs! Jefferson and his son Matt were along for Harlan's ride also and had never ridden the trail before so the tagged along with our group well, in the middle of our group. Kris and I rode sweep...hahaha! We got up by the zoo and of course the buffalo were standing under a tree and the BIG kitties were laying in the grass. We also saw a duck with her ducklings all in a perfect paceline swimming in the diversion ditch. I love that stuff! We made it back and with that Kris made another one of her goals-----ALREADY-----that was to make it around the bike trail loop! She did a great job yesterday! Not sure what she is going to do the rest of the summer with her goals already met! Just kidding. I know she wants to work on pace and getting faster which will come with more time in the saddle. At the end of the ride, I didn't have a good poker hand at all, didn't win a door prize, had good burgers, lemon aide and fun with friends...good weekend!