Another Errand DOWN!

Another errand bites the dust today.

I had to go tutor (which for the errandonnee counts as work) and I debated fiercely this morning about whether I REALLY wanted to ride three towns over to do it. It was cold when I started out and it took me about 2 miles just to get a rhythm going. But I finally did and felt incredibly virtuous when I got there, tutored, then stayed and had coffee with a different friend.


It was a pretty cool ride, actually. I left my house in Reston (south of the tollroad), worked my way over to Herndon, caught up with the W&OD trail and road straight out just past the Rt. 28 car park. There I headed south towards Wegmans. When I got there I was desperate for a banana and all they had out were green. I begged the produce man and he told the guys who were chopping fresh fruit for the cups to sell me one. Best .21 I've spent in a long time!

All of a sudden I realized I'd been there for HOURS so I packed up to head home. I needed to get back before my husband/son left on a ski trip.  On the ride back, the day had become beautifully sunshine-y so there were a lot more cyclists out. I saw lots of wide "life is good" grins.

So here's the photo from getting ready to tutor. We meet at the Wegman's in Ashburn in case you're trying to figure the photo out!

Folders for tutoring on top of book. Essential coffee!

Tonight I'm headed to the high school to work concessions at the Basketball tournament. That will satisfy one of my night errands. Tomorrow evening I'll do another and then on Sunday I'll post them ALL!

This is so fun.

Unsettled

I love riding my bike, using it for errands, or just riding for fun. I love it more when the weather is nice. (Truth). I know there's wet weather gear and cold weather gear and lights for the fog/darkness, etc., but really, I'm mostly a fair-weather rider. And I *think* I'm okay with that.

Because I ride for MY pleasure, and the fact that stuff gets done along the way is inconsequential to my purpose for riding, I find myself feeling guilty, as if somehow I'm not doing it "right". The little voice in my head says, "You should be (fill in the blank)."

When we trained for the events last fall, I was pretty maxed out at 40 miles, and happy to finish. For one thing, the time sink drives me crazy. If I want to do a 40 mile ride, I pretty much have to jettison any other plans for that morning. By the same token, if something pops up (particularly concerning one of my kids) my 3-4 hour time block is no longer available to bike and visit with cycling friends.

I've tried riding with friends, but haven't found that sweet spot of friendship and cycling that is a reward in itself. I tried starting a meet-up group but that didn't last. There's a semi-local womens' biking group, but I haven't quite synched up with their ride schedules. And they live about 20 miles away -- I'm not going to ride 20 miles to ride 20 miles to ride 20 miles home and it seems a little silly to drive my car in order go ride my bike.

Does anyone else have these kinds of problems?

And maybe I'd want to go longer if I had a new bike. But how do I decide? The last time I bought a bike for myself was 1989. I was in Germany with the US Air Force and I bought a sweet Bianchi touring style bike. It has served well forever -- even toted a Burley with two kids at one time --I'm not inclined to give it up just yet. Got any ideas to help me figure all this out?

Two More Errands

One of the rules of the errandonnee is that if you don't get a photo of your errand, you need to verify it some other way. And they said be creative.

So for one of my errands on 2/9 to a PTSA Scholarship Committee meeting, here is the handout from the meeting.  It was held at someone's home so the photo would not really have shown that!

And for one of my errands on 2/12 that I forgot to photograph, my dear friend Sarah penned this "note from NOT my mom..."

I verify without notary that Kelley Westenhoff limped into  Panera at Fairfax Towne Center after falling off her bike enroute for our lunch meeting on Tues 2/12

Sarah.

I didn't exactly fall off ... more like fell over, but whatever. It was suitably dramatic and Sarah, being a nurse, was duly sympathetic enough. Catching up with her was so enjoyable that after the lunch, revived immeasurably, I biked home without problem.

So I hope those count!

BACK! No, REALLY!

Okay, it's been since September. But I have a very good excuse. I was LIVING MY LIFE.  Seriously, when the fall weather was at its best, I was on my bike almost every day so I didn't have time.

Then during the holidays we had an Italian student living with us. He was adorable, and we would have kept him except AFS had other plans for him. He is now in Ohio and living the American dream. We're still happy for him even though we miss him.

January 2013 ... well, bad weather and bad attitude. Nuff said.

So now I am officially OUT of my funk and back on the bike. I'm participating in something called an Errandonnee -- using one's bike to accomplish errands. All the details are at www.chasingmailboxes.com

In a nutshell, it's 12 errands, over 7 out of 11 categories, 12 days, and at least 2 have to be during darkness. And 30 miles. It sounds daunting but it really isn't. If you just think about the errands you run, and get on your bike instead, the distance gets eaten up quickly.

I know some of you live out in the country. Okay -- take your bike with you to town on the car. Park the car, and resolve to do all errands in town on the bike. Sure, there are some that won't work so well (picking up dry cleaning) but most others are easy.

For the Errandonnee we document our errands via photo and "something we've discovered or learned." I'm down to the last two -- the ones after dark. I was going to ride to our PTSA meeting tonight but it's supposed to be snowing so I think I'll wait until this weekend. I've already passed the 30 miles.

Here are my initial photos. Can you tell what the categories are?

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 11

Feb 12

Feb 12

A Doggy Day

Yesterday Brenda and I rode 20 miles so I went easy this morning.  I was just going to run up to the bank, stop at the grocery store, and then come home -- about 2 miles roundtrip.

But I forgot that the bank doesn't open until 9, so I decided to press on and make it a real ride. I went up to the Town Center to check on my geocache.  Someone said they found it but the coordinates they needed for the next stage were illegible.

Yep, the person was right.  I fixed it (temporarily until I can get a new one over there) but then realized that I had stepped in dog poop.  Darn it!  This is an area at the base of a staircase for a parking garage. It's very nicely maintained so whoever let their dog poop there and didn't clean it up was being a real jerk.  Why do some people NOT clean up after their dogs?

So I scraped the best I could and then rode back down to the bank, which was now open, got some money and ran into the grocery store and then headed home.  On the way home, a person walking her dog let it chase after me growling and snarling.  Yes, it was on a leash (thank goodness), but the other dog with her was not.  I get it -- the dog was old and not likely to chase anyone.  But what if it had wandered into my path?  Sheesh...

I like dogs.  I like people who own dogs. I like people who are responsible about dog ownership best.

Wild Goose Chase

You might wonder where I've been.  Of course, as haphazard as I am in posting, perhaps no one even checks anymore.  That's okay.  I've had to accept that blogging is for my own good (or not), not to stroke my ego.

Even so, we've been busy.  We had a sweet Danish girl stay with us for 10 days, then my daughter left for college.  We're in the throes of football pre-season.  Tonight is the first real Varsity game against the team that gets raw meat thrown to them from when they're little ... just kidding, but the school is huge and the players are huge.  Our school, is at the lowest end of the bracket in terms of population vs. this school which is at the top.  It's kind of like your just-turned-8 year old swimming against kids that will be 12 right after the season ends.  David and Goliath...but hey, David beat Goliath, so we can be optimistic, and certainly supportive, right?  I'm just praying for no injuries.  Our JV playing their JV last night lost one of our bright stars to a concussion.  Grrr...

You know I love my bike, so I've been continuing my obsession. My friend and I decided to bike the Wild Goose Chase ride through Blackwater Wildlife Refuge in October.  It's a women-only event!  We're going to try to do the 40+ miles.  I've started extending my rides.  I did 15 on Monday, 20 on Tuesday, rested yesterday, and just got back from 12 easy ones.  Moreover, I figured out how to change my own flat tire this morning.  Thank God for youtube videos I watched earlier!

I've also started being more conscious of my intake.  I use the Lose It! app on my phone to record calories.  Can I say I LOVE the scan barcode feature?  Restaurants are a little problematic, but I estimate high.  So between MapMyRide and Lose It, and the great weather we've had, I haven't been spending much time on the computer...or even in the house.

And now, (drum roll please), I'm 12 lbs lighter to show for it.  We're attending a friend's son's wedding on October 7, and my goal is to "have" to get a new dress!  As long as the weather cooperates, that's definitely doable.

How about you -- what are you doing to be self-indulgent these days?

The Great Unveiling

Here's the bathroom.  First, the before photos.  Next, the after photos.  NOTE:  It has not been decorated and we haven't hung the towel racks.  But you can see the HUGE improvement.  What you can't see is that in the before photos -- we had the circa 70's one inch tile in brown, white, and speckled.  At least when the kids barfed it blended into the floor.  Sigh.

The pink towel reflected in the mirror is hanging on a towel rack on a solid wall -- all the way to the ceiling.

This vanity went from end to end on this wall.

Yes, the 4x4 tiles really are yellow.  Ick.

TA-DA

See that half wall?  My idea -- privacy but not a barrier to the whole room!  I'm going to cap it with a piece of wood laminate to match the vanity.

If you click on the photo you can see the detail work in the tile, and the color of the vanity (it's more a lovely brown teak)