Moms Who Ride Bikes at Lunch

What middle aged moms, who do leisurely road rides at lunch, talk about ...

American Gigolo
Laundry
Sex
Single Speed Mountain Bikes
24 Hour Mountain Bike Racing
12 Hour Mountain Bike Racing
VeloGirls
CycloSports
Working in the office
Working at home
Pretending to work
VeloBellas
Men we think are hot
Sex at lunch time.
Doing the dishes.
A hot young Richard Gere
Husbands trading laundry action for sex action.
Husbands sometimes doing too much laundry when trading laundry action for sex action.
CycloCross
Training for CycloCross season
Intervals
School
Middle School
Oakland Schools
New bikes
Chain problems
Parties
Painting Rooms
Flat Tires
Daycare
Danville Peets
Sex
Sexy Legs
Gardening
New Landscapes
Dead birds
Road Racing
Dogs
Being too tired to have sex
Art
Slip and Slide
Flowers
Jello Factories
Swimming
The best time of the day to have sex.
Babies
Sleeping

and kids.

Bikes Parts is Bike Parts is Bike Parts

Jeesus, it's Thursday already?

My officemate, the photographer, is in list mode. He just finished his list of the top 50 movies of all time. Now he's onto the top 25 White Stripes songs of all time. He's reading his lists aloud to me, but I'm not listening. They're all in excel, his lists, and he's reading them as he makes them and editing them out loud and I'm not listening.

The older I get, the less I have of an attention span. A top 50 list? That's just too much for me. I'd rather sit hear and scratch my poison oak and think about chocolate while feigning work.

Sometimes I pretend to feign interest a little bit longer then normal, but most times not. And if I'm just not interested, I won't even pretend to listen. It drives my husband nuts. It drives my co-workers nuts.

Here's a good example ...

Our new cyclocross frames are ready. Brand new, spank my happy ass, custom built rock lobsters. (Guess what color mine is.)



In general, I just don't care about what kind of parts are on my bikes. Or even how to work on bikes. I don't care. I can change a flat, I can fix a broken chain, I know how to clean and lube my chain and I can adjust my derailleur. But that's it.

I don't care. And besides, I have a husband who can do all that stuff. I have enough stuff in my head to remember, I don't care about the techie bike stuff.



For the last 2 weeks or so, every other night or so, I've been interrogated about what kinds of parts and stuff I want on my bike.

Do you want shimano, dura-ace or sram? he asks me.
I don't know. I say. Whatever is on my current cross bike, how bout that.



Well, they stopped making the blah, blah, blah and...
So we might not be able to always get parts and blah, blah, blah...

And then I say, Ok, how bout sram? Can't we get that cheaper?

And then he says, Sure, that we can get a good price.
But it's not as good as, blah, blah, blah. And your seat?

I don't know, same as what i have now?

Ok, he says, but you have 5 different seats, all different on each bike.



Hmm, I say. Ok, let's try that one I say as I point at the computer screen.

This is serious, he says. Don't you know anything about this? Why do you choose to just not care about this stuff and blah, blah, shimano for the price of blah, blah and the 10-speed is old and the blah, blah, and the wheels aren't the blah, blah....

Blah, blah, blah, top 25 best bicycle seats of all time, blah, blah, blah.

So the frames are on their way. And I still don't understand what kind of parts Morgan's putting on, but he seems to have gotten enough out of me to buy some "groups" of stuff or something.

And jesus, those 3 frames, they're costing us my goddamn bathroom remodels, the ones I've been begging for, for the past 7 years. And that doesn't even include the price of the parts and stuff.

Eggbeater pedals, and no pink seat please.

Toolbox

We're back from Philly. I'm back at work today and Morgan is up in Tahoe somewhere spending the day riding his mountain bike with his friends. He needed a long, hard, riding, therapy session after this trip.

I need to go ride soon, or I might pop.



The kids and I had a wonderful time.

Of course, Morgan's perspective is different since the trip was about his dying mom and re-living parts of his childhood. But I think the whole of the experience was fantastic and good for all of us in our own different ways. We'll all remember it as a really special trip.




We spent a lot of time with Morgan's family - hearing a lot of stories and history, seeing a lot of relatives, talking about art and politics, eating a lot of food, drinking a lot of wine, making a lot of fun, playing with a lot of animals, looking at a lot of really old pictures, laughing at a lot of jokes, and enjoying a lot of beautiful weather.

We visited the Magic Garden, but to the 4 of us, we were sleeping in the magic garden each night.




And the absurdity of some of the events made me laugh hard enough to cry. For me humor helps lessen the pain, even in the eyes of death because it's all so silly and absurd.

And because Morgan's mom has always been very eccentric, things are always a little strange.

She was pretty open about her experience in all of this, so there was a lot of talk of how she was feeling and what she was going through and things she could and couldn't remember. I spent a few hours with her the first day, going through all the old pictures and labeling them with names and dates.

We listened to stories of lives of those who have already disappeared and of those who are slowly fading away. We learned a lot on this trip.



And we spent a lot of time playing...

... with Fizgig, the dog. Who Morgan's mom called, Toolbox, because she couldn't for the life of her remember the name Fizgig. Who has some sort of neurological problem (the dog, not Morgan's mom) for which her sense of balance doesn't work. All she wanted to do was run and play tug of war with the kids. She'd run as fast as she could after them and try to keep up and in doing so would run head on into walls, trees, people, chairs or whatever was standing in the way.

She'd fall over and wait for the world to right itself up and then take off again, running in circles and falling over. She was perpetually dizzy.

We'd ride the small bike we found in the garden shed, around and around and around the yard as fast as we could to entertain ourselves and make the dog chase us.




And really, the only torturours part was the plane trip back home. Imagine 7.5 hours (1.5 hours waiting on the tarmac) on a hot plane sitting next to two drunk monkeys in the very last row on the plane with no movies, no meals and right next to the bathroom - without having a drop of alcohol to drink.

I need a bike ride.

Trains, Planes and Automobiles

We're heading to Philly tomorrow for 4 days. Kind of a short trip and not for good reasons.

We're going to say goodbye to Morgan's mum. She's dying. I'll spare the nitty, gritty except to say that she's at the point where she's on morphine and not really eating anymore, so it's close.

I'm conflicted about bringing the kids.

But it's good for all of us to say goodbye. I know I would want that if it were me dying. They'll be other parts of Morgan's family there, and we're staying in Philly with an uncle who is an artist and has a gallery and lives on South Street.

But still, it's a trip about death and all. And any way you look at it, it doesn't make sense.

24 Hours of Smack N Cheese

One, two, three and to the fo.
Mac and cheese are at the do.
Ready to make an entrance, so back on up.
Cause you know we bout to rip shit up.



Gimme the bike first, so I can bust like a bubble.
Macs and cheeses together, now you know you in trouble.

Ain't nothin but a mom & dad thang, baaaaabay.
Four loced out p's and we're craaaaazay.
24 hours is the thang that paaaaays me.



Unfadable, so please don't try to fade this [hell yeah].

Its like this and like that and like this and uhhuh.



Its like this and like that and like this and uhhuh.



Its like this and like that and like this and uhhuh.



Its like this and like that and like this and uhhuh.



Its like this and like that and like this and uhhuh.



Well I'm peepin, and I'm creepin, and I'm creep-in.



Now its time for me to make my impression felt.
So sit back, relax, and strap on your seat belt.



You never been on a ride like this befo.



And I'm a continue to put the rap down, put the mack down.
And if your racers talk shit, I have ta put the smack down.
Yeah, and ya don't stop.

When I'm on the bike, its like a cookie, they all crumble.
Try to get close, and your butt'll get smacked.
My mac-n-cheese homie doggy dogg has my back.



I told you I'm just like a clock when I tick and I tock.
But I'm never off, always on, til the break dawn.



So jus chill, til the next episode.

... I'm too tired write anything of substance. Maybe tomorrow I'll post more about the tequilla shots and the broken chain and Jenny having to run 2 miles and the anxious sandy single track dreams and all the ugly ruts in the trail and the beer and seeing Marian and Gianni and Sweet Cheeks and the 30 mile an hour winds that flicked me off the bike and Morgan dozing off while driving home and thank god for bot dots and blah, blah, blah.



some lyrics by Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg
some pics by mr. le Mans (mr. Feix)
some pics by me and some by morgan

It's Coming Together Nicely

I just finished up work and am starting to pack up the food and clothes now. First I have to start some laundry because we have no clean bike clothes.

We are team Mac-N-Cheese. Our team rule is no crying or whining (for the kids mostly, but you know, it's a good rule for all).

We're so ready. Jenny is sick, Morgan has a cracked rib, and Tom is on a flight home right now from somewhere. And me, well, I'm just trying to get off this chair to finish packing and stuff.

We watched "survivor man" on the Discovery channel last night to get us excited. He was all in the rain on a mountain eating berries and talking to himself and with bears and stuff. And I was sitting on my comfy couch with my blanket and eating chocolate covered blueberries and stuff.

We're so ready. Twenty four hours, shmenty shmore shmours. Booyah!

And s'mores and stuff. And single speeds and stuff. We're bringing those too.

Naked Bike Riding Day

I just remembered that Sunday, June 10th is World Naked Bike Ride Day. I can't believe I forgot!



I'll be doing the 24 hour bike race so I can't get naked - they require cycling attire at the race. (I read it in the rule book.)

But ya'll should.

Lunch Ride

I rode with my neighbor at lunch today. She's a stay at home mom who rides a lot. Sometimes she races and does pretty well. She seems to always be pretty strong.



I saw her down at Noah's in the morning while I was grabbing a bagel. Wanna ride? I asked her.

So we met up around noon thirty after I finished up some work stuff and headed out on some trails I'd never ridden before near my house.

Down Redwood and into the forest with lots of climbing. Up something called MacDonald and along through some meadows and through some gates and around some cows.



Cows in Oakland? Who would have thought this? Certainly not me. But there they were, my little city cows.



On to Goldenrod and more up and up and up.

Good lord I thought, I'll be hurting this weekend. I haven't been riding as much as I should. But my garden sure looks nice. I need to get my priorities back on track and in order.

We zipped along a pretty median trail along Skyline and back down into our neighborhood where we bid adieu.

And now I'm sitting in the garden finishing up some work.

Scraper Bike Is On the Scene

A 3 wheeler on 24'z, 2 tone green and yellow (A'z colorz).

It has pioneer cd player, small lawn and garden battery, and some 3 way 6x9'z all mounted nicely in a box in the back above the rear wheels.

It also has small color changing fog lights (one mounted in front of each back wheel) that change colors (green and yellow). Bike is real custom and eye catching.

Check IT out.

This is a new big thing out. Get on with the new fad or get left.

Boys And Dolls

Saturday, the 10 year old boy, had 2 friends over to hang out. They'd been out riding bikes down at the school and decided to come over to our house and play Lego's and hang out in the tree house.

While they were playing in the house and backyard, I was out gardening and hanging twinkly lights in the back with Morgan. When it gets nice and warm out this summer I want to drink gin and tonics under the twinkly lights in my bark yard at night.

I could see the boys most of the time as I was working, through the windows and in the yard and up in the tree house. They didn't seem to be up to anything mischievous.

Such nice boys I was thinking, while listening to the radio and humming. Such a nice day I was enjoying, twinkly lights and hummingbirds and so forth.

Later that night as I was helping Lulu and her friend Meika get ready for bed, I kept finding pieces of cut hair all around the house. Who's hair is this?

Not mine they all said.

Hmm I thought. Maybe Sam's friends. Maybe Mason or Miles cut their hair earlier today. Kinda looks like the color of Mason's hair. Hmm. I should probably call their dad tomorrow to inquire.

Later as Lulu was sliding into her bed, I heard her yelling, EWE! There's fish food all over my BED! EWE! Ewe, gross! So I went in and we vacuumed it all out and cleaned it up and changed the sheets.

Hmm, where did this fish food come from Sam?

I don't know, he said, barely looking up from his book as he was laying in bed.

Sunday morning we forgot about it. The sun came out, the play dates and parties had to be scheduled, the gardening and bike rides had to be done, the laundry was started and as I was pulling dirty socks from under Sam's bed, I found this...



... head practically shaved, lip gloss or pink chap stick or something smeared all over the face and arms with fish food stuck to it, like they'd rolled her in it.

On the ass, it says I am a bad ass and has freckled pencil dots all over it. On the front it says Rock on!



Upon further interrogation last night, I found that the process of destruction went something like this ...

As they were listening to Green Day loudly, they started to get a little rowdy. They decided to play paddle doll with the wood paddles - batting the doll between them.

After a while they got bored with that and decided the doll needed a mohawk. The 6 year old really wanted to do the styling so they let him go to town on the hair.

After a while that got boring too, so they went up onto Lulu's bed to jump around and found the chap stick. Then they decided to put some makeup on the doll and of course after that, you need to roll it around in fish food after pouring it on the bed to complete the look.

Then the doll was tied to the bed with a rubber band and stretched as far as it could go and let go a bunch to see how far it would catapult.

After a bit of another lull, the idea came up to make the doll even more wild - and they argued for a while about what should be tattooed on it. The "rock on" was a given because they all love Green Day so much, but the "i'm a bad ass" took a while longer to decide on between the two older boys.

So now, at least, I know where all the cut hair was coming from. And of course, Lulu has a few apologies coming to her from the boys.

Mondays

Mondays are always foggy. It's hard to get up at 5am after two days away from work and drive over a bridge and be productive. It's hard to be awake. I'm lucky to not have to interact with too many people at work on Mondays.

My head is foggy. I'll go for a run in a bit to get the fog out.

School's almost out. I'm putting both kids in an all day summer camp, so I won't need to pick them up at 3pm every day. No ballet after school, no brownies, no soccer, no school events, no blah, blah, blah with blah, blah, blah. That means that I won't need to go into work so early.

I love summer.

They'll get lots of exercise. Their camp is outside, up in the big trees. They sing songs and hike and swim and have water fights and swim and build rockets and telescopes and get dirty. And we won't have to worry about homework.

Speaking of exercise, Friday, we're heading over to Laguna Seca for the 24 hour race. We're racing a four person team. Two couples actually. Morgan and I and another couple, Tom and Jenny. And we all have kids and we're bringing them. Kids and camping and mtb racing and eating and camp chairs and camp fires and eating and racing and eating and 24 hours and Yay!