And We Were Swingin'

I'm doing the swim leg of the relay at wildflower this weekend.

I hope I don't drown. Or panic.

I've been swimming a lot, getting ready. Swimming in the pool. Swimming miles and miles and miles. Doing lap meditations.

But only one open water swim so far. And on Sunday I'll do number two.

I want it to be over with. It's hard enough to ride your bike a lot, but trying to get the bike miles in and swim a lot is confusing. Every time I swim I think I should be riding. And every time I ride I think I should be swimming. And then sometimes when I run I feel happy.

The thing that I don't like about open water swimming is the unknown factor. It's dark and scary. You can't see anything. And you have to put your head up to make sure you're going straight. But I feel like I lose time that way, so I keep going and then I see I'm off course and I end up zig zagging.

And then there's the creature from the black lagoon. What if it's down there below me, just following me along.

And the water is cold.

Wish me luck.

It's Loud in Here

I'm here, hiding in the back room perusing the web while 6 pre-pubescent boys are out in the family room discussing guitar hero and legos very loudly and it's only 6:30am.

At 6am I was jarred awake by Green Day.

Last night, prior to sleeping, I could hear them in the den while they were lying in their sleeping bags - trying to get each other to confess who was in love with who at school.

It's spring and they're fifth graders and love is in the air. But only after they'd played combat mission with the nerf guns and nuclear lego war and talked about how the moon has a man in it with a bubble shooter and a bomb launcher and a fully maneuverable tank canon and deactivated minds and spybots and shark poison and so forth.

Love and war.

And at times the excitement grows to a level of smack down pillow fighting and while I can't make out the exact conversation, I can hear single words that stand out like fuck and shit and ass and fart and "she wants to make out with YOU".

But at least now I feel like I'm on the upside. It's morning and the sun's up and there's only about four hours left. It's like 24 hour racing - if I can just hang on a little bit longer, I'll be done soon and I'll feel so good that we did it.

And Morgan, why yes Morgan - the one who's suposed to be with me in love and war, well he's gone. He seems to AlWAyS have a very early, epic, far away, important ride or race - that he just CAN'T miss - every single time we have a slumber-birthday party at our house. He's gone by 7am.

Even the cat is hiding underneath the covers of my bed where none of them can find him. Very, very still like possum. I'm about to join him.

I Got Nothing

... but morgan's got a good race report from his 8 hour race. He's getting ready for the transrockies.

And tomorrow I'm doing my first open water swim, so that might be something humorous to write about in a few days, if I don't drown.

And finally, I figured out a decent mtb race calendar for the summer months to help get me in shape for cross season.

And I started wearing contacts last week. They have green sparkles in them.

And that's, that.

Bikestyle

I like everything that has to do with this culture of bike I whirl around in.



Not only are bikes fun to ride, they're good for health and they're good for transportation.

And then there's the bike art and bikes that are art pieces and art that is for bikes and bikes that are art sculptures and antique art pieces. And my dad Art who taught me how to ride a bike and his dad Art who taught him how to ride a bike.



And then there's the friend part. You gravitate towards friends who ride bikes. You make friends with people who race bikes. You hang out with families who ride bikes. Your kids become friends with the kids of the friends you have who ride bikes because you hang out all day at the races on Sundays all fall and winter and they all run around in kid packs.



And bike moms are fun. They can ride in the middle of the day with me and then there are the other bike ladies who like to ride long and talk about everything under the sun. It's bike therapy.

And then there's the dirt trails in the trees that swoop and whirl and make you feel like you're dancing with the trees. And the days when you get to ride with your husband and you get along perfectly. And the nights when you sneak around on the trails on the bike and eat chips and drink beer.



And I like the way you see so many other riders out on the road on a day like an easter sunday when there's no racing so everyone's out riding and no one's really out driving and you stop and say hi to everyone you know.

And I like bike blogs where you get to know other bike blog people and then when you meet them for the first time at a race or a ride or gold sprints, you say oh yeah, I know you and you're already sorta friends.

And bike races are fun, especially cyclocross, where everyone cheers for everyone.



But even circuit races and crits are fun to be at - even when you have to course marshall at the DHL driveway and help maneuver a 16 wheeler across the the circuit course while a pit bull is running down the middle of the course towards you because its owner is driving along on the other side of the cones and says he's out taking the dog for a walk by letting him run down the street while he drives a long and then you yell at him to get the dog and he decides to pull a u-turn across the course and you know you only have about 2 minutes to get them all off the course before 75 racers come zooming down the hill.



And then the lady in the SUV bmw pulls a u-turn. And after you get her all situated you see that your cheetos have spilled all over the road.

And even on days when you're feeling too crappy to do the dishes or go to work or get up off the couch because you feel so achy because you think you might be getting sick, you can muster up just enough energy to go for a really slow and spinny road ride and feel like crap still, but when you get back you do feel a little better and happier, kind of.

But especially the rides along the ridge when it's spring and you can smell the jasmine and the roses and the bbq along the way.



And roller racing is fun even though the 20 seconds you raced felt more like 20 minutes and it gives you the same feeling as if someone punched you in the gut. But it was worth it just to see almost naked men on stage in spotlights, racing bikes.



And riding any bike behind Morgan is nice because he has a nice butt.



Bikes are fun.