Yogurt Parfait Break

I almost didn't do it right this morning.

Mondays should be easier then Tuesdays or Wednesdays or Thursdays - because Sunday nights you can get it all ready - your bag, your bike, your light, your snacks.

But somehow Mondays always end up being harder then the other days because you can talk yourself into thinking you have 4 more days of riding - and it won't hurt if you skip just one Monday.

Just this one time.

So this morning I sat on the couch at 5:15 am with my coffee, vacillating between driving down to public transportation in my warm cozy car, listening to the soft calming voices on public radio or getting on the bike in the dark in the wet fog with a bad hairdo and freezing my ass off all the way down to public transportation.

I almost didn't do it.

But then I gave myself the pep talk - about the rules of riding efficiencies within the parenting structure, of which the most important one being, oh for christ sakes, get off your ass and get on the bike and ride it now while you have the chance - because tomorrow someone may be barfing or crying or needing a ride or whatever always seems to get in the way and you won't be able to ride.

And besides it's an extremely inefficient use of riding time to drive your car down to the train, work all day, drive the car back up to home, park it, get dressed to ride and then go for a ride somehow, within the hour time frame you have before you have to go drive to science camp and then skateboard camp to pick up two different kids.

Very inefficient I told myself. But how could I make it work? I think I can do it somehow. Let's see now...

And then the puppy woke up and started crying and that was enough to scare me into action and I ran out the door with my helmet and light and bag and off I went into the fog.

And now I feel good about it, because I'm here at work on my "yogurt parfait break" that I take around 8 am every morning. And I've already ridden for a half hour today.

And I'm listening to Cat Power and sucking on a weiner mint and I'll still get a nice hour ride in on the way home with some really, really efficient and good commuting intervals.

And then I'll get home and DRIVE to pickup my little children and then I'll come home and put on my little apron and make a nice home cooked meal and then we'll take the little dog for a walk and then I'll yell at my children a little because I stepped in puppy pee on the carpet that they said they'd clean up and they didn't and then I'll feel guilty about it because after all they're just kids.

And then the puppy will go running by with a stolen cat poo in her mouth. And then she'll lay it on the living room carpet and start licking it.

And then we'll all go to bed.

And then I'll wake up at 5am on Tuesday and lay in bed and think to myself, maybe I'll drive today because after all I did ride yesterday and after all what's one missed Tuesday ride anyway.

Yeah.

Big Things and Little Races

My kids are gone all week at camp Grandma.

It's a win, win situation. They love camp Grandma. Grandma loves having them. And I love that they're gone for a bit.

Moms need extended breaks every so often.



It's during these little extended times when I spend time with just Morgan that I remember why I still have such a big crush on him.



Like last night. We went out for dinner at a pub. And ate. And then after we ate, we just sat there and talked for another hour about stuff we'd been doing and thinking about and books we're reading and why we're the way we are and experiences we've had over the last week and people we've seen and stuff like that.

He sure is cute.









And then we came home and I wiped up puppy poo from the puppy's ass and the floor because when she went out to do her thing, the poo got stuck on her fur like a dingleberry and then she decided to come into the house and just drag her ass along the floor in the living room.

And I had to wrangle her in my lap so I could wipe her ass. Even the cat looked at me with a look of disgust and disbelief.

On Saturday, Morgan and I both spent the day doing Murphy's alleycat, enduro race thing, without kids.



It was fun.



It was 90 miles and checkpoints and beer and mixed terrain and maps and climbs and fire roads and single track and poison oak and cars and getting lost and stuff like that.

I didn't finish all 100 miles. I did 52 miles. On my cyclocross bike. On tires pumped to 60 psi so I wouldn't pinch flat. Which was ok going up the trails, but down was a different story. So I let some air out.



There were 3 women, so we decided to just stick together. And after the 4th phone call from Murphy, we told him that we'd be cutting the course - and that he didn't have to keep calling.



32 people started.



I think 7 finished the course in its entirety.



People got lost. Frames broke. Deraillurs broke. People got tired. Flats happened. The course was strayed. Injuries happened.



But amazingly, a single speed finished the entire thing and a road bike finished the entire thing.

And first place was a tie between four.



And after we finished we ate and drank and stayed till almost midnight. Because we had no kids with us.

And my sweet husband is putting his first place prize on one of my bikes.

Getting Ready For Cross Season

Uh, yeah.

Yesterday, I was trying to figure out where to send my kids to camp for the rest of summer and I realized that cyclocross season kind of starts soon.

As I was looking at the calendar I noticed that there's a race towards the end of August. And then in September, it's on.

Which means, maybe I should start training a bit, maybe.

Maybe.

For me that means maybe taking a few spin classes at lunch each week. And working from home once a week with a 'cross lunch ride sandwiched in. And a glass of wine only on Wednesday nights and Friday nights and maybe Saturday nights, but definitely not Monday nights.

It's a few commute rides to and fro work each week and maybe a lunch ride mid-week in the city across the bridge. And it's doing laundry only on Sundays and Wednesdays. And a few runs here and there. And some deep knee bends each day to pick up puppy poo. And probably a long ride on the weekend. And not cleaning the toilets. And no more eating thin mints.

That's it in a nutshell. My secret to mediocrity. The official cyclocross training plan of a 40 year old mom.

But this year I'm actually adding in a few other new things. I think they'll be the key to my secret success.

I'm running up all three flights of stairs - up out of the BART (the subway) stations and up all the stairs to the third floor where I work, bike on back and one handed, left hand gently gliding along the railing so as not to fall. Pumping it along, giving me the correct momentum to beat the escalator walkers.

And while this may not be an official part of the training plan, I think it's safe to say that waking up three times a night to shake Morgan awake to take the dog outside to pee and poo (because it's not my dog) will give me the extra ornery crispiness around the edges to beat out those wimpy little 35 year olds and their hangovers come smack down time.

I should package it up and sell it.

Wild Kingdom

I'm too tired to explain it, but now that Morgan actually has a blog, they'll actually be another side to all my tall tales.

Which could be bad and good.




This puppy has the shortest attention span ever I think. I don't remember my labs ever being like this. And there are periods of pure craziness where you can't leave her alone for a second. And the chewing. And the poor cat.

And that's all I can say right now.

Because the process of getting up every few hours at night to wake Morgan up to take her outside to pee (because it's his dog, not mine) and the cleaning up of all the poo in the garden that I just spent the last 6 months working on.




And the cleaning up of the pee and poo in the house which she always does, right after spending an hour goofing around outside, and the waking up at 5am to ride my bike to work, so I can get there at 6am.

Well, it's making me tired just thinking about it.

But it's summer and the weather is perfectly warm and I'm riding my bike to work and she sure is cute, isn't she?