Not the pictures.

I had everything arranged. Timed out. Scheduled. There were layers when each thing needed to be done.

We left for Decorah, went to the meeting. Ran into Dave Nice and the boys he came in with from Nebraska - as well as meeting Julia (the single speeding female) - and all was enjoyable.

Got back to the hotel, finished the last items with my bike, showered, and had my mother hack off my hair. Braided it, held it at the top, cut. She just kept hacking and hacking... I have a lot of hair. I was Really high energy at this point - all excited and giggling from having less hair than I'd ever had in the entirety of my life - and had to slow myself down to get to sleep.

Woke - mother drove me to the start. I sat in the car till I saw Guitar Ted come round. We lined up. We started.

We started up a hill and I immediately noticed my saddle was too low. This was something that was scheduled to be adjusted before we left Des Moines for Decorah - so after it had been set I hadn't thought about it again. It was not on the list to be addressed at any later point, and since I'd sat in the car at the start I didn't mount up till we rolled out.

I thought I'd just take it easy up the hill - but my legs were in the wrong position - it was stressing my knees - so I hoped off on the side of the road to adjust. With two gloves on, it took me a minute to get my multi-tool out, I was impatient, I was being passed by everyone, so I pulled it up, tightened it, and hopped back on... it was the slightest hair too high. I tried to ride, it wasn't working. I hopped off and adjusted it again. Perfection.

But I was now behind everyone. No big deal.


There was a notation a little after 1 mile to "Continue" on the road you were on - I kept riding. I got to the second direction "Turn Right at Clay Hill Road". I hit Clay Hill Road a little farther on than the milage indicated, but just presumed my computer was a tidge off and noted the difference for future calculations. I turned Right. Not long after I was suppose to turn left at Spruce Ridge Road.

I could not find Spruce Ridge Road. I passed an Aspen, and/or Oak, and/or Evergreen. Several roads in a row that were all named after trees... plus there was a tree covered ridge to my left... I thought, it's down here somewhere. So I kept riding. I kept riding till I hit a Super-Walmart, was several miles OVER what was indicated - and I could be 100% sure that Spruce Ridge Road was NOT the next road.

Turned around. Rode back, paying attention, trying to find this road. Got back to the intersection, checked that I had in fact turned the right direction. And turned around again. I was going to ride back, and turn at whatever road was exactly where Spruce was suppose to be, Milage wise. I'm not sure what the logic was here... but that maybe the road sign on Clay Hill said one name, and the road turned into Spruce, and it was just an error on the cue-sheets (this is not so crazy as it sounds, there really was an error on the cue sheets later on). I knew I was on Clay Hill Road. I knew I had turned Right - Spruce had to be there somewhere.

I rode back, noting the exact milage I was suppose to go, and saw a guy in a pick-up turn into a parking lot. So I rode over to him and caught him as he was walking into work. I'm pretty sure I freaked him out. I asked if he knew where Spruce Ridge Road was. He looked at me like I was a demon from the underworld and said he'd never heard of a Spruce Ridge Road in his life.

Shit.

So then I noticed that someone else was driving the pick-up and had dropped him off. I rode over to the truck as it turned around and asked the driver if he knew where the road was. He said the same thing his son had - No f-ing clue.

At this point I turned around again. I rode back up from whence I'd come - and realized that there was, in fact, a reason for them to have said "Continue on Quarry Hill Road" - somewhere up in the twisting woods I had not continued on the road I was on - I had merged onto Whitetail Road.

Doh!!!

So I road back up Whitetail and got back on Quarry Hill. I rode till I ran into Clay Hill Road Again... slightly different location. And when I say slightly different - I mean entirely and completely different. They didn't even look like the same road. I really can't imagine how the first Clay Hill Road I was on could possibly connect with, or be the same road as the second Clay Hill Road I ran into. I Google Earthed it when I got home, to try to make sense of it all.

After my second turn Right on Clay Hill Road I quickly ran into Spruce Ridge Road. Right were it was suppose to be. I turned left and pulled out my camera to take a picture (see previous post). I was Really f-ing excited.

I noticed that while the cue cards said I was suppose to be at 2.something, my odometer actually said 11.something. I had lost myself to the tune of 9.5 miles. But I was really excited to be on Spruce and to know that even if I got wicked lost, it was possible for me to find my way again.

So I continued.

Really - I was feeling good. My clothes were perfectly arranged and I was staying pretty warm. My feet would get cold on fast downhills and I would have to wiggle them around to get them happy again, and my forehead and cheeks were getting wind burned and I had to pull things around and rearrange a little bit - but everything was in relatively good shape, considering the 30 degree temperatures and 15-20 mph winds.

I had managed to make myself eat some food and drink some water - which was difficult, because, while I was relatively warm I knew I wouldn't be if I stopped at all, for even a minute. The roads seemed great - from all the talk of water, there was only an occasional puddle or trickles across the road...

and then at one point, I made a turn, straight into the wind and my mind just shut down. It flashed "You're Done" and then stopped working all together. I turned around and rode a short distance to where I could get some cover from the wind and called my mother to come pick me up.

I think if I'd thought about it. Pulled out my iPod. Talked to myself. I might not have stopped, I might have kept going. But that speculation is superfluous, because my mind said NO - and that was it.

The coldest I was all day was when I was trying to tell my parents where I was and how they could reach me.

And afterwards it all seemed like such a wasted opportunity. I wasn't really cold. My legs didn't hurt. I was generally following my plans for food/water intake. So why did my mind tell me to stop???

Part of it was that I'd done the math. I wasn't riding fast enough to make it to the check point in time. Once you took off the miles I'd spent getting lost, there was just no way I could make it all up at the speed I was going. And with the wind as it was, I knew I couldn't pick up the pace enough to make up the difference.

I'd done the math a few hours after I'd "un-lost" myself, and somewhere, deep in my consciousness my mind had been dwelling on that fact - and about half and hour after I'd made that realization I stopped. It was like four nuerons in the back of my mind were conspiring against me. I'd told myself that even if I knew I couldn't make it to a check point, I should continue as long as I could regardless. But those little radical nuerons staged a coop - and it was over in five seconds when my mind said NO - and I made the call and after that, it was too late.


Really - in one respect I'm distressed, because I know my body could have taken me farther. But then my mind is part of my body and it said No - so really, while there was more I could have done, I didn't do it, and therefore, in many respects I couldn't have done it. And that's that.

I see it as an opportunity lost. I had this great opportunity, I put so many different pieces to gether to get me out there and to that very spot at that very moment, and even though I know I couldn't have made it to the first check-point in time, and my race was going to end pre-maturely, the lost opportunity is that it ended even a hair sooner than it might of - and it was such a great little adventure that I really am sorry I didn't get more of it.

The route was really beautiful. What I saw of it. Even with the evil grey clouds, the wind and the slight bit of weird hail/snow precip - it was beautiful. And I can only imagine how enjoyable the rest of the course they put together might have been. I'm sad I didn't get to see any more of the little world they assembled for us.


I'm also sad that no woman finished. Not like I can say that - because if I didn't finish I can't blame any of the other women for doing what I did. But I really thought this year would be the year. I didn't really think it would be me, but I thought it would be someone... and there's melancholy in that.


I guess the question that looms in all the competitors' minds after they process through their race is - what about next year???

TransIowa v4 Trip - a few photos.

Note: I'm working with AOL Dial-Up at my parent's house... AOL hates me... photos will eventually be posted.

Snowball.

Why you should not work on bike stuff in your childhood room that's been redecorated with hand-embroidered doilies.

P.S. Tenacious Oil is about as hard to get out of linen as it is to get off your hands.

Long Hair.
Short Hair.
At the Race Start (note oddly positioned saddle).

Spruce Ridge Road.

Waiting to GoDo

I finished up a soak in the hot tube just a little while ago - PomPom is lookin' good - bags are packed - things are charged - last minute actions are noted - (the huge bag of carmel popcorn and package of frozen corn dogs my mother gave me when I arrived in Iowa are now fully consumed) - along with a whole apple pie, like five bananas, spagetti, chocolate chip cookies, tortilla chips, and a lot of other food, but not a single vegetable... I don't think I've stopped eating since I got here - my hair is totally frizzy from the humidity - the precious kitty-cats are still agraid of me - the cycle computer is set in alignment with my current tire pressure with the second setting programed for the most likely option if I were to change the pressure for conditions - I can't think of a single other thing to do right now...

I just need to wait an hour for my mom and dad to come back home and drive me up to Decorah.


We're looking at some wet and wild fun. 40% chance of rain, with lows in the 30's for Saturday night... can't beat that!!!

Edit: Flash Flood Warnings for the Decorah Area. Hail last night. Large puddle/lake formed in back yard...

Counting it down.

I'm in Des Moines - waiting for the airport to call and let me know my bag arrived on a later flight from Minneapolis. They should be calling in about half an hour.

Technically this is not a problem. As I told my mom when the conveyor belt stopped moving and my bag had yet to come out - the only absolutely irreplacable items are with me in my Carry-On... I'd just prefer to not have to replace my helmet, shoes, packs, and clothes in the next two days...

as I said to the other Grinnell grad I met on the flight to Des Moines (who's baggage was also not-present) as long as I have this stuff my noon on Friday, I don't really care. This garnered a scathing look from the woman in line in front of me, who wanted us all to breath fire at the poor (and helpful) desk woman taking care of finding the lost luggage.


In other news, a Hollywood acting-bear took a bit out of his trainer's neck, killing him, and The Netherlands is asking car makers to add hood-top airbags (or else, stop running over cyclists) but as we all know that won't happen, they think Outside Hood-top airbags will save lives.

And Guitar Ted continues his motivational pep-talk for all us Trans-Iowa v4 Roster Members!!! Everytime I read his comments I get more and more excited. There's that joke that if you're One In A Million, you're still just like 6,500 other people... well if G-Ted's predictions are accurate, I'm going to try my darndest to be One In Six-Hundred Million.

Seems like decent odds. Or maybe I should just buy a lottery ticket.

I thought.

This shouldn't have been an overly complicated packing experience... I thought my TSA compliance would be less complicated than normal - as I wasn't bringing a laptop. Until I started packing and realized there were a lot of other random things I was bringing that were potentially suspicious... that I had no idea how to handle...

I prefer to do all Carry-on, but I don't want to be without my knife, so I have to Check at least one bag.
I don't want to have a Checked bag, plus a big Carry-on, in addition to my purse, so that makes my Checked bag my primary bag - but I want to make sure that if something goes wrong with my Checked bag I still have all the Absolute Must Haves that couldn't easily be replaced in Des Moines, with me...

then - apparently you can take lighters in Carry-ons, but NOT Checked - so I put my first-aid kit into my Carry-on, till I realized there were other fire-starting mechanism in it that might not be allowed... and I'm not sure what they'll make of me bringing the large battery that goes with my headlamp in my Carry-on. Is a large battery suspicious??? They say batteries that are within other electronics are allowed, but does Attached qualify as "within"???


Seems odd when I have to put my make-up in my Checked and my lighter in my Carry-on... but whatever...

I just wish the TSA website covered more specific items.

I'm glad I shipped my bike ahead of time - at least I know it's safe and sound.

A bit of gardening...

With our scheduled departure of Arizona now set - this is my last spring for native flowers. It was time to plant some seeds that'd been holing up in the fridge...
so out to the garden I went.

This is my garden.

I usually kill most things I try to grow... we won't even bring up the Arizona Cypress tree D got me last year... aparently we shouldn't have left it out on the deck for a week while we were on vacation... not a good idea.

Anyway - the actual yard is growing all sorts of wild flowers - just like last year. Only hope they don't come "trim" the yard again, and kill them all with a weed-wacker!!! It was traumatic for me last year... one day we had a yard full of life - the next day it was all gone!!!

Quote of the Day.

"Remember - Any tool can be the Right tool."

- Red Green

I've decided -

I love Arizona. Particularly it's politics.

Nationally Arizona swings Republican but we have this burly Democratic woman - who's a consummate politician - as governor.

After The News Hour we have this show on PBS called Horizon (once a week it's Horizante with an Hispanic host) - where they talk about state politics. Today they're talking about the indictment of one of our members of the House (we don't do accusation, our members' transgressions are prosecutable), and a nasty verbal brawl between the Major of Phoenix and the County Sheriff - who, yesterday, told the Mayor to "Put up or shut up"... and once a week our Governor Janet comes on and talks about stuff, she's got a sense of humor - it's good times. D adds - Janet likes to joke about her Gubernatorial Condominium, as Arizona may be the only state without a Governor's Mansion.


But D also tells me not to worry - Montana will be to my liking. Apparently the other day the Governor of Montana was explaining his policy as regards national initiatives, to paraphrase "Eventually, when the fed tells us what to do but doesn't give us the money to do it, we just have to tell them to go to hell, and do what we want."

Yes - I think I will like that.

ByeBye PomPom!!!

Yesterday I took PomPom over to the Local Bike Shop to be boxed up and shipped to Iowa.
Above is the last known picture of her.
(Not yet in TIv4 - readiness State - but close)

So this really is the beginning of the end.

Food.

Before we went to Yoga tonight - I made some banana bread with a few unhappy looking specimens D managed to freeze over the weekend. Frozen bananas do not make good to eat.

Another Joy Of Cooking success story! However - when I'm home for TransIowa I'm picking up this old Fund-Raising Cookbook from the Catholic Grade School I attended. While my tumultuous relationship with my Principal started when I saw sent to her office for the first time in Second Grade - she's got a mean Banana Bread recipe (that I've further annotated) that is just waiting to be made again. If only it were here and not there. Something easily reconciled in the next two weeks - oh - look at those big chunks of banana and walnut!!!

On the way home from Yoga I didn't even have to say the name before D was convinced to stop by a certain, delicious, fast food establishment - the photo below is name "The Carnage" If you've never had a Double Double I suggest you never do - for the sake of your soul.

Quote of the Day.

Guess which half is mine - which is D's.

D - "I'm an expert at putting corn on pizza!"

Paranoia.

I just bookmarked NorthWest Airlines News Release webpage... the FAA is continuing audits through June 30th - which means Any Airline - at Any Moment - might be grounding planes and canceling flights (like American has been doing for the past several days).

Not to mention I'm flying through Minneapolis - and they're currently rerouting flights through Minneapolis due to a storm today and tomorrow... but maybe this means with a storm already happening - their won't be another one in two weeks???

Yes???

Okady - so. I swear - I'm calm - I just like to think about all potentialities. The good and the bad. Presumably this just means I'll be more prepared for either.



Now if I could just find the main valve on my nose and get it turned off... if this keeps up I'm going to have one of these specially made with a slit right on top and fill it with tissues.

Midnight Sneak Attack...

I used to work at a deli/wine shop in Iowa - that offered excellent Kosher-produced corned beef and pastrami. They also got this beyond delicious Challah Bread from a local bakery - that ended up re-locating and re-focusing on sandwiches instead of bread. They stopped making their Challah and broke my heart. It's hard to find good Challah.

Low and behold - right after we land here in Arizona, I ran across this Great looking Challah bread in a grocery store!!! A grocery store of all places... made by Chompie's Bakery - Down South in The Arid Wasteland and their bread (and bagels) are delivered to all the major grocery stores here in town. Except - not their Challah bread - I've only been able to find their Challah at that one grocery store, which isn't the one we normally go to. I used to stop by, every once in awhile, to see if I could land a Challah and never did manage to after the first two.

More recently we discovered they were also one of the few stores in town to carry another of Chompie's best breads - their MultiGrain. I also recently discovered this wonderful grocery store is open till Midnight!!! Which is important - cause that's when I do my shopping...

last week - on my way home from the gym, after work, at 11:30 pm I thought I might stop by to pick up some MultiGrain. The place was deserted of customers and full of their stocking folks putting out new deliveries for the next day - and I found several loaves of Raisin Challah hidden in the stacks of Chompie's bread. While I don't like raisins, I still bought a loaf.

Last night - I thought maybe there was something special to the whole, going at nighttime thing. As I'd previously tried early in the morning, mid-day, late afternoon - and never managed to see a Challah, and then I'd gone at night and found the Raisin!!! So I stopped again on my way home and what was sitting their but two golden loaves of my lovely Challah bread.

I bought them both.

It's the best Challah bread I've had since The Heart of the Prairie Bakery on E.P. True Parkway in West Des Moines, Iowa closed it's doors (if the owners are still out there - I want your Challah recipe!!!)... of course, with the exception of the Challah roll I got at a little corner bakery in Manhattan when visiting my sissy over a year ago... and then - it was only equal to Chompie's, not better, and not better than Heart of the Prairie's either...

Killing, like, 8 birds with 1 stone.

How do you save the rainforest -
Help stop the spread of AIDS -
Revitalize a rural economy -
Reduce dependence on foreign imports -
And prove that creativity does not have to die within the bureaucracy of governments???


Think like Brazil.


Classic.

Yeah - Peaches is still here.

I was thinking maybe I should post something about the titular subject of this blog. And what a good time to do so - as my phone and fax calls to Georgia in just the first two days of this week have increased about 10 fold over the last two months...

go figure - that means stuff is actually getting done...

So here's the line up -

Frank had SL
Bank Repossessed SL
Small used car dealer got SL
Tim bought SL
Repair Shop got SL
I bought SL

Going backward, I got my bill of sale notarized from the Repair Shop. Contacted Tim - who sent me a notarized bill of sale from himself to the Repair Shop. Couldn't find any information, at all, about the Small used car dealer, or the individual who signed for the car on behalf of the used car dealer - so I skipped that step - and, six months after first contact, the bank finally faxed me a copy of the Affidavit of Repossession (and are sending me an official copy in the mail).

I was hoping the paperwork from the bank would have an address for the car dealership (as the one scribbled on the back of the title I have is not entirely legible). Tim lived in a different town as the Dealership and didn't know anything about getting a hold of them.

However - I decided to take a small leap. There was a towing company located in the same town that was owned by someone with the same last name on the person who owned the car dealership... well - when a car gets repossessed, someone has to get it right??? And the car dealership picked up the car on the 15th of April, 2005 and handed it over to someone else on the 16th of April - so it seemed like maybe they were just a mediary - and a towing company seemed like a pretty good candidate for that. Plus - it's a small town in Georgia - they share the same name - if they weren't directly involved they might be able to tell me who I could contact.

The call was placed.

Turns out the gentleman who's name is on the back of my car title passed away in 2005 - which is why I couldn't find any contact information on him or his business.

The way I know this is because I talked to one of his grandsons who owns the towing company - and has offered to do a little research and get back to me with what he can find!!!

So I felt bad - bringing up his granddad and making him go dig through his papers - but he offered and there's no other way to get this resolved. It took me a minute to reassure him that there wasn't some big problem or legal issue - the car title wasn't actually in his grandfather's name and they had no liability or responsibility, legally... just that the person who got the car from the dealership never retitled the car when they should have and this is all a big formality.

But - this is the one last step - and the young man sounded resigned but determined to get it all straightened out.


With the exception of the bank - everyone else in Georgia has been wonderfully helpful - if not always expedient :)

Selma Lee's excited she might get to leave the driveway sometime soon - but I told her not to jinx us - so she's holding her hope till I hear back from The Grandson.

Quote of the Day.

D - Take your bland food and get out of my kitchen!!!

It's a duel.

Our Stuffed Bison - Felipe - has announced his intent to challenge TRFKAChad to a Hair-Off.

While I'm not entirely familiar with the exact procedures involved in this highly stylized and ritualistic method of combat - I can guarantee that if TRFKAChad has enough volume to accept - it will be hilarious.

Quote of the Day.

D - "The Tofu runneth over."

Quotes of the Day.

"Does everyone here go to the gym???"


- Man at bar, after just hearing the owner (60-ish) talking to the bartender (45?) about a new workout class she's going to, and then when I came in, having the hostess (17) ask me about my training... and the answer is - YES - pretty much everyone I work with has a membership at the local Y -

including one of our pizza cooks (and his four month old daughter, who has an ID with her photo on it too!!! A photo of a baby on a gym ID!!! It's too cute to express).



Second Quote -

"I think someone over there is calling for you"

-Customer, as he pointed toward the other end of the room, insinuating that I should immediately leave the table, after I made a somewhat inappropriate, though appropriately vague joke to his wife - who was pretty much on the floor laughing.


I'm sure from reading all my quotes - anyone would get the impression that I was really, maybe, a horrible server - but I swear, I have a sense for this sort of thing, and I only go too far with the tables that can handle it...

Tastier than an Olive Branch.

While I'm sure it was partially selected because he knew I would like the flavor - I'd rather take D's bringing me home a pint of Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream ice cream as a political peace offering.

It all goes back to when Stephen Colbert tried to enter both the Democratic and Republican primaries in South Carolina. Now - I've only seen his show, maybe half a dozen times, but let's be honest - that move was just beautiful.

D's idea was that it fell more on the Stupid side of the spectrum... somewhere just shy of mocking our fine democratic process... something like that. There was not a small bit of contention in our house.

Well obviously I was heartbroken when South Carolina's Democratic Committee refused to put him on the ballot - even after he paid his $2,000-some dollars... and the Republicans wanted like $25,000 to add him... so his attempt at losing both primaries went down the tubes pretty quick...

but D still got me his ice cream :) So all must be forgiven.

Now what kind of Flavor does Stephen Colbert put his name to??? To quote the package -

Sweeter than the Bill of Rights, colder than Valley Forge & with twice as much caramel as the Louisiana Purchase. Please enjoy... or go On Notice!