Is this thing on?

Nothing much going on here.
John went to Sea Otter to hang out and just ride. He's all tan. I'm so jealous.
I've gotten a few rides in here and there. Nothing worth writing about.
The weather has been great which helps if you're allergic to the trainer. Even this weekend turned out to be decent when the weather peeps predicted rain all weekend.
Friday night I played running bases with the neighbor kids. All while throwing I thought, "damn, my arm is gonna kill tomorrow". It didn't. But today, OMG. I wanted to saw it off.
Saturday it poured in the morning. I looked at the weather (not that I trust it) and saw a window from about noon to 3pm. So I headed out.
I only rode for two hours on Saturday; but still, I think my body went into shock.
Later that night I had blind spots in my vision not to mention a gnarly headache. And everything hurt. Dehydration me thinks. Not sure why, I did ride in a thunderstorm with some pretty heavy rain. I passed out on the couch around 9pm or so.
I even slept in this morning til after 8am. w00t!
Fort Custer is this weekend. Don't think I'll make it. Total bummer, but whatever.
Perhaps it's for the best; I'm in no shape anyway. Although that's never stopped me before...
And House is on tomorrow, so I'm in super fangirl mode. Three more left and my Monday nights will be free again. Kind of bittersweet.

Kettle

I ended up going to Kettle yesterday. So glad I did.
I met up with Amelia and Renee.
It takes me about 2 hours to get there and they wanted to ride at 11 or so. It was nice not to rush or have any obligations to get back to.
Anyway, figuring out what to wear turned out to be the biggest decision of the day. Getting out of the car at the trail head was fucking brrrr.
Of course I was overdressed (even after taking clothing off while still at the car).
OMG! I forgot how awesome mountain biking is! I mean, I remember it was awesome but forgot just how awesome. The road riding must've dulled my memory.
I was a little timid in the corners, but first ride and all not too bad.
We ran into a few peeps we knew. Chatted with Christine and Regina for a few.
I was really out of shape and hurting bad. However I had a blast. We rode out to Emma and back. Surprisingly I didn't bonk. I had some issues with my left hamstring (I think) that forced me off on 2 climbs but whatever, I don't even care.
When I came home I grabbed some advil and just hung out on the couch. Today I'm tired, but my bod and legs (except for my left hamstring) feel fine. I thought my legs would be dead tired.

white horizontal accessories

I showed my neglected road bike some much needed love today (well John mostly). I finally put the white stem on (and Red). Thanks to John (and Jesse) it was finished today.
I changed the bar too... I went to a 38 (which has always been what I've measured out for), so I'm looking forward to trying that out.
Check out this bad ass hallway pic... nice huh?

*doesn't the big ring look fucking huge!?

I can't decide if I like the grey perforated tape better that I had on before or the stitched tape on there now... I do like the feel of this tape however. And I dislike the Red finish on the brakes compared to the Force finish (with my bike anyway). Maybe I'll splurge on some Zero Gravity brakes. Or, maybe not.
I haven't decided if I like the Red on my bike yet. For a number of reasons... the aforementioned brake finish, the fact that before my bike was all 3k weave if it was made of carbon, now it's a mix. The Force finish almost kind of matched the 1090 cassette. The red chainrings don't match anything. I kinda liked the stealthiness of the Force. I may be picky to some, but it all adds up to the bike looking "clean". However, I will put performance over aesthetic anyday. The Red shifts WAY better. I almost LOL'd when I shifted it while riding. New Force may be coveted by me.
I also busted the mountain bike out of the corner. I decided I'm ditching Easter dinner and heading to Kettle after all. I'll deal with the fall out (my mom) later.
So anyway, I had to re-Stan's all my tires. Well the Bontragers were still holding air, but I'm sure it needed to be refreshed. The crossmarks on the other hand, those were losing air since Sheboygan.
The mtb will have no changes really. Looks the same as last year. Orange I9's or DT190 wheels?
I need a silver lower decal and some new medical tape on my bar ends and that bike'll be like new.

Rant-tastic day.

I've been on a rant all morning, for a couple of reasons.
My biggest rant, and this has been going on for like a week, is I can't take a day off next week. I've been with SRAM for 9 years and we've never had mandatory you better be at work days. I do next week. The week my husband has the whole week off and my kid is on spring break. I'm bitter. Pissed. I'm also bitter at the reasons we have to come in. It's going to suck (at least I'm planning on it sucking and it sounds like it's sucky, I however am hoping I'll be pleasantly suprised). Not to mention that we are down one guy in our department and no plans on hiring another person (when we actually before he left were hoping to hire a fourth). So work sucks (I have no business blogging right now, but whatever). I also never take vacation days. I actually lost vacation last year and this year because of this. My own fault I know. And just as I'm trying to rectify that I can't take it. AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I'll add that John doesn't get as much vacation time as me, so him taking a whole week and me not being able to get a day off while he's off sucks.
So then I hear Kettle is open... Sweet. I'm gonna go. But not so fast Not to offend anybody, but I'm not a religious person at all. I dislike Easter, mostly because I feel obligated to spend time with my family (whom I see practically every week, if not every day). And actually I don't even really feel obligated, guilty is more like it. My mom asked if I was going and I said I'm not sure. She about had a shit attack. And I'm sure my grandma, aunts and sis will too. As a kid I did enjoy Easter. We got candy, played with our cousins, etc. I don't want my kids to not have fun and my mom will probably bring them over.
I know I need to get over what my mom thinks. I do enjoy spending time with my family, I just have a dozen other things I'd rather do Sunday (but really just one- ride at Kettle). And again, it's not like I don't see them. Even if Kettle didn't work out, I'd probably do a long road ride and not have to worry about going over there. It is really BORING.
Right now I'm thinking on ditching dinner and heading out to Kettle on Sunday to ride. I'll spend time with my kids that morning giving them their candy and egg hunting (yes, I feel like a hypocrite).
Hopefully Sunday I'll be blogging I made it to Kettle, but I haven't even looked at the weather. Perhaps Mother Nature has other plans.
I could rant all day. I'm just in the mood. I'm surly today.

my deer homies

Hit the golf course path today (still pissed it's flooded). Those deer are so use to people I expected them to wave at me as I rode by. They didn't even flinch.
I ended up on the roads tonight with no light or flasher. I was only in the neighborhood and didn't plan on it, but still, what an idiot. Tonight I'll be putting those on. I was almost hit 3 times and doored once.

I'm deer paranoid

Rode the path last night. Ran into Beth. Haven't seen her in forever.
The deer were out to get me. They're evil.

for seriously

Do I win for lamest blog? I should. It's been a long time. What's sad is I really haven't done anything even remotely interesting. Well,okay, for this crowd I guess I have kinda- I changed the tape on my road bike, different color and everything. Very exciting stuff.
I've been sick for about a week now. I'm finally starting to feel like part of the living today, but still not 100%. Not well enough to ride outside, but maybe I'll give the (gasp) trainer a go.
It's less than a month til Ft. Custer. I want to go. Really want to go. But I know we won't be going. I still can't believe mountain bike racing will be starting soon. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm excited, but I've got that how-do-I-get-over-a-log-feeling again. It plagues me every March.