Alicia Cycling MN

What a Week!

2010-07-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

There are too many things to say to fit them all into a post, and i probably won't remember everything.

The whole week was wonderful, the support volunteers make it all possible. Without them, and the Habitat for Humanity Minnesota Staff, this ride wouldn't exist. I've never met so many caring, wonderful people all in one place- it really is like being part of a family- with the cheesy quirks, weird personalities, and that uncle you think takes himself waaaay to seriously.

I helped out at the house pictured above. It was a slab of concrete when we started on Thursday morning, and by the time I was done at 12, the walls were up, by the end of the day, all the trusses- and all the interior walls were built. It was so cool!

There was a lot of Minnesota food: hotdish, hamburger lasagna, TONS of eggs. More eggs than I thought I would ever consume.

There was also a surprising and awesome taco bar in Cloquet donated by the Zion Lutheran Church, and every meal we had in Hibbing was EXCELLENT.

We even had a talent show. It was hilarious. Abe Lincoln was there- obviously. One of the other VISTAs, Sarah Botzek, did a really moving rendition of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" by Bob Dylan. It was wonderful.

The riding itself has left an odd effect on my body- the butt bruises have healed, but the "structure"tailbone region is still sore.

Thanks to Debbie Endres for donating an HOUR LONG massage to me after the ride, a lot less sore. It made such a huge difference. Her massage was so relaxing and wonderful- i had no idea my back was that sore until she worked out the tension.

So, to conclude this entry:

Thank you SOOO much to those who have donated. My ending donation was about $1100, and the 135 bikers that took part in the ride raised $260,000. What an absolutely staggering number!

I'm so proud to have been a part of the 2010 Habitat 500.

It's Here!!!!

2010-07-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

Wow! All of a sudden the ride is in 2 1/2 days!!! I'm really excited to meet everybody!

Right now I'm nervous about:

How much my butt is going to hurt

Fixing my break and gear cables

making sure I have everything packed

And My Biggest Fear:

Being Unbalanced, And Running Into Another Biker, Causing An Accident!

I'm super swervey on my street bike! Partly because of where the gears are placed, and partly because my balance could use improvement.

The Biking:

50 miles on day one (Sandstone to Isle)

72 miles on day two (Isle to McGregor)

73 miles on day three (McGregor to Grand Rapids)

78 miles on day four (Grand Rapids to Hibbing)

Day Five: Helping with the bike.home in Hibbing

83 miles on day six (Hibbing to Cloquet)

53 miles on day seven (Cloquet to Sandstone)

So Yay!

I'm not going to have internet during the actual ride, so i will update after!

Fundraising Goal Now Met!!!

2010-06-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

As of today, my fundraising goal has been surpassed!

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far! The raise is still almost a month away, this means that MORE than $900 will be going to Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity- and boy, are there a lot of families in need.

I'm getting excited/nervous for the ride, it's going to be tough, but it's also going to be an incredibly memorable wonderful experience, from everything I've been told. :)

65% Raised!

2010-06-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

I've been looking into alternatives for FirstGiving because of the high percentage they take out of each donation. (7.5%!!!)

They are a good organization and all, but that's a bit much, in my opinion.

I've found my new donation site! GiveMN.org is AWESOME. They DON'T TAKE a percentage AT ALL. The link is to the right, under my picture- "Give to my cause!!!"

Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity is all set up now, and I've created a profile for donations on the site.

I thoroughly appreciate everyone who's given so far- and don't worry- if you donated on FirstGiving, it's ok! Only $5.25 in total was taken in administrative fees.

Just wanted to give everyone an FYI. Also- short training ride on the Cuyuna Trail this weekend, then off to VISTA camp. :)

Spring Gives Way to Summer

2010-06-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

Summer came really fast this year, did we have a spring? Just saying.

Something that I've noticed about using my bicycle as my summertime transportation vehicle is the amount of grievances I've come to have with Brainerd/Crow Wing County.

I don't like to think of myself as a Negative Nancy, but I guess it's just more noticeable when I'm closer to the ground.

1. There are no bike lanes. Anywhere.

2. There is no safe way to cross Hwy 371, College Drive to the Wal-mart/JCPenny area being the safest.

3. The streets are in incredible disrepair in all the residential districts.

4. I'm assuming that the city is assuming (got that?) that one only uses bicycles for pleasure.

5. The amount of times I've almost gotten hit while downtown Brainerd. This is by vehicles turning into crosswalks.

Guess why I haven't? Paying attention to every car at every intersection and crosswalk. I would be flat on the pavement otherwise.

6. How few usable sidewalks there are in NE Brainerd.

7. The lack of usable, wide shoulders on 90% of county roads.

Good things about biking in Brainerd:

1. The Paul Bunyan Trail.

2. On some county roads, there are signs that have a bicycle and say "Share the Road"

example: HWY 16, Pequot Lakes

3. The general air quality.

4. The growing number of transportational bikers, despite the above complaints.

Feel free to add your own comments to the lists!!!

Just Realized How Lazy I've Been About Posting.

2010-04-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I went running at French Rapids with 2 of my workout buddies. It was beautiful, AND I DIDN'T GET ANY TICKS! YAY!

I went on a bike ride with another VISTA on Sunday, it was super fun. Sarah is the best on-bike picture taker I know. It was really windy though, and because of the way the Soo Line Trail is situated- some gravel, some paved- we had to ride the trip BACK in the wind. It was fun, and good training. I saw my first Gold Finch of the season! And a cat eating something dead, and a very large cottontail rabbit. And lots of cows.

It's interesting when you work out hard as fast as possible, it's a different kind of sore than when you do longer trips at a lower intensity level. The muscles in my joints are sore and stiff. Hrm. Lots of stretching.

-Also-

It's so wonderful to have consistently nice weather!

Last Week+Duluth

2010-04-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

You might not think that scenic painting is exercise, but you'd be wrong.

I was helping out Eric Gustafson at the UMD Theater: I was a scenic painter & carpenter there through work study all 4 years in college.

It might not actually make you lose any weight (mostly because of the donuts littering the Scene Shop as a way to lure in potential free labor) but it is exercise:

Standing on Concrete= ALWAYS exercise + Furiously slapping 2 colors of wet paint together= kind of exercise + 42 FOOT by (about) 42 FOOT giant flat= Yes. Exercise.

Flat= a FLAT piece of scenery that is usually a fake wall or the like. This case: a Giant Picture Frame.

Who knew how to paint a giant picture frame? Me. Well, not actually. I screwed up the shadowing. But I did make sure they used the right painting process.

On that note, I have now been christened "The Paint Alchemist." I turned brown, green, and yellow into gold. It was fun.

Enough about the theater.

This is totally lame: I was too nervous to go to Tai Chi at the Copper Top Church (in Duluth) on Sunday! I'm so silly!

Reason #1: I'm uncoordinated.

Reason #2: All of my boyfriend's friends are there. And they are boys.

Reason #3: I don't take directions well, as said boyfriend pointed out. :)

Reason #4: I'm uncoordinated.

I'm going next time. There. It's on the internet: now I have to. I will report back after May 2nd.

P.S. I wish it wasn't cold and rainy, because i want to go for a run today. I will go to Anytime Fitness, but my spring fever is kicking in hardcore. But not hardcore enough to run in the rain.

Easter Weekend

2010-04-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

Busy Week/end for Easter:

First, we did all kinds of yard work last week! Raked off the flowerbeds and the horseradish and rhubarb.

Then the great battle! Me and the 4 square foot compost pile.

Have you ever tried to turn over a pile of dirt, from the peak down?

It was essentially a draw-i hacked out the tree roots, yes, but my back was killing me for about 4 days before i worked out the kink/misused muscles.

My mom had Easter dinner at her house which is about 1000 square feet... with 13 people. It actually wasn't bad, because it was so beautiful outside! We were outside for most of the afternoon. We put out a chair for Grandma B- she's 96- and she was one of the Bocce Ball judges. My 9 year old niece kicked everyone's butt at least once, Tony finally knocked her from glory.

So, the relevance to training here: Well there was giant dirt/rotten vegetable pile of doom... But also: Eating. I've realized recently that it is automatic for me to overeat- like many people- and with this holiday, I realized that i TRY everything without overeating! Just take a half a scoop instead of a heaping one. I don't feel guilty about eating, and I don't feel like i'm missing out!

Speaking of food, I discovered a really cool blog today, and even if you aren't a Mommy (including myself) there are some really great tips here!

Sneaky Mommy Secrets

Holy. Crap.

2010-03-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap. I went for my first run since 9th grade yesterday. Here I was like "Yeah! I've been working out at the gym, i'm in pretty good shape, I can go jogging..." HA.

I did it, it sucked, and I loved it anyway!

It was absolutely beautiful yesterday afternoon, I know this is really weird, but I love going to the cemetery that's a block away from my house. It's quiet and green and beautiful. I don't think cemeteries are depressing. It seems to me that each headstone is the last monument to a person's life. Even breathless and hating myself for how much my feet hurt and with a side ache, I still feel surrounded by other people's lives; not their deaths.

My cousin went running with me and we passed a couple that was buried next to each other. She had outlived him by 30 years. Can you imagine spending most of your life with someone, and all of a sudden they are gone, forever? All you have left is their memory, and maybe the occasional whisper of their presence in something of theirs, or something you did together. 30 years. That's more years than I've been alive. All this while on a dirt path watching out for sticks and rocks and potholes.

I think i'll have to go jogging their again, it gets my head out of my body, even just for a few minutes.

2010-03-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

After years of the college grind i.e. that spending 18 hours a day for 2 years in a ceramics studio, eating school sanctioned junk food from the food court, resulting in gaining 50 pounds- I've remembered how much I love cycling, and how much i want to get my body in shape!

I started training in February of this year, and have been going to Anytime Fitness in Brainerd, MN about 3-4 times a week.

Obviously, now that I've decided to do the Habitat 500 in July, I will have to step it up a notch!

Now that the snow is gone, i am ready to hit the trails! I'll be updating weekly with a summary of my activities in the past week, with photos- hopefully of beautiful green spring things, and not just the inside of the gym, though tastefully decorated, it certainly is.

To donate toward Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity, for the Habitat 500, visit my firstgiving page!