New developments

Okay, I haven't blogged in several months. I am going to repent.

I have been working as Santa's helper at the mall for the past 5 weeks, and it has been an amazing experience. Santa this year is so sweet and caring. I greet the people, photograph them, run the register (and upsell packages), and even was made assistant manager in the third week. It should take care of Christmas for us, at least.

I also will be heading back to school in photography (getting my bachelor's) in January. I will get my Associates at SLCC first and then transfer to Weber in Ogden. This will probably take about 5 years to complete, especially if all goes the way we are planning. I am going to be starting a business - I believe - where I go to events and do the candid photos. The people who are normally NOT in photos then can be AT (and enjoying) the party/reunion/etc. I can do this during my "off" time, since usually people plan events in the evenings or on weekends so all can attend. This should supplement our income to the point that I would be able to finish school if I have planned appropriately.

Things are good. I don't like the snow, but there are certainly worse things. We may be headed up to Boise for New Year's weekend, as Chuck has acquired a piano and we may head up to pick it up. It will need tuning, but he says it works otherwise. Don't make any plans around us yet, though. We aren't definite.

PLEASE WATCH FOR ME!!!

And anybody else on a bike.

Today I got to make a split-second decision to lay my bike down (and me in the process) as opposed to being hit by a lady on a cell phone who wasn't paying attention to the bike lane, or really, traffic at all. My legs are dirty and a few small scratches, as I was going uphill and quite slowly. Certainly it could have been much, much worse. I am fine, the bike is fine (the seat has a little gouge in it), and the lady I suspect will be much more careful in the future, as she was pretty shaken up.

I (and most cyclists that I know) am watching for you when you are driving every minute that I am on my bike, but there is really only so much I can do to avoid you. PLEASE watch for me. If you are talking on your cell phone, PLEASE know that you will HAVE to be even MORE on alert and noticing where I am.

Overall still a great ride, and I am getting faster and more confident. I normally would have turned around and gone home after an incident like this, but had about a mile to go up the hill, so did that and THEN turned around and went home. I'm not afraid of being hit, I just really REALLY don't WANT to get hit.

let's try it again

Tried a couple of times to blog, but nothing saved - let's try it again.

Today I rode just over 11 miles. It wasn't too bad considering. My legs are tired and I am still a touch overweight to manage the uphills effectively, but as time goes on I know that will pass.

I have been manipulating the planned route for my ride, too - it's going to go through Salt Lake instead of through New Mexico & the tip of Texas. That way I can ride past Primary Children's Hospital and on through the canyon. It added a day of riding, but I think seeing people I know partway through will be a good shot in the arm for when I ride. I had a mini-fantasy this morning while riding that there was somebody about every half mile cheering me on & from about Lehi to the hospital, and that was fun. Not that I expect or anticipate it, but it would sure be a trip!

Anyway, the riding is getting more comfortable as I spend more time on the bike. I plan to get up earlier so I can be out riding before it gets hot in the future weeks & months. I can go much further if I'm not overheated.

This morning's ride

Drove the bike down the hill to Randy's office and rode it for 6 miles on flat. I gathered a little bit of confidence with how the bike will handle with a little bit of speed and practiced manipulating the pedals with the clips attached. There was about a mile where I ONLY pulled instead of pushing on the pedals, which is retraining my feet and my mind that it's not going to lift the feet off the pedals to "pull" on them, and truly, pulling is so much easier than pushing. I am able to get pretty good speed when I pull only - now when I am actively pushing AND pulling, it's going to be amazing, because it will work the quads and the hamstrings equally instead of mostly just the quads.

Tomorrow I am thinking ride the bike down the hill to the office & have Randy meet me at the bottom. I can get 10 miles in on a mostly downhill stretch and not have to worry about the clips so much if I do it that way - the way I would go has a really good bike lane & few cars, so I wouldn't be so nervous about the ramifications if I WERE to slip on gravel or other hazards. There is a lot of construction around our house, so that makes me VERY nervous with my razor-thin tires. I'm afraid I got much too used to the wide tires of a mountain bike/hybrid.

Will write again tomorrow!

Resting a couple of days

So I took a break yesterday and this morning... I will go riding again tomorrow morning. My wrist is healing from the allergic reaction I had with a bracelet I bought in Fiji on my layover, and when I wear the gloves to ride it makes it really tender, so I am focusing on healing that first instead of making it worse.

As well while I am taking the bike break I am making "Secret Sister Pockets" for Rachel's Girl's Camp. They are really cute. My new embroidery machine does a fantastic job, and I fortunately only have to clamp the hoop to the machine, press the button, change the names, clip the strings & iron them for each one to be ready to sew the side seams (I may have Rachel do that) and they are done. She'll be really proud that she brought them. I have long wanted an embroidery machine, and now that I have it working, it is totally amazing! Thanks, Randy!

Short ride

I'm getting used to the bike. It was a short ride today, as planned, but only got off for the standing water & super-gravelled construction areas. I still fear those, as I don't really know how the bike is going to react to unstable ground and the slower speeds I am currently riding combination. As I get more confidence with the clips and speed I am certain the bike will teach me how it is going to work for these conditions. Currently more important: I am getting into the habit of blogging my ride, good or bad. I feel like getting into that habit will be a good thing - partly so that others can see what I am doing, if they want to, but also so that I can see how far I've come.

Better today

So I went 2.5 miles today. An auspicious start to a LOT of training, but anything is better than nothing. I was so focused on the clips & pedals & not dying that I thought I was in the easiest gear trying to go back up the mountain to home that I thought I was more out of shape than I actually am. So I had Randy come get me because the riding uphill with clips was freaking me out. I'll have to relearn both confidence & stamina along with the clips & pedals - but I suspect this will come relatively quickly. I'll keep blogging so anyone interested can stay posted.

Fail

Okay, day 2 on the bike was not what I had hoped/anticipated. The clips are going to take some serious getting used to. I had clipped in on the right side and was working on the left and forgot to pedal (the great thing about clips is you can push AND pull to pedal, making it possible to keep the bike moving while you find the other clip) and the bike stopped and I toppled over because I couldn't get unclipped on the right fast enough to catch myself. I got back up, straightened the brake, and clipped back in on the left (it seems that the right is easier to find, so why not start with the left clipped in first???) and jumped up on the seat, which I hadn't noticed was at a 30 degree angle or so as well. So that wouldn't do. I tried to pound it back into place, but it wouldn't budge. So then I went back to the house to try to adjust it with an alan wrench, but the sole alan wrench in our toolbox was way too big, so I can't adjust the seat until I buy tools. I had planned on a short ride, but that was a touch shorter than I had anticipated - I only made 44 meters. Tomorrow will be better. I'll take a picture of first blood, too - but not the bruise I'll have on my hip in the morning - some things will have to be left to the imagination.

New Beginning

Okay, so I got my new road bike yesterday. For anyone who doesn't know yet, my goal is to ride across the USA (Maine to CA) next year and then from Sicily to Milan in 2012 or 2013. Anyway, I got my new bike and I tested out the clip shoes/pedals this morning. They were a little weird at first, but I am anticipating having a quick adjustment and soon not being able to ride without them. The shoes feel tight at first, but they will break in quickly with the amount I will be riding for training.

I also worked out the training mileage and it should be doable. (increasing not more than 10% per week each week until I'm up to 600 miles per week) It's a lot of time on a bike, but what a goal, right???

Hope all is well with everyone, and y'all are happy. Oh, got a Wireless Bluetooth headset as well so that I can be listening to the Ipod/Iphone while I am riding & able to get calls.

Finished Eclipse

I am not sure which I like better - the waterfall or the eclipse, but so far I love them both!!!

waterfall revisted

This is the finished waterfall. I am hoping Pete likes it (friend from work) - I believe he will, but one can never be sure!!!

sunrise/sunset photo

This one I did at the request for a sunset - the phrase is adapted from a Debussy quote...

one more

This one is for a friend's newly opened tea shop. It's a Tryptic set.

another painting

This one will be an eclipse, but the black has to dry before I can put the solar flares on the outside edge.

new paintings

I've been doing paintings for some of my friends here, & thought I would post a few of them. Some of them are still in progress... This one will be a waterfall.