A New Year

Goodbye 2012 and hello 2013! It's been a great year for me with my cycling and running. I think going forward I need to blog about both of these activities that I have grown to love.

I cycled 1860 miles and ran over 370 miles. I did my very first duathlon, got a new bicycle (pink and black - my favorite colors), completed 5 half marathons and became an official "Half Fanatic". A busy year indeed!

Time to set a few goals for the new year: I definitely need to blog more! I got so busy with everything else that my blogging was put on the back burner. I'm going to do my first (last and only) full marathon at the Little Rock Marathon in March. I want to do some more duathlons and I want to do my first triathlon if I can conquer my fear of being under the water.

I would also like to devote some of my blog topics to great ideas, things I've learned that might be helpful to others, neat places to bike or run and products that I love.

I'm looking forward to new challenges, meeting new friends and seeing my friends that I ride and run with. I hope to inspire many and at the same time, draw strength and inspiration from others.

~~To win without risk is to triumph without glory.
     Pierre Corneille

Carti Training Rides

The training rides are almost as famous as the actual Tour de Rock that it prepares you for.

This year I think they started a little later and didn't have as many as they did last year. I only managed to make 3 of them since I had other things on my calendar to do.

We always start on the NLR side of the river and head east with a different route every week. The mileage increases a little each time we ride. Most of the time I met up with Christy and Bob, but this year Bob has been in the front of the pack with some goals of his own. I usually get to ride with Christy and we catch up on things.

Saturday, May 26 was the last training ride for this year. The Tour de Rock happens in 2 weeks and will hopefully be my second century ride of 2012! Since Christy wasn't going to do the long route on this day, I decided I'd do it and see how fast I could do it. I did my 65 miles in around 4 hours which is fantastic time for me! I struggled the last 10 miles due to knee pain which cut down on my average pace some. Not sure what was going on with my knee, but I hope it doesn't happen again.

I'm excited about TDR. When I did this ride last year, it was my very first century ride! I'm sure we'll have to deal with wind, but I hope the weather is sunny! I just hope there's no rain on that day. The route has been changed up a little, and this year you have to be at certain destinations by certain times in order to be allowed to do the century. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I don't have any kind of bike or health issues that interfere with my plans!

Tour de Hoot

Saturday, May 19, I traveled to McGehee for this ride. This was my first "Hoot" ride and was going to be my first century ride of the year. The course if flat, except for the bridge crossing the river, and takes you to the Arkansas Post where you turn around and head back.

It was a beautiful warm, and sunny day with great rest stops! At Arkansas City, they had fresh melons by an old courthouse along with wonderful homemade cookies!

I rode with Brad and Susan from our ABC group, rode on "Joe and Ruth's Train" for a little while, and met Paul from Fort Smith who decided to do the century with us.

This was delta land, which I'm very accustomed to cycling on, it seemed like home with all the crops growing and the back roads. We encountered some fierce headwinds after the Arkansas Post while heading back in. Brad had some asthma issues and couldn't finish the last 20 miles, but Paul and I managed to make it! My first century of the year and his first ever century are now history!

This was a fun ride and I look forward to doing it again next year. It raises money for the local Boys and Girls Club which is a great cause. So many small, rural towns don't have organizations like this for our youth so I was glad to be a part of it and help in a small way.

ABC Baseball Ride

This is probably one of my favorite group rides! We met at Cooks Landing and rode our bikes downtown heading to Dickey Stephens Park for an Arkansas Travelers game.

I invited Jennifer and Tracy from work to go with me to give them a little taste of what I do when I go to different places and ride with other people. On May 14, we did just that!

We arrived at the stadium and had dinner there at one of the restaurants on site and I had my first ever fish taco. The service could have been better but the food was pretty good!

The ride back in the dark is always a little freaky since I feel like I never have enough light! We made it back safely and I think Jennifer and Tracy had a great time! Hopefully I can talk them into more rides!

Friday, May 18 was "Bike to Work" day and the three of us traveled to work on our bikes. We met up, did the ride, had our picture taken by the local newspaper and went to work. (Although we would have much rather taken the day off and just rode around!) After work, we got on our bikes and made our way back.

I bike to work often (40 + mile round trip) and enjoy doing it. I would love to see more people get out and do the same thing...they just don't know what they're missing :)

65 Roses Tour

The day, Saturday April 21. The place, Searcy Arkansas. The weather, COLD, WINDY and CLOUDY!! You expect it to be a little cool in April, but I was dressed for cold weather riding. I had on layers and my leg and arm warmers. Brrrrr!

The ride had great support, good rest stops and lots of friendly folks. This was my first climb up Joy Mountain and I have the t-shirt to prove it! This ride was very hilly! I wasn't really expecting that. You had the hills to contend with as well as heavy traffic on most of the highways involved. And when I say traffic, not only am I talking about regular vehicles, but heavy equipment as well since this area has been drilling for natural gas.

The last several miles, we had some strong head winds and I ended up riding with Jim, Susan and Janice. That really helped since I was starting to get tired from all the hills. There were some great chicken salad wraps after the ride and I visited with Ruth and Joe before going home.

I didn't do this ride last year because it was raining. This year the date was moved up and seemed to work out better. Hopefully next year when this ride comes around we'll have nice sunny and warm conditions. Overall, a great ride for a great cause!

Warmer weather means more riding...

March gave us an early taste of spring with some warm and sunny days. When I'm not running I can usually be found on my bike. It seems that I'm not on my bike as much as I was last year because the running has become something I love too, but in a different way.

I met up with Monica (also a member of ABC) for a ride on the River Trail on Sunday, March 25. This was our first time riding together and she is a really nice person and I had fun. We rode about 32 miles and the weather was sunny and warm. You couldn't have asked for a nicer day! There had been quite a bit of rain several days before which led to some of the trails on the NLR side being closed but we managed to get around it and still do our ride.

Tuesday the 27th, I came home from work and decided that I needed to go for a ride, so I rode 21 miles (did the loop from home to Holly Grove). Another nice, warm day. It's really unusual to get such warm temps in March. I think it went down on the record books as being one of the warmest in history!

The last weekend in March gave me the chance to run my 2nd half marathon. I traveled to Bentonville to do this and met up with a new running buddy Laura. On the way back home I stopped in Russellville so I could ride the Bona Dea Trail with Drake. It was less than 5 miles long but was a really shady ride and I got to see some beautifull cliffs. This was the first time for me to get on the MTB for this year. I hope to go back that way some time and try out some other trails if I'm brave enough!

The Carti training rides started up on April 7 and I had every intention of making the first one, but it just didn't pan out that way. I had my car loaded and everything packed but when the alarm went off and I had a headache and saw that the temperature was 46, I decided I'd have to start next weekend! It's probably a good thing I didn't go because when I took everything out of my car and put it up, I noticed my shoes were still in the closet! I can't ride with my shoes!! Oh well, sometimes things work out the way they need to ;-)

To make up for missing the training ride, I rode to Brinkley, to Holly Grove and then back home for almost 48 miles. Not as fun as doing the training ride with everyone, but riding is riding regardless of where you do it. It ended up being about 70 degrees, sunny and slightly windy. The wind was coming out of the east when I left and then on the way home it had changed to the north...right in my face! The last few miles felt pretty tough and I was starting to get leg cramps.

My plan for next Saturday (if the weather is good) is to do the Carti training ride and then on April 21, I will do the 65 Roses Tour in Searcy and hopefully make it up Joy Mt.!! What a "joy" that will be if I can do it!

January Ride

I was able to enjoy a Monday ride on the River Trail at the end of January. I had scheduled a Dr.'s appointment for that morning with the intention of using the rest of the day for riding. I'm glad it turned out to be a pretty good day weather wise. It was windy, started out sunny but then turned cloudy. The temps were around 60 but it felt cooler than that.

There weren't many people out which was nice. I rode from Burns Park, across the Big Dam Bridge, up River Mountain Road, then across Two Rivers Bridge into Two Rivers Park, turned around and headed back towards downtown Little Rock, went across Clinton Presidential Park Bridge, back towards Burns Park where I took a detour to climb Ft. Roots, headed back to my starting point where I then decided to ride the trails around the soccer fields to get more miles in. I rode a total of 31 miles and it felt great!

After dressing a little warmer, I drove to the Argenta Market for one of my favorite panini's, made a quick stop at Wal-Mart then back home. I'm really glad I took a day for myself to enjoy on the bike. Great way to spend a Monday!!