Gravel Grinding Mecca of the USA Our summer road trip took us through Emporia, Kansas, the gravel grinding mecca of the USA and home of UNBOUND. As they say, “When in Rome do as the Romans do,” so we pulled up the 2024 25-mile UNBOUND course, drove from our hotel to downtown Emporia, mounted […]
Birthday Miles, err Kilometers For the last several years on my birthday – probably since the onset of social media – I’ve been running or cycling miles equivalent to (or an abbreviated version of) the number of years old I’m turning. Last year after a particularly difficult 66-mile ride, I decided there would be nothing […]
Theodore Roosevelt National Park “I do not believe that any man can adequately appreciate the world of to-day unless he has some knowledge of…[and] some feeling for… the history of the world of the past.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in April 1947 to honor avid outdoorsman Teddy Roosevelt, our […]
From Meh to Great With the weather continuing to be gorgeous (I think we’re on day 39 of no rain, though), my husband and I took advantage of getting out on our bikes. After about a month of feeling somewhat meh about riding, it felt great to get back on two wheels again! As we […]
Waterfalls of a Different Sort It was a quick ride from our hotel parking lot to the Sioux Falls Greenway Trail, accomplished by maneuvering over the very short gravel segment connecting the two. Once on the paved trail, my husband and I made our way to Falls Park, the highlight of our ride. The […]
Yes, I Count Gardening as a Workout I spend a lot more time gardening in the fall and spring than I do the rest of the year, and yes, I count those hours as workouts. We have a lawn service that mows each week (my husband highly encouraged me to give up that favorite chore […]
Let’s Go See a Waterfall Our summer road trip took us to Minnesota to not only check another state off of list, but to visit friends who have a summer home in the Minneapolis suburbs. Occasionally, my friend Betsy and I ride together at home when she’s in town, so it just seemed natural […]
Busy Days of No Workouts I roll my eyes when my clients tell me that they don’t have time to work out, but after the last two weeks, I have a better understanding of what they’re telling me. I always thought they could get up earlier or workout after work, but now I realize that’s […]
History of the High Trestle Trail When I let my friend Kim know that my husband and I would be traveling through Iowa and would love to stop by for a visit, she and I both understood that a visit would indeed have to include a bike ride together. I let Kim do the […]
Fall in New England First, then Virginia We arrived home from our New England trip where we enjoyed spectacular fall colors to a mostly green northern Virginia. Leaves are starting to turn, but it will be another couple of weeks before we see full color here. As with the past two years, we’ve set ourselves […]
Enjoying Fall Foliage This October marks the third fall my husband and I have traveled to New England to enjoy the fall foliage. We love riding on Vermont’s gravel and the focus of this year’s trip was a bike event in Peru, Vermont. Cycling along the rural gravel roads as the leaves reach peak color […]
Bike Race Number 2: GRUSK (Gravel Ride Up Spruce Knob) With the blink of an eye, our much anticipated second bike race of the season was upon us. This adventure-cycling event is called GRUSK which is an acronym for Gravel Ride Up Spruce Knob, West Virginia’s highest point. What once was a race is […]
Depressing Weather We saw the sun last Saturday at the farm… It was bright and beautiful, shining from a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. By the time we got home from the farm, it was nighttime and rain had moved in. We woke up last Sunday to a cloudy day with a few […]
Working Out Around the Rain I got pretty lucky with the tropical storm passing through during the middle part of the week. Our area has been very dry this summer and we definitely need rain, but as tropical storms go, this one didn’t bring the typical amount of rain to our area. The heaviest of […]
Unwanted Ads I really don’t know what happened to my blog about two months ago when unwanted ads took over. I’d changed nothing, nothing that I was aware of anyway. I finally had time to dig deeper into what might be going on this week. I deactivated two plugins and Amazon ads on the sidebar, […]
Wrapping Up a Huge Chapter of My Life I don’t want to jinx myself, but I feel great! I rarely get that sudden grabbing sensation in my lower left back area that I got all spring, and my right foot hasn’t been numb in months which was a common occurrence for years. Why this sudden […]
It’s time to sit down once again with a beverage of your choice and chat – I’ll remind you that I don’t like coffee or tea so my drink of choice today will be water. Let’s chat about things other than just running, cycling, strength training, yoga, and complaining about our most recent injuries. […]
Scheduling Workouts Each Sunday I look ahead to my upcoming week and plan out my workouts. For the most part, my workout days are pretty set. Strength training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Cycling on Tuesday, Thursday, and one or both weekend days Walking on Monday, Wednesday, and maybe Friday; and one weekend day if […]
A Mini Road Trip As if a 21-day road trip wasn’t enough time in the car, my husband and I took a whirlwind trip to the farm to see my mom. It rained most of the time we were there so I was happy to get out for at least one walk. Overview of […]
Four New States, 6,100 Miles Driven, and 410 Miles Ridden Our 21-day road trip took us to four new states: Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, and Nebraska. My husband planned every detail of the trip, made all of the hotel reservations, and drove every single mile. Yes, I’m married to an incredible man and […]
