A Lovely Life

We have 30 days. I can't believe it. This journey has been so eye opening on every front. The training has been the easiest (cannot believe I'm saying that). The mental part the toughest (that's not surprising in the least). And the financial part harder than I thought. We are halfway to our $10,000 goal and that scares me since we are so close. It's easy for people to like, love and share things on social media for us, which I so appreciate. We live in a time when "good deed" and cute animal videos are shared all over the place as palette cleansers for what's going on in this sometimes scary world we live in. The issue that I'm finding since I'm living it, is that there is no genuine connection. Watch this video for 2 mins. Get teary, LOVE it, share it, go drink coffee. Repeat.  I'm guilty of this myself. It's easy to glaze over it. And when I say "it" in this particular instance, I mean our story and our goal: to help pr

Sunday was a massive training day. A few weeks ago, Cindy Snyder reached out to me via Facebook offering me the chance to train with her son, P.J. P.J. is 32 and has Angelman Syndrome and an incredibly accomplished athlete. We were connected through Dennis with Athletes in Tandem here in Colorado. Dennis is the guy who sparked this entire adventure idea. We made plans to have a training ride with P.J. and to invite the local community to come ride with in hopes of promoting inclusion, showing how it's done and gaining donations to Helen & Noah's Big Adventure.  It would be the most I'd hauled at 104 pounds. The trailer is 32lbs, P.J. weighs 72lbs. I was scared sh*tless. My training leading up to this had been with a max of 45lbs. There were a few rides where I was climbing when I was like, "How in the HELL am I going to do this with even more weight. I'm going to embarrass myself in front of a group of people who are there to support us." So, I took

Holy CRAP, I love the cycling industry. This week I got a reminder as to why. On Sunday, I had a big training ride pulling P.J. My bike shop hosted, we invited the community and had a group of about 10 of us. It was awesome! The day didn't go without incident, though. Our group was heading back toward the shop, riding on a 2 lane road and riding single file. I was 2nd in the line of cyclists which included a dad and his 7-year-old daughter on a tandem and P.J. in my trailer. I look to my left and see a student driver vehicle dangerously close to me. There was an oncoming car in the opposite direction. I look into the passenger seat and see an older gentleman and a terrified-looking driver white knuckling the steering wheel at 10 & 2. I raised my hand to (admittedly) flip him off, but I've been making a habit not to do that. I know better than to get into confrontations with 4,000 pound death weapons. I also like to give thumbs down if needed because it actually feels

51 Days... Training has really amped up and has been good overall. I've been feeling stronger and more capable every time I get on the bike. I've been struggling with some dizziness and feeling light headed on a daily basis. I've had some training rides that have really kicked my ass and not in the good, physical way. In the, holy shit, I feel terrible and out of it and drained, way. Part of it has been my nutrition or lack there of.  Here's what I've figured out so far... Problem #1: I have to force myself to eat in the morning before a ride. I do my best, but it's typically not been enough. Solution #1: Pre-making Biju's Oatmeal from the Feedzone Portables Cookbook and making myself eat it pre-ride. Problem #2: I apparently don't eat when I'm actively riding and hunger hits within an hour. Every single time. No matter what I eat beforehand. If I DO eat on the bike, there isn't a ton I can stomach. Favorites so far: pickles and fru