Five Things Friday: The Bicycle Edition

These guys were awesome. Spandex GALORE!

5.  It's SUMMER TIME!!! By that, I mean that it's donkey-balls hot already (insert reminder about how much I love Texas here) and the kidlets are done with school.  I have a high school senior and a junior high kid in my house now. Commence midlife crisis in 3...2.... Nope, no time for crisis around here. Got a summer full of driver's ed, theatre camp for both of them, hockey lessons, Scout camps, art camp and generally trying to keep them from killing each other. Good times, y'all. Good times. 

4.  My run training is coming along. I won't say nicely, because, y'all, it's hard. But it's getting done.  I have done a lot more of it than I expected on the treadmill at the gym, because I have completely lost all ability to maintain a given pace on the roads. That makes me sad, because I used to be crazy consistent with my pacing.  It will come back, I'm sure. But for now, I need to hit certain paces for each of these runs, so I'm doing them on the treadmill. Which, yeah, BORING.... But, still. DONE at the right paces and boring is way better than erratic pacing and nice scenery.  I have goals, y'all. 

3.  Spent a great evening with ridiculously amazeballs (TM)  friends up in south Oklahoma last week, watching really fit cyclists go really fast.  It was an event called "Bike the Bricks" in McKinney and it was way cool to see packs of cyclists zooming by.  They made this awesome breeze as they went by us.  It was groovy.

These girls. Not enough synonyms for awesome in Roget's. 

Ghost riders. Way cool. 

2.  And it got me pumped up (see what I did there??) to dust off Reveille* and go for a ride.  First I had to get it tuned up, since I hadn't ridden since the Great Donkey Ride of 2011 and I wasn't sure what all needed to be done to it.  But I took care of that and went for a nice leisurely spin on the bike paths near me. FUN! It's perfect crosstraining for the training plan I'm using, and I forget how much I really do enjoy riding, even though I am a total n00b and don't even know how to shift gears properly.  I pretty much find a gear that seems to work and just pedal. I'll figure it out. For now, I'm just having fun. 

1.  And diving in headfirst, with a 34-mile ride in Dublin next weekend.  Yep, TPG has graciously offered to accompany chaperone babysit me on my inaugural bike rally.  I'm beyond askerid. But ready for the challenge.  I think. With her at my side (have I mentioned how awesome this girl is, BTW?) I am in good hands, and I know she'll not only coach me on some rudimentary riding tips, but also feed my energy with her positivity. Plus, HELLO!  A day with TPG!!  And Dr Pepper at the finish! SCORE!! 

TPG kinda rocks my world. Super sweet and I can't wait to hang out with her for 34 miles!

We'll take another pic like this after our ride. Except we'll leave the fleece at home. 

So, there you go. Now go take on the day!! I'm going for a ride. Or a run. Or to have a small panic attack. It's sixes,really... 

*I am borrowing  a bicycle from a great girl named Katie. She and her hubby are Aggies of the WORST sort best kind, like Corps of Cadets peeps and all that. But she is in graduate school right now and not really riding, so she's letting me use her bicycle as long as I want. Um, THANK YOU! And in her honor, I call the bike Reveille, as in the Aggie mascot.  It gives those of us die-hard Longhorns a nice giggle when they find out the name of my loaner ride. I call it a homage to the awesomeness of Katie. It's the least I can do!