Turns out that it's hard for me to blog when I am not home long enough even to look at my computer. I remember seeing all the 'blog from your phone' banners and thinking 'who on earth would do that?' but now... I'm thinking 'why don't I get one of those phones??' Or...a laptop! But um, for now - my birthday tree is closed! I got this instead of anything to blog with.
Isn't she gorgeous? You'd think that the next thing that I'd tell you is that I've been too busy riding to blog - but you'd be wrong. Because (sadly) instead of biking, I've been driving. Everywhere. Or everywhere that goes through Knoxville. Seriously. In a span of four days I drove through Knoxville THREE times. And I live about four hours away from K-town. You wouldn't think it would be 'on the way' to that many places I want to go. (But you'd be wrong.) AND I'm going through Knoxville AGAIN tonight on my way to the Land of Ben and Jerry's. My ex gets the kids for two weeks so this car trip won't involve noxious games of Axe tag** or 14 year old 'vampires' saying things like 'pull my fang'. This car trip won't even involve grown up boys because Sweet Hubby doesn't have any more time off from work. This girls only car trip is actually a means of getting somewhere cool to bike! FINALLY! BIKING! VBGF and I are going drive up and help my nephew Thrasher celebrate his first birthday before my sister whisks him out of crazy, busy Central Vermont to go live in sleepy, podunk Paris, France for the next three years. After the birthday boy smears cake all over the place, VBGF and I are heading out on our bikes for a week. Yes. A week. We bought a general bike touring book (yesterday) that suggested we plan our route three to four months in advance. Plan? Route? Ahead of time? Yeah - my whole inability to distinguish between weeks, months and hours, days applies to more than just blogging. Sigh. Be that as it may - we are biking for a week. Up North. Normally I'm all about Dixie - but after a week of the heat index here being 105 with a humidity reading of 96% - I'm thinking that starting in Vermont and biking to CANADA sounds delightful.
On to another aspect of biking: I don't know if anyone followed the linky poo to see my gorgeous new bike - or if anyone who did noticed that tour bikes don't normally boast of being"super light for top-notch handling, effortless climbing and unparalleled efficiency". Tour bikes boast of comfort and stability. Guess what? For fifteen years I had a touring bike. For the last two years, it's what I've used to train and it's the bike I rode in my first triathlon. NOW I have a road bike that's capable of entry level racing, and what's the first thing I do with it? I go for a week long bike tour. (Natch.) I've tried to talk myself into taking my tour bike instead but there is NO WAY I can even think about that. Touring bikes are rigged so you can carry stuff with you. Lots of stuff. Fancy, new, entry level racing bikes are rigged so you can go fast - with nothing (certainly not anything so un-aerodynamic as paniers) holding you back! So...
I have one teeny, tiny little bag (think cell phone holder) hanging from my handle bars and one just-barely-bigger bag on a rack behind my seat - to hold my stuff for a WEEK. I'm the kind of girl whose overstuffed weekend carry-on bag sometimes cannot be forced into the overhead bin on the plane - and I'm cramming my stuff for a WEEK into a bag that could almost fit into my minivan's glove compartment. C-R-A-Z-Y! But fun. And exciting. And just the teensiest bit anxiety provoking.
News flash - I won't be blogging from the road. One of the many, many things I will not be taking with me is a laptop (not that I have one). But I also won't be taking my camera. Heck - I'm limiting myself to two pairs of PANTIES so you know space is at a premium! But I'm going to look awfully cute in this! I didn't even know they made those. But now I have one. So think of me - biking through Yankeeland - for a WEEK - with practically nothing but my best friend and my bike. Oh - and read this book because it's wonderful and I hope the stuff that happens to the guy in the book doesn't happen to us!!
Peace.
**For the record - Axe is almost surely lethal in confined spaces so if you have sons approaching middle school age, take my advice and BAN the game of Axe tag BEFORE you have to experience it. And also ftr - I do NOT EVER want to meet the girl who is drawn to the scent (or any of the nine or twelve scents) of Axe. I also do NOT EVER want to meet a grown man who wears this obnoxious spray that, in my little corner of the universe, is ubiquitous in middle schools. I'm happy to report that, in my experience, the girls seem to avoid Axe like the plague (which is the only reason I and other mothers I know continue to buy it for our sons.)
