Finding Krissi

Friday 9:40 am I have always lived my life defined. Meaning that I know who I am and I know my capabilities. I am perfectly aware of what I can and can not accomplish. Which is why I never do anything that I wont succeed. Also, a reason why I don't do a lot of things. A LOT! Among the definition of who I am is, "Not an athlete." Really, when we get down to it, it is the reason why I am freaking out about a 100 mile bike ride. Athletes ride a 100 miles, non-athletes aka Krissi do not ride 100 mile bike rides. It is very very simple. Yet here I am messing with my very own definition. I have every confidence that I will reach the end of the ride tomorrow. I have trained, I have worked, I have screwed with the very definition of who I am. Leaving the only option of finishing and dealing with what I have done to myself. I am positive that somewhere around 50 miles I will question and doubt my capability of finishing. I am positive that I will remember, "I am not athlete!...

There is enough going on to post a post. There is enough going on to post two post. There are flowers blooming, peas harvesting, children growing, zoo goings, and holiday celebrations. All of which are trapped inside me head. Waiting, waiting for the time that I can put two words together and think. Think without freaking out. Here is a joke for you Q. What happens when you challenge a type A, control freak, who enjoys environments in which she can control EVERYTHING, to ride in a 100 mile bike ride, in an environment where she has ZERO control? I don't have an answer to this joke yet. However, by Saturday night I'm sure I will have come up with something hilarious. Probably even more funny then me freaking out because there is sweat in my eyes. All right deep breath, deep breath. . . . Now as soon as I can stop hyperventilating all will be good. Do you want to know what I think is hilarious? There are actually people in the world who enjoy this kind of thing. They don't ...

My creativity juices have taken a back seat. Due mainly with the fact that I will be participating in the Little Red Century ride. Thankfully it is next weekend. Which may be the only time in my life that I ride a bike 100 miles. Of course the question remains will I ride the bike a 100 miles? Do any of you have any idea how far 100 miles is? Let me tell you after yesterday's 80 I'm thinking 100 is very, very, far away. My very good friend (who I will not refer to as the Exercise Nazi in this post) went out with me yesterday. I'm sure if it wasn't for her somewhere around mile 74 I would have died. Well maybe that is a tiny bit of an exaggeration. However, by mile 74 I was pretty much dying. For about 10 miles before that I had the chills, I kept shivering, and according to my bikes thermostat it was 98 degrees. So the shivering had me a bit freaked out. Okay, well a lot freaked out. Any one who knows me well knows I don't handle physical discomfort. I am a huge bab...

Yesterday after work I went on a little bike ride. Wait a minute let me try that again.... Yesterday after work I went on a BIKE RIDE!! Hummm, no still not quite right.... Yesterday after work I did this!!! Right here there was wind, enough wind to make me hate wind. Here more wind. I really don't like wind. However, right here was the elementary school I went to. At recess we use to play Charlies Angels. :) We were so cool! But then again here was more wind! Wind+Bike=NOT GOOD! Here is where I saw two teenagers, not in school, doing things their parents would not like. Moving on . . . . Here is where I thought about quitting going home and never riding a bike EVER again. Humm... Okay, well it was more like this. The light blue arrow is where I decided that I had already gone to far to quit. Here is where I started to think about crying. Okay, well it was more like this. Here is where I thought I was going to throw up. Then Brent would have to come get me because I was sick. Finall...

I have a few minutes before I am out the door. I'm always on my way out the door. Sometimes I wish my house had no doors then I could just stay home and not leave and tell people, "Sorry, can't do that. You see my house has no doors and I can't get out." But at last I have doors. However, before I once again take off out the door I thought I would tell you a bit about my bike ride. Good News: It was AWESOME! It was the perfect weather to take off into the wild. I passed ponds, rivers, little ducks, big ducks, geese, goose, mamma cows looking ready to pop, one mama horse and her new baby, can you say ahhhh, and a baby goat.  Do you know the further you get out into the country people tie goats up in their yards to keep the weeds down.  Talk about a win win. The goat feeds itself and you don't have to mow the lawn. I know my neighbor hood has a no farm animal rule but do you think I could claim it was a lawn mower and not a farm animal? I finished 30 miles right...

I am continuing to train and prepare for the 100 mile bike ride come June 6th. The only wrench in my training is mother nature. I have had a couple of opportunities to ride outside and have discovered that a ride on a trainer is a world of difference from a ride on the road. Rides outside are full of ups, downs, wind, potholes, cars, and bike mishaps. I believe that in order to complete a 100 mile ride, I NEED some road training. Except that is not happening because we are still getting snow. Yes here we are solidly into April and it is still snowing. If you do a little blog hopping you will notice more than one Unhappy Utahan anxiously awaiting the end of snow. We are still waiting. I tried to get a ride outside this week only to encounter major wind. I pushed into the wind and against the wind the entire road. I even got a little sprinkle of rain that turned into snow later. All I can say is one little ride is not going to prepare me. I'm frustrated! On the other hand I h...

With every intention in the world of starting and finishing a 50 mile bike ride our little group of riders set out. However, before we started there were a few things that we had to take care of. Starting with the fact that I am the last hold out to purchase a road bike. My friend Wendy decided that it would be a good idea for me to ride her bike while she rode her husbands. Road bikes are pretty customized to the rider so there were adjustments that had to be made to both bikes in order for this work. The only thing I can say about riding a road bike verses riding a mountain bike. "OH MY GOSH!" From the first second I sat on the bike I was green with envy and as jealous as could be. I haven't purchased a bike because I could just not see myself spending 1500 dollars on a bike. I really didn't think there could be enough difference to justify the expense. There is. There totally is. That being said there was one or two things I had to get use to. The biggest...

Today I finished reading a second great library find. The name of the book is "The Wednesday Sisters," by Meg Waited Clayton. It is a great story about friendship and the power and strength one can find in themselves when they have the right people in their lives. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. The book begins in the 1960's with young mother's, whose identity is largely based on their husbands. It was an interesting read for a thirty something to realize how much the world has changed. Specifically, how much it has changed for women. These women are the same age as my mom. It was interesting and I have to admit a little sad to see how different the world was for women not that long ago. A lot of the years in the book hit home, especially as they began to enter the year I was born, or the year my husband was born, or the year I was three. The main character in the book was a brilliant girl who was not allowed to go to college. Her father had to pay for f...

Tomorrow or Today depending on which day you read this post I will be riding my bike 45 miles. Registering for the ride has made this journey to ride my bike 100 miles very real.  Since tomorrow will probably be one of my last rides indoors I have decided to Twit about it. I'm not quite sure how my body is going to react to 45 miles and almost 3 hours on a bike. I'm pretty sure my head is going to be yelling bad words at me, at best. I'm sure there is going to be a lot of, this is crazy, what are you doing to yourself.  By Twitting about it I am going to feel a whole lot more accountable to get the ride done. Especially, if I feel there is any chance that people are logging on to see where I'm at and how it is going. If your feeling inclined I should be on the bike by 1pm Mountain time Friday the 27th. Check it out and make sure I survive! 

I'm just home from the gym. My legs are shaky, my shirt is sweaty, and my muscles are loose. Saturday, I biked almost 30 miles on a hill before getting off the hill and finishing up at 35 miles. This morning I went for a nice 70 minute jog. (Legs are not HAPPY!) Last night before going to bed I registered for "Little Red." Paid my non-refundable registration fee. Needless to say I'm what you would called, "FREAKED!" Holy Cow what have I gotten myself into, a 100 mile bike ride.  Do you know that this ride will actually take me out of one state into another and back. Does that sound insane? Who gets up and says hey lets ride our bikes to that state over there and back? I think I have officially lost my mind. How does one know for sure if they have lost there mind? Short of registering for a 100 mile bike ride. Do you know people do these all the time? They do them for fun! Maybe that is the definition of insane. Well what is done is done and I have 16 weeks...

Hey everyone, If you are still thinking about joining us on the, "Little Red," registration has opened. Click on the picture below to find out all the bike info. Also, if you are like me and will be renting a bike I talked to Canyon Sports in Ogden. The cost to rent a bike is $35.oo a day. They will open their reservations in mid-march. I spoke to the manager and he was really helpful. When you look at the course info you will notice there are several length options for the ride. The minimum being 15 the maximum being 100. We would love for everyone to join us no matter how far they ride.

Today, I had to complete 30 miles on the bike.  As I was nearing the end of my ride, I couldn't help to question my sanity.  I mean, who in there right mind trains for a 100 mile bike ride? Also, isn't the fact that I am questioning my sanity, a sure sign that I am not the type of person to complete such a ride? I'm also very concerned with the fact that I am at 30 miles and questioning my sanity. What happens next week when I am required to complete 40 miles?  Is there some point in time that I will have ridden so many miles that I will cease the question why? Is there a chance, I will gain enough courage, to tell the Exercise Nazi that she is crazy and I don't do 100 mile rides? Finally, will I ever again have feeling in my rear?

Well as many of you have heard, I have been talked into taking part in a Century ride. By the way, for all you thinking of joining us, they announced the date and it is going to be June 6, 2009. I have an awesome friend who is coaching and preparing me for the ride. Each week she has set a goal of miles I have to bike. The last couple of weeks it has been 25 miles. Amazingly, it is getting easier. Which totally cracks me up. How can riding 25 miles be easy? Or at the very least, not be the cause of my pre-mature death? I'm taking it as a encouraging sign. If I can bike 25 then I can bike 30 and onward and UPWARD? One way I keep my mind occupied, while getting my miles, is listening to my IPOD. I love putting it on the shuffle and just listening to what comes up. It keeps me smiling with all the memories that are held in the songs. Occasionally, a song that was buried on an album, I haven't listened all to all the way through comes up. Which is why all the sudden you a...

I just finished my first ever 20 mile bike ride.  I have to say it totally sucked eggs after 10 miles until about 18. Then after that I started to realize that I only had 2 miles to go.  I told myself I could go 2 miles anybody can go 2 miles. It was hard and I had moments of doubts that I will be able to make it to 100 miles.  However, I made it to 20 so I just have to keep going.  Not that I don't think it will be hard and not that I don't think I will have MANY more moments of doubt but all I have to do is keep going. The whole concept of enduring to the end has been on my mind over the past few days.  Not just in regards to a 100 mile bike ride but in regards to everything.  I am committed to this bike ride because I think it will help me to understand and apply this principle to my life more completely.  I know that life is always going to have its ups and downs.  Hard times, good times, blessings and curses. However, in the end what matters the most is that we cross the f...

Nov 13, 2008 Trying to keep a second blog just about the bike ride hasn't really worked out so well.  So I will be keeping all of the Bike information on this post.  You can check for updates to this post by clicking the LRRH 09 button at the top of the blog. I plan on posting some training information tomorrow.  But you have heard that from me before haven't you.:) I decided that if we are all really going to do this we should have a place to meet and a place where we can go to get information about training and the event. So far we have 8 people who have agreed to join us. Lets start at the beginning. First things first if you have agreed to participate you should send me a mug shot and a short bio. That way people will know who you are and where you are from. I will post mine in the next couple of days so you will have an example. Second this is a 104 mile loop ride. Meaning we end where we start. It is a woman only non-competitive bike ride. In fact they serve us lunch...