Valparaiso, IN to New Buffalo, WI ride 8/10

With my cousin's bachelorette Saturday night, my sister in town from NYC and the Urban Innivations ladies' reunion brunch on Sunday, I had to figure out where to ride nearby for 5+ hours. After a google search, I found the "Valpo Chain Gang" was doing their monthly ride from Valparaiso, Indiana and it was 72mi... Perfect!!  I signed up for $15 not knowing exactly what to expect but somewhat pleased they were starting at 9am!!

I left my apartment at 7:15am and about 39 minutes into the ride realized that I had left my helmet at home. I frantically pulled over and emailed Eric the organizer to see if anyone had an extra. He said he'd bring his wife's so I was all set. 

When I arrived I came to find out that the ride would be me, Eric and another guy names Matt. Eric and I were about the same type of rider pace and Matt was clearly stronger but didn't seem interested in going faster. Despite only being three people, we still had a SAG car on the way to New Buffalo, MI. 

We stopped in Michigan City, IN about 24 miles in and Leo's Mobile Bikes was there. I had a granola bar and some more cold water. You can't imagine how tired you get if lukewarm (or just plain hot!) water riding all summer long. 

It was another 10-ish miles to Redamak's restaurant which is apparently a famous place I should've known about (?). I had NO IDEA until I got there that we would full on stop for lunch so I was glad I had $10 in cash & my debit card with me. I was even more surprised to find out that lunch is INCLUDED with the $15 registration fee!!

After lunch we had a beautiful ride along the coast of Lake Michigan in a clearly fancy/expensive summer home area. It was relatively flat and slow going with traffic. Once we passed back into Indiana and the dunes area it got more hilly and unfortunately, that's when my right knee started to really schedule and it became excruciating pain. I kept thinking, "you need to keep pedaling with the other leg and rest the right".  This was harder said than fine especially on 5% hills. The last 14mi were horrible but again I'm happy they aren't the real race!

When we finally got back, the entire ride- including lunch- took 6:40. My knee was bad and I had to get right in the car to try and rush home to Shayna's shower.   Ultimately I realized that I cousins possibly get there before the bus left around 7:30 and if I did it would've been only 15minutes prior. I had all but realized that with my energy levels the way the are currently, there was no way I could go on the party bus all night.

I was totally defeated and upset to miss it   since Kate and Lauren were both in town.  I crawled into bed around 9pm and fell asleep in my chair before that around 7:30. It was already a long weekend and Sunday I had a lot planned too!

---PHOTOS--

Looping from New Buffalo back to Valparaiso, IN along the lakefront we passed through the Indiana Dunes parks and areas. I'd love to go back to relax and rent a house in that area next summer!!

Nuclear power plant!  You could hear the water running over the coils like a waterfall (to keep the reactor cool). This was not in a nice area of "town" and honestly freaked me out a bit. I thought about Japan and the reactor meltdown after the tsunami last year- scary stuff. This isn't far at all from the shores of Lake Michigan and literally in a bunch of houses' backyards. I wouldn't have been happy if this was put in my neighborhood!!

Along our route somewhere in or near Beverly Shores. It was amazingly ocean-like, beautiful and the houses were unbelievable. 

We arrived to New Buffalo, Mi after about 30-35 miles. Somewhere around 2:45 hours. It was a PERFECT day for a bike ride: mild weather, sun and minimal wind.

 

1 month & 8/9 yoga

Exactly one month from today will truly be the biggest day of my life. 

My plan called for an hour weights and a shirt swim. I ended up doing vinyasa at FFC for a hour and then went home to wait for Kate to arrive from NYC. 

The vinyasa class was only my second at FFC and also the same number of times I haven't done HEATED vinyasa in years. The instructor was quite good and it was a solid class. My triceps were I fire and I got some good ideas for October when I start teaching my weekly class again too. 

Her flight was 1.5 hours late which pretty much ruined the evening dinner plans and also really weakened me. I had t eaten because I was trying to wait for her but her plane just got more and more delayed. 

When I finally picked her up from Pharr it was 10pm. We were both ready for bed and a snack at least!  I made jasmine rice, cucumbers, ginger dressing and a fried egg. It was actually pretty delicious and literally the only ingredients in my refrigerator. I felt like an app coming up with the great dish I did! :)

Bike/run brick Tuesday 8/6

I did an indoor workout at TCS on Tuesday and then headed to FFC for some em treadmill running.

I really can't explain why I keep training on the treadmill for running other than the treadmill forces me to keep running -and honestly maybe because I get to watch Bravo and E! and a variety of other terrible reality TV channels. 

My ride went well and I ride the beginning of the Madison course again virtually. I've spent more time riding the loops and not the "stick" from Madison to Verona so this is good exposure again. 

After that, I went to the gym for an hour jog and got in about 4 miles no haven't been pushing these runs due to a fair amount of cumulative exhaustion honestly and I'm just proud that I'm actually doing something most days. 

I have never been this tired in my life and it's starting to show in my face, walk, attitude, patience and willingness to sit upright past 7pm. On the one hand I keep telling myself I'm "almost there" while on the other completely terrified of what that "almost there" actually means. 

8/5 2 mi swim

I was supposed to do a 2mi ows but the weather looked terrible and so I scooted to California Park 50m pool for laps there. They have open swim, adult swim, and lap swim all back-to-back so I knew I could get it all in. 

First off the people running this pool were 100% nicer than Portage Park!!  They explained to me the times and stuff and let me do what I wanted. Lap swim had already started and I jumped in to get it done. After lap swim was over, again I had to sit outside the water for 15 minutes for them to remove the lane lines and continue with open swim. This meant that at about 75% of the way down, they put in a lane line to cut horizontally across the pool (shallow from deep end). I didn't care because it really looked like it was going to storm (it rained while I was in the pool earlier and was quite chilly outside). Again, I used it as another obstacle to go under, perhaps like ironman will be!

After 1.5miles my body said "you're done" and I decided to head home. I was happy that I went to the pool because the ows was cancelled anyway (keeps happening in Monday and Wednesdays this summer!) and I was able to get at least a portion of my swim in before the thunder and lightning rolled in. 

What finisher do you think I'll be?

(As long as I'm a finisher, I do not care!!)

Words to live by!

Thursday, 7/25 OWS... psych

I had an annual work golf outing today and it was a lot of fun.  I had swimming in my plan, but that went to hell after a full 18 holes and some booze (not a lot!) and a long, long day.

The day started out well since we started on the roulette hole and I actually picked the winning number!!  I won a $25 gift card to Lettuce Entertain You restaurants.  Then our all female foursome was off to play some really good scramble golf!  I think we finished 4 under!

Me with the "Stanley Cup" on the golf course

After golf, we had dinner and then the raffle for prizes.  I was picked third- I couldn't believe it!  I had my choice of anything on the tables and went home with a Sony Soundbar!  I was so excited.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize a soundbar was for TV (I thought it was a radio thing) but from reading up on it, it seems like I should be able to route my Apple TV and iPad through it.  It may even have an FM Tuner which would be ideal since I listen to the radio every morning before work.

In any case, it was a great day and by the time I got home it was close to 9pm at night and swimming was not going to happen!