Giving Tuesday

Happy Giving Tuesday! It's a great day to donate to your favorite cyclist (that would be me!).

Click here (right here) to read about why I ride in The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer and to make your donation to me or to The Melan Heads - the great team that I am riding with this year.

And while you are sipping your morning coffee and learning more about our team and what drives us, we'll be at the gym, cardio'ing our little hearts out - getting ready for the challenge facing us in August - 200+ KM over 2 days to to raise funds to KICK CANCER'S BUTT!

The Melan Heads

I'm Back!

Good Morning Peeps!

I've done it! I've signed up once again to ride in THE RIDE OF INSANITY! 200+ KM of pedaling through gorgeous Alberta (in the Calgary area) in August 2018. What does this mean to you? Lots and lots of bike stuff to read about and plenty of FUNdraising by me!

So first things first! I'm riding with The Melan Heads this year. Typically I ride "lone wolf" but this year I'm joining the pack. The Melan Heads have been riding for 10 years and is a local Edmonton area team. More on them soon to come!

Oh, I've got a nifty new bike - Sadie has retired after 25 years (2 in The Enbridge Ride), thousands of miles, and a broken shifter. She's gone from a 21 speed to a 7 speed and will be relegated to indoor training during the winter. She's happy to rest her weary "bones" away from the cold outdoors.

The new bike is a Specialized Ruby - deep purple with neon green flashes. Here she is enjoying a coffee after a ride with Stacie's Giant. She'll need a name soon so start thinking!

On to fundraising! The Melan Heads are selling Purdy's chocolates through November 29th. That means you have 3 days to get your order in for December 8th delivery - just in time for Christmas!

Register here under group# 25626 and order your chocolate!  - Hedgehogs make good cancer fighters by helping to raise funds for Alberta Cancer Research - a percentage of every order goes to The Melan Heads team to help us reach our goal of $15,000 which will all go to Alberta Cancer Research as part of The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. 

Don't like chocolate? Donate here instead  - each of the riders on our team must raise $2,500. My goal is $5,000. 

And last, but not least, training! The Melan Heads are training at Snap Fitness most mornings and on Sundays with the lovely Misty. Send us some cheers and positive vibes as we grunt, groan, & grin our way through our sessions in preparation for the big ride! 

Grapefruit Ginger Strawberry Smoothie

Grapefruit Ginger Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients

1 Medium Banana
1 Medium Grapefruit - peeled and membrane removed
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
1 TBSP Fresh Ginger - finely chopped
1/2 - 2/4 cup Frozen Strawberries
1 TBSP Flax Meal (optional)
1 TBSP Hemp Hearts (optional)
Your choice of preferred Sweetener - (optional - honey, protein powder, electrolyte mix, etc)


Instructions:

Place all in blender & blend until smooth. Add sweetener to taste.

Red Cup of Love

I challenge all of you to take part in #redcuplove

The big deal that is being made about Starbucks and their red cups is making me crazy. If you look back on previous years, Starbucks featured reindeer, snowmen, bunnies, trees, doves, etc on their cups and sold Christmas Blend coffee. This year, they are still selling Christmas Blend coffee but because they decided to go solid red on their cups, many people are accusing them of being anti-Christian. Can any corporation ever win with everybody? Personally I believe that the pot stirrers, in this case, are ill-informed fame seekers who are Pied Pipers to the multitudes who blindly follow with no research of their own - simply jumping on the internet mob bandwagon. Do your homework people! Why are you not offended that Starbucks isn't offering a Hanukkah cup, a Kwanzaa cup, a Bohdi cup, or a Yule cup? This age of entitlement is going too far. When there is no harm (and believe me, the Starbucks cups are causing no harm), we have no right to dictate what a company should do with their marketing. 

Red reminds me of the love that we should all be demonstrating this Christmas, Holiday, Hanukkah, or Season. I for one will buy a cup of Starbucks for every day that red cups are available. I'll buy one for a friend, neighbor, acquaintance, or stranger and ask the barista to draw a large heart on the cup. Because I love you. 

***UPDATE*** - 

#RedCupLove - use the hash tag & do something kind for someone this season (and all year).  There are local food banks who would love your spare change every week, organizations who could use your time as a volunteer, charities who need people to spread the word. There is so much good we can do out there so I am challenging you to share the #RedCupLove all year long. 

A Cheesie Adventure - Part 1

I'd been in Chicago for a couple of days - seeing the sites, tasting the foods, and generally staying up late - when I was awoken early on a Saturday morning. The Cheesie Guy who was doing the waking informed me that I needed to report to the truck at 9am sharp if I intended to ride along for the day. I received directions from the house to Cheesie's Pub & Grub on Belmont - I was to take a walk down to the train station, hop the Brown Line, and ride the train to the Belmont station. I needed to plan on an 8 minute train ride, however long it took to walk to the station (about 5 minutes), plus the wait for the train. Half an hour should do it, he said.

Not one to be late (especially when there is cheese involved), I was up and out the door at 8am. I considered, for a brief moment, grabbing the umbrella or a sweatshirt as I descended the stairs to the street. No, I assured myself, it had finished raining here and Brandon might need his umbrella later. The weather had been sticky hot for the past 3 days and although it felt a bit cooler, it was still quite warm & humid. I'd be fine - famous last words.

The wait for the train was longer than expected. I'm not sure if trains run less frequently on Saturday mornings but they sure weren't in a hurry this day. To my relief, one arrived shortly after 8:30am and 8 minutes later, I stepped out of the station and onto Belmont street. Grabbing my phone, I dialed the Cheesie Guy who promptly popped out from the back alley - luring me towards this innocent looking beast, sleeping quietly behind the shop.

 

I was quickly introduced to Brad & Annessa who, along with Matt, were prepping the truck for action. The mission was to head to Evanston to Northwestern University for Dillo Day 2015. Bring on the fun!!!

A bit about The Cheesie's Truck - it's HUGE! Think large UPS truck huge. This truck is longer than most food trucks, that I've encountered, and hosts a full kitchen inside - complete with cold prep station, 2-window serving counter, pop cooler (that's soda to all my New England friends), full-sized grill-top (I wonder if there is an oven under there?), dual-sided warming pan, deep frier, and full-sized fridge & freezer. Did I mention the 3 compartment sink & second prep counter? This truck has it all!

Truck loaded and ready to go, Brad took the wheel. Navigation plotted - Annessa was to co-pilot. The key is to navigate around the low bridges so as not to be "that guy" who took his tall truck under a bridge too low. If you want to get your truck from here to there without a scratch, you call this guy (Hey, driving The Cheesie Truck is serious business!):

As we headed out, the weather took a turn for the worst - rain spat down and the temperature dipped 10 degrees. It was going to be a cold, wet, grey, chilly day at this outdoor music festival. 

Arriving at Northwestern University, we were guided onto the event field and settled the truck into place. So far we were one of 2 setting up. The other, the famous Giordano's Pizza. Well, wouldn't this be interesting? 2 trucks offering Cheesie goodness but who would have the best cheesiness?

Now I know what you are all thinking - get to the cheese! Serve up those sandwiches! Not so fast, my Cheesie friends! Do you know what goes into getting this tasty treat on wheels ready for your enjoyment? I didn't think so! Up first, unload the bread! That's right, flats & flats & flats of bread were riding along, just waiting to be filled & grilled. Next, hook up the propane. This truck won't grill on air, my friends. Speaking of grills, fire them up! And remember that cold prep station? Yup, load it up with all of the tasty fixins that you love in your sammies. Today's menu - the Mac, Tenderizer, Popper, Frenchie, Caprese, & Tots. As setup progressed, we were joined by Chris - our Grill Master for the day.

Now keep in mind, this is a kitchen on wheels. Standards apply here - cleanliness, safety, and ,of course, food safety - certain temps must be met & maintained. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the warming pans were not coming up to temp. The truck erupted in a mad scramble to figure out what was going on. There was hot soup for dipping, mac & cheese for sandwich fillings, melted cheese and more to keep warm and a health inspection to pass. It was soon discovered that the burners on the warming pans had gone out. Odd... but wait! The burners on the grill, frier, and toasters were out too. A quick check of the propane tank revealed a stuck valve. No gas was getting to the truck. Would this be the end of the Cheesie story for the day? Were we to leave hundreds of hungry Cheese Heads without their coveted sammies? Stay tuned...

No Excuse

There is no excuse and IN NO WORLD EVER is this okay!!!!

As a human being, I am mortified that there exist so many people who troll/bully online and not only do they troll but they believe that they are in the right. Rest assured, they are NOT.

We need to return to a place of personal accountability in our lives. The best advice I ever read was this:

"A wise man thinks twice and still says nothing".

Ask yourself: Do I want my parents, pastor, coach, teacher, friends, brother/sister, girlfriend/boyfriend to hear me say this? And then don't, just don't, say it. And if you do say it, take the knocks for it when you are taken to task for it. Take your knocks and say thank you, because you you were wrong. No excuses. You. Were. Wrong. It's not funny, it wasn't a joke, it wasn't to piss off the original or other poster for fun (and if it was, you have bigger problems). It was solely because of your poor judgement and poor treatment of a fellow human being.

Wake up world, it's beyond time that we turn this hateful ship around and head back to caring about everyone in our world.

We are only as smart, funny, capable, happy, honest, productive as the weakest in our world. And it is beyond time to show the trolls and bullies that their behavior is not acceptable.

Originally posted on 38 Pitches:

https://38pitches.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/the-world-we-live-in-man-has-it-changed/

Mending Fences

There's something happening around Spruce Grove that you might not be aware of...

Spruce Up Spruce!

Spruce Up Spruce is a project started and organized by Spruce Grove's Mayor, Stuart Houston. I first learned of it during the planning stages for La Tour De Spruce when we met for the pre-Tour route ride. In case you happen to be around Spruce Grove, This is what Mayor Houston looks like: 

Yup, he is usually smiling and out doing something interesting for Spruce Grove. So, Spruce Up Spruce... This project includes painting the street facing fences around Spruce Grove. When Stuart first mentioned the project back in May, they volunteer painters were painting their way West on Grove Drive. The next time you head down Grove Drive, have a look at the fences. You'll note that they are freshly painted. Now, what many people aren't aware of, is that the fence painting - including the street facing side - is actually the home owners' responsibility. When a new building project takes place, the builder puts on the initial coat of paint but the home owner who buys the house is then responsible for the upkeep of the paint job on BOTH sides of the fence.

So why is the Mayor of Spruce Grove out painting fences? Well, first to bring awareness to the need to keep up with the fence painting but more importantly, to build a community. He doesn't simply send out a letter and say "Hey, You, homeowner, you need to paint your fence". Instead, he let's you know that you are responsible for painting your fence AND if you need a hand, there are both paint and willing painters to help you out (disclaimer - I've never seen any of the letters that go out but have heard they offer painting assistance & paint). 

I've always enjoyed volunteering especially when you can see your work in action or the results of that work. Don't get me wrong, charities need money but it is such a rewarding feeling to do something and see the results. I was hooked and started making plans to join the crew (by "crew" I mean the volunteers who show up to paint - not a set group of people but whoever is available at the time). With my training schedule from May to August, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that it took me all the way to August 17th to finally get out to paint but I did get out and here is what happened that day:

The fence featured in this tale is on the south side of Longview Drive, between Linkside Court & Calahoo - in case you want to drive by and admire it. :D Above is the before picture - quite weathered and ready for paint. A crew of 10 (including home owners who live on the other side of the fence) was on hand and 16 sections of fence awaited our brushes. Note: there are official colors, you can check Home Hardware to find out what they are. 

Several of us started with the light grey of main fence: 

 

While others came behind us with the blue:

 

The entire project took about 2-3 hours - several gallons of paint (2 coats of each color) & Tim's coffee (thank you to the volunteer who brought the java) -  and many hellos from curious passer-bys who stopped to check out what was going on.

At the end of the day we left behind a "new" fence, thankful homeowners (one in particular was ill and unable to paint the fence themselves but joined us with the loan of his weed whacker and in conversation), and a few more Spruce Grovers who know that they don't live in a city but in a community.

I can't wait for next year's Spruce Up Spruce weekends - stay tuned, I'll post the dates here so you can join us too! For now, some pics of the day:

W. O. W.

Crazy ride of insanity! I'll update with a post soon but this ride is now in the books!

Sadie is heading home!

These Hills Are Not the Boss of Me!

O. M. G.

Up at 5, Sadie was making new friends right away. She says Emma is so cool!

The plan this year was to get to the front of the lineup so that I could head out early in the pack and shave a half hour off of last year's time of 7.5 hours on day 1. 

So.. Up front Sadie & I went!

And out the gate at 9am. :) We were off and riding like the wind (unless there was a hill, then we rode like a tortoise). The first rest stop came up in no time at all. I hear rumors that it was only 15 km into the ride. Sadie was feeling good and I was set on snacks & water so we took a pass. Off to the second stop we went.

During the first 2 legs of the ride there were 2 riders down, both in car vs rider events. Nothing appears to be broken for either rider and we hope that they are okay. 

Rest stops were amazing, as usual, with water, snacks, snacks, and snacks and many helpful volunteers. Did I mention the super clean and plentiful porta potties? :D 

Sadie had a quick checkup due to her stubborn refusal to shift into the largest front gear. As I suspected, her bottom bracket is pretty loose and needs replacing after the ride. The helpful bike mechanic gave her a tweak and she performed better for the remainder of the ride. 

Lunch was far better this year and I was happy to have the turkey & cheese out of the sandwich along with a super gooey, chocolatey, tasty brownie. 

1 more stop after lunch and we were on the final leg. 

Now, I need to send a HUGE Thank You out to Alex, Jimi, and Adam who were the best ride buddies EVER! Not that they rode WITH me, exactly but they rode past me after every rest stop and always had something wonderful to say. :) Guys, I truly enjoyed your company today. Alex, I've stalked you on Facebook already and look forward to looking up your radio program. Adam, my name is not Mary but I'll share cheese & wine or beer & nachos with you anytime. Jimi, I am absolutely still having an amazing time!!! 

Did I mention that I did the 115 in 6 hours today? Oh, yeah! :D

And now, time to call it a night. See you all in the morning!! 

Today We Ride

5am and I'm awake. I'll catch the 6am shuttle to Canada Olympic Park for opening ceremonies & breakfast. 9am we ride. 

The weather looks good, cool for now and sunny for most of the day. Sunblock is in order. 

See you all at the other end! :)

Fundraising

Hello!

Thanks for stopping by to follow the adventures of Sadie, Ghiry, myself, and all of my friends. We are having a lot of fun biking, taking in the scenery, attending festivals, and meeting new people. But what is it all about?

For the next 2 weeks it is all about fund raising. You see, I am riding in The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer on August 9th & 10th and I need your help. I've set my goal really high this year and have reached out to a lot of people but I'm not even close to making my goal. This is where you come in!

The goal: $25,000
Current donations: $2,542

Remember, a donation doesn't need to be huge, it just needs to happen. A lot of little donations add to to a lot of money very quickly. So please, click the link and make a donation today. Everything is done online. It's quick, it's easy and YOU are making an epic impact on the fight to conquer cancer!


THIS IS THE LINK --> http://www.conquercancer.ca/goto/nhkayakgirl2014 <---- RIGHT THERE!

UPDATE Aug 1, 2014 - Funds raised to date: $3252. Let's keep the momentum going! There are only 7 days until I RIDE! :) Click the link above to donate!

UPDATE Aug 5, 2014 - Funds raised to date: $3352. CLICK THE LINK ABOVE TO HELP GROW THAT AMOUNT! :)

UPDATE: Aug 6, 2014 - $3402! Thanks to a "stranger". :D

UPDATE: Aug 7, 2014 - $3502 - Thank you out to Lorna & Eldon! Your donation will show up on my page in a couple of weeks after it is processed. 

Bicycle Repair Man!

Ghiry was so excited to be taking a ride that he didn't even notice Sadie in the truck when he bounded into the back set. It wasn't until we had reached Edmonton that he calmed down enough to realize that her rear tire was hanging over the back of his seat. "Um, Mom, where are we going and why is Sadie in the truck?", he asked. I explained that Sadie had a check up with Bicycle Repair Man tonight and we were taking her to his shop. Though not highly amused to be sharing his space with "the bike", Ghiry was tickled that it wasn't him who had a check up tonight.

Super cute Bicycle Man leaning against a tree in the yard. I couldn't resist! 

While Keith (aka Raving Bike Fiend, Bicycle Repair Man, etc.) popped Sadie up on the stand for her check up, Ghiry headed off to hang with Dani. He reports that he had a wonderful walk up and down the street, enjoyed a cool drink, sniffed the heck out of the back yard, got more hugs than he's had in his life, and generally enjoyed himself immensely. I've been instructed (by Ghiry) that he is not to be left behind on future trips to RBF Cycles. Fortunately, they are super dog friendly so I think I may oblige as long as I'm not heading off on a ride from there.

The concern this evening for me was the state of Sadie's tires, rims, and rear breaks. We have only 2.5 weeks until THE RIDE and I'd had a flat tire on Sunday's ride. My concern was that if it was time to change the tires, let's check the rims to see where they are at before heading out to buy new tires. Keith assured me that although it is probably time to change at least the rear rim, Sadie is just fine for THE RIDE. And despite the flat yesterday, tires are made of 2 layers and I've only got nicks and tiny cuts in the outer layer of the tires so I should be fine. Oh, you can be sure I've got spare tubes on hand just in case! The only real repair Sadie required as a new set of rear break pads. For 23, and having ridden over 1500 km in the past year, she is holding up amazingly well.

Even though I've been cycling for 32 years, sometimes I feel pretty bike dumb. It's like when you buy a car or a computer or a fancy new phone - you aren't necessarily the one fixing it and so, might know little about it. I'm making it a point to change that this year (and going forward). I may never become Bicycle Repair Gurl but at least I'll know enough about Sadie (and all of my bikes to come) that I can talk sensibly about them and know how to check for worn parts.

Repairs completed, Keith was kind enough to give Sadie a quick wash & rinse. Um, yeah, maybe we were riding in the rain during the Community Garden Tour on Sunday, maybe. Sparkly clean and ready to stop on a dime, Sadie and I were both relieved that she only required minor work tonight. Keith is keeping an eye out for some wheels for later in the season and I'm now considering a paint job or a paint touch up for Sadie. Perhaps it is Veronica who needs a new color...

Packed up and heading home, Ghiry already misses his friends at RBF Cycles & Sadie sends out a huge THANK YOU to Keith (she says he's the best Bicycle Repair Man she knows). RBF Cycles is the official repair shop for Sadie, sponsoring her in THE RIDE by providing her tune ups, check ups, and general repairs.

You can sponsor Sadie as well with a donation to The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. She will really appreciate it!