Scary Night!

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Could have been better if I were free of the evil coughing virus, but give it a few days and I'll be fabulous again. But sadly I have no training to report, as I had to sit out of the Sunday morning bike ride that I organized due to the aforementioned virus and coughing. But MV valiantly tried to kill his new friends with speed and endurance. These new friends were totally up to the challenge and I have heard a fun ride was had by all. Then I met them for breakfast - which I can guarantee was fabulous.

Yesterday night, on the other hand, was not pretty good. Anytime police have to be called, it falls in the not good arena. But it does feature a bike, so I guess it belongs here.

See, it was about 10:30 p.m. MV had gone up to bed. I was sitting in the couch, right where I am now in fact, wearing the same clothes I am currently wearing - ewwww - and having a little peek at Facebook before bed. (Don't worry - I put them on in the evening cuz I got my other clothes dirty from gardening, so these are relatively clean still. I know you were obsessing.) I heard a metallic noise that came from the gas fireplace area, right across the room from me and next to the big giant window with open curtains. Sometimes in the winter, when you turn off the fireplace, the little vent box outside gives a metallic twang as it cools. It was sort of like that. But it is not winter and the fireplace was not on. I sort of looked up, but the cats hadn't moved so I figured it was nothing. A minute later, Ari (cat) gets up and starts looking out the big giant window with the curtains open. But he doesn't looks scared, just interested. Tully (cat) starts looking out the back sliding door, again just interested. I figure that Black Kitty, their friend who thinks he lives on our deck and I don't know where he really lives but he doesn't look like a stray, was out there trying to get them to come play. Eventually both lay back down. I glance up again.

PEEKING IN THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER OF THE WINDOW IS A PALE FACE! I make a little startled sound - EEP! I am directly across the room from the face, staring right at it.It was lit only by the light coming out the window, which was not much, so I couldn't see that well. My logical mind takes over (later I realize this is not all that logical) and I figure it must be our friend Mark P who was in the area and came to see if we were still awake - but peeked in first to not bother us if we were sleeping. Or maybe my sister. Both of them are pretty pale. Mind you, I hadn't hear a car. So I say, "Hello. Who's out there?" The face moves back a bit, but is still there. "Hey," I say, "say your name so I know who it is." The face says nothing and moves away toward the front door. I go to the front door and flip on the outside light. I peer out the little window at the top, but no one is there. Now I'm annoyed - why is Mark P messing around? So I look back to the big giant window and kind of see that the person is pressed against the wall between the window and the front door - hiding from me. Then it occurs to me - that didn't really look like anyone I knew, even in the dark, and this might not be good. So I yell for MV, grab my purse (containing the cell phone) and book upstairs.

I quickly explain that there is someone peeking in the window and we need to fix this problem. MV says, "Well, did you bring me pants?" I'm all, "No, I didn't think of it. I brought a cell phone. I think I'll call 911." He says to wait and finds some jeans. He grabs the flashlight weapon and goes out the back door. Not what I had in mind exactly. But he checks all around the deck and door and there is no one. He gets the work flashlights and goes to the end of the drive. He reports back that the guy was laying in the yard across the street next to a bike, but got up, stumbled and ran into the woods. He never would have seen him except the bike reflectors lit up nicely when he hit them with the flashlight. He left the bike, which had branches and twigs all caught in it like it was dragged through the woods. We wonder if it was stolen from another house.

By this time, I have called 911. I quickly explained that it was not an immediate emergency, but that someone had been peeking in the windows and laying in the neighbor's yard so I thought I needed to report it. (Poor woman on 911 - I apparently am not skilled at explaining my emergency. So glad I am not famous so my call will not get played for everyone to hear.) She says she will send someone over and we should watch the bike so it doesn't go away. We stalk around the yard - ok, I cower and MV stalks - and keep guard over the bike. Within, I'm guessing, 10 minutes we have two police cars. With nice, VERY young looking (gosh I'm old) cops. Thank goodness they didn't come all lights flashing and freak the neighbors out - we possibly did that with our running around and flashlighting, but they probably assumed I lost a cat again. We told them the story. MV said they might have been a drunk since they did stumble when getting up. And there had been a party down the street earlier, but it didn't seem rowdy and was long over.

The cops looked at the bike. They said they guessed it was evidence and they should take it. Then they decided maybe it was better to lean it against the tree near the street to see if anyone came back. Or if they later saw someone riding a purple bike around in town - not sure what they planned to do actually. And they said they would be around the area that evening if anything else happened. They did not take fingerprints or spray cool solution all over everything like in CSI.

We went our separate ways. Aside from me thinking I heard a noise while we locked up the house, prompting MV to have to go out again with the flashlight, it was a quiet night from that point on. I can't say that I really slept much. I kept peeking out the bedroom window to see if the bike was still there.

And there it remained, still leaning on that tree at the end of the drive.

2:27 p.m.
Just looked out. The bike is gone. For those who will ask, no it was not an expensive bike.

Training - Finally!

Sooooo...you were thinking this was all about my quest to be a supergirl and sharing my training in the process. And you were noticing that there seemed to be a lack of, well, any training. That, my friend, is about to change.

We are actually well into our training for Seattle to Portland (200 miles in 2 days - ugh!) But the weather has not been cooperating much at all. We have been having some gorgeous days - during the week. And then thunderstorms and winds gusting up to 40 mph to celebrate the weekend. We made it all of 5 miles once when M decided it was too nasty out. And if he doesn't think it is riding weather, it must be absolutely horrid. I've seen him head out to ride in a blizzard.

But, finally, this weekend - sun!

So here is a summary of the training:

Saturday: 67.8 miles. Let's just say 68 shall we?

M was thinking of racing the 6/12 hours of Stoney on Saturday. But Friday, I got it into my head that I really just wanted to ride the tandem. I called him and he said if he didn't race, he would really torture me on the tandem. For some reason, I agreed.

When we started at the lovely hour of 9 am due to someone slacking around and making us late. Not it! (If you say not it, even if you were it, you are no longer it right?) Since I had agreed to pretty much give up all control of this ride, the route was planned by M. The idea was to go on 13 Mile to Meadowbrook then wind into Northville. From there, we would head all the way down to the other end of Hines to visit the gardens, come back to Northville, then go around Walled Lake (the long way) and head home. Doesn't this sound like a LONG bike ride?

Later M told me that he was worried at the beginning because I was not really helping at all. But after one stop to change gloves (yeah, I brought extras) and fix my seat, I decided to improve my mood and we made it to Northville without incident. At this point, I was thinking, "ALL the way down Hines? Really?" but the problem is that the cute little community gardens are ALL the way down Hines. And I love the gardens. I will pretty much agree to anything to get M to ride the gardens route. You go until Hines is done and slip onto the bike path. Over the river and through the woods, past the parking lot and around the corner are these funny little plots, each fenced off with something different. Handmade scarecrows watch over every veggie you can imagine, lots of weeds and random little flowers tucked in too. This is where we get to stop and rest and I wander around to see what is growing this week. Warning - if you ride with me, you will eventually be forced into a garden walk in the middle of your bike ride. It is unavoidable.

Surprisingly, I was still pretty energetic at this point. We hopped back on the bike and discussed (negotiated) the further biking plan (cracking this woman up in her garden bed - wish I remember what was said). We finished out the path which dumps you out on Michigan Ave. You turn right away to go one street over and have a little tour of Dearborn. And to my delight, this. Like hundreds of dogs, all on their best behavior and strutting their stuff.

We then wound our way to Hines and headed back. Into the wind. And my butt started to hurt. I told M that I thought I needed to stop to eat something and he said to wait and I pouted. Which means I pushed much less hard on the pedals. Up the hill. But M was determined to get to the stop he had designated and was not giving in. I threatened to pass out and fall off the bike. Nope. Then we got to the stop and I pouted a bit more until I saw this cute little bird who was feeding her babies and we had to be friends again so I could show M the bird. Also, I ate an apple which always improves my mood. Also, M decided I really needed to eat some more substantial food so we should stop in Northville to get lunch. And gluten-free lemon cake from Tuscan Cafe. See, I had to be nice after that.

We made it to Northville. I am not going to pretend I didn't start having a little discussion about my butt and how it was tired of the bike seat. And I doubt M would pretend that he didn't just ignore me. We were at 50+ miles and the longest training ride we had done this year so far was just under 40. So I was getting a bit tired.

Before breakfast, we stopped into Town & Country bike shop to check on the Cadabra. It's a long story, but M won it from Kona (through the Fat Cyclist) about a year ago. Apparently there were production or shipping or we never really figured it out delays. The rep kept saying the bike was coming and we kept waiting. You'll never guess - the bike had finally arrived! Of course, we couldn't take it with us since we were already on a bike, so we said we would come back later. An here's the best part - over lunch, M said we should go back the shortest route so he could hop in the van and come back to get the bike. HAHA! Saved by the bike!

We still had a bit of a ride in front of us, plus a stop at CVS to pick up Epson salts for my planned long recovery bath, but we made it. We hopped in the van and went right back to Northville (weird) and fetched the new cool bike. I got the have the first ride in the parking lot. It has a full suspension and is all bouncy. Cool!

Than, the biggest surprise of all, I went home and didn't fall over and die. I gardened until it was dark.

Sunday: 24.something. Let's just say 25.

We arrived at the TNT team meeting place at just before 8. The team was not riding until 8:30, but M had to work later so we were starting off early and cutting it short. We rode for an hour when I decided I was just done. In no uncertain terms. Apparently my bike shorts had rubbed on my butt cheek the day before in a weird way and I was not pleased (TMI?) And we still had to go all the way back. I felt guilty until M said he hadn't thought he was going to get me to ride as far as he had, so I decided that he had gotten a bonus and we headed back. We passed the team going in the opposite direction and everyone yelled go team. Yep, we are a cult, but a good one.

I went home and napped. A lot!

Then went to buy a plant. Which apparently means three plants and two little 4-packs of herbs.

So there you have it. Training. And I have heard a rumor that there will be more next weekend.