Wake up and smell the bluebonnets

Rather an uneventful week so I’m thinking I should fill you all in on the leg drama but first I have to tell you about another wee boy at school. He has literally just turned three and is super cute. We were out on the playground and he comes over to me and started to throw his ball at me and being the nice lady that I am I threw it back this went on for a while (it felt like an eternity for me) but he was having a great time. He stops throwing the ball, looks at me and says “Mrs. Weatherly you’re not fat” well I was killing myself laughing. Where did that come from? so I asked him “Do you read my blog?” he just looked at me and started throwing the ball again. Too funny! I guess three year olds don’t know when you’ve been on a diet and they don’t know to say your losing weight but you know what, that really made my day.

Back to the leg. Well, I’m still in pain but down to one muscle relaxant and one anti-inflammatory at night and the odd pain killer during the day so I think I’m on the mend, but by Thursday I was fed up with it and almost out of drugs (these drugs are seriously interfering with my drinking!) so I called the doctor and ended up with another appointment on Friday. However I took reinforcements with me - Smug Git came for backup. Once again she checks out the leg and writes me a prescription for my drugs then SG asks her about getting some exercises to do but no she decides to get me an x-ray and puts me on a course of steroids and then depending on the x-ray physio. So all in all a good visit to the doctor hopefully after this it will be better.

Day one of my two rides this weekend was Chappell Hill and believe me when I tell you it has the perfect name. Oh my God this was by far the hardest ride I have done to date. 44 miles of one hill after the other. They were rolling hills, up and down, up and down. It was exhausting but I’m extremely happy to say I made all the hills. But there was one part of the ride that was a gravel road for about a mile (felt like it was about 5 miles) again it was another hill! Lots of smart people got off their bikes and walked up the hill. I however did not get off my bike. Why not? I hear you all say, Well I’m clipped in and I was going too slow to clip out (I have to be coasting to clip out) so I had to struggle very slowly up and very scarily down. I can honestly say I was terrified I was going to fall it was so slippery but I did it!

The weather on Saturday was fantastic, a beautiful 82 degrees with no wind. The perfect weather for a bike ride and the wild flowers and bluebonnets were spectacular, you must really try and go see them and they smell so, so nice.

It was a huge relief to get to the end of that ride and when we got back the lovely firemen (see told you putting my lippy, perfume and earrings in would be worth it) were there and had the burgers cooked but y’all will be happy to note I stayed away from the chips this time. By the time I got home I was exhausted and fit for nothing so I lazed about on the sofa. Smug Git offered me a beer and - wait for it… I said no! Now that is how tired I was! At precisely 10:03pm I was ready for my bed and could not imagine where I was going to find the energy to do 55 more miles tomorrow. I said to SG just as I was getting ready I think I’ll be sleeping by 10:25pm. I had just nodded off when I had a dream that I was falling off my bike because you guessed it I didn’t clip out on time and I jumped and woke myself up. SG was laughing because you know what time it was? Yup 10:25pm funny!

Day two Sunday I could not believe it when the alarm went off I had slept all night with no pain. Well unless you call getting up at 3:15am to let the damaged cat out pain (pain in the ass more like) it was great I felt really rested but I was still not looking forward to the ride and the worst thing is you don’t really need to make up your mind how far you want to go till you’ve cycled for a bit. But I had decided 55 at the start of the week so 55 it was! Again the weather was fantastic and it was a rolling start which means you don’t all have to bunch up at the start, you just go to the start line and set off when you are ready. Very civilized, oh I could get used to this. The first rest stop was 17 miles out but we set off at a great pace and the roads were flat and we made it there in no time. It was great, oh my god I think I can do this. The rest of the ride was pretty much the same but I have to say the last 11 miles were tough, I was beginning to wilt again but I gave it all I had and we finished the ride with a weekend record of 100 miles and my pace today was 13mph, another record. So all in all a rather good biking weekend!

This week I’ve included some more pictures so you can see how beautiful Texas really is and hopefully it might encourage some of you to think about doing this with me next year.

Serious Bit…

I can’t believe I’m saying this but it’s only 4 more weekends till the ride and there is still time if you would like to donate to this very worthwhile cause it’s very easy just follow the link at the bottom and it will take you to my page.
A big thank you to all of my family and friends who have done this already I could not do this with out you.

And I know that money is tight for everyone and if you can’t give money please look on the MS150 web site and think about maybe giving some time that weekend to volunteer. I think you’d have a great time and without the volunteers the ride could not go ahead.

Thanks for reading it means the word to me that you all care.

Here is my link http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/izzi

See y’all next week… love Iz