Tag Archives: bike

WHY BIKE?

To donate to Liz’s Bike to Build at NBSS, click here.

WHY BIKE?

  • I am a girl, and girls bike.
  • To move the body that God gave me.
  • To feel peace.
  • To feel alive.
  • To reduce traffic and smog.
  • To raise money.
  • To raise hopes.
  • To inspire and perspire.
  • To boost endorphins.
  • My mom told me I could do anything I set my mind to.
  • It’s never too late to try something new.
  • A challenge at any age is good for the soul.
  • I’m in the moment when I’m on my bike.
  • I like the feeling of sunshine on my face and wind at my back.
  • The world slows down for me when I am on my bike.
  • I feel closer to God and all my lost love ones.
  • When gliding down a steep hill, I feel like I’m flying on the wings of the angels (pictured below).
  • I prefer the view of the earth when I am on two wheels.
  • I like seeing my shadow hard at work.
  • I can hear the birds tweet, the crickets sing, woodpeckers peck, frogs croak, dogs bark, children play, waves crash, and leaves rustle.
  • I can smell fresh cut grass, flowers in bloom, scent of breakfast wafting out the windows, tides shifting, and rain approaching.
  • I can see families having picnics, dogs running playfully through fields, beautiful summer homes peeking over the coastline and farmhouses nestled in the valley.
  • Because I’m a girl, and girls can do anything.

The angels are pictured below (me not included)…and for those who know these three, I know you are laughing that I used the word angel to reference my brother.

Memorial Day 2

Here are a few pics of some of my favorite homes along my last 30 mile ride…

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To donate to Liz’s Bike to Build at NBSS, click here.

BODY IN SHOCK

If you would like to contribute to Liz’s Bike to Build to NBSS Fund, click here.

YES, MY BODY IS OFFICIALLY IN SHOCK! Not the kind when one witnesses some kind of traumatic, earth shattering, or life-threatening event…more the kind of shock your car might go into if you have been filling it for years with el cheapo gas from Paco’s Petroleum Stop and then inject it with Mobile’s high test fuel for a month. The last six weeks or so I have been trying to eat a little better…not a crash diet, but a lifestyle change if you will…the DASH Diet to be more specific. After turning 40, I started counting the years I have left and thinking about the changes I want to make with the time I am allotted…morbid I know. I thought of when I was first diagnosed with hypertension at 15 years old and my doctor recommended I try the DASH diet, a recommendation that was made dozens of times since. Unfortunately, their recommendations fell on deaf ears and I’ve spent years throwing whatever food I craved down my garbage disposal without a care in the world. Over the last two years, as the fertility Gods let us down repeatedly and the stork continued to evade us, I was eating ice cream as if my last breath depended on it. These eating habits with some resulting weight gain and a general lack of exercise, led me to the point I am in now…BODY IN SHOCK! Not only is my body wondering what the foreign green leafy substances are that have been greeting it at least once daily as of late, but it is reading me the riot act for the ambitious weight lifting I started this week. Did I mention that it has been at least two years since I lifted weights and exercised with any degree of consistency?

If you are picturing graceful resistance training with bands or even high-end personal training lifting kettle bells or balancing on yoga balls, that is not what I am doing. I am standing in front of my closet mirrors with my 1980’s barbells and dumbbells at 7:00 a.m. every other morning and doing my best to recall my high school physical education weight training exercises….bent over rows, bicep curls, overhead press, squats, dead lifts…are we done yet? It is a work in progress, as am I. I will add a few more exercises each week, and I will hopefully notice some definition by September 2nd when the NBSS doors open to me. Needless to say, I am not walking quite right this week!

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The benefits of having a compulsive personality, even a recovering one, with a side of ADHD, are the enthusiasm and intensity with which I approach any task/challenge I am interested in. In other words, if I am in, I am in WHOLE HOG!For example, once I decided that I will be riding my bicycle to NYC to raise money for both school and charity, I jumped on the computer and downloaded training schedules, mapped out my route electronically and the old fashioned way, made lists of the items I need to bring and those I need to purchase, laid  out my daily exercise plan between now and August 15th when I set off on my journey, joined Adventure Cycling and Map my Ride, had my bike overhauled, signed up for Web Hosting Hub and then Word Press, listed a fundraising page on YouCaring.com, started this blog, and advertised it all on Facebook and email. The bulk of this was done within the first 48 hours because that is how I roll…fast and furious, and the details have continued to be worked out since.

Now that I think of it, my body isn’t the only thing in shock….my mind is as well. Considering for almost three years I have hyperfocused on doing everything in my power to will myself to get pregnant, it is truly SHOCKING for my mind to have been relieved of that obsession. Whether or not I have been relieved of that obsession or have just replaced that with another one…well the jury is still out on that! Happy riding, lifting, and whole hogging it!

If you would like to contribute to Liz’s Bike to Build to NBSS Fund, click here.

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