What would you do???

So, on Monday I took the Major on a 25 mile road ride. My ride was great until about 2 miles from home. I was approaching a RED light and noticed a car from the left lane swerve over into my lane and proceed to cut me off and place his Jeep Wrangler tire on the curb. The light was RED . I proceeded to unclip and move around him, to the sidewalk. He rolled down his passenger window and pointed to the sidewalk and informed me, with rage, " the F***ing sidewalk is where you belong you dumb bitch". Hmmmm. I slid my glasses down my nose and thinking out loud, looked him square in the eyes and said" you are a misinformed douchebag" and turned my body away from him and toward Hwy N waiting for the light to change. He revved his engine and hopped off the curb and rolled to the white line. I thought he would take off first, but he waited for me to go and swerved at me as we were crossing Hwy N. Several motorists honked as I felt my heart beat nearly outta my chest. If I was a guy would he have said that? Was he just mad at his mother and feeling a little macho? I was going to let it go until I saw him at QT. I rolled past him and asked him " who do you think you are? My husband is a Ofallon police officer and would be very upset if you hit his wife and mother of his 4 yr old." He just looked at me stupidly and said " Im sorry" He was only embarrassed that I was a little loud and other people at QT heard me . Any other time there is at least one cop at QT. I would have talked to a cop and filed charges if there had been one there. What would the charges have been? He did not hit me, just pretended to. Harassment? Maybe.

Jim, not an Ofallon cop, suggested that I take a picture with my phone next time and report him. Good idea, but I hope there is not a next time. I would like to thank Mr. Brazil for starting this outrage in our community. Whether people agree or disagree with the cycling ban still does not give anyone the right to run a cyclist off the road or pretend to . Plus, I was not in any of the areas in question so why was this guy so mad at me? He did not have to go around me or slow down and he came into my lane . So, how would you have handled this?

Truthfully, my first instinct was to climb through his window and punch him for calling me a dumb bitch. I know that was my gut reaction and I am glad I did not go with it. However, next time he may not get off so easy. I throw a pretty good right and plan to follow with a quick left, so I feel sorry for the next guy.

The Long Weekend

After dropping Syd off Thurs, a huge smile overcame me. The long weekend with the hubby was about to begin, that was after Dirt Crit #3. Arriving early is key for these last few races, since there were over 200 people this week. Gearing was 38x17 and I hoped it would help me kick ass in my first B race. It was not in the cards for Jim, and he went down right in front of me at the start. He was able to sandbag in the C race and take 2nd. I was not last in the B race so I was happy. Plus, I did finally catch my rabbit, ( Traci ) on the last lap. I think if it had been longer I would have passed more riders, but whatever. And 38x17 was not the right gear either.

Its rare that Jim and I go out for drinks and dinner, especially without Syd. So, we took full advantage and went to Kitaro. I ate so much I felt like I was going to explode. After dinner we headed over to Friar Tucks to pick up some Woodford Reserve, bourbon, to have as a night cap. Yum. As we drank in our garden we discussed several options of what to do with our remaining 36 hours. We agreed on one thing. We would go wherever, as long as we did it on bikes.

Saturday morning, about 830, we filled our cups with coffee and bourbon and headed back to the garden to plan our epic bike ride. We would leave from our house and head to the Katy Trail. The actual destination was not set, we were just going to let it unfold. Just wing it, no plan, not what we usually do. After packing our backpacks with H2o, Hennesy Hammocks,spare socks,a pop tart , one granola bar, toothbrushes, change of clothes, and a sheet, we were off. This was going to be fun, I had no idea how much.

We rolled into Defiance, about 22 miles from home, and treated ourselves to a couple beers. We were only 6 miles from Augusta and another bar so we did not hang out long. Arriving in Augusta we were starved and spent way too much time and $$$ there. We hopped back on our bikes and headed for Herman. Neither one of us knew how far Herman was from Augusta. Now we do. Both of us felt good, maybe the beer talking, so we werent really worried. We had our hammocks and we were surrounded by trees right? I soon realized that the mosquitoes were hungry so that was motivation enough to keep pedaling. It was a beautiful night. If the moon had been a little fuller we would have not needed our lights.

At one point, outside of Marthasville , Jim said " maybe another 20 minutes or so and we should be in Herman." I think he really believed that and wanted it to be true. It wasn't, it was more like 20 miles. It was even funnier when he said " I had no idea that this would require such an effort". I full belly laughed at this point. I was doing something I loved with someone I loved, even though we had no idea where we were or where we were going to sleep, or where our next meal was coming from, I was having the best time of my life. Usually I would be very nervous with this situation. It was totally out of my comfort zone, but strangely I felt ok with it.

We arrived in Herman and stopped at the gas station to refuel. The station was closing in 15 minutes so we made our selections quickly and rolled to the City Park to spend the night. We were unable to hang our hammocks since there are no trees close together. We slept on picnic tables, not exactly comfortable but welcome to my tired, sore body.  We were entertained by the police in the wee hours of the morning. They gave us a once over and decided two cyclists wrapped up naked in sheets were not s threat.  I don't know what was going on but it kept them busy for about 2 hours.  Who knew? Wake up was about 530am. I glanced at my kit hoping it was dry.  Neither of our kit were dry but that turned out to be the least of our worries. We stopped at Hardees for coffee and headed out. The sky looked like rain, but someone assured me that it was going the other way. He was a fucking LIAR.

We rode for about 4 miles until the sky unloaded on us. Funny thing tho, Jim had acquired an umbrella yesterday about 3 miles into our ride. I made fun of him as he dragged it along. It came in handy, kind of. The rain was a super soaker. We huddled under the umbrella in the middle of the trail until it was evident that we needed more shelter. We were being beat to death with big rain, heavy rain.  It sucked.  Jim was able to scramble up a hill and put up the tarp from the hammock.  We stayed under it for about 30 minutes.  As the rain let up in intensity we sucked it up and rode in the rain. Jim is the only person I could have done this with. We shared stories of how miserable our rears were and reminded each other how much fun we were having.

We stopped at Peers for sandwiches , much cheaper than the day before and just as tasty. We were heading out when one of the residents had returned to the store with 2 pairs of " farm socks " for us. How nice was that? She had overheard Jim say how nice fresh socks would be and she ran home to get us a pair. We stayed dry the rest of the mileage home, however, it really warmed up around 3pm and the last 2 hours was a struggle but we made it home.  

Whew! Round trip was 131 miles! Jim completed his first century and then some... I pushed 38x17 and Jim rode the Major at 42x18. Yeah, were badasses.

Why Me?

LEAVES OF THREE "leave them be"

Since the entire universe of cyclists read Team Seagals blog, I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight and even risk being know as "the chick that had poison ivy in her vag". So, after you are done laughing I will give you an education. Poison Ivy is no joke. People who are allergic know the suffering I speak of. There was no physical training this week. Very frustrating after just getting back on the bike 2 weeks ago. However, a lot of mental training was attained and will be tapped later this year.

I don't know how I got the ivy. I am glad it was me instead of my daughter. We were playing in the same rocks and water all weekend. I got it on Sat, the 3rd.  By Mon. the 5th it started bothering me, big time. My Dr. was not open due to the holiday. Shit. The rash on my stomach I can deal with.  But the " inconvenient location" was something I was really having trouble sucking up. By Tues. I would have done anything to stop this torture. Even something Stupid.

Copied off thr internet

I decided to give google a try and see if there was anything I could do to alleviate the itching and burning that was now consuming me. That was a huge mistake. People often post anything and everything on the net and when you are desperate you will often believe it. This one guy posted that he got in the tub and covered himself in bleach and then followed it up with some rubbing alcohol. He said he felt it helped the itch, however had a piece of advice for those planning to follow in his footsteps. He suggested that you lay down in the tub, so while you are going through this mind numbing pain that you will not fall and knock yourself out like he did. I am not that adventurous so I passed on that one. I then researched some home remedies. Aloe, didnt have any. Ice, very very cold. Vinegar. Thats it. I put a small amount on my belly. Not too bad. Slight tingle. Wait 15 seconds. Apply to everywhere "down there". Ok. Should I have diluted the vinegar? Wait. Oh no!! Thats my stomach on fire. That means, OOOOOh. I am only glad that no one saw the show I put on. This is by far the dumbest and most painful thing I have done yet. Tears streamed down my face while I jumped around trying to get air moving "down there". I know that you are enjoying this. Its ok. Now that its almost over, I can appreciate how hilarious it really is. 

The following are my suggestions if you find yourself with poison ivy. 

1. Clean your skin immediately with soap, water, spit, beer, anything you can get you hands on

this will help get the oils of the ivy off of your skin. TECNU is a good wash to have on hand

2. Burn those clothes. Never wear them again.

3. Cut your fingernails. Oil will be hard to remove from them, so just cut them off.

4. Go to your Dr. immediately if you have it on or near your "business"

You will most likely get a steroid shot that will smart a bit, some cream,{ that you can not use on your genitals} and a script for some Prednisone.

The only thing you can use to get relief is Calamine lotion. Keep it in the Fridge. Cold feels good.

5. Do not do anything that will make you sweat. Seriously. You will itch like crazy.

6. Take all your meds and it will be over in about 9 days if you are lucky.

Here is a great link to identifying poison ivy 

Damnit!!

Being new to the blogosphere I just learned that your blogs are placed in order by the date you start them, not when you finish them. My gross Hospital Pics are posted now 3 blogs back. Sorry, remember I am new to this.

Dirt Crits........ HELL YEAH

I should have realized there was going to be a problem when I woke up Thurs. morning to my 4 yr old asking " what time is the kids race "? No kidding. Sydney has been riding her lil legs off. I had to prop them up on pillows Tues night. I ran behind her while she rode 5 miles during the day. Whew! I need to get faster. When Daddy got home we did another 2 miles around the hood. I knew I would have to sign up for the C race after we arrived. There was no way I could have pried Syd off her bike to watch me ride mine. After signing up I felt like a sandbagger. It didnt help to have several people point out to me that " you are better than that"either. The C race was over before I knew it . And I know that I did not belong there. I had a great time, Ralph really knows how to put it ALL together doesnt he? Dirt Crit #2 will happen without Syd and Connor with a better gear set-up. I was not sure what would be the best gearing for a flat course, so I went with a 38x20. I definitely needed more in the front, or less in the back. Possibly a 38x18 or a 40x20. Hmmmm. Still figuring this SS stuff out.

And Yes, I will be in the B race. So, listen for the bell dinging behind you, thats me catching your ass. You certainly dont want to get passed by a bike with a bell, do ya?