Zombies Don't Like Pizza

That is my interpretation of what we found on the road today during our training ride. When you find not one, but two pizzas, one completely untouched, abandoned by the road within 3 miles of each other, you have to start making assumptions because, come on people, this is suspicious!

So my first and most logical assumption was, last night, while we slept, the Zombie Apocalypse happened. Upon finding these perfectly good pizzas while munching on the brains of hapless pizza delivery guys, those aforementioned zombies pitched those pizzas right out the car window. Probably couldn't stand the smell of pepperoni (see first photo).

So I'm going to fashion myself a necklace of pepperoni and start wearing it just in case.

This is all that is left of the poor pepperoni pizza delivery guy.

Back in the Saddle

The Aerosmith way.

Cranking it up, getting back on the road and keeping the rubber side down!

How much fun can you have in a wheelchair?

It all depends on who's driving!

In true idiot girl fashion I did a full Tsukahara with a half twist in the shower and mangled my foot. After getting stitched up, drugged up and recovering my crutches from Jeff, with whom we have an injury timeshare, I promptly went home and did the e-mail version of drunk dialing. I sent a lovely graphic photo of the aforementioned mangled foot to my in-law family with the caption "Five stitches in the foot Bitches!" and went to bed. This left my poor spouse to host the subsequent Q&A session. Lucky for me they all have an excellent sense of humor which is why I love them so.

So now off my bike until further notice, I was going crazy and could feel my fat cells chuckling with glee over their new expansion program now that the zoning ordinances had been temporarily lifted. And what goes better with bad, trashy TV when you're stuck in the barcalounger than junk food?

Dave decided to take me to the Phoenix Art Museum and drive me around in the wheelchair for the afternoon. They offered me a Hoveround which I assured the guard was not a wise move on his part so I got the basic model. We navigated through shoals of field tripping gradeschoolers, jaws agape at the decommissioned chubby middle aged woman sending out mental sonar waves of "touch my foot and die horribly" ahead of her.

We found a ramp on the 2nd floor and Dave asked "where do you think this goes?" "Down?" I postulated slightly irritably, sensing with dread what was about to happen. "Hang on!" he whispered gleefully in my ear and he hopped on the back of the chair and off we zoomed down the ramp with him braking Fred Flintstone style toward a block glass wall. We came to a stop inches from the wall only to encounter a second ramp to the first level. OOOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOO!!! We flew down the rest of the way and arrived at the bottom with me giggling, cursing and disheveled. We were lucky we didn't get booted out for using the museum as a skate park.

Then I flew to Denver for a friend reunion. We went to see the Denver Botanical Gardens and my wonderful girlfriends spent the afternoon pushing me around in the wheelchair. We went up ramps, off road, over flagstones all the time giggling and snorting and making bad driver jokes. I trust them with my life, but I bought lunch just in case so they would feel extra guilty if they decided to dunk me in the lily pond.

Sorry Johnny Hoogerland, Crashing Through Barbed Wire is So Last Century.

Yep, that's right Johnny. I made crashing through a barbed wire fence on my bike cool before you were even born. Okay, so riding your bike to band practice with a clarinet hooked over your handle bars isn't exactly riding in the Tour de France but this might be my only claim to cycling crash fame. It was pretty cool too because according to one completely horrified neighbor, you could lift the bottom part of my nose right off my face like some awesomely crafted gross Halloween mask. 32 little micro-stitches applied by a bad tempered plastic surgeon to sew that sucker back in place.

Sorry, but there is no You Tube video footage - just ask my mom, she'll tell you in gory detail.
Just in case you missed it Hoogerland's attempt to steal my thunder.

Carol's Challenge is Official!

Two Women, two days, 140 miles through the desert from Cardon Children's Hospital in Mesa, Arizona to Beads of Courage HQ in Tucson! October 22nd and 23rd, 2011 we will be riding for the children of Beads of Courage to bring hope and healing.

Show the love by making a donation on either the Crowdrise Carol's Challenge Ride page or by sponsoring a bead kit on the Team Beads of Courage page. Scroll all the way down to Team Beads of Courage Supporter, select "Send to Team Member" and then select "Carol's Challenge" in the second drop down. Kiersten and I will be sent beads to carry for the strands of children in treatment!

El Tour de Mesa

April 16th, 2011. Kiersten and I rode this one together - it was her first organized ride for Team Beads of Courage! She killed that hill on Usery Pass.

Spring Is In The Air!

The sun is shining, the birds are tweeting, the acacias are blooming and my bones are warming - 79 degrees yesterday! Having Fibromyalgia means having a painful time with winter and I went into hibernation for awhile. But now that the weather is warming up it's time to ride! I went out yesterday with Dave to stretch my legs and enjoy the sunshine.

My friend Kiersten and I are riding for Team Beads of Courage in the El Tour de Mesa this year. Kiersten is amazingly brave and beautiful and strong and one of my heroes. She beat breast cancer and is riding her bike and kicking butt! GO Kiersten, GO!!