There is No Place Like Home (Bird Watching: The Mallard)

Upon arriving home after a spring break trip I breathed a sigh of relief - I'm home. After falling into bed and a wonderful, fitful sleep I awoke to a light dusting of snow - of course - spring in the Midwest. As I left my front door to sleepily walk to get the paper I noticed a wood duck staring at me out from under a bush next to the house under my front window. "No Way!", I thought. While we were gone this little duck "adopted" our home. Clearly she was not moving from her nest. As I wandered down the drive way I kept wondering how long she had been there. Clearly she had, had the past week to make herself at home. And at home she now was. As the day wore on I kept checking on my "house guest". She was faithfully there on her nest huddling behind the bush as light snow fell consistently through out the day. Days turned to weeks. She continued to sit on her nest day and night faithfully guarding her eggs and protecting them from the weather. Periodically she would wander away, generally at night. Once off the nest it was clear eggs were present; but how many was not known. After a couple of weeks I gazed out at her to suddenly see six heads poking out from under her body. She had finally given birth. Her brood must have contained at least 11 eggs. Within days she began leading her newly hatched ducklings to the pond. A proud mother who for a few short weeks faithfully stayed at home. In time, this mother and the father decided that home was not so bad. Once our pool was opened, the duck family returned to their home. This time, rather than nesting in the front yard below the window near the foundation of the house, they decided to take up residence in the pool.  I'm glad to know that our backyard has become a sanctuary for God's creatures.  To learn more about the mallard, click here. 

Let the Training Begin

Finally spring is here. The Sunday ride was awesome. Today was my day to focus on my riding. There is riding to ride and riding as training. Today I'm training. At Christmas, during a trip to Chicago, I visit the Garmin store - mistake (not according to Garmin). I was in awe of the wonderful technology that allows us to map everything and to use those map to lead us anywhere and everywhere. And now.....to help us train. Garmin has developed a GPS, Heart monitor, speedometer et al. that can help the serious athlete train. But wait, I'm not a serious athlete! Nooooo, but I am a "gadget girl". And the more precise the better. So 30 minutes later I walked out of the Garmin store and down Michigan Avenue proudly holding my Garmin bag with my new GPA "watch" for bicyclist, runners, triathletes, and probably much more. So, today was my day to focus on the benefits of this new Garmin. Today I decided to ride less and focus on my cadence and keeping it consistent. This Garmin can record information and transfer it to my computer and let me "study" my training data. My daily job lets me work with data and now I can take that passion and transfer it to my "hobby". So after a shorter 15 mile ride over 45 minutes I downloaded my "data" and looked at my cadence. Sure enough - it was much more steady than my first ride. I loved the little gadget as it keep me focused on my goal because rather than guess at whether or not I accomplished my goal a graph would pop up on my computer after my ride and I would see it, as recorded. I'm looking forward to this bicycling season.

A "Rite" of Spring

Finally. That was my thought when I left my office at work and descended the circular staircase enveloped by windows. The sun was shinning. The sky was a bright blue. Finally, a night to ride my bicycle. I set my cruse control on the way home to avoid a speeding ticket because I knew I was in a hurry to get home, get changed into my cycling gear, mount my ride and peddle, peddle, peddle. Once home I quickly let my dogs out. They know the routine. They know that look in my eye; the look that says "bring on the bicycle". They are amazingly intuitive; followed their routine, mounted the back of the couch to look out the window for the moment I round the corner on my way out and round the corner on my way back. YES, I live for this! (sorry MLB - the saying is better for bicycling then baseball). I mounted my bicycle, descended the drive way, clipped in and felt the wonderful feeling that comes from the wind in your face and the glide of your feet. The crisp 50 degree aid was marvelous. I rounded the final corner in the housing development and heading west into the sinking sun. I was so grateful for the "flat" terrane. Clearly all the running, weight lifting, elliptical, and stationary bicycling just doesn't provide the same work out as being on the bicycle. I knew I could peddle to my heart's content - or its exhaustion. I was encouraged to see several fellow cyclists along the route. We greeted each other was wide eyes and beaming smiles, "must be their first time out too". The Garmin clearly indicated that my cadence was less than smooth, and my legs didn't quite peddle with the same intensity of fall, but the odometer gloriously reported mile after glorious mile of bliss. At my turn around point I was amazed that I faced the same head wind that I thought I had just battled. Gotta love those open corn fields and swirling spring winds. I purposely choose an east-west route so I could work a little less on the return trip. Tonight it was not to be. However, that did not dampen the wonderful feeling of being back on the bicycle for the first time in many months. As I neared the housing development and the sun moved closer to the horizon, I was sadden that this first ride had to come to an end - then my legs quickly reminded me that tonight I peddled 18 more miles than I had in several months.

Alternative Cycling

Today I awoke to a balmy 33 degrees with rain-snow mix. Not a day that would encourage me to get on my bike - either bike. Worse, I had just left 85 degrees and a sunny sky in central Florida. There I found a "fix" for my "bike withdrawal". I took to the seas for some water bicycling. These three wheeled wonders are marvelous on water. While not quite what I had in mind it was a wonderful alternative to sitting around and waiting for bicycling weather. When the beach wasn't an option I took to visiting Harley-Davidson dealers around the central Florida area. One of my favorite locations was "Jim's on the Beach". A little HD apparel shop located along the St. Petersburg Beach area. Here I could renew my longing to ride by selecting from one of the many awesome T-shirts. What is so special about ANOTHER HD T-shirt? The back! While my friends sit and wonder how I could add another T-shirt to my "collection", my HD friends totally get it. I guess the saying, "If I have to explain you wouldn't get it", totally applies. At Jim's on the Beach I found a wonderful T-shirt with a design on the back that displayed a Harley on a surfboard riding the waves. Too cool! Another wonderful location was the HD dealer on Clearwater Beach. Again, just another apparel shop, but the T-Shirts were wonderful. The back design includes a HD bike rolling down a pirates plank toward a beach with a treasure chest filled with "riches". While I was there I made a trek to Lakeland, Florida; my "old" stomping ground while in college (our spring training location for softball) to visit the Harley dealer. While the T-shirts weren't as cool, it was great to have the store pin for my vest. The store pin will be a wonderful reminder of good times, great friends and college! While all of these wonderful adventures were great distractions, they are no substitute for cycling....so I am counting down the days to warmer weather so I can bicycle and motorcycle until my heart is content.

Parasailing

One thing I have always wanted to do is Parasail.  I'm afraid of heights. Consequently, when I suggested to Judy that I wanted to Para sail in Florida she didn't take me seriously. Until I walked down to the beach, signed up for a time, and paid the money. As we walked down to the boat the morning of my scheduled parasail, I grew more and more excited. It looked like fun; and St. Pete's Beach would be a great location. Awesome views of the Bay, Tampa, and the Gulf awaited. The morning was cloudy and very breezy. When I arrived at the parasail location the attendant explained that the parasail was sufficiently large that at least two people needed to go. So he asked Judy if she wanted to join me. Next thing I know, she has committed to a flight! Of course, she rationalized it as doing it for me since she didn't want some "stranger" joining me. We boarded the boat and heading out on the gulf. Our driver and assistant weren't sure if the conditions were right. But once we were far enough off shore, the assistant readied us - life jacket and harness. Next, he deployed the shoot. When the boat was dragged backwards by the shoot. We were both convinced that the conditions weren't right and glad the assistant and drive agreed too. The assistant brought the shoot back into the boat and we departed back to the shore. Upon de-boating, we knew that our adventure had to wait until the winds died down.  Later that day the winds turned more favorable.  We trekked back down to the parasail area, boarded the boat and headed back out into the Gulf.  This time the assistant ready both us and the parasail. He clipped us in. We sat on the back of the boat, clipped into the sail, and the driver took off. Suddenly the wind grabbed the sail and we quickly ascended. The wind caught the sail so quickly we were both surprised. As we rapidly ascended to 1000 feet, it became apparent that 1000 feet is one whale of a long way up! But the view was awesome! We could see Tropicana Field and the high rise buildings of downtown St. Petersburg. The beaches were beautiful. The boat was a small speck below as we slowly and peacefully drifted over the Gulf of Mexico. This was so worth it!  Judy kept looking down in awe of our height. Thinking about that would have just freaked me out so I kept looking out over the beautiful peninsula. The water below was a wonderful greenish-blue. The sky above was a deep blue with spotted clouds. A perfect day. The ride lasted 15 minutes, which seemed way to quick for me. The beauty and grace of the event is etched into my memory forever. A great experience that I'm so glad to have shared and enjoyed.