Cycling in May: Shoes & Sharks

194.819 Miles May was a good month for cycling, but end of the school year happenings and bad weather kept me from riding as much as I wanted to.  School ends in 3 days and I can't wait to put some big miles on The Rocket.  July 10th is just around the corner and that 100 miles isn't going to ride itself!!!

1 Cheer Dog: On May 1st, I rode the Shasta Wheelmen metric century.  It took me all around my favorite places in Shasta County.  In fact the route passed right by Abby's house.  You may remember Abby from last month.  She's the one I went to see the Ellen show with.  She's also a crazy tough mountain biker.  So naturally I stopped at her house to eat snacks and use her nice clean bathroom.  Much to my delight, my best dog friend, Kaia, was there cheering me on.

And just in case one wasn't enough, here's the other side of her shirt:



1 Shoe Mix-Up:  In an effort to combat the rain, I went to spin class as much as possible.  One particular day I'd left work shortly after my students, had a nice sit on my couch and then leisurely pulled on my spin gear.  I got to the gym 15 minutes early.  Surely, I deserved some award for having super-dominated my afternoon in such a way that I strolled to spin class, instead of doing the mad dash through the parking lot because I'm late.  As I was strolling through the parking lot, thinking about just what an awesome time manager superhero I am, I looked down at my feet and realized I'd put on my road bike shoes, not my spin shoes.  Shoot!  My road shoes don't work with spin bikes.  I scrambled back into my car, broke several speed limits on the way home, switched shoes, and raced back to the gym where I dashed through the parking lot and into class 15 minutes late.  Sometimes I just can't win.  To make up for my tardiness, I stayed for the next spin class, too.  Nothing like back to back spin classes to make me realize just how much more I should be riding!

A Handful of Sharks: The river trail by my house  is imprinted with cyclists along the sides of the path.  It's such a cool little trail.  Look how pretty it is in the evening.

[caption id="attachment_4095" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Photo courtesy of reallyredding.com"][/caption]

Now, I'm typically not a fan of graffiti, but sometimes it's beautiful, like this painting of Audrey Hepburn.  Sadly, she was recently painted over with drab, gray cement paint.  She was lovely and I miss seeing her on my river trail rides.

But back to the part of the trail by my house.  Last month, some clever graffiti artist stenciled sharks swimming along with the cyclists.  And you know how much I love sharks.  Shark week is my favorite week of the year, followed not that closely by Easter and in a distant third, Christmas.

Some of the graffiti sharks chomped on the cement legs of the cyclists.  There are even stenciled drips of blood.  I can't help but giggle every time I ride by.  Sharks on the river trail-ha!  Usually I only get that kind of science fiction mash-up when I'm flipping channels at 2:38am and it's either SciFi or infomercials.

So this month when I pedaled along the trail, I was tickled to find crabs painted near the sharks.  The sea turtles followed suit and then the seahorses rode into town.  The clown fish are the latest addition.  Frankly, I can't wait to see which animals join the menagerie in June!  That's what I love most about cycling.  There's always something new to see.  Something beautiful.  Something funny.  Something that makes me appreciate my corner of the world just a little bit more.

9 Donors With a month left until my big ride, I'd like to say thanks to Adam & Suzy C., Anita J., Betty C., Chris F., Janice L., John P., Joy G., Kathy V., Katie L., Krystle J., Laura G., Lynn J., and Tracy H. for donating to the LiveStrong Foundation on my behalf.  You've donated $470 on my behalf and I'm touched by your generosity.

$530 to Reach My Goal  If you'd like to make a donation on my behalf to help fund cancer research and treatment, please click here.  It's my honor to ride in support of and in memory of your loved ones.  Thanks so much for your support!

I look forward to telling you all about my cycling adventures in June!

Fondly,

Alicia