"FOLLOW MISS BAGGY BUTT"

30 July 2002

Jeri and Haggie, with SF in the back

No one ever in my life has called me "baggy butt." But my $60 skin-tight spandex biking shorts are starting to be loose and I suppose Olivia wasn't that far off when she told Jeri and Haggie to "follow Miss Baggy Butt" down the bike path.

Yesterday was Jeri's first "Boob" ride and it was such fun. I had made arrangements to go riding in Alameda with her. I wasn't sure if Olivia, fresh from surgery, was ready to hop on a bike again, but she was, so she planned to join us. And then as I was riding to Alameda, the cell phone rang and it was Haggie telling me she was going to join us as well. So it was a foursome that set out from Olivia's apartment for Bay Farm Island in Alameda.

This was a nice "toodle," as Haggie calls a no-stress ride. The weather was gorgeous, San Francisco gleamed off on the horizon, the "suicidal squirrels" that Haggie and I encountered last time were all out sunning themselves on the rocks this time, seemingly oblivious to those big beings pumping their legs on round looking things.

We did the periphery of the island and then headed back to the bike bridge that would take us back to Alameda. Haggie, who is looking ahead to her first century ride in October, needed more mileage, so she left us to go circle the island again (at, I suspect, a faster clip without the rest of us).

Olivia, Jeri and I stopped at Subway to get some lunch, then I sat and waited at Olivia's while Jeri played the closing performance of Alameda Civic Light Opera's production of A Chorus Line. (Talk about being a one-man band. She played the clarinet, sax, flute and piccolo in this production, as the only reed player in the group.)

At the end of the show, I picked her up to take her back to the house where she's been staying. We played with "George," the kitten for awhile; some friends brought hamburgers for us all to have dinner, and then I headed home, getting home a lot later than I anticipated when I left in the morning.

I managed to get some work done, but went to sleep a bit early because I had a big bike trip planned for first thing Monday morning. My dentist, who is also my friend, had made arrangements with me to bike at 5 a.m. and she showed up right on time. We put in 14.4 miles and will probably do this 2 or 3 times a week.

It was a terrific workout for me. None of this ride-a-bit-stop-a-bit-take-a-picture kind of ride. This was exercise from the minute we got on the streets. We went 11-12 mph nonstop for an hour and a half, except when we had to stop to get bearings, or hit a dead end and had to turn around.

We did a lot of the same route that I covered on Saturday (at a much more leisurely pace), but we also did two things I've been putting off, thinking I couldn't handle them. Those would be hills. One is an underpass which is the main entrance to town. It's been the biggest "hurdle" that has kept me from investigating bike paths in South Davis. But it turned out that it was a piece o'cake. The downhill preceding the uphill was so steep that I practically coasted to the top of the other side.

But that wasn't the biggie.

The biggie is a bike overpass which goes over I-80. This is a long slope which isn't that steep except at the very top, but just looking at it from afar made me avoid it. When Cindy suggested we go that route, I said OK, and that I'd probably have to walk the bike. "That's ok," she said cheerily, as she set off up the hill.

I remembered what Haggie learned from her bike group: don't look at the hill; just look at the road directly ahead of you. That way, you aren't thinking about how much farther you have to go. It's a psychological trick, but it worked. I had to downshift almost to the lowest gear by the time I got to the top. I was just barely inching along, gritting my teeth, sweating like a stuck pig, and saying "you can DO this...you can DO this..." over and over again.

And by God, I DID IT!!!!!! Such an amazing feeling of accomplishment.

Cindy asked if I wanted to tackle the big overpass I've been avoiding, the one between here and my office, but we'd already gone 12 miles and my knees were feeling it, so I opted for going through the tunnel under the railroad tracks rather than the overpass over them.

Best of all, at the end of the ride, I was still keeping up Cindy's pace. We made plans to do the whole thing again on Wednesday. I had the best time! I'm soaked with sweat and my knees know they've had a workout, but I'm hardly even breathing hard.

I really have come a long way, Baby.

Maybe I'd better get some better fitting biking shorts.

Quote of the Day

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.

- Louis D. Brandeis

Picture of the Day

One Year Ago
Butt Weary
It was actually a very productive day (depending on what you consider "productive"!) but all of it was done sitting here and I really am butt weary at the end of this day.

(what a difference year makes, huh??)

Two Years Ago
Must the Show Go On?
In all honesty, I could live the whole rest of my life without ever seeing HMS Pinafore again.

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