Auntie vs. the Bicycle: Round 4

I've been trying some new things with my cycling workouts.  I mentioned in an earlier post about trying a very good online spinning workout.  I even tried a ride at the Henry Farm trail with my friends Carmine and Susan.  Stupid me thought is was just another paved offshoot of the Ladiga Trail.  It's not; it's a mountain bike trail full of hills, rocks, and trees with their accompanying tree stumps.  After losing my water bottle, nearly hitting a tree (more than once), almost breaking the handlebars off the bike, and falling more distance than I was riding, I decided to put this on the "not again" list.  Carmine kept encouraging me, saying it was because of my bike (in the process I finished warping my back tire--a fact I didn't notice until months later).  I keep telling him that he could put me on the most expensive high-end mountain bike and I would still suck at the trail.  Susan kept telling him to get me off the trail before he killed me.  Oh well, the fun with my friends was worth the failure.

If you've been keeping up with my previous cycling/spinning adventures, you'll remember in Round 3, my friend Tamara and I started riding the Ladiga Trail whenever her schedule allowed.  Therein is the problem.  Tamara is a very busy wife and mom who home-schools her son, and travels frequently with her husband's job.  Because she was the one with the bike hitch (and later a bike I could borrow that didn't have a wobbly back wheel from aforementioned trip to Henry Farm), my rides have been at the mercy of her availability.

Anyone who knows me well recognizes that I do not like being too dependent on other people.  I don't want to be too clingy or inadvertently use people like I did in my 20's.  Fear of that happening again made me really antsy to find a bike hitch that fits my car and a bike without a warped wheel.  In my search for a hitch, the guy from one of our local bike shops said he might have one that fit a Honda Accord...for around $150!  This is the same guy who tried to sell me a $55 stationary trainer for over $300.  No thank you.  I found one online, but was hesitant to order it due to ever-tightening budget constraints.  So I just prayed about it and waited.

Cut to this weekend at the annual Honduras Medical Missions Trip yard/rummage sale fundraiser at my church.  Friday, I went by and looked around for a bargain.  I saw a treadmill, but the price was little more than I could spend.  One of the guys from CR told me to come back on Saturday because everything would be half price.  Sounded good to me.  I went back Saturday...and the treadmill was GONE!  Oh well.  So, I looked around for something else.  I found a bicycle that looked to be in pretty good shape.  The tires were flat, but they were also brand new (they still had the little rubber nubs on the sides).  It was only a few dollars, so I took a chance.  In the process of arranging for someone to bring the bike to my place, one of the guys told me that there was a universal bike carrier for sale.  WHAT?!  So I bought it and the guys attached it to the trunk of my car.  It fit just fine.  Well ain't that God at work?

After a little tweaking to the bike (switching out the 'naner seat that felt like my taint was slamming against a plank, with the seat from "wobbly," and raising the handlebars so I don't have steer with my knees) I hooked her up and planned for a Sunday evening ride.

It was so freeing to go out to the trail without having to wait on anyone and without them having to wait for me to catch up with them.  For safety, I check in and out with my friends through social media or texts.  I have several local friends who would rescue me (or bail me out of jail if I had to jack up someone for bothering me on trail).  I rode a leisurely 4.5 miles to try it out and it was glorious.  I also snapped a few pictures and saw some nice stopping spots what will be gorgeous once the spring blooms pop out.  I can't wait to get out there again, but right now, it's raining.

Auntie 4;  Bicycle 0

Five Minute Friday: "Crowd"

Thanks to Lisa-Jo Baker at Five Minute Friday for the prompts.

 

 

 

GO!

 

Crowds can be wonderful.  A big crowd at a fun event like a concert just intensifies the excitement.  Crowds can also be a pain in the butt.  A large crowd of angry shoppers keeps me away from the stores at certain times of the year (and month).  Leading a crowd in worship or speaking to a crowd is exhilarating to me because in that element, I feel that I am truly doing God's will.

 

I've never understood the phenomenon of being lonely in a crowd, yet there are times when I feel just like that.  I can't explain it; I can only fight the feeling or go home. 

 

I look at crowds of people sometimes and think, I wonder what's their story?  I wonder do they know Him.  I wonder what kind of pain they are hiding and will I ever get the opportunity to help.

 

It's amazing how there are hosts of humans on this planet, yet we are all unique and special to God as individuals.  We're not just one of the swarm of humans.  We are one in seven billion--the apple of God's eye!

 

TIMES UP!

 

Luck of the Scottish: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Want to join the party?  Go on over to From This Side of the Pond  for the Hodgepodge questions.

Do you have an interest in learning about your family's heritage? Why or why not? If you know a little bit about your roots, share an interesting piece of trivia or a fun fact about someone who goes way back on your family tree.

Honey, I'm some of everything!  I know a good bit about my mom's side of the family, but not my dad's side.  He never knew his father, and his mother died when he was young.  I have a friend who loves to research ancestries and found record of my grandfather, Lawson Maddox, but nothing more.  I don't know where he was from or what his ethnicity was.  I know I have, of course, African American, roots, but also Native American ones.  However, there's no accounting for where my yellow/bronze skin tones or dark blue eyes come from.  I'm of the firm belief that there's some Scottish in me somewhere.  Alba Gu Brath, y'all!

Branch Rickey, the baseball exec credited with signing Jackie Robinson, is quoted as saying- "Luck is the residue of design." Agree or disagree? Why?

I don't believe in luck.  I think it takes hard work to be truly successful in life.  Rush Limbaugh said "There's no such thing as luck. Luck is preparation that meets up with opportunity."  I believe that to be true.

In the town where you currently reside, what's your favorite green space?

The bank...no, not yet.  :)  The Chief Ladiga Trail.  There are so many different tableaux of beauty along the trail (pictures below).  The Jacksonville Garden Club is doing a wonderful job of planting trees and flowers along the trail.  It get better looking the closer we get to spring.  Now, if people would stop letting their Great Danes drop a deuce on the trail, it would be great. 

Who is your favorite comedian?

Aw man, that's a toughie.  Y'all know how much I love to laugh.  So, in pure Auntie fashion, I'll have to list them in categories.

• Favorite classic comedian:  Bill Cosby.
• Favorite clean comedian:  Sinbad
• Favorite in-between clean and dirty comedian:  Any of the guys from the Blue Collar Comedy videos.
• Favorite really not clean at all comedian:  Craig Ferguson and the late Richard Pryor
• Favorite Christian comedian: Mike Warnke
• Favorite comedian who happens to be a Christian:  Henry Cho
• Favorite improve comedian:  Greg Proops and Jeff Davis
• Favorite late night show host comedian:  Craig Ferguson
• Favorite musical comedian:  Weird Al Yankovic and Wayne Brady

March is National Nutrition Month, and almost everyone needs to improve their diet in some way.  What about you? How can you improve your nutrition on a daily basis? Will you try?

I've been working on it for a while.  My goal is just to continue to make even better food choices every day.  I also want to keep trying new foods so that my meals don't get boring.

Which of these green expressions have you 'experienced' in recent weeks -green with envy, green thumb, green around the gills, or give the green light? Explain.

Hopefully, I'll put my green thumb to work this weekend.  It should be warm enough to clean out the flower beds and get the containers ready for annuals.  Ever since my vegan experience, I've been green around the gills.  Sorry to keep harping on this, but it was so traumatic to my body that I was ill.  Unfortunately, I've been fighting the temptation to be green with envy.  Several of my classmates are posting pictures from high school with all their friends and good times.  Makes me think of a story by Louisa May Alcott about a little girl watching her adoptive family have "good times and she not in them."  If it weren't for marching band, I wouldn't have any really good high school memories.  It's just frustrating, that's all.  Green light?  Well, I've been working hard at finding a job, so hopefully someone will give me the green light to start working for them soon.

Where is one place you don't mind waiting?

I don't mind waiting a reasonable amount of time in most places.  My frustration comes when I have to wait a ridiculous amount of time.  The worst is the doctor's office.  Sorry, but several hours is too long.  I also don't like to wait with a group of impatient people or drive near people who honk if you take a breath before going under the green light.  Geez!

Insert your own random thought here.

 

Some of my pictures from the Chief Ladiga Trail.