Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Recently I've been feeling the desire to connect with other women who cycle and blog. Or cycle and write in some capacity, not necessarily blog. Or cycle, blog/write, meditate. Or cycle, blog/write, meditate, and practice yoga. Or cycle, blog/write, meditate, practice yoga, and are finding the simple things in life are what turns them on. Like watching the birds at the feeder. Or sitting on the deck in a hammock swing and just swaying gently. Or reading a good book. Or watching foreign tv programs. Any combination of these would be wonderful. But I'm having a tough time finding any blogs about cycling and life in general by women. There are the big ones, like Cyclofemme, but they're more about bike advocacy than women writing about cycling and life in general. I found a list of women blogging about cycling, but again, the blogs listed are either more a group effort advocating for getting more women into cycling, what to wear while cycling, or how to cycle safely. So far ...

I have no speed events to train for right now, and I kind of like that. No pressure to go fast with either the running or the biking. I am, though, continuing to train, going more for endurance with a little bit of speed thrown in. I'm hoping this will help me get ready for the century ride I hope to do at the end of October. I have no idea what is considered a good training method to prepare for a century, but I figure going for distance with intervals of speed can't be too far off. So after work today, I hopped on the bike and rode for 20 miles, with an average speed 15.2 mph. And what a pretty evening for a ride. No wind. The heat was lessening since it was early evening. Really ideal conditions to get out and let the day's tension unwind with each mile that passed. At one point I looked in my mirror and saw another cyclist fast approaching. Not long after, he zoomed on by. I took the challenge and managed to stay on his tail for the about twenty feet. About ten minutes ...

This morning we biked around the lake. With little traffic, a cool breeze coming off the lake, wildlife that inspires, and the scattered hills along the way, the lake route proves to always be enjoyable as well as invigorating. By the end of the 12 miles, and since I'm not pushing it too much since Hubby can't keep up, the legs feel somewhat fatigued but not overly so, which makes me want to return soon to see just how fast I can actually do the route. One day in the very near future, once Hubby puts the new cassette on his bike, maybe he'll be able to keep up and make me work harder. I'm looking foward to not having to slow down. Today a doe with her fawn, a little one that couldn't have been more than a day or two old, stood on the shoulder of one of the back roads. She watched us approach, and when we were about twenty yards away, she turned and darted into the cornfield. The fawn didn't follow. Rather, it ran along the shoulder, crossed the road and went int...