summer essentials for those without televisions

My bike is looking particularly smug today, with new fenders, grip tape, tubes, and tune up. And a couple of smart looking pannier bags. Helen and I reflected last night on how strange it was that I went from riding 50 miles/week to Not At All. I can only blame my own laziness to have the tune up/repairs made.

Speaking of cycling, Le Tour has started. Did you happen to catch any of the time trials on Saturday? I was at my friend's house so I got to actually see as Cancellara took the yellow jersey for the first stage, and Lance Armstrong's time was pushed back to tenth or so.

I'm t.v.-less here at home but there letour.fr for updates. It's just really a lot more interesting watching live video than reading the live updates.

And did I mention here how I've been meeting my mom for tennis lately? (she's REALLY good by the way, and considering how she's more than twice my age... yeh) And my tennis gear fits in my pannier bags, lol. Who's enjoying all of this Free Unstructured Time?

Clearwater Beach Challenge

Jared, Dan, and I went bar-hopping on the beach a bit last night. Woot! two thumbs up for living in a (humid! hot! summer!) paradise.

So, here's the lowdown: I got to check out some of the beach bars I'd never been to before, didn't break any pint glasses, and didn't come down with those damn embarrassing hiccups, but I still fear I am maybe awkward company.

Anyways, it was fun! When it was my turn to buy a round, they gave the pitcher to me for half price and then the keg ran out so they threw in a free pint of a different beer (the bartender has offered to just top off the pitcher with a different... but eww, no). Then a minute later, Jared found eleven bucks on the strip and then Dan wanted a Dunkin Donuts breakfast sandwich, so we got a bag full of free Rays donuts to end the night.

so went out with that anthro-guy the other night...

Maybe I was too generous when I described him as "wonderful" and "considerate"... I was poignantly reminded why, years ago, I had nicknamed him " _____ the Asshole".


I picked him up at his parents' house in the burg and we proceeded towards the tavern.

Literal "banter" from the first five minutes of the date...


me: so... you know how to drive manual transmission?

him: of course I do. I have a cock (gestures); I can do anything.



And, later on.


him: awww.... should we get you a map so you can find first?? [first gear]



him [during our vicious scrabble match at the bar]: you are making this game completely worthless!



me: you are SO much less annoying with your clothes off!


He started to open up and not be such a jerk when we were approaching his parents' house again. We were actually talking and sitting in the car and then I said maybe we should drive around the block, since we were getting along for a bit.

We went to Crescent Lake for a little while, and then I took him back home, before I'd feel compelled to strangle him again. He kissed me good bye and told me to not 'be such a stranger', and said that I'm still welcome to stay with him this summer, when I'm in Pensacola.

Ha, right.

so... I hung out with the bf's twin sis last night

And it was great :-) She and her husband were just as cool as Bill had said (no, I take that back- they were even better). Their precious little cub was sleeping, even while we rocked out with some karaoke game for PlayStation, but she and I exchanged contact info and plan on getting the kids together sometime soon. And before we left there, plans were made to hangout with his parents sometime soon. HE WANTS ME TO MEET HIS PARENTS ? It was actually going to be today, but instead due to the drizzly cold weather, we dozed late into the day and are going to do it some other time.


It's ironic, considering that I had been thinking that maybe I had misunderstood how he felt about us, even though we've already 'defined the relationship' and both said that it's NOT just a casual thing, etc.

Well, Friday night, hanging out with Mike (the mutual friend who introduced us, but that I have a little bit of a casual history with) kind of set the stage for my paranoia. He asked what was new with me, and I gave the rundown; school and work are good, the kiddos are good, and things are good with 'Billy and I'... etc.

And then HE SAID: Oh, I didn't know you guys are dating! You guys are really a couple?

a few minutes later: Funny, Billy never mentioned that to me...

and then: Are you guys exclusive? Are you sure?

I brushed it off as nothing, and we had a fun night regardless, but later it crept up on me. Are we exclusive? Is he serious about me? Am I sure? I thought so, but Mike had gotten me all paranoid!

And then, yesterday, right in the midst of me pouring out these saaaaad, saaaad thoughts to Helen, Bill called and said he wanted me to meet his sister.

So there we are, having a crazy time at karaoke night, and a semi-alone moment presented itself for me to mention the stuff that Mike had brought up, and Billy suddenly grabbed me in this full-body-possibly-verging-on-humping-my-leg kind of hug and said "HELL YES, WE'RE EXCLUSIVE!! (then, with silly singing) You're my girl..." followed by some dangerously wonderful looks.

reality that you can feel... in your quadriceps

So, a couple of weeks ago, Brian suggested that I ride with him and the rest of the Bicycle Outfitters crew, from the shop to the Bike Bash event at Vinoy Park, in downtown St. Pete. I was sorta on the fence about riding there; not because I didn't want to try a longer ride than I'm used to (in fact, that's exactly what I was ready for), but because I was worried about being the slowest/least skilled person going.

Not to mention it would require getting up at 5 am on a Sunday.

But don't worry- I decided to go anyways, and I am SO glad that I did. Getting up while it was still dark was actually fun, it made the day feel more exciting than a normal day (or was that my nervousness, maybe?). The stars and the moon were just gorgeous Sunday morning, and the weather was brisk enough that I got to don a cozy hooded sweater as we headed out for a quick cup of coffee and over to the bike shop.

Some parts of the ride were really intense for me. There are several overpasses with pretty steep climbs which required some concentration on my part. I love pushing myself past my boundaries, though. It's exhilarating, and the adrenaline-high is impeccable once your end point is visible.

Seriously, there was a moment on the way there (somewhere in the municipality of Gulfport) that I started to doubt my ability to make it all the way there. And then, like magic, a few minutes later the pain went away, and a few minutes after that, we could suddenly see the Trop' and, to me, that means downtown. Riding past it, and down towards the water, my utter joy and satisfaction probably made me look like a fool, but I didn't care.

The bay, so blue and choppy. The wind, so crisp. Palm trees. Puppies. Perfection.

Then, to my surprise, Brian whipped up a hot and nutritious campstove breakfast, to top off the killer moment.

And, can you believe this: Not only were we the first to arrive, Bicycle Outfitters was the only bike shop that set up for this event without the aid of motorized vehicles- total bike power. The caravan of riders not only got there, but got there with bike trailers and panniers loaded with tents, merchandise, tools, and gear!



Here's the Bicycle Outfitters set up, early in the day



A mellow cyclist enjoying the weather, complete with a beer and flip flops, though they didn't make it into the picture


The Skirts, a cool bicycling group for girls!


A little boy on his dad's Xtracycle... I'm so ready to ditch the car circle for good. All I need is an Xtracycle!


Brian, showing off his Surly Longhaul Trucker, while someone from the co op explains bike touring



And here's a video of the event, courtesy of Jack, from bikecommuters.com

so much good news, it's like the gospel 'round here

- I did not get fired... YAY!!! Lin was wondering if I could cover some of her hours when she goes out of town in Nov. LOL!! Yes, I realize I am extremely insecure; one serious voicemail away from having a breakdown. Because I think of voicemails as a serious thing- sort of a last resort when you have something very important to say.


- Tonight, Barb's coming over for sushi and beer. Well, I'll be drinking, I don't know if she will be, haha. And we are going to watch the debate, online, since there's no television in my living room. But it will be fun either way.


- I'm starting a Critical Mass group for Clearwater. Can you believe there is none here? There's Tampa and St. Pete, sure, but I wanna ride here ;-)

So- If you are interested in joining us, post a comment or send an email. I'll definately have all the specifics in the next week or two... I do know I intend for it to start at SPC Clearwater and head downtown (4.5 miles), and then around... somewhere.

I intend to hand out a flyer to the cyclists I see at school, and to friends. Maybe make a myspace page for it, too.

Oh, it was a DREAMY date

It was! Stop laughing at me.

Soccer-cutie and I had a good ole time at the first spot and got kicked out at midnight, so we headed to locale numero dos. Until, you guessed it, we were kicked out. Not because we were misbehaving, just closing times.


Can you believe it... that man has NO TATTOOS?
I know, me either. But he thinks mine are cute. Ok, you caught me, I've been drinkin and blogging. BUI???

So, anyways, yes, after a month of having each others numbers & light texting we did work a date out of our hectic schedules.