Thank you, thank you all dear friends…

FOR COMING TO MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Friday the 9th was my birthday (and Chris’ as well – he’s older!), but that’s not why I invited friends over. It truly happened to be the best date when most everyone was available for drinks and hanging out. I tried to keep the birthday news a secret, but Em spilled the beans when she showed up with cupcakes and a card (with an REI gift cert!!).

We had a few guests drop out the evening of, but hilarity ensued anyway. I was surrounded by my best peeps. Here’s evidence:

"Blow them out before Nature takes your wish!!" -Elizabeth

Chris decided not to come up to the deck to blow his candle out, and instead continued his game of Patio Ping-Pong. Emily punished him.

Emily, 1. Chris, 0.

The boys went inside to play pool; Elizabeth and Andrew had to hit the road, as poor Andrew had to work at 5:30am; and Em, Erin and I were just drunk enough to want to sit outside under the umbrella while the rain came down.

It was the best birthday I’ve had in many, many years. I love my friends.

Love Restored, Bacon on the Side

Headed for the ‘shed last Sunday morning with Natty Light, early to beat the dorks (wasn’t so successful on that front – more in a minute). We were out for a girls-only ride – my first ride of the season. Nat warned me that she “wasn’t as good as” me on the way over to the trail. I ashamedly reminded her that my only biking lately had been on my cruiser…

As soon as we took off for the trail head, though, giddy-ness washed over me. So comfortable to be back on my bike. Ahhh!

I lead the ride – which I never do. I’m always most comfortable bringing up the rear of the line. Nat is new to the area and doesn’t know her way through the trails yet, so I didn’t have a choice. It was actually more fun and challenging to be out front.

The route we took has a great mixture of wooded single track, small rock gardens, climbs and open field. Nat was having a great time, and I showed her a few things not to do, such as: getting slapped by stickery raspberry bushes and having fights with saplings.

This blog isn’t called Bacon Betty for nothing!

I didn’t totally kick ass on the climbs for this first ride of the year, but did pretty well on the first two biggies. The last short one restored my faith in myself and I took it without getting winded.

Returning to the parking area, we spotted our two husbands’ trucks, but no husbands. They were off on their own, probably more tortuous, ride. We had made it there early to 1.) beat the dorks and 2.) beat the heat. We accomplished #2.

As soon as we rode up to my truck, some guy in the lot hopped off of his bike and threw his hands in the air at us, yelling, “HEY! WHAT’S UUUUP? YEAH!!” Dude, take it down a notch. We dropped my tailgate to rest for a bit to see if the boys would make it back before we drove home.

The guy decided that directly behind my vehicle was a great place to leave his bike while he took his kidnapper conversion van to “pick up the others”. Nat and I sat for a bit finishing the conversation we’d begun on the trail and tried to cool off, the sweat dripping from us.

A few minutes later… Van comes careening into the lot headed straight for our spot on my tailgate, slamming to a stop about 5 feet away from our nearly-amputated legs. “I’M PARKIN’ HERE IN THE SHADE! HA HA!! YOU’VE HEARD THAT SAYING! MADE IN THE SHADE!! THAT’S ME!” HolyChristwillyoushutthefuckup! The “others” consisted of two guys equally as frightening as the first, just not as LOUD.

Their antics continued while Nat and I decided not to wait for our boys. “WHY IS YOUR BIKE SO DIRTY?!” “IT IS SOOO HOT OUT HERE!!” “HOW ARE YOU LADIES DOING?!” “WOOOO!!” Where did you assholes come from?!

We began loading the bikes to make our escape. One problem remained: we were blocked in by the van. Praying that they were about to leave immediately, we heard: “YOU LADIES DON’T LOOK VERY WET!!” Nice double entendre, dude. With that, they were gone.

Maybe we should start at 6am next time?

New Power Breakfast

Had the best power breakfast yesterday. It was the first cool morning in a few weeks, so I sat out on the deck after the gym to eat while Derby ran around the yard.

Here you go:

1/4 cup Quinoa (cook it first!)
Skim milk – enough to soak in
White raisins
A few chopped pecans
Cinnamon
Drizzle of light maple syrup

Lost & Found: One Eggbeater

Someone had a sucky day on the trail. I found this one smashed in the mud next to a creek bed. Hope they were parked somewhere close!

The Struggle: Life and Routes

The air quality and temperatures in MD this past week have been terrible (why am I surprised every summer?) – code orange and pushing 100 degrees. When Kristen and I got to the climbing gym last Thursday it was just as sweltering inside, so I knew I didn’t want to spend too much time hovering at the top of the wall. Get up and get down.

I’ve really been trying to work on my movement to increase my efficiency and make smoother transitions. At this point I’m consistently climbing 5.8 indoors – it’s still tough, but I’m climbing them clean for the most part. Working in the heat that night was a nice challenge, especially before the gym got crowded (read: stinky-er).

I hopped on a 5.8 called Big Puffy White Clouds. It sounded so nice and inviting in the stifling dustiness of Earth Treks…

I reached a point below the small roof nearly halfway up the wall and got stuck. Every move I tried got me nowhere. My body positioning was awkward no matter which way I shifted. I downclimbed and tried again. Three times. I was ready to give up. The sweat was pouring down my back and off my nose and chin.

While Kristen was surely acquiring belayer’s neck waiting for me to make a move, I was waxing philosophical on my struggle with the route. “There is a way…Keep moving, you’ll figure it out…You solve creative problems and run a business every day…Jeez, girl!”

With that – and lots of chalk – the route became suddenly clear. Up and over the roof I went, almost losing it at least twice. When Kristen lowered me I was surprised that I pulled it off, and completely spent. Kinda like a good day at the office.

Summertime Goals

Seems like it was only a few months ago when I was posting about summer being off to a raging start. Well, it was, and it flew by. I didn’t get to the beach as much as I wanted, spent too much time on yard work, and made one too many business trips.

Not this year.

I’ve decided to set some (pretty ambitious) goals for this year in an attempt to get back to enjoying my summers to the fullest. Was that sentence oxymoronic? Planning ahead to be carefree. Yeah…so, back to the goals:

• Spend at least 2 weekends per month at the beach
• Attend outdoor music events: Reggae Wine Fest 7/17, Naukabout Music Festival 8/7
• Join PATC and stay in Wineberry Cabin at Shenandoah National Park with Melissa & Bob, July or August
• Attend the Trail House’s outdoor climbing clinic, July or August
• Hike every Sunday (that I’m not at the beach) and at least one day during the week
• Enter at least one 5K race
• Rent a big house with a group of friends at Deep Creek or similar
• Mountain bike more
• Gather the gang again for a cookout and Patio Ping-Pong, July or August

We’ll see how this goes, but my experience has been that if I create a written list of goals, the simple act of writing it down and putting it into the universe makes them materialize.

I run a business and have so much going on each day. So, my true goal outside of work is to live the most unfettered and simple life as possible… Isn’t that what everyone wants?

Happy Summer!

Just popping in to say…

that I f-bombing love this blog.

Next post to include a 2009 Q3 and Q4 recap. Complete with a slideshow to prove that I was actually doing things and didn’t, in fact, fall off the face of the earth.

A New Addiction?

I broke the seal yesterday and took an intro class at the climbing gym. I wasn’t sure what to expect in a class atmosphere, but it was pretty tolerable. Usually, I like to jump into stuff with both feet while I’m learning. But with climbing, I quickly found out that’s not possible. There are harnesses to be buckled, knots to be learned and phrases to remember.

I never would have stuck with snowboarding if I hadn’t taken those first few lessons. And, I only wish I could have had the same experience with mountain biking — rather than learning through failure. Anyway, I was sure to pay close attention yesterday.

While learning our figure 8 knots, we were told that we will be judged by other climbers on how well we tie them. I immediately thought of my uncle chastising me about how I tie boat lines around the pilings on the dock… Judgment or not, safety first.

The class was three hours, with a break half-way through. The first half had us learning how to get into our (very uncomfortable) harnesses and tying our knots. After our break, we learned how to belay and the details of how the equipment works. This particular gym teaches the BUS method of belaying, which I had a little difficulty with for some reason. Something about moving my brake line arm up and down didn’t feel right. I’m sure I’ll get he hang of it, since I’m planning on going back to the gym as soon as possible. I think the added pressure of having another person’s safety in your hands was f’ing with me, too.

My climbing partner and I were paired up with a third person because the size of the class was large, and I wasn’t the only one having trouble with the belaying. It looked like our third was seriously taking my partner’s life in her hands. She spent more time with her brake line up than down. I was back-up belay and it was all I could do not to grab the rope from her and yank it down.

I did learn first-hand how important the anchor line is, too. Our third wheel partner was, shall we say – a little heavier than me – and I had to belay her on my first attempt. We were also left with one of the hardest sections of the wall to practice on. When she slipped, I wasn’t expecting to be lifted from my feet. Note to self: get my own harness, asap – dinky harnesses hurt the groin.

I had an awesome time climbing up some different routes on the wall and surprised myself a little with my own enthusiasm. I didn’t want to leave. I’m sold and can’t wait to go back to the gym. Winter is coming and I hear that El Nino is making a return with the promise of a lot of natural snow this year. And fall is the best time for mountain biking in this area. Now my poor mountain bike (along with my snowboard) is sitting in the garage with a lonely look, and I’m wondering how I’m going to squeeze my new activity into my hobby schedule. Not such bad problems to have, I suppose.

Bacon for Breakfast

The Mr. and I set out for a simple cruiser ride after breakfast on Saturday. We were ready for the 8-9 mile loop through back roads on such a beautiful morning. We explored some roads that I hadn’t even been on in my car for years — big houses, horse farms, mountain vistas. On our last mile home, we decided to take an extra piece of road to extend our ride a little. While I was speeding down a hill, I shifted gears and my chain popped off. Of course, I was pissed because I was going to have to stop and fix it before pedaling uphill to finish the ride. We were almost home!

Bent down, getting the chain back on the chain ring, I moved the pedal. With my finger still holding the chain. Not surprisingly, the chain ring sliced the top of my index finger open. Nose running and jumping around sucking on my greasy finger, I’m sure I was the picture of cool. I got over it and took off for home, but I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as the blood was streaming out of my hand and blowing in the wind.

Only Bacon Betty could draw blood on a cruiser ride.

Biking in a Wool Shirt: Icebreaker’s Chase Crewe

I know there are a million gear review sites out there, and I don’t intend on turning this blog into one of them. But sometimes I come across products that aren’t the average fare that seem worth sharing. Here’s the first official Bacon Betty gear review.

Yesterday was a beautiful August day – by Maryland standards – moderately humid and about 85 degrees. So, I was a little reluctant to wear a merino wool performance tee for the long ride we had planned. I’m super sensitive to scratchy stuff next to my skin and clothing that clings because it’s walking the fine line between drapey and snug. (Shut up, you know it bugs you too!)

I was lucky enough to take home an Icebreaker Chase Crewe from this summer’s Outdoor Retailer. The company was part of a media event that I attended and I got to hear the story behind the products and the benefits of using merino wool as a performance fabric. Merino wool, as many are familiar with, is the magic behind several popular brands on the market – it’s what makes Smartwool my favorite sock brand.

In my professional life as the owner of a graphic design firm, I focus on telling my clients’ brand stories to attract loyal customers, so I was particularly interested in hearing about how Icebreaker sources their wool from New Zealand. Each garment has a “Baacode” on its tag which the owner can use to trace the impact of the pieces they purchase, from environmental to manufacturing to animal welfare.  The fiber in my shirt came from farms in Glen Orkney and Stonehenge, both on South Island, NZ.

Performance-wise the lightweight (180) shirt wicked sweat (there’s always plenty of that) better than my synthetic shirts and dried quickly. I was a little worried about the red color bleeding onto my skin when it got soaked, but no color ran.

Icebreaker SS Chase Crewe in Salsa (image courtesy Icebreaker)

There’s a zipper pocket on the right hip, with an eyelet to run a headphone cable through, that would comfortably hold an iPod shuffle or other small mp3 player. I definitely wouldn’t put my heavier iPhone in it, though, as the fabric stretches.

The seams are nice and flat and the fabric wasn’t itchy at all and didn’t creep up my back under my hydration pack (big plus over synthetic shirts).

There are a few reflective bits in the design, but the garment is “designed for high performance mountain sports” and my use only happens during daylight.

At $64.99, the purchase price is a little prohibitive, but I’d definitely recommend trying out this top for summer mountain biking. I also plan on using this for running as the summer cools down and for an early/late season base layer for snowboarding.