Riding my new Fuji

This color is the color of blue that fades into white on my beautiful new bike! I don't have a picture of the bike yet (duh..) but here it is!

Today I took her for her maiden voyage, riding up to Saguaro East with Jack. I had to learn how to do the gears and get onto the pedals (getting my feet into them after a stop), but it was easy. The bike has 27 gears, with 3 chain rings in front and a 9-gear cassette in back. And notice the white! The handlebars are wrapped in white, the seat's white, and all the components are either white or chrome -- no black in sight! Yes, it's clearly a chick bike, and it goes perfectly with my white helmet, too. ;)

The ride was really fun, though, of course, difficult for me. I am always finding myself searching for air, huffing and puffing, and all of this heavy breathing makes my mouth dry. I go for my CamelBack and take some swigs.. and then I'm even MORE out of breath, since I can't breathe and drink at the same time. I think that it would be pretty dumb to drown riding a bike, but I suppose it's been done.

Today I brought my large bike bottle full of Gatorade, and my CamelBack full of water, and drank almost all of both. Today I went 21 miles, making my total for the season (not including my park bike outings) 41 miles! Pam told Jack to go 1000 miles before fall, so that's what I'm going to attempt to do as well.

I want to do the Hilly 100 this year, as well, so I'm in training! :)

I was exhausted when I got back from the ride today, and sunburned! The burn came because, while we were planning to leave at 7 am, we actually didn't get away till after 10. That's because Jack experienced some flat tires, patched them not quite well enough, and then had to buy another tube and replace it. The sun was up higher by 10, of course, and I was ill-prepared.

John's sick today, and I went and got him some Pepto-Bismol -- one of Michael's favorite remedies. His other favorite for GI stuff -- Gaviscon chewables! I always keep some of those on hand, too. There seems to be some tummy flu running through what's left of the people here in the park. So far (knock wood), I've remained very healthy this season.

I don't like to talk future in here, but... here I go. I am planning now to leave Tucson on Sunday, the 27th. I'll go up to Sedona and spend 2 nights before heading up north to Zion National Park. An internet friend of mine (who also has a Navion) will be there with his daughter and we'll tour around together a bit and do some hiking before I point my Navion eastward. I should still be back by the 20th of May... or sooner.