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June 6, 2013

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Bike MS training update: Self-inflicted drama

This past Saturday, June 1st, I rode the 9th annual Atlas Ride, which is the kickoff ride for the Texas 4000 ride from Austin to Anchorage. The Texas 4000 is the longest charity ride in the world. This year 69 University of Texas students will pedal 4,000 miles in 70 days from Austin to Anchorage following one of three routes – through the Rockies, the Ozarks, or the Sierras. The Ozarks route is new for 2013. The team’s mission is to fundraise, educate and bring hope to those with cancer. It seems like an experience of a lifetime and I’m always impressed by these dedicated young adults. This was my third year riding.

Don’t forget, I’m only two training weekends away from the Bike MS event Ride the Rim that I will participate in out in Canyon, TX on June 22nd. The ride is a 105 mile loop around the Palo Duro Canyon and I can’t wait to finally get to see that part of Texas. This is my 6th Bike MS event. I choose to fundraise for these events in honor of the many people in my life that I know that have been affected by Multiple Sclerosis. Please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation and to help the MS Society support those living with MS as well as fund valuable research so that someday (soon I hope) a cure is found.

The Drama

As you probably guessed, I caused myself some relatively mild problems in the grand scheme of things this past weekend. The issue is that I couldn’t just have a single problem, apparently they have to come in sets of three. And to top it all off, my husband was out of town. Since the Atlas ride is a one way ride from Cedar Park to Lampasas, he would normally meet me at the winery where the ride ends and drive me home (awesome, right?). This year I made alternate plans to ride the bus back to Cedar Park and send my bike in the truck donated by UPS. I was nervous about the treatment my bike might receive, so I purchased some foam pipe insulation to protect my bike frame, cut it to size, and packed it in my bag to be transported to Lampasas. So far, so good.

And then it’s Saturday morning. I head out to Cedar Park and get all my stuff ready for my ride. In the course of mounting my GoPro camera to my handlebars, I manage to drop the nut that attaches the camera to the tripod mount. The nice people next to my car help me find it. I get it put back where it belongs and try to tighten the screw. It will not tighten when the camera is in proper position. I later learn that the thumb screw somehow became tilted and is now useless. I can’t take my camera with me on one of the prettiest rides of the season. Strike #1. I’ll just have to take a handful of pictures with my camera. I head out on the ride.

At the start, ready to go. First the current Texas 4000 team rode out. Then alumni from previous years. Finally, the rest of us.

The landscape really is gorgeous. The majority of the route heads north west with some tail wind. There’s a section on the 70 mile route that I was on that turns south east and hits a head wind. I don’t time my rest stops well and almost run out of water before making it to the next stop. The volunteers are super nice and so are the Texas 4000 riders. Twistleaf Yuccas are in bloom EVERYWHERE and they are lovely. I want one for my yard.

Imagine these plants in all of the fields. It was awesome. Image found on davesgarden.com

The rest stop I was anxiously waiting for was in Burnet. Probably one of the best rest stops I’ve seen on a charity ride – it was at a school stadium, had real restrooms, frozen fruit smoothies, watermelon and lots of other delicious snacks. I parked my bike against the fence like everyone else while I was hanging out and cooling down a bit from the hot ride. I start walking towards my bike. I hear a crash. MY BIKE BLEW OVER IN THE WIND! No one else’s bike did. Apparently it’s just that light. The pedal, brake lever, and shifter are nicked up. I am angry at the wind. Strike #2.

Pulling out of the rest stop, we’ve got the tailwind back thankfully. I’m making record time despite the head wind on the one section. Close to the end, I start to see people riding the 25 mile out and back route that leaves from the winery. I see one young woman followed by her silver-haired father who can’t stop grinning. He reminds me of my dad. In what feels like no time at all, I pull in at the Texas Legato Winery after completing my 70 mile ride averaging 17.8 mph.

The finish line!

I hang out in the tents and shove a baked potato into my mouth. I’m not usually excited about baked potatoes but this one with barbeque sauce, onion and cheese is delicious. Probably the 3,400 calories I burned made all food amazing at that point. I sign up for my bus ride, get the foam tubes installed on my bike frame and the bike loaded into the truck, find the place where you buy frozen “wine-a-ritas” and head to the bus to go home. It’s a school bus.

Two Texas 4000 riders congratulate each other at the finish.

The tent. It has the food.

Bikes everywhere, the school bus and the UPS truck.

Saying goodbye to the party.

I get on the school bus, the last one in, and find someone nice enough to let me share a little bench seat with them for the next hour. We strike up a conversation and I learn the gentleman’s wife has had MS since 1994. He thanks me for riding Bike MS events. He’s done 12 Bike MS events himself. I thank him for riding. I learn that his wife is in a scooter chair these days. I can’t imagine what life must be like for them, despite my personal connections to the disease.

We make it back to Cedar Park. They’re unloading our bikes. I start rummaging through my bag for a little pouch containing my car key, driver’s license, credit card, cash, etc. I can’t find it. I empty the bag. It’s not there. STRIKE #3.

I go through my options of getting home in my head. Husband is out of town. Friends that are semi-nearby that could help me are out of town or busy that day. I do NOT want to ride home and then ride back. I ask the remaining cyclists if anyone can give me a ride. I get a ride from a gentleman with an old Jeep Wrangler. He puts my bike on the back of the Jeep and I am terrified it will fall off. During the drive I learn he is also a physicist like my husband and many of our friends. I make it home and my bike is still in one piece. Luckily we have a garage door keypad so I can get back in the house.

I call the winery and let them know what I’ve lost. About 30 minutes later they call me back and tell me my pouch was found. Whew! I put together my plan to get my car back. I could ride 17 miles to get it, but I’m tired, hot and there are many hills on that route. Instead I take the Capital MetroRail from my house up to the Lakeline station. From the Lakeline station, I ride 7 miles to my car, load my bike and drive home. The Lakeline station is quite nice if you’ve never been there.

Sunday, I drive the two and a half hour roundtrip to get my pouch from the winery. At least I have good company.

Molly dog is good company for the drive. We stopped and hiked a bit on the Brushy Creek Regional Trail.

Posted by

Laura

Posted on

June 1, 2013

Posted under

Cycling

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Bike MS training update: Riding the Big Dam(n) Loop

Last weekend was Memorial day. I had plans to ride on Saturday, which were rained out, then to ride on Sunday, and it rained again, so luckily Monday was dry so I could get in my training ride (yay, three day weekend). Because the group ride I had originally planned to participate in was cancelled, I decided to head out on a relatively hilly route that the locals call the Dam Loop because it crosses over the Mansfield Dam. I had to add some miles to the normal loop to bring my total route up to 73 miles for the day. While riding my big dam loop I usually change it to big damn loop in my head. This day was no exception, since it started out windy from the beginning. Check out the photos below for the summary of my ride.

Why do I ride 73 miles on a super windy day? Well, I do love to ride, but right now I’m three training weekends away from the Bike MS event Ride the Rim that I will participate in out in Canyon, TX on June 22nd. The ride is a 105 mile loop around the Palo Duro Canyon and I can’t wait to finally get to see that part of Texas. This is my 6th Bike MS event. I choose to fundraise for these events in honor of the many people in my life that I know that have been affected by Multiple Sclerosis. Please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation and to help the MS Society support those living with MS as well as fund valuable research so that someday (soon I hope) a cure is found.

First time riding on Lakeline Blvd - It was wide, relatively flat and low traffic early on Memorial day morning. Oh, and a nasty headwind bad enough to make me wonder if I would make the entire ride.

First time riding on Lakeline Blvd – It was wide, relatively flat and had low traffic early on Memorial day morning. Oh, and a nasty headwind bad enough to make me wonder if I would make the entire ride.

See the flag? Windy!

Out in the ‘burbs, you see lots of wide boulevards, green grass and signs listing about 20 builders in the area. That’s the sign you see in this picture.

After making the turn onto 620, I was surprised that it was windy, but not quite as terrible as I thought. The stretch of Lakeline that I pedaled ended up being the worst wind of the day. Here you can see a few food trailers on the right.

Hippy Hollow! Windy Point! Such great views when you ride 620, I think you basically ride along the ridge that goes along the lake.

You can almost see the lake on the right. Love the views out here.

Now you can definitely see our poor, low Lake Travis.

Coming up to Mansfield Dam.

Just about to cross the dam.

A tiny bit of blue sky!

Iguana gill… a tex mex restaurant with decent food and a great view, without the long waits of the Oasis.

This picture is for my Dad – a golf course AND a water tower that looks like a golf ball on a tee!

Lakeway has these signs everywhere. Fancy.

Some little flags on the corner in honor of Memorial Day.

Bee Caves Parkway connects 620 to 2244 (Bee Caves Rd) and is nice and wide. Wide enough for bike lanes actually, but instead they just put up share the road and bikes may use full lane signs a few places along this short road.

Bee Caves road, recently repaved apparently. It’s a pretty hilly road, but many hills are rollers.

The on ramp to loop 360.

360 has some great views and the cloud cover gave way to some blue skies.

I love looking at these small cliffs.

Coming up on the Pennybacker bridge. The approach from the south to this bridge is an awesomely fast downhill.

Crossing the bridge.

The turn off of 360 into the Arboretum is always disheartening after a long ride. That’s a nasty little hill to climb!

Almost home… riding past Tacodeli is usually torture, but I often come back there for a special lunch treat after making it home.

Finally crossing Metric into my neighborhood!

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Laura

Posted on

May 27, 2013

Posted under

Home Improvement, Pets

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Making a rustic industrial dog bed

What exactly is a rustic industrial dog bed? Heck if I know. I just know that the furniture theme for my sitting and dining rooms is metal + dark or reclaimed wood. The sitting room has a low window that our dog will lay in front of, on one of her pillow style beds, and stare at the outside world. I wanted to make a dog bed that fit in with the furniture in that part of the house and that wouldn’t get pushed around by the pets or the roomba. After seeing a tutorial on a keen life where they made a set of shelves from some metal plumbing pipe and wood, I knew I found the perfect materials for my dog bed. It only took me a few months to finally get all the stars to align so I could finish it, and I’ve yet to make a new cushion for it, but at least the old dog bed cushion fits reasonably well. A preview of the finished product with my dog model:

Molly looking really sad, laying on her new bed in front of the window.

After I got the idea in my head, I picked up 6″ pine boards, an assortment of brackets, spray paint, and the metal pipe and fittings necessary to make a rectangular frame for the dog bed. After bringing home the metal pipe and fittings, my husband and I assembled the rectangular frame with short legs. Because the fittings all have to screw together, and we were trying to screw a rectangle of parts together, we were constantly tightening one corner while loosening another corner. Eventually we got all the fittings to loosely screw together with the plan to glue the joints later for a firmer hold. After creating the rectangle, I measured the inside of it to determine what size wood boards I needed.

After refreshing my memory on exactly how to use the table saw, I got to work cutting my pine boards to size.

Laying out the boards in to a rectangle.

I put all the screws and brackets in a shallow box and spray painted them from all angles with Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint. It took multiple coats to get all of the angles done so that no shiny silver metal was left showing.

After measuring the same length from the end of both boards, and using the brackets as a guide to mark my holes, I drilled pilot holes and then screwed in the screws.

For the corners I used L shaped brackets and for the tall sides I used flat brackets.

After the sides were assembled, I attached the bottom with L shaped brackets that had 2 or 3 screws in a horizontal line on each side.

A close up of the bracket varieties used.

The next step was to stain the wood.

I used Timbersoy wood stain, color walnut, from EcoProCrete that was left over from a previous project. The stain goes on thin, so I used a sponge applicator and applied multiple coats until it was as dark as I wanted. To seal the wood, I used Miss Mustard Seed Hemp Oil Wood Finish, also purchased for a different project. The oil is applied by rubbing it in with an old cloth. I used two coats for now. It gives the wood just a bit of sheen, which worked well for the look I was trying to create.

Leveling the legs.

After that was done, I put the metal frame around the bed and used that as a guide to help make sure the short legs were straight before I glued everything in place. I used gorilla glue and a toothpick to try to force some glue into each joint. Gorilla glue expands as it dries so after I was done I had to use a box cutter to remove the excess glue from the top of the frame where it would easily be seen. It took me three tries to get all of the joints adequately glued. The next step was to spray paint the frame.

Spray painting the frame.

After adding the gaskets to the bottom of the metal frame, it was time to attach the frame to the wood box. I used some scrap wood to set the wood box on so that it would not be flush with the floor while I attached the brackets.

Getting the bed ready for final assembly.

I used brackets that are meant to go with this pipe to attach it to the wood box. The only trouble was that the pipe doesn’t sit flush with the box because of the T and corner junctions. I improvised by using some large nuts and washers as standoffs for the brackets.

Spray painted brackets, with the washers and nuts used as standoffs to attach the wood bed to the metal frame.

I also used brackets on the four short legs in case the glue didn’t completely hold in places. I used sticky rubber furniture pads on the bottom of the frame feet to keep the floor from getting scratched.

New dog bed, old dog cushion.

Finally, completion! A few photos of the sitting room so you can see how the new bed fits in:

A view from the foyer into the sitting and dining room.

The relatively new couch, coffee table, and side table with the ancient Ikea chair. Still need to replace that chair. Oh, and the dog.

Molly forced to be a model on her new bed.

What a rough life.

Posted by

Laura

Posted on

May 23, 2013

Posted under

baking, bread, Cycling, Food & Drink

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Making bread cakes for bike training season

The Feed Zone Cookbook, source of the original recipe

In recent bike training seasons I’ve found that I have to eat relatively simple foods while out on my rides. Power bar style foods haven’t been cutting it. I’ve found some products that I can buy like Thunderbird Energetica bars (cashew fig carrot is my favorite) and Honey Stinger chews that agree with me, but I’ve also been experimenting with making my own portable snacks. I recently picked up the Feed Zone Cookbook to help my experimentation. One recipe called savory bread cakes caught my interest since I have a special place in my heart for bread. I changed the recipe a bit of course, since I decided to omit the bacon.

Savory bread cakes

I halved the recipe to find out if I liked it or not. My recipe:

2 cups cubed rosemary sourdough bread
1 cup skim milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup shredded cheese, cheddar and cotija (I used extra since I skipped the bacon)
Salt
Brown sugar

Mmmm… rosemary sourdough is delicious and give the bread cakes good flavor

First, cube the sourdough bread.

Pour the milk on the bread cubes and let it soak a bit.

Whisk up the eggs.

Add the eggs, cheese and salt to the bread and mix it up.

After greasing a bread pan, pour in the mixture. Bake at 350 until firm. About 25 minutes for my batch.

Finished bread cakes.

Sliced up, ready to eat.

After baking the bread cake, I let it cool, sliced it into four pieces and wrapped the pieces up in parchment paper and froze them. I ate one during my latest Bike MS training ride, the Real Ale Ride. The bread cake was soft by the time I stopped to eat it, so it definitely could not be eaten while riding, which I would have preferred. However, it was quite tasty. I might go with a bit less cheese next time because there were a few large cheddar chunks that I wasn’t too excited about eating in the heat.

Bike MS training update: The Real Ale Ride

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Laura

Posted on

May 21, 2013

Posted under

Cycling

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Bike MS training update: The Real Ale Ride

This past Saturday, at an ungodly early hour, I loaded up my bike and headed out to Blanco for the annual Real Ale Ride that leaves from the Real Ale brewery. The ride motto? “Up the hills, Down the beers.” Definitely fitting. I was hopeful as the ride started that maybe the wind wouldn’t get as bad as promised. And around mile 35, with a tailwind, I climbed a THREE MILE long hill that I hoped was the worst that I would experience. Ha. No such luck. Soon after climbing that hill, we turned again and were greeted with a gusty headwind. There were moments where I questioned my resolve. I even pulled over on the side of the road (not at a rest stop) to have a snack and rest, something I’ve never done on an organized ride. The hills were good training (see the Garmin route here), I suppose, for the Bike MS event Ride the Rim that I will participate in out in Canyon, TX on June 22nd. There is a very very nasty hill on that ride. In support of the fact that I will not SAG up that hill, please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation! (SAG = support vehicle that I could choose to ride in)

The good news is that I finished after 65 miles in one piece and got to enjoy lunch, beer, music and italian ice. By that time of day, it was downright hot and the humidity was still ridiculous so the italian ice from Rita’s was a special treat. The other fun part? I won a contest to be a “Beerbassador” sponsored by Real Ale and Bicycle Sport Shop. I got a free Real Ale Phoenix jersey, entry into the Real Ale Ride, a cool bottle opener and a very heavy case of Fireman’s 4.

Warning: this post has many pictures because I got yet another handlebar mount for my GoPro. This one is supposed to swivel but once I tightened the set screw, I couldn’t loosen it, so I couldn’t swivel the camera on my bike. Sigh.

Do you see me in the crowd of beerbassadors?

Classic cars, rolling down the main street in Blanco right after the ride started.

The day started out extremely humid and very hazy.

The haze slowly started to clear.

Lots of wildflowers on the left side of the road.

It’s hard to tell here, but you can see hills off in the distance.

Pretty clouds and a great view.

Small cliffs along the side of the road.

Rolling into a small town, where the first rest stop I stopped at was located.

First rest stop! At a cute little general store type building.

Hills in the distance and the haze was back.

This picture is for my father-in-law. There’s an old thresher on the left side of the road. Can you see it?

Tandem riders. Maybe I’ll have one of those someday. I’ll have to be the front rider through.

Hills…

Wildflowers!

The second rest stop I paused at had a table with a high school boy serving Rita’s italian ice. I think it’s the only reason I got back on my bike to fight the headwind to the finish.

The Blanco river is on the right side of the road. It’s hard to see here.

That blue sign says “Ride your bike hard today” from Clif bar. Don’t worry, I did.

When I first pulled up to the finish the food line was SO long. Luckily it moved pretty quickly.

The finish party had a band, dancers, food and beer. Plenty of tents to sit in the shade too.

After making it home with my prize, Mojo was king of the Fireman’s 4 beer mountain.

Thanks for reading! Please consider a donation to my Bike MS fundraising!

Posted by

Laura

Posted on

May 15, 2013

Posted under

Cycling

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Bike MS Training Update: Riding the Armadillo!

Last Saturday morning I headed out to Liberty Hill to ride the Armadillo. This is the third or fourth time I’ve done this ride. It’s a well organized, well marked ride put on by the Austin Cycling Association. Registration fees support their helmets for kids program. I rode 61 miles to train for the Bike MS event Ride the Rim that I will participate in out in Canyon, TX on June 22nd. Please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation!

Ride attendance seemed a bit low this year, probably because of the large amount of rain that rolled through the region on Friday. I’m always impressed by the people who ride the 105 mile route. Perhaps one of these years I’ll make a point to do that route because this ride goes through some very pretty parts of Texas. I had a good ride for the most part although it was a bit windy at some points. And the last 10 miles back into town were straight into the headwind and populated with a few annoyed drivers.

I set up my new Garmin bike computer on the handlebars of my bike and was able to see what direction I was riding in so I can tell you that the wind was out of the northeast. It remains to be seen how long I leave the display set up so that it shows me a compass heading, since I now can figure out where the wind is coming from quickly and then dread every “wrong” (into the wind) turn 🙂 The other cool thing about the Garmin is that you can now view a summary of my ride! I also carried along my GoPro, although I still haven’t figured out how to mount it to my handlebars successfully. More on that later.

The morning started out with very few clouds and at a reasonable temperature.

Hey look, you can see my shadow!

Horses! Wildflowers!

A cool, narrow, shady road

A wild game ranch. I saw some big horned sheep in the distance, but they were too far for pictures.

A rest stop on the grounds of an old general store that doesn’t seem to be open currently.

The little town of Bertram, Texas.

The open road!

One of the side of the road rest stops that I stopped at.

There’s a town called Oatmeal. It has a giant Oatmeal can. No idea if this is the center of town, because really it’s just an intersection in the middle of nowhere.

Another interesting rest stop that has sort of a pavilion created out of cedar tree logs. No roof really, just the structure.

One of the rest stops had a giant red blow up arch and a tent staffed by Clif bar employees handing out free samples.

A closer look at the old general store, it’s a place you can stop at on the way out and back on the Armadillo ride.

Posted by

Laura

Posted on

May 9, 2013

Posted under

Cycling

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Bike training update – Red Poppy Ride

While I took last weekend off from training, the previous weekend on April 27th I continued training for Bike MS: Ride the Rim by riding 50 miles in the Red Poppy Ride in Georgetown. If you’re able, please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation.

It was my first ride on my brand new bike, a custom built titanium road bike. The frame was built by Independent Fabrication and the bike and components were assembled by Bicycle Sport Shop. It is an amazing ride and I can’t wait to ride it again this weekend.

Unfortunately, none of the mounts that I’ve been trying out with my GoPro Hero have worked out so far, so I have only a few pictures from the ride.

Here she is, my new bike right after picking her up. The colors go from “Tahitian pearl” in the front to a dark gray metallic in the back. The seat and chain stays are raw titanium. The hubs and rings on the head tube are mango, giving it an interesting color contrast.

Awesome head badge

The start of the Red Poppy Ride. It started as a gray day.

The rest stops were full of awesome volunteers. At one stop, the volunteers all had hats with red poppies on them. Sadly, I did not stop and get their picture 😦 Although the woman on the left in this picture seems to have red poppies on her shirt!

A kind volunteer held my bike while I was stopped at the rest stop.

The only red poppies I saw on this ride were way up by someone’s house, so here are some others to look at:

Because I didn’t find any red poppies myself, here’s a pretty picture from flickr of some red poppies in Georgetown

Image credit: 50%ChanceofRain

Posted by

Laura

Posted on

April 24, 2013

Posted under

Cycling, Uncategorized

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Bike MS training update April 20 – 21, 2013

As I mentioned last week, I’ve started training for Bike MS: Ride the Rim. This is my sixth year participating in a Bike MS, and the first time I’ve done a ride in Texas that’s not the BP MS150. I’m very excited for this ride, it starts in Canyon and loops around the Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US. I’ve always wanted to see it. If you’re able, please consider making a donation to the MS Society in support of my participation.

This past Sunday I rode in the Austin Autism Awareness ride up in Georgetown, Texas. The first half of the ride was quite dreary and colder than I planned for. The wind picked up pretty quickly and the roads were very bumpy in places. After my GoPro camera mount broke the previous weekend, I tried out a new mount so I got plenty of pictures again. Unfortunately the mount wouldn’t stay tight, so I’m again looking for a new option.

While waiting for the start, it sure seemed like the sun was coming out!

On our way out of the park to start the ride.

An old hall, basically in the middle of nowhere.

Two riders in matching outfits.

Lots of flatness on the first part of the ride.

The clouds kept the temperature down through much of the ride.

We rode through lots of farm fields.

Eventually the clouds broke up. There were plenty of wildflowers.

Can you see the bluebonnets in the field?

Riding back into the park.

A nice little party set up at the finish line and plenty of spectators to cheer for us at the end!

Posted by

Laura

Posted on

April 19, 2013

Posted under

Cycling

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It’s that time again… training season!

For the sixth year in a row, I’m kicking off bike training season with the goal of riding in a Bike MS event to raise funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. For my first three years, I rode the BP MS150 from Houston to Austin since it’s so close to home. My next two years were the Escape to the Lake in western Pennsylvania and then the Pedal to the Point in northern Ohio. I really enjoyed the smaller size of these last two rides, so this year I’m doing a smaller ride in Texas called Ride the Rim out in Canyon, TX on June 22nd – 23rd. I’ve chosen this ride because it goes around the Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US, which I’ve always wanted to visit. This year’s ride is a bit different because the mileage is less. The first day is 100 miles and the second day is 25 miles with a bus ride into the Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the middle. Typically the second day of a Bike MS ride is anywhere from 50 – 80 miles and definitely does not include a bus ride! Because we have to drive far to get to the Palo Duro Canyon, we may just do some hiking or mountain biking on Sunday.

That’s a long paragraph to say that I officially kicked off training season this past Saturday by riding a charity ride with my husband called the Tour De Vineyard at the Vineyard at Florence. After riding 43.5 miles, we had lunch at the Vineyard and bought a ticket to the Texas Wine Festival so that we could taste many delicious wines.

On Sunday, I ran the Austin 10/20, a 10 mile running race near my house that had 20 live bands along the course. Despite not being able to complete my training plan, I am happy with my race performance.

My training updates this year will have more photos than previous years because I now have a GoPro Hero 3 camera that can be easily mounted to my bike handlebars.

The ride started on a temperate morning with thin clouds high in the sky.

My husband was riding a slightly shorter route, but we started out together.

After I took a wrong turn (along with about half of the other riders) I caught back up with my husband and surprised him.

Off and on the sun came out during the ride.

Yes, Texas is big sky country…

The little town of Florence.

Unfortunately, the handlebar mount broke half way through the ride… so I could just hold the camera and take a picture.

Don’t worry, it was perfectly safe.

Do you see those animals among the trees? They’re elk!

And turkeys!

Finally towards the end of the ride we got to see some bluebonnets along the side of the road.

And some pink winecups

Shortly thereafter, we were back at the winery!

Posted by

Laura

Posted on

April 16, 2013

Posted under

Uncategorized

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Remembering my grandfather

I’ve been quiet on my blog for longer than I’d like because three weeks ago, my grandfather Charles J. Zeidler of Pittsburgh, PA passed away unexpectedly and we traveled to Pittsburgh to be with my family. Today he would have been 83 years old. He was a Korean war vet and up until March 23rd, he was healthy and lived on his own. Since my grandmother died he had established his routine of hanging out at home watching TV, going to the Allegheny Country Rifle Club to have beer and a cigar, and heading to my Aunt and Uncle’s house to have dinner every Friday. In recent years, my grandfather has been a touchpoint for the family, serving as a common connection that we could all come back to. During his memorial service I was impressed by the sheer number of the friends my grandfather had established this late in life. I’m thankful for their support and that of all of my immediate and extended family. I’m glad that so many knew and loved him the way that I did.

To celebrate his birthday, I’d like to share the eulogy I gave at his memorial service just after the taps finished playing.

Thanks for joining us today in celebration of my grandfather’s life. My PapPap was a quiet and friendly man, quick to smile, liked by everyone. I’d like to share with you a few of my memories of him.

I remember staying at Grandma and PapPap’s house, often with my cousins, and asking Grandma repeatedly what time PapPap would be home from work at the steel mill.

I remember walking with him to the top of the hill to play at rosecliff park.

I remember riding with PapPap to take Grandma to and from work at Eat’n Park, with his shouted reminder not to slam the car doors no matter how softly I closed them.

I remember how all of my cousins and I liked to sit on his lap, he had a very comfortable lap.

I remember watching Price is Right with him. I never got the prices right, and he always did.

I remember him visiting us in Ohio for important events like kids softball games and our birthdays, always with a few dozen Dunkin Donuts in tow.

I remember how he made the trip to see the actual important events in my life: my high school graduation, my college graduation from Miami University.

I remember how he took his second plane trip ever to see me get married in Austin, Texas in 2007. I will be forever thankful that I had my two grandparents there. His only previous flight had been during the Korean war.

I remember how he started to talk more as my Grandma got sick.

I remember how he always made the effort to see me, even on my short trips home from Texas. I remember how he visited me in Edinborough during my overnight stop on a two day BikeMS event in 2011. I didn’t know he was coming and I ran into him at a corner gas station as I was pausing to check directions at the end of my 100 mile ride. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to see him.

My last memory of him is how excited he was when I talked to him after sending him a Yuengling pullover for Christmas just a few months ago.

So in celebration of his life, I ask that you toast him this evening by drinking his favorite beer, Yuengling.

Thank you for the memories PapPap. I can only hope to have such an outpouring of support when my time comes.

Charles J. Zeidler Jr. April 16, 1930 – March 23, 2013

Laura Makes

Laura enjoys making many things

Bike MS training update: Self-inflicted drama

The Drama

Bike MS training update: Riding the Big Dam(n) Loop

Making a rustic industrial dog bed

Making bread cakes for bike training season

Bike MS training update: The Real Ale Ride

Bike MS Training Update: Riding the Armadillo!

Bike training update – Red Poppy Ride

Bike MS training update April 20 – 21, 2013

It’s that time again… training season!

Remembering my grandfather

The Drama

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