Bike MS Tour de Farms 2021 was Canceled!

When dangerous thunderstorms and flooding were predicted all day June 26, the organizers had to call off the 40th anniversary of Bike MS Tour de Farms. People have asked me if it was canceled or just postponed. Unfortunately, there’s no way to reschedule something like this. Too many moving parts had to be assembled ahead of time. Not only would the riders and volunteers have to come on another date, but use of the fairgrounds, road closures and the associated police/traffic support would have to be arranged all over again. That wasn’t going to happen.

Undaunted, Captain Cookie, Tiger, and I set up our own ride and accomplished it the following Friday, July 2nd. We had a blast, even without the usual hoopla that surrounds the main event.

BK did his usual duty as team photographer before the ride began.

Me, happy that we get to ride after all!

Putting on our rider numbers

Cookie puts her rider number on her bike

Ready to go!

The scenic setting – we started out over a swing bridge

Captain Cookie – our fearless leader, was ready to ride

And so was Tiger!

The starting point

Halfway point, and fresh as daisies!

We lived to tell the tale!

My rider bibs, post-event – rather the worse for wear

We rode just over 26 miles on Centennial Trail—Romeoville to Willow Springs and back again.

Thanks to everyone for your sympathy, support, and especially your donations. Fundraising for this event remains open until July 26, so if you wanted to donate but haven’t yet, you still have a chance. Please visit my fundraising page at https://mssociety.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=28091

Let me know if you need help, and thanks again!

Bike MS 2021 – Progress Update

June the 1st

Bart’s Posse, left to right – Tiger, CB, and Captain Cookie

Eeeeek! Bike MS Tour de Farms is only 25 days away.

We’re only riding 25 miles this year.

I should be fine, right?

Two weeks ago, I didn’t think so. I started to let Tiger and Captain Cookie down easy. After each riding session, I’d say things like, “I’m in terrible shape.”

This led to, “I thought I was going to puke after my last ride. Maybe have a heart attack.”

Finally, I came out and said, “You know, I don’t think this is my year. I just haven’t trained enough.”

“That’s okay,” said Captain Cookie.

She was so understanding that I couldn’t stand it, so I softened the blow. “I’ll give it a couple more weeks and see if I’m doing better. I can decide then.”

“That’s fine.” Then Cookie took on undeserved blame. “Besides, as captain, I should have set up more group training rides by now.”

Nice of her to say, but I knew Cookie and Tiger were already riding many more miles than I was, and at a way faster clip. I was embarrassed to ride with them and reveal how dire the situation was.

Cookie set up a training ride about a week later. Previously, here’s what our training rides looked like:

Captain Cookie’s Wild Ride

Tiger’s Swift Sprint

My best showing (as of 5/24/21)

With a heart full of dread, I agreed to go anyway.

Now for a little background. I am not now, nor have I ever been an athlete. Being the slowest, weakest person in our little cadre brought back the trauma of junior high gym class, when two captains for [fill in the sport] took turns choosing people for their team and I was always picked last. Or at fitness test time, when they made you run a mile and the gym teacher finally gave up and told me I was done because there are only so many minutes in a class period.

But unlike almost any other physical activity, I actually love bike riding. I was never going to enter the Tour de France, but up until this year, I wasn’t embarrassed to ride in Tour de Farms. 

When I showed up at Busse Woods, Tiger said, “I was afraid when you saw my last ride it would freak you out.”

“You were right,” I said.

She made some excuse for her frighteningly excellent speed and said not to worry about it. Hmm. Then Cookie showed up and reiterated that they’d take it easy on me, it was going to be fine, etc.

You know what? It actually was fine. Cookie and Tiger took good care of me. They didn’t even sigh at my tortoise-like pace. They said it was comfortable, especially for a longer ride. They pretended I was doing them a favor! 

It always helps to ride someplace scenic and fun, and Busse Woods in Elk Grove Village is both. We saw elk!

A bull and a cow

Anyway, we here’s how we did:

I was encouraged enough to finally set up my Bike MS fundraiser, which you can access here: main fundraising page
or here if you’re on Facebook: Facebook fundraising page

We’re going to Busse Woods again in a couple of days. When we get up to 21 miles (or one more loop of the trail we did last time), I’ll know I can handle a 25-mile ride on June 26th. I’ll keep you posted.

Bike MS 2021- a Post Pandemic (please!) Tour de Farms

After a past Bike MS ride with Tiger and Cookie

Okay, who here is in terrible shape after a year of not being able to use your gym? Show of hands, please.

(My hand is waving wildly in the air)

I’ve heard people refer to the “COVID-Twenty” or “Thirty.” My weight gain was less than twenty, but it was not in my best interests to gain even a gram. Losing the COVID Twenty or Thirty (or even Forty—I’m a cock-eyed optimist) would have been preferable.

So what’s my excuse, other than too much emotional eating? For part of 2020, my gym was closed. You just couldn’t go. At least they didn’t charge members during those months. Then the gym reopened, at something like one-quarter capacity, with temperature checks and masks and physical distancing required. I rarely went during that period, even with those precautions. Maybe twice. Then I quit going altogether around Thanksgiving when COVID cases were spiking. I considered returning afterwards for about ten minutes, and then we got THE VARIANTS. So I was like, “how about I wait until I’m vaccinated?”

Which is what I did. Two weeks after the second jab, I went back. I’d reintegrated strength about six weeks before then, but I was still in pitiful shape. Here’s a little tip for anyone closing in on 6 decades of life: try not to get out of shape. It’s not as easy regaining your muscles as it was when you were thirty or forty.

Anyway.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying, I’m not ready for Bike MS this year. Despite being comfortable riding 50 miles in past years, idea of only 25 miles is mildly terrifying. Especially when one of those miles is heading east on Keslinger Road, the hill that has caused many to climb off their bikes and just walk up.

And yet, I’m doing it. I’m posting this intention here, in my semi-public blog. That way, I’ll feel accountable.

So Far…

I rode 9.6 miles this past Sunday. In former years, that was a shorter-than-normal weekday ride. This time out, I thought I was going to puke. I also achieved saddle sores—the lady-parts were not happy, if that’s not TMI. Still, it was half again as much as I’d ridden up to that point. Baby steps.

I’ll post about my progress once in a while, either to kvetch or to kvell, depending on how it’s going. Maybe I’ll be ready by June 26th.

I realize with our past and present times and the resulting economic troubles, donating may be difficult, but if you’re able to support my fundraising effort for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, I’ll be grateful, as will BK. You should find my fundraising page here. If that doesn’t work or you have any questions, please contact me or post in the comments below.

Thanks for your support!

Bike MS 2020 – COVID-19-Style

Summitt is ready to go!

This has been such a strange year that my usual summer highlight—riding to raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society—was completely up in the air for months. Because of COVID-19, it wasn’t clear that the Illinois ride—Tour de Farms—was even going to happen.

Eventually, we learned that the ride was still on. It’s just not happening in St. Charles, Illinois with herds of people riding together. This year the ride is virtual. Everyone is participating however they’re able to do it safely.

Our team (once known as the Power Pedallers) recently rechristened ourselves in honor of our inspiration (and my husband) Bart. With a terrific name like “Bart’s Posse” how could we not ride?

Bart’s Posse: Tiger, me, and Captain Cookie

Captain Cookie, Tiger, and I will ride about 24 miles and we’ll document the feat with photos and maybe even video—or at least, the best we can while maintaining social distance.

June 27-28 is a big weekend for Bike MS rides all over the country. I don’t know how well the MS Society is labeling posts about local rides but if they do, the one we’re participating in is called Tour de Farms. Here’s the Bike MS Facebook Event Page (where they’ll be going live on June 27, 2020): https://www.facebook.com/National.BikeMS/

The virtual event starts at 9 am CDT. I believe it goes until Monday, June 29 at 1 pm, but I’m particularly excited about the 3-4 pm CDT on Saturday, June 27. There’s a big fundraising push during that hour, so if you were planning to donate to the MS Society via my fundraising page, I’d love if you did it then.*

The money we raise goes toward researching treatments and cures. It also supports and educates those who are dealing with the disease. MS hasn’t gone away or taken a vacation, even with everything else that’s going on. That’s why I’m still raising funds and why I hope you can contribute if you’re in a position to do so.

We’re in challenging times. Most of us have been under emotional and/or financial strain. There are many good causes that deserve support, and you might already have donated to some of them. But if you’re able, we’d really appreciate your support of our cause this year. We ride for Bart, for Madolyn, for Janet, for other friends and family who are fighting MS, and in memory of others.

Here’s the link to my fundraising page.

Thank you** in advance and take care of yourselves!

* But if you’d like to donate, and that time’s not convenient, please don’t let that stop you!

** Many, many thanks to those who have donated already! You’ve been so generous, George A, Elizabeth J,  Irwin G, Thomas M & Family, John M, Dr. Mickey S, Emmi M, Katherine L, Madolyn L, Steve and Lorie R, Ann L, Mary S, Robyn T, Sara G, Beth N, Tim Y, Randy B, Cecelia M, and Lori K.

It’s Been a Year

As usual, Cookie, Tiger, and I did the Bike MS Tour de Farms ride – June 22, 2019

And I’m still fundraising, but we’ll get to that later.

The fact that it’s taken me this long to blog about the ride this year is a testament to how wacky the last few months have been. There were times I wasn’t completely sure I was going to ride. We had some health issues in the family starting around February, so training was a greater challenge than it sometimes is. And then there was…

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Okay, that’s been going on for a while no matter what the Big Oil Companies want to you to believe. I refer you to Bill McKibben’s scary book Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?

I know there are people in way worse shape than our family, but here’s how it hit us: This past May was the wettest in Chicago’s recorded history.

So there wasn’t much decent riding weather, which interfered with our training regimens.

The weather also meant that our yard (where the drainage has never been terrific) has pretty much been a wetland all spring and summer.

There’s been a lovely moat all around the deck

So in addition to trying to finish the novel I started in 2016, and dealing with the aforementioned health issues, we also had to find a solution to the standing water before the disease-bearing mosquitoes decided to make our yard their refuge.

(Talk to me later if you want to hear the horror stories about the neighbor who decided that somehow we caused the drainage issues and was threatening to sue us.)

Anyhoo. Just when I thought events could hardly increase my tension level, my beloved bicycle—the one I was planning to ride at the event—fell off the back of a bike trailer as we were on our way to a training ride. Poor Skippy.

R.I.P. Skippy

She was mortally injured and now has become an organ parts donor at Working Bikes Cooperative

I was inconsolable, but BK dragged me out immediately after the incident and bought me a new bike. And in more good news, it looks like insurance will cover the loss.

I’m calling her Summit after the late legendary University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach, Pat Summitt.

Summitt

Summitt is also an aspirational name. I’m hoping that it will encourage me to do better on ascents.

Summit did me proud on the ride. We went 35 miles! Not as good as a couple of years ago, when we were riding 50, but Cookie, Tiger, and I all had stuff going on this spring, so we opted to do 35.

Tiger and Cookie raised funds like champs, but I’m afraid I fell down on the job this year. 2019 is the first time in several years that I might not achieve Gold Spokes status.

So if my tale of woe has awakened pity in your breast and you’re wondering how to allot your charitable giving this year, I could sure use the boost. I’m still eligible to join the Gold Spokes until about August 20. Here’s a link to my fundraising page 

If that doesn’t work for some reason, please let me know.

Thanks again to Cookie, Tiger, BK, Rocky, the Raupp family, my cousins Steve, Cecelia & Brian, Mickey, Kevin, Ann, Emmi, Kurt, Randy, the White family, Katherine L, and the Musto family. Your generosity is so much appreciated!

In case you’re interested, here are a few more pictures from the ride:

Bike MS Tour de Farms 2017

Power Pedallers Randy, me, Tiger, Cookie, and Tyler – can you spot who was photoshopped in later?

Sigh. The most wonderful time of the year has once again come and gone.

Tour de Farms 2017 was a real challenge. In addition to how little training time we seemed to have, we have never ridden anywhere near this long with winds of 20 mph, gusting sometimes to near 30. I used to think headwinds were the worst, but that was before I learned what a 30 mph crosswind can do to you… or more properly speaking, your partners in crime.

Cookie and Tiger meet some sheep at Rest Stop #1

Cookie and Tiger had a tough go of it. I think they still are glad they came, but it’s harder to have fun while being blown off one’s bike, or onto a gravel shoulder you had no desire to end up in. When you’re a dainty, delicate flower like Cookie or Tiger, you are far more likely to be blown sideways by a good crosswind.

I, however, am quite heavy and was thus able to keep my seat. Don’t let anyone tell you there is nothing good about being fat. It was easier to stay on my bike. Oh, and my bone density is also swell.

Our team, the Power Pedallers, raised nearly $7,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.  Cookie, Tiger, Randy, and Tyler will have their own folks to thank, but here’s my list:

Thanks to BK for tons of support of every imaginable kind leading up to the ride and over the weekend.

Thanks to Sis and Al for generous donations and moral support. It was wonderful to have them with us during the weekend.

Thanks also to donors Lorie & Steve, Cecelia & Brian & Emily (oh my!), Danielle, Cookie, Kishin & Rita, Elizabeth & Jay, Tim, Katherine L.,  Ann, Lori, Rocky, Quentin, and Kevin. You are all my heroes!

Two holes, three riders: me, Tiger and Cookie

 

Less Writing, More Biking

The happiest time of the year has come and gone.Bike MS Tour de Farms is over. Sigh. The following is an account of our last week of training and the event itself.

1. Cookie was ready!

Cookie in front of the waterfall

Friday, June 19 – we went for a longish bike ride to see how we would hold up. A roundabout route through scenic western suburbs from my house to Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, a lap and a half around the preserve and then another roundabout route back through different scenic suburbs netted us about 40 miles. We planned to ride the Tour’s 50-mile route and figured that if we could ride 40 miles, we could ride 50. We succeeded with our 40-mile route. In fact, with an overall speed of 11 mph (much of it on crushed limestone), we were about as fast as we’ve ever been for a ride of that length. (We are not fast. Just saying.) So we felt great about our upcoming ride.

2. Complications…

Sunday, June 21 – we did a cooldown ride, just to make sure our muscles still worked. Cookie had had a rough night. She had developed a rash which she figured out was probably shingles. She was already on an antiviral medication (she’s proactive that way) and hoped that it wouldn’t develop into a full blown case.

Tuesday, June 23 – I planned about a 20-mile solo ride, just to keep in shape. I started strong—over 11 miles, my speed averaged 13.3 mph. I was jubilant!

At that point I fell down and went boom, garnering a few bruises and scrapes and a minor neck sprain. (Details here.) Skippy’s back wheel got mangled. Would we be able to get a new wheel installed and aligned in time for the Tour? Bike Shop Mike was hopeful; even though he had to order a new wheel, he thought she would be ready by Thursday. Friday at the latest.

Wednesday, June 24 – I lay around and got nothing done. My head, neck, and back hurt, but it could have been so much worse that I couldn’t complain.

Thursday, June 25 – I started feeling better, and huzzah! Bike Shop Mike texted with the news that Skippy was all fixed. But then I got an email from Cookie saying she might only be able to do the 35-mile route. Unlike my neck sprain, her shingles weren’t getting any better.

Friday, June 26 – I felt good as new. As I was packing and otherwise preparing for the weekend, Cookie called with the sad news that she couldn’t ride. At all. It turned out that she had learned well from the “Your Cat Died” joke, and had been letting me down easy. BK and I went on to DeKalb with heavy hearts, which were somewhat relieved when we met up with part of our team, the Sargent & Lundy Power Pedallers for dinner at Pizza Villa. There was chianti (and much rejoicing).

3. A brighter day dawns…

Before the ride: me, Andy, Danielle, Dave, and Randy

Saturday, June 27 – the weather was sunny, with a 10 mph wind out of the north. The day’s forecast high was 73º, though it was in the 50s just before we started the ride. A while before we left, Cookie texted.

Cookie: Have a great ride!
Me: Thanks! How are you doing?
Cookie: Okay.* No way I could have ridden today. See you at the finish line.
Me: Awww, poor Cookie
Cookie: Yeah, yeah. Now get out there and win one for the gipper, uh, Cookie.

So that’s what we did. Around mile 20 I developed a helmet headache, which the ER doctor warned me might happen, but BK called Sis, who agreed to bring me my muscle relaxants (along with Cookie), so I had that to look forward to. True to her word, Cookie was there to greet us at the finish line. And my speed? I averaged 12.4 mph!

Cookie, Randy, me, Danielle, and Andy

Sis, Cookie, BK and I went to Eduardo’s in DeKalb for Mexican food. I had a delicious watermelon-cucumber margarita, which went really well with the muscle relaxants. Sis took Cookie home; BK and I went back to the hotel and fell asleep before 8 p.m.

Sunday June 28 – BK drove me back to the Tour. I quickly biked 15 miles as a cooldown from the day before, and my speed was even better than Saturday’s: 12.8 mph. BK and I went back to the hotel for chocolate milk, a cinnamon roll, and a shower. BK and I went home, another Tour de Farms completed.

Skippy & new helmet still wearing their ride numbers

Thanks again to all the generous beings who donated to the National MS Society in support of this year’s ride: Lorie & Steve, BK, Kurt, Steve, Sis, Sara, the Musto family, Katie, Mickey & Janet, Tim & Nan, Beth, Lori, Ann, the Patel family, Katherine, and Seamus the World’s Best Dog!

* Cookie-speak for : “I’m in excruciating pain.”

Skippy and the Skateboards

My Giro helmet, post-accident

This blog post is a day late; you’re about to find out why.

While training for the big Bike MS ride in DeKalb this weekend, I got in an accident. There were these girls on skateboards. I thought I could get past them before we got to a horrible curve in the trail that happens behind the DuPage River Sports Complex. I was wrong. The girl’s skateboard kept picking up speed. Before I could slam on my brakes, she jumped off the skateboard, sending it right under my bike.

My bike (aka Skippy)  went sideways and horizontal. I landed first on my butt and then on my head, or to be more precise, on my helmet. Thank all the good spirits (and BK) for the Giro helmet, which now sports a large crack in the middle of its back and some smaller ones to either side. The visor snapped off and the helmet mirror went flying. Skippy’s back wheel twisted and her rear brakes got more or less mangled.

Skippy on a good day

Skateboard girl apologized. A lot of people stopped to ask if I needed help. I felt shook up and sore, but I wasn’t going to call anyone until I got home and got myself sorted. Unfortunately I couldn’t even roll Skippy, her back wheel was so mashed up against her brakes. So I called BK to tell him there were going to be cab and bike shop and possibly medical expenses, but that I was doing all right.

While BK and I were on the phone, another cyclist stopped to help. He disengaged the back brakes so at least I could roll Skippy. I had been half-carrying her, holding up the back end. He told me it would be safe to ride home, as long as I went slowly and realized I only had front brakes, but then I should take the bike into my shop.

I initially thought about going home and calling my doctor once I got there, but the hospital was closer so I decided to go there. BK and Cookie have both been concussed, and I didn’t want to take any chances. Besides, by the time the hospital people could see me, BK would be able to get off work and come get me and Skippy. And so it proved.

I have a mild neck sprain and some soft tissue damage, as well as a few scrapes, but nothing was broken and I didn’t have a concussion. Skippy fared worse; she needs a new wheel and alignment, and some work on her brakes. But Mike at Bicycles Etc. said he thought he could get a new one and get her all fixed up in time for Bike MS this weekend. I’m feeling very guilty about what happened to Skippy. If there was anything or anyone blameless in this scenario, it would be the inanimate vehicles. Skippy and the Skateboards. Great band name, right? Only question remaining: can Skippy and the Skateboards learn to play nicely together? I’m guessing that as long as I am able to spot the skateboards in time, there will be peace in our time, at least as far as the skateboards and bicycles are concerned.

Get-well flowers from Sis and Seamus

Have some pictures!

It’s been a busy time. Yup, there’s been writing and revising, but there’s also been bicycling, as well as conferring, conversing, and otherwise hobnobbing with my fellow wizards. Here are a few pictures I grabbed around the times some of that was going on.

Azaleas and daffodils at Arboretum

I’ve been in training to ride the Bike MS Tour de Farms ride in DeKalb on June 27-28. The above shot was taken during an early training ride back in April. Thanks to BK and the kids for our Morton Arboretum membership. When you have a great place to ride, exercise provides inherent rewards!

Me, KT Bradford and others

Tempest Bradford visited in May, just before WisCon. I made her pose for silly tourist shots. Here’s one of our reflection in Cloud Gate (aka “The Bean”) in Millennium Park.

Lurie Garden in June

One of the nice things about being at the Palmer House for the Nebula Awards weekend is that you’re a block from places like Millennium Park and the Art Institute. Cookie and I escaped to Lurie Garden a couple of times for walks. Glorious!

Nebula Weekend Swag

They gave us stuff at the Nebulas just for showing up (and I bought a couple of things, too). Here’s what I brought home.

Home again – Sunset after Nebula Weekend

There was an improbably gorgeous sunset Sunday night, so I took a picture.

Tour de Farms – As Much Fun As You Can Have With Your Clothes On

Graceful, huh?

I lovelovelove bike riding. It’s like flying. I don’t know if it’s
1- going faster than I ever could on my own two feet,
2- the fresh air,
3- the endorphins, or
some combination of all three, but biking one of my favorite things ever. You’d never have to pay me to ride a bike. Not that anyone would. I am not what you call competitive. If you need proof, I refer you to the picture above.

However…one time of year I do solicit bike-riding donations. The money doesn’t go to me. The lovely people in various chapters of the MS Society run terrific bike rides all over the country, and in order to ride in one of them, you need to do a little fundraising to help people with MS.

The MS Society has helped our family a lot. BK has MS. He was diagnosed with it in the mid 1980s. He’s doing pretty well, considering. He sometimes has issues with discomfort, lack of coordination and fatigue, but he’s able to get around, work, and even have some fun occasionally. Usually it’s guitar-playing fun rather than bike-riding fun, but it all counts, right?

We have other friends with MS, too. It’s not that uncommon. Anyway, multiply our family by thousands and you have an idea how much good the MS Society does. The Greater Illinois Chapter says this about their work:

Our staff and volunteers are dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Through our chapter’s support services and educational programs for people living with MS and their families and friends, we help connect people in our local communities who want to do something about MS now.

We offer many programs — including professional counseling and peer facilitated support groups, educational programs and seminars, referrals to neurologists and healthcare professionals, national teleconferences and internet programs, services for the homebound, and social and recreational programs to assist people with MS and their families in leading productive and fulfilling lives.

And that’s just my local chapter. The national society does all that and more, driving research to help end MS.

Last year’s team – the Power Pedallers

I rode in last year’s Tour de Farms and raised over $1000. I’d like to do that again this year, but so far I’m short of my goal. If anyone reading this wants to support the MS Society (either through a donation or by joining the ride), I’d love if you could do it by visiting the link to my personal fundraising page. Thanks so much for your support!