Keeping Up with the Leinz

We have been doing quite a bit of bicycle riding this last week – close to 50 miles this week alone. I drew the line this morning and said no to the early morning ride. I needed a moment alone to blog and to let my muscles recover a bit. Tuesday and Thursday we rode with our neighbors, the Leinz family (about 11 miles each day). I did okay on my mountain bike, but I was a bit draggy compared to their road bikes. I love my old Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike, but it is 20 years old - together we are just slow. Friday, I told Toby that if I was going to keep up with him and the Leinz’ family, I may have break down and get a road bike (get serious – make a commitment). He got that "oh goody, more toys" look in his eyes. Friday I looked on Ebay and Craig’s List, but did not see much. Saturday morning after our bike ride, Toby and I decided to go to OK City and look at bikes. For a bike to be comfortable (and that is very important for me) they must be fitted to the person. Who knew? I certainly did not know that before Toby started all this serious bicycling – kind of like ski boots - I thought they were suppose to hurt like the dickens. Our plan was to hit all of the bike stores and see what was out there and what would be best for me. We were not planning on buying a bike, but just getting fitted and then looking in cheaper places like Ebay and such. At the first bike store we came to, they had this wonderful little entry-level Fuji bike, radar blue, my size, with all the bells and whistles (as if I could blow and ring them) on sale. I test drove it and bought it. Yeah, I’m a brat! You might want to click for the larger picture so that you can see Count Rugen the six-toed cat under the car. If I had taken a wider shot, you would have seen Rita the Cow Dog making sure the cat did not come out from under the car.

Since we bought the first bike we came to, our OK City shopping plan was blown. We decided to eat at Ted’s (the best Mexican food in OK City) before heading home. Of course when we got home, we had to make another bike ride to see how the new bike would do on these Oklahoma hills were I live (Woody Guthrie song). The bike was great. I was a sweaty mess, but Toby said that I had been much faster (his bike has a speedometer).

Then Sunday morning, Toby wanted us to ride our bikes to church. It is really only about 8 miles, but I hated to look like a sweaty mess when I got to church, and said as much in my argument. Toby, being a man, did not understand this and begged (nagged) me into riding my new bike to church. The cat is out of the bag now. There were several astounded folks at the fellowship who saw me riding with Toby, although I ducked into the ladies restroom to freshen up and change out of my bike shorts. My hair was plastered to my head and my face was hot red. Not attractive! I’m sure Marsha D, who was in the restroom, thought I was going to die, and was very concerned. I assured her this was my typical look and that I felt great. It is difficult to do anything with my hair when it is wet with sweat, but I did my best and got to my seat in church just as the music started so that I did not have to explain my looks to anyone. At the end of church, my hair was dry and curly frizzy – thank you very much. And sure enough, I got that, "Was that you riding with Toby?!" No, that was not I. That was some other fat girl. I purposely frizzed my hair this morning, and my face is always this red. Later out in the parking lot, Mr. Leinz came over and oohed and aahed over my new bike. He thought it was perfect for me and looked forward to our future rides. Thanks, Bernie, you are always an encouragement.

You may have noticed that we did not make it to Lubbock this weekend - the plan fell through. Jesse has been in Austin this weekend with my mom. She text-messaged me that they were going to see "Ray Willie Hubbard." When I quit laughing at her spelling, I was quite jealous.