It was the best of times, it was the worst timing

I think I failed to mention in my update post that Aaron is now a bicycle mechanic at a local shop. As a result, he is able to keep his finger on the pulse of what bikes are available. Luckily, he picked out an awesome Giant bike for me and we've been riding a lot lately. I told him I wanted to try trail riding and so we've been doing a lot of that lately too.

Yesterday we went on a (wait for it) 15 mile trail ride at a Lake 45 minutes from our house with some of the same friends we did the Dirty Dash race with.  It was hard for some of us (ME), especially since there were a lot of hills.

Just the same, it was also a lot of fun....until the very last stretch. I'm no sure what happened. I could have been going too fast and one of our friends said I had been standing pedaling, sat down and let go of my left handlebar. At that moment, though, I hit some loose sand and gravel and ate it...in front of everyone. The result? This guy:

The worst part is that I had survived the entire ride and I only had possibly 1/10 of a mile to go on the flattest part of the trail and I ate it.  I think my pride was hurt a bit too.  But today, my leg hurts a lot worse than my pride and looks worse to me too, but what do I know? I'm kind of a drama queen when it comes to my own injuries and this is pretty dramatic/traumatic. So I took the day off and have been resting up. I've read it can take up to two weeks for the pain to stop and I can't wait.

Back in the saddle again?

So I would like to be more involved in bike riding. Partially be cause my husband Aaron is so in love with it, but also because it looks and sound like so much fun!
Aaron just recently ordered another bike that he claims will allow him to ride some cross country mountain biking -instead of just down hill mountain biking which is what he does now.  He has been gushing about this new bike and staring at pictures of it online. He is already thinking about which parts he may want to change, some of which may include replacing the mechanical disc brakes with some Hayes hydraulic brakes-hopefully giving it a little more powerful brakes. Oh AND changing out the 60mm stem for a 45mm stem to quicken up the turning ratio.
All this sounds interesting and maybe like a little more commitment than I want to handle right now.  But to my credit he has taken me on a "beginner"(I say it was advanced) down hill trail. That he said I was doing well on (up to 17 mph) up until I went off of a jump that I didn't know was there, and wrecked on a bunch of rocks. But I still finished the trail and actually tried the trail again. The second time was a bit slower and with a lot more padding. Excluding the wreck it was a very fun experience.
That was a couple years ago, and I am apprehensive to get "back in the saddle again". But I am trying to get one of my girlfriends to go with me. Maybe having a beginner buddy would make it less stressful.

Regardless of the challenges I would like to give it another go.  Come what may.

Any thoughts?

Bonus Day!

     Yesterday afternoon I was told I didn't need to come to work today.  NO I wasn't fired.  My Dr is sick and didn't want to expose everyone to her illness.  Don't get me wrong, I was sad she didn't feel well but I was also very appreciative that she didn't want to share her germs.  Furthermore, I was psyched to have an "off-day" in the middle of the week!  Want in on a little secret?  I've been wishing for a sick day(s). A lot.  It's not that I don't enjoy my place of employment, it's just that I wouldn't mind another day(s) off in addition to the ones I already have, to do what I want to do.  And that's what I've done so far.
  The first thing on my list of things to do on "bonus-day-off-day" was to sleep in.  It was so important to me that before I went to sleep last night I told Aaron that I wanted to sleep in.  Here's how that went down:
Whitney: Okay, I want to sleep in tomorrow morning, got it?
Aaron: Yes
Whitney: Tell me what I want to do
Aaron: Go for a bike ride
Whitney: No, sleep in.  I want to sleep in.  Repeat to me what I want to do...
Aaron: Go for a walk
     You get the gist.  Well, guess who didn't sleep in? Me.  However it wasn't my beloved's fault.  It was mine.  Apparently my body had something else planned.  So not only did I get to bed super late but I had to get up early, so naturally, I did.  Oh well. 
   I'll spare you the mundane details of us getting ready to go, but that's what we did.  Ready to go where you ask?  Well, we had a list of places to go and things to do.  In the past and usually on Saturdays, Aaron and I have been known to spend the day driving around to wherever our hearts desire, be it a coffee shop, bike shop, Goodwill, antique store, etc.  One of us will call out an idea and we drive there.  So that's what we did today.  I LOVE it! 
     First we ran to Starbucks to grab some coffee for the girls who did get to work today (kind of a condolence prize if you will.)  I was able to score two free drinks just 'cause the lady liked my honest face (not really- but the free drinks are true...).  We dropped them off then zoomed to Diamond Home Improvement to pick out some paint swatches.  I've been reading A LOT of home improvement blogs and have stumbled on a shade that I am obsessed with.  This one is from younghouselove.com:

We then ran to Fred Meyer's to look at magazines and lamps to further fuel my decoration fire!!  I wholeheartedly feel that this teal color will be a refreshing change from the existing red wall.  One day I woke up and realized I was super tired of the red.  This color was the answer to my......uh....tired-ness?

THEN, we drove across town to the Portland St. Mkt.  At this local establishment, they have a respectable amount of both micro-brews and wines, of which we made several purchases, thank you very much.

By that time we both realized we were hungry so we went drove to our old neighborhood to a greek deli and picked up some sandwiches.  They were just what the people's ordered.  Oh and on our way there I spotted a new bakery called 'Cakery', so we went there next.  I'm always up for cupcakes so we snagged a couple.  Sad to say, the Creamscicle cupcake did not last long enough to have its' picture taken.  R.I.P in my tummy little cupcake!  But here's the P.B. cup-cupcake:

After that, we drove to a bike shop for Aaron to pick up his final installation for a bike he's been working on.  In case you didn't know he likes to get bikes no one loves anymore, cleans them up and restores them into new treasures.  Interested?  Here is a pic of his new bike:

And here are a couple of the bike he restored for me last summer. 

 Take note of the argyle and "super W" on the front.  You can't buy a bike this awesome!! (don't mind the bug guts...Aaron says it's because I ride so fast that they are there.  I have to agree.)

So, that's all we've done so far.  I had such a good day I had to share it with someone!  Thanks for stopping by!  And stay classy....but mostly thanks for stopping by.