CafeChatNoir

Damn near an entire bottle of Rosemount Estate Shiraz later, a good talk with a friend and some other feedback, I really don’t give a rat’s ass about the ex and his perky wife and their perfect house…

that they’ll never have paid off

that will enable their kids to really get to know their day care provider

that will become their albatross over time

schadenfreude, I know….but it works.

Four days. Rain. 219 out of 330 miles. More rain. Soaked shoes. 1 out of 4 finishes. Wet tents. Gatorade coming out my ears. Sunburn. Knotted up shoulders. Absolute hell.

I think I’ll do it again next year.

The Ride In.

Finally was back in NoVa and seeing places that I recognized.

LOTS of people out along the route cheering us on - really makes it SO much easier to ride!!! Made the full route with no problems. :-D

Bless his heart, Tim rode with me the whole time that day, as slow as I am. (Must have been pretty relaxing for him, though, LOL!)

Made it to the first pit with good time.

Second pit, my shoulders were screaming - grabbed one of the med techs (big beefy firefighter dude) and demanded a massage. They actually do have chiropractors and massage therapists throughout the ride, but none at this stop. Fortunately, a shoulder rub is easy and requires no professional training.

20 miles from pit 2 to lunch. Rumors of a grab-n-go (2 bathrooms and just water - better than nothing) We’re about 10 miles into it. Stop at a red light in Falls Church. I look to my right and see a Taco Bell, and decide I am NOT waiting for the grab-n-go, I am going to get a Coke and a smoke and use a REAL bathroom. Tim agrees this isn’t a bad idea. So we get our Cokes, use real bathrooms and come back out and cheer on the rest of the riders coming up the hill.

Falls Church Police at that intersection to make sure no one gets run over. We finish our Cokes, get back on the bikes, hollering a “thanks” at the officer as we go by - and I get TOTALLY busted…

“Did that soda and smoke actually help???”

Why yes, it did. And as it turned out, there was no grab-n-go, so my kidneys would have exploded if I hadn’t stopped.

They say the lunch pit isn’t the finish - but it is. You ride in and all the other riders are there screaming and hollering for you. I almost started crying right then - I finally knew what it was like to finish the route for the day.

We got our “victory shirts” (they have everyone in red shirts in the mall run - great visual), grab lunch and then get back on the bikes and go down Pennsyvania Ave for the ride onto the mall. I start thinking about my Dad and wondering what on earth he would have thought of all this. Yeah, I got teary eyed yet again.

Coming onto the mall was absolutely incredible. Over one thousand of us. A ton of people cheering us on. I was crying like a idiot, but I couldn’t help it.

I sucked at the “victory lift” - everyone picks up their bikes. Damned if I have enough strength in my arms for that - I got it about halfway up and somehow Tim had a free arm and helped out.

My brother said he was looking for the rider who picked up her bike and then tipped over backwards, then he would know it was me.

My mom was crying when I found her after the ride in. Damn, guess I did something good.

Personal Worst.

Huge downpour in camp just as we were trying to get things packed up to leave, slowed everything down trying to get out. Everything that had dried out was completely soaked again.

I did NOT want to go out there.

But, got on the bike anyway and headed out, squishing shoes and all.

Couldn’t get up any speed to save my life.

Stopped and helped with a flat on the way into the first pit.

Later, stopped and checked on Tim who was waiting for a sweep after his second flat of the morning.

Paced very slow for a while with a gal who seemed to be having some problems, wanted to make sure she was doing ok.

Then stopped to check on a gal who had decided she was done for the day, but saw her pretty much fall off her bike when she pulled off the road and wanted to make sure she was ok.

At this point I realized I wouldn’t have enough time to get to the pit and decided to wait w/ her for the sweep van.

Moral of the story: Don’t get off the road until they TAKE you off the road - as it turned out, they left the pit open late and I probably could have made it in time. Argh.

Got sagged to the lunch pit just in time to see Tim taking off - somehow, even with the two flats, and helping two other riders, he’d managed to squeak through. It was all I could do not to cry from frustration.

Tim assured me it’s better to be sagged cause you stopped to help people than to make it and not help people. His words: “Riding by someone and not helping when you can means you’re a prick, and you’re not a prick”

3 days, no freakin’ finishes….

Back at camp, weather was BEAUTIFUL for a change - everyone hanging up their soggy undies on the fences to dry out. I hit the showers, not feeling like I’d really earned a hot shower with the 28 miles, but I was gunky anyway. Undid any and all good hydration practices with at least three Cokes that afternoon.

This was also when I really started feeling like a RIDER and not just a spectator. Many goofy comments about my biker tan. Looking around the dining tent and realizing what a SAFE place the ride is for so many people. Bought a hat to make up for the lost sunglasses.

Unfortunately, overnight the temp dropped a LOT. I had my sleeping bag, Tim had this little fleece thing and was freezing his ass off. I told him he should have woke me up and we could have put the fleece on the bottom and the sleeping bag on top, but apparently there had been a battle for the blankets already while I was out cold - he said he didn’t want to wake me and see how much meaner I could be in NOT sharing the sleeping bag.

A Personal Best.

10 hours before having to hang it up, and I was happy to get swept, cause the rain started again and it was looking like a good electrical storm was in the works.

Again, lots of stopping and helping out other folks. Was very happy that I had my kitchen/pharmacy in my rack trunk. Had band aids for the rider that cut his thumb trying to fix his flat and granola bars for the rider who had leg cramps and really needed some food.

Just call me Nurse Nightengale on wheels…

Unfortunately, lost my sunglasses at some point when I stopped. Damn.

Get there only to find out that they are NOT selling any food at the Scope, as had been previously indicated. Fortunately, I’ve got a rack trunk full of granola bars.

Very slow getting out of Norfolk, not enough police to cover the route, and they wouldn’t let the traffic teams help out.

Also really, really hot until about 3 pm when a storm came through. (My second time riding in the rain!)

Major mistake on the mileage from one of the pits to lunch. As we rode out, they were telling us it was 15 miles, it was actually 22. Makes a large difference in time when you ride as slow as I do, and I was starting to think I had gotten lost after riding for a lot longer than I had calculated and still not finding this elusive lunch stop.

Was a bad day for me and cars. Had a car decide to mess with me at an intersection while I was stopped waiting for the light, pulled up next to me and jerked over at the last second - managed to hop off my bike and out of the way. Was stretching out and talking w/a woman in a 7-11 parking lot when a van drove in and decided to play the “lets see how close I can come to hitting the chick on the bike without actually hitting her” game. Fortunately, I saw that one coming and was able to rather gracefully lean myself and my bike out of the way as he cruised less than a foot away from me. After he got out of the van, the woman I was talking to went after him in a big way. And then, the sag bus ran me off into the grass not once, but TWICE. (Hey, they’re supposed to be with US!!)

Back at camp, set up the tents and then the rains came. Oh lordy, did it rain. Soggy everything. High point of my night was finding the coffee dispenser in the dining tent. :-D

At this point I was already seriously questioning my sanity and attempting to calculate the cost of a cab from Williamsburg to Burke

After getting the tent setup and getting soaked and finding coffee, went to the entrance looking for Tim - didn’t know if he’d gotten picked up or was still riding. Spent a good time talking w/ another rider who’d gotten sagged at lunch and was even on the same bus as me. He was waiting for his sister and his boyfriend. When I mentioned I was looking for my boyrfriend, he said, “Me too!”

That’s when I realized, Dorothy, you ain’t in Kansas anymore. What can I say - I’ve never done anything like this before. :)

Rain stopped for the evening, started again at 4 am, and I wondered what they would do if I just refused to come out of the tent. (Fortunately, it stopped around 5 am.)

DCAR7 - Day Zero

Day Zero is check in day. We had planned on getting down there the night before, even though it didn’t start until 1pm. Just wanted to have plenty of time and not be rushing around.

Well, we DIDN’T get out of town Tuesday night… Decided to go ahead and leave Wednesday morning. Be on the interstate by 9 am. Well, we hit the interstate at around 11 am.

Got lost in Norfolk trying to find the Scope Arena (bad directions) - just *barely* made it - hit the second to last safety video (first place you have to go during check-in)

This is where I first start to get a little worried. The first 20 minutes is the “message” that we’re gonna save the world. Uh-oh. I’m here for Food and Friends and the Whitman Walker Clinic. They’re the ones saving the world - I’m just pulling a stunt to help raise money…

Get through the whole check in process, get badges, sign up for towel service, turn in over 5k in donations. WOOHOO!!!

Off to check in to the hotel. I had called, told them we would be arriving a day late, but we WOULD be arriving. They cancelled the reservation altogether. Fortunately, they still had rooms.

Then to return the rental car. Due by 7pm - the folks at Thrifty rental assured me that ALL their locations were open until at least 7pm. Get there with 5 minutes to spare, only to find that they closed at 6pm. Several angry phone calls later, we dropped the van off at the airport location, less than a mile away. (The Vienna location advised me to just leave the keys in the van, I DON’T THINK SO!)

For being such a good sport during the road trip from hell, I promised Tim dinner at Hooters. So, the great cab driver we had took us to Waterside - couldn’t believe we were going to RIDE OUR BIKES to Washington, DC, and asked for our rider numbers so he could watch for us on the news. Best quote? “You guys are OK!”

Hooters had to be skipped - no pasta, and the carbo loading was a must. Ended up at a cajun bar next door. Good pasta, and liquid carbs. (I still don’t quite get why there are so many Cajun bars with Guinness on tap.)

Another cab ride back to the hotel - driver is good enough to take us a route that is a few miles longer, but avoids the tunnel, which is totally backed up. Notes as we go through “scenic” Portsmouth, that it’s best that he locks the doors.

Also gives us the phone # to call for the morning cab. Good thing, since the guy at the desk at the hotel had indicated that there would already be a ton of people trying to get a cab in the morning - other riders, and something going on at the Marriott…

Conclusion: Norfolk cabbies are much better than DC cabbies.

Get back to the room and crash for the night.

Hell of a weekend for Tim to be out of town…

I am really amazing and incredibly disappointed in myself with how much this whole ex getting married thing is bothering me.

Lord knows it’s not like I want him back in my life.

Found out today that last fall when I was scraping for $8,250 to send to my ex-husband as part of the divorce settlement, he was getting ready to move into a $360,000 house with his new wife.

I hope the roof falls in.

Just got back from Crate & Barrell w/ Tim to get a gift for a wedding he is going to next weekend.

I have what could I guess be described as a love/hate relationship with that store.

On the one hand, it’s a pretty cool store and they have a lot of really nifty stuff, and if I was going to totally re-outfit my house and had unlimited funds to do it, I’d be there.

On the other hand - it represents everything that I am absolutely not.

It is picture perfect couples with spotless homes and perfectly matched dishes and glassware and fully stocked bars. Dinner parties and manicured lawns, barbecues with the perfect outdoor plastic glasses that won’t get broken. Margaritas with salt on the rim that doesn’t clump up, chips and gourmet salsa picked up at the lastest craft festival. (Or worse yet, homemade)

I on the other hand, am a slob, I don’t think I could pull of a dinner party if I tried and my glassware either is from the grocery store or the gas station. (Anyone else remember the “fill up your tank and get a free glass” deal that Mobil did every summer it seemed??) The salt ALWAYS clumps up on my margaritas and I get my chips and salsa from Costco.

So, I can’t help but feel extremely out of place there.

Worse yet…

Why do I even care??

Single family homes around here are just too damned expensive

That sound you hear is me decompressing and really starting to relax. The new job is nice. Very little stress whatsoever. I didn’t think such jobs even existed.

I am still totally beat from the ride. At some point I must take the time to copy and paste what I’ve written on it. Unfortunately, I wrote it at work (yes, yes, very bad) and it’s on a floppy disk and I don’t have a floppy drive on this machine, so I need to do it from Tim’s machine.

Gotta go to bed here real soon.

I managed 219 out of 330 miles. It was incredible.

NOW I’m panicking. We’re never going to get out of here and on the road

Not even from a riding standpoint, but I don’t think I will ever have everything together enough to even get on the road tomorrow night!

There is absolutely nothing “mini” about them. We’ve rented one to get ourselves and our bikes down to Norfolk for the Aids Ride. It is like driving a hearse.

I am the temporary owner of a Dodge Caravan “Sport” - again, nothing sporty about it.

This has at least confirmed what I have thought all along:

I will never own a minivan.

I’m going to work now!

And I’m running late for work

Went to a cookout yesterday. Didn’t end until 11pm. Didn’t get anything done that I was going to try to get done afterwards. (It started at 2pm, really thought it would be done by 5 or so.)

Have a million things to try and take care of tonight in trying to get out of town. Not going to be pretty at all. Not nearly enough time.

If you’re not familiar with the band, you really *must* do something about that.

Ya know, my buddy Scott has an LJ, and I gotta say, I am impressed with the fact that he can totally spill his guts (there must be a better way of saying that, but I am at a loss at the moment.) I, on the other hand, have been sticking to somewhat generic stuff - like I’m gonna write something just awful and next thing I know, someone will comment and I’ll realize that they actually KNOW me…

Internet isn’t as anonymous as it used to be, it seems…

“Jenny Says” - Cowboy Mouth. First song (and I think the only one) of theirs I heard on the radio. Got to see them in concert a couple of times, and they’re awesome. There is a terrific live cut of them doing “You Are My Sunshine” floating out on the net.

And above, is my favorite line from the song. As cliched as it sounds, I do tend to think that earlier generations had it a little easier - none of this “having it all” crap.

I don’t want to have it all - I just want what I need. I’m a touch tired of hearing yet again about the whole 70 cents on the dollar thing when no one will take into account the fact that these surveys usually DON’T account for time out of the workforce on the part of women in America.

I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got.

Just rowed 5k. Don’t like *that* one bit.

Never did get my act together today

Today I made a nice piece of progress with the whole debt thing. The ex’s car note is no more. The debt is not gone, but the car note is. I finally decided to use the LOC on the house to pay it off. Payments now go from $350 a month to $120, with a lower interest rate to boot.

Still trying to figure out how to deal with the rest of the money situation in the best way possible, as I am not “permanently” employed anymore. Need to keep working on the optimal balance for that one.

But, today I just freed up a nice chunk of cashflow, and that certainly does feel good.