Getting to Know You!

[Lise]

At present I am in training for a cycling event in Victoria, Australia Jan 06: the "Audax Alpine Classic"...200km which includes 3,600m of vertical climbing in mid summer.

Wow! That's impressive. I've come back from nearly disabling pelvic pain due to severe endometriosis, exacerbated by three years of infertility treatments. I was in a chronic pain program 6 years ago, in which they suggested I either use anti-depressants as pain relievers, or start aerobic exercise. They said the results would be the same. I took the Rx, because I knew I'd never be an athlete. I got a fair amount of PT for my right S-I joint. You can guess the upshot, since I'm here...no longer on any drugs, and I'm a triathlete and marathon finisher today.

I'm really impressed with your upcoming biking feat. This summer I did a 100km ride through the mildly rolling hills of northern Illinois. It kicked my butt. I did it on my "city" bike, but this is a fairly streamlined bike that I've ridden in 6 triathlons. I'm looking forward to getting a "real" tri bike at the big bike expo this April in Chicago.

Today I watched the Kona Ironman World Championship Triathlon highlights on TV. I cried through a lot of it. Triathlon is such an amazing sport. I hope you get to try it sometime.

Best wishes,

Lise

[Duck on Wheels]

Real name: Ann
Where do you live? Trondheim, Norway (but this year in Madison WI). And no, I'm not from Hell, but it's nearby and my husband is from there. I've been through Hell many times, also to Hell and back, and seen it frozen over. Our airport is right out there. They also have an annual Blues Festival ... great shirts! And at Xmas time there's the annual beer-tasting hike.

Explanation of your handle: No imagination, and no bike. At the time. Should change it now to something like "lame duck".

Explanation of your avatar: none, so no explanation

Age (general or specific) 56. So maybe "old duck" is even better.

Occupation: Professor

Favorite bike: I have no idea! My men's 20" Trek back home fits better, but the women's 19" Giant here rolls better. And that's the only two I have any opinion on so far.

What's in your stable? One Trek at home and one Giant here, both "hybrid" or "comfort bikes".

Fastest speed on a road bike? where? when? Only speed I've ever measured was today, and that was NOT fast! Nor was it a road bike.

Another picture of yourself or your ride? I don't have very many pixs of myself. I hate having my pix taken! And definitely no pics of me on a bike since the age of ... 9? In fact, even that one, I think I'm just standing beside it.

What is the biggest lie you've ever told: I've told 2 I still
have a bad conscience about, and I think they're best left unretold.

Most memorable moment on my bike: Hmmm. The time I fell off when big brother insisted that I had to learn to mount like a boy? This was on a steep shale driveway, barelegged, in California. I've done him some damage back tho, when he was teaching me to swing a baseball bat and I kept on swinging as he walked away ... Or was it the first time I rode a bike with handbrakes and couldn't get myself to use them? Or the time I took a right turn from a stop sign wearing a tight miniskirt, and the back hub failed? I spun and spun but the bike just tipped slooooowly to the right and I couldn't get my leg down to stop. Or the time I lost a race against a fellow student, then played "couldn't care less" by resting my bare feet on the front hub and got a heel caught in the spokes. As you can tell ... lots of memories of defeat and disaster.

Most fun ever had on a bike? I guess that would be today, just realizing that I could ride 20 miles and enjoy it.

[Trek420]

bikeless in WI " wrote" I'm not from Hell, but it's nearby and my husband is from there. I've been through Hell many times, also to Hell and back, and seen it frozen over. Our airport is right out there."

Yes, and when you fly there the pilot announces "ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts. We are now descending into Hell"

welcome to TE

[pkq]

Thanks!

And I'm not making it up about the animal rights folks. A friend of mine -- in fact, the head of my organization, Rabbitwise -- is a psychotherapist and a registered "first responder", so she has to take seminars from time to time to keep her certification current. In one of them, the class was informed that animal rights advocates should be considered potential terrorists. One of the groups identified by name was the Doris Day Animal League.

Osama bin Laden has some real competition there.

You have to be kidding! Doris Day a terrorist, leading a bunch of terrorists? She's the all American girl of the '50's and '60's. And animals don't have enough brain capacity to......... But how would some people know the size of a pet's brain, when their own is so small?

Too bad some people lack common sense and an even keeled outlook on life.

[pkq]

laughlaugh18, your body may be feeling that pea because your bike is too big.

Unfortunately, as we age, bike fit becomes a lot more important. During my 20's and 30's, I never felt anything on any bike but that certainly changed when I hit my 40's. Now everything on the bike has to be dead on.

I also have to get off every 20-30 miles for a break and that becomes imperative on faster, hillier rides. If I don't break, my upper back and neck painfully remind me of my age for hours after the ride is done. Putzin' on the bike is not a problem on a body part; yet.

I'd get a new bike, if I were you. Shopping for new bikes is the best kind of shopping.

[snapdragen]

Explanation of your avatar: I wish I could figure out how to find an avatar of a dachshund.

Doxies are great, I used to work in a kennel that raised them.

[laughlaugh18]

Yasmin - I've ridden a couple of Trek hybrids and liked them. I'm waiting for the 06' WSD 7.x FX series bikes to be available around here to try it.

pkq - yep, the reach on the bike I have is wrong for me. I do intend to get a new one - just been having problems finding bike shops that have small frame bikes available for test rides. Hopefully this will be easier with the holidays coming.

Thanks for the welcome.

Cathy

[Lise]

Snapdragon! Thank you! That's exactly the kind of picture I imagined for my avatar! I've been looking around at doxie websites, but I didn't want to steal...um...appropriate the picture of someone's pet. My mom has all the pictures of our long-gone Schatzi, and I don't think we ever photographed her running. Thanks so much! Let's see if I can turn it into an avatar!

Lise

[CorsairMac]

Whewwwwwwwwwww and a BIG TE welcome to all the new ppl that have posted since I was here last!!!

Laugh: LOVE your handle, brought a smile to my face when I first read it, then brought a laugh to my day when I read why you picked it. Thanks for that!!
(btw: Hated the pix....no it wasn't too big I just Hate snow and I Hate being cold! and that pix had BOTH!! )

Azurs: again welcome to the board. a Handle is the name you picked as your login ID, Azurs. an Avatar is the picture some of us have under our IDs, mine are 2 morally upright ladies correctly dressed for cycling at the turn of the century. a Stable: basically what bikes do you own.

Yasmin: thank you very much for the compliment.

Lise: LOVE the avatar hun! Leave it to Snap to find the perfect one! Snap is the avatar queen!!

Snap: another Excellent job on finding Lises' avatar!

Bikeless: any family member of Treks, is a family member of mine.....no wait...that's not right. Welcome to the board my friend. Your sis is a hoot, I'm sensing here that it runs in the family!

[Yasmin]

Wow! That's impressive. I've come back from nearly disabling pelvic pain due to severe endometriosis, exacerbated by three years of infertility treatments. I was in a chronic pain program 6 years ago, in which they suggested I either use anti-depressants as pain relievers, or start aerobic exercise. They said the results would be the same. I took the Rx, because I knew I'd never be an athlete. I got a fair amount of PT for my right S-I joint. You can guess the upshot, since I'm here...no longer on any drugs, and I'm a triathlete and marathon finisher today.

I'm really impressed with your upcoming biking feat. This summer I did a 100km ride through the mildly rolling hills of northern Illinois. It kicked my butt. I did it on my "city" bike, but this is a fairly streamlined bike that I've ridden in 6 triathlons. I'm looking forward to getting a "real" tri bike at the big bike expo this April in Chicago.

Today I watched the Kona Ironman World Championship Triathlon highlights on TV. I cried through a lot of it. Triathlon is such an amazing sport. I hope you get to try it sometime.


Best wishes,

Lise

Hi Lise. Stories like yours inspire me to keep "pushing the envelope" of personal achievement. I still hope to enter triathlons at sometime. Also like you I have found cycling (& all sport) to be the best panacea. I've struggled with depression (reactive, not bipolar) & nothing does the trick as well as sport. The drug companies would not like this fact getting out, I'm sure.
Good luck with your endomitriosis. I'm lucky not to have it, but have known women afflicted with it & what it can do. Keep up the good work!
Kindest regards,
Yasmin.

PS - I cry with seeing the "give all" performances of athletes as well. Everyone has a story & one can only imagine what they've been through to get where they are.

[margo49]

Just last week we had a public ride (6000 riders) around the Sea of Galillee.( Only 65 km but Israel's a small country and so you either have to do "laps" or bang into international borders which are either death by bureaucracy or actual death by soldiers shooting at you)
Anyway...to my Point (You didn't think I'd go to all this trouble if I didn't have one did you??)

2 stories followed by 1 point
One mother with several kids said to me "Wow! Are you doing the whole ride [ there was a "family" 1/2 distance option]It's such a long way" And I said "Yeah but that's nothing compared to the distance I "rode" just to get to the starting line"
I passed and was passed by this one guy several times. One time I said "I'll finish this if it's the last thing I do" And he said "No one's chasing us " and I said "*I'm* chasing me".

The toughest jihad is the one with yourself

[Trek420]

Yasmin "I've struggled with depression (reactive, not bipolar) & nothing does the trick as well as sport. The drug companies would not like this fact getting out, I'm sure."

only if they could find a way to bottle and sell it ;-)
=^..^= =^..^= =^..^=
Corsaire "Bikeless: any family member of Treks, is a family member of mine.....no wait...that's not right."

yes, that's right ;-)

"Welcome to the board my friend. Your sis is a hoot,"

thanks!

"I'm sensing here that it runs in the family!"

yes, when the human genome project tries to isolate the quirky sense of humor gene, and the pun gene, and the "like to be outside" gene they'll look us up.

[allabouteva]

Real name: Eva

Where do you live?Sydney Australia or Down Under

Explanation of your handle: Sort of a take on the movie 'all about eve'

Explanation of your avatar: don't have one, not very techie so will figure it out eventually!!

Age (general or specific) 42.. So great to see other fortysomethings here!!

Occupation: Accountant, yep, beancounters ride too!

Favorite bike: dunno! I haven't met a bike I didn't like!


What's in your stable? a Giant CRX1 - which is a flat bar roadbike, got it 4 weeks ago, I love it! But I'm already thinking what's next!! I feel the NEED for SPEED!!!

Fastest speed on a road bike? where? when? About 44kph (sorry don't know what that is in mph) would love to go faster, and am working on it! I'm inately cautious, so that's warring with my enjoyment of riding a bike fast...


What is the biggest lie you've ever told: I'm always truthful heh!heh!heh!


Most memorable moment on my bike: It's all good... I just love it.


Most fun ever had on a bike? We took our cycles to Canberra about 7 weeks ago, and that's pretty much when my love affair of the two wheeled kind started. My husband and I and our two boys went cycling around lake Burley Griffith, and it was the perfect day. 30 km was a long way for me then, and it took about 3 hours!!! I've improved heaps in the few short weeks since. Here's a small picture of me on my son Michael's bike which I borrowed for the day (he rode my husband's second bike). Our second son Kieran has an intellectual disability which makes it a little more challenging finding active things to do as a family. So we bought this fantastic buggy for him, and it's like opened a whole new world for us. Life's great!!!

I'm so happy to have found this forum. There aren't many women who cycle around where I live. The LBS doesn't cater very well for women folk, and to have found a WHOLE community of like minded people, is so fantastic!

[Lise]

Welcome, Eva, to the world of biking, and to these boards! I understand your delight in both. Enjoy! Lise

[CorsairMac]

Welcome to the board Eva! So - do we need to fasten our seatbelts?.....is it going to be a bumpy ride??

and ain't YOU the lucky one.....it's summer where you live! want company?? lol