imdeanna's big adventure

[Wahine]

I met imdeanna today. She's a tough cookie. She hooked up with a group of us to do a no drop ride not far from her home. She showed up with her new Trek (very sexy bike) and her DH. She didn't have time to get SPD's before the ride, so she did the whole thing with platform pedals and runners.

It was blowing wind like craaaaaaaaa-zeeeeeee. We started out east with the wind at our backs. At 5 miles I asked how she was doing, she was good... she looked good and we continued. At 10 miles we had to decide if it was time for her to turn back. She said she was good, she looked good and it really seemed like the best idea would be to complete the loop. You see... we live in The Gorge. The land of very strong winds. It's not windsurfing and kiteboarding mecca for no reason. We (the group) had to make a judgement call. Do we turn around and fight the wind for 10 miles on a downhill that would not help us at all or continue around the loop, climb the big hill and have at least some help coming down into the wind?

Deanna started to flag a little just before we hit the big hill. She managed to get up it and was very smart about taking breaks off of her bike and eating enough. She got up the hill (a total of about 900 feet climbing) and held out to get back home.

In total: 25 miles.

The amazing part... this was Deanna's first ride on a road bike ever, her first time out for any significant exercise in years!!

This is our ride.

I'm really impressed.

Hopefully she doesn't hate me in the morning.

[Xrayted]

Oh Wahine... you didn't I feel somehow partially responsible as I advised her to contact you on her intro thread. I guess I should have warned her that you are Yoda... goddess of TE and a 2007 IM winner. You kick azz and rock hard!!!!

Woohoo!!!! Way to go imdeanna. Do plenty of stretches and go sit in a hot bath tub before bed. You may only feel tired now but you are bound to be sore tomorrow. The hills and wind are nasty in The Gorge. Very proud of you and look forward to meeting you soon. Good luck and congrats on the new bike and the b!tchin' ride today.

[sgtiger]

imdeanna.....

[Starfish]

Wow, well impressed! What an initiation!

[Bushranger]

Go Deanna! What an amazing start!

[lph]

Dang, that rocks! Way to go!

[Wahine]

Oh Wahine... you didn't I feel somehow partially responsible as I advised her to contact you on her intro thread. I guess I should have warned her that you are Yoda...

No need to feel responsible. I had actually PM'd her (before you made the suggestion) to tell her about the beginnerish rides we'd been doing on the weekend. She didn't take me up on it. Then she got invited out for a ride with someone else... It turns out she was getting invited out for the same ride by a friend of mine so she ended up in my clutches anyway bwahaaaaaaaahaha!!

Deanna, how are you feeling this morning? I really do want to know.

[imdeanna]

J/K! (seriously though!)

It was an AWESOME ride...and a HUGE milestone for me!! I was grinning the rest of the night proud of myself for finishing!!!

and how I'm feeling this morning? haha....well...I'm a bit nervous to walk down ANY stairs to quickly.....and won't even mention the 'neither' region!! but beyond that...I'm feeling great!


I have to say that EVERYONE on the ride made me feel so welcome, and really showed concern and gave lots of great advice to keep me going.
Even poor Pam...who was about to give me advice on what gear I was in when her front wheel went off the road into soft gravel...taking her and her new bike down for their first scratch (Hope her finger is doing better....she kinda got hamburger finger from it)

and Yes...I would love to go ride with Wahine again!!!
and I don't know if Carly post here or not...but I know she reads...so Thank you Carly for inviting me out!!!

[sgtiger]

Imdeana - Wonderful job! I'm glad that you enjoyed the ride and survived what Wahine(shakes finger) put you through.

Hey, Wahine, maybe you should take a look at her fit to make-up for torturing her? Sounds like she might need an adjustment on her saddle or something.

She made a few adjustments to mine on Saturday and I felt an immediate improvement afterwards. Thanks again, Wahine.

[imdeanna]

Imdeana - Wonderful job!

Hey, Wahine, maybe you should take a look at her fit to make-up for torturing her?

Thanks Sgtiger!

She offered her services! and I would LOVE to take her up on a fitting!
(name the wine and the time girl!!!)

I had a killer twing between my shoulders 2" below my neck, I think my handle bars need to be raised??

She did raise my seat for me on the ride

[MM_QFC!]

Imdeana - Wonderful job! I'm glad that you enjoyed the ride and survived what Wahine(shakes finger) put you through.

Hey, Wahine, maybe you should take a look at her fit to make-up for torturing her? Sounds like she might need an adjustment on her saddle or something.

She made a few adjustments to mine on Saturday and I felt an immediate improvement afterwards. Thanks again, Wahine.

And wow, that girl - SGTiger lily - was s-s-s-s-s-s-m-m-mokin! on the TE ride post-Yoda-adjustments!

[jobob]

The amazing part... this was Deanna's first ride on a road bike ever, her first time out for any significant exercise in years!!

Wahine, don't you know it's considered bad form to try to kill a new TE member on her very first road ride???

We usually wait until the second

Congratulations, Deanna, that's really impressive!

[Wahine]

Wahine, don't you know it's considered bad form to try to kill a new TE member on her very first road ride???

We usually wait until the second

Well, that was my plan but the wind sort of messed it up.

[imdeanna]

This is our ride.

This is really cool.....What kind of GPS computer do you use???

I love the idea of keeping track of all our rides like this!

[Xrayted]

That's not even the coolest...imdeanna - did you see how Wahine's new bike matches her hair?

(oh she's gonna get me for that one... )