Oh yeah – my new (to me) Pinarello Galelio with Ultegra 9 and Campy Proton wheels. Uh huh….

A friend of a neighbor bought it for his wife who rode it about 3 times and decided she didn’t like road biking and wanted a mountain bike. It didn’t even have water bottle cages on it when I bought it. I picked some up and he put them on for me when I picked up the bike.

I had solicited advice and input from coach Bold and from Flatman who Bold claims is the King of second-hand value. So I sent him an email. They both wanted pictures but I had already spent a long time looking at the bike and test driving it and felt odd about asking to go get pics. I told them it was very clean and they said that if it was very clean it was probably a good deal at $1500.

Clean? You be the judge (click for larger view)

I think that counts as clean.

Of course the weather sucks today and I have a long run scheduled but tomorrow I will test drive this baby by riding up a long, long hill. The ride we are taking is described like this

Wildcat Canyon is a varied, woodied climb, with pitches up to about 9%, and a lot of longer, slight grades.

Or like this:
Distance: 2.5 miles
Climbing: 620′ — 420′ to 1,040′ 7%
A very popular road for climbing. The first mile is steep. After passing El Toyonal Road it eases up until reaching Inspiration Point. The descent isn’t much fun because of the tight turns, reverse grades and slick pavement.

I’m not too crazy about the descent part but I think we come back a different way. For the most part, new bike and I say Bring.It.On!

Since I started writing this post it has begun to rain – and I didn’t go for my run yet. I suck. Wildflower is going to suck for me if I don’g get it together soon. My first long ride on my new bike might be in the trainer. OH THE INJUSTICE!!!

I just looked and saw that my very first post was on January 26, 2005. I’ve been blithering out here on the internet for 2 whole years plus a couple of weeks. My first post was on January 1, 2005. Go figure.

I started out thinking I would write about parenting issues (hence my blogname). Then I thought I’d go for politics but soon realized I wasn’t really that dedicated and lots of people do that better than I ever could. Then I added running and joined the RBF. Then I discovered the tri blogging community and now I’m doing triathlon and writing about that.

Can’t say as I’ve gotten any better at this but I can say that I am very happy to have found community in my fellow athletes and I thank you all for your support. It makes all the difference in the world.

I just looked and saw that my very first post was on January 26, 2005. I’ve been blithering out here on the internet for 2 whole years plus a couple of weeks. My first post was on January 1, 2005. Go figure.

I started out thinking I would write about parenting issues (hence my blogname). Then I thought I’d go for politics but soon realized I wasn’t really that dedicated and lots of people do that better than I ever could. Then I added running and joined the RBF. Then I discovered the tri blogging community and now I’m doing triathlon and writing about that.

Can’t say as I’ve gotten any better at this but I can say that I am very happy to have found community in my fellow athletes and I thank you all for your support. It makes all the difference in the world.

I just looked at my Countdown to WildFlower counter and it has hit 99 days. That’s just a little over 3 months. Yikes! Time to get serious about training!!!!

I have 4 weekends between now and then where I won’t be able to go on a long, hard, hill climbing bike ride like I need to. I have 2 shopping weekend, one in San Diego for the Maiden of Honor and one in Chicago for the Bride, and I have the weekend before the wedding when friends and family will start rolling in to town and one the weekend of the wedding when I will be partying like a mad dog!(see item #6)

That means I have exactly 10 weekends to pump {clap…… point……} me up.

I hope it’s enough.

To my shopping partners please note – Mama will need to go for a long run or workout in the hotel gym on Saturday morning and maybe Sunday. I hope you can join me.

What’s really exciting is that I’m about to add a new weapon to my training arsenal (in addition to actually training, that is). Stay tuned…..

I just looked at my Countdown to WildFlower counter and it has hit 99 days. That’s just a little over 3 months. Yikes! Time to get serious about training!!!!

I have 4 weekends between now and then where I won’t be able to go on a long, hard, hill climbing bike ride like I need to. I have 2 shopping weekend, one in San Diego for the Maiden of Honor and one in Chicago for the Bride, and I have the weekend before the wedding when friends and family will start rolling in to town and one the weekend of the wedding when I will be partying like a mad dog!(see item #6)

That means I have exactly 10 weekends to pump {clap…… point……} me up.

I hope it’s enough.

To my shopping partners please note – Mama will need to go for a long run or workout in the hotel gym on Saturday morning and maybe Sunday. I hope you can join me.

What’s really exciting is that I’m about to add a new weapon to my training arsenal (in addition to actually training, that is). Stay tuned…..

Sorry this is abrupt. But Firefox rules and your Firefox formatting skills stink. We hope you are not offended, but, in a desperate attempt to make our eyes stop bleeding, we are hijacking your blog and making some drastic prettification changes. We hope you are in no way disappointed with your new look. And if so, get over it – we use Firefox and that’s all that really matters.

Be safe in knowing this decision in no way involved the abuse of martinis, baby kittens or mind-altering browsers.

Oh and btw, keep on tri-ing, because your ass is looking spectacular in those jeans.

Sincerely,

Sisters for the Prevention of Eye-Bleeding

P.S. We strongly suggest you move far, far away from Blogger.

Today is the 34th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, a Supreme court decision that put a lot of much needed power in women’s hands. That power was the power to make the decision as to whether or not to have a baby that was conceived inadvertently. I think it is safe to assume that no one aborts a baby who was conceived consciously so I’ll stick with the word ‘inadvertent’ knowing that it might mean due to rape, due to failed birth control, due to miscalculation, or due to carelessness.

I fully support anyone’s right to be horrified at the very thought of abortion. I fully support anyone’s right to cry bitter tears at the lost babies. I fully support anyone’s moral indignation that a woman would terminate a pregnancy. I do not support your right to stop a woman from making that choice for herself, though.

We cannot pick and choose who gets to have an abortion and who doesn’t. You can’t legislate ‘in the event of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life’ for several reasons. First of all you can’t always define a rape. Is it rape if a long time boyfriend holds his girlfriend down and forces penetration while saying “I love you baby – I just can’t stop” and she lies there crying and terrified, unable to utter a “no” or a “stop – you’re violating me”. I think so but a court might not. Is it fair to say that a young girl who is impregnated forcibly by her perverted uncle has to have the baby? Is it fair to say that a woman on the way to her car in a shopping mall parking lot who is grabbed, thrown in a van, driven away and raped and then released has to have that baby? And who is to define ‘danger to the mother’s life?” Is giving birth to a rapists baby and then giving the baby up not without long term risk and danger to the mother’s health and well being? Who is to say?

The motions and cases that threaten to bring down Roe vs. Wade today generally decree abortion to be illegal – no exceptions. I believe we need to keep abortion legal without exception or reservation because it isn’t up to you or me or a judge to decide on the course of a woman’s life or how that pregnancy might impact her life. There is only one person who can make that decision and we need to maintain the right of women everywhere to manage their lives.

I broke my blog! I’m trying to fix it. Sorry!

UPDATE – fixed in IE. Doesn’t work at all in FireFox. I tried to fix it butn then it broke in IE. If anyone can tell me what the issue is for FF I’ll fix it. Otherwise you have to use IE to read this blog. Sorry!

No, but I did get a lovely blog face lift thanks to the very talented Runner Susan at the MastHead Factory.

It’s like she knows me! I registered, paid (hint people – she doesn’t do this JUST for love) sent her a couple of graphics and voila! There I am, staring at the course map and dreaming of putting in the Tri performance of a lifetime when what I should be doing is getting my whiney ass off that chair and training. It is SO me!