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So far this summer have gone on several bike rides of about 30 miles or so. Friday night we decided that today (Saturday) we would step it up. We opted to do a 50 mile ride starting from the BU bridge - which means about 65 miles total because we have to ride from East Boston to the BU bridge to start the ride, and then get our tired asses home afterwards.

In order to facilitate this, Rob, who had slept very late on Friday, stayed up all night Friday night to get us up early - at 4:15 - so we could start the ride. He is a total superstar for doing this - and maybe a little insane. Who stays up all night and then rides 65 miles on a bicycle? Rob Reed, that's who.

We were on the road by 5am.

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So last winter I went skiing for the first time and also, 2 days later, went snow boarding for the first time.

Tomorrow I took the day off and we are having snow boarding adventure number 2. It is also only the second time Rob has been snow boarding so he doesn't get to be superior to me like he is skiing (although he's a very good teacher and very nice - doesn't pick on me for not being as good as he is).

Here's what happened last year when we went: I mastered the art of grinding all the way down the slope completely on the heel edge. This is very slow going, not at all what you're supposed to do, and KILLS your stomach muscles.

Fact: if you want rock-hard abs, take up snowboarding. Seriously. Mine hurt so bad after just one day of doing this that a couple times I considered that I actually might have done some kind of serious damage like torn something or injured an organ.

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So Saturday we finally went skiing for the first time this season. Hey, don't give us too much of a hard time, we don't have a car or own skis so it's kind of a big production.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and Rob took a lot of photos and videos, some of which are hilarious, (though they are not of me falling because he was always skiing with me and is not quite good enough to hold a camera and ski at the same time) which I plan to post soon.

However, suffice it to say that I have been re-reminded of what a good workout skiing is, and if someone would like to sponsor my efforts to get in excellent shape, I will gladly go skiing every day. I promise I will be in great shape very quickly.

Sunday and Monday were a little rough. Today is the first day I can actually cross my legs without using my arms to pick up the leg and put it on top of the other. Ha. Almost every muscle in my body is sore.

But it's so fun!

More to come soon.

Oh yeah, remember how not only are we supposed to be riding our bikes but I'm supposed to be running too? Well today running got resurrected because we didn't have time by the evening to get a ride in. (Rob promised me he is responsible for getting us up to ride 3 times this week before work - we'll see how that goes.)

Anyway, here is my run, which ended at - BERRY LINE!

View Run to Berry Line in a larger map

OK folks, so this time it was me. Damn, none of my friends with kids are ever going to let their children on a bike after reading my stories! So today we were so tired in the morning (still recovering from yesterday's bike ride, which was this route by the way) that we decided to sleep in and do an evening bike ride.

We made plans with Heather to ride around 4pm and eventually decided to do an 18 mile ride closer to home from a new pack of bike maps we bought recently that all start from the BU bridge.

Anyway, we still met Heather at the Mass Ave bridge to start the ride. Before we even got through Kenmore Square we had this incident. I was in front and we were all in the bike lane. There was a lot of traffic probably because there was a Phish concert at Fenway tonight. Anyway, I had already had to ride around a cab that was entirely in the bike lane (FYI for anyone who doesn't know, the bike lane is the farthest lane to the right, next to any cars parked on the street) and was back in the bike lane. A cab pulled over abruptly right in front of me, slightly in the bike lane, and the passengers opened the right rear door up without of course looking at what they were doing, and it was directly in my path and about 2 feet away. I tried to stop but couldn't, so obviously kind of crashed into the door - I was trying to swerve too, so I was headed to the right a little and I therefore slammed into the nearest parked car with myself and mostly my bike.

I was like SERIOUSLY? Because you're always supposed to watch out for:

1. People getting out of parked cars without looking
2. People in traffic suddenly opening doors (like cabs) in your path

Figures this would happen. So, I was fine physically, not hurt at all. I think mostly my bike crashed into the car and luckily I hadn't been going very fast. The parked car had a big dent in the left rear side and Heather and Rob rode right up and Heather right away started yelling at the kids who got out of the cab (well, after making sure I was OK). Rob had his iPhone so I right away took pictures of the cab driver's hackney license, the license plate of the damaged car and the damage on the car. Heather was on a tear! The stupid guys getting out of the cab just wanted to leave a note on the car and leave, the cab driver couldn't wait to get out of there, etc. Heather was like, "Jenn, call the police now." Remember, she's been hit by cars twice and never gotten any justice. Anyway, so I did, and they said they were sending an officer to take a report.

The cab driver was DYING to leave and the kids still wanted to leave too. We kept telling them no, we're waiting for the police to make an accident report. One of the two guys went off a bit to the side and the guy who I guess was the one that actually opened the door stayed with us but kept bitching about how we didn't need to call the cops and how Heather didn't need to be so "hectic and mean" or something like that, which made no sense. She was arguing with him while I was on the phone with the police and I was so sick of listening to him that when I hung up I started yelling at him too and said something to the effect of, "Nobody's fucking leaving, we called the police, we're all waiting for the police, so just shut the fuck up and wait."

Anyway, it was all wicked annoying. The cab driver kept asking to leave and I kept telling him no. Finally someone noticed (while we were waiting for the cops) that there was a cop directing traffic up at the nearest intersection so we went up to ask him what to do. He said everyone should stay put till the cops we called arrived and that if they didn't get there within 20 minutes to let him know and he'd make a call. They arrived pretty soon after that. So he told the cab to pull up onto the nearest side street and I went up there and the guy who had been the passenger in the cab, and the cab driver drove over.

First the kid told the cop what happened, then I told him. Right away it was funny because the police officer was not taking any crap from the cab driver. He was trying to leave right away and the officer was like no, you're going to give me your license. The kid gave him his license right away but the cab driver just stood there acting like he was considering his options. The police officer was like, "Let me say it again. I'm telling you to give me your license. You're going to give me your license now." Ha ha, that was funny. Then the guy handed it over. He took all their info and told the kid he could go. Then the cab driver was all agitated so the cop was like, "OK, you can tell me what happened now." The cab driver kept trying to make a point that he had to pull over there because of traffic and he had no control over the guy opening the door. The cop was like, "Well the law is that cab drivers have to pull all the way over into the rightmost lane of traffic so maybe you should stop trying to tell me you were doing the right thing when you weren't even following the law. Maybe you should just go now." That was funny too.

Then the cop got all my info, including my bike and the value of it because although it seemed OK there was a little damage to the tape or whatever around the brakes on the left side of the handlebars so he put possible damage to handlebars and said the accident report would be available at headquarters if I wanted a copy but that he assumed I wouldn't need to deal with this at all since it was the cab driver's insurance he assumed would be responsible.

Oh, there was one other funny thing where after the kid left the cab driver was like, "You got all my information and address, should I have his address?" about the kid. The police officer was like no, there's a police report. I was saying it too. No, just get a copy of the police report, that's the whole point stupid, the police officer took down all his info, you don't need to get info from the kid now. Then the cab driver was like, "Well, did you get his address?" to the cop and he said, sarcastically, "No, he refused to give me his address." The cab driver missed the sarcasm so the cop had to say, "Yes, I got all of his information. You can pick up a copy of the accident report."

So crazy! Oh, and also I forgot this part - right after the accident, like seconds later, some guy came up on his bike in the bike lane and was yelling at us for blocking traffic. Heather yelled at him "We just had an accident here, we're trying to do the right thing and call the police!" and his assy answer was, "Well you almost just had another one." WTF? I informed him "Fuck you" because I'm classy like that. Ha ha. Also other random people were honking and yelling at us for blocking traffic. One kind of crazy old guy in the passenger seat of a truck yelled at the cab, "IS this a parking space now?" so I yelled at him, "We just had an accident, calm down!" The younger woman driving the truck said, "Sorry!" about the guy who I assume was her crazy dad or something.

What a start to our ride! Guess what? Then we decided to continue on to our 18 mile ride! It was ultimately doomed because it was too rainy but we made it out to Jamaica Pond where I have never been for some reason - so pretty! Then went to the Arnold Aboretum, also so pretty! We definitely need to do this ride again in nice weather. We cut it short and went home where we ordered Papa John's as a reward for all the trauma.

Here's the site of the accident, by the way.

Guess what we did this nice long weekend? Saw several movies. Ate out a few times. Took the dog for a long walk.

Guess what we didn't do, even once? RIDE OUR BIKES. WTF, you may be asking yourselves? WTF indeed.

Saturday Rob Reed wouldn't get up. I got up at 5 something and at 6 when he still wasn't up he stated that he "wasn't in the mood". In fairness we were probably up late Friday night but that's really no excuse.

Sunday mother nature conspired against us by providing thunderstorms. I'm not riding in that. Too dangerous.

Monday? We didn't get up quite as early as we wanted to, so we nixed it because of traffic worries.

Facts:

1. We suck at getting up but Rob is worse than me.
2. Our first thing in the morning selves do not always necessarily have our own best interests at heart.
3. Getting used to getting up at "o' dark thirty" is tough.

Other facts:

1. We need to get our arses up and ride our bikes early because if not, we will be killed in traffic. Thanks Boston.
2. It is awesome to be done with a 30+ mile ride at 9am.
3. If I don't report that we have gotten up and gone for a ride at least 2 days before work this week, I authorize any of you that see me to punch me right in the face.

So the plan is to do this ride tomorrow morning, hopefully without anyone getting hit by a car this time. Heather is out of town, so I guess we can breathe a sigh of relief. Ha ha. Here is the route:

View Bike Ride 5/16/2008 in a larger map

Related to this, Dan, when are you going to get a bike and start riding? Dan is doing this ride in a couple of months and needs to start training! Dan, we will ride with you any weekend if you don't mind coming out our way a bit. Keep me posted!

Here is a map of our ride. I will fill in more details later but for starters, Heather was hit by a car again (see the red marker on the map).

View Bike Ride 5/16/2008 in a larger map

View Run #3 in a larger map

OK, but not this morning. I was super tired last night. Oops, maybe from getting up and running early in the mornings? Maybe I can still get a run in tonight.

View Short run #2 in a larger map