Smoke tree in snow!

This snow has been pretty awesome! It's wet and sticky - of course this means we'll probably lose power -but I'm okay with that. I have lots of warm clothes and my camping equipment!

About 8 inches so far!

My house! I snowblowed my sidewalk and driveway, my neighbors sidewalks and ran out of gas! But it's all good - I just shoveled the rest and then a couple of us had to help a neighbors friend get unstuck - twice It took a woman behind the wheel twice to get that car unstuck - this poor guy seemed to have an uncanny ability to find the deepest spot to stick his front tire and get stuck.

Woooooooooooooooooohooooooooooo! I'm so glad that it's snowing...

Winter? really? seriously?

I have to admit I've been whining about wanting spring to get here and all that, but I think I know what my real problem is... It's the lack of a real winter storm. It snowed for about 10 days in a row - but it was just a dusting here and there and more annoying than anything. Now they are saying we might be in line for a winter storm over the next couple of days. Please, please, pretty please???? I know - I'm sick - but here is my reasoning. If we don't get a whopper storm soon I'm afraid that we'll get nailed with a storm in April or May - and frankly I want to get on my bike and ride, ride, ride and ride some more!

So - winter - please blast us - get it over with now and let spring come in!

Activities

My boss asked me to be 'Captain' of our heart walk team this year - the sad thing is that it's just the two of us participating. I can't seem to push my co-workers to participate - but I'll try to get their money. But I'm making it a point to push myself. I've signed up for the five mile walk - and to make sure that I could do it, I walked 4.8 today and other than being cold I did okay. So - if you would like to donate to help me out - the site is Utica's Greatest Heart Run and Walk.

Another thing that I'm doing is signing up for bike rides. I've done the Tour de Cure before - that is a heck of a story. I hadn't been on a bike in more than a year, signed up for the Tour de Cure 15 mile ride and somehow managed to make it - on a mountain bike - whining the whole way. This year I've been riding my bike in the house and staying more in shape than I had been back then, so I signed up for the 40 mile ride. The Tour de Cure is for Diabetes research and education and I'm asking for donations for that as well.

There is also a ride on the canal trail from July 11-18th - starts in Buffalo and ends in Albany. I don't think I'll make it this year but what an awesome ride! They also have shorter versions on the beginning and ending weekends, I may be able to do the second weekend.

If there are any local rides out there that you may have heard of let me know, please? And I'll be checking out Active.com - (thanks Mel) where there are all kinds of rides, runs, walks, etc taking place in the US.

Dreaming of being on Team CarboRocket

I enjoy reading Elden Nelson's blog very much - I've mentioned it here before. It's the FatCyclist Blog, Elden has shared much laughter, heartache and love in his blog and it's a treat to read his stories. Well on Friday I read the following on his website - and I wrote my email to Brad at CarboRocket...I want to be on Team CarboRocket - really bad!

Team CarboRocket is looking for a few good, ordinary folks who are on the verge of doing something extraordinary. You may not even know what that extraordinary thing is yet, but you can feel it burning inside of you. Hopefully, you already enjoy cycling, be it on the road or mountain.

Team membership is open to anyone who’s interested in doing something big. You may be a total novice or a seasoned veteran, we care not. What we do care about is that — whatever your extraordinary goal may be — there is an enormous gap between where you are now and achieving that goal. Maybe you are overweight. Maybe you have never ridden even a tenth the distance you’re hoping to ride. Maybe you’re missing a limb or two. Whatever hurdle you have to reaching your goal should make you dig very deep.

If this isn’t clear here’s an example: You are currently an expert level mountain biker with a resume stacked with impressive finishes and maybe even some sponsors and you want to finish the Leadville 100 mountain bike race because you’ve never done it. Sorry, not digging deep enough, no need to apply.

If, however, you’re a sport-level mountain biker and you’ve been thinking that the Great Divide Race is a little bit too short and you think it’s about time somebody rides from Canada to Mexico and then back, well yeah. We’d like to hear more.

What’s in it for you? You will be supported and sponsored by none other than Ibis Cycles in conjunction with Bingham Cyclery, CarboRocket sports drink, Ritchey components and the ever humble FatCyclist.com. We can’t divulge exactly what awesome deals and swag you will be getting from each of these sponsors because we are still trying to figure out what Fatty is contributing. Maybe he’ll publish your stories. Maybe he’ll give you his super-secret recipe for quiche. It’s hard to say for sure. But we will say that you will like being sponsored by us. A lot.

What’s in it for us? We love a good story and we want to follow yours, from ordinary to extraordinary. We will be there when you fall down, first, to laugh at you and then give you a hand up, a dusting off and a gentle push onward. You will keep us apprised of your progress and ultimately your attempt at completing your extraordinary goal by updating your story at regular intervals on the team blog.

We want at least half the team to be women and total team members to be 10. We don’t want your entire story just yet, only 150 words or less. You need to tell us a compelling snippet of your story including who you are, what extraordinary thing it is you want to accomplish and why it will be so challenging. Email your 150 words to Brad@carborocket.com. The sponsors will then pick 10 people with the most compelling stories to make up the Team.

And then we’ll come up with a cool secret handshake or something. We look forward to hearing your outrageously cool idea. Oh yeah, there is a one week deadline for consideration. You have until February 19, Midnight to submit your snippet.

Love,

Team CarboRocket

I so much want to travel the entire Erie Canal Trail - all 400 +/- miles of it this summer - and what would be even better is if I had a Team to prod me along, to coach me, to push me, to encourage me. So I applied. And now I wait. I did get a trainer for my bike - it's in the front room upstairs - I ride and watch TV and pray that the spring will be a mild one so I can ride the trail and not have to wait to long. It took me awhile to hit that 62 miles last year - I don't want to take that long this time. I'm taking the bull by the horns and trying to get my butt and legs ready. I've also started doing the Biggest Loser Boot Camp workout - I figure that can't hurt either. We'll see.

Think good thoughts for me! I really want to be on Team CarboRocket!

Camelot at the Stanley

It should be a great show. I'll write more on it later!

It was a fantastic show and I'm sorry it took me so long to remark on it. I was bummed to learn later that if I had looked for my friend Kelly - I might have been able to meet King Arthur - who Kelly said was a sweetheart. Bummer!

The Stanley Theatre is a jewel!

Footprints on the Dock

Footprints on the Dock
Originally uploaded by Martha Anne

I went for a small road trip today - headed to Cooperstown. There is something about going down Cat Town Road, up Bed Bug Hill and down Route 28 to Cooperstown that just makes me feel good. It was cold today, but the sun was shining and the picture taking was awesome! I was floored by all the people on Canadarago Lake ice fishing! Hundreds of people - it was really cool!

Players of Utica

This is the best local show I have ever seen. The music is live and fantastic, the theatre is small and intimate, the talent was phenomenal.

So - if you want to do something fun and crazy - go to the show , they even have a list of approved props you can bring. There were a number of people in the audience who had the toilet paper, confetti, bells, noisemakers, cards, newspapers. And the people who knew the 'questions and statements' to make while the narrator was talking - that was hysterical! I was basically a 'virgin' to the show as the last and only time I saw it was 26 years ago and I don't remember much about it, but I knew what to expect. The people next to me had never seen it and LOVED it too!

Utica has a ton to offer! Remember that and take a look at the Players of Utica site to see what's coming up. And the Stanley Volunteers have a murder mystery coming up too! I'll post more on that as I learn more.

January **updated

I've been dreaming about bicycling. I want to be on the canal trail, but I simply don't have what Jill Homer has, at least not yet. So I have decided that I'm going to try using a trainer - specifically a Graber MAG Trainer - in my living room. I really want to go on 100 + mile rides this spring and summer and honestly by the time I work on the much needed butt callouses the season is winding down. So, in comes the trainer - I'm putting it together tomorrow and bringing in my bike (without getting the tires in the snow - that should be fun) and riding as long as I can - every day. I did think about getting rollers - but honestly - I'd like to not crash my bike in my own house. **UPDATE - not happy with the trainer - it's missing a very important bolt and L shaped hex key - come on!!!! - I have to call them and see what I can do now.

The next step is getting a computer to hook up to my rear tire so that I can track my mileage - my computer now is hooked up on the front wheel and of course since that won't be moving I won't have a clue as to how far I've gone. And I figure I'll get to watch a lot of movies this way and I won't be bothering anyone by having a bicycle in my living room.

I think that I now have someone (Katie - and little does she know what she is in for with me) to hike and possibly snowshoe with. Of course we are both newbies - but I do have GPS and an iPhone so I (hopefully) won't get lost. I just have to figure out some good beginners trails in the area. Any ideas?

Happy riding - and think Spring!
Michelle

I'm home...

I planned on taking pictures and blogging as I drove. The best intentions. But after only going 603 miles on Wednesday - I knew I had 945 miles to go on Thursday. Well I did it. And I'll never do it again. I'm exhausted - no doubt about it. I do have laryngitis, it started Sunday with a gruff voice, but went much farther. It's not pretty...and I went to the doctor - supposed to not talk. Wonderful...LOL

So - I drove 3000 miles to Texas and back. There are some very beautiful places between the two, but I'll still stick to upstate New York.

Happy New Year! I hope that it's a good, prosperous and peaceful one for you!