training

I just got Camille back from the shop on Tuesday and love the improved shifting. Today was a fun day, but long and very wet! It seems to rain every Thursday for some reason... Anyway, biked up to Redmond for Aikido in the morning as usual and then stopped at QFC to pick up some picnic food. Fresh hot chicken tenders and a cranberry, walnut, pineapple salad. Yum! Then we headed back to the Sammamish River Trail and followed it north to Woodinville, where we stopped for lunch and watched folks playing catch with their dogs. The wind started picking up and it was getting chilly, so we rode on to Bothell and connected up with the Burke-Gilman Trail. There was the most gorgeous scenery as we biked the trail along the river, by the sea-plane airport in Kenmore right on Lake Washington and then into Lake Forest. It's such a pretty trail! Chatty squirrels darted across the path in front of us, about a hundred black birds sat in a couple trees and cawed up a storm of insults overhead as we passed and on the way home we met three roosters who seemed to think they owned the trail. Why did the chicken cross the road? To see if the bike would swerve first...

There were a number of chocolate refreshment stops made along the way. I found an extra-dark Hershey bar with blueberries, almonds and cranberries to be just the ticket. Highly recommended! :) We fought the wind the entire way back to Redmond and just as we arrived, it started to rain again. My feet were almost completely numb with cold, so I spent a couple of hours at Starbucks nursing a venti chai with whipped cream and thawing out. Then we braved the wind and the rain back to Aikido and after class again fought the wind home. 9am to 9pm. 50 miles. And I have now completed my white belt tests to go on to yellow belt. Lots of great things today, so I'll end it by spending my first night in my new sleeping bag and tent. Lots of love, LaichandCamille! <3