The Pilot Post

Good Morning All (aka Hi Mom!)

We'll here's my first attempt at an actual life-blog post. Bear with me.

To no surprise my day began before the crack of dawn.I literally woke up 4 times in the night because

1. I'm a light sleeper and my phone went off
2. I forgot to turn the thermostat back down from 75 (oops) and I was HOT
3. I'm learning how to sleep on my back instead of stomach (due to previous back troubles) and I hate it.

So when the 4th time of waking up came around, I checked my watch, saw the time was 5:23 a.m., accepted it and gladly rose from bed.

As per usual the day began with a hearty 1^st breakfast and sermon from the Austin Stone archives. (Link for the sermon and my related devo post can be found here & here)

Breakfast

Coffee with steamed almond milk (using a latte gadget) and Truvia is almost as essential as breathing is to my day

Next comes one of my favorite pre-workout meals…EGGS & TOAST & FRUIT. Simple as that! Add some vegetables, salsa, salt, pepper, cheese and KABOOM its magical & satisfying all in one

End product. WAHLA!!! The perfect dish to complement a great sermon

 Workout

 2 hours later…it was time for my first cycling ride in months!!!! Maybe a year? But hey! I used to do it all the time. I was confident.

(SPOILER ALERT: I had major issues.)

Destination: Town Lake

Launching Dock: A park on 24^th street

Mode of Transportation to Park: My car

Challenge #1: Putting bike into car

Putting a bike in a small jeep is definitely a “fitting a square into a circle” type challenge. Touring bikes are (thankfully) not difficult to pick up. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was remembering how the heck to take off the wheel…?

20 minutes later. Step one was accomplished.

You know what is really easy to get used to? Not clipping into a bike with cycling shoes. I honestly forgot just how scary it was to clip into a touring bike. It took NOT 1, NOT 2, but 3 attempts & a minor scrap to the leg to successfully clip in and start my cycle.

Besides…

1. Getting adjusted to my gears
2. The muddy/slippery trail
3. OH and the triathlon that happened to be occurring at Town Lake

…my ride was a success. But really it was super relaxing & quite an Austin adventure once I got the hang of cycling again.  

Plus I had never explored the Shoal Creek Trail before which was awesome. This picture somehow reminded me of the scene in Lord of the Rings.

I took a corny sentimental moment to pause on the Town Lake Bridge to appreciate the simple blessing of a good morning bike ride.

I made it back to the park within the hour and (this time) easily took off the wheel, packed the bike in the car and took off my clip-in shoes. However, I obviously had to encounter one last problem before leaving the park…

Fun Fact: I’m not the best driver

I couldn’t make it out of my spot smoothly enough so an awesome (& attractive) guy had to help me back out.

I touched base back at the apartment & showered all before 10 a.m. And in no time I was eating my favorite breakfast in the world!

There really is nothing like pancakes, peanut butter & green tea.

& Good Morning (still)