Sunday, April 19, 2009

Weekend Wrap-up



Well ladies, I lied about the Friday ride being rained out. I assumed it was, I understand the lack of desire one feels when thinking about getting soaked, being cold, and being in danger on the roads while riding in less than ideal weather. I went to the bridge just to make sure I wasn't standing anyone up who was planning to ride and to my happy surprise I met a crew of babes waiting for me! There were a handful of ladies who, frankly my dear, just didn't give a damn about the rain!

Our maiden GRRRLZ Rule! ride included Anne D, Lace, Jessica S., Jasmine, Sarah, and me!I fretted over a route earlier in the day, but we decided to nix it due to the weather and thought a quick little cruise to grab a bite and a beer somewhere would be divine. We rode to north Lamar and 35th where we checked out the new P. Terry's Burger Stand restaurant. Very swanky natural fast food joint- definitely a restaurant, not a stand at all like their South Lamar locale. Then we chose to keep truckin' so we headed over to Shoal Creek Rd. and rode north to Anderson and then back down Shoal Creek, to 35th, east over to Guadalupe (where I got a flat at about 24th and had to use a spoon for a tire lever, Doh!), then we made our way back to the Ped Bridge to watch the boys compete in Brian's latest Cyclocross Club race. Many familiar faces, under layers of mud, sweat and tears! Andrew from ATXfixed, James from Cyclebum and Daniel from ThyNeighborsBike. I also ran into long lost Patchen, met Brooks who is a photographer and a part of the Austin Bike Social Events (hosts Thursday night bike social rides that meet on the bridge), and I met some cool new bike riding babes. I had a great time on the ride- my first real ride since my accident, some tall boys on the bridge, met some wonderful new acquaintances, and had a swell night. I trust and hope everyone else did too!

Sorry ladies if I made it seem like the ride was off. All in all, canceling it was a very safe and wise sentiment. However, many cyclists do not have the option of sitting out their daily commute to work or school on rainy days.
It can be very good practice to ride in the rain. Let some air out of your tires, get equipped with a nice rain jacket, avoid puddles, take turns slow, wide, and easy, and develop a heightened sense of awareness and communication with all other vehicles on the road. Next rainy day go out and get wet and muddy. Have fun and experience a different riding condition!

Lovely Ladies, lets talk turkey about our next ride! What days/times work for people this week?
Is anyone interested in volunteering at the Pink a [Love] Courier Service interactive art installation this upcoming weekend? It is downtown at City Hall as part of "Art City Austin" and runs Saturday(10am-11pm) and Sunday(11am-6pm). Email michael81686@yahoo.com with your name and contact info and title the subject line "volunteer cyclist" or "volunteer factory" depending on whether you wish to deliver notes or write them up, respectively. What a great concept and it's sure to be a blast! I plan on participating, you should too (lads and ladies alike!)!!

Also, any ladies interested in participating in the bike polo games they always read about on Jason's blog, ATXBS.com, or Daniel's over at ThyNeighborsBike.com need to just come out and play! I have wanted to soooooo so bad since the first post I read on Jason's blog. I have been super intimidated about it though because I've never played and don't know any of the people involved. I went today for the first time with super awesome bike babe, Jasmine, and had a great time meeting new folks and watching a really fun game! I still pulled the "Yella" card and stayed on the bench, even though many folks insisted I go out and give it a try. It can be a slightly aggressive and physical game, but only to the point where I was worried about my still mending shoulder socket and rotator cuff. I will absolutely get out there and give it a go next Sunday, for sure! Everyone there was so super friendly, and they love the game! Come! Join! Woohoo! They meet between 4 and 6pm every Thursday and Sunday at Eastwoods Park, just north of campus near JPs Java. Let's get enough gals out there (we need at least six if not more!) for a women's league! Woohoo!

Email me (mo.grady@gmail.com)so you can be added to the GRRRLZ Rule! Bike Gang email list. Tell your gal pals to email me too! Ladies unite, ride, play polo, race, session, DIY projects, bike, potlucks, anything, everything!! Yeah!

I sure hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much as I did!
love to all,
Maureen Mo Grady

4 comments:

rob said...

Hey, great you came out to polo. I guess I didn't formally meet you, 'cause I came out late, though that doesn't really matter. Bring more girls to the polo social club meetings. And next time you HAVE to play. It's more fun that way. We are getting prepared to throw some tourny's later this year and there better be a female presence!

Liebo said...

hey mo, its daniel from thyneighborsbike. I'll definitely be sure to say hi next time I see you around. Also I'm surprised you didn't cave to the peer pressure yesterday, we usually do a good job making sure everyone gets out to try it. Next time probably. (also I've been meaning to add your blog to the list of sites on mine but currently whatever I used to make my website is all screwy and won't let me change anything. My friend said he'll help me out soon to fix everything so it should be all good in no time.)

Maureen Grady said...

yeah guys! thanks for commenting!

Rob, I WILL play next Sunday (I work Thurs nights, boo!). Like I said in my post...I am still nursing a separated shoulder that had me off my bike and out of work for like three weeks. That would really have sucked to do something to re-injure it so soon after my clearance to participate in my daily activities again, so I played it safe. Lame, I know.

Daniel, hey thanks for considering linking to me on your blog! That makes me happy!

Keep up the good work fellas! See you next Sunday!

JazzHams said...

yo mo glad you came out with me tooooo! riding friday and polo sunday was a blast!!! let's do it again super soon. i'm always down for riding. see you super soon! oh and we should get together and talk shop about our insurance band hah!