The Word from Liz

Hullo, all! Heidi’s doing the lengthy (or Lenthy, as I like to say) update right next to me here at the Redmond, Oregon library. A few thoughts from ol’ Lizzy-bear. I am having an incredible time thus far. Yes, every day brings moments where the blood sugar drops and tempers flare, but trail mix and apologies/forgiveness are never far behind. Some of the riding has been difficult, but as soon as I pull into camp for the night, the struggle seems worth it. Yesterday, for example, involved a long climb up a mountain pass. It wasn’t unendurable, but it was challenging, and we *had some concerns* about truck traffic and finding water (that is, we were sick of teetering on a narrow shoulder and we were considering dipping water from a lake to drink). Two times I slipped off the pavement onto the shoulder and had to do a quick recovery to avoid falling over (because my shoes clip into the pedals). One time my chain slipped off. I *may* have started crying two times. A few miles from the summit, though, as the trees thinned and the sky opened up, I felt invigorated and strong, and I felt like I could keep climbing for quite a while if I had to. And then the downhill! Speeding down the mountain at over 30 m.p.h. is shweeeeet! Ahh, but then, young grasshoppers, we overshot our campground and had to climb back over a few miles and a few hills and I became more of a grumpy grizzly than my usual Lizzy-bear self. I made an effort to climb the hills back to the turn-off as slooooowly as possible, at around 4 m.p.h., just to show the world I didn’t approve of that turn of events. However, after slogging into camp, I was immediately overcome by Good Cheer, and had a great time dancing around the picnic table in my biking tights (before noticing the neighbors were looking quizzically in my direction), taking a quick dip in the lake, and enjoying dinner from our lakeside picnic table. Each day brings its downs and its ups, but, so far, I’m having a blast and it’s all worth it. Cheerio!