Hold onto your hats

I'm going to cram as much info into this blog as I can and STILL try and and make it to bed at a resonable hour...
My friend Mark calls blogging "shameless self promotion," and I can't help but think "Duh."  at least Mark's blog is about food and wine and stuff everyone appreciates.  Mark's blog has useful things like yummy recipes and wine recommendations (and believe me, he won't steer you wrong).  Mine is about me, me, me (and sometimes my family).  My life, my workouts, my bike, my fundraising (come on, send a donation!), me, me, me!  At least mine is proofread (most of the time) and generally grammatically correct, which is more than I can say for A LOT of the blogs out there.
Oh-well; I guess if you aren't interested, you don't have to read it.

Anyway...
My Fundraising is going well - I am 1/3 of the way there (can I get a whoo-hoo?), and I have a fabulous fundraising event coming up next month.  Stay tuned S. FL peeps, because you are invited to a fun-filled, family-friendly, festival of... wait for it... miniature golf!  That's right!  Mark your calendars to be in Downtown Delray Beach on April 21 at 6PM - yes, it's a Thursday night but the kids don't have school the next day.  I will have more info in my next posting.  I had hoped to post the actual flyer for the event, but apparently I had a copyrighted phrase on there (whoops), and I have to fix it.  Who knew that Putt-Putt was copyrighted?

Last time I offered to post my gory wreck photo (or not) based on which side voted with the most donations.  Well, the ayes have it.  You have spoken. So here you go...



Pretty, no?

Don't say I didn't warn you.  It's not too bad, actually.  The gash has mostly healed, thanks to the second skin-type bandage my MIL gave me, and the bruising has migrated down my leg and is now a lovely shade of yellow-green.  Still, I don't think I'll be modeling bathing suits anytime soon (okay, ever).
But, I was glad that the wreck happened when it did.  If it was a few weeks later, it would have happened to my NEW BIKE!!!

My new baby.  I haven't named her yet.  Any suggestions?

That would have been tragic.  I took the new girl out for a spin tonight with some friends on A1A.  We only rode about 16 miles, but it was a good ride.  I am not as fast as I hoped to be on the new bike, but I figure I just need time to adjust. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely faster, but I was kind of hoping to be lightning fast on the new lighter ride, but guess what?  Even brand new bikes, paid for in cash with money you have been shaving off your paycheck  for months still require you to do ALL the work (pedal, pedal, pedal)!  The nerve!

Just in case you want the specs, she's a Trek Lexa SLX, a step below full carbon, but soooo much better than the blue steel dinosaur I have been riding!  Yay!!
I promise that I will no longer brag about my new bike.  I am just so VERY excited!

I am off to bed, as the reasonable hour has passed, and it is getting into way too late for me.
I have to be up at 4:00 AM tomorrow to leave for the airport.  I am going to Charlotte for my "nephew's" Bar Mitzvah.  Isabella and I have a 7:15 flight tomorrow (ick), but it will all be worth it to hang out with my best buds from college for three whole days.
Can I get another whoo-hoo?

Well, it was bound to happen.
I guess this makes me a real road warrior, now.
Yup, I've finally broken the seal and had a full-speed bike wreck.
You might remember a month or so ago when I first started training for Tahoe.  I embarrassed myself with a static (i.e. standing still) fall.  I had a few bumps and bruises - mostly to my ego.  Since then, we have been getting progressively faster and stronger.  We have been growing closer as a team and trusting each other.  On our last day at the training grounds (way out west in horse country), Bryan set us up for our first "time trial".  This is just you against the clock for whatever the course is - ours was set up to be just under 3.5 miles.   It was fun, and I averaged over 19 mph for this time trial.  I was pretty excited, especially because I am still on old blue Schwinn - I swear that bike must weigh 35 lbs!


Here's me struggling up Water Tower Hill. 
That's Coach Bryan in the lead

 After saying goodbye to our training grounds (sniff-sniff), we moved back out to the roads to get some serious miles in.  Two weeks ago, we rode from Jupiter, up to Hobe Sound, FL - roughly 30 miles round trip.  However, because we need to start getting some hills in (and good luck finding those in South FL), Bryan detoured us a few miles to a little place called "water tower."  This is basically a very long driveway with a very steep hill.  We were supposed to climb it 10 times, I managed 8 and called it a good effort.  We then rode home into a 25mph headwind (whoo!).

Just when we were all feeling pretty good, Bryan had to remind us about the 8 mile climb in Tahoe (gee, thanks) and how that's like doing about 100 water towers back to back.  Sigh...

That brings us to last weekend.  Saturday's ride was actually turning out to be great.  It started out cold (50's) with a 15 mph or so wind out of the North.  We ride north to start, so we struggled, but knew that we'd have an easy ride home with that wind at our backs.  Bryan (of course) detoured us to the Lake Worth Bridge and made us go over it 4 times, and told us we would be going over it 10 times on the way home.  Hey, it's South Florida - we've got to get our "hills" in where we can.  We made it 17 miles to the turn around point at the Lake Worth Inlet, and stopped to regroup and fuel with enery gels, sport drinks, water, whatever.. It was time to head home.  The wind was at our backs, yay! 
We were averaging around 19-20 mph and feeling good, joking around, maintaining a tight pace line, we even picked up a rider who was out there by himself and decided to draft us for a while.
And then, I heard it, and had just enough time to see the bike in front of me go down and think "NO!"
And that was it.
The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the grass looking in our Team Mentor's face - Kristen looked really scared and she was asking me if I was ok. 
I thought about it.
My head hurt - a lot. But, I didn't appear to have any broken bones, and I was concious, so yes, I was ok.


Remember this the next time you are
tempted to ride without a helmet.



We were all really shaken up.  Of our pace line of 5 (plus a hitchhiker), three of us had wrecked.  The hitchhiker stopped long enough to make sure we were okay, and then quickly got out of there - probably counting his lucky stars that he was at the very back of that pileup and had enough time to avoid it.  I don't think he'll be tagging onto another pace line anytime soon!

Upon further inspection, I was pretty banged up, and my helmet was cracked clear through.  Yup.  I hit my head hard enough to CRACK MY HELMET.  The egg on my head went down today (day four), and I don't think I've lost that many brain cells, but you never know...
I have one more picture I could post - but in the interest of not grossing you all out, I will refrain.  Despite wearing long sleeves, and long pants, I still managed to lose many layers of skin, in several different areas.  I'm not sure what I hit my hip on, but it looks like I was beaten with a baseball bat. 
Hmm, maybe I should post that picture.  Something like that is sure to get me some sympathy donations, right?  Plus it is pretty risque (well, sort of).  I'll have to think about it...
Coach Bryan did actually post a picture of my hip (and some other parts of my anatomy) on his Facebook page - however, he took it down after my not so gentle request.  So, if you are friends with him, you've seen it.  But, of course the pic he posted was fresh (ie: bloody) but not bruised.  Now, well, it kind of looks like Isabella went a little psycho on my leg with several (red, blue, purple, green) magic markers.
Maybe I should put it to a vote -
Let's see... How about I will post (or not) based on how much money I raise on my fundraising page?
It's easy!  Simply click on the fundraising link up in the upper right corner (or go to http://pages/teamintraining.org/pb/ambbr11/leannewelch).  Make a donation (any amount - $1 - $1000), and post your vote in the comments section (post that picture versus burn that picture).  By this time next week, based on which side raises the most money, I will change my profile pic to the bloody bruised (and somewhat dirty) naked hip photo, or I will not.  Your choice.