Loni's Life

Welcome to Loni's Life and the 4th stop on the SU Stars monthly Blog Hop.   You've most likely arrived here from  Raissa Stamps  or you can start at the top of the hop at the SU Stars Home . This month's challenge was to share a scrapbook creation.. admittedly not my strongest area, but My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up!  makes it quick and easy.     Here is a quick layout of my recent ride in the 30th Annual Hotter N Hell in Wichita Falls, Texas of my BFF(883) and me (882).   Don't we look Happy at the Finish line! We left before sunrise with the early 100 milers to beat the heat.  Made the 10-mile turnoff around 7...hit Shepherd AFB by 8 and back to the car by 8:30.  Was any easy Zone 3 cruise and a beautiful sunrise ride.  We were all smiles at the finish line this year which was a far cry from our first ride in 2006.  That year we were totally exhausted, dehydrated, nauseated, overheated, a bit sunburned and miser...

Left out in the dark with the early 100 milers to beat the heat.  Made the 25mile turnoff around 7...hit Shepherd AFB by 8 and back to the car by 8:30. Was any easy Zone 3 cruise and a beautiful sunrise ride.

It's the 2011 version of Bike MS DFW.   You can still make a tax deductible donation to support the National MS Society here .  I've already met the minimum required in order to ride this weekend; but even another $1, $10, or whatever will go to help the fight against MS. As always, I am hoping and praying for a good ride and decent weather.   This year, I'm also hoping that the physical release of a nice long ride will relieve my wounded spirit.  Life as I know it is changing and it's just a bit overwhelming at times.

Hotter 'N' Hell Pics 2010 Edition

My BFF should get a good laugh out of today's post... because I finally discovered the name of the movie that was dreadfully long during one of our winter training sets at the gym and without sound too... so we were having to make up our own plotlines to go along with what was on the video.    Maybe I should watch the movie again with sound someday, but I think not... and here is the trailer, which makes it look a lot better than I think it was... ok, perhaps I am still harboring bitterness that after deciding the movie would last at least another 30 minutes and I had time to take a potty break.. only to return and discover the credits rolling and BFF giving me the ending.. which in my opinion was a sucky ending after a long and drawn out plot... Ron Howard's The Missing (2003)

Well, if the amount of sweating I've done in Spin class in the past week would be reflected on the scale tonight I will be one happy camper!    Of course, since Mother Nature is also due to arrive with her monthly gift any day now, it may be a wash this week and have to wait until next week to see a drop. I'm enjoying spin, sleeping well, and feeling good.   It sure does give me a workout and I am totally drenched.. even my hair is wet all the way to the tips ~ ok, my hair is pretty short right now, but it's nearly like getting out of the shower.      Due to BFF's flight change, I'll be able to Spin on Saturday since she won't get home until 11:05AM... and then it's a frenzy of activity ~ lunch at Cracker Barrell, stop at RBM to pick up gift certificates we won from being on RBM's Livestrong team and a manicure/pedicure.    Probably chattering like magpies the whole way since we've been separated for nearly 3 weeks.

Amost Thanksgiving?!??!! Whew, this year seems like it has just flown by. Some schedule around the kid's school calendar.. but since we only have a furbaby, my year seems to center around my cycling events. 2009 overview January thru March- Indoor training boredom at the gym; this winter we are trying Bikin' Blast spin classes instead May Bike MS DFW ~ What we were able to ride, we rode strong and had a blast. All the way to the 2nd breakpoint w/o stopping.. a long way from my first ride in 2006 where I barely made it into the first rest stop. Nice ride from 2 to 3, and then BFF's hands were a bit sore and since she was in a tender post-op time period for carpal tunnel we opted to SAG to 4... and a good time to grab a SAG it was as a cold front moved in and started dumping buckets of chilly rain. We SAG'd the rest of the day, had a nice lunch with our teammates at the Cheesy Rider tent and then evacuated from the Speedway due to weather and they were pulling rider...

I'm trying something new this winter to train for cycling.... I signed up for the winter indoor-training season with Bikin' Mike's training center. Tonight was the first night of class and boy a bunch of cycling enthusiasts of all shapes, sizes, and ages.     I arrived early enough to get help in getting set up along a perimeter wall.   He packed the class like sardines in can as every indoor trainer leg was lined up touching the trainer next to it.   Of course, this could be the same thing as January in the gym where there are plenty of new faces in the gym along with a lack of parking spaces.   Anyhow, I'm signed up for the whole season and if I enjoy this season, I'm sure I'll sign up for next season -and- if possible add the rental of some space for some bike storage so I won't have to drag my bike back and forth 3 to 4x per week.   In theory, we should be able to train indoors with Bikin' Mike 3x per week and be ready to ...

Oh my goodness, how quickly the monthly has flown by! Seems like it wasn't that long ago when we were getting ready to head out for the Bike MS DFW . Tomorrow we're headed to San Antonio to participate in the 2-day Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association. From San Antonio to Austin in 2 days, by pedal power. It will be our longest 2-day event to date. Please support the ride with your tax-deductible donation by following this link to my fundraising page.

A fairly productive weekend considering that I had to work the overnight shift for some network maintenance support. But I got a lot of stamping done, so I am caught up on all my VC Rocks challenges and I even did some Splitcoast Stampers Virtual Stamping Night challenges (all posted previously). I got some of my stamp area organized again and need to get my retired set area organized. I blogged, updated my blog links, added them to Google Reader, and toured all 3 of Late Night Stampers's blog tours. And I even got laundry and linens done. Today was an absolutely gorgeous day, but I was having too much fun indoors with my stamping challenges. Due to my cycling partner's upcoming travel schedule, it looks like I'll have to meet up with one of the local cycling clubs if I want company on a ride, boohoo... but it is what it is and it won't last forever. She has to go where the job takes her, but she'll still be home for Tour de Cure; HHH; and LiveSTRONG.

Stupid Groundhog and his 6 more weeks of Winter... you have got to be kidding me with this 7-day forecast... i mean what the heck is up with having a FREEZE warning for tonight.. and then the weekend is calling for stormy weather. AARGH! So it is looking like it will be yet another weekend of indoor cycling... so far we have made it OUTDOOR all of ZERO times so far (Read slight panic here since Bike MS is only 27 days away) since my BFF/Cycling partner has been released to do so from our orthopaedic surgeon since the weather has been quite uncooperative. So here's hoping for sunshine and lots of it the weekends of the 18th and the 25th!!!

Week 3 plan in minutes Mon 72 Tue Rest Wed 96 Thu 84 Then in Travel Status thru the end of the month... though DH will be holding down the fort here.. poor guy, gets to come home from snow wintery weather from a tradeshow in New York to an Arctic Blast here. Will try to get in some quality walking and hiking time whilst on The Garden Isle of Kauai . Week 2 Plan vs. Actual Mon 66 minutes / 0 Tue off / off Wed 84 minutes / 88 minutes Thu 78 minutes / 78 minutes Friday Rest / Rest Sat 210 minutes / 210 minutes Sun 210 minutes / 210 minutes WOO.. those LONG rides on the weekends are truly taxing on the butt. We're riding indoors until April since my BFF/cycling partner will be recovering from hand-surgeries until then. Indoor for that much time takes a lot of stick-to-itiveness and a heckuva a gear pack to help distract the mind when the body is signaling enough already. Today, I had my cell phone with web access; my iPod; my Nintendo DS; and two knitting projects ~ and then I can rel...

http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/2008/12/todays-writing-prompt-scar-story.html Riding my bike with my cycling partner at our favorite training loop.. i must have taken the corner at the bottom of the spillway a bit too fast and my tires slipped out from under me. I landed on my left side and bruised from my calf all the way up to my ribs; but the worst was the road rash that extended from my wrist to my elbow. My cycling partner had to play nursemaid the best she could with what we had which was a couple of tissues and our water bottles (ok, so we carry better first aid equipment with us now).. .and it was a LONG LONG LONG 4 miles back to the car. Pretty much only the 2nd worst 4 miles on a bike I have ever spent with the first being the first year we rode the HHH short course.. that last 4 miles from Shepherd AFB to the finish line totally sucked and remains the #1 worst 4 miles spent on a bike ever.

Ok, it's December 1st and my cycling partner and I are already registered for 2009 Austin with our 2nd attempt at the 45 mile route. Here's the link to my fundraising page http://austin09.livestrong.org/loniholt 2009 LiveSTRONG Challenge video http://www.livestrongchallenge.org/site/c.frKPI1PAIoE/b.4785743/

DFW MS150 2-day, Dallas to Ft Worth, May 2-3, 150 miles-- Cheesy Riders Rule! Paw Power!! http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/loniholt Tour De Cure 2-day San Antonio to Austin, May 30-31, 160 miles http://main.diabetes.org/goto/loniholt Tour De Pink for Breast Cancer, September 2009 (Registration not yet open) Tour De Cure for Diabetes, 1-day, Ft Worth, October 2009 (Registration not yet open) Livestrong Challenge Austin, HILLS... enough said... October 2009 (Registration not yet open) ~~~ And one just for fun... Hotter N Hell Challenge

Our cycling guardian Spirit Guide in the form of a Hawk was out with us today. I have come to look for this guide whenever we are cycling ~ whether training at home or at an event. He always appears at some point and today was no exception ~ from circling at the start whilst the National Anthem was being sung to on the road with the hills and even when we were in the SAG to the finish area. I'll continue to look for our Spirit Guide on our rides both short and long, close to home and far away.

M and I are headed off to Austin today for our Livestrong Challenge ride of 45 miles tomorrow. I am riding, first and foremost, in celebration of the life of my dear friend C's husband. She is one of my biggest supporters in everything I do ~ from college to TOPS, knitting to cycling... she is one of the most genuinely caring people in the world and I am fortunate to count her among my friends. I did not have a chance to know her husband directly, but his loving spirit is kept alive by C and I feel that I've known him. I will also be riding in memory of a departed TOPS pal who lost her battle against a second recurrence of breast cancer. I will always remember D as one of the happiest ladies no matter what the scale said at TOPS each week. I remember once after weigh-in and before the meeting started, she had ask how are you? I responded with "I gained"... and she said to me, I didn't ask whether you lost or gained, I asked how are YOU... because TOPS is more th...

Had a beautiful day for the Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association this weekend. A bit of a chilly start, and my riding partner, God bless her was chivalrous enough to lend me her jacket in the pre-sunrise hour before the tour began so that I could be warm. The route as advertised had rolling hills.. and being that it started and ended in Justin near Texas Motor Speedway it had a least part of the route that we have ridden a couple of times. The part that was not quite advertised though was the couple of big sections of pure gravel road (unexpected at the bottom of a big hill) along with "bumpy" road ahead.. which I guess is cycling tour lingo for extremely uneven and pot-holey take-your-life-into-your-own-hands and hope for the best kind of road. Anyhow, both M and I survived the tour and did 24 miles which was I hope a good training ride for the upcoming LiveSTRONG Challenge in Austin next weekend. After the ride we stopped at Cheesecake Factory for lunch and ma...

Pictures- From top to bottom Me pre-start Me at Breakpoint (BP) 2 My blown tire Mina riding up a hill (after the dog chased us) Me at BP1 Mina at BP1 Me at the Start Mina at the start The inaugural bike leg of the Texas Tough was postponed from Sept 14 due to Hurricane Ike's rainfall in Dallas. The organizers of Autumn in Bonham welcomed the Texas Tough riders to their event on Sept 27th. If you want to make a tax deductible donation to Passion for Childrens Inc which supports Children's Medical Center, follow this link which will continue to a secured site for online donations http://www.active.com/donate/txtoughtour08/BikingLoni Or mail a check or money order made payable to Passion for Children's, Inc to ~ Passion for Children's, Inc. 2008 TX TOUGH Tour Bike Stage Rider: LONI HOLT 4809 Cole AvenueSuite 350,LB-127 Dallas, TX 75205 My BFF's Auntie lives in Bonham, so we drove up on Friday night to spend the night with her Auntie (and also this served as h...

Ok, maybe it's because I've got a bunch of cycling events coming up.. or maybe because it's been because I've been reading Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life... but last night I dreamed that my cycling partner and I were riding WITH Lance... we were in our Cheesy Rider jerseys and he was in one of the big-bird yellow LiveStrong jerseys... and he's asking us how he can get one of our cool jerseys... and the M is negotiating with him about how to get one of his cool jerseys. Anyhow, interesting to see today's news that he is returning to pro-cycling and will be riding the Tour in 2009. For me, I think the DFW MS150 2-day the first weekend of May 2009 followed by the Tour De Cure San Antonio to Austin 2-day the last weekend of May 2009 will be my equivalent to his Tour De France. Anyhow, upcoming cycling events are: 9/14 Dallas- TX Tough for Children's Medical Center 40K http://www.active.com/donate/txtoughtour08/Bikin...