A New Year

If I'm honest, I am very happy to see the back of 2013. This has not been a great year for me. I probably should have been clued in when I spent this time last year ringing in the new year with a ferocious stomach bug, expelling everything inside my body for 12 hours. At least this New Year's Eve is a vast improvement over last year.

2013 Highlights:

-I ran 305 miles.

-I biked a bunch, but I didn't keep track of the mileage, unfortunately.

-I completed my first half-marathon (The Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, here in DC)

-I completed the Police Unity Tour Ride for the 2nd year.

-I participate in the Law Enforcement Ride & Run and had a blast.

-I participated & competed in the promotional process at work, and did very well.

-I rode the entire length of the W&OD trail.

-I've lost nearly 20lbs and feel much better about myself.


2013 Lowlights:

-Canceling my wedding plans

-Being a giant ball of anger & resentment for most of the year

-Dropping from the Climate Ride

-Learning my father has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer.


I'm hesitant to make any sort of firm resolutions or plans, because I've learned that's when the Universe likes to step in and say LOL NOPE. I had big plans for 2013 and most of them crumbled away. I know that 2014 is going to be a year of big changes for me, though. Good or bad changes? That's the question.

For those of you not on twitter/facebook, I will be starting a new phase of my career next week. I am being promoted to a supervisory position and will be assigned to a new district (5th, for those of you interested). This is exciting & scary. I've spent almost 10 years working at the same place with the same people. I lived in the same neighborhood, so most everything was familiar to me when I started. I will be going to place that I am not familiar with at all, with people I've never met, so it will be a steep learning curve. But it is a clean slate as well.

I am not sure what my new role will involve. Most likely I will have to put the bike up, at least for awhile. I will be turning in my patrol bike this weekend, since it belongs to my current district. I'm a little sad to see him go-I spent more years patrolling on my work bike than I ever did in a car. This will be a week full of good-byes, actually.

I will have an actual, real bike commute. Currently my "commute" simply involves a short ride (or lately, a short stroll) three blocks down a hill. Now I will have to travel half-way across the city. Like a real commuter. It's funny, but my coworkers keep asking me how I will get to work now that I'm headed to a different district-"by bike, of course" is my answer. Not sure why they think that would change.

Things I'm looking forward to in 2014?

-My father beating cancer

-Completing a full marathon (my first one since 2003) in March.

-The Police Unity Tour in May

-My brother's wedding in September.

- Celebrating The Boy's year of sobriety in February.

-Maybe this is the year I actually hit my goal weight. I'm already on track- I just need to keep going a bit.

-Who know, maybe even getting married?


I will be spending New Year's Eve tonight making sure the citizens of the District of Columbia are safe & secure. Be safe & be kind to each other.


A look back at 2013…

Size of Texas

"Let's just turn around and get some coffee and go home."

That was the thought that kept going through my mind last Saturday. It was the 3rd day of steady rain, way too early in the morning, and I had signed up for a 55 mile bike ride (The Law Enforcement Ride to Remember) that began and ended at National Harbor.

I had considered riding to the start at National Harbor, but I wasn't sure what the trail conditions were on the Mt. Vernon Trail. Not only was it possible that parts of the trail were flooded due to the rain, but the trail is a casualty of the federal government shutdown, meaning that no maintenance would be conducted on it. Also, it was still dark that early in the morning. So, Zipcar it was. The Boy very graciously offered to get up at that ungodly hour  and drop me and the new bike ("Blue") off at the start.

Did I not mention the new bike before? Oh, right. I have a new bike! A real road bike. Carbon fiber frame and everything. It's not "new", just new to me. It's been sitting in bits & pieces in our living room for the last 4 months or so, but I finally got it all together. Well, my Local Bike Shop got it all together. I just handed over the money for them to do it. This ride would be Blue's debut. So, I couldn't miss it, no matter how gray and miserable it was outside.

The "new" Blue. Bubble wrap included. Yes, those are mountain bike pedals on a road bike. And my bar tape does not match my saddle. I don't care.

We were running late, and managed to pull up to the event area 5 minutes before the start of the ride. I had just enough time to stash my gear bag and we were off. Since I had a fancy road bike now, I splurged on a Garmin. Mostly this was because I still have trouble reading cue sheets (I'm getting better at it though!). Turns out this was unnecessary because the course was very well marked along the way. Another reason for the Garmin was so I wouldn't drain my phone's battery with a cycling app running in the background.

The ride began by winding through National Harbor before dumping us onto a gravel patch (eek) to the  roads we would be riding. I walked my bike over the patch of gravel. There was no way I was going to risk my neck & new bike riding on wet mud & gravel. Once past, I hopped back on the bike and got going. Easy Peasy. This would come back later to haunt me...

As I said earlier, the course was well marked so I wasn't worried about getting lost. We also did pretty well as an overall group at staying together. I think there were a lot less riders than had registered; I got the strong feeling many folks simply decided to stay in bed. The roads were wet, but it wasn't raining very heavily. Mostly just a constant wet mist. I had worn my rain pants & jacket, but they were soon ditched since it was still fairly warm.

Rest stops were spaced 10-15 miles apart, making the ride fairly easy. There were a few hills, but not many. Traffic was light, and there was only one aggressive driver that I personally encountered (HONK HONK HONK!). Unfortunately, I did hear of a major collision between two vehicles on our route that caused us to be diverted from our last pitstop. Apparently a driver ran a red, went over the median and plowed head-on into another vehicle. Luckily there were police cars stationed at almost every major intersection, not to mention the off-duty folks doing the ride, so they were able to get help to the injured driver very quickly. I heard that it was extremely lucky that no riders got caught in the collision.

Rest Stop. Sparsely populated.

Goats! I knew I had to stop and take a photo. If you are wondering what they are doing, they are climbing on each other to get at the leaves that are too far out of their reach individually. Clever goats.

This was my first "real" ride on Blue, so I was still learning the ropes. I got a little over confident near the end when I tried to make a sharp turn way too fast (the turn surprised me) and ended up skidding out at speed on the asphalt. OUCH. Thankfully, the car BEHIND me was able to stop in time and didn't run me over, and I miraculously managed to fall in such a way that I unclipped AND crashed the bike on the non-drive side, so no damage. My poor hand & thigh though--ow. Nothing was broken, but I had some decent road rash and am still sporting a bruise the size of Texas on my leg.  I was a little annoyed at whomever was stationed at that turn (it was actually the same area as the patch of gravel from the beginning of the ride). He was obviously there to warn riders of the gravel, but a) he was sitting in his car, so that's not helpful and he had situated the car AFTER the hazard, instead of before, so b)ALSO NOT HELPFUL. Plus, he didn't bother removing himself from his car to assist me until I had already helped myself & my bike up and moved to the side of the ride. THANKS FOR NOTHING. Glad I wasn't seriously hurt. Sheesh. Anyway, I got back on the bike and managed to "limp" in to the finish area. Can't wait to see my finish photo, I bet its hilarious. I was not a happy camper.

Anyway, despite that one little mishap, I had a great time and was glad I hadn't turned around and gone back to bed. Blue turned out to be a swell ride too. I celebrated with a beer & a pizza and then got ready to head home.

Beer & Medal. I actually have two of these medals because the following day was the "run" portion of the event; a 5K race which I'm pretty sure I PR'd in. It was awesome.

The Boy wasn't going to be available to give me a ride home from National Harbor, so I rode it instead. I was feeling good, so I didn't mind the extra miles.  On my way up to the Wilson bridge, I found this little guy!

So cute! I remember when Franklin & Roscoe used to be that size.

We already have two turtles at home, so I helped him across the path and said goodbye.
 The ride home was pretty unremarkable, until I got to Gravelly Point. I stopped at one of the picnic tables to rest for a moment & drink some water. Gravelly Point is another casualty of the federal government shutdown, and was completely empty except for the occasional cyclist riding by, and a Park Police cruiser keeping vehicles from entering. A young man rode up on his bike to my table and exclaimed "isn't this awesome?!". He was referring to the planes taking off from the airport (Gravelly Point is the best place to watch the planes take off/land at National Airport). He was new to the area (an intern) and decided to take the day to explore by bicycle. I gave him some pointers and rode off. It was nice to talk to someone who was excited about getting around by bike.

I rode back home, with a stop at the Bike Shop on the way to make sure no permanent damage was done in the crash and to get my drivetrain cleaned/lubed, since it was squeaking like a mouse. It was a pretty great day, even though I never got my coffee.

I've been riding a lot this autumn. I feel a million times better than I did over the summer. I've taken some time off of work and it was just what I needed. The weather has been perfect (despite the rain) and I've been using every opportunity to get out and ride my bike or go for a run. Some photos....

Riding over the "Brookland Bridge" during the 50 States Ride

Pit Stop at the 50 States Ride

Cue sheet for the 50 States Ride: it was 4 pages long!

You can't ride the W&OD trail without stopping at Carolina Brothers for BBQ.

Rail car on the W&OD.

The start of the W&OD in Shirlington

The end of the W&OD in Purcellville

If you squint, you can see a hawk chilling in the branches.

Sunset in Purcellville.

Families biking on the National Mall for Kidical Mass

The cupcake stop at the end of the Kidical Mass ride

Bike tour of New Columbia Distillers

Bike Brewery tour at Bardo Beer Garden

Group picture of Kidical Mass

Beer garden dog.

Seeing a lot of these in DC lately. Shutdown City.

It's coffeeneuring time!

I also have some sad news: I finally sold Jamie, my very first adult bike. I realized I hadn't ridden Jamie in over a year, and there is nothing sadder than a bike that doesn't get ridden. So I figured he should go to a good home & owner than will actually put him to use. The new owner lives in my neighborhood, so hopefully I will see him around!

Bye, Jamie! We had a lot of good rides together!

An empty space. That is now filled by Blue.

I'm going to be doing a blog post on cycling accessories (bags, lights, bottles, etc) very soon. If you have any questions or anything you would like to see covered, let me know!

Why I am dropping from the Climate Ride

I am dropping out of the Climate Ride. This isn't a decision I've made lightly. It's been almost an entire month of stressing & debating over the decision. Once I made the decision, I knew it was the right one.

First, all of your donations are still going to The Climate Ride--WABA. Those of you that qualified for the incentives will still receive them. To all of those folks that donated money, thank you: some of you donated more than once and it will not go unappreciated.

I believe that you all, especially those that donated, are owed an explanation. I hope you can understand. Here are the main reasons I'm dropping out:

Fundraising. It's been difficult to say the least. Unfortunately in my circle of friends and acquaintances, when they hear the word "Climate" their eyes glaze over. I've even received some outright hostility when explaining what the Climate Ride is about from a few. Fine, not a big deal. I probably could have found a few more donors if I cast my net wider, and I wouldn't mind donating my own funds to cover the remainder. Except not this time (and I'll explain in more detail in a moment of why its just not possible for me now). I planned two fundraiser events, one of which I sunk not an insignificant sum of money into...only to have 1 person show up. It wasn't even the money that got me annoyed, it was the humiliation in having friends donate their time & space for nothing. Maybe it was bad timing (the Travyon verdict came in at the same time, and all of a sudden my guests decided they wanted to march down U street instead). Maybe it was something else. I don't know.  But I know when to cry Uncle.

2. Timing. This has been a really difficult summer for me. As many of you may recall, I am supposed to be getting married next month. Except....I'm not. I really don't like talking too much about my personal life in here, but to fully understand what's been going on, I'm going to briefly summarize*:
-Fiance is a recovering alcoholic
-Finace relapsed badly back in February
-This resulted in him going to inpatient rehab, which our insurance wouldn't cover so we had to pay out of pocket (which is not cheap!).
-Fiance has since been doing great and is on solid ground with his sobriety, but the whole situation still left me with a mountain of anger & resentment issues, not to mention a hefty debt (of which I owe the last payment on this month, woo!).

Because of the financial situation that we were dealing with, in addition to making sure the fiance had a strong footing in his sobriety, we decided it would be best to postpone our wedding plans. So, I had to cancel our venue and explain to friends and family as best as I could that we were not going to be married in October after all, and that no, I did not know when (if!) it would happen.

You know what a person with a mountain of anger & resentment doesn't need? To be the Bride that Canceled Her Wedding. Especially when many of her friends and family are happily celebrating theirs. And then there's the awkwardness of explaining what happened without mentioning the word alcoholic.

Anyway, all of this anger & resentment kept building and building until finally I simply condensed into a ball of Depression over the summer. I have not been that miserable and unhappy in many, many years. On top of all that, I've had no vacation this year either. Normally I would be in the Outer Banks on the beach at this time of year, but because we figured we'd be on a honeymoon next month, we never planned for it. Not that we have the money for it right now anyway. So I haven't had a break.

But its slowly getting better. I am working on the anger and depression and resentment, and ever so slowly, those Issues are breaking apart into smaller pieces and dissolving away. I am starting to feel happy again. I don't feel like shattering or exploding 90% of the time anymore.

But I'm still not There yet. And there's just no way I can do a 5-Day bike ride with a bunch of other strangers and not be a pleasant person to be around. My heart is just not into it. Right now, I am still taking things week-by-week (which is an improvement from day by day, and better than hour by hour). And I wouldn't feel right covering the cost of the remainder of the fundraising minimum when I need to focus on paying this debt off.

So...I hope you understand. I've already spoken with one of the organizers and he mentioned that this year's fundraising credit could be applied toward next year, so....maybe. Still taking it week by week over here.

As far as riding goes, its been my refuge. The weather we've had this summer has been nothing short of amazing. Usually it's a a hot, sticky mess. But this year has been relatively mild, and I took every advantage of it. Hopefully soon I will post photos of my summer adventures.



*I actually made my decision to drop from the ride a few weeks ago, but I wasn't sure what to say in regards to my decision on this blog. I was/am very hesitant to talk about The Boy's alcoholism, because its his illness & his privacy, and I would never want him to feel violated or self conscious. But, one of the things that was fueling my depression was feeling isolated & unable to speak to anyone about what was happening, because alcoholism doesn't just make the alcoholic sick, it makes loves ones sick too. It's been difficult for me to talk about how I've been feeling/coping with friends without mentioning the dreaded word Alcoholism, for fear that I'm violating the Boy's anonymity.  I was under the mistaken impression that this was HIS illness, so I didn't have a "right" to talk about it. Wrong. It is also my illness, in that this has a direct impact on me. I've decided that I'm not going to dance around the issue anymore. There is nothing shameful about it. The Boy is not abusive or mean or anything like that, he just can't manage drinking alcohol on his own. He knows it, I know it, and its not a big deal if other people know it. In fact, it becomes a problem when we try to deny that its there. The Boy now has over 6 months of sobriety under his belt, and a very strong support system, including a sponsor. I'm very proud of him, and we probably have a stronger relationship now than we've ever had before.