Sunday

Yale with the big smile. Remember him from other photos. This guy is a great inspriation to me with my struggle to lose weight. He needs some new jerseys 'cause all of his are sort of saggy.

The State Capitol and Arkansas Children's Hospital from across the river.

The churning water coming through the dam as I was riding over. Notice the seagulls looking for bits of shad and other fish.


Just looking toward Little Rock from the bridge

Looking toward the north at I-430 and Pinnacle Mtn.

Just some cool angle

Jess in the Toyota-United (my favorite team!), Shaw dawg in the black, Rebcecca (mountain climbing do-do head! HA!), Jerry in the Dassult Jet jersey.

David W. He is who I want to be! Super long distance cyclist. Notice the black marks all over the road? That's how fast the Fast Girls take off.

It's just 2 weeks til Christmas eve. Hard to believe.

We went to early service and it's fun to be out by 10! Terri made breakfast pizza for brunch and I was out riding by abut noon. Had the tunes plugged in and enjoying the ride. Plan was to ride along the north side and warm up and head over the bridge to the real club start point. I got over there just as Jenn was giving annoucements. It's really a nice feeling, sort of like the characters on Cheers, when you ride up and everyone knows your name. And you know everyone's name as well. You just know you are among friends. We ride a long and I see a couple of folks jump on their pedals and others sort of follow as the line takes shape. I sat in the back just happy as a loon to be out enjoying the day and the sunshine.

A rider comes toward us and a few minutes later I see the rider trying to catch up but he never did. We also passed several others. As we got to the Broadway bridge it was a huge good looking group riding over. I stayed in the back since the was a girl on the back and I hate leaving a girl sitting on the back when cars are coming. We all got over the bridge fine and as we are riding along I notice my crew is getting further and further ahead?! Then I realize that the 4 people I'm riding behind aren't us! Oh man, I'm going to have to sprint to catch the tail end of "us". I had turned off the tunes so I was going to need a little musical mind alteration so Ted Nugent's "Fred Bear" is the song of choice. Drink a little water and turn it on. As I turn on to Ft Roots drive I look up and can see the lead pack way way up here. Crud, this will look so bad. I climb hard anyway. 10mph and steady. Come Ted, sing to me man! I spot Jenn up ahead riding and removing her windbreaker like a pro. I finally get caught up to her which was no easy task by any means. We ride on up together.

When we got to Burns Park it ended up being David, Jenn, Rebecca and myself in a little posse, oh I'm sorry groupo. As we started up our next hill I was talking out loud to Santa. I was telling him that a new bike would help me keep up with the pack better. The I started talking about a certain girl in front of me on the hill, of course, no names BUT... anyway I told Santa that she had been really bad this year. Then started laughing and said, I was serious because she just got married not that long ago and newlywed are as bad as it gets! We were all laughing but then it got way way better! As we dropped down the hill Jenn gets up beside Rebecca before she knows she's there and acts like she was going to shove her right off the road. I got so tickled I kept laughing and laughing. Oh man, I love this group. Always a good time! Always!

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. The club is now climbing a couple of new hills and they are what separates the men and the boys. I was a boy this week and returned to the car. Hey, don't roll youreyes... I was a manly man last week and rode all the way up and didn't get off, thank you very much! HA! Doc Mark rode back with me as well since he had to go back to south Ark where his medical practice is.

We bid each other farewell at the soccer fields and he headed back over the the LR side while I rode back to the sub. As I was riding I began to feel really strange. Suddenly I had no energy (bonk!) so I just took my time and even dropped down to ride along the river behind the skate park. Sort of sad but it's rare that road bikes drop down there. It's mostly slower riders. I stopped and shot a frame of the hospital across the river. As I rode folks were passing me right and left. Strange feeling! I did do something I haven't done in a while and that was drink a Red Bull before the ride. I knew I needed something today but really thought it was make me ride top notch. Maybe it did the opposite.

When I got home I noticed my clothes really stunk! I mean really bad! Red Bull sweat? Who knows?!

Oh well... I still enjoyed being out and playing!