The Inevitable Flop

Well, it happened. I knew it would. At a stop sign. In downtown Wisconsin Rapids. Light Traffic. Slow Pace. I unclipped my right pedal, leaned to the left and Flop. Knee, Butt, Bike, Shoulder, Other Knee. Minor Scrapes and a very Bruised Ego.

I am glad it's over. It is inevitable and to be honest, I thought it would hurt more. Every cyclist who has clip pedals has a flop story, and now I have my first one. The rest of the ride was really fun despite pelting rain, booming thunder, and lightning that was a little too close for my comfort. It was exciting and it just felt so good to be outside. I am addicted to being outside. I spent a lot of yesterday inside reading for my conference paper and for fun. I felt just sick by 5:00. Even though I fell and even though I was thoroughly drenched, it felt so good to just be outside.

I am happy to be in Wisconsin and have this little break, but it is starting to get to me. I miss having lots of people around that I know, even that I don't know. I am really looking forward to my Madison/Chicago trip just to see and be with friends and large numbers of people. And hopefully I will be outside a lot as well.

I admit, I am a control freak. People who know me know this and can probably emphasize a little. Control freaks do flock together a bit. So far this summer has been very trying as I feel I have little to no control over anything--to the point that in my father's car I can't even roll down my window myself because the controls are broken. It's enough to drive one insane.
I am trying with the whole- gotta have faith thing. My new mantra is that everything will just work out. It will. It has to....
Today was eventful because I got bicycle shoes and clip on pedals. I feel like a real biker now. It's great. Now I just need to get on some long rides again.
My other big accomplishment included some investigative sleuthing. I suspected that someone in our neighborhood had acquired a piece of playground equipment from my elementary school. MJ- it was on the third and fouth grade side- the green bars. All the girls (maybe some boys?) would vy for the third level bar because you could easily hook one leg around and flip around it. Because I wasn't exactly gymnast material I would go for the lowest bar because I couldn't do flips on it because of the level and not my lack of skill, but alas I digress. If my hypothesis regarding my neighbor's acquisition was true, then I also put together that the elementary school must have also bought all new equipment. As I was testing out the new pedals, I took a detour to the elementary school playground where I saw all the new equipment, including a rock climbing wall. I was right. :)
Yeah, there's not much to do in PE, let me tell you.

Ketchup and Bologny?

Apparently the sandwich in vogue for youngsters is ketchup and bologny as reported to me by my nephews- Tyler and Riley. Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Creme or anything with added potato chips were cool when I was a kid, but times are a-changing. It's actually not bad- if you like hot dogs (and ketchup), it pretty much tastes like that.
So far in the two days that they (and Brandon) have been here, we have gone to the YMCA, boating, the beach, baseball game, races 'off-roading' on our bikes, London (aka Dairy Queen), and watched 1 1/2 of the (new) Star Wars movies. It's been really fun.
It's also been tired, thus ends the sandwich update.