Victoria's Island

Happy Halloween!

Halloween on a Friday night. Doesn't get much better. Hope you've got your costume ready. Really, I haven't dressed up in years. In fact we are scrooges and don't give out candy. Hey - stop shaking your head and sighing. We have valid reasons - the door bell scares the cats (okay just one cat now), Murphy tries to escape each time the door is opened and in past years when we did stock up on candy we only got a few kids -then we were left with candy...

My parents used to be really into Halloween. Don't know if they still are. But back in the day it was good for us. We benefited by having the best costumes in town. One year I was Super Grover (from Sesame Street) - my mom sewed this costume for me made out of that weird fur-like material - baby blue. There is a picture of me in it - I'm sweating like nobody's business! I remember during my brother's Star Wars phase, my mom and dad made a very impressive Darth Vader mask out of paper mache and a hockey helmet. That was the same year my dad dressed up as the oboe player from the bar in Star Wars. One year I was Minnie Mouse, another year a pumpkin, hobo. I don't think I ever did the princess or fairy thing. By far my favorite costume was Super Grover. That was also back in the time when kids could go out trick and treating alone. I used to go out with my brother - we each had a one gallon ice cream pail (no pillow cases for us!).

Okay, we are leaving in 45 minutes. I still need to shower and pack up this computer. Have a great weekend. Don't get too spooked by the little ghosts and goblins. Wonder what the popular costume is this year? If you're racing at Kanata - have a great time. Remember it only feels slow because the grass is long and soggy - keep the legs turning over and attack the hill - you've got lots of recovery time on the way down.

Hmm

Of all the things to debate and worry about in the world - I'm currently listening to people debate water fountains on the CBC radio. Water fountains? There must be bigger issues out there to discuss. Sigh.

Okay - enough ranting for one post. I must admit my devotion to the CBC is beginning to slide. The morning isn't bad - The Current is fantastic. Q has its moments. The Point - well it needs to go. CBC Radio 2 is getting better and better - love The Drive. (Haven't listened to the Radio 2 morning program but I've heard it is pretty good as well.) Might be time to get back on the podcast pony.

It is only the early afternoon but already I've had a jampacked day. Seems like the day before traveling is always like this. A lingering load of laundry to be done. Errands to be run. Groceries to be bought and food prepared. Bags to be packed. You know the drill. Mind you all this advance preparation makes the travel much easier and the return home much less hectic.

Used to be that we'd simply stop during the drive for food and drinks. But this year we've turned over a new leaf and pack our food and drinks. I've tested out a number of different food options and have settled on wraps. Simple tortilla with some meat, cheese, green leafy vegetable, hummus. Quick and easy to prepare. Keeps well in the car (i.e. doesn't get mushy). Will last for the next day as well. We also used to eat out in restaurants at our weekend destinations. But last year we started getting hotel rooms with kitchenettes. The rooms cost a little bit more but we save time and money by not having to choose a restaurant and then sit and eat a restaurant. Typically I prepare the supper meal in advance so then when we arrive we only need to hit up a grocery store for the basics (milk, yogurt, salad, etc.). Besides it is nice to know what we're eating and this way we can be sure that on race weekends we are getting just what we need.

So there you have it - now you know all about how we handle the food on the road issues for our cyclo-cross race weekends!

This weekend we are off to Northampton, Mass. for the Cycle-Smart International races. So looking forward to it. This weekend kicks off a whole lot of travel for us. Northampton, Toronto, New Jersey, Toronto, weekend at home, Rhode Island, Belgium.

Hoping to get some time to chill out this evening as well. Grey's is on. I'll watch it - but must admit my interesting is fading. Might make it to the new Ottawa yarn store today - Wabi Sabi - see how the day plays out.

Okay, this has been a long rambling post about nothing much. So I think it is best that I sign off now. Have a safe and warm Halloween. My favorite Halloween candy includes those weird toffee-like things in the orange wrappers (they only come out at Halloween), tootsie rolls, and dubble bubble. Yes, I like the cheap and dirty Halloween candy.

Shoot, nearly forgot - check out this great recipe for breakfast pizza. I'm so tempted to make this.

Cold

This is all that can be said about today. It is cold. Cold for Oct. 29. Snow and lots of it came last night. Crazy. I was at the grocery store when the big white flakes started dropping out of the sky. Not impressed. The snow does look kind of nice - all white and shiny but we could  have saved this for after Dec. 9.

I am super happy I got my ride in yesterday in the late morning. It was rainy and very windy but at least it wasn't snowing. Actually I had an excellent training session yesterday. Ripping it up in the park for a couple of hours and throwing in some start intervals for good measure. Steady progress.

Had a pretty solid day. Lots done on all fronts. Picked up a new book: De Niro's Game. Hoping to start it tonight. Made some excellent knitting progress last night. Though I fear I may not have enough yarn... Well, that will simply force me to visit my local yarn stores - this really isn't so bad.

Today, I really don't want to leave the house. It is miserable out there. Think I'll be riding the trainer today and skipping out on cyclo-cross practice. Training in these kind of conditions would be really good but I can't face it today. Besides, I don't feel like crashing today - I've got a big race block coming up. Gee, it sounds like I'm making up excuses here...

Okay, check out this site: CBC Podcasts. Some real gems here. I do wish that I could get Rich Terfry's show on podcast and the same with Gregory Charles's program (are you listening CBC gods?). And I listened to The Point yesterday - I liked it  - I think because it was a different host...

I'm out. Gotta get some more tea. I'm freezing. Have a good day. Safe driving - go slow out there. Oh I heard from a friend in Belgium that London received its first dump of snow since 1937 - wonder if they've called in the army...

Baked

Well, I kinda sorta baked. More like I put some stuff on a cookie sheet and put in the oven. Does that count? Whatever - I'm going to call it baking. So last night I made falafel. No not from scratch. I used a dry mix. Added water. Stirred it all up. Dropped it on the parchment paper in little ball-like things. Slid the pan into the oven. And let it bake for 20 minutes at 375. And now we have falafel cookies. Tasty! An easy way to get the falafel fix without the deep frying. You can feel good about these falafel (rather than feel awful about the deep frying aspect - because these are baked.)

Plan to make some tasty sandwiches with them for the road trip this weekend. I'm thinking - tortilla, humus, spinach, a slice of turkey, and a couple of falafel balls will make a satisfying and healthy road trip lunch. My only concern is the dryness factor. That is the one thing about falafel - they need a lot of sauce - otherwise they are dry. Any suggestions?

Knitting is stalled. Not sure why. Lost my knitting mojo. Hoping to get it back tonight - while watching The Amazing Race. Last night we watched the Anderson Silva/Patrick Cote UFC fight from Saturday night. What a drag for Cote. It was still entertaining though - I'd never seen Silva fight before.  Now, now - stop being so horrified that I watch UFC fighting. Remember, I used to spend a lot of time getting kicked and punched myself, back in my taekwon-do days. (Those days are bit fuzzy.) Really seems like a life-time ago.

Got in a good recovery ride yesterday and an evening yoga class. Excellent training day. Legs feel good. Knee is on the mend. The yoga helped clear my mind and did a number on my core. Perfect. As for today - well, I'm predicting - no snow! It is too early. Where are we - Saskatchewan? Send the snow out there (sorry mom and dad - but you are used to snow before Halloween - us out here in Ontario - we're soft!). Today I'm heading out on my 'cross bike for some thrills and hopefully no spills.

Okay, time is ticking away. Best get back to my other stuff. Have a good Tuesday. Look out for pumpkins rolling across the road (this happened to us last Friday - someone rolled a pumpkin across the street in front of our car - after some discussion we agreed that it was not in fact a basketball...).

End of October

Can you believe that we are in the last week of October? Incredible. Crazy really. Now is the time to flash back to those plans you had for fall. Best get on them now - the fall is quickly disappearing.

I didn't really make a list of things I wanted to "get done" this fall. As you most likely know, my fall is consumed with the bike. All things bike. Just the way I like it. Speaking of bike - had a couple of good days on the bike this past weekend.

The Saturday ride was rather wet. Okay - really incredibly wet. But I have some awesome rain pants for riding and I bundled up. I just couldn't face the trainer so early in the year. Besides soon enough I'll be in Belgium, where the rain we had on Saturday is the norm. On Sunday I raced at Mooney's Bay. What fun. I hadn't raced at Mooney's Bay in a long time. That hill is still just as steep and long! Had a great time racing, cheering on people, chilling out and generally soaking up the smooth Ottawa cyclo-cross vibes.

Not much else really happened this weekend. Pretty relaxed for us. We are getting ready for a big block of travel so wanted to stay pretty close to the house. Got in lots of quality time with Mr. Murphy and had some nice home-cooked meals. (Curried butternut squash, sweet potato, and cauliflower. Very tasty - made with coconut milk. Thanks to Clean Eating mag.)

Marc bought an Apple TV on the weekend. So he spent time setting it up. Gotta say - it is pretty cool. Looks good hooked up to our television that we bought in 1998! Next up for us - stop the cable - we don't need so many channels!

I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. Wow. What can I say? This is a must read. It warmed my heart and ripped at my heart. I laughed and cringed. Really, it could be one of those books that changes your life. It makes you realize how fortunate you really are. Read it.

Time to go. The other writing is calling my name. Have a good Monday.

Thought

So I'm sitting here working in Sbucks and I just happened to read the quote on the back of my cup. I really like the last line of the quote:

To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

I like it. You can take this sentence and make it fit your circumstances. Commit. It is a funny word. Can be interpreted in many ways and has so many levels to it.

Over at Ottawa Cross, I've written quite a bit about committing to the race. Committing to the effort and racing hard. For me in a race environment, commitment and confidence go together.

But away from the bike and the race, the word commit means so many other things to me.

What about you? What do you think of when you think of the word: Commit?

I try to squeeze everything I can out of life. Does this mean I'm committed?

Missed One

Yikes - I neglected to post yesterday. Sorry! It was one of those days. An excellent day - but just no time to post up on this wee little blog.

So what kept me so busy? Daily life mostly. Work. Great talk with my coach. Travel to office. More work in office. Travel home. Work in home office. Ride bike at super fun park. Meet long-time friend for great dinner and catch-up. Home. Flake out and watch "my loser show". Bed.

That's it. What a day. I got so much accomplished and went to bed feeling satisfied. The 'cross work-out was awesome. Me, the park, some slippery leaves, some apples on the ground, some geese who didn't want to share the space, and a little bit of rain. The afore mentioned apples - they are very slippery. The geese - well let's just say there are times when I'm not a fan of our national bird.

Had a great dinner and chat with a long-time friend. We went to Trella on Preston St. Don't let the construction craziness stop you from hitting Preston St. Trella is a great restaurant. Has something on the menu for everyone. I had something I haven't had in forever - prime rib beef dip - oh it was good. Service was excellent. Food was good. Nice ambiance. Check it out.

Today looks to be more of the same. Work. Ride my bikes (yep road bike and 'cross bike). A good day.

Interesting, currently on Canada AM, the nutritionist and Seamus are discussing the idea of food "containing real fruit". She points out that it is important to read the fine print - check out the amount of sugar and sodium. Also check the serving size. What I want to suggest is this: why not buy the actual fruit? This way you won't be sucked into the "contains real fruit" scam.

A Thousand Splendid Suns. Love it. Buy it. Borrow it. Check it out from the library. Just read it.

Mid-October

How did we get to the middle of October? It is true, time passes more quickly the older you are. Not sure if this is because I'm doing more with my days or because I have a long list of things I want to do with my days.

Had most excellent weekend. Got so much accomplished on Saturday. Knitting. House stuff. Wrote my next article for Cyclocross Magazine. Got a good ride in. Quality time spent with friends. Sunday we were off to Kingston for a cyclo-cross race. I ended up not racing as my knee is still giving me issues... Oh well, I got to be superfan and cheered on Marc, Fearless Leader and many more.

Last week was a tough one. Post-nationals let down combined with my knee issues combined with a bit of the blahs. But today is a new day and I've snapped out of this phase. I've set some new goals for the cyclo-cross season: to double the number of UCI points I have before leaving for Belgium and to finish on the lead lap of every race I enter in Europe (this includes World Cups, elite women's races, junior races and masters men's races).

These are challenging but I think doable. It won't be easy. But as I've learned, nothing worth having comes easy. These goals setup me up nicely to focus on the rest of my cyclo-cross season and help me prepare for next year. Yes - I'm going for it again.

Started reading 1000 Splendid Suns. Loving it. This book is taking my heart out and stomping on it - so good. If you enjoyed the Kite Runner, you've got to read this one.

The scarf is coming along. I'm really happy with how the colors are striping and combining. So far so good. Just hope I have enough yarn.

Went to yoga today. Ah, it felt so good. The class was super challenging today. Lots of new moves and a cool new flow. It was so nice to see everyone again. Felt like forever since I'd chatted with the morning yoga ladies. Great way to kick off the day.

On deck, well a ride. 90 minutes of recovery. Bit chilly out there but I refuse to ride the trainer. I'll bundle up and think warm thoughts while pedaling away. Looking forward to getting back into my heavy training groove. Hard work-outs really help me stay focused and happy. Those few days of not riding last week really did a number on my mood - I don't know what the scientists say, but I'm addicted to endorphins. No coffee for me, just give me a bunch of sweaty endorphins!

Okay, I best go. Loving the Genius feature on iTunes. Still a big fan of 103.3 - some excellent programming and hosts. Can't say much for the "main" channel. Oh and yes - Hubert is back! I'm so proud.

Crisp

Sitting here on the back step. Have one quilt under my bum. Have another quilt wrapped around my legs. Wearing a warm hat and puffy down vest. Why? So that Murphy can get his time outside. Yes,  he is getting more spoiled by the day.

Not a bad place to work from. I've got a great view - lush backyard full of tall grass and some other unknown plants (weeds). The radio is blaring 103.3 - so I've got good music. Most importantly is my steaming mug of Red Zinger tea. Very soothing.

Been thinking about coffee today. I'm not a coffee drinker. I'd like to be one. I really like the smell of coffee. I just can't get over the taste. Perhaps I'll give it another go this weekend. I suppose it does seem a bit foolish to introduce coffee at the age of 36. Most people at this age are trying to cut down on coffee and the related caffeine habit.

Weekend is looking good. Should be a quiet one. We aren't traveling this weekend. Just a short trip to Kingston on Sunday for a 'cross race. We had originally planned on going to Delaware and Pennsylvania, but now that I don't need to chase UCI points, there is not much sense in going. (Especially considering the busy month of traveling we'll have in November.)

Hoping to make some good progress on my new scarf. I started it last night and it is looking really good. I love the way the colors of the Noro Iro are turning out. The 2x2 rib is pretty simple but it is making a very plush and warm scarf. Managed to watch Grey's last night. It was okay. I think I'm loosing my patience for such television programs. Didn't watch ER - it is on too late for me. Planning on starting A Thousand Splendid Suns this weekend. I hear it is even better than the Kite Runner (hard to believe).

Okay, best go. Have a good weekend. Hopefully you'll have some warm weather and can get out to enjoy the last gasps of fall. I'm hoping for snow on Dec. 10 (the day after we fly to Belgium)...

Quick!

Tune your radio to CBC. Sarah M is performing live for the next two hours! What a great way to get through the Friday morning hump.

Currently singing: Building a Mystery.