Happy Easter!!

Easter came early this year, and I think it brought the Spring time weather with it around here!

Yesterday was GORGEOUS!! And I had the BEST ride!

The day began with a baseball game for Cooper at the park. Guess what?... We WON!! Again!! And so did they! It really is a super cute thing, and the other team had two little girls on it who got a hit off of the pitcher both innings. You should have seen them hammering that baseball in their hot pink helmets. Too cute!!

Afterwards, I got to take an opportunity I've been waiting for for a long time... I went and rode at The Gaps!!

My Dad has been doing well. He's over at Peidmont, and I have to tell you, Night and Day to what we experienced in Carrollton!! I was there on Friday evening when a Neurologist came in to see him. He had ordered a MRI of the cranial area to look further into the stroke issue. I was under the impression that that had been completely ruled out, but apparently not. I asked him what the ultrasound of the corota had indicated, which is the test that the other hospital had run because they never did tell us the results of it, and he said that the paperwork they sent over didn't have the results. I mean it was evident that we all felt that the information sent over was on the level of incompetence. He said not to worry because that particular ultrasound really wouldn't have provided any conclusive results anyways, so doesn't really matter. The MRI is the way to go. Sure enough it showed that he DID have a series of mini strokes AND a heart attack. The other hospital claimed he did not, so I'm at least feeling better with our quality of care and feel like we're getting somewhere. They are continuing to run tests, monitor him, and allow for the dye that was used by the other hospital for his cauterization to clear out before making some decisions tomorrow.

We're going to head over to the hospital later this afternoon as Cooper is very interested in the whole situation. I explained that Paw-Paw's heart was tired and not feeling well. Cooper kept asking me what happened. "Did he fall Mom? Did he run into the wall?" Something had to happen physically to have put his paw-paw in the hospital. :) I then turned to my explanation of the little tiny bugs that are all over the place that can get into your body and make you sick and that's why we have to wash our hands and cover our mouths when we cough and sneeze, etc. :) He was like, "Ohhhh, I get it!" It was funny. But then he'll go into this really long story about the time his bones got tired and then you're just like, ok.. :)

So, I thought it'd make him feel better if he got to kind of see that my Dad is ok. Even though I know we won't be able to stay long as I will most likely constantly hear, "Hey Mom... What does this do'es?" :) So in the interest of my father's safety, it will be an in and out visit! :)

Since things were well with my Dad yesterday, I kept to my original plans of going to The Gaps!

It's a series of 6 Mountain top ranges in the North Georgia Mountains. Every cyclist in the Atlanta area has ridden up there it seems, and last year I REALLY wanted to go, but was recommended not to. I guess because of my Ironman Florida training. Maybe it was a timing issue or something, but I was bummed that I couldn't go. So when I read my schedule for last week that said make Saturday's long ride hilly, I thought, oh boy.... here we go!!

There's all sorts of ways to ride it. You can ride the front three, the back three, all of them if you're feeling like a super stud or a combination! We rode the front three yesterday. I really didn't know what to expect and had only 4 hours so I didn't want to set my expectations too high.

The front three are Neels, Wolfpen, and Woody (Don't ask me where these names came from. I have no clue???). Of these, Wolfpen is considered the difficult one because it's the steepest. However, it's not as long, so I guess difficult is an opinion here. Hogpen is in the second set and is supposed to be the Mama-jama of them all. I didn't do that one this time, but I can't wait to tackle that sucker next!

We started out on Neels. 7.5 miles of all the way up. 1600ft in elevation change over that distance. Lots of switchbacks and definitely small chain ring for me. But I felt good the whole way up. The worst part... the sport bikes going God knows how fast up and down that mountain getting just a little too close for comfort to me. :) It's kind of funny, we pulled over at a gas station after Wolfpen to get a refill on water and I see TONS of these motorcycle people all decked out in those super heavy outfits. I'd just seen one of them take a curve so tight that his right knee touched the ground and made MANY sparks! I'm thinking to myself, "What is wrong with these people? They're NUTS in that ridiculous outfit and they're going to kill themselves!" And then I take a look at myself, all decked out in lycra bike shorts, a jersey full of gels and p.b. and j's with a silly helmet on after just biking almost 30 miles up 2 major mountain range areas and laugh! :) Realizing, they're thinking the SAME thing about me! "Look at that silly girl in her ridiculous outfit choosing to ride a BICYCLE up this mountain instead of going SUPER fast and cool like us!" I guess to each his own right! :)

Wolfpen was DEFINITELY steeper, but not near as long. Roughly 2 miles. Heart rate was pumping... but so were my legs, and I've got to say... It was FUN! I loved it!! And then you get to the top and get to go crazy down hill... SOOOO much fun!

Woody was even shorter. Only like 1 mile up and not bad at all. A little steeper than Neels, but not as bad as Wolfpen. However, the back side was really long. If you took a quick second to look out over the Mountain it was seriously gorgeous. I kept thinking, WOW... people drive their cars up here to see the view and I get the opportunity to bike it. Truly amazing! Next time though, I want to go up the other side of Neels. Seems like you'd have to go up that way to really make it count! :)

All in all we went 37 miles in 2:30. Finished up MUCH earlier than I was expecting and so lovely Jen tells me to head home and hit the trainer for 1:30. All out Mountain climbing for 2:30 followed by a 1:30 ride on the trainer, which was all zone 2 except for 20 min solid zone 3 and 15 min of warm up and cool down. And zone 2 on a trainer for me is tough, so this was no laid back ride.

But, I finished, and felt good! Felt like I'd really accomplished something. I know there's people out there who've ridden all 6 Gaps or Epic climbs much larger than these, but this was my first, and I was happy with it! :)

Now it's Easter! The Easter Bunny was nice enough to swing by our house with some baskets full of candy and fun stuff! Some recovery stuff today, some SERIOUS attention to my house, a visit to see my Dad with the kids (Did I mention that the stomach bug has finally made the full route through our family ending it's trails at Adam today. So he won't be coming to the hospital with us.) some Easter Egg dying and hunting this afternoon, AND my Personal Trainer test is coming up in less than a week so some CRAZY all-out studying!! That should be enough for one day!

Happy Easter to you all!!

K :)