Fitness Update

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting much about my workouts recently. I started to feel like people probably weren't interested in reading every detail of every monotonous run I took on the same city streets that I have been running and writing about for months. So I am trying to incorporate more posts on style, food, and bike America planning. But then I realized that it has been a long time since I gave you any fitness updates at all. For all you know, I could be sitting around eating cake every day after work. Don't get me wrong, I'm probably eating more cake than I should, but I'm also sweating hard and getting my legs strong and ready for this summer's bike trip. Above, you can see what my typical week of exercise has looked like over the past month or two.

I have been feeling really good about my workouts recently. I am exercising more days a week, and am far more motivated, than I was during my last half marathon training cycle. You can see I've been running only 1-2 days a week which is a change but it is nice to not have any worry about distance or speed. I have been doing quicker, shorter runs to keep the impact low but have been making an effort to push really hard. Half the time I'm not even wearing my garmin. If I'm breathing heavy and I feel a burn in my legs then I feel accomplished.

More importantly, though, I feel like I've become a much stronger cyclist over the past few months. For the first time in my life, I'm treating cycling like I did running. I've always loved to ride a bike but, in the past, it's been part social activity, part exercise. I liked to pedal hard uphill and cruise down, spending a good amount of time not pedaling. Now, I think in large part due to my spin workouts, I have no desire to ever stop pedaling when I'm on my bike. I want to use every ounce of muscle strength I have and I want to feel a consistent burn, just like I do when I run.

In an effort not to spoil all the content for next week's Bike America post on training, I'm going to stop there. But I just wanted to reassure everyone, because I know you've been on the edge of your seats with curiosity, that I have been sweating hard and loving life because of it. And now I'm off to skip my core class/weights/bike session to spend the night dancing my butt off at my second Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in two months!

Bike America: Companions

The hardest thing about deciding to bike across America was that I knew I couldn't safely (nor would I want to) do it alone and it was really hard to get others to commit to participate. Once my parents decided that they were serious about the journey too, everything changed and the ride's potential became real. Here is who all will be joining the adventure.

My mom will be the only other person along for 100 percent of the ride. But she will be driving some and won't ride the entire way. Her goal is to ride an average of 30 miles per day. She will drive a portion and will also need to work remotely, part-time during the trip. She is incredibly organized and is the master of finding friends (strangers) in new cities, campsites to stay at, and restaurants to try. She might share my fear of bears but she is pretty badass for putting so much time into this trip, leading up to and during it.

My dad will be along for all but one week of the trip. He is being inducted as the board chair of our church this summer so he has to dip out for a week at the beginning of the ride but, otherwise, he's with us for the long haul. If you want a real sense of what a wonderful weirdo my dad is, read this post. I believe that I get my relentless drive for sweaty adventures from him. He pushes hard, he's in good shape, and he wants to ride as much as possible during the journey.

Joyce is my best friend from college, with whom I first had the dream of biking across America. Though it didn't become a reality until my parents caught wind of the idea, we were able to convince Joyce to ride with us for the first 3-4 weeks. Joyce is funny. When we first met, I thought she was a super girly girl and she thought I was ridiculously preppy. We were strangers and roommates. Within a week, I kid you not, we realized that we share everything from our sense of humor, our thirst for adventure, and our love of food. We were joined at the hip for years and I am beyond excited to spend so much time together after a year and a half apart.

My boyfriend and roommate who you hear about often. Josh loves to play sports but he is not a biker. The idea of 7 days x 70 miles on a bike seat scares him a lot. But he loves to travel and is especially excited to see new parts of the world now that he's got an aspiration for photography. He quickly jumped on the idea of meeting us for part(s) of the ride so that we could see each other some over the summer and so that he could explore. He is curious about the riding but also glad that there will be a car along so he can spend some hours of his day focused on taking pictures of the landscape and wildlife. He will be joining us for 10 days from eastern Washington to mid-Montana and again for seven days on Ragbrai.

Ben is my friend from high school who I wasn't actually good friends with in high school. Josh and I  have become friends with him since we moved to DC after college and he joined my parents, Joyce, and I for Ragbrai in 2010. He is very fun and is excited to take an adventure but he is also cautious which is a valuable trait to have on a week-long bike trip, especially when paired with crazy risk-takers like my dad and I! Ben will be joining for Ragbrai in Iowa.

I also went to high school with Nathaniel but didn't really know him until after we all graduated and moved to DC. He is a fun guy and a good person to talk to. He is smart and curious and this will be my first time seeing him out of his element on vacation and sleeping in tents. He is also developing a web app with his friends that I may be a test for this summer. More on that to come. Nathaniel will be joining for Ragbrai with Josh and Ben.


I am very excited that so many people have ebraced this opportunity and are excited to join a part or all of our ride. It will be fun to see familiar faces and I think Ragbrai will be wonderful with such great company (though I wish Joyce could stay on through then!). But I am very much looking forward to so many weeks with my parents. Many people are surprised when I tell them I'm doing this and they say, "Aren't you worried about traveling with your parents for nine weeks?!" But you know, I'm not worried at all. Maybe we'll get on each other's nerves but probably no more than any other normal people would when they're tired and in close quarters. And I deeply appreciate that we are all are healthy, happy, and can spend this time biking together. We are very lucky and I can't imagine anything better!

Weekend Style: Coral and Navy Bachelorette

After an all day work meeting today, I'll be jumping in a car and heading south for Sarah's bachelorette weekend in Charleston, SC. Her wedding colors are coral and navy so that's what we've all been instructed to wear out for the party on Saturday night. However, I love the girl and I love an excuse to show some spirit so I'll be incorporating it into my wardrobe as much as possible over the next 48 hours.

I even went so far as to paint my nails chevron patterned in the colors in her honor...

Since I just got my camera and I already know exactly what I'll be wearing this weekend, I decided to post real pictures instead of searching for ideal outfits on the internet.

Have a good weekend!! Any fun plans?

My New Toy

When I want something big, I usually think about buying it and weigh my options for a long time and then one day, I decide I have to have it immediately, and buy it without giving it any more thought. That is kind of how it happened with my new dslr camera.

My favorite combination.

Now that I have an amateur photographer boyfriend, I am not as well-known as the photo-taking manic that I used to be. I still take plenty of pictures on my iPhone but I used to be the girl who brought her camera everywhere. I went to Sweden for two weeks in high school and used up nine disposable cameras. My parents were thrilled to pay for that when I got home. In college, my friend Nicole and I decided our sophomore year to create a facebook photo album for every weekend of the year. And we did. I was out of control with the picture taking.

Continue after the jump for more...

Bike America: The Many Logistics

It's the third week of my Bike America series and that means I'm here to tell you about planning the logistics of our ride. The problem is that there are far more logistics than I could ever fit into one blog post so we're going to stick to the basics. I will likely elaborate on some of these areas in future posts.

Car vs. No Car

If I haven't told you this yet, let me make it clear: we will have a car with us on our ride. All the logistical planning for this trip is based on that fact and is allowing us to do much more than we otherwise would.

Bike Preparation 

It is easy to get caught up in the daydreaming and planning of the actual ride but a very important part of this adventure is getting your bike completely ready for the journey. Luckily, I have a beauty of a bike that is young and fresh so she doesn't need too much work. Still, before we leave, I'll be putting wider tires on her, replacing the handlebar tape and testing out several different seats to find the best fit. 

I also took a very effective lesson at the bike clinic in DC. One weakness I have with bikes is that I don't know enough about repairing them. Before, I could change the handlebar tape, change the tires, adjust and change the seat but now I can true the wheels, tighten spokes, check for and adjust brake cables and pads, and clean the chain. I know there is much more to learn in life but this clinic made me feel much more confident going into the ride.

Project Breakfast: Tropical Granola with Greek Yogurt

Photo by Josh Bassett Photography

In my first post on project breakfast, I did admit that I eat a lot of granola in the mornings. With my new mission to vary my breakfasts more, I don't plan to stop but I will make an effort to make my own granola often and to experiment with the flavors and nutrients that I include. I have been making my own granola for about a year and it is always loosely based on a recipe that I adapted from Eric's. While wandering through my favorite organic market last weekend, I saw the dried pineapple and papaya and was inspired to try a tropical version:

Tropical Granola


6 c rolled oats
1 c honey
1 c diced papaya, diced
1 c dried pineapple, diced
1 c coconut
1 c heart healthy mixed nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Mix oats, coconut and nuts in a large bowl and stir together. Pour honey over the mixture and stir slowly until all ingredients are coated. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 or lager (metal or glass) cake pan. Bake for up to an hour, checking on the mixture and stirring every 7 minutes or so. Check more frequently as the granola gets closer to being done to avoid any parts of it burning. Let cool and stir in the dried fruit. Done!

Serving Size: 2/3 cup; Calories: 230

This process is a little labor-intensive, mostly because you have to pay such close attention to the granola as it bakes. It's likely that the tiny oven in my 80-year old apartment is worse than most of yours so you'll need to try it out once and see how well the oats do without burning in your own oven. It is worth spending the time on because it provides you breakfast for 2-3 weeks!

Granola with Yogurt


Most days, I mix 2/3 c granola with greek yogurt or soymilk. Last week for the challenge, I used 2/3 c granola with about 1/2 c yogurt. It was delicious and kept me full until about 11.

Calories: 340

Tropical Granola and Fruit Parfait


Last Friday, I had some fruit to use up and I was feeling extra adventurous so I threw it all into a lovely breakfast parfait. I used:

3/4 c tropical granola
1/2 c vanilla greek yogurt
4 large strawberries
1/2 banana

Slice strawberries and bananas. Layer granola, yogurt, and fruit in a glass and serve!

Calories: 500

This combination was delicious but still kept me full to just about 11. I would like to try replacing the strawberries with mango slices or fresh pineapple to really top of the tropical theme but I just used what I had in the fridge. This is definitely my favorite way to eat granola because it is fresh, crunchy, and a little creamy and it combines so many flavors. It is a little more work though so it will definitely have to continue as a Friday morning treat!

Bike America: Choosing and Mapping a Route

Hello and welcome to the second installment of Bike America! Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Today we're going to talk about choosing and mapping a route.

America is large. And there are probably a million different ways to cross it, in an automobile, on foot, or on a bicycle. So knowing where to start and what path to take can be confusing. Luckily, we have my mom in our group, who is the ultimate planner. Planning the route and the logistics of a trip like this is where she thrives. And so we put her to work!

The first step was to choose where to start and finish. Several things made this part pretty easy:

• We planned to meet up with Ragbrai in the middle of the trip
• My mom DID NOT want to ride through the heart of the Rocky Mountains
• We live in Washington, DC and we wanted to end at home

It was clear early on that we should ride from Washington state to Washington, DC. We'd see a large chunk of the country that few of us had explored, it would be the coolest option, we'd ride mountains but they'd be much more manageable than the ones in Colorado, and we'd be en route to the west side of Iowa. So that was that.

Figuring out which towns to stay in, and which roads to turn down, was the much more complicated part and my mom took the lead on it. Neither she or I claim to be any sort of expert on this but I will let you in on a few of her secrets:

• Trust the experts.
• A large part of our course was planned based on the maps we bought from adventure cycling. I guaruntee you they are far more well-informed on the subject than we will ever be.
• Read stories of people who have done this before you and use their experiences as a guide.
• My mom (and I) read many blogs of people who had ridden their bikes across the Northern Tier of America. They provide good commentary on what to expect where. On everything from the roads and the terrain to the people and the weather.
• Don't be afraid to change it up.
• After months of planning to ride through Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota to get to Ragbrai, my mom found a blog written by people who rode a similar route but decided to cut North Dakota off their itinerary. The more she read, the more apparent it was how dominated the state's roads were by oil trucks and how seedy some of the overnight towns could be. It isn't the best environment for cyclists anymore. So she cut North Dakota off our itinerary as well. We would turn South early, from Montana into Wyoming, instead and we'd get to see Mount Rushmore and the black hills that way. Win win!
• Google maps bicycling directions are your friend.
• Since we are not following any of the adventure cycling routes to a T and, instead, are using a combination of various portions of several, there were some gaps in our course. These gaps were small, and we usually knew what towns to stay overnight in but needed an expert to tell us exactly how to bike between them. We turned to Google as our expert.

Source

After very much research and planning, my diligent mother has bound up a thick binder with two full page printouts of each day's map and turn-by-turn directions. Also included are several printouts of the spreadsheet listing our overnight towns and the distance between each. Since you probably haven't heard of 3/4 of the towns, I'll spare you a list. It will be much more fun to read about the towns as we ride into them than it will be to see them listed below. But, if you're interested enough in our general course to open a new tab and go to google maps, then I'll give you a simple way of knowing about where we'll be. Our approximate route, according to the interstates of America, is as follows:

• I-90 from Seattle, WA to Sioux Falls, SD
• Sioux Falls, SD to Davenport, IA along Ragbrai route
• I-74 from Davenport, IA to Indianapolis, IN
• I-70 from Indianapolis, IN to Pittsburgh, PA
• C&O Canal train from Pittsburgh, PA to Washington, DC

Of course we won't actually be on the interstate at all but this is the easiest way of understanding our general progression. Stay tuned from June 14 to August 17 to learn exactly where our bikes will take us!