Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The good times continue to roll

I tackled Calaveras Road yet another time. This made three times in eight days. It's challenging but not unbearable. This time it was with the assistant manager at my store, Bryan. I rode with him on my first long ride, a couple of weeks ago. Yes, one of the boney-ass'd boys. LOL He rode down Niles Canyon and met me at the nursery on Calaveras Road where my husband dropped me off. I really didn't want to ride ALL THE WAY through Niles Canyon. We went to "the wall" and continued down into Milpitas and then back to Fremont.


From the bottom of Calaveras to "the wall" is 13.7 miles. My time getting there is getting better and better. I was seven minutes faster yesterday than I was on Friday with Jana and 19 minutes faster than the first time I did it! Bryan had to wait for me a couple of times but hey, at least he got a break. I never stopped! Like I said before, it's ten miles up a steady climb, not horrible though.


Once we got to "the wall" it was super fun down hill from there. The reward was very sweet! At one point, we were coming up to a sign that flashes your speed at you if you are going too fast. The speed limit here was 35 mph. It flashed 38 mph at me. I was speeding, on my bike! LOL After that it was a nice flat 12 miles back to my front door. The entire ride was 28.5 miles and took 2:03.


Then it was time to start celebrating Sara's 23rd birthday. First we met my Mom for a sushi lunch (she wasn't able to come to dinner with us). Then for dinner, Sara decided she wanted to go to Olive Garden. We were going to drive to The Old Spaghetti Factory in San Jose but it was getting late and we were all hungry so Olive Garden, less than a mile from home, it was.


The birthday girl


It is mind boggling to think I am the mother of a 23 year old. It seems like just yesterday she was turning two, or three. I had Sara when I was 22 years old. How can she be older than that? I think of my Mom when I had Sara and she became a grandmother for the very first time. She seemed old to me. How is it that I am actually at that age where I could become a grandmother? Everything happened so fast. I was a stay-at-home Mom from the time she was in 3rd grade. I drove her to school and picked her up every single day until she FINALLY got her driver's license, two weeks before she graduated high school. She's been out of high school for over five years. She's been out of the house for at least three years. I don't know, it's just really strange to think about it all. 23 years of my life seem to have just whizzed by without me even batting an eye.
Me and my "baby"

You Moms out there with young ones? Hang on tight!! They'll be in their 20's before you can even dream it.



Until later.............

16 comments:

Shannon said...

That ride looks so much fun and if it wasn't 48 degrees I would jump on Red Rover to ride today.

Happy Birthday to your baby girl. Sometimes when I look at my 13yr old~I still have that "I remember when she was kicking me in my belly." Wow..time flys...

Lisa said...

Sounds like a great ride...great job improving your time each time.

Reading about your daughter's birthday really hit me. My daughter is three and I can't imagine her being 23. Granted, I will be MUCH older than you are now when she hits that birthday; I had her at 39. I am glad you had a nice time on her birthday.

Unknown said...

I started having kids a bit later in life than you, but I definately want to hold on tight, but it doesn't seem to stop them from getting older!! My baby just turned 16 and my first born will be 18 in January. Where does the time go?!?!?

Lily on the Road said...

nice post JoLynn, you and your daughter are lucky to have one another. Glad you too have a wonderful relationship!! Savor every moment, time slips by too quickly.

Maryland Girl aka Michelle said...

Happy Birthday to your baby. Mine is almost 13, they do grow so fast. You and Ellen are rocking on the roads! Way to go!

Irene said...

You've had some wonderful bike riding weather!

It's amazing how quickly time goes by! Happy birthday to you beautiful daughter.

Glenn Jones said...

I hear you on the growing up thing! I still can't beleive that I have three (21, 19, 17) - as of next year all in college (yikes!) Seems like not that long ago we were enjoying things like the zoo and ice ceam cones. Sigh.

Rick Gaston said...

It is mind boggling that you have a 23 year old because sometimes, with your energy, humor and pep I think of you as being much younger. Truly. I think, hey that woman is not old enough to have a 23 year old!

Aron said...

happy birthday to sara!!!!!!

you are becoming quite the cyclist :)

Judi said...

you can hardly tell who the mom is.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

she's pretty just like her mom! And you're so right... I can't believe how fast 11 years has seemed to fly by with Terron, it's insane! Yay for speeding on the bike!

inkskin said...

"It flashed 38 mph at me. I was speeding, on my bike!"
-That's awesome! lol.

I don't have kids so I can only imagine what it is like to see them grow before your eyes. It looks like you have a wonderful family.

Dave said...

Don't remind me about my kids growing up...My first was born yesterday....this morning he woke up being 8 years old.

Shawn said...

I know exactly what you mean! My oldest turned 21 this year and it totally blew me away to think about. Then my son went away to college in Sept and it was another -'whoa when he grow up?' didn't even have time to recover from that when my youngest had her 16th birthday -- where did the years go!?

Hubby and I keep talking about taking advantage of the awesome biking roads we have around here - now that he's got a road bike - it starts raining - just figures doesn't it?

Stuart said...

What an awesome day!

Like Lisa I have ankle biters, thinking of them as in their 20's is very scary but I am sure it will roll around soon enough!

Southbaygirl said...

you two look beautiful! What a young mom you are!! I hope she had a great birthday!!

You have become some sort of cycling machine!! WOW!!!

So bummed I couldn't make it up there to run lake Chabot-I so wanted to do it!! One day!