"I guess we should have had the pothole talk last weekend..."

...thus began our pre-ride talk, in which we learned there is a proper way to "probably not crash" when riding over (through?) the many potholes this lovely east coast winter has burdened us with.  speaking of winter, it's supposed to snow again tomorrow.  so that should be excellent for outdoor training and being able to ride without fear of losing a toe or a foot to frostbite.  don't believe us?  look at how many layers are visible in this picture.  meredith informs me that she had to buy her jacket a size larger than normal to accommodate the many underthings she is wearing to stay warm:

dont' be deceived by the bright sunlight...it's roughly 45 degrees out.  at 11 AM.  it didn't get any warmer.

in other news:  pictures!  this one was taken after the ride, and naomi is smiling so widely because for the first time in 3 weeks, she didn't fall once.  not even when she tried to execute the advanced grab-water-bottle-from-frame-take-drink-and-replace move, which predictably ended with her water bottle landing on the side of the road and her having to unclip, stop, run back for it, and catch up with her group.  baby steps. 

meredith is smiling because a) she is debuting her extremely cool cycling glasses ("lance armstrong glasses"), b) she rode all the way to nyack and back and c) she's about 3/4 of the way through what was 60-mile ride.  the first repetitive use stress injuries are starting to show up; meredith's knees are starting to feel the strain of riding the length of new jersey in a single day.  naomi probably hasn't ridden far enough in one day to merit any kind of stress injury, and her skinned knees will do for now.

also:  inflating your tires is apparently an idiot-proof activity, as meredith's pump didn't even come with instructions.  naomi spent half an hour on her floor this morning, attempting to use her father's pump, which also did not come with instructions.  it's not idiot-proof, as neither of us could figure it out without turning to the internet, of course, which helpfully contains short videos on inflating your tires.  meredith mastered it, and naomi hopes to soon.

here's another picture from after the ride for those of you who are still reading:

naomi banned the before picture from ever seeing the light of the internet, because two toolish helmets in one picture was just too much.  meredith bravely agreed to let hers appear this week; meredith also apparently forgets that she's even wearing a helmet after a long ride and continued to wear it until she decided it would be better used as a purse to hold her gloves and wallet.  not just a pretty face, people.

that's all for now; stay tuned for the second entry of this week's blog, subject TBD.

oh, and please give us money.  the links are right at the top.  it's for a really good cause. 

thanks!

--meredith and naomi