A Wild Week

Whew!

I've had quite the eventful few days, hence the utter lack of blogging lately.

Let's review, shall we?

On the Fourth of July, I went to a late brunch with The Boy and BFF.  We hit up one of our favorite breakfast places, the Drake Diner.  I threw the diet out the window for the holiday and ordered the eggs benedict (with the hollandaise on the side).  It was yummy.

Then, we gathered up our other besties and headed out on an epic bike ride.

First, l have to tell you: I love my clip-ins.  They are not nearly as difficult as I thought they'd be, likely because the dude set them to be as loose as humanly possible (and therefore the easiest to get in/out of). And, riding is soooooo much more efficient, as you get momentum pedaling down and up.  I had no reason to be scared of them.

Anyway, the bike ride was not so much a "hardcore workout" but rather a leisurely ride to various establishments on the bike trail.  First, much to BFF's chagrin, we headed to Orlondo's.  It's a dive right off of the trail and on the outskirts of Water Works Park, and it turned out to be quite great.  We found a spot on the shaded patio, grabbed a beer and a free koozie, and chatted up some other cyclists for a while.

We then hopped back on the trail and tried to hit up Confluence, a relatively new brewery in Des Moines.  Again, it's right off the trail, just behind Gray's Lake.  Unfortunately, they were closed for the holiday.  Wah wah.

So, we made the best of it and continued on to Mullet's, one of my favorite patios in the city.  We grabbed a spot at a long table, ordered another drink, and grabbed a few apps for the table to share: the Waikiki pizza (seriously, pineapple on pizza is heavenly), some fried pickle slices, and some chicken nachos.

Finally, we headed out for the trek home and quickly discovered that whatever route we took would include some pretty darn intense uphills.  We decided to go for a long-ish hill with not such a steep grade, and it took us off the trail and through downtown.  (I got to really practice clipping in and out on this stretch!)

We made our last stop of the journey at a neighborhood favorite, Wellman's on Ingersoll.  While I am not super stoked with the service at this particular place, the patio is pretty spectacular, and you know how I love a good patio!  We had a couple more drinks (gotta stay hydrated!), and I annoyed BFF as usual:

Just kidding: she loves me.

While The Boy and I had planned on hitting up a Fourth of July celebration with live music, fireworks, beer, and fun later that night, we were pretty pooped from our long day in the sun and instead ordered take-out and watched TV, hitting the sack around 10:00 or so.

I swear we used to be cool.

I ended the day with a pretty sweet tan:

On Friday, I worked out bright and early, cleaned the apartment a bit, and then pretty much lounged around most of the day.  I even declined an invite to the pool because I knew the weekend was going to be jam-packed with outdoor fun.  On Friday night, The Boy and I headed out for an impromptu sushi date and then grabbed Identity Thief from Redbox.  We both thought it was good, but we were both expecting it to be a lot more entertaining.

On Saturday, The Boy and I headed downtown with The Crew (our bestest friends) for Des Moines' annual two-day music festival, 80/35.  (We skipped Friday.)  We had a blast wandering around, lounging in the grass, drinking beer and eating festival food, listening to loads of live music, people watching, and having fun.

View of the main stage from our spot under the tree -- likely from a laying-down vantage point.

Find the Emmy!

Keeping cool with BFF in the water fixture in front of our blanket.

Hanging with The Boy.  How cute is he?

I have the best BFF in the universe.

Seriously: the best.

The only band I really went up close for was Wu-Tang.  I wanted to see them because they are just so darn iconic/legendary/famous, but I was not so much feeling the music.  First, they came on about an hour late, which was just annoying.  Second, I just did not understand it: there are nine guys, and it sounds like they just yell back and forth during the "songs."  Clearly Wu-Tang is just not for me.

This was a tough selfie:

But we succeeded!

After a crowd surfer landed on me and The Boy (about three or four songs into Wu-Tang's set), we decided to call it a night and head back to our car that was parked at BFF's house about a mile away.  After a day of walking around in flat-bottomed flip-flops and sweaty legs, my feet and inner thighs were so ready to be done.

(You're welcome for that visual.)

Despite Saturday's all-day festival being over, I'm not quite done recapping the Wild Week, believe it or not.  To wrap up the weekend, MB (hey girl, hey!) and I hit up yet another show at my favorite Des Moines venue: Simon Estes Amphitheater.

How gorgeous is this?  I am so lucky to live in Des Moines.

Simon Estes is an outdoor amphitheater that is situated on the east side of the Des Moines River, smack-dab in the middle of downtown.  Every summer, they host Nitefall on the River shows.  I've seen acts like Mat Kearney, Erin McCarley, Colbie Callait, and more.

Last night, we saw The Lone Bellow and Brandi Carlile.

MB is a huge Brandi Carlile fan, and I didn't know anything about her.  (Turns out I did know one or two of her songs, but whatev.)  Regardless, I absolutely loved her by the end of the night and definitely want to get some of her music.  It's totally my kind of stuff.

Thanks, MB, for such a fabulous girls' night!  I love you oodles and oodles!

So there you have it, friends: I had quite the eventful few days!  I'm ready for a somewhat relaxing week ahead, prior to my sister's bachelorette party this Saturday.  Eeeeeee!

See you tomorrow with a recap of workouts and recipes!

How did you spend the Fourth?  Have you been to any great concerts lately?  Who wants to go see Kid Rock with me -- St. Louis in August?

A Specialized Experience

About six years ago, I bought a bike.  I didn't have a whole lot of disposable income, so I opted for a $300 hybrid -- a 2006 Diamondback Edgewood, to be exact.  It's been a good bike, but it's had some issues, particularly with the seat and the handlebars.

However, I am proud to say that I fixed the seat issue yesterday all. by. myself.

Within the last several years, both my mom and my brother have become avid cyclists, and both have road bikes.  A few of my friends also have road bikes, and keeping up with them on a bulky hybrid is quite difficult.  I decided that I really wanted a road bike, but I really didn't want to spend the $1,000 for one.

When my good friend and close colleague Linds said that she was getting a new road bike, I asked if I could buy her old one.  She said no -- she would just give it to me.

Yeah.  I couldn't believe it either.

I picked up the bike from Linds' house a couple of months ago, and it's just been sitting in my basement since I was too afraid to take it to a shop for fear of how much it would cost to fix.  After all, it's quite old, and Linds thought it needed a lot of work.

Well, I finally took it to the shop last week and picked it up yesterday.  They did a tune up, put a new tube in the back tire, installed a new front tire, gave me new pedals, hooked me up with shoes and cleats, threw in a water bottle, rewrapped the handlebars, discarded the aero bars that were duct-taped on, and cleaned it up all nice and pretty.

So, for less than $300, I have a like-new Specialized (I think it's an M2 Road Pro), and I could not be more excited.

I have had to figure out a few things with this new bike, though.  For instance, I could not for the life of me figure out how to shift gears.  Thankfully, Wikipedia proved to be an excellent resource.

The biggest thing I had to figure out, however, was how to clip in and out of the pedals.  The technician at Rasmussen's taught me how to do it, and then he advised that I head home and center myself in a door frame to practice.  I did that, but wow: that was tough.  I decided it might be easier to just head out to the parking lot and give it a go there.

And you know what?  It worked!  I can clip in and out with no problem.

Granted, I'll probably biff it in the middle of an intersection tomorrow, but whatev.  At least I think I'm good-to-go for now!

The bike will definitely take some getting used to (the body position while riding is so much different than what I'm used to), but I am so excited to take it for some rides this week.

Anyone up for heading down to the Cumming Tap on the Fourth of July?  You know you want to!

Any advice you can offer about "for real" cycling?  What is the number one piece of equipment that you can't live without?

I, for one, am thinking I'm going to need some padded shorts for this itty-bitty seat.

But that'll be a purchase for another day!