The Perfect Flavor

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an incurable sweet tooth, and LOVE ice cream. I heard they were giving away ice cream at the finish of the MS ride this weekend in Charlottesville and shortly after getting off my bike I went in search of it. I mean, I had almost stopped at the Dairy Queen we biked past about 30 miles into the ride! This was my dream come true! Sure enough, fantastic homemade ice cream. Nothing could be better on a 100 degree day! After talking to the vendor for a few minutes, I realized from her brochure that she graduated from SBC. Even cooler!

This girl owns her own ice cream company, The Perfect Flavor, which makes custom ice cream. She uses all organic, local, seasonal ingredients, will create any concoction you dream up, and will ship it on dry ice anywhere. This is really cool I thought! And the ice cream was so yummy!

When I got back to the hotel room, I decided to look up her website, curious about how much this might cost. Clearly, it was going to cost more than the ice cream from the grocery store. I knew that, but when I clicked on the website and saw the price, I thought I was seeing things - surely those weren't the actual prices! For ice cream? This couldn't possibly be right! How much do you think a pint of ice cream such as this would cost? Take a wild guess, and then check out the website: http://www.perfectflavor.com/

I'm still stunned. So much for my plan to invent my own flavor and ship it to all my friends! Maybe someday I'll win the lottery...it was really good.

I'm sure this girl would be horrified to know that on the drive home, we stopped at Dairy Queen. My favorite!! I mean not only is it not organic, local, seasonal, etc. ice cream, but then I go and put non-organic candy bars in it!! The horror! But it was oh so good...

The Scorcher

I think that's what the "Tour de Vine" should be renamed after this weekend. The scorcher it was! MS Ride #2. Theresa and I had great plans when we signed up - 100 miles each day to get some serious miles in before Ironman. We realized earlier in the week though that based on the weather forecast of temperatures approaching 100, with heat indexes of about 110, we might have to revise our plans.


Day 1. Despite our best attempts to get an early 6:30am start to beat the heat, some mechanical difficulties delayed us until 7:40am. At that time, it was probably a mere 80 degrees or so with 99% humidity. There was a nice fog over everything. We took it slow from the start, determined not to have to cut our ride short due to heat stroke. Fortunately there was a decent amount of shade on the ride and rest stops every 8-12 miles with lots of ice and towels soaked in ice water for us to cool off.

We managed 75 miles in total, which I really do think has to be equal to 100 miles on a good weather day. The last 5 miles were brutal, completely exposed to the sun. The homemade ice cream at the finish line helped to ease the pain though and thankfully we could head back to the hotel and crank up the AC after the ride. A few hours later we went back out to the finish line party for wine tasting and then found our way to a Mexican restaurant we heard had great margaritas. Well...the food was great. The drinks...disgusting!! We knew we were in trouble just looking at them! A few sips was all either of us could manage.

Day 2. We decided not to ride. Biking in 100 degree weather for one day was enough for us, so we decided we'd get up at 5:30am, get a long run in before the true heat set in for the day, and spend the rest of the afternoon touring Monticello. It was a great day, though still unbelievably hot!



Most importantly, between Theresa and I (and all our wonderful family and friends who donated to us!), we raised over $900 to help find a cure for MS.

175 Miles Closer to Ironman & $355 Closer to a Cure for MS

For the third year in a row, I signed up for the MS ride that follows a route from Richmond to Williamsburg on Saturday and then back to Richmond on Sunday. Round trip that's 150 miles, unless of course you're training for an Ironman and feel compelled to do an extra 25 miles on Saturday. :-)

(My bike, loaded down w/snacks for the ride.)

This year, Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine, his security entourage, his wife, and their son, all participated in the ride. It's great to live in a state where the Governor is a cyclist! Although I have to say, he had about a minute head start on me and I still managed to drop him inside the first mile. I was debating what to say to him as I passed him, but also trying not to pass too close for fear of what his security guards might say or do. So in the end I just passed him nice and wide and didn't say a thing. Oh well.

(The ride starts in front of the Governor's mansion.)

(Governor Kaine in the white jersey, getting his number pinned on his back.)

(Rest Stop.)

As usual, my Grandmother was nice enough to pick up her smelly, sweaty, salty grandaughter at the finish line and take her home for a good shower and some gluten free treats. When I asked her where she would like to go for dinner, remembering the Easter fiasco, she replied with "anywhere other than that country club!" Works for me! We wound up at Outback Steakhouse so that I could indulge in a chocolate thunder from down under. It's not quite a chocolate waffle, but it would do.

Overall, it was a good (although HOT) weekend of cycling for a good cause. After 175+ miles on my bike however, I'm really not feeling like riding again anytime soon. Bummer I've got 6 weeks left of training.