Who’s Beanzie?!
FRIDAY!
Friday started out awesome because I finally visited Bobbi’s pool for the first this season! Woo hoo! I didn’t run over, but hopefully I’ll be able to later this summer (I have a pool bag there with my suit in it and everything!).
After that refreshing dip (it was in the 90s!), Steven and I went to visit the kittens. We talked with a technician more and it turns out they want the females to weigh five pounds before spaying them. Safety first! They think that may be this week, but who knows! Mama cat got spayed that day… but she can’t go home until all the kittens do.
We ran a Kohl’s errand after, then made a late dinner and watched part of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. We had just watched the original the week before, so we were keeping the series going! The original is more subtle with the animal violence compared to the second one, and especially when compared to Jurassic World. We thought Jurassic World was so violent and disturbing, there’s no way we’re seeing the one that’s out now. (Keep in mind, we’re vegan and vegetarian for animal rights reasons, so we don’t stomach violence, even against dinosaurs, well.)
SATURDAY!
I woke up to rain Saturday morning but was determined to do my tempo run, so I went to the trail, which would slow me down, but shield me from some of the rain.
That morning, I prepped veggies for the week, and made this banana cake from an account instagram suggested to me. It turned out SO GOOD (I had to use a different cream cheese recipe due to not having Tofutti at home – I won’t use it again).
We finished The Lost World at lunch, then I took a 1.5 hour nap. WINNING! After my nap, I ran some errands (where I ran in to Bobbi & fam, ha), watched part of Spirit of the Marathon II, made dinner with Steven, and spent a lot of time prepping for a bike ride Sunday.
Gosh, rides are SO. MUCH. WORK. to prep for. Especially when you are traveling to ride/not riding from your house. Preparing for this ride was like preparing for RAGBRAI, since I was also driving quite a ways to ride, then riding a similar distance, and needing to make sure I packed everything (thing I almost forgot and remembered in the morning – Body Glide)!
SUNDAY!
But the prep (and early morning!) was worth it for the fun day we had! I picked xaarlin up at 6:00 am and we headed to DeKalb for the Biking with Beanzie event. It’s an organized (and supported!) ride offering several distances – 25, 46, 64, 80, and 101. Xaarlin is training for an Ironman, and I have a 70+ mile ride at RAGBRAI, so I suggested we ride together as a late birthday celebration for her!
We arrived after 7:00, signed up (and got a fun tie-dye shirt), set up our bikes, and got on our way. The long drive out there meant we were out of Chicagoland and most of our ride would be on country roads where it was safe for us to ride next to one another and chat (I wear a mirror so we can watch for cars and move over well before they got near… said mirror broke as I put it on in the morning but I rigged it on my glasses for the day).
I wonder if the sky inspired the color for the shirt?
So that’s what we did! Pedaled and chatted and stopped at the aid stations every ten to fifteen miles. And the ride flew by (we rode 67 miles)! I usually bonk or get annoyed with the noise from the wind in the last part of my rides, but that didn’t happen with xaarlin – I think because I was eating and drinking a lot more due to the event being supported, and our chatting distracted me from the wind noise. Yay!
I picked this event because it was on a date that worked for both of us, and had NO idea who Beanzie was or what the event was about! We kept seeing funny “Beanzie” directional signs on the course (which was very well marked) – Beanzie in different movie posters, or famous scenes, or as a famous person. And we kept wondering “WHO IS BEANZIE?!”
And guess what? I still don’t really know – it’s hard to find the origin story online. There was a printed recent article from a newspaper at the event that mentioned Beanzie is a guy’s nickname who liked to ride in DeKalb with friends and they had the idea to start this ride to benefit the Kiwanis Mission. So… there ya go?! Updated to add: xaarlin sent me some more info and I was able to find this! The group wanted a unique name for their ride so they used one of the founder’s nicknames.
It’s definitely well done though! We both said we’d do it again. And I LOVED that we got to use the high school showers to clean off after the ride. I felt like a new person (and realized I did a REALLY bad job applying sunscreen, sigh)!
After we cleaned up, we ate at a local Mexican restaurant, then drove back to the city, then I drove home! It was a long day, but a lot of fun!
When I got home, Steven helped me unpack and put everything away, which took almost as much time as packing! Then we did some chores, ate dinner, watched part of Jurassic Park III (we’re on a roll) and called it a night.
I definitely feel ready for RAGBRAI after doing this long ride! Yay!
Themocracy
Is it me, or do the kittens already look a little bigger than when we visited them last weekend??
You spelled Kohl wrong 😉
Your round sounds so fun! And I’m glad it helped you feel ready for RAGBRAI! I was watching xaarlin’s corn field pictures on IG yesterday, it looked really pretty out there!
They totally do! It’s crazy how fast they are growing.
Oops! 😛
It was really pretty! And we lucked out with low winds. It was a perfect day to ride!
The dip in the pool sounds lovely espec since it was so hot! Eat little kitties, eat.
One of my track coaches was the producer of Spirit of the Marathon II and I vaguely know Julie the blond lady that was one of the runners in it. Small world 🙂
67 miles my goodness, my butt would be so bruised, well done ladies. Glad you got to chat and enjoy the ride.
Oh, that’s funny, cause my friend Gina also knows Julie!
My butt is actually fine! I think the back to back (daily) rides are helping with that!
The kittens look so cute! I hope you get to bring them home soon 🙂
Me too! At this point, I think it will be August 1 or 2 🙂
Grow kitties grow! I hope they’re able to get spayed (and recovered) soon!
That’s fun that you and Xaarlin got to go out for a ride together, and I’m glad it went so well! Sounds like a really great way to get in some training and friend time 🙂
Yes! Quit resisting! Ha ha.
It was! And I am grateful we had good weather!
Awwwww the kitties! Adorbs! I hope to meet them someday.
What a super fun day! I’m so happy we were able to do this ride together. It’s so much better to be able to chat for hours and hours 🙂 Maybe I’ll do some ragbrai next year…
I’m going to find out who Beanzie is. I need to know.
I hope you get to as well!
Gosh, it’s WORLDS better! Makes me almost want to be social and ride with people (but no). You should do part of RAGBRAI next year!!!
He’s Tony Xidis!!!
I just can’t get over how cute those kittens are. I hope they can come home to you soon!
I’m glad you had such a good bike ride on Sunday. That must get you ready and excited for RAGBRAI. Woo!
Aww, thank you!!! We are hoping for August 1 or 2 now!
Yes! It totally did! Now I know I can do it and can focus on having FUN!
Ooh, I bet that banana cake was really moist. Thank you for linking to the recipe. I’m always on the lookout for good banana recipes because we have bananas at work that are pretty brown by the end of the week and I hate for them to go to waste.
Did you go to El Famous? (I’m guessing no, given the location of the ride.) I didn’t ever think of ordering fries at any old Mexican restaurant. Next time I go to a taquería, I’m going to look for fries on the menu.
It was! I made it again this weekend and it was a hit! And we used some accidentally vegan store bought cream cheese frosting cause I’m lazy. Let me know if you make it with those work bananas!!!
We didn’t! We went to some random place in town. And yes, always get fries when they’re an option (except at White Castle, ha)!