Even the baby geese are at the trail; what's my excuse now??

     You'd think by now my "Franken-bike" would be ready for the bike trails. After all, I've had all winter to tweek it so it fits all the requirements needed for my extremely complicated body.  

     I have my new make-shift pedals so my crazy foot doesn't slip off when I ride. 

                    

 I should be all set right?! The thing is, believe it or not, I'm terrified to take my bike out on the trails for fear of not being able to slip my shoes out in a seconds notice.  As it is now, my shoes fit just a little too well in the strap, and when I'm off the trainer, and trying to balance, I may find myself on the ground in one big heap.

     Most women have a million pairs of shoes to match every outfit they own.  I, on the other hand, have only a couple practical pairs; ones that are conducive for walking, and ones that work with my bike.

     I had the right shoes for my old pedals, but now that I have new pedals, my shoes are all wrong.  As much as I try to piecemeal my challenging life together, so I can function as close to normal as possible, it seems like one more road block pops up.  Then I'm back to the old drawing board, trying to figure out my next move.

     I'm in the process of trying to get shoes that work right now, but the day was absolutely beautiful, and I wasn't about to let the lack of a bike preventing me from visiting my favorite riding spot; Olander park.  So I headed over, and was sure glad I did!

       When I was last there, these little mommas were just hanging out, and now I see I million cute little babies!

     I didn't need my bike to see this amazing sight.

Now my next goal is to get out on my bike before these babies turn into mommas them selves.  

          Seeing how nice the weather has gotten has surely lit a fire under me, and I promise you my next thing on my "to-do" list is figure out my shoe and pedal!   

     I've jumped out of a plane from thirteen thousand feet in the air.  If there's one thing I won't let stop me, it's fear!  My bike and I will see you very soon!

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too:)

     If there's one thing I never bet all my money on, it's the weather forecast.  I think I can flip a coin as well as any Meteorologist:)  But that doesn't help me any when I'm trying to plan my transition from my indoor riding to outside.

     Taking my bike off the trainer is a real pain in the kiester; and putting it back on is no picnic either.  But for crying out loud, it's well into April already, and I eventually have to just do it.  

     I never thought I would be lobbying for riding my bike inside, but once it's out side my inside training is over, and if it's cold or raining I'm missing a lot of good training time.  As it is, I ride my bike four times a week inside.  

     But if anything was going to nudge me, it was seeing one of my bike trails with the warm sun radiating the sky.  

                                       

And I would much rather be riding under the high level bride on a bike, than over it in a car.

                                       

     I was actually here only by chance.  My mom and I were going to an MS drug rep meeting in downtown Toledo, and believe it or not, we were there early and had a few minutes to kill.  Okay, so maybe it was believable...:)

     This was a new park called "Middle grounds park", and you can see it was a sight for soar eyes, now that the winter thaw was behind us.

                                        

   The only two things that were stopping me from getting out and riding that day, were the scheduled meeting, and my bike... details.

                                        

But that didn't stop those geese from basking in the sun.

     So lets see if I get brave enough to trust the weatherman and take my bike outside again... or not... I see rain in the forecast...  ugh!!  I promise you soon!  but until then, I'll be back inside riding to my favorite tunes!!  Wish me luck!!

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

Never to early to start fundraising!! My friends sure have my back!!

     In my opinion, I can't start soon enough to raise money for the Bike MS - Bike To The Bay.  The more money we raise, the closer we are to making this awful disease go away.  

     Any one that has MS, or knows someone who has it will tell you, this is something we never signed up for.  It's not as though life style choices had anything to do with it. If that were the case then we could all take control and decide if the risk was worth it or not.  But to this day it still makes no sense why some people get MS.  It just shows up without an invitation.

     However, with all of the things MS takes away from me, it also gave me some very powerful gifts as well.  I'm much more strong-willed than I ever was before.  It's a battle I entered unintentionally, but I have every intention of winning. 

                                      

     And you know when someone wins the lottery they find many friends and family members they never knew they had... Well, it's kind of that with MS.  Friends and family seem to come out of the woodwork to join my army, and that's probably the most powerful gift I've been given by this disease that is known only for taking. 

     So while my friends and family may have gotten a little tired of hearing me campaign about the Bike To The Bay last August, I feel like now is the time to get serious.   

     Team leapfrog is well underway, and now it's time for me to prove that my friends and I can do anything we put our minds to!

     As you may remember, Team leapfrog started with cute little pink t-shirts with frogs all over them, and my friends didn't care if they looked silly.  They wanted to support me at any cost.

And while the "uniforms" have changed a lot, their hearts have remained the same.

     This is only a few of those in my army.  Some may wear the "fatigues", while others support me in many other ways.  I don't know what I would do with out the help of my friends.

     Please join my army and help me wipe out MS!  If you have five bucks burning a whole in your pocket I promise we can put it to good use:)  Please help me!!

www.bikems.org

Team Leapfrog
Christine Kajfasz

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

You know duct tape fixes everything... For now!

     Well, I'm back at it again!  I just have to figure out this pedal situation  before I attempt to ride 55 miles in the bike to the bay.  But like I told you before Where there's a will there's a way!

   My "Franken-bike" is getting closer to being ready to accommodate my crazy un-cooperative leg, but it's by no means perfected.  I was able to add weight the pedals in the back so they don't flip forward, but now I'm on to my next dilemma. 

                       Look below and notice the spikes... 

     They may not seem like a big deal to someone with normal motor function, but when your leg stops working those tiny little spikes actually trap my foot on the pedal, and in an emergency it would be impossible to free it.  

     My next brilliant idea is to eliminate the spike so I can push my foot out to the side and free it from the clamp. My pedals are made of a simple resin compound, so it would be easy enough to grind them down. However, I don't want to do anything permanent until I find out if this is in fact the solution.  

     I know duct tape is supposed to fix everything, so maybe I can tape the pedal up, giving it a smoother surface.  Granted,  The tape would eventually come off when I grind down the spikes, but you can't restore the ground  down spikes if I find out it isn't the answer.

     It's hard to believe this tiny  little role of tape has become a wonder fix for anything on earth that is broken.  If I had invented this stuff years ago, none of this would even be an issue right now.  I'm sure I would be so rich that I would be paying someone to think for me.  But since I can't rely on my massive wealth, I guess I have to utilize my brain power and figure it out for myself.  And so I will...

     Ironically, for many years, I, like many others, thought it was actually called Duck tape... well, what do you know...

     The spikes are on the back as well as the side, so I put one strip of tape side to side, and one back to front on the right side.

     Close up you can see it appears relatively smooth, though, I'm not sure how long it would be before the constant back and forth motion of my foot would peel the tape off.  But if duct tape is good, then "more duct tape" has to be better".

                                         

  It's not going anywhere now!

    Granted, this looks like "rig job" for sure, but then again, my whole life is somewhat of a "rig job"; I piece-meal one challenge after the next, just to keep my body moving.

     Check back and see how this whole duct tape situation works out.  And if it doesn't, we'll just have to figure out what will.

  

                                             
      And if you know me, you know I'm stubborn, and I refuse to let "can't" be any part of my vocabulary!  Trust me, we'll do this!!

Have a great day!!

Christine:)