40, 62 and 90k. What do these #s have in common?

So I already blogged about my birthday and I thought the whole 20 minutes of attention it got on the actual date was good enough. My husband obviously didn't think so. He planned a surprise party for me, had it all lined up and ready to go when...the person who took his reservation for the location realized 2 days before the party that she had double booked. Poor thing had to scramble for another date, let everyone know and then rearrange all the plans including continuing to hide it from me. Well long story only a little longer, due to all the misunderstandings, or perhaps as a testament to how my "friends" really feel about me, several people either backed out due to the date change or said they'd come but didn't show up. We are going to be eating BBQ for at least another week there was so much leftover. Not to dis the people that did show...

Thanks Sarah and Aaron-2 of the bestest people on the planet, maybe even the universe

They got me this rockin cake. Apparently black icing was requested but the cake person said "that's just mean" so it was a pretty cake until my mom sent the black balloons and buzzard along with "over the hill" tableware and a big plastic grim reaper that said :

"Don't worry, I'm just here for the cake." hahaha

A few of my friends from work came and Jim from Joe's work. I got some nifty gifts including some fancy margarita makins and a cool hippy bag . 'The boy' got me an arm band for my new iPod. Joe booked the pavillion at Pinnacle State Park (twice, poor guy), the one by the Big Maumelle River and the fishing dock, not the one by the mountain. It's really nice.

We had BBQ from Famous Daves complete with awesome baked beans and cole slaw. And Beer. Lots of Beer. We will also have beer around the house for weeks to come along with the 4 gallons of sweet tea. I don't know how many friends my husband thinks I have. I don't have any more pictures because as artistically talented as my husband is at photography, he has never once taken a picture of me that I can say is really good. We don't even have wedding photos. Another case in proving this point is coming up.

That was the 40, so what about the 62? The 62 is for the morning following the party when we hauled our lazy butts out of bed in the midst of a thundershower to load our bikes up and drive to NLR Burns Park for the CARTI Tour de Rock mentioned in an earlier post. Okay, I have to say that though the rain was a bummer, it was so nice and cool for the first 40 or so miles of this ride, it was worth being wet. It would have been close to unbearable in the heat wave we've been having. There were policemen out at the big intersections of the race. Luckily there were really only a couple of those but it was so nice to have them there. Shout out to NLR police and the Sheriff Dept in Scott. The rest stops were awesome, at 48 miles or something like that there were the yummiest bananas!

This is at the start of the race and I have to tell you that the sea of people in front of us are the "advanced" riders that planned on hitting all 62 miles at a speed of over 20 mph. There was another sea behind us of riders either taking it slower or doing a shorter route.

Joe and I had planned on riding 50 but when we got to the halfway mark to turn, we decided we felt good enough to tackle the whole 62. At mile 51 I realized that I could have been done by now. Not that I was hurting or even really tired. I think I was bored. I started singing. Sarah would not have been so proud. I depend on her for the singing and I could start a song but I never could remember all the lyrics. During the last 15 miles we glommed on to a couple of groups and kept our speed up pretty good but eventually I'd look at Joe and go "you done?" and we'd fall off the back to just ride togther. When we got the bikes past the finish line (of which I do not have a picture, see comments above) Joe says hey, we went 64 miles not 62. Here's the proof. Avg speed with pee stops, banana breaks and general slow pedal zones: 16.7 mph

After we loaded out bikes back on the car and hit the bathrooms to clean up a bit, we headed over to the afterparty. Thanks to all those folks who grilled chicken breasts and loaded buns with pulled pork. I couldn't stand the thought of any more BBQ but the chicken was phenom. I was so hungry and thirsty!

Joe ended up raising about $530 for CARTI from people he works with. I ended up with $0 since I am not allowed to solicit at work and you already heard about my "friends". Next year I think I'll hit up McKenna's school mate's parents. I saw at least one of them on the ride and I think as a group we could really get some interest in contributions. 90K. That's how much the paper said CARTI raised from the ride. That's a lot of dough for a really great cause. Way to go organizers. Hey Darron!

I don't have any pictures of myself except for one nice butt shot of my CHAINWHEEL shorts. It could be any chick with a big ass. But Joe got about 6 pictures that look pretty much like this:dork