DAY 8: Our Ultra-marathon World Record

50K each day…which means that we have cycled 256 miles in 8 days.  We have done all this cycling in the retirement community where we live, which is just a little over one square mile. 

Besides being totally dark, it’s awfully cold in the early morning when we ride our 32 miles, so we have to bundle up like were going out in the snow to play (when we actually live in the Arizona desert).

But we’re having a blast!

And we’re supporting you, Candice, in your Guinness Ultra-marathon World Record attempt.  

Who are we to complain about a little cold, when Candice is running in the snow?

Go Candice!

Our 50K World Record

OK, it’s our own made up cycling ultra-marathon world record for old foggies in the retirement community where we live, Leisure World.

Over a week ago Candice started an attempt to make a running ultra-marathon Guinness World Record.  She is running a 50k (32 miles) every day. There are strict rules, including that you can’t rest for more than five minutes. The current women’s record is 22 consecutive days.  

So we decided to support her attempt at the record by cycling 32 miles a day and by making our own 50K World Record.

Five days ago we were off and riding!

People often forget that nights in the desert can be bitterly cold—especially when we cycle up to 18 mph.

The top temperature is our refrigerator and the bottom is the outside temperature.  It’s barely warmer outside than it is inside our refrigerator!

It doesn’t start to warm much up until about an hour after sunrise.  So at 4:30 am, we dress in all our layers (including down coats and windbreakers).  You’d think we were in Alaska, not Mesa, Arizona!

We start our ride in the dark, zig zagging all around the Leisure World roads and on the multitude of golf cart paths.  

Often we see the coyotes running through the streets and out hunting before dawn on the golf courses.

Most days we switch to Daisy, our tandem, and ride her for the last seven miles.  We love to ride while we are close enough to touch each other.  We talk together the entire time we’re on Daisy.

Every morning while cycling we get to watch the world come alive.

View of the back of our home cycling on the golf path, as we complete our 50K for this day…

Here is the GPS track of our ride this morning:

It’s quite inspiring to have this goal and it’s a commitment, but we’re having a blast!

Today we completed our fifth 50K. That’s 160 miles in five days. Since Candice plans to run a 50K every day for anywhere from 23 to 100 days, we may have an awful lot more miles to cycle.

Yesterday was 11-1/2 years since we fell in love, so after cylcing for almost three hours, we held each other close and danced. 

Veterans Day: Our family

Have been thinking about what we want to say about Veteran's Day, and after rolling around ideas we decided that our pride in our family and our gratitude for them is basically it.  

So, here they are. 
.

Son Owen and his father

Son-in-law  Calvin Mills

Brother Doug

Fathers Richard Johnson and Frank Graybill

Nephew Paul Cook

Brother-in-laws  Dennis Cook and Jim Topping

Uncles Harold Graybill, Cloyd Graybill, Don Brubaker and Jim Rogers

Grandfathers (WWI) Arno Graybill and Arnold Johnson

Second Cousin Guy Alley who died in WWII

....and an important acknowledgement to the families of these service men who never slept well when their sons were overseas and in danger.  Living in constant fear of a knock on the door.

Owen's dress uniform:

 

Cycling with Coyotes….during a lunar eclipse

"Exciting?"  Leisure World?  huh?

For several years now we have been cycling in the very early mornings.  Usually it is dark for the entire ride.  We love it.  It's very safe, as we have our bikes lit up like Christmas Trees, and we can see the (very) few vehicles that are also out that time of morning.

Usually our rides are relaxing, and very zen, tooling along in the dark.

This morning, on Candice's birthday, the ride was particularly powerful.

We saw a lunar eclipse.  We didn't even know what it was for the longest time, looking sort of like there was a cloud over the bottom part of the moon.  By the time we figured it out, it was gone.  But here is a photo of the full moon that lit our way on our ride.

And then we saw a pack of coyotes.  They had obviously come out to see the eclipse.  We saw six of them, but all that means is that there were probably 10-12. 

 

 

Our family…

 …..from the oldest to our newborn grandson.

Our refrigerator picture wall constantly changes as the years pass.  Our grandchildren range from babies to young adults in college.  We are so proud of them all.

We love everyone in our family so very much.

Doesn’t everyone need at least 4 Rad electric bikes?!!!

It’s a blast to ride our eBikes up at our cabin in Pine and on dirt roads on the Mogollon Rim.  But we also love riding them in the dark, just before dawn, through the labyrinth of winding streets in Leisure World. So it made sense (to us) to get one set of eBikes for each or our homes.  

We put together our new bikes…

We named my first eBike, Roadrunner, and Dan’s, Wily E, since Dan always rides behind me and is trying to catch me.  

Here are the names of our new bikes.  Can you guess which bike is mine and which is Dan’s?

Here we are headed out for a test ride on Sylvester and Tweety Bird.

We bought the step through model this time.  We thought they might be easier to mount and dismount—and we were right.  

We’re thinking that maybe we need to get two more brand new eBikes, because we love them so much!

Maybe we also need a bigger garage, since we now have FOUR electric bikes, two road bikes, our tandem, Daisy, and a ping pong table in the garage at Nuestra Casa.   

Happy Birthday, dear little ones!

Aryana and Easton are October babies.  Easton just turned one years old, and Aryana will be three in a few days.  Easton is all smiles and is now walking.  Aryana loves to dance, throw kisses to us, and is talking up a storm.

These little grandchildren of ours are a joy.  They grow cuter everyday and are so very precious to us.

Happy Birthday dear Aryana and Easton, we sure do love you!

Our grandson, Vernon, is born!

Mila gave birth to a baby boy yesterday, October 21st. 

Owen held and comforted his son as Mila watched father and son meeting each other. 

They named their son Vernon, after Owen’s grandfather, who was a loving man, a fantastic grandfather, and someone who made others happy.  Grandpa Vernon was always there for his friends and for those he loved.

Grandpa Vernon was born in 1913.  He lived to 2013, just a few months shy of 100 years old.  Owen cancelled a military deployment and stayed by his grandpa’s side the last few months of his life.

Owen’s middle name is Vernon.  Owen was also named after Grandpa Vernon.  Owen has all of the same characteristics as did his grandfather.  Baby Vernon has a name to be proud of.

Hannah now has a little baby brother.  She will be thrilled!

Vernon is absolutely beautiful….we are so happy today to welcome our 13th grandchild into the world.

Grandma and Grandpa got to meet Vernon…..

Hannah told us, “baby brother, no sister.”  But she loves her little brother and was giving him kisses.

Our last morning in Bears Ears

Weather in coming in—rain, high winds, and cold temperatures.  It’s time for us to go home.

Bears Ears had one more treat for us before we said “goodbye”.

We will return and explore more of this amazingly, wild National Monument that we love so much!

We don’t grow tired of each other

We spend every day and night together. We talk, laugh, and play together. We are never apart.

And every afternoon we sit together and celebrate life and each other.

And we talk and talk and talk, for hours…..and we don’t grow tired of each other.

The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see

That’s what we did today….we went over the mountain to see what we could see.

As we sat above the cliffs each afternoon in Bears Ears and looked to the west, we wondered—what is on the other side of that mountain in the far distance? 

So today, our last day hiking on this road trip, we set off to see what was on the other side of the mountain. And it was worth it!

Here we are on top of it.