Tags
fresh cut hay smells really good cows do not, gravel racing, heat exhaustion, Westside Dirty Benjamin

Marianne and Elinor
It has been quite the weekend. Friday and Saturday were boiling hot and humid but after a big thunderstorm early this morning today has been cooler. The cool wind helps too. The week is looking to be warm and unsettled but nothing boiling again I hope.
In the garden the beans, zucchini and pumpkins are sprouting up strong. I took the cover off the polyculture bed today and was very disappointed to find only a few radishes had sprouted. We had the same thing happen last year. I don’t know what’s up but it is really disappointing and frustrating. It’s a raised bed, maybe the soil in it needs some work after only two years? That doesn’t seem right but then I’m not sure what I’m getting in bags of soil from the garden store. I will have to put on my thinking cap and figure it out.

Margaret
The peas did not much like the hot weather last week. Even though we kept things pretty well watered, a few of them are looking a little fried. It isn’t supposed to reach over 90F/32C for a couple days in a row until the middle of July. Poor peas. And some of the arugula and chard has already bolted. I haven’t had a chance to plant cilantro yet, but now I am wondering if I missed my window of opportunity.
The potatoes are growing like crazy and we ran out of straw to mound up around them. Bookman went out to get some today but the garden center was out. Will have to see if we can get some at another location. The situation is getting desperate.

Mrs. Dashwood
The garlic is looking great this year and the scapes will be ready to snip off in the next few days. I am so very much looking forward to eating them. The walking onion is getting all sorts of little bulbs at the top like it is supposed to. I am not sure when or how to harvest these bulbs. I might just let then “walk” and root so I can have a nice patch before I start harvesting them.
The Dashwoods continue to be highly entertaining. One evening I was out in the run bent over talking to Elinor and Margaret and Marianne climbs up the ladder and hops over onto my back! She hung out up there for quite a while and would have stayed longer but I encouraged her to get off. Mrs. Dashwood was totally jealous and at one point was trying to figure out how she might be able to join Marianne. Thankfully, Marianne would not move over to accommodate her, so Mrs. Dashwood gave up.

Marianne on my back
Since we have let them free range a bit, they all crowd the run door and try to scurry out between our feet. Sometimes they succeed and they have to be lured back in with dandelions. Margaret is definitely not the smartest chicken in the flock. One evening they all ran out the run door and I lured them back in with dandelions. Except Margaret, she was just around the corner of the run from the door looking in through the wiring and running back and forth frantically, peeping like crazy. She couldn’t figure out how to get back in the run and everyone else was in there getting dandelions! I had to stick my arm out the door and wave a leaf at her for her to follow back inside!
The temperature yesterday was about 93F/34C with humidity making it feel closer to 98F/37C. Bookman made a corn popsicle for the Dashwoods to give them a treat and something cold to eat. When he took it to them they squealed and ran away and stood well back to make sure it wasn’t going to — explode? attack? — who knows what goes on in their brains. When Bookman went out a little while later, there was not a kernel of corn left so they must have figured it out eventually.

Pre-race
I did not get to see the fun because I was cycling all day Saturday in the Dirty Benjamin gravel race. The race began at 8 a.m. and it was still comfortable. I had a bag on the top tube of my bike filled with oatmeal date energy bites, two water bottles on my bike and two more in my jersey pockets. There was a checkpoint at mile 44 (70 km). It was a shady park and there was a bathroom (hooray!), water and Bookman. He had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and apple slices for me. It was a little after 11 when I got there. Everything was going great and I even found a few people to chat with along the way. I was feeling good and, while hot, was not too hot.
Off I went through the park. The route through the park was a mountain bike trail. Yeah. Muddy, rocky and tree roots. I am riding Astrid, a road bike. I was going slow and handling it all fine until a slight rise and three tree roots. Astrid’s front tire slipped sideways against the first root instead of going over it and down I went. Luckily I was going so slow Astrid was not injured and I just got a little scraped up. We made it through and back to the gravel road without further incident until the trail went off road through a swamp.
Seriously.
Mud and thick reeds. The good news is I couldn’t get lost because those before me had beaten down the reeds. The bad news is it was so muddy my small tires kept getting caught in the ruts and slipping badly. When I was in my lowest gear and pushing like I was going uphill and not getting anywhere and about to tip over I decided to get off Astrid and we walked. Walking was not easy but at least we didn’t fall over.
Back on the road again and starting to get hot, I was glad to make it to the 66 mile/ 106 km water drop. Because of the extreme heat, the race organizers had left gallon jugs of cold water in a tiny park along the route. They were on a picnic table in the shade. I refilled the two bottles I had drained since the checkpoint, drank half of one of them because the water was cold, then filled it again, I stood in the shade cooling off for a good ten to fifteen minutes before getting back on Astrid and setting off.
After a little while I was getting pretty hot. My legs felt fine but my stomach began to feel a bit queasy. I thought perhaps it was the PB&J and kept on.
Gravel country roads offer very little shade and now it was moving into the middle of the afternoon. Around mile 77 (124 km) I came upon a short but steep hill covered in fresh, deep gravel. I began churning up it and about a third of the way I was so overheated I felt a bit nauseous. I got off Astrid and we had a hard walk to the top where there was thankfully a small bit of shade at the side of the road. I stopped there for a few minutes, drinking water and trying to cool off. When I started to feel better I set off again.
Around mile 86 (138 km), the heat was getting to me again and I stopped at the side of the road in the shade of some farmhouse trees. I felt better after a few minutes and set off again but soon began feeling bad.

So dirty
At mile 92 (148 km) I took a wrong turn and didn’t realize it until I was a mile down the road. I stopped in the shade of some trees by a cemetery before turning around. Back to where I turned wrong and on track again, I managed to make another wrong turn not far after that. A little more than a mile down the road I realized I turned wrong again and came up on a big dirt parking lot next to a reserve area that had a bit of shade behind the info sign. I was so overheated at this point I was having a hard time cooling off. My bike computer said 96 miles/154 km. Once I got back on track I’d have another 8 miles/12 km to go until the finish line with the last bit of the route being single track, grassy and muddy. My legs felt fine but the rest of me didn’t and I was almost out of water. So I called Bookman who came and rescued me.

Exhausted by the heat but still smiling
He had been waiting at the finish and said I was not the only one who didn’t make it. He was talking to a guy while waiting who didn’t finish who told him quite a few people didn’t make it because of the heat. And then the guy got a call from his friend who was still out on the course and needed rescuing.
I was disappointed to not be able to finish but the heat won. Bookman put Astrid on the back of the car, got me inside and blasted the air conditioner, gave me water and some food and we got on the road and headed home.
When we got home he made drink several glasses of cold water. I showered, drank more water and then Bookman made me eat. After that I collapsed on the couch. We started watching a movie, a comedy, and I nearly fell asleep. I called it quits about 8 and crawled into bed and promptly fell asleep.
Feeling much better today. Not sore or tired. Well, my hands and feet are sore. At first I thought I had blisters but then I realized they are bruises from being rattled around for 8 hours on gravel roads, mountain bike trails and swamps. Astrid was a trooper but she is not the right kind of bike for such a long multi-terrain race. So before I do the Dirty Benjamin again — and I will — Astrid will be getting a sister. In the mean time, I spent over an hour this afternoon cleaning all of her nooks and crannies. No more gravel races planned for the rest of the summer, though Bookman says if I want to do a century on the trainer he will throw gravel at me.
I love your girls. They are so beautiful.
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annasgardening, thanks! They are so fun to have 🙂
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I’m glad the chicken got off your back eventually, and that you were rescued from the bike event!
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I was thinking of you at the weekend and I’m glad you survived what sounds like a totally gruelling event.
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Ian, ah thanks! It was fun until the heat started to get to me then it was not so fun anymore. I’m just glad I didn’t pass out!
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Mad dogs and Minnesotans flake out in the midday sun!
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Ha! We are to used to it being cold in Minnesota. Now if it were below freezing and snowing… 😀
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Jeanne, Marianne jumping on my back was a surprise. I’m just glad she didn’t poo on me or peck my head! Glad I was rescued too, much better than suffering heat stroke and being picked up by an ambulance at the side of the road!
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Well done you for getting that far! That’s incredible, and sounds ridiculously tough, especially in American summer heat.
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Elle, thanks! If it was tough in the heat. If it hadn’t been so hot even the swamp would have been fun. Hopefully next time it will be cooler!
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Love the chicken stories. Great job on the race. Definitely need a different bike for a gravel race!!!! Next time you’ll kill it!!! Can you get a riding partner or do you prefer to ride alone? Do you try to WIN or just finish?
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Helen, glad you like the chicken stories, the girls are really fun. The gravel roads on Astrid weren’t so bad, but the mtb trail and the swamp, ugh. Still I think the couple behind me on a tandem bike had it a bit harder on those parts! If it weren’t for the heat I would have been able to finish and I thought about pushing on but better safe than sorry. This race I was biking to finish and hopefully finish in the top 10 women and was doing well at the halfway (about 4th out of 20 or so). I have a friend who bikes with me sometimes but he doesn’t do long distances. I keep meeting nice people but haven’t managed to make any regular ride friends yet.
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Daaaaamn, sounds like an intense race. Good show though. I’m impressed that you weren’t sore or tired the next day. After that I imagine having a serious exercise hangover.
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Nikki, intense but fun until I started getting overheated, then it wasn’t so fun anymore. I’ve been training for the distance and knew that wouldn’t be a problem, it was just the blasted heat and humidity. I slept really well that night! 🙂
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92 miles in the heat is quite an accomplishment. Being wise enough to know when to call it a day is even more important!
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Jenclair, thanks. Yeah I briefly considered pushing on but then had images of being picked up by an ambulance on the side of the road after I passed out from heat stroke and figured better safe than sorry!
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I am in awe of your biking fortitude, even if you didn’t finish. And I do love your gardening and chicken updates, and the image of them assessing the corn popsicle!
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Laila, thanks! Glad you enjoy the garden and chicken updates. The chickens are hilarious when given something new to figure out.
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Erm…I think over 90 miles is pretty damn awesome, and I declare you a winner in every way! I”m exhausted just sitting here thinking about it. Big congratulations to you for that accomplishment! My son Charlie’s garden is gorgeous. He and Tamara are growing squash, tomatoes, many types of pepper, zucchini, radishes (strange…he is also having trouble with the radishes), cucumber, beans (and I can’t remember the rest). They also have a fig tree that has tons of figs, but he’ll have to keep an eye on them and get them before the birds do. They always have clementines in the winter as well. (The fig and clementine trees were planted by my mother when she lived in the house.)
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Aw Grad, thanks! Your son’s garden sounds wonderful! How odd he is having trouble with radishes too. A fig tree? Wow! That’s really neat. It’s always a fight with the critters to get to the fruit first isn’t it? We’ve yet to eat a single hazelnut off our tree because the squirrels get them all before we do. Sigh.
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you made the right decision to quite even though you were so close to the end. you could have got into serious trouble……
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BookerTalk, thanks. As disappointed as I was I would rather that than to be picked up by an ambulance and taken to the hospital.
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I’m honestly so impressed that you made it as far as you did in that kind of heat! When it’s that hot in Louisiana (so, the entirety of mid-May until October), I pretty much avoid any kind of outdoors exertion.
Are the chickens not too heavy to jump up on your shoulder? They are getting rather sizable!
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Jenny, I probably should have stopped around 80 miles but I was determined and wanted to try since I was so close. Hopefully next year it won’t be so hot!
The chickens only weigh a few pounds right now, they are all feathers. Their weight will top out around 5-6 pounds.
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I love watching the videos of your consummately handsome chickens. I just discovered there is a Facebook group for vegans who own chickens–with 700 + members I think. It is a closed group and I can’t join because although I am vegan, I do not own chickens, other than vicariously. Thank you.
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Sarah, glad you enjoy the chicken videos and photos! A FB group for vegans who own chickens? I am going to have to go look that up!
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Wow–even not finishing which I know must be disappointing-you really did fantastic all things considered on your bike race. That is a huge undertaking considering the heat and distance. I would not have made it even halfway! So you are to be congratulated!! How are the Dashwoods enjoying the heat? More than I am, I hope….. 😉
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Danielle, thanks! It helps that there were so many others who had done the race before who didn’t finish either because of the heat. Next year! The Dashwoods don’t much like the heat but they hang out in the shade and do ok.
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Be very careful, Stefanie. I still have my Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Bikes badge. I’m watching you!
Seriously though, I’m impressed you achieved what you did in those road and climate conditions. And the Dashwoods, well, they look great. Love Margaret on your back.
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Astrid got lots of love and care afterwards though I was very sad to discover a piece of gravel chipped her paint. Thankfully it isn’t terminal, just a small scar to remember the event by 😉 Hopefully next year it won’t be as hot for the race and if it is I will have a better idea on how to manage it. And the Dashwoods thank you for the compliment 🙂
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