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Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated!
Here is a bit of what I have been doing.
In August, I did a 24-hour bike race. The Powderhorn 24. Completely bonkers and totally awesome! The race began on a Friday evening at 7. Here is me ready to go:
It ended on Saturday evening at 7. Here is me afterwards:
A point was awarded for every completed lap. Each lap was just short of five miles. Two points were awarded for every bonus vacation stop. Vacation stops were off the course, generally not far off, and had an activity that had to be completed. The vacations were only open for a particular time period. So, for instance, between 8 and 10 pm I could stop at checkpoint number one where I had to weave my way between barrels in a parking lot. Between 9 and 11 I had the opportunity to toss old bike tires over someone’s head like a ring toss. I had to get three before I could get my points. There was early morning yoga, a disco dance party, a kiddie pool and fizzy water to drink in the heat of the day, you could even get a tattoo. I did not want a new tattoo so thankfully it was enough to stop at the tattoo shop, though it would have been awesome if they had temporary tattoos on offer as well, I totally would have gone for one of those.
It was all great fun! Yes, I was tired. Yes, I was sore. But, I came in second place for the solo women! I lost by one point because I missed a vacation stop in the middle of the night when my eyes were so blurry I couldn’t see the words on my list of checkpoints. The woman who came first and I were switching places on the leaderboard the whole race and we’d see each other out on the course now and then and egg each other on. She had done the race once before so knew what to expect. I made a few mistakes from lack of experience. Which means next year, she will not get first place.
I got a big bottle of champagne for my pain, suffering and lack of sleep. Since I don’t drink I gave the champagne to my nextdoor neighbor when he had some company over and they all enjoyed it very much.
There has also been gardening.
This sunflower is from seed I save from last year’s sunflowers. It is a cross between a Lemon Queen and Floristan. If you ever want to have some great fun, grow a couple very different sunflower varieties and save the seeds from a few of them, plant them the following year and see what you get. Sunflowers cross breed very easily and it is a fun surprise to see what happens. I liked this one so much I am saving seed from it for next year. I didn’t grow a big variety this year so I am hoping the flowers next year don’t look very different.
This giant sunflower is not from saved seed. It is about 10-feet tall and has one huge flower and a number of smaller side flowers. It is a variety called Arikara. It is an edible white seed variety grown by the Arikara nation in North Dakota. The bees and butterflies love it as much as I do!
There has also been a big bowl of elderberries we are making into jam as I type. I had to share more than half of the elderberries with Marianne. She loves them! And since the shrub grows out in the chicken garden, she gets all the berries she can reach, which is quite a lot as the shrub is not much over a meter tall. I have never had elderberries before and I am very much looking forward to trying them!
And we also got a bucket of grapes.
The grapes are table grapes, seedless and sweet with a tiny tart aftertaste that is wonderful. They are not large grapes though and Bookman decided he wanted to make jam. Since there are so many we are in the process of trying a few different methods in small batches to see which one we like best. We do not add sugar which can make things challenging in terms of setting up. But we are not looking for a thick jelly, we are looking more for a fruit spread.
The first batch we whirled through the Vitamix and cooked on the stove with half a cup of chia seeds. It tastes great and has the consistency of apple sauce. Currently on the stove is another batch that has simply been mashed and is being cooked with a couple of crab apples from our crab tree. Carb apples are high in pectin. We will see in a little while how it turns out in terms of thickness and flavor.
The potatoes have been dug and the garlic pulled. We have a big basket of dry coco noir black beans and black-eyed peas to shell.
The garden is winding down a bit. There are still carrots growing and pumpkin. Lots and lots of tomatoes this year too. Once we get a frost in a month or so we will dig up some horseradish and sunchokes.
At the moment the giant hyssop is blooming and is covered in bees and monarch butterflies.
rumors? what rumors? Clearly you’ve been off having a good time. The 24 hour race sounds more like a party than a race- albeit too much physical activity and not enough drinks, but still. 🙂 Congrats on the 2nd place! Also, love the note about the sunflowers. They don’t grow well in Florida- too much water, but I’m going to plant some in the summer house garden for next year! It’s exciting to know that they can surprise you.
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Dorothea – yes! I was shocked when I saw how long it had been since I have looked in on my blog. Hopefully you have been having a good summer too! The race has a very party-like vibe and for some it is a party. People actually pitch tents and “camp” on the greenway but as I rode by lap after lap, there wasn’t much sleeping going on! Fingers crossed you get to grow some sunflowers!
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Amazing Race!!! Well done Stephanie. Did you ever imagine you’d be doing 24 hr bike rides when you started riding?? Wish they had something like that near me. I’d definitely do it. Or die trying. Sounds fun. How many miles did you ride ???
How are the chickens ???
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Thanks Helen! No, I never would have thought even a year ago I would do a 24 hr bike ride! I racked up 242 miles, longest ride I’ve ever done. Chickens are great. Fat and sassy. We’ve let them back in the entire garden now and the love finding places to wallow in the shade 🙂
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WOW 242 miles in 24 hours. IMPRESSIVE!
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Well done on second place but I have no doubts that you’ll be first next year. There are a lot of wild elderberries near my house and I’ve made them into chutney with apples before, very tasty, but the prep is tedious – getting all the berries off the stalks is a pain. That unusual sunflower is beautiful.
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Pining – thank you! oh a chutney sounds marvelous! I will have to try that next year. Glad you like my sunflower. I doubt the seeds I saved from it will give me a perfect replication next year, but you never know!
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I was starting to wonder, I must say, whether Astrid had decided she’d had enough of sharing your affection and ridden you off a cliff somewhere. Glad she didn’t.
Loved catching up about cycling and gardening. Wish I’d been there to take the champers!!
I hope you’ll write up the jam experiments.
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whisperinggums – I have been a very bad blogger in both posting and visiting. I hope to rectify that soon! Astrid is such a trooper! She didn’t complain once in spite of her rider telling friends and support crew how badly she hurt at ever opportunity 😀
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Haha Stefanie… I know she’s a trooper. She’s Astrid the wonder bike!
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That bike race sounds soooooo fun! That is the kind of race I could imagine doing. Usually Im not particularly excited by the idea of racing, but yeah! That one sounds a bit more like an alley cat, which is a lot more fun imho.
I have been biking a ton myself, put in 705 km last month, and now I’m all antsy cause its rest week. 🙂 My latest biking cookbook fascination is Feed Zone Portables. Do you have that one? There is meat in a number of things, but can just be replaced with beans Ive found. Loving making my own rice cakes for en route right now!
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Nikki – it was a blast! And yeah, it was a lot like an alley cat. I have never done an alley cat though and had hoped to do one this year but it got cancelled which made me sad. Maybe next year. Nice job on all your biking! You are really putting in the kms! Yes, Feed Zone Portables, I have that one and have gotten adept at making substitutions on ingredients. I love making rice cakes too! If you ever find yourself in Minnesota, let me know and we can do some riding!
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Congratulations on 2nd place in the 24 hour race. That sounds like some event. Crazy and fun at the same time.
Elderberry Jam is a good thing. Enjoy!
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Brian Joseph – thank you! Crazy and fun is exactly right. I am loving the elderberry jam!
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How lovely to hear about your hyssop and the pollinators. And I didn’t know that about sunflowers! You’ve inspired me to try and grow some.
AMAZING about the bike race. What an accomplishment!
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Laila – thank you! Yes, do give the sunflowers a try, you little one will love the experiment!
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That is so awesome….I am so snowed that you came in second in what I consider absolutely sadistic twenty four hours. I am sure it was fun in a grueling kind of way. The garden looks great….
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cirtnecce – thank you! I was most worried about being able to stay awake the whole time but it turned out to not be that hard. Everything else was though! But super fun and lots of really great people. The garden is great even after all the bugs!
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Congratulations on your bike race. That’s truly an achievement to be proud of. I love the colors in that sunflower. I have missed your blog posts, but I understand how time consuming they can be. I still haven’t mastered the ‘new and improved’ Blogger and I haven’t taken the time to check out other sites for blogs.
My best to Bookman, too. It looks like you’ll have a full pantry and lots of good things to eat this winter. There’s been very little gardening here because of the intense heat and the torrential rains. The average for the year is 40″ and we’ve had over 30″ since June. Our plants are soggy!
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Thank you Joan! I was delighted with the sunflower. We’ll see what the seeds from it produce next year. You are so kind to say you have missed my blog posts. If you are still wanting to blog and are fed up with Blogger, give wordpress a try. It’s free and really easy to use. Sorry to hear you haven’t done much gardening because of the heat and rain. Your poor plants! There is always next year.
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I’ve been wondering about wordpress and may give that a try. I’ll let you know if I start blogging again.
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Well, well, what a month! Congrats on your 24h race, that’s awesome! And I’m clearly jealous of your grapes, they look so yummy. Enjoy!!
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smithereens – thanks! The grapes are so delicious, sweet and juicy. I am so happy I finally managed to get a vine to grow!
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Great to hear from you, friend! I’m so impressed with your bicycling efforts — you are a bicycling empress! And your grapes and sunflowers are incredible.
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Jenny – gosh thanks! I have not been a very good blogger lately. i hope to stop by and see what you have been up too soon. Ha! A bicycling empress! I like that! I should see if I can fit a sparkly tiara to my helmet! 😀
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So impressed! You did awesome on your race and no doubt you will win first place next year. Sounds totally different and fun! Of course love the sunflowers – didn’t realize they were so easy to cross. I’d love a wildflower garden – one day!
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Congratulations on that result….but you must feel knackered!
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Thanks Ian! I was pretty wiped out afterwards. It took about three days for me to finally feel normal again and a week to be rested enough to resume regular cycling.
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Iliana – thanks! It was so much fun! I hope your own garden has been doing well!
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So much good stuff! Congratulations on the race, and I love your garden updates!
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