The Two Whos

On Monday, Cece went out for a leisurely ride on the bosque.  She had been “resting” for a few days and was ready to get moving again…but she wanted to take it slowly and unwind her legs.

She was tooling along when all of a sudden, two racer guys passed her.  They were young and  lean and had an easy  high cadence going!   But once they passed her with an “On your left  Maam,”  they did not continue going fast at all.  She immediately understood that they were probably out for a leisurely ride too  …but  leisurely for them was going  18mph!    So, Cece decided that this might be fun…try to keep up with them and work on her interval training at the same time.  So, her plans changed!  Now instead of leisurely, she was racing!

The men kept looking back, she was still on their wheel…into a head wind.  She tucked in a bit and caught a little draft.  She hung with the guys for the first 10 miles and then thanked them for the challenge and told them she was only planning about 20 miles or so.

Well, surprisingly, they stopped too and they had a get to know you  talk near the Hispanic Cultural Center.  They started chatting about their bikes and  their  wheels, their  tires and then began talk about themselves a bit.  Talking in the sun with new friends is very interesting.  People are never what they seem.

Jim, up above, is in the Army and is hoping to get into the special forces by October.  He is rehabbing his hand from a motorcycle accident.  He goes to college and is a runner and cyclist.

Randy, who is running in the photo , is a marathon runner and also is a cat 2 mountain bike racer. He is  a Navajo man who cycles for several causes including  diabetes and MS.  He goes to college and is hoping to become a spokesperson for his people as he has lost over 80 pounds and has done it through eating better and exercise.  He hopes to help his people to beat obesity and to decrease diabetes in the Native populations.  He is also the personal assistant to the James and Ernie Comedy show and 49 Laughs.  They  are  a Native American  comedy team.

Cece told the men she was  going to take it easy riding back.  They men said, “Why not go back with us, we are going to ride slow!”    Why did she believe them?  Perhaps it was because one of them just threw up because he had a huge burrito for breakfast!  But never  believe a man who tells you he is going to ride slow.  It is not in their DNA!  LOL.  As Jim and I tried to keep up with Randy  on the way back, Randy was cycling figure S’s ahead of us.  We were going 22 mph…unsure what speed  Randy was at!

At one point on their  ride back in, Jim said to Cece, ” Every time we take a sharp turn we lose you by 4 lengths.  Are you breaking on those sharp corners?”    Cece responded, “Of course!”  Jim said, “Well, stop that , you are loosing speed!”  Cece does not like that falling over, angled feeling when  “banking” and she  feels scared.  She could just let her bike go, but at what cost?  Jim explained that Cece needs to let go and relax and let her  bike have its way….much like you do on a motorcycle.  Turns out Jim rides a “crotch rocket” and Cece assumes he had  his accident on this. The men are in their later 20’s.    Cece is 52 and has hips!   She thinks she will continue to play it a little safer than these guys  do!  But, she was schooled in speed today and was happy that she was able to catch up from her 4 length lags and propel up hill and keep up none the less!

Cece, Jim and Randy were making plans to ride together again  in a few weeks.  It is so nice to make new friends and meet new people that you probably would never come in contact with otherwise…..people different from you..and  people you can learn from, laugh and  share with.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness , f ood and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.

When you cycle,  take yoga class  or take an interesting course with others, you know those people  in only that one facet of their lives.  You know them by the labels or the descriptors that you have in common.   You label them as cyclist, or classmate  or teacher.  There is so much more to learn about people than that one  element that you have in common!

So, on Thursday morning, Nick, Emira and Cece started off on a great adventure.  It was not quite like Pee Wees, but it was fun just the same!  They knew each other as “cyclist” and began to enjoy getting to know each other  more in depth!  Who was a chef, a PhD candidate, computer geek, airline engineer,  cancer doctor  or  artist?  The adventures began to unfold!

It turned out to be Emira’s birthday and she was treated to the gift of the most beautiful sunrise…it was hot pink and deep lavender …a very unusual birthday gift!

As they  cycled along, Emira kept smelling the early morning foods being cooked.  First she smelled the General Mills factory making…cocoa puffs?  then later…. bacon and eggs… and it occurred to Cece that perhaps they had better stop for a treat!  Cece  asked  if they might like to stop at her favorite bakery if it was opened…The Golden Crown Panaderia. It is located on the corner of 11th Street and Mountain Ave.  She has been going to this bakery ever since  La Familia burned down in the South Valley.  She comes here for a special treat…. their sweet potato empanadas! For those of you that do not know, an empanada is a soft turnover type pastry that has a filling.  The dough is soft and pliable and is dusted with sugar.      The sweet potato and pumpkin  cannot be matched!  Or if you love a dark and dusky molasses cookie that is not at all sweet (Cece loves them) just try their “pigs!”  She is certain there is another name for them, but she just asks for a pig.  Here is a bad photo of them! They are very cute and they are very delicious.

But, what Cece likes best about the panaderia  is that  it is a whole in the wall kinda place. It is  off the beaten path and in a not  so great neighborhood. It is a symphony of opposites…the brightly painted happy exterior…and the dark dusky interior.   Pratt Morrales is the owner and baker.  He greets  her with “I have not seen you in 10 years!”  That is because Cece only goes for a once in a while treat and it makes the eating more so delicious!  He is always there baking in the dark little interior!   Sometimes  Cece thinks she needs a flashlight!

So, as they cycled in at 7:45 am on Thursday morning, they arrived just in time to be greeted  by Pratt who was  taking the empanadas out of the oven.   He suggested that they park their bikes  inside his outdoor cafe seating area so they would not be stolen.

They all 3 settled in with their steamy empanadas…each with a different filling…and their coffee…. they spoke about food and love and shopping for groceries…did we shop daily or weekly? Nick loves to shop daily and loves to pick up food.   Cece learned that Emira grew up with a bakery and butcher shop on every corner. Mostly people walk or ride bicycles.  And Nick?   She remembered …was a chef…and  food was one of the topics of the morning.

Relaxing,  sharing a snack and beginning to get to  know people better is good for the soul.  It is refreshing to learn the complexities  and depths  of people and their lives and to move beyond the label or what we see and is obvious.  It was the perfect way to start a new day!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Post Script: Please send up some prayer for Yun who had emergency  tooth surgery on Friday.  She is recovering  well now and is in a lot less pain.

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness , f ood and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.

Cece is counting her blessings…and the other morning, she really had a wonderful blessing come her way.  It was the gift of laughter!

Do you remember Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon?  They were one of the most funny comedy teams…with Johnny as the jokester and Ed as the straight man.  Well, the other morning, Cece thought she was riding  with them both.  Just imagine Johnny Carson on a road bike with Ed McMahon in tow.  This is how Cece’s morning began.

She arrived at the Open Space and glory be..there was her friend Tom.  He is an older gentleman and  he used to be a professional cyclist.  You may remember, he is the leader of the Cement Factory Spin that Cece and Yun attend each January!  He had with him, his friend Jim…who also was a professional cyclist….and thus… the dynamic duo was born!  Cece is still lamenting that she did not bring her camera, because there were many missed opportunities…for great pics along the way…but she digresses!

Jim is Johnny and Tom is Ed. We agreed that we would ride slow and flat and Cece checked in with them on what speed was slow to them at this point in their lives.  In the past,  slow would have been 20 mph!    When they told her, Cece  agreed that  their pace was slow  and off they went.!  As we all cycled along….Tom would prompt and provoke Jim and somehow, with great adeptness, Jim would weave a joke into the normal conversation.  It got so that Cece could not tell reality from fantasy!  Cece laughed the entire way.

At one point, as they rode in a pace line of sorts, Cece called up and said, “Men! I just want to tell you that I cannot hear…so if someone comes from the back, I cannot hear them if they call out.  I do not wear my hearing aids when I ride.”  From the front of the line came, “OH!  I wear hearing aids too.”  then from the middle “OH!  I wear hearing aids too.”    Cece started laughing and then heard all the hearing aid jokes….and Jim…I mean Johnny said, “OK Now I am going to tell you a joke that is not dirty, but that will make you just sick!”  “Oh great,”  Cece chuckled!  And  so it did!

Neither men had eaten and it was hot and Cece gave them her food. But then the drama  unfolded…I’m sick. I’m tired, I might have taken the  wrong meds.   Maybe we should call a taxi so we can get home.  Cece is CPR certified, but she has never had to use it.   Another older gentleman friend tells her where his nitro is located when they cycle together so… all these comments about health were kinda scary to Cece.  Both men sat back and watched Cece sweat  as they chuckled at how they had pulled the wool over her eyes!    “I just think we need more food,”  says Tom…..off we cycled to the Flying Star for breakfast!

One man flirted with the waitress and it got him a huge slice of bread pudding with extra sauce…lucky guy….. and later as we got back to the parking lot , he commented….”See that man in that car ?  He  is probably the private eye that my wife hired to watch me!”…this from a happily  married man who just wanted a special piece of cake!

The gift of this ride was laughter.  It was riding unexpectedly with friends who had the same goal…to have fun. be social and laugh a lot!  What could be better on a hot July day?

So, when you find yourself getting too serious, perhaps the universe will gift you with friends who can re-direct a situation with pure laughter and hilarity!  That was the gift of the day!

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.

When someone consents to teach you, and you are a serious student…it is a precious moment in life.   And whether the instruction is in fly fishing, anatomy and physiology, life skills for adults, English for troubled youth,  yoga or running… “to be taught” is a joy,  an honor…and also a responsibility.

And so when Cece met Ayoub Touil at the Santa Fe Triathlon packet pickup on Thursday night, she could immediately tell that his joy was over flowing! His eyes were twinkling and there was a great deal of light in them that illuminated his face….from the inside out!  Cece asked him what was new and exciting because she could tell  that he was very happy!

Just a bit of background…Ayoub is an elite athlete born in Morocco and has lived in Belgium with his family most of his life.  He moved to the US to train and live under better running conditions so he could work to gain  a spot on the Olympic Team..  Cece’s friend Barry Stone is Ayoub’s “American father”.

So, Cece was curious about the over flowing joy….

It turns out that all his life, Ayoub has hoped that one day he would meet a famous Moroccan elite runner named Khalid Khannouchi.  Ayoub had a poster of him on his wall and had him as a screensaver on his computer…he was  a role model…his inspiration and hero.  Khannouchi was the first man to run a sub 2:06 marathon.  To make a long story short, Khannouchi just arrived in Albuquerque to train for a few weeks and Ayoud was introduced and they have been training and working out together.    Ayoub is  so joyful because  his role model is mentoring him and advising him and teaching him lots of new things.   ” One week with Khannouchi is like 2 months  of my own training regime,”   says  Ayoub.

Ayoub is the runner on the Triathlon team.  He will be running 5K but has been training for 10K,  1/2 marathon and marathon.

Here is another person full of joy!  Meet Monique Stone. When she and Cece met and talked, Monique looked at her and said, “You’re from Long  Island.,  I can hear your “a.”  Of course she was right!  But Cece was flabbergasted because she also has the  Bronx, the Queens and upstate NY in her accent….perhaps Monique studies dialects   too?

Monique is a swimmer and has done an Olympic distance triathlon.  She loves the challenge of it all.  She is a teacher and teaches English  and social justice at the Caesar Chavez Community High School. This is  an alternative school where kids can go when they are unable to succeed in traditional schools.  Monique is also an animal lover and she says that dogs in need of rescue just cross her path!    She has a flair for rescuing them.  Cece can imagine (seeing a Far Side  cartoon in her mind ) all the dogs taking over Monique’ s house!  Tongue in cheek, she asks Monique how she manages all the dogs.  She names them “Not My Shepherd” …or “Not My Husky.”  She names them the breed of the dog.    Then,when she calls it,  she keeps telling herself it is not her dog!   She reasons that she cannot  fall in love with it because she has not  given it a name.   She  then adopts it out to a good family and then they can name the dog!  Monique loves salted caramel.  Cece does not know what that  is!

 Being a teacher or a learner is an awesome responsibility. When you are in tune and in touch with what you love and what motivates you , joy will surely flow!

Here we are the joyful team!

Cece thinks we just might smile our way to the finish line!

More to Come!

Bye for Now ” from The Two

Whos.

For the race report click here.

Yun’s birthday/post-ride party was tremendous fun!  Later, after all had gone, Yun sat down and began to look through the cards people had brought for her birthday and she began to  open up her gifts.   In doing so, she came upon this card.   It is from their Team in Training teammate,  Emmy.   The card  made both The Whos Laugh Out Loud!

About The Mid-Week  Symphony: Since Wednesday is hump day, we have decided to take this moment  and have a bit of down time from the writing.  Each Wednesday, we would like to bring you a symphony of ideas, a harmony of thoughts, beauty, silliness and all things that make the fullness of life.  When we started this blog we wanted it to reflect our entire personalities and interests..and that means yes…. Cece loves  the Far Side Cows and Yun loves the mumble jumble philosophical books.   Yun and Cece have many varied interests and we would like to share some of them with you each Wednesday.