Author: cartwheelsandcake

Cyclist, climber, hiker, trail runner, back country skier, dabbling mountaineer Lover of cake, chocolate, brownies, and sweets. Excellent napper.

Biking? Cake? BIKE CAKE!

We’ve been watching a bit of Great British Bake Off (or GBBO) around here lately. I’m not sure how we got on it, but I think it happened when we finished The Queen’s Gambit and we were looking for something light to watch for an evening. Many cakes, jelly rolls, biscuits, and pastry weeks later, I was really, REALLY craving cake.

At the same time BaseCamp, the group of folks I do my bike training with, were doing a little photo contest sponsored by Chamois Butt’r (which I love). There was a food category, albeit I think more about … Continue reading

Pistachio cake and the end of January

Since I currently have this cake in oven, and this blog does have “cake” in the name, I thought it was probably time to jot down a few thoughts.

I’ve actually been thinking a bit about what I want to do with this site, but since I still don’t exactly know yet I just decided not to do anything ? Still, January 31 seemed like a good time to check in.

The good: We have a new president and vice president ? I know people, MULTIPLE people, who have had 1 or 2 doses of their COVID vaccine ? And, … Continue reading

It’s the final countdown ?

Well, it’s New Year’s Eve. The end to one of the wildest years we’ve had in a long time. So I thought I’d do my own little wrap up here of some top 2020 moments, along with a couple thoughts about 2021.

The 500,000ft challenge:

Well, seems easiest to start here. At the beginning of the year Paul and I started a challenge to do 500,000ft of human powered elevation gain before today. More HERE. At the time, it felt quite ambitious – especially given that I was planning 5-6 weeks of travel during the year. However, given that … Continue reading

November ?

November was a little like April – it started slow and then sped up rapidly.

The countdown to the election felt like slow motion at times. I knew we wouldn’t have answers on election night, but that didn’t stop me from refreshing the coverage regularly on my phone.To help, I added in a planned Zwift Academy ride to keep me distracted from 7:30-9PM. But even still, it felt like a long night. The week after was long too. Biden won, and won again, and won again. Certainly more heartening than 2016, but also both unsurprising and still frustrating to see … Continue reading

Hello 34 ???

Today is my 34th birthday!

I celebrated by making myself a massive pumpkin and chocolate layer cake covered with chocolate ganache and decorated for Halloween. Because, OF COURSE.

But I also celebrated with pumpkin bagels and a cappuccino, enjoyed outside in the sun. By reading. By doing a ramp test on my bike on Zwift (which was actually more fun than it sounds like it might have been). By cooking up frozen scallops and enjoying them in a white wine and cream sauce alongside homemade bread that Paul made today. By watching a little TV, and hopping on a phone … Continue reading

The new bike.

Well. This post has been about a month in the making, and seeing as I have other things I want to talk about coming up (like the fact that I’m about to have a birthday!) I thought I’d finally write a little about the shiny new addition to my life.

So, WAY back in May (approximately a decade ago), I saw a Cannondale Synapse Ultegra SE 2019 go on sale at REI. When I first moved to Boulder in fall 2019 I had thought about buying a new road bike, and a women’s version of the 2018 Cannondale Synapse was … Continue reading