New Year's Resolutions!

At the beginning of the year I set down 3 New Year's Resolutions for myself. They were:

1a. To complete a century (100 mile) bike ride, and to spend more time on my bike in general
1b. Learn more bike maintenance
2. Travel south of the equator (Peru!)
3. Improve my extremely deplorable Spanish language skills (thank you Kathryn, and Peru anyone??)

I thought it was timely to give an update as we are already more than halfway through the year. I am VERY proud to say that I have accomplished all three of these goals!

1a. I completed the Montauk Century Ride on May 16th with my good friend Gavin. By mile 88 I wasn't sure I was going to make it and I was pretty close to just getting off my bike and crying. But I finished in just over 7 hours averaging about 14mph. That means I have a lot of opportunity to improve - however, I finished and that in itself was an amazing feeling.
1b. This piece I probably haven't accomplished as much as I should have. I learned how to lube my chain though, so I guess it technically counts. But I think I'll keep this one for the rest of the year.

2. Another good friend of mine (Katie!!) and I traveled to Peru at the end of May getting me into the southern hemispher. This also knocked off another continent from the total - 5 down, two to go! Can you even get to Antartica though without being a part of a research team???

3. My deplorable Spanish skills remain deplorable. However, I have taken up Portuguese to prepare myself for my pending move to Brazil Thus, I assume the real heart of the resolution was less about learning Spanish and more focused on becoming bilingual or increasing my abilities to communicate with others. In that sense - I speak about as much Portuguese as a 3 year old, but that is significantly more than I did before!

So I think it is time to reset my resolutions for the next 6 months:

1a. To continue bike riding while in Brazil (assuming my bike makes the trip safely)
1b. To improve my bike maintenance skills

2. Pick up something uniquely Brazilian as a hobby. May capoeira, maybe learn to make caperinhas, or something completely new that I don't know about now!

3. To stay connected to my family and friends while I am off on a new adventure in life. It is easy to loose track of people and I don't have the best track record of this. It breaks my heart thinking about the people I've let slip from my life and I don't want that to happen while I am in Brazil.

Hopefully I can report equally strong results on these new resolutions as I can with the first three!

How is everyone else doing with their resolutions? Maybe now is a good time to revisit and recommit if you've slipped up a bit!

Happy June everyone *hugs*