My Bike Arrived at Northtowne Cycling!

Kalkhoff Impulse

NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness

My Rating: 5 Stars

Des Moines has a fair sized biking community and multiple bikes shops. Unfortunately not very many of those bike shops carry electric bikes. So I called around. That is when I met Derek, the owner of NorthTowne Cycling in Cedar Rapids. NorthTowne does carry electric bikes.

Choosing a Bike

Derek is a busy guy, especially in the spring, but took a lot of time to correspond with me via email and multiple phone calls to discuss what I wanted in a bike. I did my research before ever calling Derek and had narrowed down my search by talking to a few California bike shops. In fact, by the time Derek and I spoke for the first time I'd probably called over twenty bike shops and watched dozens of videos on Electric Bike Review. At that point, Derek was my last hope before ordering the bike I wanted from California and hoping it fit.

I've been wanting an electric bike for over a year. My research began in ernest fall of 2014, but really ramped up after I discovered Electric Bike Review. That's when I realized everything I wanted in an electric bike would not really suit me. Highly recommend checking out the Electric Bike Review community before even considering an electric bike. My original top 2 picks where immediately squashed by bad reviews and the amazing competition.

Business Review: NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness + Kalkhoff Impulse 8

Review of an Iowa Bike Shop

Cedar Rapids, IA

NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness

My Rating: 5 Stars

I found NorthTowne from Google Maps of all places. Des Moines electric bike selections are pathetic, so I made my search a little wider. Nearly had to order a bike from San Francisco. Shipping a bike that you can't test first is crazy, so I was extremely excited to speak to the folks at NorthTowne. I sent them an email with everything I was looking for and they gave me valuable feedback that helped narrow down my options. I then read reviews and watched videos on Electric Bike Review to follow up.

Power Life Yoga 200 Hour Teacher Training Certification Celebration

Yoga

Today we celebration the end of a path and the beginning of a new journey. 25 yogis-in-training embarked on a certification program 10 weeks ago. I'm honored to be a part of this humble group of teachers, students and friends. I've learned much, and gained many friends. I hope to share some of this wisdom with you soon but today I...

Bike Garter Product Review

Bike Garter

Like wearing a dress, but need to bike somewhere. No girl want to show off her undergarments on the go, so checkout the bike garter.

Sold on Amazon and Eleanor's NYC by Bird Industries.

Comes in 6 colors, hand dyed, and three sizes.

Purchase

Diary: Live Healthy Iowa and Weight Loss

Trying To Get Fit (again)

My work participates in a 10 week initiative to encourage employees to exercise and lose weight. It’s called Live Healthy Iowa. The competition involves either setting up a device to track your workouts on your behalf or manually entering your time and weight. I've setup a Jawbone to do most of the work for me, unfortunately I regularly forget to wear my Jawbone Up. So, I logged in today to check how things were going and realized that it missed tracking quite a bit.

The system doesn't allow you to back track, so I’m stuck with two weeks that haven’t been recorded. I haven’t made as much of an effort this year as I would have liked anyway. So we are 6^th out of 7^th place in weight loss and 3/7^th in fitness. Not bad considering I've done a poor job of tracking. I’m on a team with 4 other co-workers and can’t speak for them.

There are four weeks of the competition left, I’d like to say I’m going to bight the proverbial bullet and get motivated, but who knows.

Stay tuned.

A Story + 3 Products You NEED if You Like Mud/Obstacle Course Races

Getting Dirty

Generally I hate getting dirty. Anyone who has ever heard my father tell a story of my childhood knows, I was the kind of girl to play with barbies. My bedroom was pink and I slept in a canopy bed. In short, I was daddy's little princess. These days I dress a little geekier, or as a friend would say, "you're kind of professor chic, J.Crew and Prada puked on you but when you talk we can tell you are one of us (geeky that is - insert elbow patches here).

Knowing about my childhood, it may or may not be hard to imagine, if you do not know me well enough, that I have my moments where I don't mind getting really muddy.  If you are like me and don't mind getting a little dirty every once and a while, then you will love adventure races.

Adventure races are basically muddy 5-10k runs with obstacle courses. Are you intrigued? I'm guessing you know at least one cross-fit friend who has mentioned something like this, but if not I recommend you watch a Tough Mudder video for inspiration and then start your first mud running experience off with something a little easier like a Gladiator run or Warrior Dash. Both of those races should take you under a hour, will be easy for most people (you will feel it the next day), and they both average 5k.

BOOK REVIEW: The Jennifer Nicole Lee Fitness Model Diet: JNL's Super Fitness Model Diet: Secrets To A Sexy, Strong, Sleek Physique UNABRIDGED by Jennifer Nicole Lee

• "She's Yelling at Where You Could or Will Be"

  
  

  Overall

  

  Performance

  

  Story

  

  PODCAST REVIEW : Listen
  Jennifer Nicole Lee means well and is a very inspirational athlete, but this is a book that is hard to listen to (narrated). I had a few very inspirational moments from this book, which I mention in the podcast, but overall this is not a good audible book. It is probably a better read. Jennifer Nicole Lee is a motivational speaker, and an inspiration to many women. Watch her videos.Her voice never changes pitch, she yells at you the WHOLE TIME! She basically says she cares, believes in you and that you need to believe in yourself and be focused over and over and over and... OVER. I don't need her to motivate me, I want recipes, real tips, thoughts and feedback about training daily. Stuff I could of got for free off bodybuilding dot com, but thought would be good to listen to in a book. I'm glad she loves her job but she is a bit negative and condescending despite saying shes not.
  
  

FITNESS VIDEO: Friday Night at Home Yoga Workout #exercise #fitness with Yorkie Charles & @desaraev

Fitness Video Diary: SKYDIVING! #skydiving

 

Business Review: Capos Italian speakeasy in Las Vegas being Serenaded & Vegas Tips @desaraev #travel

Capos Italian Speakeasy

I highly recommend visiting this lovely steakhouse if you are in Vegas. It is off the beaten path and a reservation is recommended but not required. The setup is just like an old fashioned speakeasy and the door requires buzzing (yes they are open even if you can't figure out the door). Once inside the lighting is extremely dark and they give you keychain lights to read the menu. The food is amazing. If you want a rare steak, make sure to say you want it extra bloody. The food is filling and comes in very large portions. Check it out, you will not regret it. From food to music this place is a hit.