anon06- Thanks! My wife was sure to let me know that I am a huge dork when she saw it lol

CAT7RDR- Working the hamstrings make sense- I feel like my quads are growing, but I am not seeing much in my hamstrings, and they saw quad-dominance is an issue for a lot of women anyway. My biggest issue right now is that I am out of shape cardiovascularly (if that's word) which is why I am focusing on that right now. But I can definitely understand the idea of building up those legs to give more strength.

Daniel4- That makes sense, I wonder if building my legs might help me climb better, because I am pretty bad at it!!

Milton Keynes - I hate the hills! I just die on them so bad...they're not huge here but they're squiggly so you're always up down, up down. My goal was to do 15 miles by September 29 because I am doing a short ride (the ride is the Apple Cider Century but I am not doing the Century- there's also a 50 and a 30 I think?) but I am not on the path to being able to do that without a break...I think I'll try for 10 and then get off my bike, eat a snack, recover a bit worst case scenario. I do think I can do the 15, it just won't be pretty. I can do 8 miles with enough steam left to actually finish my day - cook dinner, laundry, ect.- so I figure I'll just go all out on the 29th. Pray for me! LOL

orewatsuyoi- Thank you!! I am trying

Maybe someday I can ride Michigan from the UP But that would be a multi day trip.