Wednesday night

I grabbed a few of my peeps and headed out to do the Crystal Ridge time trial last night. Other than looking like I had showered when I was done because I SWEAT so much, it was a good time. However. . . . . .that darn Megatron. . . .she's a fast one. I keep thinking maybe I'll catch her one of these days. . . .but no such luck. Maybe she'll start liking BOYS more than biking soon and stop being so good on the bike. I can only hope.

I still feel I need that set back seat post, as I feel I'm constantly scooting back on my seat. It's already all the way back and it STILL needs to go back a bit more. It's on order, supposedly will be here tomorrow. I have great apprehension about putting it on my bike Saturday and then racing a 3 hour race Sunday without proper time to adjust it and find the "perfect" setting. Although I don't do a lot of my OWN bike maintenance, I'm completely anal about how things are set up. If something's changed on my bike, I feel it. I'm not sure sure I want to FEEL a change during a 29 mile ride.

We're looking forward to camping this weekend. We've got the generator all set to go so we're ready no matter what. Cold, hot, rain, heck we can even handle snow. It's just like bein' at home. I even get to shower AND dry my hair.

The starting order this weekend will be interesting as well. I hope I don't get in the way of TOO many "elite" boys (and girls). I hate it when that happens. It's a very stressful process . . . . . .for the SLOWER rider. Except when Brian Matter passes you. I almost didn't even SEE him pass me at Rock Cut he was so freakin' fast.

Time to rest the body. It's gonna take a beating this weekend.

Limbless Lizard Discovered

Apparently they've discovered this "limbless lizard" in the forested region of Khandadhar, 625 miles south east of New Delhi, India. Isn't that just exciting?

I don't know. . . . . . .it sure looks like a snake to me.

Then again what do I know? I'm just a real estate agent. . . . . . .

The Weekend Review

Well, we made it through Saturday, and the 12 hours at New Fane. I think sometimes people don't realize how much work is involved with putting on a race. I'm very thankful we've got a great team full of volunteers who made the day a success, and a GREAT bunch of riders & peeps who turned out to tear it up despite the threats from mother nature. I received many comments on how nice the race was. . . . people enjoyed the two little sections of singletrack that we slaved over. That made it worth all the efforts.

I'm new at the posting of the pictures. . . . .so we'll see if this works, but I THINK I have them posted HERE. I even got to sit in the woods a couple times and snap these. . . .that was fun.

Yesterday was clean up, Bill and I rode the course ourselves. It was kind of fun. Then we took it all down. That was sad.

Today had me missing the chance to hook up with my peeps. . . . .so I headed out for a road ride solo and had the "fun opportunity" to change my rear tire 45 minutes into the ride. I do not know what the name of the tires I have are. . . . . .but they're supposed to be "race tires", blah, blah, blah, anyway they are SUUUUUPER hard to take off. Holy crap. I pulled to the side of the road and 30 minutes later FINALLY had the mother F'er changed. Nice. Continued on with my ride, felt like total crap, developed horrendous stomach cramps 30 minutes from home, pulled in my garage, shed my gear and curled up into a little ball on the couch. I guess the stress of the week finally caught up with me. I hate stress. The older I get, the harder it is to handle. At least I logged 2:20, even if it was slow and stressful.

That's my weekend in a nutshell. Now I'm off to do some work. . . .off to show a house. . . .then probably come back home to curl up in a ball again on the couch. Sweet.

T-shirts

What a crazy week! Between getting things all set for the 12 hour this weekend, doing my own real estate business and helping out a co-worker with hers, I seem to have lost a few days somewhere.

I DID, however, pick up the t-shirts for our race this weekend. We'll be selling them. . . . .I believe they'll be $10 (have to double check that one). And here they are.

Aren't they sweet?? So come on out to New Fane Saturday, sign up to race and buy one of these sweet t-shirts! You'll be the envy of your friends.

Lake Geneva Revisited

While my day of racing may not have been the best. . . . .there were others who had worse days.

This guy didn't even get to RIDE the whole course on Saturday, because he decided to try to replicate my "patented endo" but he made a fatal mistake. . . . .he put his hand out to catch himself.

Two clinic visits later (one was closed), he was almost all snapped back into place, taped up and ready to go again. Yeah. Ouch.

As for me. . . . .well. . . . a good start I had. THAT wasn't the issue. And I didn't blow myself up on the start. . . .at least not any more than usual. . . . .

It wasn't even the rock garden really. . . . .I rode that just fine.

But after the rock garden. . . . .you know, where things actually started to get EASY. . . . .well, that would be the time I decided to sit BEHIND my seat, on my tire for the rest of the downhill.

Yeah, I've discovered that's hard for me to recover from. Sitting ON your wheel on a somewhat steep downhill really isn't something I should do. I think in all the time I've been biking, I've done it ONCE. This race, I did it TWICE. What else do you do then but "walk it out"?

I do like my new bike. . . . . .but the frame is smaller. I like the fact that I don't whack my knees on this frame as much as I did on my last frame. . . . .but obviously, it's a LITTLE too easy to scoot back a LITTLE too far.

Beyond that. . . . .it was simply a HARD race. TONS of traffic on laps 1 & 2 with no place to pass. . . . .lots of off camber loose turns. . . . .lots of slower riders ahead of me deciding to stop dead in the middle of the trail instead of moving to the side. . . .lessons taught on the fly by Brittany Nigh "IF YOU'RE GOING TO WALK YOU HAVE GOT TO GET OUT OF THE TRAIL". . . ."RIDER. . . RIDER. . . .UM HELLO?? I CAN RIDE THIS STUFF, PLEASE MOVE". . . ."oh, I guess it isn't "kind" to ride over top of you since you fell right in my path, completely across the trail". . . . .hitting LT on every hill wishing for more gears. . . . .getting goose bumps because I overdressed and hardly drank. . . . and the list goes on.

That's my sad tale of Lake Geneva. Overall, not a "stellar" day. . . . .but a day that proves that hanging in there and not giving up is the thing to do. At least I raced in DRY conditions. . . . with NO mud and finished in the top 10. So really, I have nothing to complain about.

Ouch

Only enough time and energy to say "ouch" this morning, with a few misc comments.

I was off my bike more during yesterday's race than I could count. Either because boys in front of me were blocking the trail (laying across it or stopping RIGHT in front of me, etc), or because I screwed up, biffed it and had to pick myself and my bike up.

I'd like to say it was a fun course. . . and I thought this morning would bring different feelings. . . .but I still have to say "no, I did not have fun".

More details later. I hear there are pictures of when I put it down in front of Bill.

ONE POSITIVE NOTE: I've got the starts nailed now. I had an AWESOME start. That only took, what, 6 years?

Near Death Thursday

Between the piles of "stuff" I had to do today, I managed to squeak in another endurance ride on the road bike. It was a chore to get myself to get ON the bike, but once I was on it, it was ok.

About eight minutes into the ride I experienced my second "near death experience" ever. . . . .almost getting taken out by a car. Some WOMAN, not paying attention, thinking her car was smaller than it actually was decided she'd see how close to me she could get, even though she had the WHOLE other lane. I felt the heat off the car through my knee warmers. . . . .and as I turned to look, I was shocked at how close she was, and absolutely surprised I wasn't flying off my bike into the ditch. I feel like someone was watching out for me there. . . .perhaps I'll have to do some "good deed" now to balance "life" out again.

Captain hit the shop ride after work and had his own near death experience. Someone (who doesn't usually ride with the group) swerved to take a corner and basically took him out. He hit the pavement at about 20mph. . . . . .and thankfully someone was watching out for him too as he ended up quite lucky with only some minor road rash, a dent in his helmet, some swollen body parts (arm, leg & butt) and a very sore wrist. Of course this all just happened less than 2 hours ago. . . .so we'll have to see how he feels tomorrow. I'll pull out my heavy duty drugs for him tomorrow. . . . keep him in La La land if we have to. Hopefully he won't have any issues racing Sunday.

What a great Thursday. Two "near death" experiences. . . . . .with only minor injuries. I guess we should be thankful, instead of angry that they even happened to begin with.

Crazy Weather Wednesday

Why is it. . . . .that it seems to rain the most on Wednesdays? Is it because that's the one day there are "options" (for me) with regards to group rides? Is it because Crystal Ridge has "a curse" on it? Is it because Wednesday is just THE day Mother Nature picks to unleash? Because it sure seems like it rains more on Wednesdays than any other day of the week.

That's ok though. We need the rain. Working out at New Fane for our 12 hour race we were noticing how dry everything was. Even with the amount of rain we got yesterday, today the trails were hardly even damp.

Perhaps it will pour tonight. . . . .with lingering showers in the AM. . . .then clear up in time for good afternoon ride, and for the trails to dry out for the weekend. That seems to be the perfect scenario. Of course things always go "perfect".

I managed to squeak in a 90 minute ride at New Fane before the showers arrived this afternoon. That's ok, because it seems 90 minutes was all I had in me. For some strange reason my body is fatigued. . . . heart rate not responding. . . .efforts over endurance feel WAY harder than they usually feel. But I'm not coming off a heavy training week. . . . .or a weekend full of biking. . . . .so I'm not really sure what's up. Whatever it is, I'm looking forward to a fun filled weekend of climbing and fun, twisty single track. The two things I'm good at. I hope there's some HARD stuff too.

Holy Crap

Pop the cork.

I kid you not. That deal that I spent a solid 6 months trying to put together. . . .the countless hours, the endless frustrations, the calls and calls and calls. . . . . .well, it CLOSED!!!!!

Un-freakin' believable. Someone pinch me. . . . . .and POUR ME A DRINK!

Sometimes blogging is hard work!

Yes, it's true. Sometimes blogging is hard work. That's when you get the comics from me. . .or the jokes. . . it's when I'm either too lazy to think too hard, or when I'm too moody and I'm afraid I'll say something I'm not supposed to say and make people angry, hurt people's feelings or have my friends and family wonder if they should check me in somewhere. . . . . . .

This afternoon I'm lazy. I've got some pictures from the weekend that I need to download and I can give you the full story from Friday night. For now, I'll leave it at "Shooter went shooting". Film at 11:00 (tomorrow).

Saturday we had a great turn out at New Fane to get the trail ready to go for our team 12 hour event, which is on Saturday, May 26th. We had about 15 people, some of them not even from out team, show up and lend a hand to clear the trails, "eat the weeds", pull the garlic mustard, and cut a bit of new single track. After a short ride, Captain, General and myself headed back into the pines to play around with another twist or two of new singletrack. Let me tell you. . . .clearing pine branches and all the "slash" (the stuff left behind when they log) is HARD work! The 3 of us spent about 90+ minutes out there and managed to lay out a cool, but short, section. That 90 minutes of work amounts to about 120 seconds of riding. . . . .but hey, it's cool so who cares?

Saturday night we celebrated Bill's dad's birthday - Happy Birthday Jerry!!! I think he's like 39 now. Maybe he's 41. . . .I'm not sure. I was so tired I barely remember the night. Sorry Jerry. He's so cool he got a GPS for his birthday. Now I can send him all over the place showing houses for me. . . . .since he'll NEVER get lost.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day again to all the moms. We took my mom out to Ponderosa for brunch. Let me say. . . .the Ponderosa in Hartford has good food, but there are a lot of "interesting" people there. Let's just leave it at that. 2 hours later we were FINALLY on our way home to go ride New Fane a bit more. Wrap up the night with an episode of Extreme Home Makeover and a bowl of ice cream. . . . .and call it a night. Overall it was a good weekend.

Zen Wisdom

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.

2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.

3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.

4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else.

6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

11. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

12. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

13. Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.

14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

17. Duct tape is like 'The Force.' It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.

19 Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.

20. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

21. Never miss a good chance to shut up..

22. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Men

Men.

Happy Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day

OBC

Did the OBC ride tonight (Ozaukee Bicycle Club). Brought "the gun show" to town. Tore it up. . . . .hammered the hills. . . . .won all the hill sprints (oh, did I forget to mention we were "competing" on those hill sprints?). Felt great, which was a TOTAL 180 from last week's OBC ride. Last week maintaining 15mph was next to impossible. This week I felt like I was doing 15 up the hills!! (ok, little exaggeration there).

I guess there really is something to that whole "building your base bigger" theory. Perhaps I'll believe Chris Carmichael now.

FYI: We're doing a trail maintenance day out at New Fane Saturday if anyone is interested. We're getting the course for the 12 hour cleaned up from 9-11am, then doing a MTB ride & lunch afterwards. Come and have fun up in the NORTHERN Kettles.

They're smart. . . . .

Not only do the turkeys fool some people into thinking their turkey permit is for a week later than it REALLY is. . . . . .but the ducks seem to have a pretty good plan to eliminate hunters as well.

"The Carrot"

Yes, that's me running along side Squirt with a carrot in my hand. Thanks to Jay for capturing that moment.

And no, there's no hidden meaning behind the carrot. . . .no dirty meaning. . . . just a simple stuffed carrot that Squirt seems to like. I think it helped her go faster. . . . .having that carrot cheer for her. Or maybe it slowed her down. . . .I'm not sure.

Results

Results are up. Boy, they weren't kidding when they said the #1 Sport girl was way out there. I finished 5th, and I was a whopping 7:31 behind her. The #2 Sport girl was a whole 2:27 behind her with the 3rd place gal coming in 6:44 behind her. After that we were pretty clustered in times. . . . . .as you would expect. I tell you there's no way I'm pulling out another 7+ minutes in any future races. I can see it's going to be extremely tough to hang in the top 5 this year.

Great job done by everyone out there. Kuddos to fellow teammates who had great performances. The Virgin FINALLY gave in and did this race. . . . . . finished 4th overall (4th in age too - man that's a tough age this year). I think she's hooked. Looks like their #1 girl had lap times comparable to MINE. . . . .Hhhhm, maybe join the sport girls for the next race? Arin Lemke our up and rising star performer (a mere 15 years old. . . . .doesn't even train on her bike) managed to almost grab the top 10 in Citizen (13th). Angie Theriault who makes a last minute decision to move up to Sport and manages to clench 2nd in age and top 15 overall (14th). Nice job everyone!

Kuddos to some of our other "newbies". . . . . .first WORS race, great performances. Ben, Matt, Larry, I'm sure I'm missing some. . . . .

Then our returning comp champs Ross, Jeff Parker, The General (who took the bull by the horns and joined the comp ranks this year) & Steve.

And of course our star "elite" performers. . . . . .Captain (who's way too hard on himself), BINGO (Sam W), The "dreamy A.J Ettmayer", and the finally top 10 Jeff Melcher (CK). That boy took home some cash and muttered something about a dance of joy. . . . .yeah, whatever.

Overall it was a fun filled weekend of camping, good friends, good food, good riding, awesome racing. Can't wait to do it all again in 2 weeks. Once again. . . . .I'm hooked.

Where in the WORLD did that come from?!?!?!?

Well, let me just say I was completely surprised by my finish today. I have no idea where that came from. I was hoping for top 10 (secretly thinking it might be a stretch with the way my rides have been going lately) and I up and broke my track record with a top 5 finish (FINALLY!). Mark that one on the record books. That's been on my goal list for 3 solid years now, and today I finally did it.

The first lap really hurt, which really wasn't a surprise. The sport women went out hard and fast and I knew I wanted/needed to be in the top 10 going into the hills. I jockied for a position within that top 10, went back and forth a bit with a few gals. . . . .then hit the hills and away I went. I climbed like a goat today, it was awesome. Steady, calm, relaxed and strong. Lap after lap. Again. . . . . no clue where I pulled that out of (but I sure hope I can do it again).

The second lap I took it down a notch cuz I was realizing how BAD that time over LT was feeling. I took the rest when I needed it. . . . . .and worked on my "aggressive passing". I worked my way into the Sport men pretty good and the last thing you want to do is lose time because you're stuck behind a GUY who can't ride as fast as you. I know those boys don't like it when you fly past them, but really, what choice do I have? Those Sport women are vicious. They were tearing it up. They were AFTER me. Gotta take some chances. . . . while still riding it safe. After a number of years of racing I guess I'm finally learning how to pass.

The third lap I kept it pretty even, figured I had enough in me to take it up a notch when I could, especially when I needed to get around slower guys. Rode the single track like a champ, FINALLY feeling like I "was one with Athena". She done me proud today.

Only one "mishap" where I flew over the handlebars and had to go back for the bike (first lap, tight downhill turns). I hate it when that happens. I have GOT to remember that you do NOT need to grab your breaks at ALL when you have disc brakes. Yikes!!

I have to thank some of those faster sport girls for having the courage to move up to expert this year. That's a huge jump for the women. I think one really needs to have at least cracked the top 5 a few times before you can think about a jump like that, at least if you want to continue to LIKE racing. Kuddos to them.

And thank you to ALL the people who were cheering. Holy crap! I heard my name EVERYWHERE! Sometimes I'd turn and look and have NO CLUE who they were. There were even Sport boys I passed who cheered for me by name. . . .again, no idea who they were. But all that cheering sure helped me dig into the depths of my soul and pull out everything I had, so a big thanks to my fans. :-)

Now lets see if it takes me until Friday THIS week to recover. Man last week sucked. But it's ok. It will get easier sooner or later.

Finally Friday

Well, it's finally Friday. But it feels like the week went pretty fast this time around. . . . .so really I'm thinking "wow, it's already Friday?", which is totally cool!

Being that Iola is the first race of the season. . . . .and the first camping outing. . . . .there is always a little more stuff to accomplish prior to departure time.

I think we have most of the "essentials" packed back into the camper, now it's just a matter of getting the "normal" packing underway. Getting the grocery shopping done, packing all the food, taking the time to make some creative, yummy treat to take along. . . .making sure all the appropriate clothing and gear articles are packed since one never knows if it will be in the 70's and sunny or in the 40's and raining. Must be prepared for everything. SCOUT knows that (right scout?).

I sure hope our first camping spot is better than it was at Kewaunee. . . . .

As long as I can take the day and focus on making sure we're ready to rock for the weekend, it will be a great day. If I get too much of that "work stuff" getting in the way. . . well, then it becomes stressful trying to do it all.

On the bright side. . . . .the muscles are still a bit sore, but they're feeling much better than they were Wednesday. We did indeed venture out yesterday to ride mountain bikes a bit. Hit the Harley/Hoyt trails. I don't know my way around there well enough to find them all. . . .but Athena and I had a good time overall. Came home with a few new bruises and cuts (didn't even get any of those from the RACE over the weekend, but I get them riding FLAT stuff - nice). Of course some DORK on a mountain bike caused most of them. . . . .he "stopped short" while I was trying to gain speed for a small hill. That never works well. Especially when you get his pedal indented in your shin. Ouch.

Happy Friday everyone. See you at Iola. I'll be the one on the side of the trail during the sport race puking my guts out begging for oxygen. Don't be afraid if you see me. . . .just ride on by. I'll be fine with a little rest.

Another one of those days. . . . . .

Well, the sun is shining, the temps are on the rise, Athena is on the hook calling me, but yet I'm having "another one of those days". My head is full of "stuff", my stress level is higher than it should be, my body feels like a pile of POO and the combination of all these wonderful things is putting me in a fantastic mood already.

So rather than complain. . . . . .or go too "deep". . . . let me use humor yet again to put a smile on the faces of my readers. . . . . . while I RUN. . . . .

Happy Thursday. And for those of you who have asked. . . .no, that deal did NOT close. Now we're waiting for a judge to talk to an attorney so I can go BACK to the bank and get it all approved again. Yeah. That's not gonna happen any time soon.

But that's ok because it looks like Randy the dog has bigger problems. . . . . .

Dear Diary. . . . .