~ passing lots of mofos ~
The Barking Spider race was this weekend. Despite not training as much as I had wanted to, I did pretty well. My race time was 58 minutes, which I felt really good about, especially if you consider that my time was a mere six minutes behind the time of the man who won. Out of about 50 beginners, I came in 9th and was the first female to cross the finish. The results of the race are posted here. Below is a photo of me crossing the finish line, taking first place in my category.
I had actually become quite nervous about the race. I didn't sleep at all the night before and I had lost all of my appetite the morning of the race. The grumbly in my tumbly was unbearable. And then, right when I gathered at the starting line, it was 30 seconds to go, and I suddenly had a very strong urge to pee! Once the race was on and I was riding my bike, trying to navigate myself around all of the mofos in my way, everything felt really good. Below is a photo of me right after we started the race (I'm on the right in the blue jersey, white helmet).
My first strategy once the race started was to quickly get ahead of as many people (aka, "mofos") as I could. Somehow, I wasn't paying attention when I gathered at the starting line, and I ended up way in the back, and I wanted to make sure that I could pass the mofos while I had a good opportunity. Otherwise, I was concerned that some parts of the race would not be conducive to passing the mofos. Below is a photo of me in the process of passing a mofo (behind me, all of the mofos I had managed to pass right at the outset).
Perhaps by now it should be obvious that some kind of competitive beast managed to possess me for the duration of the race, despite my assurances that I am not a competitive person. A strange experience, I must say.
So, the course has lots of ups and downs - - and I tended to shine on the climbs, where everyone else seemed to really slow down. At every hill, there would be a long line of bikers huffing and puffing their way up - - and for me, I found that to be a grand opportunity to pass the lot of them. On the one hand, I have a strength to weight ratio working in my favor, on the other hand, I'm just a good climber. Over the years, Josh has taught me a lot of techniques for climbing that I gathered many of the other racers did not have - - such as, on an extended climb, recovering during the least strenuous point of the pedal stroke.
Of course, as gravity is working in my favor on the climbs, it works against me on the downhills. I passed and repassed a few of the same people over and over. On a number of occasions, there would be a downhill right after I passed someone (say, a dude who weighs 50 pounds more than I) and he would zoom past me going down, and then I would pass him a minute later going up. Eventually, a form of comradery was established and a very brief humorous salutation was exchanged.
About halfway through the course, there was an extended climb with a decently strong headwind, and a very long line of bikers. It was during this climb that I located a dude who was going at a good pace, and so I tucked myself behind him and drafted off of him so that I could get a nice recovery in. He was passing a lot of people, and I was right behind him, passing them. Many of the people that we passed, by this point, were racers in the sport class (who had started a few minutes before us beginners) that we had caught up to. After a while, I passed the dude I was drafting off of, and then he passed me on the downhill, and I believe that he was one of the 8 dudes to finish before me.
When I went through the finish line, I was very excited to learn of my standing in the race. I had a bit of a spectator grouping - - Josh, Elizabeth, and Laura were on hand to watch my first race! We partook of several celebratory beers after I finished and it was a lot of fun. We waited several hours until the awards ceremony, where I scored a water bottle and a huge jersey for a team that I'm not on (how dumb is that?@? - - I'm not going to wear a jersey that's way too big for me for a local team that I don't ride with). Afterwards, we made our way to a Mexican restaurant in Kuna and had enchiladas. Anyway, here's the link to my flickr deal - - you'll note the photo of the nasty sunburn I got on my calves...didn't think to apply sunscreen there.
~ young grasshopper ~
In anticipation of my upcoming mountain bike race, I took advantage of the warm weather this weekend and practiced riding the race course three times - - on Friday and Sunday with Josh, and Saturday with another female mountain biker. While I am not exactly in top riding form, what with all of the not-biking I've been doing, I managed to greatly impress myself this weekend - - primarily in the way of taking in a deep breath and riding those sections of the course that caused me to hesitate out of fear. Those shots above depict exactly that - - sections that I had to work up some guts to ride. Naturally, the photos don't do justice to the actual trail conditions - - I felt as though I was surmounting one ginormous challenge after another.
The first two photos are essentially the same. They show me riding a part of the trail that was very sandy, somewhat steepish, with a tight downhill swooping turn to the left. I took in a number of deep breaths in an attempt to get the guts to ride this - - what I continue to learn after successfully riding obstacles that make me hesitate is that most of the time these obstacles look worse on the approach than they actually are. I hiked myself back up to the top of this part of the trail several times to try and try again - - and as I was finally riding down the length of the trail, I had to scream because I was so excited that the trail was FUN and not horrid and scary. Imagine that! Something that appeared terrifying was loads of FUN!
The third photo depicts me overcoming one of my biggest fears - - drop offs. This particular one begins with a little uphill jaunt over some boulders and then a few step-steps down, all the while with the trail sloping towards the drop off. I successfully took in deep breaths and rode it three times, having fun each time, feeling very accomplished - - though, the deep breath was still very necessary even on the third time.
The fourth photo probably doesn't look like anything. And it's not, really. It's simply the epitome of a scary-looking approach that turns into no big deal to ride. What it was, was a steepish downhill with a sloping trail with lots of loose stuff on the top. But what it really was, was a really fun section leading into a superfast awesome fun downhill.
Anyway, the full course is 10.5 miles and I felt pretty good riding all of it this weekend. I've still got a few more weekends to practice before the race. Speaking of the race, I have absolutely no idea what to expect out of myself. My athletic competition history is virtually none. Though, in middle school, I was on a volleyball team - - we didn't win a single game, so I have a lot of experience being a good loser. Actually, what I gleaned from that experience was to not take athletic competition seriously. So this race, I'm doing it as a goal for myself - - but I have no idea what my attitude will be during the race. Anyway, this year I'm hoping to jump up to the next skill level of biking, and I feel that so far I've done a splendid job of that.
In other news, a photo of my Textured Tunic - - of which I am very fond. I've worn it several times and I love the way that it hangs, I love the feeling of the cotton, and I find it simply attractive.
Then, one of my current projects: Iceland. Here's the start of the sleeve. The yarn is surprisingly easy to work with, despite some reviews that it tends to split, and it is quite soft. I also like the color a lot. The leafy pattern is remarkably userfriendly, even though its a 20 row lace pattern. I began the Iceland about four days ago, so it appears to be a relatively quick knit. Of course, by yesterday, I was needing some good ol' stockinette to relax me away from the lace. So I began another top-down raglan...it will be very similar to the Tunic above, but I'm working it in some fine alpaca and will incorporate some cabling.
~ the hollowness of the doors ~
I admit it... the restroom situation at my new office makes me uncomfortable. It, the restroom, is located in the middle of the suite, and because of the thinness of the walls, the hollowness of the doors, and the acoustics of the suite, it is possible to discern EVERYTHING that takes place in the restroom. Which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Early this morning, I completed a thorough exploration of the first and the second floor, which yielded no restroom alternatives. Later today, I will wander the third floor which may afford a more acceptable restroom opportunity. Although, I have heard odd things about the third floor. In particular, some people have claimed that occasionally there are nude senior citizens on the third floor, and that, too, makes me a bit uncomfortable.
In other news, this weekend it was GLORIOUS. On Saturday, Josh and I were determined to squeeze in a mountain bike ride between the time that he got off work and our scheduled dinner/movie date with Elizabeth and Edvin. Initially, we were going to do some version of Hulls, but the thick cloud of gnats made cycling nearly impossible. All was well on the beginning of the trail, but as we got deeper into the mini-canyon, the gnats formed a thick wall, and riding through the wall brought numerous gnats into our eyes, our noses, our mouths, and all throughout our clothing items. To be honest, I have never experienced such a thing before. So, we turned around and decided to ride Shane's instead.
We made good time up to the top of the trail, at which time the sun began to set. I was a bit nervous about riding in the dark - - an activity which Josh does with some regularity, but which makes me feel a bit nervous. My first night ride! And it was awesome. Once the sun began to set, it got dark fast. But there was enough light pollution from Boise that I was able to discern the direction of the trail, albeit not the features of the terrain. It helped that I've ridden this trail so many times that I have it virtually memorized, but I was keeping my body relaxed on the bike in case I hit an unanticipated bump or rock. Ultimately, I think that I may have been riding faster than normal, what with being unable to see the terrain, I just let the bike go and I put my trust in my skills and the wheels. It was loads of fun.
Then on Sunday, Josh and I went out to the Owyhees and rode some of the area across from Barking Spider. Please see the above photos. The ride was great fun, and would have been even greater fun if the trails had been a bit more hardpacked. From the second and third photos above, it is evident that the trails were highly sandy (Josh even fell off his bike because of the sand!). We ended up hiking our bikes for a substantial amount of time and distance...through valleys, up and over mountains...I was getting a bit cranky about all of the sandiness. But when it was fun, it was a blast! I rode down some things that would have usually make me rather afraid, but I've got a new-found confidence and lack of fear with my new bicycle. It's so great, no longer being afraid.
~ Barking Spider ~
Taking advantage of the break in the clouds over the Owyhees, while all of Ada and Canyon Counties were grey, I drove out to the Barking Spider racecourse on Saturday with Josh. The weather was perfect and I got my first sunburn of the year.
We were all alone except for some people on dirt bikes...a lot of people on dirt bikes...making a lot of noise with said dirt bikes and kicking up a lot of dirt. From the parking lot, we rode North with a tail wind around the initial part of the course. As I rode around the other side of the first loop, the tail wind turned into a strong head wind, and I performed my first major downshift. The initial part of the course was relatively flat with some gravelly "woop-dees". After crossing a cattle guard, we rode over some inclines, encountered some sandy pits, and I had a skills lab on a few "roller coaster" dealies. This initial part of the course formed a loop which brought us back to the parking lot, at which point we crossed over onto the other side and rode up a steady mild incline with a strong-to-very-strong headwind. We rode up to a point at the top and had a bio and photo break.
Then we began the decent. This took us down some rocky steepes, some "woop-dees", some incredibly delightful side-sweep dealies (for which I have failed to remember the term), some sandy pits (in which I lodged my front tire and flipped over my bicycle in slow motion and sustained a deep tissue bruise), some roller coasters, and some canyon-sorts of things.
We arrived back at the car after riding this 9-mile course and ate some lunch. Then we headed out once again and rode a variation of the initial loop, followed with an adventure into a section of the trails that neither of us had ever explored. These trails were nice because the wind wasn't as strong. Additionally, the downhill was so much fun that I could have died. I handed Josh the camera and have these amazing photos of me riding.
I now have my first sunburn of the year, on my wrists, marking precisely the location of my gloves. It was such a fun adventure and I'm feeling inarticulate in trying to describe it. With the weather no longer being in the winter vein, I have identified the goal of going on adventures, hopefully weekly.
