Why did this strike me as post-worthy? Well, because this sign is posted in blue-collar, Michigan. And I find it amusing 🙂
What is is about ordering a pizza to eat by yourself that makes the pizza seem that much better?
Of course, it helps that they seem to have put EXTRA pepperoni on my already double-pepperoni pizza .. mmmmmm 🙂
We’ve been in a rut. We’re either biking or we’re sitting on the couch. For several weeks, we’ve been surviving on pizza and taco bell – for lack of any better ideas.
So, last night, I decided we needed a change. We splurged on a $21/half bottle chianti at the local Italian restaurant and had a fantastic meal.
I’m not sure I’ve ever paid $21 for a half bottle of wine, but I must say, it was yummmmy 🙂
After that, I didn’t feel so bad about going home and sitting on the couch, watching two more episodes of The 4400 … That show is like crack! Only one more episode and we’re caught up to to the new episodes showing on USA… which is a mixed blessing .. because after we watch our last recorded episode, we’ll have to wait a whole week between episodes … *sigh* I suppose worse things can happen … heh ..
SO, I’m driving home after a long, hot, and weird day at Boyne Mtn .. and I’ve been passing cars wtih bikes on them since I hit i-75, so it didn’t suprise me to come upon this minivan with a buncha bikes on top …
Until I got close enough to see the setup:
Now, its kind of hard to see, because well .. I was driving, and its only a 1.3 mp cameraphone .. and this dude was only doing like 50 mph or something, so I’d have had to make a major scene to get close enough for a good picture …
Anywhoo .. as I was saying, its kind of hard to see, but there are 4 bikes on this van, fastened upside-down to 2×4’s with like U-bolts or something .. It was some funny shit… But, lemme tell ya, those bikes weren’t going ANYWHERE …
and i swear, this setup has dave darling written all over it .. the only difference is that my dad would have used alot more parts … and it would certainly have involved bungie cords ..
That’s the sound this weekend made as it was rushing by ….
But it was a good weekend. Since most of my blog follwers either write or follow the rest of the biker blogs in southeast michigan, I’m not going to go into too much BOW clinic detail. I’ll say this though – in 2003, I went to the BOW clinic as a participant. I was nervous and had no idea what to expect. I’d had a small amount of singletrack under my belt, and a whopping 2-3 rides on clipless pedals. I took the challenge and rode with the intermediate group and my life has never been the same since.
Its hard for me to believe that only 3 years later, the tables are turned and I’m now the ‘experienced’ instructor. I was somehow shyly embarrased whenever one of our group asked “so, how long have you been riding?”. Heh. I still think of myself as a beginner.
Aside from my own insecurities, the day was fantastic. We couldn’t have asked for better weather and the attitudes and determination of the participants was just amazing. And the ear-to-ear smiles at the end of the ride is an incredible reward for a day of volunteering.
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Saturday night was spent chilling out and getting ready to ‘man the MMBA table’ at the REI garage sale on Sunday morning. We didn’t sell any jerseys or memberships on Sunday, but we gave out quit a few flyers. We might even have one or two more participants on our Wed night rides!
The garage sale itself was its own ordeal. There’s some good deals on returned items, display items, defect items, etc.. IF you can elbow your way through the crowds and grab whatever you can carry before everyone else does. We managed to sneak out with a couple of Thule wheel holders for 1/2 their normal price, so it wasn’t all bad.
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After the garage sale, we headed out to the shop for a ride with Mike and John after closing. The original plan was to park at Maybury, ride out to ILRA and do a lap, ride back to Maybury for a lap and go home. We were looking for 2/5 – 3 hours of riding, and it was a bit of a hike to ILRA from Maybury, so when we got to ILRA, we only rode the second (easier) 1/2 of the yellow loop before heading back to Maybury. We ended up with ~35 miles without any Maybury singletrack. When looking at the data last night, I felt alot better about slowing down as much as I did on the way back. When we first got to ILRA, my average speed was 13.8 mph; but when we got back to Maybury, my average speed had dropped to 12.5 mph. As it turns out, we were slightly downhill all the way out to ILRA, causing us to be slightly uphill all the way back. And on the way back, I bonked. Harder than I ever have before. LUCKILY, though, I didn’t severely bonk until we were in the driveway of the Maybury parking lot. As soon as we hit that driveway, I felt dizzy and nauseous. I’d sucked down about 3/4 of a flask of hammergel during the ride, but it was just not enough. Thankfully, John had brought along some enduralytes, which helped keep the cramps in my legs at bay for the last 7 or 8 miles. If I’d had a luna bar or something similar at ILRA, I think I might have been better off. Good thing this season is all about learning 🙂 So, a bottle of gatorade, 1/2 a bag of kettle cooked chips and a payday later, I was feeling much better. All in all, a very good ride. I think I held it together pretty well even though I was running out of steam at the end. Today, just about every muscle in my body hurts. And that’s a good feeling 😀
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Alex finished school last week and came home this weekend. He dropped a bunch of stuff on Saturday night and came back for the duration last night. It was our first chance to really spend some time with him talking about school and got a good recap of his 9 months away. Sounds like he’s really happy with the experience and education he received, and would definitely recommend the school to others. He just wasn’t too keen on the micro-managing/babysitting kind of rules that seemed to pop up all over.He’s applied to several jobs in the area, and luckily, we live in a good place where most of the jobs he applied to, he can walk to. The poor kid just graduated from an elite automotive training program, ownes 4 cars – not one of which actually runs. Hopefully he can get a job and bring in some cash so that he can get at least one of them back on the road. It’ll really suck to be stranded for too long … blech …
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A very good weekend overall. Not quite as restful as I would have liked, but as my grandfather always said “i’ll rest when i’m dead” … heh .. sounds good on paper, doesn’t it?
I envision myself one day being a rusty old woman. I am not bent on having children or making heaps of money. What is important to me is that I have epic stories to tell. Stories that make your heart thump, ones about bailing hard and thriving once again. If my history foretells my future, those tales of my roadtrip through life could be told as accounts of emtional fluctuations or how I chose to ride them. I hope to fill that space between reflex and resolve with sacred sessions that bring an exuberant acuity to everything I do. The ups and the downs are what shall define my days, so long as I catch good air off the lip.
–Sarah Murray, Snowboarder
which is why I haven’t posted in awhile … I wanted to reflect more on Boyne, but really … I said enough in my other posts …
Work has been rough, and personal scheduling has been stressful…. so, I just sat back and let the chaos blow over ..
Last night though, was fantastic.
I was supposed to ride ILRA with the Scurrs and FJ, but the pickup needs a new driveshaft and Nick was somewhat stranded at home. Also, I was pretty beat and didn’t want to have to drive all the way home from ILRA at 9:00 …
Nick and Mike had made plans to meet at Stoney Creek HS for a somewhat mellow ride (mike’s still recovering from a broken rib) .. So, I drove home, changed my clothes and we headed out for what turned out to be one of the best rides I’ve had this year.
We didn’t do a TON of miles, but we were out for well over 2 hours. We just rode and hung out. We chatted with folks on the trail and the boys looked at reroute options and talked about projects for the trailday this weekend. And I rode HARD. And I had a ton of fun doing it.
As usual, we entered the park and went for the Pines. Mike led the train, and I was on his tail all the way through. Nick was right behind me. I was quick and confident – and smiling the whole way. After the Pines, we decided to hit some doubletrack and I kept up pretty well, even on the one big hill .. but I fell behind on recovery. Mike and Nick were at an intersection talking to a couple with a map. Stony Creek is terrible to try to navigate, and even worse sometimes if you have a map 😉 .. when I caught up, Mike was pointing them toward the pines … So, we led them there and rode the pines a second time. This time, I was even closer on Mike’s tail since I was warmed up (and a little less .. uh … relaxed ).
The pines section ends with a long, shallow climb that kind of kicks my butt. I finished hard, with my lungs trying to escape my body. I suggested we just ride more doubletrack and skip the snake/rollercoaster singletrack. While contimplating options, Nick and Mike wanted to look at the snake enterance for reroute options. So, while they were talking, I sat on the bench and had some hammer gel. After I caught my breath, I got on the bike and started toward the snake. As I passed them, I said “I changed my mind, I’ll see you at the top” … Mike was right behind me on his bike, Nick had to get his bike (which was down on the doubletrack) and he managed to catch us just as we got to the last push up. It wasn’t my best ride up the snake, but I held on pretty well …
We hung out on top for a bit, and then headed into the rollercoaster. We’d picked up a pal named Mark who knew us from Tree Farm tuesday rides a couple of years ago. I led the rollercoaster train, with the three boys behind me. I felt strong and confident and didn’t feel pressured or crowded. I knew they were close behind me, but they weren’t having ‘picnic’ conversation, so I thought I was doing an OK job. Toward the end of the middle section, I asked how the pace was, and they were all cool, so I continued to lead through the third section.
What a rush. I pushed myself hard, and had an absolute BLAST doing it. I rode hard, not because I had three boys behind me, but because I wanted to ride hard. I made it over my uphill logpile in section 2, and apparently, so did the other three behind me. I stalled on top, but thanks to my pal Phresh, I knew what to do – stood up and pedaled … got me right over the top. w00t!
Not quite ready to be done yet, we rode the same doubletrack as we rode earlier, and headed back for one more lap of the Pines. We stopped on the top of the big doubletrack hill for a scooby snack and a breather, and then headed toward the pines with silly grins on our faces. We made Nick lead the train this time, but really, he just rode off into the sunset while Mike and I rode a cool-down lap. Mike and I were much slower on this lap than the previous two, but it was schwoopy and fun. On that final climb, I locked out my front shock and stood up, and hauled ass right outta there .. too awesome.
The weather was PERFECT .. just over 80 degrees and really low humidity. My riding buddies were just fantastic and the trail couldn’t have been in better shape. It was nice to ride and chill and hang out with my bike, and not have to be someplace else; or not be so tired, hot, cold, whatever, that I just wanted to be done. No, I couldn’t have asked for a better night, a better ride.
Shari and I had planned on riding the sunrise lap together. My girls were really cool about helping coordinate so I could get on the trail in time.
Shari was in no position to ride the sunrise lap, but since the girls worked so hard to arrange the schedule, I felt compelled to do it anyway. I was going to leave at 5:00am in hopes to catch the sunrise at the top of the mountain.
It was really tough to put those bike clothes on. I’d been off the bike for almost 7 hours, and had roughly an hour of sleep (dozing on the couch). I was tired, sore, and had already done my minimum required laps. It was easy to think about skipping the sunrise and trying to catch another lap later. With help from others (thanks Nick and MIke!), I convinced myself to do it.
My HID died, 2.5 miles in. This wasn’t as traumatic as I thought it would be. I still had helmet issues, even after I moved my HID mount further back on the helmet. When the HID died, I took the light off my head and put it in my pocket. The yelllow light from the Trail Ratt was actually nicer than the white light of the HID. Also, daylight was starting, so it was getting easier to see.
I took bad line after bad line. I fell, sometime either just before of just after my HID died and was really frustrated. I felt like I walked more than previous laps and the course seemed to be more difficult.
I kept going. I had to. My ‘goal’ was to do 4 laps, my ‘fallback goal’ was 3. I needed to finish this lap.
By the time I was on the cart path, it was raining pretty hard. I was tired like I’ve never been tired before – exhausted tired. Skat passed me on the cart climb and offered a bit of SpokeDrunkie cheer. Luckily, the rain hadn’t yet made its way through the trees, so the big downhill wasn’t getting muddy (yet!). But, I was so tired, and so ‘strung out’, that I was picking really bad lines. I was nervous and sketchy. I was ON THE BRAKES, but I had to go fast enough not to endo. At one point, the trail was so soft that i just kind of fell out from underneath me. I saw myself flying headfirst into a tree. Somehow, I jumped off the bike and landed on my feet, right next to it. Heh. Skill I didn’t even know I had 😉
Anyway, I was glad to be done. I was done. Done. DOne!
As it turns out, I was the last Hella Bella out on the course. Brent called the race at 10am because of the rain.
Hindsight? I’m really glad I did that lap. Fuck. It was hard.
…… might have another post in me tonight or tomorrow …..
some really cool moments on this lap ..
Good times, good times …
Lap two wasn’t any easier. But – it wasn’t any harder either. Its all about the recovery.
I got to wear my brand new sleeveless Trails-Edge jersey. Seriously, I just took it out of the packaging to put it on. The temperature had dropped to a reasonable level and it turned into a really nice night.
I was really only 5 minutes slower on this lap than the first – and I had some light problems. We’re riding our bikes on a ski hill. We spend 7 miles climbing to the top of the ski hill, and then go back down in 2 miles. Needless to say, those last two miles are lots and lots of “e” sweet.
As I got to the sweeeeeet downhill section, it was starting to get pretty dark, especially in the woods, so I turned on the killer HID that I’d borrowed and mounted on my helmet. But, that HID is a little different than my HID and it wasn’t working quite right … and then it stopped working all together. So, I turned on my 12 watt Trail Ratt that was (badly) mounted on my handle bar.
So, I’m screamin down this hill, and my helmet is rolling around on my head because of the stoopid heavy (and now useless) light on top of it … In fact, its bumpy enough that my helmet bounced down enough to cover my eyes… So here I am, with my badly aimed, relatively dim light and I have to hold my head back so that I can peek out from underneath my helmet. And, this is NOT hard packed, stony creek type single track .. oh no .. this is rooty, soft, twisty and a little scary in the daylight … Oh, and somewhere in there, on her last lap, Shari fell so hard that she broke her helmet… (Poor thing, she tried to do another lap when I started this one, but I made her turn around a couple of miles in because she said she was feeling a little hazy and light headed.. she’s pretty much done for this race, but Robin is now kicking ass for the Half-Baked team
Where was I ? Oh, so .. yeah .. it was a tough ending out there .. But, I feel good.
Bummer part though .. Nick’s having some stomach issues and is pretty much outta commission for awhile … sorry babe!
