What's My Excuse?

So much has happened. Where to begin?

Rainy Hill Repeats:

I'll start with a pic. Right after I got my road bike back from the shop, I did rainy hill repeats along Southshore, which runs almost the length of Lake Lemon. I stopped to get a few pics of this guy. There are always people fishing along the causeway; I wonder if they ever catch anything. After showing this pic to Thurston, he replied with the proper way to cook a carp--which is what he says this looks like. Get a log good and hot; smoke the fish on top of the log; discard the fish; eat the log. I'm guessing carp doesn't taste good.




Fox - Cat Standoff:

Later that week, Mr. Wonderful called me to the window where I snapped a grainy pic through the screen of a cool Fox-Cat standoff. The cat is seated in our compost pile where the fox wants to peruse the goodies. I was surprised to see the cat win when the fox retreated. Who knew?

Ride 2 Recovery:
Engaged with some volunteer duties, I missed some training time. I sometimes stress over missed days, but I understand things will pop up every now and then. One such occassion was the Crane Cyclefest that I helped organize. As part of the national Ride 2 Recovery program, this bike ride raised $$ to help wounded veterans go through bicycle rehab for their injuries.

Our venue raised over $35,000, mostly in corporate sponsorships. I had the opportunity to go to dinner with and ride with a couple of the veterans that travel around. These guys (and girls, I presume) have overcome severe challenges and continue to have fun on 2 wheels. What a tremendous achievement and attitude. From now on, I ask myself, "What's My Excuse?" whenever I'm feeling sore, tired, or defeated. These guys are super cool and it was a pleasure meeting them.

Delvin McMillian:

Juan Carlos Hernandez:

Racing:

Twice yesterday I had to tell myself to keep going and to keep pushing it. The French Lick DRT race was a 27-mile race with over 3,000 feet of climbing. OUCH! I had a goal to try to stay with the fast girls. That lasted about 90 seconds when we started climbing on the single track. We didn't finish climbing until mile 6 of the 9-mile loop. One sweet down hill on the back side then it was all climbing again. I had the EXACT wrong set up for this course. With my stiff seatpost and 1x9, I was begging for a granny gear and suspension. The trails are quite new, so I was bouncing around all over the pace. I'm definitely riding my thudbuster for the US Cup qualifier DINO race. In other news, I'm getting my new bike next week, so I'll have a granny on at least one bike!

Yesterday I rode in a time trial--a fund raiser for HMBA. This event took place on the flat, twisty turns at Town Run Trail Park. It's a terrific place to practice cornering--something I really, really, really need to work on. Perhaps a road trip is in order for me. I was the 3rd of 5 females--respectable in my opinion.

Tractor:

And last, I have to mention the new tractor. I've driven it twice now, and I have to say it is WAY COOL. I'm sure I'm not as excited as Mr. Wonderful is, but it's certainly a workhorse. Coming down to the wire, I was sure he would get a John Deere, but he changed his mind at the last minute and went with the Kubota. It has a bunch of hydrolic hoses & stuff--seems like a lot that could go wrong and be a pain in the butt to fix. I guess that's the trade-off for all the goodies: front end loader, back hoe, mower, & tiller.

Independently Wealthy-1

I think I need to start my "Independently Wealthy" series. This is where I just highlight one of the things I would do or buy if I were Independently Wealthy. Granted, there isn't enough space allocated to me by Blogspot to show everything, so these posts will likely be random.

Today, Mr. Wonderful was talking about an acquaintance who recently went on a motorcycle trip. With his newly purchased Kawasaki KLR, this guy rode his dual-purpose (off road/on road) bike to Story, IN on some backroads. Then, the clan met up and journeyed over some gravel roads, dirt roads, trails and through creeks! Yes, there is a cult of some sort where people as geeky as mountain bike riders jazz up their rides and do crazy things! I LOVE IT! I think I should get in to it. I already have a motorcycle endorsement on my license; that's a start, right????

Imagine all the cool gear and skillz I could pick up if I were to buy one of these. The bikes themselves are around $6,000 MSRP--hell, some bicycles cost more than that. So, it's not a huge cost, but I would need lots of time off to go play, lots of new gear, lots of goodies and adaptations for the bike, and lots of lessons. Therefore, this interest, for now, goes in my Independently Wealthy Wishful Thinking series.

2010 - DINO 1 - Winona Lake

This is how it played out:

Results from DINO website:
Rank Finish Time DINO# First Last Team/Sponsor
1 1:40:08 90 Nicole Borem DRT Racing
2 1:43:02 23 Sara Krause Krause Sports Performance
3 1:43:22 154 Amanda McKay Shamrock Cycles
4 1:45:45 109 Emily Benson DRT Racing
5 1:50:55 22 Jayne Prater DINO Adventure Racing
6 1:51:35 129 Katherine Mowat Kirks
7 1:51:50 102 Angela Breeden Bicycle Station
8 2:08:54 54 Meredith Link Bicycle Station
DNF 24 AnnaJean Dallaire Alderfer Bergen

While AnnaJean is a pro and Meredith is an awesome rider, these ladies had a bad day. So, I'm considering myself last. At the same time, I consider myself quite victorious.

1) Again, I felt strong this entire race. Quite honestly, it was the slick conditions that kept me from totally punching it. My time was actually 8 minutes slower than my personal best at this course. Given the conditions & back-asswards way they ran the course (opposite direction from usual), I'm happy with the time. As Luther P. pointed out to me after the race, "You're just faster than your bike." Awesome. I totally was faster than my bike yesterday. I get it. I had more to give at times. Or perhaps I just need to work on my technical skills. Lol.

2) For the first time ever, I didn't get lapped by the Pro men who started 14 minutes in front of me! I saw Matt B, my sponsor, on a certain part of the trail as it meanders through a grassy field. Snaking our way through the field, I knew I was in front of him, but didn't know by how much. I set a new goal: DO NOT LET HIM CATCH UP. He crossed the finish line about 30 seconds behind me, on his 3rd lap--my 2nd. How neat to find motivation in odd ways!

3) I crashed and didn't hurt anything. My bike was fine; I had a little scratch on my leg; it was fine. The only negative--2 guys saw it happen. I stood up and asked, "So, what's my score?" Thinking a 6.8 or 7.2--something along those lines, one replied, "25!" I hopped back on the bike and contemplated what 25 could possibly mean for the next 30 minutes.

-Was it out of 100? Surely not. The crash was not that lame.

-Was it out of 25? No, my landing was not very graceful, and the audible grunt/low scream was not very ladylike. I would not have received a perfect score for this.

-Was it some other obscure system I wasn't familiar with?

It turns out, Luther P. was one of those guys. As I'm relaying this story to him after the race, he says, "That was me and another guy!" I asked about the significance of 25.

"You were the 25th person to crash at that very spot."

"Oh. I guess I'm not a complete klutz then."

4) I finished only 15 seconds behind a girl that was beating me by 90 seconds last year. I will have to get better!

5) The 3 days leading up to the race, I was in a foul mood due to the forecast of rain, rain, and rain. Knowing the course would be muddy drastically lessened my desire to participate. As I was on the starting line, I told myself to suck it up, get over it, and have fun. I did. I overcame those negative thoughts.

6) And last--who can not feel like a champion at the top of a short, steep hill where strangers were ringing cow bells and cheering me on giving me motivation to dig deep and CLIMB? I thanked them both laps telling them it was just what I needed.

Sure, it would have been MUCH more fun if the course had been less wet and the roots less slickery. But it could have been much worse. I'm excited to keep it up and see what I can do next! Maybe I'll even gain a couple of positions by the end of the year.

I don't have any pics from this year, so I'll put some in from 2 years ago as I crashed out last year; my tire rolled off the rim in that one.

All smiles....

I'm just coming over the logs laughing at Matt.