Spell Bound

I was flipping through Entertainment Weekly and came across a list of the top 5 movie magicians. Yes, I don't know why I was looking at Entertainment Weekly either. For some reason it's been coming to the house. I don't have a subscription or anything, but it keeps showing up. Anyway, the list was:

#5 Merlin
#4 Gandalf
#3 Albus Dumbledore
#2 The Wicked Witch of the West
#1 Yoda

I couldn't believe what I was reading. For one, though Yoda is a bad ass, he's not a magician, he's a jedi knight.
As for the wicked Witch of the West. #2, really? What did she really do. So she could look in a crystal ball and have a minion of flying monkeys. She couldn't even cast a decent enough spell to be immune to water. She must bave been one smelly B*&^#.
Now Albus Dumbledore on the other hand. He's awesome. He is not only a really powerful wizard, but he also has compassion and understanding. A really likeable guy. And where's Voldemort in this list? He's supposed to be the most powerful wizard of all. He's bringing himself back from the dead even. I never saw the Wicked Witch of the West do that.
Gandalf, again, another great choice. That fight on top of the tower was awesome. Yes, I'm a super geek.
And Merlin as #5? He's the one that started it all. He's the ubber magician. However, I'm not familiar with the particular film they're referencing. So maybe that Merlin sucked.
So my list would be as follows.

#5 the Wicked Witch of the West (only because I do not consider a jedi knight a magician)
#4 Dumbledore
#3 Gandalf
#2 Voldemort
#1 Merlin

Happy Trails

I can't believe the weather the last few days. It's been absolutely beautiful, especially for this time of year. I was home earlier then normal the other day and trying to decide if I was going to go for a ride. It was awesome out, but my back had been paining me all morning (and I was whining). I went back and forth and resolved that I'd take a day of rest and just enjoy the day. Then Amy calls. She too was out of work early. After very little prodding, and the promise of a nice easy spin, I agree to meet up with her and go for a ride at White Clay as long as I could get my bike in the car; as I have not yet put the roof rack back on. After practically dismantling my bike to get it in the car, I manage to fit it in and the ride was a go.
We decide to meet at the bird sanctuary. Which I thought was odd since we were riding White Clay, but ok. I arrive first. I get out and try to get my bike back together before Amy gets there so we get rolling. As soon as I get out of the car a guy comes over and says, "I have a silly question, could you tell me how to get to Bike Line?" So I gave him directions. Afterwards I proceed to pull out my bike and I hear grumbling. Then one of them says, "I think it's called a cyclocross bike". I told him it was, and he in turn asks if I could ride it here. I said I don't know I hadn't before, but I'm about to find out. Mmmm, actually that is a good question. I've never really ridden my cross bike on single track.
Soon Amy arrives, we get ourselves together and head off. It's beautiful out. I'm in shorts and short sleeves and comfortable. The trails are in awesome condition. They're nice and dry, with just a little leaves on them to kinda make it more interesting. It's great. We head over to White Clay. We end up climbing a lot more than I had anticipated. But it was just nice to get out and have an enjoyable ride.
It did get a little interesting when we get to shock and awe. Normally it's called this because it's a fast twisty burmy piece of singletrack you can fly through. However, with cross brakes, that aren't really made for breaking but really slowing, it gave shock and awe a whole new meaning. We both were squeezing as hard as we could and just rolling along. There was no stopping. Eventually we did manage to stop and we had to rest are hands for a moment as they had seized up from white knuckling for so long.
Overall it was an awesome day, great riding, my back loosened up and felt good. We don't get too many more days like this anymore. So it's nice to be able to make the most of them.






FFA messing around on a make-shift teeter-totter. We passed up riding on the real teeter totter on the skills trail.











Look how pretty the view was. And I don't mean of Amy's ass.












We ran into Fitzi and rider heading out for a run on the way back to the car.

Suit Up?

Yesterday was Beacon. I was scared half to death of this race. All week people kept telling me how hard it was and of the ampitheater of death. I didn't even want to do it it got so bad. Marc had pre-registered me, so I was stuck. There was no way out. Ah, but then I got hurt Satruday. I don't know exactly what happened. All I know is that by Saturday night my back and hip had seized up so much that I couldn't stand up straight or put hardly any pressure on my one leg. I tried to rub it out and made it worse. I took Advil; didn't help. I tried hot balm. Felt good. But I think it just disguised the pain. I went to bed without packing for the race. I wasn't even sure I was going to make it to the race, not alone actually getting on my bike.
Sunday morning comes, I get up and move around gingerly. I feel stiff, but no sharp stabbing pains. So that's an improvement. I take more Advil. Grab a little something to eat and throw some crap in my bag as Marc is rushing me out the door.
We get to the race, I'm moving ok. I pick up my number, go to get dressed and oh no not again! I have my shoes, but this time I forget my kit. I have arm warmers, leg warmers, gloves, shoes helmet, everything for my extremeties, but no kit. Luckily Mike lent me one of his skin suits. He had an extra, though it was a men's medium. But hey, beggers can't be choosy.
Oddly enough the shorts weren't bad. I filled out the butt just fine. It was a little loose around the leg, but the kneewarmers held it in place. The upper body was another story. My oh my was it anything but tight. At the line one of the girls actually laughed at me. Another said that it made it look like I lost a bunch of weight. I laughed. But it did the job.
Thanks Mike!!!
My race went well. Amy came through with some stuff called Biofreeze that did wonders on my back. It felt great. It Seized up a little later again. But just reapplied and good as new. Also, turned out I liked the course a lot. I did hate the ampitheater of death with a passion. That is a hateful thing to make people run up. Especially someone as short as me. Those things weren't stairs. It was like climbing a wall each time. But other than that I really enjoyed the course. Even the beach wasn't so bad. Overall turned out to be a good day, and now Beacon is one of my favorite courses so far.

Itty Bitty Pit Tid Bit

Below is an actual conversation Amy, Paul and I had regarding handing off a bike.

Amy, "here catch for me".

me, "no I can't, I'm no good, I get hurt".

Amy, "ok hold this, I'll catch, I like to catch".

Paul, "if you're gonna catch, you have to catch from behind".

Amy, "oh I know, I'm good at catching".

me, "ok, as long as I don't have to catch".