Mishaps and Mayhem

I'm so sore. I rode Rittenhouse with Marc yesterday. After the night ride Thursday I figured this would be a nice easy ride. No stress, middle of the afternoon, fairly flat trail other than lots of roots. Well it turned out I was on my ass more than I was on my bike.

First I was going through a rooty section, loosing momentum, so I tried to lunge forward to push it out. I hit a big rock and it stopped me dead. Well it stopped my bike dead. Me, not so much. I flew about 6 feet in the air over my handlebars and head first onto the ground. I heard a big crack and pain seems to shoot from everywhere. I layed there for a second waiting for the initial shock to subside and realize what was actually hurt. I hit my funny bone, which hurt like hell. I don't know why they call it that, it's never funny. Also tore back my thumbnail, yeah that hurt too. And the loud cracking sound was just my neck cracking, oh and maybe my helmet as I noticed today it's cracked. But after a few minutes I was able to get up and continue on.

A little later I had to dismount over something and when I went to get back on and missed my saddle. This was big ouch #2. I have a beautiful bruise today.

#3 was the best though. I was just about to bonk and Marc asked if I wanted to stop. I said no, there wasn't too much further. We headed down the next section of trail when I came across a stream crossing. All day I had rode across the ice without breaking through. So I took off across this one as well. I got half way and CRACK! My front wheel busted through. I instantly popped out my right foot. Only problem was I fell to the left. I got my foot out and shoved it toward the ground to catch me. And oh it did, only by the time I hit solid ground it was plunged deep through the ice and into the icy water. This is when I panicked. And instead of just waiting, thinking about my next move and I'd only have one foot wet. Instead I quickly pulled my foot back up, which caused me to fall onto the ice. Then I panicked more not wanted to fall through and shot my arm out and deep into the water. Then my knee. It was a mess. Finally I was able to get up, but by now I was drenched in freezing water. At this point I stood up and said, "now I'm done". Marc quickly got me out of the woods and back to the car with heat. Ah heat! I can't wait until warm weather.

Today I rode Middlerun with Marc, Amy, Ted, Dennis, Epi, Elizabeth and Rich. Things went much better. I managed to stay upright all day. Yeah! It was a lot of fun. Thanks guys!

It's Dark Outside

Last night I did my first night ride (that wasn't in a race) in about 10 years. I put it off as long as I could. First my charger was busted. But Marc sent it back and got it fixed. Then my light was lost. But Marc found it. So reluctantly I charged it up and he bugged me until I committed to a ride. Last night was the night.
We headed out right at dusk. So it wasn't so bad due to the residual daylight and Marc riding behind me, which provided even more light. As we rode the sky grew darker and darker, but I was ok. At one point Marc stopped without saying anything and I was riding with my light alone. Though a little panic shot through me for a second, I quickly realized I was still ok.
I'm not going to say I like night riding, or that I enjoy it. But I will say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Being on trails I knew helped a lot. But overall it was a good experience and one I'm sure I'll have to repeat again and again. Hopefully it'll just keep getting better.

I think I have a problem...

I was putting away laundry today when I found my t-shirt drawer was full. No problem, I thought, I'll just put them in the other drawer. I opened it to find it stuffed to the brim as well. I thought this is crazy, there has to be something in there that shouldn't be. So I began pulling everything out and stacked them up. This is when I realized I have over 30 t-shirts that aren't even my main wearing t-shirts. These are for sleeping, laying around the house, yard work and what not. That's crazy!To make matters worse half my closet is also filled with t-shirts. I have another another 50 or so that I have deemed worthy enough to be hung up and color coded so that I can easily mix and match. And it doesn't stop there. I have a 3rd drawer that is dedicated to just long sleeve t-shirts. I have a problem, this can't be normal.