Granogue

Sunday was Granogue. I spent most of the day here doing registration. For some reason there seemed to be a different weather system under the tent. It was cold and windy all day. We took turns standing off to the side in the sun trying to gain warmth.










Jan was my table buddy at registration. He runs a tight ship. Don't mess with an angry German.













Liz and Wes. It was great to see her.













Once registration was over I was able to catch FFA finishing up the enduro race. 2nd place. Way to go Amy!











This was the only riding Marc was able to get in. Riding back and forth from registration to the top of the Coppenburg keeping everything running smoothly.









Dennis got 2nd in his race. Figured I'd take a picture of him, since he always takes pictures of all of us.











Amy and her new toy. A marshmallow blow gun. How cool is that!
Paul was able to turn it into a machine gun with his powerful lungs.











This must be the largest podium I've ever seen.











I don't know who's dog this was, but he was so cute. And yes, he only has 3 legs. He got along like a champ.
However when I was trying to catch him to take his picture, Jan said "like it's that hard, he only has 3 legs".

Obsessed

A girl I work with told me about this game she just got, Fish Tycoon. The premise is that on the island of Isola something terrible happened that messed up the environmental balance and all the fish died. So you have to find the right balance, grow more fish, find the 7 magic fish and repopulate the island. In order to finance your mission you have to sell fish along the way along with caring for them and doing environmental testing to get the right balance so all the fish can survive.

I thought this sounded cute. kinda like a fishy version of Sims. I love Sims, but had to quit because it was soaking up way too much of my time. I was obsessed. I played it constantly and couldn't walk away. But I figured this sounded more simple, it'd be something I could just mess with. Wrong, I started it yesterday and aside from some time to eat (which Marc had to keep saying "we have to leave, are you almost ready?") and playing a little guitar, I've been glued to the computer. Obviously whether it's people or fish, I can't play these type games.

Bread Anyone?

So yesterday I was sitting at the computer reading emails and what not and I hear crinkling behind me. It was brief, so I didn't think much of it. Then I heard it again. So I looked to see what it was only to find Layla with a full loaf of bread and a bite taken out of the side of it. When I said something to her she just looked at me like "is there a problem?".

New Ride
This is my new bike. I actually got it two weeks ago. But I couldn't ride it much since I was still sick until Lodi. I have to say it's awesome.
Marc found it and then I just had to go talk to Rick about size and what I wanted on it. Yeah, I'm not aloud to go to the bike shop by myself anymore.

Lodi Farm

Well we did it again. Another endurance race. Every time I agree to one, I think, "wow, it'll be so fun". On the way there and waiting for it to start I always think "why do I get myself into these things?". During them I don't think, I just do. Afterwards I remember "because there is something so cool and fun about pushing yourself further than you thought you could and racing with friends that makes it all worth it".
This race was no exception. Since the Bakers Dozen I've been focused on this race. I rode my ass off for a week until I could no longer breathe. This sent me back to the doctor thinking I had really bad allergies. Nope, still sick! So round 2 of antibiotics, plus a ton of allergy medicine and a week of rest brought me up to Lodi.
Saturday morning we all pack up and take off for VA. It was a beautiful morning. On the ride down I fell asleep as normal, only to awaken to pouring rain. No!!! I wasn't supposed to start until much later. We get there get set up and me and Uncle Mike head off for a pre-lap to see the course while it was still light out. Looked like a nice course, but I wasn't happy about the rain.
It was time to register. We headed up to registration not knowing exactly what to find. Let me explain. When we went to register originally a month prior, we noticed there was no women's class. Only a men's duo. So Marc very kindly contacted the race director and asked him if we could have a class. He responded that they hadn't had many women, but if women wanted to come he'd give us a class. Later we saw an email go out that they were adding a women's class due to pressure from the North. However, a week prior we still did not see a class. At registration we told the people working that they had said that we would have a class. So they went off to ask. The race director came back and said "who's Marc's wife". I said me. He said "if you want a class, you got one". He told us he'd still score us with the men, but he'd have a class for us too. So that was cool.
Then we went back to the compound to wait and wait and wait. I laid down trying to get some sleep, but instead woke up to pouring rain at 10pm. I lay in the car trying to go back to sleep, only to do so and have a horrible nightmare and a panic attack. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to ride at night and in the pouring rain would be worse. I just wanted to be home. Despite the 50 degree temperatures, I was sweating out of control. I tried to tell Marc, but he said "I don't want to hear about it. You know how to do this". End of story.
So I got up and did my lap around 2am. Amy had already done a double. I just had to do a single and she had said she'd do another double to help me out with the night laps. Amy is great! I'd like to say it was better than expected, but not really. It had stopped raining, so that was a plus, and the temp's had gone up some too. But the course was soaked and very slippery. Tie this in with a ton of roots and bridges. Not my favorite combo. I went on and finished my lap with an absolutely awful time of 1:28. That's pathetic.
Then came panic panic attack #2. I was sleeping and couldn't get warm. I just lay there shaking uncontrollably. Meghan told me it was time to get ready. As I was getting dressed Tom saw me and said you're not cold. He had me touch his hands and then mine. I was hyperventilating and not knowing it. Yeah, I just keep getting better. Tom calmed me down and I got myself together and took off to wait for Amy. Luckily the dawn was just starting. I took my light, but was hoping not to use it. Amy came in looking a bit drained after two back to back doubles with only my one single in between. I told her I'd give her some rest and take my time. As I took off and could see as the sun started to come up, I got so excited I could see I started going faster and faster. I was riding things I had walked during my night lap. As I came around to the transition I told them I was heading out for another lap. I stopped by the compound to have them tell Amy she can rest more I was doing a double. Good thing, she was still asleep. So I unloaded my lights and took a Gu and took off. It was excellent. The trail was drying up. Now the sun was up and I could see clearly. I was bombing through the trail. I was fatigued and sore but didn't care. I just kept going. When I came in I learned I had pulled a 1:12. I was super happy.
By now Amy was awake and rested (as much as you are during these things). We quickly discussed strategy. Yeah we were only racing against ourselves. But we were racing against the men too. We decided Amy would do another double and I'd take the final lap and Amy took off.By now it was a beautiful day. People asked how I was holding up. I said "great, it's like night and day out there". They laughed at me. By now everyone was tired and fatigued, but we also knew the end was near. We all sat discussing how we felt and who was up next and who would be taking the final lap. One of the conversations we had was what songs we had pop into our heads while we were riding. They were great, I wish I could remember them all. A very odd assortment. Matt's by title I am guessing were something his son Hunter listens too. Poor Matt. Mine was "Rawhide". That rolin', rollin', rollin' part always gets stuck in my head. Bob's was Suicide something, which we later listened too and the best song to have stuck if you head to pick one.
As people came by going out on their final laps, Ethan sat in the lounger with the heckeltron 2000 and cheered them on. When Amy came past I yelled, "come on, this is it and you're done", to which she stood up and took off like a shot. I think that ended up being her fastest lap of the race.I took my final lap. It was beautiful. Almost no one out on the trail anymore. But I didn't care. I had the beauty of the day to myself. My legs were tight and sore, but I pushed on. I had to reason with myself on the hills, "yes this hurts, but walking would hurt more", and up I'd go. I bobbed and weaved through the flat whoopty section towards the end hearing Marc in my head the whole time, "your Rudy the rabbit". I loved that section. I kept my pace up all the way to the finish and finished with another 1:12, yeah! Later when we saw the results sheet, we got 5th place with the men's duo by 3 minutes. I had a guy on my tail, but I never saw him.
Overall, it was a rough start, but an absolutely fun and great race. I loved the course. It was so fun (dry). Amy was awesome and we work really well together. All the teams did really well. I do hope that more women come out next year so we can have a real women's class. So any women reading this, please get a buddy and mark it on your calendar. This race is worth doing. If we don't show an effort on our part, we can't expect the promoters to show an effort on theirs.
In closing, I just want to take a moment to say thanks to Tom and Meghan for all their hard work and support. Without you guys it would be so much harder. Everything you did was very much appreciated by everyone.

Hope

I went for a ride today and it was great. It wasn't superb and I'm no where near back to where I was before getting sick. But today at least gave me hope. After the other day I needed some.
Monday I came home and it was a beautiful day. Sunny and 84 degrees. Can't get much better right. So I had to do some yard work first, then I was able to slip out. I just wanted to do something easy to spin out my legs from the weekend.
As I took off down the street I knew I was in trouble. My butt was killing me. It was sore in ways I couldn't believe. I just kept fidgeting around and after some time it quieted down to an acceptable level. Then I tried to find a nice easy pace. So I clicked down, and down again, and again. Oh crap, you have got to be kidding me, there is none! My legs felt like lead and they refused to open up. But I continued on. The rest of the ride was more of the same. Towards the end my butt flared back up to searing pain by the time I got home. (Luckily no monkey butt like Marc's was last year, just irritated and raw) I came home cranky and disgusted. Marc kept asking me what was wrong. I said "nothing, I'm fine, just had a bad ride". Which was true. But I just couldn't get it out of my head. It was so bad.
Today I got back out. Not knowing what to expect. Found a nice comfy pair of shorts, put on all my favorite clothes so maybe that would help rub off. The sky looked gloomy and threatened rain, but I figured I'd get as far as I could before the rain hit. It turned out to be a great ride. I wasn't super fast, and my climbing legs seem to have left me, but I did as many of the logs as I could muster up. I woosed out on a couple, but did a few I never have before, so that was cool. As I came out I looked at my watch and noticed I had just turned a better time then I had all last year. Yeah! There's hope for me yet!

99 Problems But the Bike Ain't One

This title came to me last night around 10:30pm or so as I was out on my night and final lap of the Baker's Dozen. A 13 hour race down in Virginia. I participated in the 3 man class with Marc and Kerry.
Due to being ill the past few weeks I did not get anywhere near the amount of riding I wanted or needed to get in. Before my illness I was riding great (for me anyway). I was feeling stronger than ever this time of year. Maybe stronger than ever. I had gotten my riding times up and had a nice solid base going. Then all hell broke loose.
Friday I got ready for the race in normal fashion. Still doing wash and packing 10pm the night before. Which drives Marc crazy. When everyone was pre-riding I decided to hold back to save myself because I had no idea what I had in the tank only riding 2hrs and 15min over the past 3 weeks. Yup 2hrs 15min, horrible! Marc did persuade me to go take a look at this one drop off so I wouldn't be surprised, get hurt, and could ride it. It wasn't far from where we camped, so no big deal. Then the race began.
Marc started off by doing a double. I was second in the line-up. I was ready and waiting to go. No problem. Nerves in check. Had everything I needed. Marc comes in yelling "monkey". That's when I notice I lost the nipple to my Camelbak. I scramble around and Amy gives me hers for my lap. Marc trades off the anklet and I'm off. My legs and lungs are tight as I expected. I push on, thinking they will open up. The more I ask of them, the more they laughed at me. On top of this my head is draining profusely so I'm constantly blowing huge snot rockets and coughing up gobs of crap. Nice! I shift down and move into survival mode. Then the heat starts to get to me too. I love warm weather, but a 30 degree change in one day is just too much to race in. As I ride along people keep asking me if I'm ok. I think that's odd and just keep going. Later I found out my face was bright red and they were worried about me.
Lap 2- I ditched the undershirt to help with the heat. However, Amy needed her nipple back, so I had to use my Camelbak with none. This doesn't sound hard, but it is. Luckily I do have an on/off valve. However, what you have to do if leave it switched off, then put it in your mouth and start sucking as you turn it on, suck as much water as you can get and then turn it back off while still sucking. Oh and you have to do all this while riding, which means you can't breathe throughout. But I had no other choice since if I didn't do this, as soon as the valve is opened, the water recedes back into the bladder, causing it really hard to get it back out without sucking up a bunch of air. And due to the huge amount of cow pies that littered the course, water bottles were not an option.
Lap 3- by now my ass is killing me. As I jump back onto my bike I quickly realize that 3 weeks of little to no riding took away my cycling butt. The pain was horrible for the first 10-15min until it worked back in. I also had the sunset lap. This is good and bad. Good because I wouldn't have to night ride (yeah!). Bad because the sun was at such an angle through the trees that I was blinded. The heat of the day was finally going away as well and that was great. Though I was tired, I felt like I finally got a second wind.
Lap 4- my last lap, however it's now almost 10pm. While getting ready to go out, another guy on another team comes in saying he just saw a guy fall on the course, and how he was screaming in pain and just went on and on about how gruesome it was. I was already having reservations about riding at night, I hadn't night ridden since 1998, I just got new lights and wasn't sure how they were going to work, I don't see well at night as it is, and now this horror story. He just kept going on and on. I got so worked up by the time I took off I was almost in tears not wanting to go because I was so afraid of suffering the same fate.
I hit the first part of single track and it's not too bad. I can see fairly well and I just chug along. My butt still hurt and my back is aching, but hey, that's endurance racing. As I get into the next section it's more tricky. There are a lot of freshly cut saplings scattered on the trail. During daylight I missed them with no problem. At night it was like they were magnetic drawing my wheels to them. I was bouncing off of and running over everything. It was out of control. Then I came across one of the zillion tri-logs and realized I couldn't see the back side. The light cast a shadow, so it looked like it dropped off to nothing. This wouldn't be an issue except on my prior lap, several of the tri-logs were loosing their back sides and getting sketchy and I didn't want to go flying over the handlebars. Some I flew caution to the wind and went over anyway, others I erred on the side of caution and would pause and dabble at the top making sure something was there on the other side.Finally, I made it back and I was in one piece. Luckily out of all the issues I had, my bike was the one thing that didn't let me down. Luckily I was flat-free and no mechanical issues throughout. It must know I'm about to replace it, so it wants to stay on my good side.
Kerry and Marc rode their asses off throughout. Neither had any issues other than Marc ripping the palm of his hand off riding rigid on such a rough course. We ended up getting 8th place. So it was a good race.