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
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Happy TrailsI 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.
Monday, October 30, 2006
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.
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".
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".
Monday, October 23, 2006
Forget-Me-Not
This was a long weekend. Not long as in a three day weekend or anything. Long as in absolutely
every minute was jammed packed from the time I got up until I went to bed. I got off work Friday and rushed home to do my openers. Unfortunately I didn’t get to do them where I normally do and had to do them on the road, in what seemed like a 50mph headwind. Leaves and such were beating me in the face as I rode along.
Saturday I was not feeling my best. I was just having a conversation the week before with Rob about race gut and how I don’t get it. I try to keep things light. No real expectations and what not; whatever happens happens, therefore, no race gut. Well Saturday morning I did. It being the first MAC race, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It turned out to be a good day. It was a good size field, 25 women. The largest I’ve raced cross with to date. We were all lining up and someone made a comment that there were a lot of women, I agreed and then I glanced back over my shoulder and really saw how many. It was pretty cool. I ended up getting 16th out of 25. So I was pretty happy with that. It was a fun course.
Sunday was day 2. Ouch! I was pretty sore from racing the day before. I wouldn’t even let Marc pre-reg me because I really had no intention of racing. As Sat progressed it looked more likely that I would race, but still no guarantee. Sunday I packed my bag and we headed off. I got there and still didn’t feel like it. Kerri and Marc assured me that though I felt like ass, so did everyone else. So I registered.
Time to get ready, I have my number and I go to get dressed and I open up my bag and no shoes! Crap, I have everything but my shoes. I’m thinking in my head, “this is a sign, I shouldn’t be racing”. I tell Marc what happened. Before I can say anything else he takes off through the parking lot asking anyone if they have size 36 or 37 shoes for me to borrow. I just follow behind. Thinking no one will have that size. Then we ask Laura from Team Shiftless. She has her shoes with her and she’s not racing and they’re my size. So she lends them to me. Only problem, they’re Time and I have Shimano pedals and never ridden anything but Shimano. Marc, thinking quickly again, gets me to borrow a pedal wrench and he takes his pedals off his pit bike and puts them on mine.
So now I’m racing, I’m sore from the day before, have someone else’s shoes and pedals I’ve never used before. Mmmm
Luckily everything turned out ok. Time pedals are really easy to get used to and the only real problem I had was finding the cleat when I got back on my bike as the positioning was different. I didn’t do all so great in my race, but it wasn’t cause of the pedals or shoes. It was a good day though. And fun in a sick sort of way. So thank you Laura for loaning me your shoes!!!
My nephew's Justin and Jake at Granogue. They loved the cow bells!
Marc in the ghetto Pooh Bear and Doopy as Tigger. I actually heard a mom say, "look honey it's a Tiger and a Bunny".
Katie on Sunday. I don't know how she can even see with that giant helmet.
My sister, Jen.
Ethan flying up the run-up at Granogue. He's like a bunny off the bike.
Jamie partaking of some sweet sweet Moe's.
This was a long weekend. Not long as in a three day weekend or anything. Long as in absolutely
every minute was jammed packed from the time I got up until I went to bed. I got off work Friday and rushed home to do my openers. Unfortunately I didn’t get to do them where I normally do and had to do them on the road, in what seemed like a 50mph headwind. Leaves and such were beating me in the face as I rode along.Saturday I was not feeling my best. I was just having a conversation the week before with Rob about race gut and how I don’t get it. I try to keep things light. No real expectations and what not; whatever happens happens, therefore, no race gut. Well Saturday morning I did. It being the first MAC race, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It turned out to be a good day. It was a good size field, 25 women. The largest I’ve raced cross with to date. We were all lining up and someone made a comment that there were a lot of women, I agreed and then I glanced back over my shoulder and really saw how many. It was pretty cool. I ended up getting 16th out of 25. So I was pretty happy with that. It was a fun course.Sunday was day 2. Ouch! I was pretty sore from racing the day before. I wouldn’t even let Marc pre-reg me because I really had no intention of racing. As Sat progressed it looked more likely that I would race, but still no guarantee. Sunday I packed my bag and we headed off. I got there and still didn’t feel like it. Kerri and Marc assured me that though I felt like ass, so did everyone else. So I registered.
Time to get ready, I have my number and I go to get dressed and I open up my bag and no shoes! Crap, I have everything but my shoes. I’m thinking in my head, “this is a sign, I shouldn’t be racing”. I tell Marc what happened. Before I can say anything else he takes off through the parking lot asking anyone if they have size 36 or 37 shoes for me to borrow. I just follow behind. Thinking no one will have that size. Then we ask Laura from Team Shiftless. She has her shoes with her and she’s not racing and they’re my size. So she lends them to me. Only problem, they’re Time and I have Shimano pedals and never ridden anything but Shimano. Marc, thinking quickly again, gets me to borrow a pedal wrench and he takes his pedals off his pit bike and puts them on mine.
So now I’m racing, I’m sore from the day before, have someone else’s shoes and pedals I’ve never used before. MmmmLuckily everything turned out ok. Time pedals are really easy to get used to and the only real problem I had was finding the cleat when I got back on my bike as the positioning was different. I didn’t do all so great in my race, but it wasn’t cause of the pedals or shoes. It was a good day though. And fun in a sick sort of way. So thank you Laura for loaning me your shoes!!!
My nephew's Justin and Jake at Granogue. They loved the cow bells!
Marc in the ghetto Pooh Bear and Doopy as Tigger. I actually heard a mom say, "look honey it's a Tiger and a Bunny".
Katie on Sunday. I don't know how she can even see with that giant helmet.
My sister, Jen.
Ethan flying up the run-up at Granogue. He's like a bunny off the bike.
Jamie partaking of some sweet sweet Moe's.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Drive In, Drive Out
The other day a bunch of us were working on getting the course set up for Granogue this weekend. In the process of doing so, a low hanging branch needed to be removed to keep from decapitate people as the rode by. After cutting it down, it needed to be disposed of. Someone suggested to use the truck to take it down by the woods. This is where my story begins.
So James and Dan are cutting up the branch into smaller pieces when they ask who can drive stick, as the truck is stick. I reply "I can". Silly Silly me.
Though yes I can drive stick, and my car is a stick, I quickly found out there is a big difference in driving my little mini and driving a big huge industrial truck. For one, when I got in it was a bench seat. This was my first clue there may be a problem. I moved the seat as far forward as it would go and I still wasn't even close to reaching the pedals. So I grabbed someone's back pack that was in the truck and stuck it behind my back to make it so I could reach. No problem. So I start it up, find first, which was also a little funky, and then drive over to where James and Dan are waiting to load the branch. It wasn't bad, I had to ride the clutch a bit, but it went ok.
We all load the branches into the truck and then it's time to pull out. James gets in with me and Dan suggests riding on the back. I say no way, I don't want to throw him off or anything by accident. So he walked over. It was a little jumpy at first but we were ok, I pulled over to the treeline and stopped and we unloaded the branches. Then we had to go back up. Getting down the hill wasn't bad, going back up was another story.
James tried not to ride back with me and I told him I didn't want to drive by myself. So James reluctantly got back in the truck and immediately put on his seatbelt. I pull out and try to turn around in the grass, but there was a big ditch and I wasn't sure how a big heavy truck would take that and I didn't want to get it stuck. So we decided to go down to more level ground. On our way down the hill we spy a black cat crossing the road, so we decide we're not going all the way down, we'll try turning around midway. It was semi-flat on the sides, so I could get it turned around and we're now headed straight back up the hill. I try to take off a couple times to no avail. We just kept going backwards. I couldn't get the clutch to catch before we were rolling too much. We give up and decide to call for help. James pulls out the walkie talkie and tries calling Marc. No answer. Then he tries Tom. Still silence. Crap. We're on our own. James comments that if I had three legs I'd be ok. One for the clutch, one for the brake and then one for the gas. Since we were stuck, we decided to try it. James manages to get his leg over around the gear shift to reach the gas as I hold the clutch and the brake. Then I'm giving him instruction on how much gas to give it and to watch the RPM's so we can get it moving. He guns it, we lurch forward, too much gas, I had to stop. We try again, we start jumping again, I tell him I just need to get it to second and we'll be ok. He says "I have to get my leg out". I see him moving out of the corner of my eye, but I can't see what he's doing. I can't wait anymore. We're lurching too much, I slam it into 2nd. It smoothes out and we're driving back up the hill. By this time I'm laughing so hard tears are coming down my face. That's when I look down and notice James never got his leg moved. I had it pinned between the gear shift and the seat. He just sat there calmly not saying anything. He just said keep driving. We get back up and we decide we won't mention all the problems we had, we'll keep it to ourselves. As soon as I pull the truck to a stop and take it out of gear so James is free, he jumps out and runs over to Marc and tells him what happened. So much for not telling anyone of our difficulties. It was funny though. Luckily all worked out. However, I have no plans on driving any large utility vehicles anytime soon.
The other day a bunch of us were working on getting the course set up for Granogue this weekend. In the process of doing so, a low hanging branch needed to be removed to keep from decapitate people as the rode by. After cutting it down, it needed to be disposed of. Someone suggested to use the truck to take it down by the woods. This is where my story begins.
So James and Dan are cutting up the branch into smaller pieces when they ask who can drive stick, as the truck is stick. I reply "I can". Silly Silly me.
Though yes I can drive stick, and my car is a stick, I quickly found out there is a big difference in driving my little mini and driving a big huge industrial truck. For one, when I got in it was a bench seat. This was my first clue there may be a problem. I moved the seat as far forward as it would go and I still wasn't even close to reaching the pedals. So I grabbed someone's back pack that was in the truck and stuck it behind my back to make it so I could reach. No problem. So I start it up, find first, which was also a little funky, and then drive over to where James and Dan are waiting to load the branch. It wasn't bad, I had to ride the clutch a bit, but it went ok.
We all load the branches into the truck and then it's time to pull out. James gets in with me and Dan suggests riding on the back. I say no way, I don't want to throw him off or anything by accident. So he walked over. It was a little jumpy at first but we were ok, I pulled over to the treeline and stopped and we unloaded the branches. Then we had to go back up. Getting down the hill wasn't bad, going back up was another story.
James tried not to ride back with me and I told him I didn't want to drive by myself. So James reluctantly got back in the truck and immediately put on his seatbelt. I pull out and try to turn around in the grass, but there was a big ditch and I wasn't sure how a big heavy truck would take that and I didn't want to get it stuck. So we decided to go down to more level ground. On our way down the hill we spy a black cat crossing the road, so we decide we're not going all the way down, we'll try turning around midway. It was semi-flat on the sides, so I could get it turned around and we're now headed straight back up the hill. I try to take off a couple times to no avail. We just kept going backwards. I couldn't get the clutch to catch before we were rolling too much. We give up and decide to call for help. James pulls out the walkie talkie and tries calling Marc. No answer. Then he tries Tom. Still silence. Crap. We're on our own. James comments that if I had three legs I'd be ok. One for the clutch, one for the brake and then one for the gas. Since we were stuck, we decided to try it. James manages to get his leg over around the gear shift to reach the gas as I hold the clutch and the brake. Then I'm giving him instruction on how much gas to give it and to watch the RPM's so we can get it moving. He guns it, we lurch forward, too much gas, I had to stop. We try again, we start jumping again, I tell him I just need to get it to second and we'll be ok. He says "I have to get my leg out". I see him moving out of the corner of my eye, but I can't see what he's doing. I can't wait anymore. We're lurching too much, I slam it into 2nd. It smoothes out and we're driving back up the hill. By this time I'm laughing so hard tears are coming down my face. That's when I look down and notice James never got his leg moved. I had it pinned between the gear shift and the seat. He just sat there calmly not saying anything. He just said keep driving. We get back up and we decide we won't mention all the problems we had, we'll keep it to ourselves. As soon as I pull the truck to a stop and take it out of gear so James is free, he jumps out and runs over to Marc and tells him what happened. So much for not telling anyone of our difficulties. It was funny though. Luckily all worked out. However, I have no plans on driving any large utility vehicles anytime soon.
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