Ozarks Red Ribbon Ride

Tomorrow is the Ozarks Red Ribbon Ride benefitting the AIDS Project of the Ozarks. I was totally shocked to hear some people say that they weren't doing the ride because they didn't want to be associated with "that kind" of charity. I know there are alot of ignorant people out there like that, but I didn't think I actually rode along side any of them. Ignorance makes me want to kick people's asses. I don't tolerate ignorance very well.

On a more positive note, the weather is supposed to be gorgeous tomorrow and for the next 7 days! Not a drop of rain predicted. Maybe I will actually get a good full week of riding in. The trails are still messed up unfortunately and we got over an inch of rain only yesterday. That's frustrating, considering the adventure race in 2 weeks. I do however, feel as though I have a headstart considering the fact that I've already done Ouachita and Syllamo's Revenge. Hopefully, the lack of training for the other teams will benefit us.

I was also able to commute today. I love the whole commuting thing. Nothing could be easier and I get to work feeling as though I've had a nice workout. I can hammer home in the evenings for a little more intense workout. It's 16 miles one way, so roundtrip it's pretty decent mileage on a daily basis. I'm getting a whopping 17.7 mile per gallon in my car...yeah, Volvos are safe, they're just not very efficient, so the savings can add up pretty quickly. And on days like today, riding a bike just doesn't get any better. The plan is commute Mon/Wed/Fri and do our weekly club group rides on Tues/Thurs. That puts my weekly road mileage at about 170, plus maybe a 50-80 mile ride on the weekend or a 4-hour mountain bike ride. Looks really good in print, huh? So why am I not losing that 8 lbs. from about 4 years ago?

I'm feeling that this post is not going anywhere and yet, going all over the place at the same time, so I'm going to stop now before I say something really stupid and regret this post.

Yikes!

It's May 15! I haven't posted a thing in 15 days and so much has happened.

My eldest daughter started her new job at McDonald's, worked her butt off and got her first paycheck, which she was terribly excited about and promptly wanted to spend it all on clothes.

My youngest is spending the final few weeks of school not learning a darn thing because they're going on field trips, having field days, and sports days and picnic days...I hope they're getting graded on those, because those are all things that she's good at!

I am getting a new bike! Yes! I really just said that and it really is happening! I ordered it yesterday and will have it next Wednesday. It was all brought about by my youngest, Hallie, deciding that she would like to race mountain bikes a little AND the fact that Syllamo's Revenge required me to be in total lockout mode almost the entire ride. That's another story in itself, which I will get to in a bit. But I thought hey, I have this mushy full suspension bike (which is awesome)but a bit heavy, and I can ride rather comfortably without suspension (even over some ridiculously rough terrain), so why not have a bike that is uber-light, offers a little bit of give in the back, and allows me to climb, climb, climb?? The only thing that would make it any better was if it were a single speed (which I am not ready for, yet). Thus, the ultra-cool Salsa Moto Rapido will be joining my meager fleet next week! I'm saying good-bye to the bulky Jamis Dakar XC Pro frame and stripping her of all of her still-super-sweet XTR components to dress up the new Salsa. I'll be slapping on a couple of new Kenda Nevegal 2.3's (provided they fit the frame...I've heard Kenda's tend to run big) and racing (to win or place) the Ozark Greenways Adventure Race on May 31st, followed by the Xterra Eureka Springs Triathlon on June 7. Both races I did last year on a shit-bike, so I'm feeling that this is my year. My team was 5th last year in the Greenways race and I placed 6th overall at Xterra, so I'm thinking with a bike that weighs almost 20lbs less than the one I raced on last year, I'll be in pretty good shape.

Now, Syllamo's Revenge. What can I say. I had an awesome time on an awesome bike with some awesome friends! The race is 50+ miles of pure singletrack. When the trails are in good shape the riding is amazing. When the trails are in poor condition, because of things like flooding, tornadoes, mother nature being a bitch in general, it's brutal. If it weren't for my friends and my bike, it would have been the worst day ever. Out of 350 racers, 288 showed up to start and about 140 finished. Pretty piss-poor results. Single-speeds did ok. Single-speed 29ers did a little better than ok. The rest either missed the cutoff or had mechanical issues, probably quite evenly divided. I wasn't having mechanical issues so I lollygagged along with a friend and we simply missed the cutoff time by 15 minutes. So many people on geared bikes were trashing parts left and right. The mud was ankle deep at some points and alot of people were laying their bikes down in the river crossings to clean them off. Brakes and derailleurs were blowing apart, tires were flatting. Conditions were bad and tested even the best of the best. I, on the other hand, even though I missed the cutoff and did a shortened course of 38 miles as opposed to the full 50, had an awesome day and was smiling as I pulled into the finish.

My friend Beth and I have decided that we'll have our "revenge" next year and not be so nice to stop for everyone that needs help and we will definitely not be lollygagging.

So my focus now is on Greenways A/R. The prizes for this race suck, but the bragging rights around these parts are priceless.

Working and Riding

I wish I had time to post in detail about all of my great rides the past couple of weeks, but my schedule is so crunched right now, I can barely think. I've always made lists and lived by them, thrived on them actually, but my lists are now multiple pages of a legal pad instead of a couple of lines in my planner.

Last weekend I got in a couple of decent rides. Most of Saturday was spent mountain biking at Busiek State Park. There is only one particular section of single track that is worth riding and to get to it, you have to go through miles of trail completely torn up by the horses, not to mention the shit. But that single track is sweet. Unfortunately, the rain we've had brought the river up to a level that washed out many of the lower trails and one of the bridges. We found the bridge about 1/4 mile from it's home. It looks like it would make a good ramp for jumps. It's just sitting out in an opening, not belonging there at all. Mother Nature is weird.

I made it through most of the river crossings upright, until the very last one. I got my front tire up on the little ledge after crossing, but the current was swift and decided it wanted my bike, so it just pushed me over. I was still clipped in and the current was dragging me downstream. It was quite hilarious actually and I needed a good rinse off. I was covered from head to toe in mud.

Sunday was a nice road ride...in the rain. Thank goodness the temps never dropped below 50. We had a plan to get in 70 miles, but the severe thunderstorms that we were trying to outrun had us all over 3 different counties, sometimes on unfamiliar roads and lost. I'm glad everyone was a good sport about it. We ended up getting in just short of 50 miles.

Monday was a run. A not unpleasant run at that. I ran on my lunch hour, managed to get in 4 miles AND eat my lunch someplace other than in my office.

Last night was an awesome group ride with the bike club. I say awesome because we had more than 50 people show up and we hammered, hammered, hammered. Forty miles of hammering and I hung on! We were just shy of a 20mph average and for me, that's not just good, that's incredible. I felt like I had accomplished something truly amazing last night and that's an awesome feeling.

Today I'll run again...easy, because Saturday is Syllamo's Revenge!! I'm super anxious and excited about this race. There are a lot of locals signed up and the pressure is on. I feel prepared. I feel like I'm riding above average. My family is going to be there to cheer me on. It's going to be a good time!

My eldest daughter got a job at McDonald's. She thought she was going to hate it but she actually likes it. She's been there a week and they're going to make her a shift leader. I miss her alot.

My youngest wants to race mountain bikes. Probably somewhat because the boys at her school think it's cool. She's been riding my old bike. Actually, my old bike is only 2 years old and pretty tricked out, so it's not like she's trying to race on some old clunker. That's a pretty cool thing when you're a tomboy. Like mother, like daughter.

I hate spam and running...

And I only got one spammer comment on my blog so far (that I know of), but I freakin' get them all the time on my Blackberry (which I'm currently having a love/hate relationship with). AND, I've started getting telemarketing calls on my cell phone. I thought cell numbers were immune to telemarketers????

I've decided that I'm going to start commuting to work on my bike if it ever stops raining. It's 12 miles one way and I can pretty much get around on side roads and our local Greenway trails. The only issue being, what am I going to smell like once I get to the office? Anyway, this morning I called my husband while I was driving to work to do nothing but bitch about the price of gas. Actually, Missouri has one of the more favorable gas tax rates, so our prices are a little lower than the rest of the country, but still...$3.39. Unfortunately, a full tank doesn't go far in a turbo powered, 5,000lb. wagon (of which we have 2).

So, I'm commuting on my bike. If nothing else it will be an adventure and a good example. I've challenged our local bike club (all 300+ members) to not only commute during May (Bike Month), but for the summer and to keep track of their "commuting" mileage. We'll see how that goes. Springfield, Missouri is a pretty place, but not the most bike or pedestrian friendly and people are rich and lazy and drive big SUVs everywhere. Even to cross the street.

I tried telling my daughter that she was going to have to commute to school on her bike. Totally not cool for a high school sophmore. She was mortified, as she is with most everything that I say.

No ride for me today. Just running, which I now hate. So why do do it? Because as an adventure racer, you sometimes have to run. Alot. And I have an adventure race coming up at the end of May, which I would like to win. I also have to start swimming again, which I don't hate, but it's just one more thing that I have to find time for in an already over-packed schedule, and is probably going to be difficult with the commuting thing.

My 12-year old wanted to know if we were all going to Syllamo's Revenge and camping. She's really getting excited about racing and that makes me very happy.

I'm baaaaacccckkkk...

Even a week away is enough to forget a password!

I've been on my bike!!! But, of course, that was too good to last, as it's pouring rain right now.

This past weekend I managed to squeeze in a 65 mile road ride on Saturday and a nice little mountain bike race on Sunday. Yes, stupid is as stupid does, but I knew there would be very little competition at the race on Sunday, so I didn't think the ride on Saturday would hurt me too much.

Anyhoo... I not only loaded up my new bike for the race on Sunday, but my old bike also. My youngest daughter, Hallie, decided she wanted to race in the 12-under class even though she's barely been on her bike in the past YEAR!

The kiddos started with the Junior and the Marathon classes at 11:00, so I got to watch the whole kids race since the Sport class didn't take off until 12:30. Hallie started out in last place, I guess she was a little intimidated, but after the first loop she was in third! She came across the line with a huge smile on her face, which I would later learn was to deceive us that she was actually enjoying the race. Her second lap was a bit slower, but she managed to hang on to third and crossed in about 30+ minutes for third. I ran over to grab her bike for her and she was crying and practically hyperventilating. I sat her down, got her something cold to drink and removed her shoes. They presented awards almost immediately and you would have thought the bronze cowbell was a bazillion dollars. Not too shabby for a first timer up against all boys. Do girls rock or what????!!!!

As the Sport class prepared to start, I sized up my competition, which I generally have a difficult time doing. You can never judge ability on a person's appearance, I've learned. Anyway, one of the girls in my class was about 6 foot, slender, about 15 years younger, and looked like she knew what she was doing. She apparently won the class last year. I figured if I could keep a steady pace behind her, I could pass her on a hill near the end. Well, I guess maybe I've been riding my bike enough, because as soon as we started, I took off in front and after about 200 yards, I never saw her again. I ended up finishing almost 40 minutes ahead of her! There were only 4 women in the entire race, so competing against only one other woman in my class was a little disappointing, but a first place is a first place and mine was worth 24 points in the series...and a gold cowbell.

Next up is Syllamo's Revenge. A "not to be taken lightly" 50 mile race in Arkansas. The women are going to be tough and doubts of my ability to compete are many. One and 1/2 weeks and counting...oh geez. Know anyone that wants to buy an entry???