49

A couple days ago I celebrated 49 years of existence.

I know people that contemplate the life they've lived either on their birthday or at the start of the new year. Are they were they dreamed they would be? Met the goals they set?

What about me? Am I where I dreamed I would be, met my goals in life?

I couldn't tell you because I don't ever remember thinking that far ahead. It seems that I'm one of those that just float along; but, floating along seems to have worked for me. I do good to make plans for tomorrow; so I'm not going to worry about what's going to happen next month, let alone the next year. Although there have been a few bumps and bruises along the way, so far I am very happy in how my life has turned out and given the chance I don't think I'd change a thing.

I've been happily married to an amazing man for 3/5ths of my life (he's the one that has been steering the boat) and we have a wonderful son that is the best of both of us. I didn't go to college, but I've been signing my own paycheck for nearly 25 years. While I can't retire anytime soon, I can pay off my credit card balance every month and still put some money into savings. My friends range from business executives to college students.

My biggest question in life is who is the old lady in the mirror?
Because in my head I'm still in my early 20s.

Obviously I'm not much of a deep thinker either.

MTB Nat's

Pictures from the trail










Colorado - a nice place to visit, but don't think I'd want to live there. Which just confirms that there is something "wrong" with me.

DFL > DNF > DNS
Well, I've been thinking about the race and over a week later I'm still trying come to terms with myself and the ride. It's not like I was expecting to win or anything like that. I was hoping that even if I wasn't competitive with the other ladies in my group that at least I could hold my own and not be too far off the back... yeah, right.

Pre-race nerves or just posing?


From what everyone keeps telling me, just finishing is a big accomplishment - especially for a flat-lander that has never ridden at altitude. I guess even the lady from Tucson had a couple thousand feet head start in acclimation.

Anyway, enough of the pity party.

The race was hard - as it should be. Here's a link to the start of my race that was taken by cyclingdirt.com, see if you can find my in my moment of glory:
Cat 1 Start Women 7 | 2009 USA Mountain Bike National Championships Cat 1 on CyclingDirt Posted using ShareThis
Alan's race is start is Cat 1 Start 9; Kyle's is Cat 1 Start 1; and, if you watch the Cat 1 Start 8 (15/16) they pan around the corner and show the rest of the climb.

Speaking of Alan, here's a couple pics of him on the stupid, steep descent on the Patriot Trail section




I'm off my bike because the racer in front of me is off...

...yeah, that sounds good, it's all her fault I didn't ride this!

In closing
Portable recycling taken to a whole new level



Maybe the bottles could be melted down and used as a Bondo substitute?

Been there,

done that and have the t-shirt; but, not a story yet.

I know it's been a week since the "big" race and I haven't written anything yet.

I will...


soon.

Maybe tomorrow.

Less than 12 hours to go...

until the start of the USA Cycling MTB National Championship Cat 1 race.

Sigh... why am I doing this?

I'm a back of the packer in the Texas races (although my times have been getting better) - BUT, these other ladies don't know this. Are they as nervous as I am?

Oh well, tomorrow morning will be here soon enough. All I can do is try my best and just hope that it will be enough to keep me from embarrassing myself... sigh.

Looking for my happy gear

We made it to Granby after a little stop-over in Arvada. We spent a couple days with Bob, an old buddy of Alan's, and his family. Got in a little ride around the neighborhood Friday, which wasn't so bad. Saturday we hit a 6 mile out-n-back trail (Lair o' the Bear).

Although you'd think it's pretty obvious, it took doing this ride for my brain to wrap around what Colorado trails would be like. Before we started our ride I asked Bob about how long he thought the ride would take... 6 miles, out-n-back would be 12 miles, so an hour or so?

Well, about an hour later we made it to the turn around point. The way out was more climbing than descending, so the trip back had more fun down hill runs and didn't take quite as long.

We had some good times getting caught up and watching the kids. They have a houseful with a teenage son, a preteen son and triplet daughters (you never know what life is going to throw your way). Anyway, they have a awesome backyard set up with a sidewalk that circles a fort/swingset which makes a great roundy-round. The kids chase each other in circles on bikes, Kettcars and skatebaords. There's also a half-pipe in the yard... cool, huh?


Sunday it was back on the road and on to Granby, we took the scenic route through a canyon




Coming into Granby

view from the hotel


Today we did our first ride of the course for the National race. Mountain bike National Championship races are held at ski resorts. Which means lots and lots of climbing. This course starts with 145' of climbing in .22 miles (12.48% grade), the next 4.5 miles continue up for another 880' before you hit the top of the highest climb, total ascension per lap is about 1460'. Alan and I only have to do two laps, Kyle gets to do three... being old does have some perks.

The whole time Alan has been telling me not to worry about the climbing on the course, just find my "happy gear" and keep the pedals moving. After finishing the ride I told Alan that there was something wrong with my bike - I couldn't find a "happy gear". Although I was whining and crying during the ride, most of the climbing really wasn't too bad. More long grinding beat-you-down climbs than the short power climbs that we have in Texas. I'm hoping it was more lack of oxygen than lack of leg power that was slowing me down (please, please let it be better by Saturday).

There were some very pretty views along the course and I'm planning on taking a camera with me the next time out.

That's all for now, more words and pictures to come.

Just a quickie

I haven't posted anything in a while. I could say it's because I really haven't been doing anything worth posting about since race season is over and that would be partly true. Work, riding, life and sleep seem to take up most of my time. It's all the same old, same old of everyday routine and who really wants to write, let alone read, about that.

Although race season is over, training has actually picked up. One of my riding buddies made a comment along the lines of I've never seen you really train before. Well, I've never attempted racing at the Mountain Bike National Championship before, at least not until this year.

Not that I'm expecting great results (others in my family have that burden on their shoulders), but I would like to not embarrass myself. So I have been listening to my "advisor" and training, including doing the painful things like intervals. While I think I am riding stronger I have never done long extended climbs or ridden at altitude (7900' +/-).

Well, I will soon find out what it's like and will have something new and exciting to write about. I think I'll also get to experience pain pellets at a whole new level.

Wish me luck!