29er

So, my exciting news is that I test rode a 29er yesterday (see how I dragged that out to heighten the suspense?). Anne is going to be selling a couple of hers and she let me take this one out for a spin. I locked out the rear suspension since the one I will be getting is a hardtail and I didn't want to get spoiled.

Of course, that also meant having to ride with Anne. I didn't even come close to keeping up with her and she made me ride over stuff like this logpile going downhill that I really didn't want to attempt. (So what if it took me about four false starts before I actually made it.) If I could ride more with Anne, I would have to improve. I think even riding with her that one time will help me.

It was very interesting and different riding the 29er. I thought it would scare me, and I did feel like I was riding a lot higher, but it was a good thing. That thing rolled over rocks and roots like they were nothing. It was also nice to ride a bike that was light, as opposed to mine, which weighs a ton.

Even though this is a blurry picture, it is photographic proof that I actually did ride it or at least it would be if you could tell it was me.

We had a good time and including the bit we rode before Anne got there, spent about two hours riding. That's longer than our usual hour or so and will help prepare us for what's to come. I'll talk about that a little later.

Thanks to Anne for being so patient but still pushing me.

My mom dances on tables!

I just have time for a quick post before heading out to do something very exciting and bike-related, which I will post about later, probably tomorrow morning. We had our at-home wedding reception Friday night. It was a blast. My mom was the life of the party as usual. Chris posted some photos on his Flickr page. Now that all this wedding stuff is well and truly finished, my blog can go back to its regularly scheduled purpose. I should have some interesting stuff to post in the next few days.

Good Times

This weekend we went up North to help out at Lumberjack 100 and gawk at amazing mountain bike racers in the hopes that some of their "fast" would rub off on us. Floyd didn't show, but this guy did, so we had a little brush with greatness. The one thing I learned is that endurance mountain bike racers are a lot of fun to hang out with. We had an absolute blast. Mr. KissCross showered us with swag (I scored new tires, which I needed desperately), the weather was good, the trails were beautiful and we met some great people.


We worked the last shift at the aid station, so the racers who came by had been out there a long time and were eager to finish. Almost without fail, though, they were nice and very appreciative of us being there.



You know what's really cool? Meeting some super fast and nice endurance racers (like Danielle and Namrita) after spending so much time on their blogs. You know what's kind of mortifying? The fact that your husband, who's knocked back a few Founders porters, has cornered them and put them on the spot by asking them to get their picture taken with you. Even so, it was a kick for me to meet them and they were both great sports about the whole thing.

Chris and I spent the first part of the day hanging out near the trail so he could get some photos. (Some are on his Flickr page, but he took almost 500, so he's not done processing them all yet.) I amused myself while he was taking pictures by yelling encouragement at passing racers, particularly those I knew by name.

It was a good way to see the race from a different perspective, and we got a little exercise on the hike in. It sounds like one of Chris' photos may get published by Michigan Sports & Fitness, which would be pretty cool.

On a final note, our friend Anne kicked ass at the race. This is her holding up her trophy for first place in the Women's Master's division. She also came in fourth overall out of the women and knocked 1/2 hour off her time from last year. We ran into her yesterday at the Mid-State MMBA Chapter Picnic and Poker Run and what else was she doing the day after racing for 100 miles? Riding her mountain bike. I want to be hardcore like her.

Success—Hanson Hills Race Report

I had a pretty good race at Hanson Hills. Yes, that plaque is actually mine. I came in first place in my age group. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that there were only three people in my age group. I also have to say that it was a somewhat hollow victory, since the person who should have beat me by several minutes, Sheila, was on the ground with a dislocated shoulder being tended to by an EMT when I passed her at the bottom of the last downhill. I did, however, beat the person who came in third by a substantial margin and she beat me by eight minutes at Fort Custer! That made me feel really good.

I didn't meet the goal I set for myself, which was 1:10. I did finish in 1:20 and some seconds, which really was not bad. I was pretty happy with how I recovered after my ridiculously cautious race at Fort Custer. I was taking the downhills so fast I was scaring myself.

The best thing about coming in first is that I get 32 points for the Championship Point Series! That puts me in first place (at least until the two people who were ahead of me before Hanson Hills race again), but at least I'll get to bask in my glory for almost a month and a half.

Race Anticipation

We opted not to leave to go up North last night because I was too tired. Instead, I took a nap and then we went downtown to Kelly's for a while to hang out and show off some of our wedding photos. I'm just waiting around now for Chris to get up and get ready so we can head to the cabin.



Our next mountain bike race is tomorrow at Hanson Hills. I'm really looking forward to it. I want to test my theory that I will actually be less cautious (scared) on my mountain bike now that the wedding is over. I'm also feeling pretty confident after pre-riding the course that I can give it everything I have without having it completely kick my butt. I also have a time in mind that I'm shooting for that no one knows but Chris. It may be a little ambitious for me, too. We'll see how it goes. I hope I am not setting myself up for disappointment.



I know I haven't been riding much because of the whole wedding/trip to Key West thing, but I'm hoping I have enough conditioning and determination to pull off a decent race. I'd like to make up some points in the CPS on those who won't be doing this race.



I'm also extremely stressed out because of work right now. I have some crap hanging over my head that I haven't been able to stop thinking about much and I'm looking forward to being able to put my energy into something else for a while.

Back in the Saddle

We had a great weekend up at our cabin. I was a little concerned about how it would look after being gone all winter, but everything was just the way we left it. Some friends camped out on our property and my mom brought her camper. There were a couple of long walks for the puppies. Mom and Maizey met some horses down the road from us.

Gretchen and Maddy enjoyed spending some quality time with us.

A little bird has taken up residence on the front porch of our cabin.

On Saturday, we headed to Rifle River State Park, which is only about a half hour from our cabin, to try out the mountain bike trail there.

My mom usually sticks to her road bike, but she was a trouper and went mountain biking. We ended up being out for almost three hours.

The trail was not technical at all, but there were several big climbs at the beginning and the end. It was fun riding and very scenic.

I felt pretty good for not having been on my mountain bike for a long time although I was really dragging by the end. Of course, I need to start going on longer rides if I'm going to do that six-hour race at the end of the season.

There were a couple of interesting obstacles, such as this bridge that they clearly didn't want people to ride over.

There was also an unexpected river crossing.

There was no rest for the wicked, though. Sunday we headed to Grayling to preride the Hanson Hills course. For some reason, I didn't actually get any photos there, but I was pretty happy with the ride. Even though I was very tired from riding so long the day before, I was able to finish and didn't have to walk any of the course. I should be able to do it a lot faster next week when I am rested. I was also glad to find out that there was nothing even remotely sketchy except one downhill at the very end. It looks like Hanson Hills is going to be the easiest course in the whole race series, so I'm looking forward to pushing myself next week to try for a decent time.

Repossessed

Okay, enough about weddings and trips to Key West. It's time for this blog to go back to its original intent. It's also time for me to get my butt back on my bike. This weekend we head up North to our cabin. We haven't been there since October. Our next race is next weekend at Hanson Hills. It's in Grayling, about 40 miles or so from our cabin. I've never ridden the course and neither has Chris, so we're planning to preride this weekend. Since it's a holiday and we have an extra day, we're hoping to get in at least two separate rides, probably Hanson Hills and Rifle River.





I'm also third place in the Championship Point Series at this juncture. That's third out of seven. Of course, all the people who are behind me either only did one race or haven't done any. I am 13 points behind second and 22 points behind first. I'm hoping to close the gap a little next weekend.





I know I still never posted a race report for Fort Custer, and I really don't feel too much like doing it at this point. However, here is a short recap in bullet point form.

• I didn't crash at all.
• I finished with a time of 1:16:53. That was less time than I thought it would take me, but not good.
• Five people in the beginner class (which only did one lap) had slower times than me. Every one of them was under the age of 14.
• I was hanging in there early, but started to lose time when I started being way too cautious. I walked far too many things I ought to have ridden.
• I lost even more time when I stopped to help a little girl who couldn't have been more than 10 and had dropped her chain. For some reason, I couldn't help her get it back on. After wasting a bunch of time not helping, I ended up flagging down a guy who wasn't racing to help her. After her chain was back on, she passed me and beat me.
• I blame my overcautiousness on not wanting to injure or disfigure myself so close to the wedding. I'll figure out at Hanson Hills if that is really a legitimate excuse or if I actually haven't made any progress at all toward growing a pair.
• I still had fun.