St. George Feb 5

St. George again. How lucky can any one person be? Seriously. It was Camp Lynda in St George. A lot of people from Salt lake were there and I stayed with the Rev team. The sun was shining all day, the sky was blue, the music was perfect,  the trails were in amazing condition.

Thursday night was a completely serene night ride around Green Valley. Friday morning was Prospector, Church Rocks, Leeds (out and back) and in the afternoon we added a run down Bear Claw. So much fun! Saturday was the SG race course, Barrel …, Zen, Stucki, Rim Everything. I had no idea the trails connected so well. It was a perfect ‘summer’ day. (short sleeve jersey and shorts)  Saturday night everyone hung and played games** and we rode Hurricane on Sunday. I jacked up my wrist when I ate a bit of dirt at one point on Goulds.

I just love riding Hurricane, JEM, Gould, china wash etc… It is so flat and so fast and fun! It was so beautiful, A-mazing! Almost as a-mazing as erosion, a game of charades, which I am most likely sworn to secrecy over, and carb loading before riding.

I have started wearing a heart rate monitor during my activities. I am hoping to learn something important : )

I absolutely love the freedom riding my bike gives me.

So Beautiful!

The views on the hike today were amazing. It is so great that I can hike up a mountain without having to drive for hours! Just out the door and Utah’s mountains are always there. I love being outside.

St. George January 16, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucy, a member of Revolution MTB team, said that a group was going to St. George for a weekend of riding. I didn’t really know the people that were going but thought it sounded fun. I had no idea how much fun we would have. Lucy, Drew, Steph and I stayed together at the Sports Village and we met Bonnie and Jonas to ride.

We were ready to ride on Saturday morning. We rode in Green Valley, Bear Claw, Stucki, Barrel Rim/Roll and ? On the trail we saw about 20 people we knew from SLC.  Steph and I got lost on the way going home and ending up riding the road from Santa Clara. We rode about 30 miles. AWESOME riding all day! We hung out at night and had such a fun time together. Drew, Lucy and Steph are a blast!! Sunday we rode in Hurricane and hit Goulds, Hurricane Rim and JEM- AWESOME riding all day! We hung out at night and had a blast! Charades= viagra/bacon/and bike parts=HILARIOUS! Monday we rode Zen. Very nice too!

What are your thoughts

For anyone who has had self-defeating thoughts in a race. Any kind of race or battle. Please tell me what you say to yourself to shut those thoughts down.

My Friend Wonders About This Sometimes

A New Appreciation of Winter

Thank-you to winter. You are probably the only thing that can save my cycling-self from burning out – twice in one year.

I have no control over my addiction- that is my addiction to MTB.

I am sure I have already written this somewhere on this blog, but here is the story again.  With MTB this season I rode and rode and then raced and raced and then added twice the distance to every race, then added a longer race or two and then raced a little more after all that. The self talk on the last few races wasn’t pretty, but I kept riding.

Finally, I put my bike down and stepped away. I didn’t ride unless I absolutely wanted to. I put my feet up, hung out with the J,Z,Z and K and ate a lot of ice cream and onion rings. (this diet isn’t required to get “un-burnt out) but it worked for me and now I am back to racing- CX now. I like it. It is fun to see all the awesome people in the biking world.

So why do I think that winter may save me? Because I am dreaming of riding -  a lot. Also, I am planning on racing the last 2 Cyclocross races . And then winter will come and force me to stop riding (unless, of course, Wes can talk Keith into a fifth bike for me: ) ) And then I will be fine to move on to snowshoeing, riding, crossfit and running!

Don’t worry when you think mean things about your bikes and about riding. Just eat some ice cream and onion rings or pizza or whatever does it for you; put your feet up, and enjoy!

And winter will remind you that there are tons of super fun outdoor activities.

I finally tried Cyclocross

The race was at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake.

I felt like a kid playing in the mud and that’s a pretty carefree feeling.

 

I Thought the Day Arrived

The day hadn’t arrived. I thought for a quick second that I could deal with the arrival of 32F and snow. Nope, not ready.

Please let me know if you would like to join me, before the season really does end, for another AMAZING “it’s the last ride of the season so let’s love every inch” ride.

: P

November 9, 2011- Another Last Ride of the Season

We rode behind U of U after work. Peeeeerrrrrrfect way to finish the work day. The trails had some places with mud, some with snow/ice, but mostly perfect, except where we turned around after riding up Big Bertha.

I had to wear long underwear, bike shorts and long socks, with a dri-fit long sleeve top, a fuzzy-long-sleeve and a jersey. My hands froze- OWiee. My toes were cold too, but, it was definitely worth it. It was a beautiful afternoon and we got to ride our bikes outside!!!

Priceless.

Not kidding!

Longest One Day Race- 25 Hours of Frog Hollow

First 25 hour, 4 person team race. It was better than I imagined.

We arrived in Hurricane at 6:30 on Friday night, and it was FREEZING! And beautiful, and fun- Everyone there was riding or helping support riders. A huge riding village just popped up in the middle of the desert for a few days and then it disappears as everyone returns to their “other” lives.

Revolution (Bob) set-up a great spot the night before with tents, heaters, kitchen etc… We had a nice place to warm-up and hang out and eat.

Our team, Dirty Girls, was Lyna, Whitney, Sally and Leslie. Rev also had another 4 person team and a duo!!

Friday night the rain poured down. I was in my little tent, on the ‘canoe’, with my new -5F sleeping bag. It was AMAZING!! OK, I did wonder what the chances were of me freezing to death in the night. Once I got over that I got super cozy in my bed and felt like I was in Vancouver on a freezing cold, rainy night listening to the rain hit the roof until you fell asleep. It turned out I was cozy and I had a good night.

Saturday morning the race starts at 10:00 am and our team captain, Lyna, takes one for the team and does the running start.  Then Whitney, then me, then Leslie. So my first lap is late on Saturday morning and I was super excited to ride. It was cold, and windy, but JEM trail is fun and I wanted to ride.

I ride the first two laps in the daylight. It is great riding in the desert- flat, fast, peaceful, open… and usually at least warm. Not warm this weekend, but everything else is good. My next lap is about 8:00 at night. Oops, I was waiting in our tent and Whitney rode all the way up and I wasn’t quite ready. That speedy teammate threw me off. : )

This is my first night ride, by myself out in the middle of nowhere. I liked it. This was my best lap for sure. I couldn’t see what the trail was like ahead so I just pushed as much gear as I could no matter where I was on the trail. I felt strong. Thanks to Wes, at Timpanogos Cyclery I had a great light set-up. Luckily it wasn’t too far into the race that I realized I hadn’t tightened my helmet, in my rush to get started, so the headlamp was pointing at the ground 1 ft ahead, and my handle bar light was pointing to the constellations. Not too helpful either. So, when I got that all sorted out, got the right music on, I sailed down JEM trail. That trail is so smooth and fast to go down.

Then into the tent to try and warm up. Just as I was starting to feel warm, it was my turn to get ready again. This was a tough lap. It seemed to last way too long and my toes and fingers were freezing. Yep, I think it was 18F. Even in the cold this is a perfect night course.

Then I rode one last lap at sunrise. nice…

25 hours of riding and hanging out=priceless