Lately, the death of my dad has been a ticket to ride the crazy-train. I’m kinda sad, at weird times, and in weird ways. Crazy or not, life keeps throwing good things my way.
A highlight of my Wednesday was getting a hello hug from my friend Rowan. He is a classy individual. Rowan’s family have a new puppy, and Rowan is still the cute one. They brought Matt and I a jar of homemade strawberry jam - made from strawberries picked by Rowan!! Plus, I hear from Sheri that he’s learned to roll his eyes lately, and I seriously cannot stop giggling about that.
Also, today, a package came in the mail for me from Twin Six. These guys are the world’s best already, and now - apparently - they can read my mind too. Or, they looked in my sock bin. Either way, they know exactly how to make a girl smile.
Matt got back from CO on Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon we hit the trails of the deer head just ahead of a thundershower. His MORC shorts had arrived, and so he celebrated by doing a little lumberjacking with Andrew.
The rain arrived early. I celebrated by doing my best Andy Schleck impression.
Today, I had to go to Milwaukee, so Sheri and I rode at Crystal Ridge. We tried to break in to this van to steal the custom purple and yellow Gunnar in the back, but to no avail.
Photo by Danny Marchewka - thanks!
I had another nice ride and crossed the line in 6th, yet again just missing the $ (although I have so many WORS Bucks right now that I’m going to start asking if I’m a majority shareholder pretty soon). This “just ride” season thing is going OK. Training-schmaining? And, I am having so much fun while I race. Sunburst is the purest of equations. Pedal, climb, repeat - all with great visibility to gauge gaps. In fact, I spent much of my third lap just trying to contemplate the visible gap between Brian Matter and the rest of the men’s field - that was unusual. Not so for the ladies, where our smaller numbers are a constant double-edged sword. It is D*MN hard to move up a spot when our gaps average a minute or more. On the other edge, it can make for a pretty chill last lap, especially at Sunburst. I held a tree or pulled a trackstand when I was even remotely close to singletrack to let the Expert men lap through, which was kind of a guilty pleasure, to be honest. Looking forward to the next race!
photo from MTB Girl Brittany!
photo from Dave and Caren Reich
I brought all of the monster truck wheels to the race on Sunday, including my dad’s.
The 29er is a beast and the new rocky section of the course was really fun. I honestly thought I was smiling, but the Valkyrie face cannot be denied.
Eau Claire was a good race for my brain. I’m trying to use my eyes and my brain mo’ better. I even got my chin over my hand on the switchbacks. Man is that the way to go! Many thanks to the MadFORCS and Alison Dunlap at the ladies retreat.
I met my goal of finishing the race and had a fun time riding. Though I did not really have the heart to kill it, it’s questionable as to whether I would have had the legs anyway. We had a killer ladies field. It was great to see the Minnesota women out in force and I was stoked to see Lori smokin’ off the gun! I know how fast she is in singletrack, and wasn’t surprised that it was the last time I saw her before the finish. Jen and I rode together a bit in the first lap, tres sweet. Andrew, who was hauling, gave me a tow in the open section as he passed, and SmAshley was a Rockstar in her race, and then with our handups. And I didn’t get a sunburn.
10th overall. (Podium below is 3rd in age group, without the PROs. Jen in 1st and Meghan! in 2nd.)
photo from Amy D
For my grandpaJill Outside
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