Memorial Day Adventures

Friday night for Memorial Day weekend, I joined David's mondo-sized camping trip. I'm talking 60 people were there. Not all of them stayed the night though. I thought the weather was going to be terrible, but it ended up being beautiful! And the Jambalaya that David made for everyone turned out really well despite my doubts.

Yep. I'm Paul Bunyan's Lady.

Janie, Carrie, and Wendy chillin'.

David, the Jambalaya King

Our beautiful campground up AF canyon.

Me, Janie, and Chris - fireside goofballs.

On Saturday, Josh took Janie, David, and me 4-byin' in his Toyota FJ-40 rig, that he's named Clifford. We had such a blast! He took us up a very rocky road that ended at a forest lake - or more like a spring runoff collection point. When we got to the "lake" it started to snow and rain - it was that cold of a weekend! The bad weather just delayed itself. But it also made the roads muddier. One mud hole that we skirted earlier in the drive ended up eating us on our way back down the mountain. Clifford was tipped at a precarious angle in the mud hole - if you can tell by the angle of the trees through the windshield. But Josh has a winch so David climbed out the back of the rig and hooked up the winch. Once we were straightened out, Josh drove through the mud hole like it was no big deal. It was crazy awesome! Once we got out of the mountains, the four of us went to lunch at Cafe Rio as the cherry on top. It was super fun!

Clifford!

Josh, me, and David at the forest lake

Me, Janie, Josh, & David

Stuck in the mud hole! We were tipped 45 degrees.

Then Monday morning, I had my next mountain bike race in the Corner Canyon area of Draper. Janie joined me to support Jen, Tim, and I at the race. It was fun to have her and to hear her cheer me on at the beginning! There were seven ladies in my category, so it was kind of a big race! I passed two of the ladies on the two-mile shake-out loop: one was kind of slow, the other struggled at the first rocks and thankfully I was able to get past her. Then I passed another lady who was having trouble with her tire going flat. And then believe this!: I passed another beginner lady on the shake-out loop when we had to do it again at the end of the race. I saw her and noticed that I was closing the distance. I couldn't believe it! So I ended up taking 3rd place out of 7!! This was a long course too: 12.5 miles. Normally my races are only 7 miles. But with doing 34 miles at Mesa Verde and 12.5 at this one . . . I'm nervous all of the other ICUP mountain bike races will feel short now!

Looking strong on my 5-mile climb!

51 MTB Miles in 36 Hours

51 mountain biking miles in 36 hours. Yeah, I'd say that is my best accomplishment for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde race and weekend. Jason and Patty joined me on my 3-person co-ed team for the 12-hour relay race. We had a load of fun. We drove down Thursday night and stayed in our stinky smoking room since it was the last one available with two queen beds. Then Friday morning we dinked around on the 17-mile race course with Wendy, pre-riding it, practicing some of the technical spots, taking pictures, etc. Afterward, we ran over to Mesa Verde National Park with Wendy and Dorothy and checked out Cliff Palace and Balcony House. We had a great time! Patty scrambled up the 32-foot latter of Balcony House like a bat out of he** since she's a little scared of heights, I got in trouble for sitting on one of the walls, Wendy sat in the car for one of the sites, and I had to pull teeth to get Jason to smile in pictures. Yeah, it was a memorable day before the race. 

Wendy and Jason on the course

Pre-riding the course

The race began at 7:00 am with a foot-race around a barn to the bikes. Patty liked the idea of not having to deal with all the faster riders passing her so she did the first lap. Jason went second and I went third. All three of us were going to get two laps in so I figured I would be riding at the hottest times of the day, but I lucked out! My first lap ended with a little storm sprinkling on me and my second lap had a nice, cool breeze. Patty got the rain and mud on her second lap. Jason probably got the perfect packed trail conditions after Patty's muddy lap, while Patty and I got the dusty ones. During my first lap, Wendy rode out with Dorothy and then ended up waiting for me and was my little "carrot" and cheerleader for the course. In between laps, we'd hang out with some others from the team: Jen and Tim, Gayle and Paul, Tiffany and Shauna, We'd change out of our sweaty, first-lap biking clothes into dry clothes, eat, hang out for a minute, then change into our new biking clothes and go hang out at the transition point for the rider to come in. All of us felt like the second lap took it out of us, but we had fun. We ended up in 19th place out of 27! Then we topped the night off with some spaghetti and meatballs from Lotsa Pasta and a soak in the hotel hot tub. 

Pre-riding the course - on Tuffy Rim

And instead of bringing home sore muscles, I brought home a cold that has laid me up for these past two days. Boo. But I'm going back to work tomorrow, and I'm getting massage tomorrow. Sweet. 

Wendy, Dorothy, me, & Jason at Cliff Palace

Patty, Dorothy, me & Jason at Balcony House

Me and Patty climbing through the tunnel of Balcony House

Jason in the transition area after his first lap