work is getting crazy again.  i'm tired from working a lot - 56 hours so far this week.  mommy day was lame because i was just exhausted.  i didn't sleep well last night and i woke up this morning with aching feet.  not sure if it's from working so much or lack of exercise.  probably both.  i'm thinking about sending ian to school full time again.  i'd pull him out early on tuesdays to take him to gymnastics.  i don't want to lose the time with him, but this winter is going to get worse, and i already feel like i can't keep it up.  maybe it's just from being on call over the weekend.  i guess we'll see how next week goes.

wow it rained a ton last night & this morning!  last night was ian's halloween party at school.  i'll post pics along with trick-or-treating ones next week.  ian's lightning mcqueen this year.  he told me he wanted to be a bear & i was so tempted, but figured i should push him to get a 'big boy' costume & he loves it.  i'm looking forward to trick or treating.  last year was boards so i missed it entirely.  so lame!

went on a muddy street & fire road ride with larry & inder today.  met ian & tom briefly at belle isle.  pics:

the rest of the pics

it's weekend again.  busy week at work as usual.   ian and i went
mountain biking together on real single track tuesday.  he did great! 
very brave, especially over a log pile & some little whoop-dees.

tom & ian went out to tom's parents in lexington for the weekend.  i stayed home & i miss them!  rode today & will ride tomorrow with some of my favorite trail companions.  i'm so glad they invited me because with the weather getting colder, my motivation to get out & ride is waning a bit.

in related news...  i ordered the pink ellsworth truth.  i rationalized it because i need a bike that fits me - mine is too big & that creates frustrating difficulties, especially with technical stuff.  i figure i may as well get the bike that i'm going to want in the end anyway, rather than buying one now & the ellsworth in a couple of years.  but still i'm feeling a bit guilty spending so much on what is essentially just recreation.  i can't wait to get it though!

i'll try to take some pics tomorrow on the ride.  i kinda hope we don't do the red trails or double red.  they scared me last time!

here's another picture of pinkness.  it's the epiphany, which is similar to the truth so it'll look essentially the same, just with 4" front & rear travel instead of 5".

 

quick update.  tom's sister heidi got married yesterday, in newport news.  we drove through  a torrential downpour to get there.   she & scott seem very happy!

today  we rode at belle isle.  it was cool  to ride with ian off training wheels & tom on his mtb bike.  very dreary weather though.  after that ride, i  met some other riders at pocahontas & we rode the fire roads there.  the single track will take a couple of days to dry out after all this rain.  it was actually a really nice ride.   only an hour or so, but they were all stronger riders than me so i worked hard to keep up, especially on the hills.  blake took some pics.  (how does he do that while he's riding?)

note the mud streak up my back:

note the purell bottle on my camelbak.  *geek*!

we decided to turn around when faced with this:

an ellsworth truth, from their project pink.  a little bit like this:

hey, my buddy blake shot a quick movie.  you can't really hear what i'm saying in it, but it's "my rear brake's broken, it doesn't work at all!" 

link

cool pics he took:
pic 1
pic 2

oops, one more thing i should mention...  after the race i got to meet the two girls i sent the race chasing, and they are really nice girls!  looking forward to racing them next weekend!

it's been a big weekend!  yesterday ian took off his training wheels.  yay!  tom bought a mountain bike.  hooray!  and i finally figured out how to do wheelies.  at last!!!

today was my first solo race.  for the short, photographic version, check out this link.  i joined team cobblestone this week, a racing team that several of my biking friends are on.  mtb races are divided into categories: beginners, sport, and pro/expert.  chronologically, i'm obviously a beginner, but people i've been riding with suggested i try racing sport, and i stupidly decided to do that for my first race.    this choice prompted a 2 day long anxiety-fest, where i worried and whined about being last or making a fool out of myself.  although i can ride fast on easy trails, i'm still pretty bad at windy and technical stuff.  (ETA later, to explain the "being last" comment: there's nothing wrong with coming last in one's category in a mtb race!!!!  it's just that if i'd been way behind the other women in my category in my first race, i would have felt silly for entering the wrong category)

anyway, the choice was made so i just went ahead.  the course was two 6 mile loops.  hilly in parts, and mostly narrow, windy, wet and muddy.  not super technical, but there weren't many places to go all-out, it was all turning, climbing & descending.  it was very crowded at the start.  i was in the middle of a pack of beginner men.  it was a bit frustrating, because i wanted to go faster but there was no way to pass.  i managed to get on the tail of the lead woman, and sat there for a while, waiting to feel warmed up before i tried to pass.  then a poor guy fell on a gnarly downhill section.  i was a bit behind him, but heard him screaming that he'd broken his leg.  i jumped off my bike and ran to him, and unfortunately could do pretty much nothing for him.  i yelled through the trees to some spectators and they called 911 and came down the trail.  meanwhile, racers were getting off their bikes and squeezing by.  i stayed with the guy until someone confirmed that ems had been called.  he indeed seemed to have broken his leg, but wasn't hurt anywhere else.  i asked a spectator to be responsible for him.  he didn't really know what to do so i told him "don't leave him and don't let anyone move him".  actually, i think i yelled these instructions at him.  oops - lots of adrenaline .  i was so torn about leaving him, but i'd spent several minutes there already and although i knew i couldn't win, i didn't want to quit the whole race.

i took off down the trail, now several minutes behind the first two women.  for the rest of that first lap i kept thinking about the poor guy and hoping ems were getting to him quickly.  i got into a groove and for the first part of the second lap, tried to pick it up and gain ground on the women in front.  about halfway through, i caught a glimpse of one of the girls up ahead, so i tried even harder to go fast.  at some point i passed one of the two women, although i didn't realize it at the time.  but it was obvious that there was still at least one woman ahead of me.

it was soon after that point that i realized my rear brake wasn't working!  even when i had it all the way on, it slowed me down almost imperceptibly on the flats, and was completely useless going downhill.  oh no!  right before the race i'd noticed that the cable was frayed & had cinched it up to try and keep it together.  now it had frayed through more and slipped to the point where it wasn't pulling any more.  i knew it was crazy to continue without a rear brake, that i was bound to endo or fly off the trail.  but i was so close to catching her, and it's not like i haven't endo'd before!  so i kept on going, leaning way back & feathering the front brake to stay in control as best i could.

amazingly, i gained on her.  and i told myself that if i'd gained all that time in one lap, i could surely catch her!  and i did!  right before the end of the race, i caught her in the woods.  i tailed her until we broke out into the sunshine a few hundred feet from the finish.  i had the gearing just right so that i could shift into the big chain ring and sprint past her.  as i passed her, she said "it's yours, i've got nothing left", and i yelled back "aw, come on!", encouraging her to race me.  i crossed the finish line just 8 seconds ahead of her, and i had a big smile on my face.   i won!

i found out after the race that the injured guy had been transported to the hospital, but i didn't learn how he did after that.

team cobblestone did great, and we won the fall cup.  it's given to the team with the lowest score, meaning they place the highest in their categories.  yay!

another mommy & ian day today   this morning we're going grocery shopping, and this afternoon ian has "swim & gym" at the Y (playing sports followed by a swimming lesson).

this weekend is the poor farm fall cup mtb race.  i'm a little nervous!  last weekend i did a ride at pocahontas state park, followed by a barbecue.  a couple of the guys took pics: RockHopper's pics & BrknNck's pics

work has been crazy.  hours are getting longer, as more kids are getting sick.  i think i'm a bit more efficient this year though.  i'm not always the last person to leave any more.

ian & i rode down to belle to watch the trials competition today.  wow, i wish i had the balance those guys have.  the things they were doing were amazing!  ian did some real mountain biking for the first time.  he fell twice though and got a bit scared & banged up.  i need to get him some armor or something!

speaking of armor, i wish i'd been wearing shin guards on my ride today.  i rode downtown & forest hill this evening.  just taking it easy because i've been a bit sick with sinusitis.  in forest hill i came upon a rider that had just fallen, bike upside down on top of him beside the trail.  he was ok, but not wearing a helmet.  silly!  next, i encountered two fawns.  one was scampering beside the trail as i came along.  because of its small size i initially thought it was a dog, but it was a little deer.  it and its twin watched me carefully for a while, though they weren't afraid enough to run off.  neat!  i continued with my ride.  i was going down the side of a hill, on a narrow path with switchbacks & a steep drop-off to one side.  i had gotten unclipped on a real steep switchback & was going downhill, getting clipped back in at the same time.  mistake!  my pedal got caught by part of a tree trunk that projects into the trail & i was launched off the trail and down the embankment.  fortunately, there was a tree in my path.  my bike and i wrapped ourselves around it to avoid going down the steep slope.  it was a near miss, really.  but i did get a little cut on my knee and humungous hematoma on my shin.  it was reminiscent of the recent arm injury in that it swelled up immediately in such an alarming way i was afraid it might be broken.

i did a nice easy cool down home after that.  all in all a good ride, but wow am i sore now!

today i rode at fountainhead park near occoquan, virginia.  a bunch of folks from richmond drove up to ride with some of the nova MTBers.  it was a great ride!  i did a couple of descents that were definitely a stretch for my skills.  most rewarding was the shock-a-billy hill, near the end of the 9 mile loop.  i messed up the first attempt down, the bike endo'd, though i was able to step out and avoid a big fall.  usually after a near endo, i get very chicken.  this time though, i really wanted to do it.  (what was i thinking??!!!)  so i tried, and i made it.  wowee!  there's a pic here of the top, though it doesn't do it justice.  a description on another website says "Shock-a-billy is a difficult descent and should only be attempted by
experienced riders. The hill feels like it is straight downhill and
requires excellent balance and the ability to handle large drop-offs
while descending, as the hill is 'stepped' using wooden braces."  seems i was lucky to make it down!

tomorrow, if ian's up for it, i'd like to take him down to belle isle for a trials competition.  you know, watching kids do tricks & stuff on their bikes.  the comp is on the rocks in the james river.