Finishing Twenty-Seven

Finishing Twenty-Seven

uyguguygu   19.54   Comment  

There is a ghost town in the desert. When they put the freeway through it didn't reach to this town so it died when the oil ran out. We take the back roads often through the desert and we know this ghost town well. 

Near this town there is a field of daises. It had taken me by surprise - we were driving along and all of a sudden we were surrounded by a field of white. I had never seen it in bloom like that so I asked JR to pull over and I hopped out into the field of daises. They were tough little buggers, those desert flowers. I had to pinch them hard with my fingernails to pull them up. 

We kept going and found a place to pull over and camp in the BLM land, right against the mesas, in a flat spot against the tumbled rocks. In the morning it was cold and a little overcast, and the wind was incredible. I woke up early before everyone else got up and walked a ways down the road, meditating on the last day of my 27th year.  

Its always hard for me to give up another year for some reason and I get a little melancholy around new years and birthdays. I'm not afraid of aging by any means, but I wonder a lot if I did a good enough job with the year that I'd been given. The desert is a good place to let those thoughts settle.  

Best of '12

Best of '12

uyguguygu   12.21   Comment  

2012 was a solid year. Now that it's coming to a close I have a chance to look back and reflect on some of my favorite things from this year. While there were many, many amazing things that never even made it onto this blog here are, in no particular order, five of my favorite things that happened this year:

1. Sleeping in a ghost town in the mountains

I've always been a huge fan of ram-shackled ruins, if you haven't guessed by now.  The scenery in this area is the most beautiful in Colorado, as well. This camping trip took the cake, even if our tent was broken, it was raining for part of the trip, and I ended up sleeping in the car. 

2. All of the mountain bike "W's" this year

Sometimes we call winning "Taking the W." I had the chance to race a lot this summer, in several different places. I think I won five races this summer and a series overall as well! Not too shabby and I hope to improve upon those results in 2013!

3. Easter in Santa Fe

Santa Fe seems to be our holiday town. We spent Easter weekend there this year and we also went for Thanksgiving. It's really a beautiful place, full of art and classic southwestern architecture  Can I also say I'm slightly obsessed with The Shed, the best (and most difficult to walk in if you're tall) restaurant in Santa Fe for classic New Mexican food? 

4. Driving 4,000 miles in a giant loop around the eastern half of the United States

This was the trip, as two guys I met in a hostel in Nashville told me, of a lifetime and I didn't even realize it until they had pointed it out. They had worked and saved for a year to do what I had flippantly decided to do. I was able to ride my mountain bike in 8 different states on some amazing trail systems, see both sides of my family, take my grandmother-in-law on a roller coaster, go swimming in a classic southern swimming hole in a pebbled river in the smokies, camp all by myself for the first time since before I was married, couch surf in a beautiful home filled with books, head out to Nashville's honkey tonk bars with fifteen people from eight different countries, and so on... 

5. Jessica's photo shoot

One of my favorite things ever is to take pictures. I also don't mind being in front of the lens, either, especially when you have someone as fun and patient as Jessica taking the photos. The pictures that came out of this session are deserving of framing - she is an amazing photographer and doesn't mind heading up to the archives room of the library and shooting away in front of the card catalogues! I don't think there is a better combination than libraries and vintage ball gowns.  

WORS: Battle of Cam Rock

WORS: Battle of Cam Rock

uyguguygu   19.16   Comment  

I visited my family in Wisconsin this past week and managed to go race while I was there. 

Battle of Cam Rock was an interesting race - very twisty, lots of turns, not too technical. I forgot to count how many passed me at the start of the race which was a hill, a little flat, and another hill. I forgot to count how many people I passed as I continued cranking and women were starting to slow down from exerting too much effort going up the hill so I was essentially riding without a number. Later in the race I passed a guy and he said I was in fifth and I thought he was just being silly because I  felt like was going insanely slow. 

Turns out his counting was pretty much correct - after I talked to him another woman passed me and I ended up 6th overall and 1st in my age group.

How's that for a fun podium shot? 

Three Days Across the Country

Three Days Across the Country

uyguguygu   18.40   Comment  

I'm on the road all summer long. Last week I departed from Denver and left my husband behind to fend for himself. I drove through Eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and into Wisconsin. 

(Privately owned...and very difficult trails in Nebraska! I won't tell you who owns part of them but I can tell you they were flippin' sweet :)

(Beautiful books in a house of more beautiful books. This place I stayed at was a place where my soul felt at rest.) 

I split the drive up into three days -  my schedule went something like this: Wake up, Drive seven hours, Nap, Ride Bike, Sleep. There was eating somewhere in there too, but I was determined not to buy food from the gas stations or fast food places along the way so I mostly ate fruit and nutella sandwiches.

(Vast and endless driving.)

(I ended up driving behind the Miss Iowa Rodeo Queen for Miles and Miles. I passed her on the freeway and she looked like a pageant winner even from peeking in her truck!)

Honestly, despite the fact I don't have cruise control, I had the time of my life. I got to ride private trails in Nebraska and a hidden gem of a trail system in Iowa that is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers.  

(Campsite in Iowa)

(Surprisingly wonderful trail system in Iowa)

Honestly, despite the fact I don't have cruise control, I had the time of my life. I got to ride private trails in Nebraska and a hidden gem of a trail system in Iowa that is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers.  

Finally, right before I went to my parent's house in Wisconsin I stopped at the trails I learned to ride on in 2008. What was at times impossible is now a flat easy race course. I remembered every inch of those trails, too, which surprised me, and I was able to just fly around them. 

(Guitar on the dock before bed...)

(Home again, Home Again...)

Yeti Beti Bash 2012

Yeti Beti Bash 2012

uyguguygu   20.16   Comment  

I finally, after training for two months, was able to race for my new team last weekend. I participated in the 2012 Yeti Beti Bash here in Colorado.The Yeti Beti Bash is an all women's event held at Bear Creek Lake Park. The only event that was remotely similar was a Queens of Cross race that I did last year. 

When it's a women specific or woman focused event in cycling people tend to come out in droves to support them and for that I was truly thankful. My own little posse included JR and two lovely friends of ours and many of the other racers had their children or husbands around. It looked like many of the guys cheering in the fields raced themselves and they knew exactly where to put themselves in order to make the worst spots fun - around tight turns, on the top of steep hills and in technical sections (of which there were not many...the only technical section of this race was made technical by a man walking his dog on the race course.) 

I had a great time racing - I was second into the singletrack, a victory for me because I usually am a dead starter. I was passed by two girls and ended up getting a well earned fourth. The field was big enough that I actually got to race and use my brain which doesn't always happen. I feel like technically I've improved enough and I'm fast enough that I'm starting to get competitive in my field. I'm racing in Wisconsin next though, so we'll see how a WORS field is compared to an all women's event in Colorado!

The Yeti Beti's did a great job with the event! There were excellent swag bags (usually I don't like those - I'm not a clutter person but they included a copy of Dirt Rag, a water bottle, and a well designed Twin Six T!), helpful supportive women, and some of the biggest names in women's mountain biking turned out to race! I was so excited to be cooling down while some of the women who routinely race UCI world cups were warming up in the same space. I'm kind of a mountain biking  fangirl (I watch all the UCI world cups online) so this was pretty much the neatest thing ever. 

Highlights of the 2012 Beti Bike Bash from ergon on Vimeo.

Here's a great little video of the race that Jeff Kerkove and Ergon International Put together.

Sunday

Sunday

uyguguygu   19.41   Comment  

This Sunday was a good one. It wasn't busy at all. I had a bike race that I was going to do on Saturday and one for today as well. It poured on Saturday making the trails completely impassable and making it utterly rude to even think of holding a marathon mountain bike race on these beautiful trails. As one person said it best, "[You get] five hours of racing and years to repair the damage." Didn't seem worth it, right? 

In lieu of racing this weekend I had a perfect morning spent sleeping in, experimenting with the milk frother my friend lent me in an attempt to make the perfect chai latte, and going on a bike ride up to a little alpine lake tucked away in the mountains. 

I also like to tell the stories of my family to anyone who will listen and lucky for me I have a husband who delights in listening to my stories. Today, in the middle of the prattling, I told him the story of Dexter and Prince, my grandfather's two Percherons that worked on the Dairy Farm in Wisconsin his grandparents owned. They were good, steady, faithful horses, giant and black, I can't remember how many hands they were but that was one of the details he would tell me. 

"They were so big," he would smile. "I could barely get on top of them when I wanted to. I would hitch them up to the plow, or a wagon. Most of the time I was behind, driving them, them but sometimes I could get on top of them even though I wasn't supposed to."

That's my grandpa in the picture above, in training for WWII. He looks like my dad, I think. 

Here are some things I've stumbled upon on the internet this week that I've appreciated: 

- This was our soundtrack this morning.

- When Michelle Obama Came to Lunch. A short and thoughtful essay.

- Funny and sometimes beautiful pictures of victorian husband and wives.

-I am not an Alabama Channin devotee but I love these cocktails she posted. Perfect for summer. 

- Stunning photos of Bardot at Cannes. Work it, girl! 

- I'm in love with these french patterns for children's clothing and wish some of the things came in my size, too!