My First Radio Event!

Before I left to see Port, there was a major life event! Okay, in my life, it was major :) To others, it probably seems trivial. But this is MY life I'm writing about!!

Bright and early, Dad and I set off, a few minutes apart, to the Inaugural Fawnskin Ride n Tie event. Making this event even more extra special is that my big brother was the race director! It was a very small race which was perfect for my first time :) I suppose I should explain the ride... A ride and tie is historically a horse riding event, involving a team of two people and a horse. One person starts on the horse, the other starts on foot. At some point, the horse rider hops off, ties up the horse, and continues on foot. The runner gets to the horse, hops on and continues riding. The team leap frogs this way throughout the course. Our event was the same concept but with a mountain bike instead of a horse. We had four teams. Small but intimate. And they all had a great time so I'm sure the event will grow exponentially for next year.

Dad and I were working radio. After a week of planning who'd work where, my suggestion that I do the checkpoint that was only reachable by foot (or bike I suppose) and lots of changes, we all set out to our assignments. I indeed got to work Checkpoint 2. My partner had access to the fire road though so we drove instead of walking. Which was good because we sat in the jeep while it rained :) We got out when the first rider went through the checkpoint before ours. Although our name was CP2, we were really the 3rd of 4 checkpoints. The one before us had a name, Hanna. It happened to be manned by Dad!

I got to call in our first rider. And the information that he provided about his teammate that should've been to us first. Turns out the rider passed him without realizing it! But it made for a little excitement for about 5 minutes. It was also good practice for all the radio folks on what to do with this sort of situation.

All 8 rider/runners came through CP2 and we left. We made it back to the finish line (Race Command) before the teams finished so I got to do my other favorite race thing - cheer them on!

This coming weekend is another event up here in Big Bear. A mountain bike GranFondo. It looks like dad and I get to ride SAG. Meaning we'll be in two different vehicles that roam the course helping riders with bike and medical issues and such. Should be lots of good radio fun!!

This is summer...

Not sure it got to 80* here in Big Bear today. After a very leisurely morning, dad and I hopped on the bikes and rode into town. Well, not into "downtown" but to where the stores are. Dad needed a watch battery. I needed to test my body on the bike. Body did well!

Now we are sitting on the front porch watching the world go by. The dogs occasionally bark but mostly just sit and watch. Beautiful blue sky, not hot, two wonderfully crazy dogs, my favorite human... Yup, THIS is summer vacation at its finest :)

My view:

And one of the pooches from this morning...

Springtown Spin 2012

This morning I rode in the Springtown Spin. Springtown is the city 10 miles west of Azle that used to be the Hornet's cross town rival. They switched divisions starting this year. Anyway, the ride started and finished at the high school and roamed around Springtown. I signed up for the 40 mile ride. No, I hadn't ridden 40 miles in probably 8 years, but I did 30 with my dad this summer. No, I hadn't ridden my bike in 6 weeks, but what does that matter?!

I met a co-worker, Bill, and his daughter Mary Ellen there. They had decided to only do the 20 mile route for time purposes. She had a hair appointment and he had tickets to the TCU game (which is in its 2nd overtime as I type). I was still thinking 40. Twenty just didn't seem far enough.

As we lined up to start and listened to the pre-ride information, I changed my thinking. First, the two courses did not start out together so if I did 40 I wouldn't see them until the end. Then the nice lady giving the talk kept talking about hills. I DONT DO HILLS!!!! Perhaps another time I'll tell you about my hill experience. I hate them. I dread them. I tend to walk up them. AND the lady kept calling it a "Challenge 20" because it so wasn't flat. Ha. She wasn't kidding.

About 4.5 miles in, I'd lost Bill and Mary Ellen for the 2nd time (I told them to stop waiting for me!), walked up a hill and hurt in all kinds of ways. I stopped and texted Bill that I was turning around. When I got back on the bike, I decided that I was okay, and already halfway to the rest area (at 10 miles) and so I might as well go forward and then catch a ride back to the finish. Although there were still too many hills, and I was alone, convinced I was last (I was second to last I think), I made it to the rest area. It was actually at 11.5 miles and I figured I could do another 8.5 - how bad could it be?! HA. The course was actually 24.5 miles long. But, I DID IT!!! Hills and all :)

All that challenge was not for nothing, of course. These are the things I learned today...

1. I am not 25 anymore :( Going 6 weeks without riding or ANY exercise, is not a training program, for any sort of ride. Reality has sunk in.  I am aging. Whether I like it or not.
2. I am not a cyclist. Although I guess you could call it fun, I was not really enjoying myself. I would MUCH rather have been hiking. Those hills are fun :) Well, at least they don't scare me. I will continue to ride but as cross training and with friends and family. For fun.
3. I really need to find a sport drink to drink while exercising. Water isn't enough. I had a generic powerade like thing at the rest area. I still finished hot and thirsty. And I have a killer headache. Still. Six and a half hours later, a couple alive later.
4. Neighbor horses talk to each other. Pretty sure they were wondering why I was going so slow.

I do have one fun story from the morning....
As I was flying down a hill at about 5 miles to go, I let out a little "weeeee". Okay, it wasn't little. Immediately after, 2 guys go flying by me. I couldn't hear them laughing but I know they were!!! I kept my mouth shut after that. Mostly.

(PS TCU just lost. Bummer.)

TdF favoritism

One more mountain stage. A time trial. And a coast into Paris. That's all that's left. So....
Three weeks ago, I had several favorites. And there's one that I really don't want to win. Many stages ago, Thomas Voeckler took the yellow jersey (race lead) and has kept it. All my fave, basically, are still in the hunt. Almost everyday it is said, "todays the day someone will change it all up", but voeckler has stayed in the thick of it. It's been impressive really.
Anyway, today one of my faves, possibly my #1 fave, Andy Schleck, opened up a can of whoopa$$!! And rode to the stage victory. And gained a lot of time. In fact for quite a while, he was in "virtual yellow". but voeckler gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and rode hard the last few yards. He's still in yellow!!! By 15 seconds instead of over a minute, but still leading.
So here's my dilemma. Voeckler has really shown he deserves yellow, or at least on the podium. But then there's Andy who I want to win so bad!!! If I add voeckler to my "I'll be happy if he wins" list, am I a traitor? Or jumping on a bandwagon? It's not like I've changed my mind cuz he's cute or something!!! He earned my support!!!
Of course, everything could change tomorrow and it could be moot. I think voeckler might have overdone it today. Tomorrow will be hard on all of them!!

Paris-Roubaix

One of the things I use Twitter for is to follow live tweets from bike races (think lance Armstrong). Since they're all in Europe basically, I often am reading after they're over. But thats ok. Still fun.

This morning I caught P-R (for short) while it was still happening. This is a huge one day event with lots of cobblestone roads which is its big challenge, as opposed to hills, etc. There are lots of crashes and can be a fun ride (unless you crash I guess!). Anyway, I also got to watch the last bit on voicestream video, in English!

You know its a good race when I'm yelling at the screen...

It's common for several guys to go out in what's called a breakaway and in some races that happens several times a day. But usually in the end those guys get caught and a "big name" takes the lead in the last few miles. And it always kinda irks me even when its a rider I like. Cuz those other poor saps worked really hard all day to stay out front and then the big name uses his team riders ti get him close and then he just uses full force the last little way. Or sometimes there are several who do that and it all comes down to a Sprint at the end. Remember we're talking 100+ miles. This is basically how it works. Often the guys out front all day are going for Sprint points or something and not the win but still.

Anyway, today the guy who was leading the break most of the day, WON!!! He worked his booty off and they did almost catch him. It was his first major win. Know what he did when he was done? Proposed to his girlfriend!!!

I might have a new fave rider to add to my list: VanSummeren.