Skippin the Chicky Ride...

Yes Paula, I'm a wuss or weenie or whatever it was that you called me. I don't know what my malfunction was/is - I just wasn't in the mood to ride. Hey, but all is not lost, I spent quality time playing football with Sergei.

If he continues to wake me up every night at 3 or 4am, I don't know what I'll do with him. Tonight's strategy was making him run around for a good 45 minutes to see if it tires him out some.

Then I built a fire to sit by. It burned out too quickly.

Now it's nearly 9p and I remembered I needed to put the jack away in my car, so I went outside with my bike light so I could see what I was doing.

HA HA HA, I'm such an idiot. I'm going to the gym tomorrow, so that will help my mood immensely then it's back to riding on Thursday. I've decided that from now on, I'm just going to start taking my bike(s) with me every Tuesday regardless of my schedule. If all else fails, I can go to designated location and ride until the other chickys arrive. I should have done that today.

See ya next time...

Another uneventful patrol ride.

So today, I got off work at 3:30. I had already decided to go for a patrol ride since a few more hours can't hurt. I ended up having a nice ride by the time it was all said and done. I really didn't feel balanced when I started off going down the top part of Ridgeline aka ZooPoo. I don't know what it is - the shadows, the trees - I can't put my finger on it, but I just don't feel safe going through that section right now. I casually rode down to the 4 way and decided to go the rest of the way down Ridgeline. A large rock just about de-biked me, but I held on. This trail is really rutted and rough at the bottom. It's the Park Service's property, I really don't think anyone cares to maintain it.

Next up was Woodthrush. I didn't ride down it nearly as fast as I usually do - just didn't feel like going fast I guess. Again, I casually rode down and as I approached the Eagle Scout bridge crossed it slowly. Continued on down to the water tower. I climbed the steep part of Woodthrush fairly well. At the water tower, I decided to go across The Star Trail to JPFish. The Star Trail at the bottom seriously needs to be a multi-use trail. It's stupid to have to walk on it, but because I was wearing my Patrol jersey, I decided to do the right thing and walk. I descended JPFish and headed up Sylvan to take Monument. I climbed for a long time before another rock knocked my front wheel askew and nearly sent me into a tree. I had to clip out and stop to regain my balance. I had climbed all the way past the Star Trail and almost to the sweeping left turn that's just before the weird, big rocks. I think I could have made it all the way up today. After I got going again, I did just that - I rode the rest of Monument, Riser, the Car Trail and most of the way up the old road before I had to stop. I can't remember why I stopped now, but it was probably a leaf bugging me in my wheel.

It was a beautiful day to ride. I really enjoyed the opportunity to be out and about. The trails are very nice on Mill Mountain, and they seem to shed the rain water quickly. It was a beautiful clear day, so you could see for miles. Awesome! Figures that I didn't have my camera with me today. DUH! Alrighty, Chicky ride tomorrow night at the Explore Park, gym on Wednesday, some sort of light ride on Thursday then rest for the Poor Mountain Hill Climb. Wheeeee!!!

Later ya'll. =)

YES! They did it again!

500th post - Tired

This is my 500th post on this blog since starting it a few years ago. I sure seem to have a lot to say about nothing. This post will be short and sweet - I'm tired. It's been a mentally taxing week at work, I've ridden in the dark, ridden in the rain and I've been to the gym twice this week. New aches have replaced old aches as I await more aches. I'm tired. Have no fear though, Sunday will start a new week of riding, etc. I'm already planning it out. Until then, I'm sleeping late tomorrow. Hopefully I won't get called into work between now and 7am. Later folks! Happy Weekend!

Hello old friend...

Tuesday night found the original chickys (me and Paula) venturing out to our original locale - The Explore Park. I have no clue when I rode there last. Sheesh, right now I can't remember the last time I rode at the Cove. Maybe my tired, numb brain isn't functioning completely anymore or maybe it's really been a while. I'll get back to you on that. Anyway, the nice thing about Explore Park is that you can ride there in the dark. As creepy as it sounds, a bike light helps you traverse the trails safely albeit for me, slowly.

So I dug out the battery pack to my light, charged it, found my helmet with the light attached and planned to meet P at 6pm Tuesday. Of course the traffic getting to the Explore Park is enough to make you want to stab yourself in the eye with a spork, but it was fun once I got there. We rode the beginner trail where it took a few minutes to reacquaint myself with the rooty trails. Then we went down the intermediate trail and up the hill. I think this is the best I've ridden up that hill. We stopped for a few minutes to talk to some friends. Soon we continued on to take the Outer Loop where we again encountered a group of friends. This was turning into a social ride which of course is cool!!!

After we crossed the road we did the lollipop loop backwards which is always fun. I climbed from the bottom to the top of the trail without stopping. I think this was a first. I stopped at the top to wait on P because I didn't know which direction she wanted to go. I had to walk a couple times while on the loop, but that's ok. Once we got back to the road, we had to decide where to ride next. We started off going down by the river and were going to ride back up through the park. After we rode by the trailhead for the Expert loop, I wondered out loud about it, so we turned around and took it back out.

OOF! That has to be one of the hardest trails in Roanoke. It was off camber, has some leafy areas, some insane rocks, some babyheads and some dips that make roller coaster at PVP look tame. I struggled at times, walked a bit but eventually made it back out. This trail intersects the outer loop so the return route would be familiar. The sun was really starting to drop, so there were a few low light sections. I climbed the outer loop back out the best I've ever done! YAY ME! I ended up turning my light on for a bit so that I could safely see the trail.

I really enjoyed riding at Explore Park again and hopefully will be able to work it into a ride schedule! Like I said, you can ride there with lights so WOO HOO!!! Oh yea, I did ride some logs and stuff that before I wouldn't have tried! I guess I'm getting to the point where I trust myself a bit more. Look out!!!

Assault on Liberty Mountain

Races haven't been simple this week. After the fiasco that ensued at Waid Park last Sunday, one had to wonder what could possibly go wrong on Saturday. I made it a point to stay positive all week (hence the 5 days of silly blog posts). I made it a point to be enthusiastic when I got up Saturday and sure enough I was in good mood when I arrived at Camp Hydaway. I quickly found my friends from the 'Burg all set up in their pirate tent, and wandered down to registration to get my number (lucky #213). HA! Soon I would make a few trips up and down from the parking area with my clothes, my bike, my drinks etc - same stuff every race.

I was really enjoying the company of my 'Burg friends - Jess had bought me Little Miss Sunshine and Little Miss Naughty (see picture from last night's blog post) as a gag gift, so I told them that I would be sure pose with them post race. Anyway, I wandered off to pre-ride the start of the singletrack. I remembered there being some weirdness on the inital parts of the trail, so I wanted to be able to get around that safely. For my sanity's sake, I needed a good start after my 8-second buckoff at Waid. Eventually race time came, and we all gathered around Kenny for the pre-race announcements. He walked by me and said, "stop looking so nervous, you'll be ok." I really like Kenny and respect him a great deal, so his encouragement helped. I finally was warm enough to take off my arm warmers. As we waited to start our race, we were all kind of laughing and joking about stuff. Kristen and I decided that we were just going to ride together all day. Gina chimed in that she would do the same. None of us knew the 4th chick and ultimate winner of our group. She's a Lynchburg local and rides Candlers frequently, so congrats to her.

As the race began we started out in grass (boo!) and rode past the spectators, I celebrated at 8 seconds knowing that I wouldn't be flipping over for a crowd today. We went up the hill towards the parking lot then back through some gravel and down to the singletrack. I was 2nd or 3rd into the woods. We wound our way onto the course and at the log thing that's right in the normal line, Gina and Kristen went towards it. I knew there was a go around so I got out in front. The local chick followed me. On we went. It was great for a while then the fast, beginner men started to catch us. I can't remember when the local chick got out in front, but when she did she was pretty much gone. Oh well, the three of us had said we were staying together, so we did. We got to the top of a long uphill - I think we all walked parts of it, crossed over a small field when Gina says, "oh no, I have a flat and I don't know how to fix it." I said, "ok, pull over we'll fix it." So the three of us stopped. I was able to get the tire off fairly quickly, and thought I checked the inside of it pretty good, but when we went to inflate the tube it wouldn't hold air. Off the tire went again. Kristen found a thorn in the tire, removed it then we stuffed another tube in. We had some CO2 issues before abandoning that idea for my frame pump. Soon I had her tire reinflated and wheel back on the bike. We were off again. Now we were behind most of the beginners and definitely the back of all of the long course racers (Ex/Pro, SS, Clydesdale and Sports).

We would eventually race our way past a few of the novice people before the course split. I know that we all took turns riding in front. I was having a ball and really enjoying the day. There were some strange parts on the course. There was a lot of challenging terrain and were some absolutely fun parts. I rode most of the bridges. I had to walk more than a few times on some of the uphills and even on a couple of downhill switchbacks. I was happy with my efforts. We wound our way up and down and across the face of the mountain. I really enjoyed this trail called Alternate Flight Plan. I actually pulled away from the others a bit on the downhill part of it, but when time came to climb back out of it, the others caught back up. That was fine with me since we had agreed to stick together. Somewhere along the way I again got in front of the others and was headed down a long, straight singletrack when my right handlebar clipped a tree jerking the bike out from under me. I literally leapfrogged the handlebars, landed on one foot skipped then ran about 20 feet down the trail to keep from falling. I laughed as I turned around to see my bike laying across the trail with the handlebars going the wrong way. I remembered G & K would be on the way, so I ran back up and got it before they came along! TOO FUNNY! Shortly after this my legs got really tired going up a hill so I simply laid down to my left on the ground which was even with my hip. I stayed there long enough to let them get by.

I remember coming out of the woods where the big berm is and being behind G & K. Then not seeing any pink ribbons or my pals got me worried. I continued on, caught Gina. We found Kristen at the next fireroad waiting on us. This was the coolest ride!!! Riding on Candlers is weird because you can hear the traffic on 460 pretty much the entire time, so as we were riding along on the eastern edge of the course we hear this roar, then screeching tires then a very loud impact. We were like oh my God! It was frightening to hear! Soon after we heard firetrucks and ambulances responding. Wow. It wasn't long after that that this race became very unimportant.

As we were cruising along, we actually caught a sport male rider who seemed to be having some issues. We asked if he was ok and he said he was. We stopped a few minutes later to have some Gels and a short break. After we got rolling again, Kristen was in front, Gina 2nd and I was bringing up the rear. I saw Kristen going around a turn then I saw a swarm of bees - they nailed Gina who screamed in pain. I flew by her yelling at her to ride because they were swarming her. She was in tears, but I kept yelling at her to come on and get away from them. Once she got rolling we went up the trail a bit and stopped to make sure she was ok. It looked like they only stung her once which surprised me from what I witnessed. We used some water from Kristen's waterbottle to cool the stinging and continued. I think we were on "A Walk in the Park." We crossed over a road and started down a singletrack. Kristen in front, me 2nd and Gina in the back. I heard Gina say something, but I didn't understand her, so I stopped. I heard her say, "Jen, help me I don't feel good." Kristen had stopped on down the trail, so I called to her tha Gina was in trouble. I ran back up the trail with my bike to find Gina on the ground sobbing.

I was instantly worried. I asked if she had ever been stung before, "yes." Have you had a reaction before, "no." My thought was "oh shit, we're in trouble." I told Kristen to go and find the first person with a phone to call for help. Meanwhile, I was trying to calm Gina and keep her from panicking. It was not a good scene. I'd say she went through about 12 different symptoms right there in front of me. The sport male rider came along and asked if everything was ok, I told him no and for him to tell anyone he saw that we needed help. I'll omit the details of what my poor friend was going through, but I pretty much felt helpless. All I could do was be supportive and encourag her to stay calm. At one point as we waited, I started to think we were in a really bad spot to be found and for her to be "rescued." I walked back up to the road that we had crossed to see where it went. I was met with a sign I didn't want to see, "Dead End Road." All I could think is "this fucking sucks. We're 5 miles in on single track, I have no phone. I really have no idea where the roads are or where they go."

At this point, I'd say it's been 40 minutes since Gina got stung, I decided we needed to get to a more accessible spot. I was trying to remember where the trail went. I figured if we went towards the finish line - logic would lead searchers or whoever to come the shortest distance to find us. We were at mile 12.75 when we stopped. I urged Gina, well rather I told her to get up and walk. So I took both bikes and lead the way. As we walked along, I started talking about random stuff to try to take her mind of her body's signs that trouble was looming. At one point, Gina said, "my head is itching, why is my head itching." I knew very well why it was, but I wasn't going to tell her that she had hives. I simply told her, "oh you just need bath. Your head is sweaty." I had already noticed that she was breaking out before we started walking, but there's no way I wanted her to panic again. We walked a half of a mile to the clearing of the power lines.

As we neared the area, I could hear a 4 wheeler so I started to yell. Well the rider didn't shut the motor off so there was no need to yell - they wouldn't hear me. (NOTE TO RESCUERS, YOU HAVE TO SHUT THE ENGINE OFF OCCASSIONALLY TO LISTEN FOR YOUR VICTIM). I trudged on up, set the bikes against the sign posts while Gina sat back down on the trail. I looked at the map trying to figure out what to do next. By now the sound of the 4 wheeler was gone in the distance. I walked about 10 feet down each of the fireroads up there to see what I could see - nothing. I was really starting to worry now. I figured her legs were splotchy, she was itching and had already said it was hard to breathe. I was not looking forward to this progressing. Gina kept telling me to go on and leave her that someone would find her. I was like, "absolutely not." I wasn't about to leave her! I kept looking around and would glance back to make sure her breathing wasn't labored. I looked down the power line to see the best sight of the day. The Lynchburg Fire and EMS Gator was about a quarter mile away coming along the power line. I started jumping up and down and waving hoping like hell they could see me. I watched as the went down the hill then up then disappeared down again. I was like, "please see me, don't turn." I kept waving - they ascended the nearest hill and one of them finally waved back. I love me some firefighters, but I've never been happier in my life to see two firemen. I went to them and gave them a quick assessment of what had happened. They immediately went to Gina, confirmed what I already knew. They radioed back that they needed a Medic truck then began to figure out how they would get back out. They offered me a ride out, but I declined saying that I wanted to try to finish the race. I thanked them, helped them load Gina's bike and equipment. I wished Gina well and told her I'd check on her then I went on my way. Looking at my GPS, I think about and hour and twenty minutes elapsed from the time Gina got stung until the time I got back on course. It didn't matter, I'd stop again if someone is in trouble. That's the way it should be.

After this I really didn't care anymore about this race. I was intent on getting off of the trails safely. As I wound my way across the hillside, I ran into Mr 4 wheeler. He asked if I was the one who got stung. I said, "no the fire/EMS people have her." I bid him farewell and continued on. At some point, I got to yet another road where there were two course workers - they asked about Gina and offered me water. I was good for now. I asked for directions - they sent me on my way. At one point, it sure felt like I went in a circle, but as it turns out I didn't. Eventually I got to the point where I could see the Lake and the Camp, so I was very relieved that I would soon be finished.

I made a turn onto a pink/blue ribbon'ed trail and hoped that it wasn't the outgoing course. I encountered the Sport Male rider again only this time some Nimrod in a red shirt was like you're going the wrong way. Instead of trusting my instincts that I was actually right, I turned around and followed him. I ended up finishing the wrong way and not even on course, but after 4 plus hours on a bike I was frankly sick of riding. As I neared the "finish" line there was course tape everywhere for that stupid movie, so I rode with my hands raised, "where's the finish line?" I heard someone say why are you coming this direction? I was like, "someone told me to go this way." I was like "WTF?" I simply started riding near the stupid movie production - I heard some other smart ass say something like, "wow, you just finished?" I was like, "you haven't got a clue buddy" and kept riding. I rode for a few minutes before turning back around. I heard Kenny saying, "Jen, you're done, I've given you a time." I looked at Kenny, Warren, Cliff, Allen, Susan and a few others who by now had gathered and said, "you know at this point, it doesn't really matter. It's been a long day. It doesn't matter."

In the end, I just wanted to finish. That's what I did. Of course, does it count that I didn't cross a "finish line?" It was a great day with friends, and I'm glad I was in the right spot at the right time. Gina did have to go to the ER where she was treated and released. I spoke to her husband last night who reported that she still had some hives, but was feeling much better. All is well that ends well.

As of right now, I'm completely undecided on the Poor Mountain Hill Climb. The last two races have been mentally taxing and I don't know that I have the enthusiasm for that. I'll have to get back to you. Meanwhile, I'm going to do some totally, non-bike related stuff now. Have a great Sunday.

:)

Finished the race...

More story later. It's too long to type tonight and I'm mentally drained at this point.

Here's a picture of my "swag" from today.

Finally Friday!!!

It'sThursday, have you laughed yet?

wEdNeSdAy FuNnY

This one reminds me of what happens when a mountain biker shows up to ride a road ride... Of course the big do-do bird is very like me!

Tuesday funny... If you've not seen this - it's funny!

Repost (I think, but worth it for the laugh...) Positive thoughts remember?!?!

FUBAR...WTF...BS...

***WARNING STRONG LANGUAGE MAY FOLLOW***

Each of those acronyms is descriptive of the bike ride today. I won't call it a race because that fiasco doesn't deserve to be called a race. The postponement from last week should have been an omen to me to stay the hell at home. I'd like for one time to be able to go to a race and not break a sweat just changing clothes. I'm so sick of racing when it's 90 degrees and humid. I'm just a grumpy bitch right now. Sorry, but I pretty much feel like I wasted my time going down there to ride today, and I'm not happy. Gotta get this out now, as I don't have time for a crappy attitude this week. The hardest race I've ever tried is coming up Saturday in Lynchburg, and I want to be positive about it. SOOOO, out comes the frustration and aggravation of the day.

I don't know what the hell happened to the "race director/promoter," whatever you want to call it - clown might be appropriate, but they took a perfectly good way to start a race and turned it into the dumbest and most dangerous way to start a race I've ever seen. I guess I should stop bitching about this because everyone else managed fine, but I wound up on my friggin head with a bruised knee for my efforts. What part of that start was even logical? Start with 15 feet of asphalt right over non-rounded rocks. SURE, you can get alot of momentum for that. Oh yea, and go ahead and start all the sports, the clydesdales and single speeders at the same f'ing time. BRILLIANT! You sir are a moron.

So after I flipped over the rock garden, a mere 8 seconds into the race, I look up to see everyone else long gone. I spewed forth enough profanity to make a sailor blush. I was embarassed and pissed off. I spent way too much time trying to fix my chain, but it just wouldn't go back on. By the time I got going again, and was up the hill the beginners started. Lovely, I was already at least a minute and a half behind my competition. I initially tried to catch back up to them, but since this race starts by going uphill for 3/4 of a mile, I was screwed. If I had been trying to catch them on a downhill, I would have had more of a chance. By the time I got to the road crossing, everyone was out of sight. At the left hander onto the gravel, I thought maybe I'd see someone one. Nope, not there either, so I went down the slippery, lose rocks as quickly as I could. Maybe I'd catch them at the water crossing. NOPE. "well crap, guess I'm on my own. This is just f'ing great." I rode most of the way across the first water crossing before my front wheel hit something stopping my progress. I quickly stomped the rest of the way out of it and through the mud. YUK! By now I'm sure plenty of beginners were passing me. I started up Still Hill in granny gear and rode a bit of it before I started having pain in my left knee. I got off and started walking. What did I have to lose? Last is last.

The further I went in this first lap the more I felt like crap. My heart rate was elevated, my stomach was cramping - a first for me in a race and my knee was aching. I tried drinking some water to see if that would help my stomach - not really. Soon I would start feeling like I needed to barf. It was not a good day. My mood was horrendous and starting to feel sick didn't help. I ended up walking part of another hill. I was happy with my ability to descend safely. Some parts of the course were a guessing game. There weren't very many volunteers at this race.

At some point, my friend Reid came by and asked if I was ok, I think I replied something to the effect of "no, I'm not, and I don't think I can finish this." He was like, "it's only two more miles, and you can be done." I don't know if I answered. Then another friend, Danny had passed by, "are you ok?" Me, "no." Danny, "will you be ok?" Me, "yea eventually." He made sure I had water then went on his way. I'm sorry for being unkind, but I really wasn't feeling good at all - mentally or physically. The second water crossing actually was refreshing. I knew it was too deep for me to ride safely so I got off, hefted Ritchey onto my shoulder and waded on in. The water was cold and up to mid-thigh. I think this helped my heart rate go down, and I know it felt good on my knee.

Eventually I made it to the lap-split. The volunteers here directed me to the left for my second lap. I told them that I would try it, but didn't know if I'd come back. Who knows if they heard me or cared. They didn't seem to happy to be there. At this point, I felt somewhat better, so I decided to give it a whirl and do what I could. I knew it would be better for me psychologically to try to finish the race. I won't quit, I can't quit. I never really did go very fast the entire race except for the second time down the gravel hill. I was going too fast to make the left hand bend and ended up pulling off to the right into the path between the cornrows. I rode most of the way across the first water crossing again. I walked most of Still Hill, but not without completely stopping and having a drink of Gatorade. Once again, I figured I had nothing to lose as surely everyone else was long gone. Even the Experts had blown by. What a shitty day.

I caught up to a friend, April who races Novice at the deep water crossing. I grabbed my bike up and waded across. I passed her as we started up the trails again. I was able to climb the last section fairly well. I guess by now, my body was adjusting. Whatever. So I get to the water tank where I remembered the director saying something about a new finish. This amounted to taking a rooty, rocky hiking trail to a walking path, winding by the bridge (I thought he said to cross it, but was blocked by a sign?), around the edge of a picnic platform to a left hand turn then a right to making a sharp left onto a pea gravel road and to the finish. As I descended the hill, I saw Patrick (Anais' husband) sitting off to the side. I thought, "why is he still there? She's bound to be finished". I maintained my awkward balance as I got to the bridge, skittered a bit in the gravel, narrowly missing the jutted out edge of the picnic platform. Emerged from the tree line to hear Warren saying, "there's Jen. GO LEFT JEN." I think that I pedalled maybe three times and then was done. WTF? Weird ass finish.

So as I'm having the tag ripped off, I hear Josh say, "where's Gina?" I was like, "I have no idea, isn't she done?" I then hear Warren say, "do you know where Pookie is?" I said, "no, I haven't seen anyone since the beginning of the race." I was starting to get concerned about my friends. First, Patrick is sitting there without Anais, then Paula and Gina were missing. Kristin rode up and said that everyone had been told the wrong way to go. WHAT?!? You're kidding? "No, seriously we all went the wrong way. You're the only one who rode the correct course." HUH!?

I think they have the finish order as: Kristin, Me, Gina, Anais. Well that's totally fucked up because Kristin rode one abbreviated lap of the Sport Course, I rode the correct course, while Gina and Anais rode kind of a Sport course and a half. Who knows? I don't deserve anything, but last. I didn't have a good race at all. I lost the race on course and mentally then they hand me a 2nd place medal. NO THANKS.

So onto the next race. A mere 6 days from now, I will face the biggest challenge for me ever on a bike. It might actually be the hardest physical task, I've even taken on. I'm not sure I'm ready for it cardio-wise after today. Maybe it was just the heat. Maybe not. I'm hoping that it will be cooler Saturday, so I will go do the best I can. I don't care about time, I don't care about placing; I just want to finish safely. So here's to positive thoughts and a good attitude for next week!!! YAY JEN!!!

Racin' and Sweatin'

Tomorrow looks marvelous...

Going back to drinking water now...

WOO HOO!!!

No words needed.

Slippery when wet...

Fun times on Mill Mountain...

Great friends: Paula, Anais and Laura - you guys all rock!

I think all four of my extremities are now injured in one way or another!!!

HA HA HA

Another link to the Video

Spur of the moment...

Well with the race being postponed from Saturday, my weekend plans were as screwed up as the rest of my week had been. Let's see after last weekend's 4 day festival of fun, I had hoped to get in some more riding during the week. What did I do? Tuesday - I did a patrol ride, Wednesday - I can't remember, Thursday - my Jeep's driver's window had broken, and I was on call, so that messed that day. Friday - I had not planned on riding because there was to have been a race on Saturday. By the time, the race was postponed and the email received, I had already made plans for Friday, so no riding Friday.

So Saturday morning, I slept in. It at least rained some Friday night, so I wasn't too irritated about the postponed race. Once I finally rolled out of bed at 9, I was curious to see what would transpire with my missing paycheck. There hadn't been an update when I went to bed. OH YAY, I could pick up my check between 9 and 2, so pencil that in as something to do. The next two Saturday are planned already, so pencil in some housework and laundry. I wound up cleaning up a bit, running to work and getting my check then back home to clean house. By the time, I got that done, the sun was beginning to shine. I had already noticed that the roads were fairly dry, so I decided to try a road ride. The Tech game wasn't on TV and it sucked anyway, so at halftime of the game I left on skinny tires.

27.5 miles later I returned to my house. I enjoyed my ride immensely, but at times I thought the wind would blow me over. I made my way downtown from home then headed up Mill Mountain. I'm glad I didn't go up the old road as I originally thought I would because the regular road was hard enough. I made it up with some effort and headed out to the parkway. I briefly entertained the thought of climbing Roanoke Mountain, but decided against it since it was getting warmer and the wind was still weird. I headed out the Parkway with no idea really where I wanted to exit. I passed Bandy Road and had plenty of energy, so I thought out exiting at Explore Park. When I got to Explore I still had energy and really didn't want to ride back through downtown to get home, nor did I really want to ride on Rutrough Road. This would mean my exit would be Rt 24. I think I did pretty good especially with the swirling wind.

When I got to Explore Park, this gust of wind literally moved both of my wheels out from under me, I thought I was going to wreck. I fought the bike and kept my balance. As I crossed the Roanoke River, I remembered that I would have to climb to get to Rt 24, so I tried to keep going as best I could. At Rt 24, these two morons on crotchrockets got on the BRP. Both of them revved their bikes really loud as they passed me. I am not impressed by stupidity. So at this point, I began looking for the path that you can take to get off of the BRP. I initally thought I could cut through the park service building's lot, but the gates were locked. I found the path easily just on the other side of the deer crossing sign. I did the proper thing and walked my bike down the path to the road.

Next I would go down Mountainview Rd. There are awesome bike lanes on this fairly recently paved road. I was enjoying the smooth ride when the wind shifted into a headwind. It literally took me from 15mph to 9mph. I promise I didn't change my cadence! It would be awesome if the bike lane was all the way to Washington Ave, but it's not nor is the smooth ribbon of asphalt. The road gets pretty crappy as you get near the older nieghborhoods. Soon I would be at Washington Ave. Another decision to make. How to get home? I could take Wise Ave and all that back to downtown, but again I really didn't want to go back through downtown. I decided to take Washington Ave to the park then take Eastern Ave (not nice houses) over to 13th Street and head home from there. It was a nice decision. Other than the crappy houses on Eastern Ave, the light at 13th Street allows a safe way to get across Rt 460. I just take 13th St to Mason Mill to Hollins Rd to Plantation. Soon enough I was home! My ride was 2 hours and 5 minutes long. I really enjoyed it! I need to do this more often. Just got to figure out where to go and how to link it all together. I need to bug some of my Chicky pals to go along!

This morning (Sunday) I was to meet another Mountain Bike Patrol member to cut some trees off of the trails on Mill Mountain. We spent about an hour and a half moving the trees. We got to talk to Mayor Bowers as he was walking his dog. After we got the trees moved, I rode down the rest of Woodthrush, but wasn't feeling it today, so I ended up bushwhacking to JPFish and riding up the road to get back to my car. As I was riding up the road, I started to get a cramp in my right calf. It just wasn't the day to ride especially with the 27.5 miles from Saturday. It was a bit of a struggle to get back to my car. I made it and headed home. I'm glad we got the work done on the trails today. I'm definitely going to continue riding on Mill Mtn this month, but at least I have 4.5 out of my 5 required hours done for the bike patrol.

Tomorrow, I'm going back to the gym to work with my trainer again. I really won't be able to get into a good routine there until after my next two races are done. Especially since the races are 6 days apart. I'm looking forward to it. Of course, I fully expect that it's going to rain next Sunday now since they moved the race and it really didn't rain all that much here Saturday. HA HA HA HA... :)

Payless and Postponed...

Funny.

First some payroll employee fux up and me and 6999 other employees don't get paid, and now my race is postponed...

4:07pm
Good afternoon, everyone. We are continuing to work diligently with area banks to create an electronic transfer to employee accounts. If we are successful, this process should work for all employees. We will notify you whether this was successful by 5:00 p.m. with an update on the Intranet and with a Groupwise e-mail message.

As a backup plan, we are currently printing manual paychecks for distribution. This process will take several more hours to complete. If this distribution is necessary, we will post a list of specific distribution sites on the Intranet and via Groupwise e-mail. You may also call the following special hotline number that we've set up for you at ###-####.

Please be reassured that Carilion will also be responsible for fees and charges that are incurred because of this situation. Again, we all offer our most heartfelt apologies for the difficulties this has created for so many of you.

*******

Due to the uncertainty of the weather related to Tropical Storm Hannah, we have decided to postpone the race until Sunday, September 14^th. With the two major river crossings, four stream crossings, and the Still Hill obstacle, we have decided to err on the side of caution to ensure public safety. We are making this call as early as possible to make certain that participants driving long distances know the race status in plenty of time. I hate that we are postponing the race, but we certainly want to be sure no one is hurt while participating in our event. I hope you will still be able to come to the event next week. Since we are in the heart of hurricane season, if there are any changes required for next Sunday’s schedule, I will email you promptly. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.

Hanna...

I think it would be absolutely hilarious if someone entered a bike racer for Saturday named T.S. Hanna. If I had money to waste, I'd do it. I like watching weather satellites and stuff when the storms are brewing. Here are two images that I found on NOAA's National Hurricane Center website.

It's good to volunteer again...

After a long day at work where I debated on and off whether to ride my bike or not, I decided to go for it. I really believe in the bike patrol, and I really want it to succeed. I had decided since none of my chicky pals could join me tonight to ride on Mill Mountain. Get in a nice ride, log some patrol hours - two birds with one stone. I did have a nice ride, rode down the sidewalk to the old road. Took the old road to Big Sunny (Car Trail) to Riser. From Riser, I rode the 'bottom' half of Ridgeline which I rarely do because it's usually a difficult climb for me. Today I did great. Found a good gear and spun my way on up. Of course after Ridgeline, I rode WoodThrush, Star then took JP Fish to Sylvan. Up Monument and the other half of Ridgeline. It took me about an hour and a half. I really wasn't putting a huge effort into the ride tonight, but you know what. I did ride from the downfall at the bottom of Monument all the way to the switchback on Ridgeline before stopping and I only stopped then because I lost my balance in the switchback.

Anyway, like I said in the title, it's good to volunteer again. I totally enjoyed running EMS so many years ago, so this is allowing me to give back once again. I realize the patrol is small and not well known, but I think the more that people see us the more successful we will be. I saw a lot of people tonight - some more than once since I rode in a loop. Most people spoke, so you know they are seeing us. =)

Ok, well nothing more really to say. Other than - check out Hanna... She's coming to race!!! HA HA HA!!!