Corporate Hippy

Shari and I had planned on riding the sunrise lap together. My girls were really cool about helping coordinate so I could get on the trail in time.

Shari was in no position to ride the sunrise lap, but since the girls worked so hard to arrange the schedule, I felt compelled to do it anyway. I was going to leave at 5:00am in hopes to catch the sunrise at the top of the mountain.

It was really tough to put those bike clothes on. I’d been off the bike for almost 7 hours, and had roughly an hour of sleep (dozing on the couch). I was tired, sore, and had already done my minimum required laps. It was easy to think about skipping the sunrise and trying to catch another lap later. With help from others (thanks Nick and MIke!), I convinced myself to do it.

My HID died, 2.5 miles in. This wasn’t as traumatic as I thought it would be. I still had helmet issues, even after I moved my HID mount further back on the helmet. When the HID died, I took the light off my head and put it in my pocket. The yelllow light from the Trail Ratt was actually nicer than the white light of the HID. Also, daylight was starting, so it was getting easier to see.

I took bad line after bad line. I fell, sometime either just before of just after my HID died and was really frustrated. I felt like I walked more than previous laps and the course seemed to be more difficult.

I kept going. I had to. My ‘goal’ was to do 4 laps, my ‘fallback goal’ was 3. I needed to finish this lap.

By the time I was on the cart path, it was raining pretty hard. I was tired like I’ve never been tired before – exhausted tired. Skat passed me on the cart climb and offered a bit of SpokeDrunkie cheer. Luckily, the rain hadn’t yet made its way through the trees, so the big downhill wasn’t getting muddy (yet!). But, I was so tired, and so ‘strung out’, that I was picking really bad lines. I was nervous and sketchy. I was ON THE BRAKES, but I had to go fast enough not to endo. At one point, the trail was so soft that i just kind of fell out from underneath me. I saw myself flying headfirst into a tree. Somehow, I jumped off the bike and landed on my feet, right next to it. Heh. Skill I didn’t even know I had

Anyway, I was glad to be done. I was done. Done. DOne!

As it turns out, I was the last Hella Bella out on the course. Brent called the race at 10am because of the rain.

Hindsight? I’m really glad I did that lap. Fuck. It was hard.

…… might have another post in me tonight or tomorrow …..

biking hippy

some really cool moments on this lap ..

• mile 3 to somewhere around mile 5.5 are just awesome, swoopy, fun … good stuff … my favorite part of the trail… i was wearing my “love my bike” smile
• its always good to see friends on the trail, a few minutes chatting with my pal Mike was a good boost into the sucky section
• At the end of the first section of really new trail, I got to see my ‘lil bro’ Josh … he’s doin so much better this year than he was last year!
• Danielle passed me on the cart path climb .. she’s a tough chic .. we had a nice little chat while she rode and I walked … tough chic
• As always, I was passed by Todd … he’s always friendly and fun to meet on the trail .. this time, he was followed by my pal Kevin …

Good times, good times …

life hippy

Lap two wasn’t any easier.  But – it wasn’t any harder either.  Its all about the recovery.
I got to wear my brand new sleeveless Trails-Edge jersey.  Seriously, I just took it out of the packaging to put it on.  The temperature had dropped to a reasonable level and it turned into a really nice night.

I was really only 5 minutes slower on this lap than the first – and I had some light problems.  We’re riding our bikes on a ski hill.  We spend 7 miles climbing to the top of the ski hill, and then go back down in 2 miles.  Needless to say, those last two miles are lots and lots of “e” sweet.

As I got to the sweeeeeet downhill section, it was starting to get pretty dark, especially in the woods, so I turned on the killer HID that I’d borrowed and mounted on my helmet.  But, that HID is a little different than my HID and it wasn’t working quite right … and then it stopped working all together.  So, I turned on my 12 watt Trail Ratt that was (badly) mounted on my handle bar.

So, I’m screamin down this hill, and my helmet is rolling around on my head because of the stoopid heavy (and now useless) light on top of it … In fact, its bumpy enough that my helmet bounced down enough to cover my eyes… So here I am, with my badly aimed, relatively dim light and I have to hold my head back so that I can peek out from underneath my helmet.  And, this is NOT hard packed, stony creek type single track .. oh no .. this is rooty, soft, twisty and a little scary in the daylight … Oh, and somewhere in there, on her last lap, Shari fell so hard that she broke her helmet… (Poor thing, she tried to do another lap when I started this one, but I made her turn around a couple of miles in because she said she was feeling a little hazy and light headed.. she’s pretty much done for this race, but Robin is now kicking ass for the Half-Baked team )

Where was I ? Oh, so .. yeah .. it was a tough ending out there .. But, I feel good.

Bummer part though .. Nick’s having some stomach issues and is pretty much outta commission for awhile … sorry babe!

biking hippy

I’ve been coming to this race since 2004, but this is the first time I’m actually racing.  Its a whole different world on this side of the bike shorts.  Woah.

Probably it doesn’t help that Brent made some course changes that, from what I’ve been told, has made this the most difficult 24 hours of Boyne course that my vets have experienced.

Thanks a ton to my pal Shari.  She got me through that first lap and kept me from being absolutely miserable.  It was hot, and I didn’t have enough water.  I’ve been running at 100% for the past couple of weeks, and I’ve had some really bad food choices recently.  My first lap was tough.  Shari was fantastic, patient and optimistic.  I envy her determination, her will.

My girls are doing great.  Claudia pulled off a hellova first lap!  I’m gonna head down and check on Wendy … she was out on the course when I last checked …

Stay tuned for more ..

biking hippy

On my way to work this morning, I swear I saw a large group of animals – in pairs of two – heading toward the lake.  I guess someone has been contacted by bruce almighty and is preparing his arc for the 40 day flood to wipe out humanity.  I wish I’d gotten the memo.

Ok .. so maybe its not the end of the world.  But it sure is depressing.  Even the prescription meds running through my system are having a hard time fighting off the spring rain blues.  Last night, I fell asleep on they couch before 10pm and was in bed before 10:30 (although, alcohol may have been a factor).

The weatherman says I might be able to ride my bike tomorrow.  He also says that we might return to our regularly schedule spring temperatures next week.  I think, if I were a weatherman in Michigan, I’d be fearful walking alone at night.  I’m sure there are many depressed outdoorsmen who’d love to have a shot at the closest thing they can find to Ma Nature – the bitch.

So, tomorrow will (hopefully) be the first ride on the Titus since the Addison Mud Disaster.  I really hope it works ok.  I’m a little worried about the chain, it still feels kind of stiff.  The smart thing, would have been to just cut my losses and buy a new chain.  *sigh* I’ve never been known for doing the smart thing the first time …

life hippy

Like, groove on this, man

If you read any of the other Michigan mountain bikers’ blogs, or any of the Michigan mountain bike forums, you already know that the 12 Hours of Addison Oaks (5/13/06) was a huge mudfest disaster.

Most bloggers are solo riders who talked about how hard it was to keep getting back on the bike and going out for more laps. They struggled, they worked hard. I’m incredibly impressed with all of the solo riders for the tenacity that kept them going all day.

For me, though, the race was much less exciting. For me, it was 12 Hours of Waiting. A good majority of my 12 Hour Racing looked something like this:

Last year, 12 Hours of Addison was a fast paced endevor where I hardly had time to catch my breath while John was out riding his laps. This year, there was plenty of time for breath catching as there were 4 people on my team and a trail full of mud.

Since we’re all impatient and excitable bikers, we decided that we’d each do only 1 lap at a time, at least in the beginning, so that none of us had to sit and wait for hours and hours between rides. This was a nice thought.

I decided to take the first lap. Monica and I set out for our adventure together, optimistic and smiling.

It took a good 50 minutes for Monica and I to finish our first lap. This is ~20 minutes longer than laps were taking me last year – the mud was already that bad.

Back at the tent ranch, the other “Pimps & Ho’s” had decided that since there were only 2 teams in our class, that there was really no need to kill ourselves – worst case scenario, we win second place. Not too shabby. So, Jess had decided that she wanted to do her minimum 2 laps and be done with it. It was cold, rainy, muddy and downright miserable. She really did not want to have to put bike clothes back on later in the day. Can’t say as I blame her, really.

This started a chain reaction in our group, tho – Nick and then John had decided that this was the wise thing to do — get your laps in and drink beer.

So, with Jess out on the course, the trail just gets worse. Laps are starting to take an hour, plus. Not to mention the time in between laps to hose off the bikes – there was just no way to do two laps on a row without washing the mud from the drivetrain. Poor John spent his day, watching broken bikes, broken chains, and broken derailures come by our tent – well before he ever put his wheels on the trail. The race started at 10am, and it was damn near 4pm before John even put on his bike clothes.

For me though – I sat in the tent ranch, knowing what the trail was like, and knowing that its just getting worse, and knowing that I had to go out there one more time. I sat, in limbo for nearly 8 hours.

Finally, John finished his second lap and it was time for me to wrap the race up. We’d realized early on that the other team in our class were serious SSE racers who just weren’t going to give up. We were happy with second place.

My second lap took me somewhere near an hour and 10 minutes to complete. There was alot of walking in the deep and wet mud. There were spots where I had to pedal on downhill stretches just to keep the bike moving. And there were times when I had to dig mud out from between the rear wheel and the frame just so that my rear wheel would move.

The mud was so bad that there were spots on the trail that I didn’t even recognize. I was nearly extatic when I saw that big rock on the trail – this meant I was REALLY close to the end. I even rode the log at the very end because it was a better option than going through the muddy bypass.

By 7:30, I was done. I changed into warm, dry clothes and had a hot cup of coffee. After that, we sat in the tent and waited for the crazy solo riders to stop riding so that we could get our free pizza and awards. All I wanted was a hot shower and a cozy couch to lounge on.

I’ve never been so whiped out from 11 miles of riding in my life. But the 12 Hours of Addison still wasn’t over, even when the awards were handed out. No. It carried into the next day when we had to tear our bikes apart to clean them.

I’ll say this – at least it wasn’t Stony. The mud at Stony is like a living being that does not want to die. Its nearly impossible to completely clean your bike after a muddy ride at Stony Creek. Addison mud is very forgiving and the bikes cleaned up well. I think I’ll need a new chain though.

All in all, it was fun to hang with peeps all day that I normally don’t get to hang with. We earned points toward the Michigan Cup Endurance Series and we didn’t have to work too hard to get a second place prize. Next stop, 24 hours of Boyne – I sure hope we have better weather in 2 weeks!

More pics here and here

biking hippy

I just can’t trust men who’ve got fingernails longer than mine – especially when the dude is an SME/Systems Engineer. It somehow creeps me out, and is just bizzare.

Also, as a professional woman, there are few things I’d find more embarrassing than finishing a sales meeting and having your customer say “don’t forget your purse”.
I never bring a purse to a business meeting. I might bring a briefcase, but I have no need for a purse at a meeting. Am I suddenly going to need my ipod? or my credit card? lipgloss maybe? Uh .. No.
And, why would you come to present an IT security solution to a bunch of technical people and not bring any product information, screen shots, demos, or anything of substance for us to look at?

What a waste of time.

Feelin' Sassy

When it rains and rains and rains

It gives you time for much needed housework ….

life hippy

Today, I’m irritated. I’m tired, burnt out and irritated. Yesterday was quiet and peaceful here, most of the noisemakers off playing the hero someplace else. Today, the noisemakers are here and currently setting up the pedestal that they will soon perch themselves on and shout “hail me, I’ve come to save you”.

Forget about the rest of us who’ve spent this week keeping the lights on. Forget the rest of us who worked overtime yesterday making sure the lights came back on for some desperate folks in a remote location. Forget the rest of us who are trying to wrap our arms around our completely out of control environment.

No, today the eyes will be on the pedestal.

In the off hours, I’m irritated too. I’m irritated that I never have time to do the extra things I want. I’m overwhelmed by expectations from myself and others. And I’m dissapointed by the expectations I have OF others.

I wish my house was closer to work, closer to trails, and closer to friends. I hate that every move I make has to involve a frustrating trip in the vehicle. I’m tired of struggling, just to keep up.  I walk into work every morning thinking “wasn’t I just here?”.

Some people spend their lives searching for what they want to do, how they want to live.  I know what those answers are for me, but I’ve put myself in a position where I can’t yet do what I want to do, and live how I want to live.  I’m in limbo.  Purgatory.

I’m starting to see the light at the end of my long, dark tunnel.  But sometimes, it flickers and fades.  Sometimes I think I’ll do this forever.  It scares me, makes me sad.  I have to remind myself that the only reason I’d ever do this forever is myself.  If I don’t follow out my plan, I’ve only got me to blame.

Its gray and rainy today.  And is supposed to stay that way till sometime next week.  Saturday will probably be 12 hours of wet.  Ah well .. that always makes the stories better .. heh ..

life hippy