RANDOM EVENTS

I nearly always ride with my camera for various reasons, but mostly because when I don't have it I wish I'd brought it. On a recent ride through Sierra Valley I passed this group of bees on the side of the road. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I did stop and watch for a bit.

My other random event of the week was on my intended "long ride". I had this amazing route planned out, but just before I climbed the pass to get out of town I heard a bang. I pulled over and looked at my tire..... damn. It wasn't just a simple flat, the tire decided to give up before we even began. There was a huge hole. I whipped the cell phone out and made a couple calls. All I got was voice mail. I guess people have to work sometime. Left on my own at the top of Geiger Grade was a little intimidating. I was almost to the summit (6700 ft) when the blowout happened and it was going to be a hairy descent to get back to the valley floor.

I left the cell phone sitting out just in case someone happened to call back to rescue me while I was trying to fix the tire.

With no returning phone calls I got to work on the problem. I tried putting a bar wrapper inside the tire and putting a new tube in, but at about 35 psi the tube started pushing the bar wrapper out through the hole. This wasn't going to work. Suddenly an idea struck me. About 10 minutes later I was on my way back down Geiger and to the nearest bike shop.

I ended up wrapping the tube as tightly as I could around the wheel while keeping it as thin as possible. Then I loosened the brake (actually I had no rear brake). Front brake only, I crossed my fingers and toes as I slowly descended the pass. Fortunately there is a bike shop near the bottom and I made it there with no further incident. I got a look of disbelief when I told them this happened at the top of Geiger. New tire in place I continued on with my ride.

170 miles of crazyness

I signed up for a 200 mile ride with 20,000 feet of climbing a couple months ago. I'm not sure why. The ride would have been much more fun if it hadn't rained, then snowed, then rained, then snowed, then rained, and then poured. The temperature above 7,000 feet was never more than 40. After 170 miles of this I called it a day. I'd been cold and wet for about 12 hours and nearly shivered off my bike on a couple of sketchy descents. About halfway through the ride I changed kit and added a couple layers, and I was almost warm for a while. By the end of the ride I was wearing every layer I had carried including undershirt, jersey, arm warmers, winter jersey, vest, and rain jacket. I was never warm during the race but I never got too cold until I got to Ebbetts pass at the end of my day. Ebbetts pass was passes # 5 & 6 of the day. It is about 13 miles long in total with the first 7 being an easy lead up and the last 6 crazy (European) steep. Sections of the route kick up to 24% grade. I didn't know about the crazy steep part until I was there.  We rode up and over and down the other side of the mountain and then came back down the scary steep side. Steep + technical + pouring rain + no guardrail +carbon wheels =  not so much fun.  I couldn't feel my fingers, and my arms were shaking really bad as I crept down the hillside. Finally I made it to the bottom and arrived at the next checkpoint. There I talked with the bike support motorbike that had just come down from the last mountain of the ride. As soon as I heard rainy and windy I decided to call it a day. It wasn't worth another 3 hours of freezing for, and I'd already put in 12 hours. It turned out to be a good decision as the winning men's time was around 13 hours. All in all it was an amazing training day, and I can't wait to come back when winter has finally decided to move somewhere else. 

Me at the start......... still smiling. Actually I was smiling until the violent shivering began.

Nothing like being at 8700 feet in the rain on a 40 degree day.

Ugly storm clouds as we approached Carson pass. I had a sneaking suspicion it was snowing up there...... it was. 

Post race I was too tired to drive home, and I camped at Blue Lakes (one of the places we biked) at over 8500 feet. Conrad may never get his car back after this trip. The three sleeping bags were key to surviving the night. 

Getting it done

Reno on average gets 7" of rain in a total year. It's a desert. This year it feels like we've had nearly that in the first week of June. It has rained every day so far this month and the forecast doesn't look much better for the coming week. Along with the rain there has been a 30-40 degree temperature drop. 3 weeks ago we were in the 90's and Saturday for my long ride we hit a high of 48. Yeah! So, after swimming in the rain and the two hours it took me to re-warm after that I decided to ride indoors today..... in June. My cold weather clothes and neoprene booties have long ago been packed away along with the trainer. 6 hours on the trainer has absolutely no appeal, but neither did freezing in the rain. So I popped in the movies and got it done. 

Bad Blogger

Okay, so I've been in a bit of a funk. When I'm busy sulking I don't blog, in fact I don't tend to do much of anything, which makes it worse. It's not been a great spring, but maybe it's how I'm looking at it. I've been sulking a bit due to injuries and also because I'm staying home while Conrad goes racing. The staying home would be easier if I could just stay healthy. About 2 weeks ago during a fun easy trail run Kona ran straight into me while chasing a rabbit and knocked me over. It would have been okay if my left knee and elbow hadn't landed on rocks. I tried to finish the run, but the knee just wasn't having any part of it. A week later the knee was starting to feel a bit better, when Conrad decided that kissing the pavement would feel good. He has the full story on his website. Somehow I managed to break my fall with my head (cracked my new helmet), my left hip (Conrad is calling it my 2nd butt), and my left knee and elbow. I opened the almost healed skin from the prior weeks fall. 

Yep we stuck to the sheets for the next week....

The week got better when I returned from work one night to find a shiny new toy in the driveway that was just for me. :)

Putting my nursing scrubs to good use I raced around the front yard trying to find any and all bumps. 

I'm now too fast to capture on film..... 

Kona pretending to be the saddest dog in the entire world.

 Another week has gone by and I'm still hurting. I tried swimming today, and the neck still hurts to bad to flip turn. Then I tried a run. At first it felt like it was going to be okay, but about 15 minutes in the pain started up again. I turned around and walked back.... sulking the entire way. I got home and crawled under the blankets about to start a full blown pity party. Before the party could be started I remembered my shiny new toy in the garage. The knee seems to be good when riding, and there is nothing like sweet single track to put a smile back on my face. No more funk... I just need to go ride my bike. 

Racing the storm home. I won, but just barely. 

31 is just a number.......

..... of miles I ran for my 31st birthday. Conrad was out of town, so I was on my own to make all the crazy plans I wanted. Before my stress fracture I had been planning on running the 50/50 race in Reno. I had been planning on the 50 mile version, but post injury I settled on the 50 kilometer version. The 50k runs up and over Peavine Mountain with 5800 feet of climbing.  The race is put on by the local running group, and the best part is that I can walk to the race start from my house.  The race started with a water crossing (they are flooding the dog park at Rancho again) and there was no way to keep my feet dry. I was stoked that quickly my new Avia Avi Stoltz felt dry. I was even more impressed that at the end of 50k with all that climbing and descending my feet felt great. I brought the camera along on the run, but didn't take as many pictures as I had at previous events. I'd been on nearly every trail on the east side of Peavine on both bike and foot over the past 6 years, and nothing exciting happened to capture on film. The mountain is in full spring bloom with wildflowers dotting the hillsides. I got slightly lost twice and probably ran an extra half mile total, but other than that the race went great. A lot of people started off hard, and I passed most of them on the climb up Peavine. It is 13 miles of climbing to get there, and then we went straight down the other side. As I was running down I was thinking about the long climb back up. Strangely my legs felt really good. I've only been back running for about a month, and I had a non existent taper week that included a 2 hour run and a 5 hour ride in the two days leading up to the event. I felt a little fatigued starting the day, but the longer I ran the better I felt...... until the last 2 or so miles. The last little bit is all down hill and by then the sun was baking down. I ended up finishing in a respectable 5:15 and 3rd female overall. Not bad for not really training. I did a post run ice back at the finish and headed home for some serious napping. Naps are the best. I don't know why I didn't enjoy napping as a kid because it sure is a treat now. 


The long climb back up Peavine. No one in my rear view mirror. :)

This is why I shouldn't take picture while running. 

Nothing may ever get done in our house again. On a cold and windy day Conrad took me for my first real ride on the pedal-less bike. My last ride was after work as the sun went down. 3ish hours and a couple of bruises later and we were back. So much fun and so demanding. Of course I had Conrad the mutant to follow as an example. It was kind of like trying to keep up with him while mountain biking, running, swimming, or well just about anything (except for snow sports). 

I remember our first mountain bike ride together down the MacKenzie River Trail. I was trying to keep up, or rather was just trying not to look too pathetic. I came across a real technical section with a big root and lava rocks and instead of getting off and walking (I didn't want to get left behind) I decided to ride it. Bad decision. I'm not sure of the specifics of the crash, but my knee went into the lava and didn't work so well for the rest of the ride (this was at the beginning of the day). A couple of turns later near a spectacular waterfall I found Conrad waiting for me. Damn, so much for looking cool.

 Anyhow, riding motorbikes with Conrad reminded me of that first mountain bike ride. I blindly follow without questioning if I really should be following. Anything involving 2 wheels comes easy to Conrad, and I should have known better. With my heart thumping in my chest I followed. 

The end of the ride.... wheew, I made it home in one piece. At the end I had a big smile and sore arms and legs.
This uphill thing is great. Just give it gas and it goes.
Scary steep downhill...  Conrad was nice enough to send everyone we know this picture with the caption "everyone has their limits". 

Xterra Vegas

I was really unsure how I'd feel going to the first Xterra of the season and not be participating. As we packed up in Reno, Conrad noticed that I packed up my road bike and left the mountain bike behind. Now there was no way I could be talked into racing. I've only done a handful of runs since the stress fracture and my heart just wasn't into this race. Friday I went on a road ride through Lake Mead area and was pleasantly surprised. Quiet freshly paved roads with a huge shoulder. I wish I had another day in the area to explore.

It's really a treat to see the desert this green. I've only been able to see a couple cactus in bloom.

Red sandstone cliffs surrounded sections of the road. 

It was rolling hills the entire way.

I almost started crying when I finally got to the store after running out of water 20 head wind filled miles earlier. 

Conrad on the bike

"I fell over there"

Conrad had some fond memories of his first borrowed bike.

Christine Jeffries leading the men out of the water.

It was a great race for spectating as both the bike and run were 2 loops. The crowd got to see Conrad and Josiah charge out for their second loop of the run stride for stride. In the end I never felt, even once, the urge to be out there racing. It was much more fun to talk to long lost friends and watch them duel it out in the hot Las Vegas sun.