Wednesday 10 May 2017

2017 Woodnewton Ocup #1 & Kingston Ocup #2


April 23 - Woodnewton - such a great fun day!  WOW could not really be a better day - warm sunny perfect dirt on fun trails.  Plus so many of my favourite people were racing too which made it even better!  (still working on sorting out that knee...thankful it's better on a bike!)

Hike-a-bike city
May 7 - Kingston mud fest....
we arrived on Saturday to the scene of riders totally covered in mud bikes just caked thick.   So we chose to hike the pre-ride to save the bikes for racing Sunday.  (My husband was with me this time - excited he was going to race too!)
On our pre-ride-hike so many fun sections but 90% of the trail was soupy ankle deep glop which for me is basically hike-a-bike city.   It was challenging staying upright in some places just walking in hiking boots vs cycling shoes & no bike to push!   
 Plus it was still raining. And it rained all night.
And the morning still raining:
Rain starts?  It never stopped!
And I learned I have a limit to what I will race in! (plus my grumpy knee was a factor - on the bike it's fine - after hiking not so much) So I just said no & decided to save the bike & body & not race.   Sad to not ride - but happy to not have a giant mess to clean!  Ya definitely getting old & soft.  Huge kudos to the tough cookies who raced!

Kingston - we'll be back!  Those awesome trails have cool stuff!



Thursday 20 April 2017

April 15, 2017 Homage to Ice...Why am I doing this?

Long time no blog....been busy with 3 injuries in the past 2 years! Ugh! 
  Finally cleared in March to resume normal activity.  My normal means mountain biking!  So happy!  

 Very excited to share I was at a bike race last weekend!  And not just spectating, cheering or helping out with timing, but RIDING MY BIKE in the Homage to Ice XC Marathon Race!  

A bit crazy for a first mtb ride I know but it sounded like fun idea for a Spring ride & I've heard that Substance Projects events are pretty cool too - so I signed up for the 1/2 marathon distance of fun on trails that are supposed to be sandy & dry - and also barely known to me (maybe 2 ocups worth of knowledge). I was looking forward to get a good ride in following arrows & not being lost!  

Ha! I obviously misread the weather forecast (I swear it said 20c & sunny)...but nope we got this



 Basically the weather was terrible.  Really quite unpleasant & unnerving for a first MTB ride after a long time away being hurt!  
I even skipped the usual on-bike warmup.   Instead I chose to warm up by delaying getting cold & wet by getting fully ready to ride then hiding from the rain inside my car as long as possible.  

While I sat there watching the rain pummel my windshield I considered going home.  
I don't have to do this.  It's no big deal.   I can decide to be a fair weather only rider.  Starting now.  Nobody will mind.  
WHY am I doing this?  I've raced in disgusting weather before but somehow maybe because this was the first ride of the year for me or because after 2 years off being hurt my idea of a fun time has changed?   

Or maybe not...so with thoughts of 'suck it up buttercup' & barely 3 mins before my start time I shut off my complaining brain & jumped out of my car & on to my bike & rode to the start area to line up in the rain & cold with the big crowd of crazy people.  

And boom we were off!  I was riding my mountain bike! On really fun trails!  In the rain!  So much rain the whole time with bursts of even harder rain just like the weather radar map shows.  Plus no leaves on the trees to block it meant the trails were full on muddy & all the wood especially the 1000 logovers were super slippery & excellent practice.   I was so happy I remembered how to ride over logs especially since with my shoulder injury from last spring no way I could even do one of them never mind the 1000 I did last Saturday.   

Just being on my MTB & how it feels flowing along in the forest....wow I missed it!  So happy!
Even happy to remember how slippery corners feel, and slippery hill climbs, slippery downhills, etc etc.  And did I mention the logovers?

And I wasn't alone.  Approx 200 racers were zig zagging through the trees & no leaves means you can see people all over the place which is really neat.   

Then it was over.  And the rain stopped.  And people hanging out & chatting (many I hadn't seen in 2 yrs!).  And there was FOOD c/o Substance Projects - part of your entry - how cool is that?

Fun riding bikes & great people - definitely glad I didn't wimp out & go home.  
That's WHY! 
My poor bike actually doesn't look too bad but took me 2 hrs to clean