ULTIMATE

In the land of Physical Education, we are playing Ultimate Frisbee. Please feel free to stop by on your lunch break of free time and join in on the fun. It is a great mix of cardiovascular development, teamwork, calisthenics, and hand-eye coordination.





I would suggest not wearing these shoes. They are the new craze (again) and all the kids who have them on have gone down for the count. The grass seems to never get dry, and you can only take two steps with the frisbee, then you have to stop. This abrubpt movement has sent many to the turf, one bounced and one rolled. This made us all laugh, a lot, which brings me to topic #2:

I THINK I TORE AN AB: Not laughing, although all the vast amounts of daily laughter probably helped shield me from deeper tissue damage. Shelli, who will be a DOCTOR OF PHYSICAL THERAPY in June, told it was probably micro tears to the intercostal tissue surrounding the ribs. duh. It is also a good thing i join in on the Pilates videos i have the kids do at times, or i would truly be hurting. I dont want to get into too much detail, but it has something to do with a lot of biking on rough terrain and the death grib and flexed out core to keep me on the bike, with the rubber side down. Although i only ate cacti once, or actually my bike ate me (the ground was never fully encountered) i feel like that guy on The Princess Bride who rolled down the hill yelling "As You Wish" he must have really hurt a lot.

SOOOO why was i riding a bike:

A BIT OF RACING: dOWN In old Phoenix area, which reminds me to NEVER VENTURE THERE IN THE SUMMER. Oh so very warm!! The races were great, had a good time. Somehow avoided flats and mechanicals and only got about 15 cacti tallons stuck in my shin.

INvites: I talk a lot so i love venues with ample amounts of people to talk to. You can talk about crazy race kits (but i totally avoided the girl who had shorts with a side panel that blared Kill Joy whats up with that?) new bikes, winter wonders and the like. I did recieve invites to go ride in places such as Berkley, San Diego and Big Bear, and to stay in fun homes with grand people. They are crazy, because i can actually get to those places. Its not like they are in Oklahoma or something and just being nice. They dont even know what i will do for a good ride and that i dont care that i drive a planet hating eco-terrorist Jeep that if it had been driven to the race, would have taken 17 tanks of gas. I am already making weekend plans. Not really, but i wanted to scare them.

TO MAKE A SHORT STORY LONGER: tHE GIRLS in my expert class and the class next to us were great this weekend. i think everyone went away without any death threats or restraining orders. It was awesome to meet Emma who will have the most fantastic racing kit by Sea Otter, hopefully, and who had a stranger use his mouth on the trail to remove the cacti stickers. Then there was Maureen, who i called the sleeper. She waited until the third day of racing to show her cards. She was a tricky one, but i called it in the car on the way to the venue. She showed up with a Curious George jersey and stuck to my wheel until i kissed my bike, then she passed only to be spotted in the far off desert scape from then on.

The Backbone crew is, well, crazy, but also super helpful. Roger stepped up big time hittin me up the a bottle feed (sounds like an infant, felt like one from time to time on the bike) on lap 3 and Chris would just pop out from behind a random huge cactis and shout obscenities, i mean encouragements, and Jim was taking actual real live footage of a cool little descent. I flashed a sign. And of course, James was back in rare form, helping everyone.

There is always the old crew too, the new Intense Team that is going podium crazy, Heidi K who became best friends with misfortune, getting lost on one course and accruing 3 flat tires on another. then there were the new upgrades to pro, Heather, Emily, and Kim covered in dust and sweat enduring their grueling inaguaral event. Then the other car, of Romolo, Carolyn, Mandy and Chad, we ate suspect food together, and now we are all BFF's. Kidding.

I was elated to have Shelli back in racing land, and she kicked some tail. she came in second by maybe 2 minutes, that without training, for about a year and a half. Natural, raw talent i say.

Then, of course, the Nomads. We were cool enough to ride in Mr. Freemans Mazda 5. He told us to pack like Nomads since the car was so dang small for 4 people with bikes and gear. Fortunately for Matt, i didnt take that literally because I think Nomads take their whole life with them!! But we (Christie, Matt, Trevor and I) fit in nice and snugg eventhough Christie touched my arm once. The trip was really fun, an excellent end to my break from work. When we got there we met Mandy, who stayed with us too.

LASTLY: I would like to talk about food. I did my first solo BBQ attempt just now. Jason is doing super overtime (YES) so i am, well, blogging and eating. duh. I made chicken (real) with this cilantro pesto i made then some grilled asparagus. ooo, good. While on the trip i decided that Smarties are a very BAD post race meal, and that KFC actually is ok for the night before. you just have to order ALL the sides, mashed potatos, rice, bean, green beans, and mac and sneeze, and no french fries.

I had a bunch of coworkers over for (DONT LAUGH) a girls brunch while all the non teachers were at work. We had coffee, then some more, chilled raspberry soup, potato crust frittata, baked french toast, and apple crisp. Flash backs from when i worked at a bed and breakfast in the Napa Valley, but i didnt even make my bed when they all came over.

Maybe i should have spent that last half hour cleaning my bike and unpacking. maybe tomorrow. probably not.

Have a nice day