Monday, May 5

Sensitive Habitat

Did some biking up in Idyllwild this weekend. The race announcer told us MANY times of the "Sensitive Habitats" that we would be riding through. That we MUST stay on the trails, even if we do not love nature!!

this phrase became the statement of the day.

While having the break through race of my life, with talent and allure so great it would have made the newspaper the next day (pfff, like every other day of my life), i flatted. Not just any flat. one that goes flat again. Now, this is "nobodies fault but my own". (that's a side note quote from the head lady at LA Fitness, yelling at me for cutting the stereo lock with bolt cutters. of course its my fault. i cut the lock) I suck at fixing flats. And i am a stress monkey. Put the two together, you've got CO2 burning my fingers and successfully evading the valve stem. I had to run about a quarter mile to an aid station where i could sort things out.

This sticker was pointed out on my roof rack. That's right, i have stickers up there from 1999. It was an omen.



Then the catching up began. I had lost way too much time to get back up into the 3, but i wanted to see how close i could get. But when in this position, i tend to flail about and take "risks" ie screw up, and proceeded to eat about 8 times. This began creating "Sensitive Habitat" within my personal ecosystem. Arms, legs, buttocks, top-tube. You get the picture. In order to preserve and protect, i backed off the throttle (4.3 mph) and decided to enjoy the habitat.

it was an excellent day. My floundering in the woods landed me $75 and a marble slab. I am going to pull a Coldstone and keep it in the freezer and mix my own ice cream on it, adding whatever i want. Nuggets of peanut butter, gummy bears, the works. Let me know if you want some.

Since in the land of Mountain Bike Racing, winning anything other than a nifty plastic medallion is like a once in a lifetime thing, I took Matt and Trevor out to lunch with my winnings. If you had been in our car, i would have bought you a churro too.



I also went to a birthday party. i clean up well, admit it.



The quality of my life at work is about to increase exponentially with the addition of bleachers in the gym. i love these guys.



In other REALLY exciting news, i had to get up at 6am Sunday morning and do a 5k with some students of mine. I was banking on the fact that they are child-slackers and wouldn't want to run the whole thing. I forgot one item. I am their teacher and i am fantastic. They ran the whole way, making it to the finish line in 30 minutes. Since i had ran so much during the race on Saturday, my cycling shoes had created nice blisters, which were exacerbated by my running shoes. i also broke a sweat, then had to shower again, to go to the above mentioned birthday bash.

I had such a wonderful time running...that i have decided to forgo the next National MTB race and do the XTERRA event in Temecula that same weekend.

8 comments:

mattfreemanrace@yahoo.com said...

Xterra. Pfff. That involves water.

BTW, who took the podium shot? Excellant photo composition.

Joy Joy said...

Thank you, and thank you for asking. i think you took the picture. However, we looked like specks in the distance so i zoomed in, i cropped it, formatted it, downloaded it, pasted it and titled it. But thank you for taking the photo.

Back In 1980 said...

I have seen the Olympics on TV and am aware of the different stump heights as they relate to gold ,silver and bronze.

Question, how can I tell if your 4th or 5th. Do i need to look for a twig or stick. The other girl appears to be on a pinecone.

PS: Water rules FAKE MF and whoa did you mispell a word.

Joy Joy said...

i was 5th, thank you for rubbing it in. it alternates back and forth, like from first 2nd on the right, 3rd on the left, back to right and so on.

PS. i re-spell checked that post and read it 7 times. i failed spelling in school. so i see no mistakes.

Brooke said...

Wow, good job on your 5th place despite flatting! Pretty respectable.

Back In 1980 said...

The spelling was regarding Fake MF. Little known fact his family has a Holiday tradition of proof reading christmas letters underlining and circling words and sending them back.

PS: Great Job on 5th...The only 5th I ever got was of wild turkey.

Christie said...

i like the marble slab idea. gummy bear mix-in is Greg's favorite.

Bev said...

Joy, you are funny and you rock. I can change your flats for you if I could keep up. I may take you up on some of your "new food" as I am a pro boinker and maybe that would help me. A good trade off.