meh

I don't want to be a hater but it's really tough not to be right now.
I'm looking at you Mother Nature.

Radar

This green blob has been stuck here for hours. Barely moving.
So cruel.

Here we go again...

Wednesday night rides are dirt rides out at Palos.
It never failed last year that it would rain on Wednesdays. Reading back on my blog from last year, it did quite often. The trails at Palos are finally open and guess what? It's raining. Looks to be an all-day-er too.
Meh.
If it's not raining after work I'll hit Waterfall Glen. Maybe.

missing eau claire

bummer.
It was a tough decision (not really), but in the end the kids won.
Our plan was to let the kids enjoy the 4th. Picnic, swimming, friends, cousins, fireworks. And then hope we could get someone to have them overnight and all day today (wishful thinking). It would've been worth driving a couple hours after the fireworks and then finish up the drive in the morning.
We had a sitter for today, but not last night. *shrugs*
Oh well. What to do next year?
Will they have the race on the 4th?
I know I'll be even more bummed when I hear how awesome it was later today and all day tomorrow. When I see the results and wonder where I might've finished...
I'm hoping later today John and I can ride somewhere together. Off-road is probably out as it rained all day yesterday.

Palos

I finally made it out there for the first time this year.
I'm worked. I can barely move. Thinking about moving is a bother.

annoyed

I forgot my brakes need to be bled. The front has a huge air bubble in it.
If you put the bike on its side and pick it up, no front brake. I was reminded of this on my mesa ride this evening. Put the bike down to fix my cleat, hopped on the bike on the fastest downhill there and no front brake. Need to bleed that. Well, actually beg my husband to. Luckily you can pump it back up (but still).
And what I thought was a bottom bracket creak was not. It's an eggbeater creak. I think I need a rebuild kit. Loud creaking noises on my bike annoy me. I can deal with rubbing or intermittent noises. Or even brake squeal. I absolutely hate creaking.
I was also reminded that I haven't found the ideal fork pressure for the new SID. I put too much in this evening and essentially ping ponged my ass all over the trail. It's not like I've never ridden rigid before, but for some reason having a fork with too much air isn't the same. It's more like unpredictable or something.
I put the cleat plates on my sidi shoes tonight. I also moved my cleats down a bit. After wearing my old shoes I realized that my cleats were too far forward. From the title of this blog post you know how well that worked out for me. Still though, at least I was out on my bike.
Meh. Hopefully tomorrow's ride will redeem this evening.
Which, crap, I should go to bed to wake up for...

random

I went to the mesa again last night. Only about 45 minute ride time, but I'm not complaining. I grabbed a lot of downed tree branches that of course fall right in the middle of the trail. We call them Stan sticks as our friend Stan is famous for grabbing those sticks in his derailleur and then breaking his derailleur. Never fails.
The trails ripped. I may have adapted to their rooty-ness I suppose just from the other night.
I love riding out there but it isn't as smooth as it used to be. There are so many more exposed roots. Which isn't horrible, it definitely makes you work on the bike, but some of the trails used to be wicked fast lean into the turns kinda smooth. Not so much anymore.
John changed my axle on my Industry Nine wheel last night. Yes I cracked it. Apparently I'm one of four people to have done so. The replacement axle is way lighter. Weird. I also finally changed my bottom bracket. It was creaking after last wash. And with ti I think it echoes so it was a major annoyance. I put a blackbox one in, oh so smooth. For now anyway. Now mount xdx tires on 190 wheelset, um... and what else? Meh, I don't remember. Oh, I have to change my chainring on my Eriksen. Damn penis rock.
Doc appointment today at 3:30. Boo.

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THE MESA

I headed out there today and it's

DRY!!!

Who wants to come ride?

It's Monday

I just had 3 Oreos and I feel like crap. They tasted good though. It is possible that I feel like crap from the 10 (big) swedish fish I ate prior. Who knows.
I still haven't been to Palos. I'm slowly going insane.
To ward off the insanity awhile longer I made sure John was up for alone time with the girls and I headed to the Mad FORCs dirt retreat.
I had no idea what to expect. I honestly didn't care. I just wanted to hang out with people with my mountain bike.
I left a bit after 5:30am. I pulled into the Blackhawk Ski Area at about 8:50am. There were some women I've met before and some I've seen before and well, some I've never seen before.
For most of the day we rode and worked on skills. In the last group I was in we were with Alison Dunlap. I love her. I've met her a couple times and I am just so impressed by her every day down-to-earth-ness. Anyway, it was pretty cool.
Saturday night I wasn't sure what my plan was. Camp? Go to Amelia's and risk full blown allergy asthma attack (she has 2 very long haired cats)? or go to Holly's?
When Amelia left earlier than I wanted to I knew that option was out (or maybe not, she was just a phone call away). Then it didn't seem like anyone was camping so I took Holly up on her offer to crash there. Which in turn made a lot of sense and worked out well as we decided instead of heading back to the ski area we were hitting Kettle.
The hour drive to Holly's house after a long day of being on the bike seemed like it took FOREVER! I was relieved when my clock in the car was close to the time on my gps. I was even more relieved when I turned the key off. I was so done driving.
Headed inside and got a quick shower in. Holly and I chatted for what was probably over an hour about the day.
Next thing I know I hear Holly's dog freaking out, fell asleep again and woke up about 2 hours later. Grabbed some pancakes and coffee and got ready for Kettle.
I didn't realize how worked I was from the day before until I started moving around. My arms were sore, my lower back and my thighs were aching.
At Kettle we all headed out to ride everything but Emma. Which ordinarily I might've whined about not doing Emma, but my legs were screaming. I knew it'd be rough making it back after doing the Emma climbs with my legs as tired as they were. Not to mention I wasn't prepared food-wise.
The ride was pretty uneventful but fun. I started hungry which never works out for me. We stopped after the climbing on the blue loop to have a bite and then headed out again.
I was seriously hungry the whole day. I just felt like I was on empty. Still though, I had a really good time. I'm happy to be bruised and scratched. Although I could really do without the bruise on my knee from endo-ing in that deep sand section after the pines. My glasses were too dark for that section and I didn't see where it went. By the time I realized it the sand had taken me too far left... I tried to correct (turning your wheel in sand to correct your position is a bad move, and I know this, but still.). Instead of correcting, my bike came to a dead stop and flipped me over into the woods. But not before I hit my knee on something. Good to get the crashes out of the way early in the season (Yes, this is early for me this year. Fucking rain.).
Eau Claire is this weekend. I don't even want to think about the drive.

*pic stolen from britt