Subaru Cup Report #2 - XC Race

XC Race: 16th of 18 finishers. At one point I thought of pulling myself from the race, but made myself finish and own up to 16th as punishment for being so shamefully out of shape. Oh lord, it was awful. I started out strong, and was where I thought I should be (around where I thought I would finish) but no. I faded hard and got passed by a few people. Then I thought I would level out, but I got passed by more people. Then some more. Then I thought that there couldn't possibly be that many more people behind me. But there were, and most of them passed me, too.

Grimace.

A few high points of the race: I heard I was one of a handful of women who rode the big rock with the intimidating looking drop down. It wasn't too bad, and I took it with more speed each time. (I liked the technical areas. I'll practice launching off of features for the race next year.) The second time I rode the drop down I heard someone yell "Yeah! Pegasus doesn't give a crap!" in the style of Honey Badger, like 'it ain't no thang for her', or so I imagine. That was nice.

That brings me to the other nice part of the race. There were a lot of people cheering for me. Even a lot of the guys, when they came around and lapped the tailings of our race, said hi as they passed. That's nice when you're clearly not doing so well. Thanks for not pretending not to know me and hiding your face in shame at my performance, everyone! I get pretty wound up because I think that people will watch how I do in the race and comment on it later, or catalog it away- especially for track racing, where everything is on display. If anyone was paying attention this past weekend, they probably would have filed me under 'Not A Threat', Sub Category: 'Might as well be dead'. However, the cheering gets it through my head that even if friends are noting these things, they don't really care and will heckle and cheer me on anyway. So why get wound up? Yeah.

Subaru Cup Report #1

There's a lot to report from this weekend's Subaru Cup at Mt. Morris, but the biggest achievements this year were not on the race course: I got my chest signed by Ryan Trebon. Then Ryan Trebon got his chest signed by me.







I wonder if he remembers me from last year (at the bottom of the post).

Garden

Getting started a little late on a garden this year, but hey! I'm getting started, anyway. A cycling friend of mine offered me some space in his garden, if I wanted it. The only thing standing between me and garden space of my own was weeds. Lots of weeds.



Here's the latest- four rows (onions, lettuce, carrots and peas) and a lot more dirt to be turned over. I'll chip away a little more each night I go, which will probably be a few times a week. I don't mind the slow progress, and in fact it reminds me of my old place at Homer St with the rag tag flower beds. They weren't anything to write home about, but I really liked tucking things in here and there and watching them grow. That's good enough for me.

As a note: My laptop refuses to turn on (gr-reat) so I'll be blogging a little less until I can get the old girl up and running again. I hope all three of you will wait for my return.

Fangs and Feets

The cat usually sleeps or naps with one paw touching me. On this day it was my foot, and I felt his toes dance when they jerked in his sleep.

Road Ride?

On the way home from work, I decided on a whim to go for a road ride. Even I was surprised at myself. But it was a nice day, and I'm doing this thing where I try to exercise regularly so that I might become 'in shape'. Teammate Mike and I headed south against the wind. We went down to Bender Park and then headed back downtown, cursing that we hadn't brought money for ice cream at Babe's and squeaking home just as it became too dark to safely ride. Here's Mike at Bender Park:


I got these gloves at the swap meet this past winter and I've been itching to wear them ever since. At last!


A photo for the fans.


We stopped to watch a family of geese cross the road.


Hitting up The Pryor Avenue Iron Well on the way back into town. I like stopping by it, and there usually happens to be someone filling up gallon jugs for drinking water when I stop.

I know how to do it right.

This was my weekend.

Camping in the woods the first night...


...and the second night.


Fact: Secret Trail isn't really on the map.


More riding...






Will protect you from ticks and advances from the opposite sex.


Hanging out at twilight on top of the mound.




FIN

Garage Sale Season

I love garage sales. It's the thrill of the hunt and all. I've stayed away from them because I'm trying to pare down my things, not add to the clutter. I recently sold an overhead projector on Craigslist for $30, and was feeling great about the little extra cash and the newly won space in the apartment. So what do I do? Get sucked into the first garage sale I see. I was leaving a Walgreens parking lot when I drove past a garage sale. I saw three chairs in the driveway and made a hasty Y turn to get back at them.

They were beautiful. They were not in bad shape. I had to have them. All three of them.

Please forgive the fuzzy photos, but I was probably still shaking from the adrenaline rush of buying all three for $15.







One is ripped and stained and would probably have to be repaired or re-done someday, but the leather and chrome are in great condition on the other two. I found their cream and black counterparts (same stitching and hardware) on Room and Board for $400 apiece. I win!