So this is happening

It's that time of year again. My first round of pumpkin roll is long gone and although the first round isn't always my best work no one complained, at least not out loud.

I feel like I'm a little behind seeing as this was happening in Shirlington the weekend before Halloween. I think one of the best pics I've taken was at the Walgreens by my house. Given the right angle, it looked like a Witch was sneaking up on the Santa display in the next aisle. Can't we get through Thanksgiving without the onslaught of advertisements and holiday music? At this rate we're ready to throw those jingle bells at someone long before the holiday actually arrives.

Anyway. Speaking of things happening - I'm moving. Yes, this is finally happening. I have a love/hate relationship with my current location - Love that I can ride to hains (but that gets old), love that I can walk to a bunch of places (I cannot stand the post-frat tuition-fund clientele and don't get me started on the stupid drunk-trolly), I'm so close to everything (close enough that some random guy came into my house through an unlocked door and tried to sleep on my couch at 4am after being out at the bars), I have a driveway (that I constantly have to kick people out of- seriously, one person pulls in, I tell her this is private property and she argues with me to please, just do her a favor. Who the hell are you and I will have you towed if you leave your car here!), I love being near about 4 metro stops (although I despise the metro, especially with cold/flu season coming on).

See? Love/hate. 

I sold my townhouse in 2011 to move to Arlington and have been renting since then. I'm an accountant. Renting is a dirty word in my world. But, life got in the way and things happened and/or didn't happen so here I am, finally making it happen. Settlement is early/mid December - so the super (not) fun packing and purging has begun. At this point my current house is a disaster and quite possibly a fire hazard.

Rambling again ...

I've missed blogging. Actually, the blogging is more of a method of writing, I've missed writing. I fell off the wagon (so to speak) for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, life gets in the way sometimes. I try not to blog about super personal stuff and I come from the era of "if you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth (or keyboard) shut".

If you're reading this you probably know that I'm a bit outspoken when I have a strong opinion. That said, I'm not purposely inflammatory and I do my best to find a positive outlook on the subjects I blog about. Despite those efforts, I had some people complain that I was hiding by not naming names when talking about races or training. So, I started naming names and then I caught hell about calling people out. I voiced an opinion that didn't agree with someone else's opinion and received an inordinate response but, of course, was my fault for having an opinion. It became such a hassle to toe the line in order to manage other people's issues that I stopped trying.

After some time and a change in perspective, I've decided it is not my job to manage the emotions of others. Here's a suggestion - if you don't like what you're reading, STOP READING. Or - another idea - shoot me a note and share your perspective so we can have an adult conversation. Novel, right?

In the immortal words of Forrest Gump - "that's all I have to say about that".

Anyway. It's 80degrees in November and my bike's not going to ride itself so that's it for today. More to come. 

From Mt. Weather to Mountain Biking

I joined the Gripped Racing team for a little stroll in the mountains last Saturday. I haven't been to Mt. Weather in a while and I have never done Naked Mtn so ... why not join some great people in suffering in the hills?

Within 5minutes of rolling out, I was drenched in sweat. This was going to be a long day. At the first opportunity, one of our more enterprising members schwigged salt packets to add to our water during our convenience-store refill stop. While it wasn't the best-taste, those salt packets probably saved the day for me. At the base of Mt. Weather we separated out according to how hard we wanted to go up the climb. It was not as hard as I remembered but hard enough that I was happy when the big climb was over. We regrouped and chased each other along the ridge - that was a nice reward for the effort.

Naked Mountain was not as bad as everyone had built it up. I was warned not to spend it all on Mt. Weather, that the next climb up Naked Mtn was short but steep. Kim and I rode together, pacing ourselves for the big climb. At some points we were singing. Next thing we knew, we were flying down to the bottom. Neither of us realized where said-climb happened. Perhaps we were delirious with the heat or the warnings had our expectations (read: dread) so high we were pleasantly surprised. Either way. That happened. On the flip side, the never-ending drag back to the parking area lived up to its reputation. Our reward for suffering through the ride was a solid lunch at Fosters. I considered the day a WIN which was further validated after receiving updates on that little race happening a couple blocks from my house in Clarendon.

So - Sunday. I went mountain biking. No, really, I did. But wait- there's more ... I had fun. I might have even liked it. Oh fine, I had a blast. There. I said it. While my only picture evidence is a not-so-great shot of mud/dirt on my legs, I swear it happened.

dirty legs. picture does not do it justice.

A bit of background - I once owned a MTB - circa 2004? I rode it a couple of times. The last ride on the bike resulted in a broken wrist. I promptly sold the bike and swore off of that masochistic riding-in-the-woods seeking obstacles thing. Crazy stuff, I was sticking to the more sane(?) road.

As an aside, showing up to a ride (or race) where my bike magically appears is a pretty awesome experience. So faux pro. As I had no reference, I did not notice that it was a bit small for me and that the bars were pretty narrow. I definitely had no idea the significance of the wheel size - this bike has 26" wheels vs the 29" everyone else had.

It was like learning to ride a bike for the first time. Everything I know (and even more that I've forgotten) about riding/racing road bikes was pretty much out the window. Ride with your elbows wide, view your arms and legs as your suspension, keep your pedals level when not pedaling (so as to avoid clipping trees or rocks or other trail hazards). I have enough trouble with smooth asphalt (as witnessed here and here)- what the heck am I doing in the woods?

Off we went to start an instruction lap at Wakefield, stopping at each "feature" to discuss the best line, functional logic and tips on clearing the obstacle. Some of it was mental - this LOOKS like the best line, but really this is the better line and here's why. This was about when I realized I couldn't reliably clip in on the left pedal - sweet. Whatever, I'm out here, I'm going to make it happen. The 2nd lap was my best; by the 3rd partial-lap I was getting tired - taking bad lines and reverting to road habits. 

The experience gave me the same feeling I remember from learning to race road. Each corner, each jump, each creek crossing was a milestone. When you start from no skills, every pedal stroke is progress. I don't know enough to talk myself out of things - and even when I hit the dirt (and that I did!), it wasn't damaging to my body or my psyche. I knew I took a bad line and that was the result. But the next time around, I cleared that section with a triumphant smile.

Many thanks to Claudia for lending me her spare MTB. I kind of giggled at someone having a spare MTB until I remembered how many times I've had multiple spare road bikes. Perspective.

I can't say thank you enough to the Gripped Racing team for humoring this noob. Every one of you showed immense patience, shared awesome tips and tricks and provided the encouragement to try things that I never thought I could (or would) do. Thank you for showing me the joys of the dirt side.