Oh let's not forget

The bikes!

Karen's proud steed
Tara's proud steed

Too tired to write, here's some pictures

Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival 2008

The starting gate
Tara's game face
Karen's game face
Finish line
The best part, ice cold 1554 the enlightened black ale...

Friday's Pre-Ride

Tara 

Karen because Tara told me to
Things to come

Getting ready for Chequamegon

I love it my registration card says "short and fat women" what are they trying to tell me??? The Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival is this weekend. I have really been looking forward to this, I only hope I am ready for it. My game plan for this summer was to concentrate on mountain biking but as they say "make plans but don't plan on your plans." I've done more road riding this summer than I think I have done my entire life. It's just so much easier to find people to road ride than mountain bike but in any case I've been on my mountain bike and if I remember, the race is mostly fire roads so my road riding should be helpful.  

My goals this year:

1. finish the race

2. finish the race

3. climb big bertha

4. finish the race

5. get a better time than last year

Tara and I plan to take off on Thursday and head to Cable, we are staying at the Cable Nature Lodge and from the website it looks super nice. The Festival starts on Friday with a number of events; Chequamegon Area Mountain Biking Association (CAMBA) trail tours, a pasta feed, Trek factory demo tour and Tech service and a Sponsor and Vendor expo. I know I plan to take full advantage of it all. Last year we did not have time to pre-ride the course so this year I plan to ride the entire course on Friday. Take it nice and slow, get some pictures and hopefully figure out how to get up Big Bertha (a gigantic mound of wood chips). 

Last year we were able to make some great jersey purchases, everything $10; I am hoping to be able to find some long sleeve jerseys and if I'm lucky some cold weather gear.  

Tara and I will be competing in the Short & Fat cross country mountain bike race on Saturday, September 13, 2008. The race starts on Randysek Road in Cable WI at 10 am and finishes at Telemark Resort 15 miles away. 

Thanks to hitting the big 45 this year I will be racing in a different age category, I don't know if this is a good thing or not but maybe there wont be as many old ladies riding and I can get a higher ranking in my age group:)

St. Paul Classic Bike Tour

The alarm went off at 0600 and there was no way I was feeling like getting out of bed. I was up too late last night and inhaled way too much smoke yesterday. I had visited a kitchen fire at the neighbors, then went to a bonfire in the evening and ended with a party in the trailer where there were a lot of smokers so needless to say my lungs were not feeling very good this morning.  All I wanted to do was turn over and go back to sleep but I had made a commitment and people were expecting me so I gave myself a pep-talk and crawled out of bed and into a hot shower. 

I was feeling much better after the hot shower, I threw on some biking clothes loaded my bike and gear into the car and off I went to Val and Tara's house. I arrived at their house around 0730, got my bike and gear together and the three of us rode to the University of St. Thomas to meet Gordy and begin our ride. After registering we met Gordy and filled ourselves with delicious treats. I had the most fantastic cranberry sweet bread, I had to go back for seconds. 

We started the ride a wee bit past 0830. The four of us opted for the 30 mile route which took us along the Mississippi River to downtown St. Paul and the long climb up to a magnificent panorama at Indian Mounds Park where we made our first stop. This time it was cookies and bars! From here we followed Johnson Pkwy to Lake Phalen and along Wheelock Pkwy to Como Lake where we enjoyed a lakeside rest stop. If you choose to do this ride, this is the stop you don't want to miss as they have the best coffee!  It's provided by Black Bear Crossings, which is one of my favorite places for breakfast when I'm out on a morning ride. We relaxed a bit at Como, enjoyed the coffee, snacks (more cookies) and music then continued on and finished the ride back at St. Thomas.  

We encountered a little rain when leaving Como Park but it quit pretty quick. Once we arrived at St. Thomas were hit with a big downpour.  Val, Tara and I tried to wait it out under a tree, Gordy was already in route to his house but we grew tired of waiting and decided just to ride in the rain. It was really chilly willy but their house is only a couple miles from the University and by the time we arrived the rain had quit.  

We trudged into the house, changed out of our wet clothes then headed to my all time favorite pizza place... you guessed it, Pizza Luce! mmmmmmm I had been thinking of the garlic the entire ride. The food was delicious as always and afterwards I dropped Val and Tara off at their place and drove on home.  This was a very nice ride always one of my favorites. A nice easy casual Sunday morning ride and it was made all the more better by being able to share it with good friends.  

St. Paul Classic

New Saddle, New Helmet

Happy day for me.  Yesterday I was finally able to get out on my mountain bike to check out the new saddle; it is very nice, my butt is happy. Today I picked up my new helmet which matches my bike and then my friend Tara and I went down to Harmon Park for a ride. It was a lot of fun, I had only been there once before so I was not sure what to expect.  Tara had never been there so I had to lead the way. We actually made it through the entire course without getting misplaced.  We had the Park to ourselves, it was great. Oh, wait I take that back we did meet a woman and her dog, and towards the end a guy with his kid crossed paths with us, but we were pretty much done by then. It was a very fun ride, we plan to head back again later this week. The best part is the Park is only about 15/20 minutes from our houses so it's easy to get a ride in after work. 

Tara and I will be doing the Chequamegon Fat Tire race together in a couple weeks. In the mean time we plan to ride as much as possible. I've been feeling a little burnt out lately so I really need to kick it into high gear and start eating better. No more beer until after the race.