jo herald

dob 11.15.1966

based in Lanesville, IN

years riding/ racing 3/1

category sport

I got into biking after I tore my ACL in a volleyball game. My husband- being a roadie- got me started riding road bikes to help my recovery. I really took to the bike and started riding a lot. Some roadie friends rode mtn bikes in the winter to stay in shape. We had low end mtn bikes but never dreamed of taking them off the road. I fell in love with it; I don't know why? I crashed every 5 ft.

I finally stopped crashing and started having even more fun. I attended one of Tonya's mtbchick.com clinics just to increase my skill level; I had no intention of racing. But something happened, I don't know if it was being around a group of mt bike enthusiastic girls or the challenge of it, but I was hooked on racing. Tonya has given me a lot of encouragement and support during my first year of racing. My husband has had the difficult job trying to keep up with my schedule and his. I wouldn't know what day it was without him. Not to mention taking care of all my boo boos. He's my rock. He still leaves me on the road but I get him back on the trails!

journal

jan '05

Well the holidays are behind us. I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. Is your family like mine and think you are nuts because you want bike stuff? WeÕve gotten to where we just ask for a gift certificate from the bike shop. ItÕs funny that the owner at the bike shop knows better what I want for Christmas than my family. Every year my family draws names. We have to write down at least three items we want. I NEVER get the bike stuff. This year all I put down was a gift certificate from the bike shop and my family finally figured out that this bike thing isnÕt going away. I finally got the gift certificate. I know our non biker friends think my husband and I are weird because we get excited about bike parts. Two years ago I got a new front suspension fork for my bike for Valentines Day. I was very excited but others wouldnÕt understand. Now that the holidays are behind us and winter is settling in, where did everyone go? It seemed like as soon as the weather turned cold everything stopped, group rides, group emails, even that voice inside my head that says letÕs go ride. I even checked a few email groups to make sure they havenÕt changed addresses because I havenÕt seen any emails in awhile. I agree it takes more effort and dedication to put all the garb on to go out in the cold weather, or even worse ride the trainerÉall that pedaling and going nowhere. It is usually too muddy around here to mountain bike, so itÕs to the road and that takes even more self-determination. Now is the time we need to be more active on email groups to help motivate each other to get out there. Heck you donÕt have to tell me twice on the warm and pretty daysÉ.IÕm out there. In fact it takes an army to hold me back. Now, during the fat holidays and bike trainer season is when I need the support. Sure I would love to crawl under the blanket in front of a crackling fire sipping on some hot Chai. But IÕll be regretting it when it comes time to peel off those tights and show those legs and butt come spring. ItÕs so hard between the holiday shopping and holiday parties and all the trimmings to even find time to ride. IÕm guilty, I have fallen into the winter blah. Help IÕve fallen and I canÕt get up. ItÕs a New Year and itÕs time to rethink the situation. Instead of, Òoh I really donÕt want to go out in the coldÓ, IÕm thinking IÕm not going to let this cold get the better of me. Embrace it with a deep breath. Let that crisp cool air hit your lungs, energizing you to pedal harder to stay warm. Just think how much better we will be because we did it. Get out there and ride!

sep '04

Nationals in Mammoth.

What an experience! It was an honor to be there among so many elite riders. I knew Mammoth was at 8,700 ft, but I was still in awe when I was actually standing there looking up...way up to the peak of the Mountain. We only have hills in Indiana. The phrase kept playing in my head, "We're not in Kansas anymore Toto". I did my practice lap on Thursday. This gave me all day Friday to recover for Saturday's race. The terrain was a little different than I'm used to, real rocky, no soil. A LOT of climbing, hence the word mountain. I thought my heart rate would be way up there because of the altitude, but it was actually lower than normal. The thing was I just couldn't breathe...no biggy. It felt like I was going to lose my cookies climbing along at a snail's pace. My husband said it's like riding with a restrictor plate (for those race car fans). There was a deep sandy bog that I went into way fast and wiped out. Great, I crash on my practice lap. I guess that is better than crashing in the race. Because of the gravely trails, it took the hide right off my leg...almost like road rash. When I was finished with the practice lap, I felt I could do one lap no problem, but two I was a little worried about. We stayed in Bishop, CA where the altitude was only 4,500 feet. I had a headache the whole time up on the mountain and as soon as we came down it went away. The altitude affects you in so many ways that I was not aware of. I relaxed all day Friday and took in some town sights and drank lots of water....so needless to say I was familiar with every public bathroom. I was missing my doggies, so I stopped at the local pet store where they had several pens set up on the floor with all kinds of puppies. I was squeezing my hand through the cage, letting the puppies lick, lick, and lick my fingers. Then the attendant said I could open the door and hold them if I wanted.....well she didn't have to ask me twice. I was in heaven. They were sooo cute. I think I held each and everyone. I saw a worried look on my husbands face. But I think he knew he was safe since we had to fly home, not to mention the 3 1/2 hour drive back to Reno. I could have easily walked out of there with one in my pocket. On race day, the mountain was crawling with all sorts of racers. There were downhillers, mountain cross, mountain bikes, and trials bikes. It was so cool. Then everyone started lining up for the race. They call the top ranked riders to the line first. They said from Georgetown, IN and I looked around thinking, oh someone else is here from Indiana. Then they called my name. It took me a moment to realize they were talking about me. That was such a thrill to hear them call you to the line. I only heard them do that for the pros. The race starts off with a long climb (of course). I didn't think this climb was ever going to end, then I rounded a corner and there it was. I was looking up at a snow-speckled beast of a mountain. It was breath taking. For a few moments, I'm sure it was seconds, I forgot all about the pain I was enduring. Then we turned away from this awesome sight to face a steeper climb up the trail...back to reality. I just kept telling myself keep pedaling, keep pedaling. There were some nice downhills, but way more up than down. I wanted to pull out so many times. I thought man there is no way I can finish another lap. I would think to myself, ok once I'm around the corner where nobody can see I'm pulling out. Then that point comes and goes. There were several spectators cheering you on at various points that really helped me stay in the game. I don't think they realize how much it means to hear the encouragement to carry on when you are so done. "I can't quit now", I tell myself. Then I remember that awesome downhill, I have to do that. This went on my whole second lap, and then before I knew it, I was coming across the finish line. It was such a victory to complete the course. I was so excited and exhausted. I know now what I'm faced with for next year, so I can train harder and smarter. Until then it will be a fun, challenging journey as it always is.

10.aug.04

Racing, Friends, Good times.

Had a great time the other weekend racing, hanging out with some friends before and after the race. During the race is another story; I was told I had to work on my Ògame faceÓ. Apparently I get too chum, chum with my competitors out on the racecourse. We went up the day before to preride the course. I usually donÕt get the chance, so it was very nice for a change to preride. Even though it wasnÕt a technical course, they threw in a section of an old gravel quarry, which contained some short, but very tough sections. As a matter of fact, they redid the course so the women beginners and intros didnÕt have to do that section. All in all it was the most exciting and fun part of the course. When I prerode I was thinking, man there was a lot of doublewide and fire roads, itÕs going to be hammer time, almost like road riding. The down hill wasnÕt too bad, you had to line up just right to get over some roots to get a clean line down. I was so glad there was no rain in the forecast, because if it rained it would not be pretty. Plus the creek crossing was already deep and you had to get off at the other side to heave your bike over a ledge. There was barely enough room as it was without soaking your feet. I started thinking of my competition. There is Leesa, who is good all around and she will bomb that down hill. Plus there was a long, steep hike a bike section that I knew I had to have a gap on her before we hit, or she would run (literally) with it. Meredith, who I am running neck to neck with for the overall series is very good on climbs and the hammer sections. Then thereÕs Ann and Stephanie, and this girl, and that girl. I started analyzing it to death. I woke the next morning to RAIN!!! It had stopped, but I wasnÕt sure how much it had rained. The forecast now said 50% scattered showers all day... NICE. The first thing I did was preride the downhill. Good it was still rideable. Meredith didnÕt show. I hope she is okay. The last race she had a nasty fall and hurt her shoulder pretty bad. The race started hard and fast. Leesa was right on my wheel. We traded the lead a few times. We rode through the creek and through the water hole. My feet felt like they weighed 50 pounds each now. At least itÕs not mud I thought to myself. I finally got in front of Leesa before we got to the gnarly down hill. I must have looked out of control because the guy at the bottom went scurrying off like I was about to run him over. There was a second I doubted myself too. Was I going to be able to stop and make that sharp immediate right turn? I made it, whew!! There was a long straightway with a slight down grade, the kind you can throw it in your big ring and fly. Leesa fell way off. I was hoping she didnÕt crash on that hill. I saw her later at the bottom of the long steep hike a bike hill I just climbed. I know itÕs not the game face IÕm supposed to put on, but I was glad she was okay. I found out later that she didnÕt get lined up right on the hill, so it was either slide down on her butt or go back and line it up right. She chose to ride it... you go girl! It was a fun race. I came in first, with Leesa not far behind. Afterwards we all went out for Mexican! I know that is not the best thing you can eat, but it is the BEST tasting, especially with friends. No more game face... until next time.

6.6.04

Headed north to Indianapolis for one of the local DINO, NORBA sanctioned races. As I left the house in the wee hours of the morning my 12 year old son wished me luck and hoped I didn't crash. Then he said something that puzzled me. He said "pain is all in your head except for scrapes". I got the pain is all in your head part but the scrapes threw me. I later found out what that meant. It was a great day for a race. It was a little hot but it was a welcome sight from ALL the rain and tornado's we have been having. Trails were in pretty good shape. There were a few muddy spots but only a few. The course today is fast! Not many climbs or technical, just short rollers. Some get a little steep at the top to where you don't think you will make it over and you have to give it that extra shove. There was a good turn out for the sport women. A lot I have never seen before and that made me more anxious. A friend of mine, Jen, who I have introduced into racing this year came up with us to race the beginner class. There wasn't anywhere to warm up so it was to the trainer. As I'm warming up on the trainer and she was propped up against the trunk of the car, we hear a lot of commotion going on right behind me. My husband suggest that I stay put and keep warming up but of course that struck my curiosity which meant I had to see what it was. Under the car next to ours was a 5-foot snake!

Oh yeah, I was back on that trainer in no time and Jen's feet went up. It stayed under the car for a while then someone said, "I think it's trying to get in your car". We had left the doors open to listen to some tunes. I guess the snake liked the beat of Linkin Park because he was all coiled up ready to hop on in. All I can say is it was a good thing my husband was there. That's one way to get the old heart rate up. After all the excitement of the snake the real excitement began, my race. We started with the expert women. I had a good start, I was the first sport in the hole. I was truckin along behind the expert racers until they eventually disappeared on into the woods. Then all of the sudden there was Meredith closing in. I tried but I couldn't shake her. There was no letting up. This course was hammer, hammer, hammer. I almost thought for a moment I was road racing. I found a new max heart rate today and I kept it pegged the whole race. I kept attacking trying to get her off my wheel but there she was right on my tail and that is where she stayed of course until the end when we battled it out for the finish. Well, let me rephrase that until she came flying around me and I didn't have anything left to give. AND of course the biggest hill in the whole course was about 30 feet from the finish line. Now mind you it wasn't that big just kind of got steep at the top and it was lined with teeny tiny gravel. You know the kind that scrapes your legs all up as your falling back down the hill because you just didn't have anything left to push it over the top. Oh, now there is that SCRAPE word my son warned me about before I left this morning. My coach and husband agreed that I should not have stayed in front and hammered the whole time, I should have reserved some energy at the end for the attack. I thought about it about 3/4 of the way through our last lap. I knew she would attack once we hit that clearing before it went back into the woods up the hill for the finish but by the time I thought about it, it was too late. Here she came, I heard it, I heard gears shifting, I heard her family cheering her on, I knew I was done for but I tried. I didn't have any snap left. I was on her wheel when we hit the hill I just never made it over the top. Of course that is where all the spectators were. One said, "I hope that didn't hurt as bad as it looked". "Only my pride", I told him. Meredith ran a good race and a well-deserved win. You go girl!!

5-8-04

I just raced one of my hardest, but easiest races. It was hard as in right off the start there was a steep mile climb. Its no wonder why they called it the switchback attack. The race was easy as in not technical at all. IÕ m not a climber so I knew I had some work once reaching the top to catch the others. To start the race, we had to go through a creek crossing before the climb. I got in the hole first thinking I could slow down some of the good climbers. It worked for about a minute. Because there wasnÕt any technical single track or gnarly down hills I couldnÕt gain back the distance they put on me from the climb. My head wasnÕt in this race. I didnÕt decide until the last minute that I was even going to do this one. I had plans to do a nice relaxing ride that day, but some of the girls decided to do this race instead. My husband said it would be good training. I just had a bad feeling. Nothing was lining up right. I didnÕt eat right or do my usual routines. I went into it like it was just another ride. Bad move. I donÕt know if it was because my head wasnÕt into it or because it wasnÕt technical but I crashed more times on this trail than I have in a long time. The last crash was a bad one. It was on my last lap about 1Ú2 way through when I rounded a turn that went immediately down a small hill. I think I must have peddled smooshed because something sent me off the trail. Then I did something no mt biker should ever do going down hill, I panicked and grabbed hard on both my brakes. You guessed it; it sent me flying over the handlebars landing on the other side on top of some logs and debris. Then to add insult to injury my bike landed on top of me. I let out a huge groan as the wind came gushing out of my lungs along with a few choice words that came out involuntary. I lay there for what seemed like several minutes moaning, thinking I was dying. If a mt biker moans in the woods does anyone hear her? Once I assessed the situation I realized I just knocked the wind out of me. I managed to pull myself back on the bike. It hurt to breath hard, pedal hard, or take any kind of jarring. Lets see, I donÕt think any of that is crucial in a mt bike race. I limped the rest of the way in moaning every time I hit a bump or pedaled hard. I sounded pretty pathetic. I must have looked that part too because as soon as I crossed the finish line my husband must have asked 5 times Òare you okayÓ. The trail beat me up pretty bad. The sad thing is there was no reason for it. It was a bad day all together. One of my friends twisted her ankle. She literally crawled back down the switchbacks. On the bright side I did end up finishing 3rd. A few days later, my ribs are still really sore and my hip is bruised bad. I just hope I can recover enough to race this coming weekend. This weekend is a NORBA sanctioned race that I wanted to do well in for the series points. I could just kick myself for getting hurt on something like this. Lessoned learned, if things are not lining up right and you have a bad feeling about a race just donÕt do it, itÕs not worth it.

April 17th

My first race of the season was a DINO Òtune upÓ race. It didnÕt count towards anything, it was just a practice race for our local NORBA sanctioned series. It was up towards Indianapolis, so my coach Nate, who lives only a few miles from the park was able to come watch. At first I was a little nervous that he was coming, but then I thought, wait he is there to make me better, not nervous. My husband was also there helping me keep my head on straight and doing what he does best, supporting me. I donÕt know what I would do with out him sometimes. It was a two and half hour drive. I hate that, but unfortunately just about all my races are at least an hour and half away. My friend Jennifer, who has just got into mt biking decided to race. I was so excited for her. I talked her into doing the intro race. The race was short but very technical. Just the way I like it! I was really worried though since I didnÕt start my training until way late. One of the girls I raced against last year was chatting with me before the race and telling me about doing some trail running races and yoga. I thought boy am I in trouble. As usual, IÕm about 30 lbs heavier than the other girls I race against. There were only four of us. I was surprised because the DINO series usually has a bigger turnout for women. ThatÕs why I like racing this series. My start was terrible. I went through my mental checklist but forgot the part about being in the right gear at take off. One girl jumped me at the start and was ahead of me on the straightaway. I had already psyched myself out that I wasnÕt good enough. I was playing head games with myself. Then something kicked in. Before we hit the singletrack, I went wide and came around her and led into the singletrack. She stayed within 10 to 15 seconds of me the entire race. I kept looking over my shoulder and there she was in my sights. There was no catching your breath. She also likes downhill technical courses, so I couldnÕt shake her. There were a few climbs that killed. Also some steep uphill switchbacks. There were a few nobody was making except for the expert men. There was this one uphill switchback that went instantly down as soon as you rounded the tree. You had to get yourself lined up right away because there was a few big rocks, then a log drop in the middle of the downhill. As you can imagine there were a few endos at that spot. I practiced it before the race and nailed it. I went wide, it was a little sloppy but I still nailed it. In the race, I donÕt know what possessed me to try to go tighter but I didnÕ t get lined up and had to walk it. I was so mad at myself. My second lap I swung wide and made it. I should have stuck with what worked the first time. All in all, the race went really well, no major incidents. It was a really fun course. I was glad I won; itÕs a great way to start the long season off. It helps to build up my confidence, which I sometimes lack. I do know one thing, I need to get some of this weight off if I want to continue to be competitive.

04-08-04

Road less traveled No, Iâm not talking about your favorite mt bike trail. Iâm talking about a backcountry road I picked to do my test time trial on. I picked the road that runs behind our house. It is a fairly flat, straight road that I can do an out and back on. More importantly, it does not have much traffic. It is a nice and quiet, or so I thought, country road that only has a few houses on it. I started off with a 20 minute warm up, just up and down the course. Then I was ready to get started. My first attempt I got about 40 feet and realized I didnât start my HR monitor, so I had to start over. While I stood there catching my breath, three volunteer fire department vehicles, two fire rescue trucks, and two police cars (I think two is all we have here in Lanesville) went racing by me. So I guess it was good that I did mess up because I would not want to be side swiped by one of those flying by. My husband was there on his motorcycle helping me get started. He went to investigate to make sure I can still get to my turn around point. He said a car had overturned, but I can still get to where I needed. So I took off. My heart was racing. I couldnât get my HR down. As I approached my turn around point, I could see 30 or so feet away the flipped car and all the emergency vehicles with their lights flashing. All I could think of was I passed that section several times warming up. This had to of happened minutes, or even seconds after I had passed that point. On my return, my HR came down but my legs were burning. The return was supposed to be easier because it was a slight down grade, but the headwind was bad that day. On my way back I passed an ambulance racing to get to the accident. You know how narrow country roads are, so I was a little nervous. When I was finished I was breathing so hard that it hurt. I took a 10-minute cool down, and then did another TT. Before I started we spotted a stat flight helicopter. It was horrific that the driver/passenger had to be stat flighted but I was hoping they would be gone by the time I reached my turn around. I started easier this time. My heart rate was not as high. My legs burned a little but were feeling good. Right before my turn around there went the helicopter, right next to me. I was bracing myself for a big gust of wind but it wasnât bad. On my return I was feeling good. I was pushing to beat my first time and I did; only by a little, but I still beat it. I felt good that go around. I didnât start out so hard and my time was better. Hopefully next month my TT test wonât be such an adventure.

5.apr.05

If it were not for the nice guys.

If it were not for the nice guys, I would be pedaling my heart out in a 20mph wind back at mile 10. Last Sunday I was doing a fast paced group road ride for my training. I could hang until it came to the hills. My legs were screaming trying to keep up. I would tell myself that burning is normal, just push through it. I was also thinking that the wind was so BAD, I would be a fool to drop off the pack now. Every time we would hit a hill I would struggle. Then it got to a point where I just did not have it anymore, between the wind and the hills I could not get back on without help. My favorite saying especially when I ride tandem is, "I'm givin her all she's got captin". There is not always a nice guy in the pack, but this ride there was, it was Ed. I call him ponytail Ed. I could tell he was hanging back waiting for me to catch his wheel. I guess he heard me saying my favorite &^%$# saying or maybe it was what I call my war hoops that I do on hard and long climbs. I am kind of verbal when riding. Most people close to me can easily tell what I am feeling. As soon as I was on his wheel, he would pull me back into the pack until the next climb. I think it is awesome how two riders can speak to each other without saying a word. Well, I guess I should say he was not saying a word. I think I made his ride a little more interesting that day. Which, points out one of the reasons I do not like to road ride, can we say boring. The only thing more boring is the trainer. I can go for hours on the mt. bike, but when I am on the road I just think about all my aches and pains and how much longer it will be before the car is in sight. But road riding does do a lot for stamina. We were almost back so we slowed a bit to cool down. Just then my buddy, Ed, says his computer quit. When we got back to the cars we were chatting and putting our bikes and gear away when he said what was our average. I said 18mph. He looked puzzled. I said what, you don't believe me. He says it felt like we were working harder than that. I laughed out loud because he did work harder than that. Instead of hanging in the pack, out of the wind, he was pulling my butt around all day, so yeah he was working twice as hard.

3/23/04 I have not updated my journal in a long while. The past several weeks have been really stressful. We have been burning the midnight oil. See, since my husband has been off the bike for 5 months, recovering from a herniated disk, he has been occupying his time looking at houses. It started out with us just looking at home gyms, then we had the problem of where was it going to go in our already full house. I have to admit that we are growing out of our home. It is a small home I bought as a single parent. We have not had more children to cause us to grow out of the house, it is just that the BIG kids have too many toys. There are road, mountain, and track bikes, along with motorcycles and all the gear for winter, spring, and summer months. Plus my teenager would like a little more room and privacy. Right now we are stepping on top of each other. So we are in the middle of building a new house and selling our old one. We have been up into the wee hours trying to get our house okay enough to show. You see, all those years of spring-cleaning that we were- well- riding our bikes, had to be done in a week because we already had a potential buyer. When you both work and ride as much as we do, there is nobody to hold down the fort to do all the things that should be done from time to time. We barely get the essentials done. It takes us a year to finish painting a room and get it put back together. It is a hard choice when you look outside and think, hummmmm stay in and work on the house, or go riding. Well you can guess which one we almost always pick. One of my older ailing dogs, Spencer, had been getting worse. He was the alpha dog out of my pack of three. The other two I think had started sensing he was getting weaker, so the fights were becoming more frequent. His eyesight was also getting worse, so he was snapping and biting more. My parents volunteered to take him to the vet for his last visit. My husband and I just could not do it. They picked him up the evening before his early morning appointment, and then I kind of panicked. It was like reality setting in. I know it had to be done. The next morning at work something made me look at the clock and it was the exact time they took Spencer. A tear rolled down my cheek followed by many more that lasted all day. For the next several days at dinner, I would get out three bowls by mistake and when it came time for treats I would dig one out for him. I know he is better off, but knowing he would not be around anymore was hard to face when he has been part of the family for so long. I went to see a local cycling coach, Nathan Schickel. With everything going on in my life lately I have not been as dedicated to the bike over the winter months as I would have liked. It is hard to train over the winter months, to stay focused, and it is especially hard when your main supporter was off the bike himself. Plus I have never been sure exactly what I am supposed to be working on and at what intensity. I was hoping that Nathan could put me back on track and get my butt ready for my first race, good thing it is not until May. He started with a fitness test that measured my anaerobic threshold. The test was not as bad as I had thought. After each 6 tenth (kilometer) of a mile he would up the workload that I had to match in watts. Then he would ask me how I felt on a scale of 1 ö 10, with 10 being the worst. The first few were easy but long. Oh, a ã1ä I would say. THEN the 6 tenths of a mile was coming up quicker and of course it was harder to match the workload. I think at one point I jumped from 4 to 8. I guess you cannot say I did bad or good, it was just a test to let him know where he needs to start basing my training. I at least lasted long enough for him to get an accurate reading. It looks like I am going to become very intimate with my heart rate monitor that I think I have only wore twice in the past. Even though life has been pretty hectic I have managed to get out and ride. Jennifer, the newbie mt biker that I have been encouraging along has improved so much in such a short time. She is now riding over many obstacles that she was walking over just the time before. I have not told her this yet, but a lot of stuff she is going over I did not master until I was well into mt biking. She gets very frustrated about her fitness level. I keep reinforcing that the fitness will come, that the technical skills are just as important, if not more important. I believe we have a real mt biker on our hands. She even went and bought her first full suspension bike. I think I spoiled her a little by letting her ride mine. I do love my bike! This weekend I volunteered at one of the races my husbandâs road team puts on. They tried to get me to race. I have never road raced and I was not ready physically or mentally, plus it really did not fit into my training program right now. I was very disappointed in the turnout for the womenâs race. There were only 5 total. If I had known that, I would have raced just to get more women out there. Since not many women road race around here they stick everyone in the same category- women. That is why I like mt bike racing. They always put you in your category even if you are the only one. It is easier to get your feet wet. As a matter of fact, that is the main reason I even tried mt bike racing, then of course I was hooked. It can be so discouraging when you first start racing and you have to race against women who have been racing for years, and who race with the men on some occasions. It would be like putting a category 5-Citizen in with 1-2 racers- good luck. Who knows, if road racing treated women the same as in mt bike races, I may have been hooked on that instead- NOT!

2/14/04 Ahhhh, Valentines weekend. My sweetie took me to my favorite place, Story Inn. www.storyinn.com. It is about and hour and a half drive, but well worth it. It was a quaint village founded in 1851, nestled in the hills of southern Indiana, a place known for its weather-beaten barns, clapboard churches, covered bridges and beautiful fall foliage. The entire town of Story, Indiana is a now a country inn. We have stayed in just about every cabin they have. This time we stayed in the lower level of the Doc house. Our favorites are the ones with the hot tubs, of course. There is nothing better than riding in the cold all day, then hopping in the hot tub when you come crawling back. Oh, did I mention my favorite part about Story Inn, besides the gourmet food, is that it is surrounded by two of my favorite trails, Nebo Ridge and Valley Branch. There is another trail that everyone raves about within a few miles as well, Gnawbone, but when I travel that far, it is hard to try something different, especially when I know these other trails ROCK. Another couple went with us this time, Daryle and Jennifer. They stayed in the upper level of the Doc house. Jennifer wants to try this mt bike thing that I ramble on about. The guys did not ride, mine is still recovering from a herniated disk and probably wont mt bike the rest of the season :( and Daryle, well, I think he is waiting to see how Jennifer fares. Even though it has not rained lately the trails will still be muddy from all the rain we have had plus the freezing and thawing. It was supposed to be a warm day so getting muddy and wet would not be too miserable. I just worry about messing up the trails, but since Jen is a beginner we would not be going fast and could walk around the mud. I figured her biggest challenge will be clipping in and out of the pedals, as this will be her first time ever, she is so brave. To my surprise it must have been a lot colder a few hours north because there was about 2 to 3 inches of snow still on the ground. The bad thing was since the snow was melting in the 45 degree weather we are having it was like riding in sand. It reminded me of the Moab 24 hour race I did last year with the mtbchick.com team. I had a hard time riding in that stuff too. We went to Nebo since it is not technical, just fast and hilly. The first mile is a climb. So you can imagine what poor Jennifer was going through. Trying to get enough momentum to clip in and out before falling and falling she did a lot of. She kept her spirits up and loved it. Even though the snow was a bite to ride in, it was a little softer landing than dirt. Once we rode/walked up that first climb we met some guys who were on their way down. They stopped and gave Jen some encouragement. I was glad they said something, I was afraid she was getting frustrated and just thought I was blowing smoke by saying "trust me it is normally not this bad". It was getting late and the guys would be worried, plus we had dinner reservationsÉyum. So we turned around. Now for my favorite part of the whole trail, going DOWN the one mile climb. BUT it was like surfing in all that snow, kind of a disappointment for all that work. Jen definitely learned some handling skills that day. We both cleaned up well. We looked like two delicate ladies with our heels and dresses ready for an evening of gourmet dinning and wine. You would never know we were some mt biker chicks who just a few hours earlier were ripping down the trails adding more bruises and scars to our collection. Flower Power!

2/15/04 Since this was a bed and breakfast we met Daryle and Jen the next morning for a bite to eat. Jen was raving about all the bruises that were already showing their head. She spoke kind of proud of themÉlike a true mt. biker. Daryle, I do not think, shared the same enthusiasm. The best thing was she was excited and wanted to go again soon! I was glad because I sure thought after riding in that quick sand (snow) and falling as much as she did, mt biking would have been at the bottom of her list of things to do.

2/6/04 My husband and I went to the Cumberland Brew for the 1st annual cyclist social where Mountain and Road cyclist come together and drink a few beers. John with Jeff Schwinn, our local bike shop, hosted it along with some sponsors. Finally, maybe I could meet some more mt bikers to ride with since my regular riding buddies are either injured or training for road racing. The social was pretty cool. They had the tour on the tube at one end of the room and Mt biking at the other end of the room. So my husband was at one end and I was at the other but at least we were in the same room. There were some munchies, lots of giveaways and mega beer (to buy of course). I saw some old faces and a lot of new. Unfortunately, but not unusual, there were not many girls. Everyone has their own riding circle of friends so at first everyone stood in their own little groups. Eventually there was some mingling. I don't know if it was because the room got really crowded and you didn't have a choice or the beer was starting to take effect. Amy a girl I have rode with a few times was there. I haven't seen her in awhile because she has been training for a marathon in AZ. Good news is she is finished with the marathon and ready to RIDE! About the only other girl there who rode, besides Amy and my friend Kristi who is injured, was Sonya a down hiller . She was awesome. Her boy friend had just got her into riding. She sounded like she is having a blast. I think I would like to try out some of that down hill stuff. She also does some cross country mt biking. We shared stories and places to ride. I of course told her about mtbchick.com. She seemed really interested especially in the all women mt bike clinic. I also met some singletrack.net guys (a Kentucky based web site). It was nice to put some faces with the web names. I tried to get some of them to ride Saturday. Most of them were afraid the trails would be way too muddy since it has been raining so much. The temps were going to get really low that night so I was still hoping to hit the trails the next day. Jim, one of the buddies in our riding circle, hit me up to ride tomorrow. He is a roadie and a much stronger rider on non-technical trails than I am. I hated for him to have to wait on me but I was desperate to ride. All and all I felt the social went off pretty well. I hope they plan on having more. It was small (on purpose) and not advertised much so maybe the next one can be bigger and more girls will show up.

2/7/04 Jim and I went to Ferdinand forest to ride. Jim showed up on his single speed...dog. People like that amaze me. I have a hard enough time with all my gears. This course is not technical but real hilly. I knew I had my work cut out for me. The trails were in awesome shape. It was not muddy at ALL. The only thing we had to be careful on was the ice hiding under the snow. You are working so hard trying to get up the hill then whammy, you hit a ice patch under the snow and your wheel slides right out from under you. There is no starting up again on that stuff so you have to walk it up a little to start again. Jim did have to wait a lot but that gave him time to check his notes on where to go. See, neither Jim nor I have been on these trails but one other time and we were going in a completely different direction. Lets just say whenever Jim and I get together we do not always do well with directions, and we proved it again today. We had a perfect route picked out but could not seem to find the right connecting trails. We both had plans that evening so we had a time limit. After back tracking a few times we took a trail we knew would come out close to the car. We cut the ride a little short but I was whipped. The bad thing about having someone to wait on you is they are ready to go when you catch up so there is no rest for you. That is the price you pay for being slower. I made it home a lot sooner than my husband had predicted. He had threatened that he and my son would leave without me if I was too late, he knows how I lose track of time on the trails. We had plans to go to the Easyrider motorcycle show that night. We both ride. I have a Yamaha 650 V-Star. Seeing all the work that goes into a custom bike is amazing. There were some pretty interesting people there too. I will spare you the details. Some girls were so skimpily dressed I thought about covering my sons eyes or wait was that my husbands.

1/31/04 I'm sitting here bummed. I couldn't find anyone to mt bike with today. I can really only ride on the weekends because I work so late during the week. I was so excited because this Saturday would have been perfect, if you can stand the cold. It's in the single digits, which means the trails are frozen! We have not had too many weekends lately that it has been frozen or it was not raining. Not many people around here will ride in the winter. One friend that will ride with me in the cold just had surgery on her ankle so she was out. Some of the guys were riding but they were doing fire roads with their road team. I really wasn't up for all that testosterone. Plus I can't keep up with them on the fire roads, and then I would get lost. If we were on the trails I might have stood a chance. I tried calling a friend who wants to get into mt biking. It was probably good she was not home because it would not be much fun doing your first mt bike ride in the single digits. Then I turned to the singletrack.net, a Kentucky based mt bike website. The only ride they were doing was about a 4 hour drive away. It was too late to post something to ride a little closer. It's probably just as well that I couldn't find anyone. My wonderful husband passed along his cold. So I'm a little under the weather and really did not have any business riding in single digit weather. I guess it is to the trainer and weights today. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 40s. Can you believe it, one day its single digits the next day it is in the 40s. It is no wonder we are all sick. It will be too warm to ride on the trails but it will be warm enough to ride on the roads. I don't mind riding the road by myself but I would not ride on trails alone especially being so cold out. Too many things can happen on the trails. Most of the trails here you would have a long walk out that is if you were able to walk. If I called someone on the cell it would take them hours to drive there and ride to the point where I was at.... not in this cold. I'll have to plan further in advance next time I know the trails will be frozen so I won't be left out in the cold. It is just so hard to plan in advance around here since the weather changes so rapidly.

1/25/04 I took my 12 year old son snowboarding for the first time yesterday. Well, he snowboarded and I skied. I tried snowboarding once. I spent most of the time on my bottom. We don't have any what you would call mountains here in Indiana. The folks out West would laugh at our man made snow covered hill but it's better than nothing. My son is anxious for me to take him skiing out west and now after yesterday he's ready for snowboarding...he thinks. We had to take a buddy for him. Mom isn't cool to hang around with anymore. I think I'm a pretty cool mom. I mountain bike, hike, camp, ski, ride motorcycles, but I guess not in the eyes of a 12 year old. He likes to rub in the fact that he now rocks on the snowboard and I basically, well, don't. Since I didn't have a buddy (mine is recovering from a herniated disk), I rode up the ski lift (yes we actually have a ski lift) with a lot of interesting people, mostly teenagers and mostly snowboarders. All were very nice and polite to an old lady. I would have liked to challenge any of them to a mt bike race, then we'll see who is a "mam" as in old lady. The slopes were crowded. The family hill was like dodge ball, weaving in and out of all the bodies sprawled out on the ground. It must have been a day for first timers.

The Ohio Valley weather really bites. As I'm typing this we are having an ice storm. There is already about ¸ inch of ice on the ground. I made a mistake and didn't bring my bike in from the detached building yesterday before the door froze shut, so now I'm stuck in the house bored, I know the trainer isn't much fun either. The ice has gotten so bad they have cancelled bingo and worst they actually shut down the Malls. I should not complain about today, for there aren't many days we have in our hectic schedules to curl up under a warm blanket and read a good book. Hopefully the power will stay on or we and the doggies will have to seek shelter somewhere else.

riding in North Dakota