eBaby

Ah eBay. I love you, I hate you, you're like a game to me. I have been playing the eBay game last night and today trying to purchase a new toy. It looks like this...
I have a camera which I love and use to take pictures "like constantly" according to my mates, but it is somewhat large, and very fragile (I just about ruined it at the Grand Canyon due to sand). Since I love water, waterfalls, and activities that require portaging through water, I wanted a waterproof camera. When I found out this camera can be submerged to 18 feet and also handles drops from 5 feet and 200 lbs of crushing pressure, I was sold (think ability to withstand a bike wreck). So after playing and winning the eBay game, I became the proud owner of Olympus Stylus 725 Mu.

It will gets its inaugural test during our honeymoon as we explore the beautiful waterfalls and ocean kayaking found in the land known as Hawaii. Nothing can stop the picture taking now.

Random

1. There is a hole in my front yard and we have no water now (and have not had water for over 16 hours now). I live in the desert and I am thirsty. Diet coke is yummy though.

2. They (they being the DAMN THE MAN) are talking about converting my 6x8 cube to a 8x6 cube for [finger quotes] modernization purposes.

3. I will be attending a Bucky The Badger game this weekend in Madison WI for my friends' wedding. I will be wearing my OH - IO gear of course, in hopes that someone wants to fight. Best line ever during last year's National Championship Disaster Game of 2006 to obnoxious USC fan in our section... "well my girlfriend could kick you ass". Thanks baby thanks.

My life is awesome.

Domestication

Beef stroganoff glistening with tangy flavor, delicate white corn niblets steaming with juicy succulence, freshly baked rolls soaking up butter ready to be inhaled three bites at a time...

Hungry yet?

And finally, aromatic red Shiraz, masquerading as a glass of happiness in liquid form. Oh how I love three buck chuck while watching a movie that takes place on a French vineyard.

This was my evening last night, and yes I cooked the above meal for my man. Aren't I domesticated?

Absolute Bikes Race Report

On Saturday, my friends Sarah, Eric and I traveled up to Flagstaff for the Absolute Bikes Old Fashioned Mountain Biking Race. I really started mountain biking around three months ago, so even though I am still uber-beginner, I like reading about awesome racing and I felt that I wouldn't fully understand the sport until I saw a race first hand. The race was held just north of beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona, which for those that don't know is the highest city in AZ. The city is located at >7K ft elevation on the side of Mt Humphreys (a 12,800+ ft mt). It is an amazing place to ride with sunny beautiful temps of 70s, trees, grass, wildflowers, hills, rocks, and very twisty turny tight singletrack. Basically everything I DON'T have while riding in Phoenix. Since this was my first biking venture in any of these conditions, I decided to skip the beginner class of the race and go straight to the sport class which was two laps instead of one of the 11 mile trail. More for the money right? Always the bargain shopper, me.

Anyway, we got up there about an hour before the race and I was immediately overwhelmed by the hordes of professional looking racers in their fancy uniforms and special bike shoes. I was too busy trying to get my bike wheel reattached properly (quick release my a$$) to have time to get nervous. All of a sudden I am lining up at the back of a huge pack of mostly all male riders and people are taking off in 5 minute intervals. Suddenly its my turn and I nervously ask some other riders if the course will be marked because I don't want to get lost and never be found again. Follow the pink tape, they say. Gotcha. Bang. Pedal.

I am suddenly flying along a dirt road that stretches forever, up up up through a beautiful forest and all I can think is "I can't believe I am doing this." I quickly found a rhythm and just followed the lead girls up the mountain. I found myself in fourth place but closing in on third and finally glanced behind to see no one was relatively close. At some point, the dirt road climbing (2.5 miles in) ended and all of the sudden I was going down. I started cranking and reeled in third place thinking "Oh this is fun!" Just as I go blowing by her, I notice the person frantically pointing to the right towards a narrow path of singletrack entering the forest. Oops. Looks like I am supposed to be turning...can't stop ahhh. I went into a skid and turned my bike sideways in the first of many graceful (and not so graceful) wipe outs. I am pretty sure the girl I had just passed laughed her butt off as soon as she passed me. I would have, I am sure.

So I get up quickly, assure the concerned course guide that I am fine and take off into the woods. Something about this high speed wipe-out really destroyed me though and I immediately felt sluggish and tired and completely uncoordinated. People starting passing me, including some of the other girls, my friend Sarah, and many of the expert men on their second loop. It went something like this...climb onto bike, pedal until hitting large rock, lose balance, get frustrated, climb off bike, hike a bike and then start all over. The whole climb on the first lap I sucked. I ran into a tree while a guy was passing me, I went over the handlebars a couple of times just due to hitting a root or rock and not being able to bail out. I finally got to the "its all downhill from here" point and was almost too tired to feel happy. I even hit some loose sand on an easy downhill part and had my most painful crash of the day so far.

I think about the time I came back through the finish line and had to decide if I was going to take a second lap, I realized that I was so completely out of my game that I needed to snap out of it. I was hurting (hand, leg, arm) from my last crash, but mentally I was ripped. I remember thinking, you are riding so badly because you are frustrated and timid and it's killing you. So I kept right on riding through the finish line and started lap #2. At this point, for whatever reason, I felt a calmness spread over my body. I stopped breathing heavily. I started hearing birds, seeing wild flowers, smelling pine... and I just rode. Up the dirt road, onto the singletrack, up up up the rocky climb that so killed me last time. I hardly had to get off my bike. The path was almost deserted this time, since the good people were already past and the beginners had stopped after one lap. I think I rode at some points for 15 minutes without seeing a soul. I just rode and enjoyed the ride. I wasn't looking at my time, but I remember thinking, just learn from this, get better, stop less and ride more. And I did. I came to the downhill part and thought "Wow, that wasn't that bad at all that time." I just let go on the downhill, letting off of my brakes the majority of the time. And when I rolled across the line, I was smiling ear to ear.

See my smile :)

I ended up getting 7th out of 9 women in the sport class to finish in 3:15. However I got second in the 20-29 category as many of the riders were older (hence the trophy). I beat my friend Sarah (fellow ODP member who got third), but only because she had a couple of flats. But really, I didn't care at all about my final placing. I was just happy that I dropped 16 minutes off my time on the first lap from a 1:45 to a 1:29 and had zero crashes. Overall it was a great learning experience. I always feel I get so much more out of something when I have to fight through the quitters mentality that plagues the depths of my psyche.

Weekend of Fun

This weekend was fun. On Friday, we ate some delicious chicken quesadilla lovingly prepared by Tom. Saturday was fun too. I ate some pizza and drank some blueberry beer. Sunday was tons of fun. I ate an egg crepe and bought some shoes and a webcam and then ate some chicken in a taco form. Wasn't my weekend fun?

Haha, I was told that I blog too much about my [finger quotes]adventures and should be more well rounded. As you can see, my time outside of my [finger quotes]adventures is so very interesting and the whole world would definitely come read my blog every day if I focused more on this.

Oh you were curious about the race? Well let's just sum it up like this...

I got one of these: (Don't get too excited, 2nd place isn't as impressive as it sounds)


But not because I didn't do one of these: (I actually did at least four of these plus 1 tree)


I am sore but happy that I finished the 22 miles of pure hell fun and TEAM ODP came home with two pieces of hardware. More details in the next post.

Team ODP Is Born

Team ODP Hard at Training While Playing in Pretty River

Let me let you in on a secret... big things are happening in the minds of some rugby players turned adventurers. Things such as 'adventure teams' and 'competitions' and 'possible sponsorship' are being bandied around. It is still very hush hush, but this weekend, TEAM ODP may be making their inaugural debut.

It may occur here. And it may involve these people pictured. MAY. Let me introduce said team. First we have crazy rugger extraordinaire known as 'wee uno' who hails from Kansas City, MO. Though she be small, she be mighty and will definitely lead the pace in almost all activities. She scoffs at bicycle suspension and has been known to take flying leaps off furniture on the attack. Next, we have crazy rower #2 aka 'amazing widdler of spoons' who calls southern Indiana home. She brings survival skills and determination to the team as well as knowledge of edible plants and race orienteering experience. She once set off at the young age of 22 on a voyage to row across the Atlantic Ocean and only capsized on day 45 when hit by a giant wave. After clinging to the top of her flipped ocean vessel for a day, she was picked up by pirates who taught her to sail. Finally, there is me of course who will always yell IO when hearing an OH. I'm the excitable incompetent member with beginner skills at everything whose real reason for doing these races is the picture taking locales and something to blog about. I enjoy computer things, get to design the team logo and most likely will be chief organizer aka pants wearer since I am bossy. There are actually other members of TEAM ODP who I am not introducing here since they aren't currently actively participating in our debut.

Oh and what does ODP stand for? We know, but we can't tell. So figure it out. A cookie to the winner... if I haven't eaten them all.

The inevitable path leading me.

Motivational Artistry Found at the Verde Hot Springs

So they say you really figure out who you are in your mid 20s. It may be true. I am still a-changin, but things seem to be coming more clear. I am a very lucky lady with family and friends and also this really cute and sometimes funny guy who also happens to be my soul mate. We sometimes take each other for granted which is pretty normal once a relationship is well past the golden hour of discovery, but the good thing about making the larger than expected transition from long term bf/gf to husband/wife is that you are forced to contemplate just how much this person means to you . We get to think of things in terms of forever and joint bank accounts and 'u really you need to learn to put the toilet seat down already'. As for jobs, passions, what you want to accomplish with your life... that is still a definite work in progress.

Career wise, I am still in phase one, with phase two to begin at some later point. I want to be inspired, I want to help people, I want to change the world (or at least just one person). But for now, I am cranking along and will continue to until the transition to phase two becomes obvious.

As for passions, I have never been lacking in those. I tend to get into things and try to go to the expert level as quickly as possible. My fam likes to make fun of me because they claim I am always have a new adventure to tell them about. "What mountains (note the plural) did you climb today?" my eldest sister will ask me during our weekend chat. But I think I realized something lately... that all of my varied hobbies of hiking & biking & running & rock climbing & endurance related activities & love of water were all leading to just ONE thing. I think I was on the inevitable path leading towards this conclusion and I didn't even know it.

The destination being the discovery of adventure racing. The sport that encompasses everything that I just inherently loved to do. Adventure racing is something that I could get into... like REALLY into. I may have never discovered this sport had I not moved to the land of the sun, rocks and cactus. But I can't turn off the fountain inside of me. It bubbles with excitement when I talk about it, read about it, and dream about it. I blame Arizona and the 10 mountain ranges I can see from my window at work (not my actual window, I work in a cube ala 'Office Space' but we have a hallway). I blame the fact that everyone I meet here rock climbs and that people go canyoneering on the weekends between their jobs as doctors and school teachers. I blame my adventurous friends who feed my desires by listening with excitement to my plans and enhancing on them. I blame stores like REI and frisbee friends who have discounts there and are gear hounds. And lastly I blame the fact that its hot as hell in the city all summer long so I have no choice but to escape to cooler locales in nature which fill my waterfall jumping, cave exploring, mountain bike riding, and camping dreams. And I blame my lovely fiance who has always supported me in everything I do and who grounds me when I might jump off the mountain in my excitement.

Bad Bad Bad

I just ate three cookies one one after the other. There were a bunch sitting in a conference room at work. Argh. Where is my self control? Sometimes, I am really good and other times... The wedding is exactly one month away people, I DO NOT NEED TO BE EATING THREE COOKIES in the middle of a work day. As the great Homer Simpson would say "DOH!'

Just a Nice Sunday Afternoon Ride

WARNING: Be advised that this usually family friend blog entry contains some material which may be unsuitable for fragile sensitive people.

I just don't get why people think my friends are 'crazy'...



Don't worry we are still alive, the snake didn't get us. Nor the 100 bats that flew out of the cave at our heads at 100 mph. But we didn't get to explore this cave that we found on the Ak Chin Indian Reservation while out biking due to this angry spitfire. Ahh maybe next time.

Desert Heat #2 Adventure Race Report

Desert Heat AR #2 Nearing CP 4 (pic courtesy of Angel)

Team Desert Pirates (Sarah & Ryan) are not the new adventure racing gods... but neither are we.

Both teams finished in a very close battle where we believe that Tom and I achieved a one minute victory (unverified due to egg breakage penalties) but really it was like being the smartest kid on the short bus. (No offense meant, don't take it that way.)

In other words, we both sucked. Tom and I took the strategy of going out with the big dogs, and followed the race favorites out of the gate. They were sprinting and therefore so were we. The first two checkpoints were short runs to pick up different objects. The first object we were given was an egg which we then had to find a way to carry for the rest of the race without it breaking. The second was a ball of some sort which we then had to carry on a tee across a lot to our partners. We then jumped on our mountain bikes to compete the biking portion of four consecutive checkpoints. The first part was on a mountain path Tom and I have ridden on which is down hill and very fun. We were actually ahead of the big dogs but they soon passed us on the bikes. I took off after them however and stayed with them for the first checkpoint. My strategy at this point was to follow the leaders since I figured they knew what they were doing. Due to this, I did not take the time to pull out of maps and check exact instructions. This ended up backfiring for us since I didn't pull my instructions out to realize that CP 2 was actually just a word on the back of a stop sign. The team right ahead of us did it so quickly that we didn't notice it. Once we got to the third CP we realized our error but weren't sure what to do. Now we know we should have immediately turned around, but at the time we just kept going. The fourth checkpoint was up a steep little mountain where my friend Angel was manning the checkpoint. She seemed surprised to see us and told us we weren't that far behind a pack of the leaders. But we knew that we were screwed since we had missed CP 2 so we weren't that excited. Once we got back to the TA which was CP 5, the race officials told us that we had to go all the way back to CP 2 and then do 3, 4 and 5 again to officially continue the race. This was very disheartening, but we took off back down the same huge loop we had just completed. On our way back down from CP4 for the second time (Hi again Angel!), we ran into our friends the Desert Pirates and unfortunately Ryan was pushing his bike. He has gotten a flat and had no spare tube. Looks like they were having as good a race as us... :( The final two CPs were trekking up some small mountains and weren't that difficult but we were tired and hot and had completed more mileage than other teams. To make it worse, when we ended, we found our egg broken which tacked on a five minute penalty. We didn't get dead last, but we probably came pretty close.

Overall, not what we wanted, but I still had fun (Tom might feel differently). Our weak point is still our orienteering, but this time, it wasn't so much our path, just our following of directions. We actually navigated pretty dead on for all checkpoints. Oh well, I like to think we won the 11 checkpoint race. To bad the race was only 7. I think I am tired of sprint ARs and am ready for some real distance. The sprint races really favor experience since you will not win if you screw up at all. Plus, I always feel like I am just getting going when the race ends. I actually feel better as the race goes on, where Tom was killing me at the beginning and hating life at the end. He claims to have retired from the sport, but I am just going to give him a little break, Team Buck-I will be back. On tap next, is our ladies only team ODP (i could tell you what it stands for but then I would have to kill you) taking on the Desert Women's AR race schedule. This will be our time to shine people. Stay posted!