Thanksgiving weekend

It sure was nice having a 5-day weekend. In the morning I went on a Tiger hike with Misha. It was freezing out but sunny as could be. What a gorgeous day.



We had the "usuals" over for Thanksgving dinner. The turkey didn't turn out so well- thankfully we had a back up pot roast courtesy of Carol. After dinner we watched the Glutton Bowl, billed as "the World's Greatest Eating Competition". We thought the butter eating challenge was bad enough, but it actually got worse with competitors eating mayo, tongues and brains. You wanted to look away but you couldn't.

Eric worked a half day on Friday and I slept in :) We headed downtown later that afternoon to shop and watch the Macy's tree lighting and fireworks. Surprisingly the weather was nice- clear, cold and dry.

Saturday Eric went on a hike and I slept in again. I could get used to this. The rest of the day was spent loafing around and baking holiday cookies.



Today I raced at Seatac park. The course seemed like it was designed just for me- tons of smooth singletrack and several good run-ups. I started mid-pack but moved up to the front within a few minutes. As we transitioned from the pavement to singletrack I realized that I was in 3rd place and pushed hard to distance myself from the pack. One of the girls fell behind and I sprinted past the leader on the last lap. See the video here! I knew she was right behind on the last run-up but she couldn't catch me. I put the pedal to the metal and sprinted to 1st place! Woo Hoo! No medals at this race-my prize was 2 six packs of Fat Tire beer. I don't like beer but I was just happy to win something. Photos are here.

Click here to see a couple more videos. Note- I'm trying to fix the sideways one. In the meantime, just tilt your head :)

Gobble gobble...

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Here's a cute shot of our nephew Kaden and his exquisite art project:

Today I lost a dear friend to the commercialization of Christmas. My little cactus felt the pressure to start the holidays early and broke out in full bloom. He claims it was caused by global warming, but I think the North Pole mafia had something to do with it.

Crash!

This weekend's adventure took us to the Olympic peninsula. On Saturday we tooled around the shops at Port Townsend and then drove up to Hurricane Ridge.

Boarding the ferry:


Eric looking at some duck:


View atop Hurricane Ridge:



Today I had a cross race at Ft. Flagler. I toggled between 2nd and 3rd place on the first 3 laps. I was feeling OK so I decided to rideone of the run-ups. Everything was great until I reached the top and them BAM! the bike goes out from underneath me and I'm laying on my side. Although a bit dazed (what just happened!?) I made a sweet recovery and got back on the bike. My left knee hurt but I attempted to ride it off. No good. About 300m down the course I could only pedal with my right leg so I decided to pull out. It was my first(and hopefully last)DNF of the year and it sucked! I hope this heals soon because next weekend is the state championship race.

Riding through old gun emplacements:

What a weekend!

This weekend was action packed. Saturday was the first ever Rico-Challenge adventure race held at Lake Sammamish State Park. Eric and Robin designed a fun course with a few surprises thrown in including a couple teammate swaps and a kick bike time trial. Photos are posted on the official Rico-Challenge website.

Today was my cross race at Donida Farm. I lined up late again and was stuck near the back of the pack. Then about a minute before the start I remembered that my tires were pumped up to road pressure, so I was frantically letting out air at the last minute. Oops. I was in the back for what seemed like an eternity. The muddy singletrack didn't allow for much passing, and then I got stuck behind two crashes and was passed by a number of girls. Somehow/somewhere I passed them all up again because I finished in 3rd! That was the toughest race I've done yet. I posted a few pictures here.