STOOPID 50

This past Sunday marked the 2009 Stoopid 50 in Rothrock State Forest. The course this year took riders up bear meadows to the rolling and sometimes rocky and fun obstacle filled Tussey Ridge Trail, down the extension to treaster kettle, up the steep double track thickhead climb and down into coopers gap via Penn Roosevelt. The finish took them down Detweiler, up gettis and onward to the rocky Old Laurel descent / finish. The course was rocky, fast, and challenging. It was a BLAST to be there.

Pictures are posted on my website.

I spent the day chasing the race around -- scoping out photo opps and cheering all of my friends (new and old) on. I started on bear meadows road and shot up to the ridge (one of my favorite trails). I moved onward to coopers gap and back to detweiler and finally the finish. It was a a lot of hiking around and jumping into patches of laurel as racers blasted by...

it was a BLAST.

As the race progressed many racers began to recognize me as I popped up around the course. It soon became a running joke... and I got a lot of pictures of smiling mountain bikers that way.

They'd look at me, smile and say "You again? How did you get here?? You were just down on the road... now you're up on the ridge..."

Really, I used my jetpack to get around. shhhh.

I made a lot of friends pre-during-post race and was inspired watching the friends I ride with (during my social moments ;) ).... kick ass...

Big ups to WV for WINNING the WOMEN's race!!! Check out the action here. There are 5 links - one to each section of the race ( I took a lot experimenting with some new settings in the forest!!)

A few teaser photos are below:

WV coming down Old Laurel for the win...

Straub looking huge.

Left: Rach on the ridge after (our) FAVORITE log / rock bridge. Right: random cool pict.

Peter acknowledging his manny manny manny man-ness. Thunder!

Left: Mike ridin fast; Right: Jess representing on the NINER!

At the end of the day i realized i had at some point ripped my shorts straight down the side! Battle wounds???

Happy Trailz...

The latest adventures via photo...

Chaya & I found a new trail!!! As E would say, this was the "hot ticket" in the Stoopid 50 sunday to getting up to the ridge. Sweet.

Up on the ridge - lots of Indigo Buntings...

If anyone can confirm ID's for these you'll be my new hero... UPDATE: Fledgling Eastern Bluebirds!!! I wouldn't have guessed that.


Red-headed woodpecker!!! A Beauty!

Eastern Bluebird

Scarlet Tanagers!! They were way up in the canopy but bright enough to pick out.

what a face...



Mountain Laurel are just opening... Pink and white...


Three Bridges -- My dog apparently has an obsession with washing her rear end... OOOH - that's the spot.

It looks so wrong, but it just feels.so.right...
Apparently THAT'S the real hot ticket.

sick beats

the piano portion is so familiar - i feel like i played it once in my classical past.

puzzles

If life is a puzzle, then finding fitting pieces is more an effort involving learning about, understanding and knowing yourself than figuring out what to do in the next second, hour, month or year. Careful consideration of flaws, strengths and weaknesses can shed light on obstacles facilitating insight into how they can be overcome, bypassed or simply squashed. Self-awareness of state of mind can inform relationship success not to mention degree of manageable tolerance of those with views and demeanors that are polar opposite on any given day.

Focus in work and school has not been enough as of late. Given that, I've got my sights set on this 100 mile mountain bike race which will certainly push the limits of skill and endurance. And not wanting to ride for 12 hours on edge, i figure surmounting some confidence issues now, will increase the potential for rolling over that finish line in August with a smile on my face. So i've been tackling logs. Not big ones of course, small log piles. Ones just big enough to catch the chain ring at the top and knock me just enough off balance that i tense up but still get over. or atleast now I do. I contemplated some on sunday but psyched myself out. I would look, roll up, and brake - over and over. Yesterday, I rolled out with a slightly different outlook. I knew I overthink everything - so i used that to my advantage. I rolled up to a pile, stopped and contemplated it. I imagined the bike rolling over, imagined the chain ring sticking at the top, and imagined my ass landing in a pile of blueberries alongside the trail if I really screwed up -- been there done that. I then backed up, pedaled, and before i knew it - i was over. And then again. and again.

I did this over and over riding trails with multiple piles until I got through them relatively smoothly and without hesitation. Granted they were small obstacles but progress was made and confidence built. Sweet! Sometimes what you need to overcome a particular fear is an understanding of what that fear truly is about and an awareness of why it's there. This combined with a keen understanding of self and how your mind processes challenge, makes it that much easier to put the pieces together and get through those obstacles.

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRUMPY OLD MAN!!. Send E your best if you haven't already cause we don't need him to be more grumpy than he already is :) :)

Random pictures:

This puzzle was not to be solved. We weren't sure whether it was the pedal of the cleat - but they weren't working mellow day on the road.


Above: the coolest farm ever ... full of goats - YES GOATS! and Great Pyreneese puppies (no these are not birds, they are dogs!) :) SO CUTE.

Left: fun at the timber show (oh the joys of my job). Right: the girliest bug ever. check out the daisy rims!

birth of a fish

feelin it!

headin' the right way

Life is a network of trails. You plow straight ahead, twisting and turning, grinding up the hills and bombing down the other side. Sometimes you fall, with blood drawn. Other times you clean an otherwise seemingly impassable path. Sometimes you make it through but come out the other side scratched up and scarred, but still satisfied with the accomplishment. Sometimes you get to an intersection and aren't sure which way to go in unmapped territory.

I've been spending a lot of time on trails in recent days. I've been slowly conquering before-'paralyzing' fears of roots, and rocks, logs and everything not smooth. It's been awesome. And in the back of my mind is a 100 mile mountain bike race that would mark my second bicycle race ever (first being iron cross) and my first ever mountain bike race. I'm not sure if i'll get there or not but the uphill path is treatin me well.

Really it's not as much about the "race" as the challenge. The seemingly insurmountable physical goal that years ago I wouldn't have fathomed of conquering. The confidence brought with achieving said goal; the reward. And even more important yet, the experiences and adventures encountered along this path...translating to every facet of life - work and play.

This is why i'm smiling ear to ear at the top of one of the nastier climbs in the forest (TOP). Seeger is nothing less than painful as you grind your way to the top. Yet, at the top -- met by the coolest of friends (thanx cowboy!) life is seriously good. The feeling of accomplishment and strength outweighs the burn. Seriously.

LONG cross ride -- i've been on the century a month plan (although in between centuries have been numerous 90 milers). On this day, however, my century was cut short due to a broken free-body hub. Try to pedal without one of those sometime! Bummer! So 100 miles on the road turned into 65 climbing miles of cross.

Left: you see the strangest things in the woods. The most ginormous (yes it's a word) leaf gall i've ever seen!

Raystown trails!! pure bmx-style FUN.

Saturday group rides. We rest our legs in the parking lot before big climbs (apparently) :) This day was a 120 miler with like 7500-8000' of climbing. It rained - a lot. i felt like crap that day but still enjoyed the ride. sweet.

Left: speaking of crap - horse shit from rural back country roads -- mmmm. ;)

My new mountain bike - discovered on the way to e & g's wedding -- smith and wesson style! yes apparently police ride these around in AIRPORTS. Check out that squish!

Ahh more group rides!! this day brought with it a windy 95 miler.

Tap trail. mmmmm

Read this as transparent, however it's not just about the bike. The bike is one means to an end consisting of awesome experiences, confidence and strength built and sincerely, truly great people. Other means too bring similar rewards. Getting to the top of one trail climb all the while knowing there's another soon ahead that's potentially harder and more intense. Or perhaps it's all downhill. Regardless, you're ready for whatever that particular path presents and confident as you move forward that whatever turn you make at any particular intersection, you've got the strength to make it through - in a big way. Given this confidence there are no wrong turns in life - only right ones... or maybe left ;) as long as the trail leads you forward. you're headin the right way.