Happy New Year and all that jazz...

Well, today is it...the end of 2008. It's been a weird year for me - physically, emotionally and mentally.

I went off my anti-depressant sometime during this past year, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, took a trip to Colorado by myself, met some really good friends, started mountain biking and did a few other things I never thought I'd do. In some ways it's been a hellish year - mostly mentally and emotionally. In many ways it's been a great year, especially physically.

I started taking pictures last October and have, I hope, gotten a whole hell of a lot better at it. I'm proud of many of my pics and may do a 2008 pic year in review later tonight.

I hope to get myself together in 2009 - make decisions about some pretty important things in my life and get happy. Supposedly, happiness comes from within...my job will be to find it. And maybe it's not happiness I'm looking for. Maybe it's satisfaction and fulfillment.

I wish you all the best in your 2009 endeavors.

Happy New Year!

Rode with Maggie today

After taking the little one to school and snoozing on and off for an hour and a half, I got my ass in gear and met Maggie at the American Tobacco Trail for a long (for me) ride. I think we got in about 6 miles - some at a good pace, some fairly slowly. We talked...a lot...and it was good. I needed to spill some of the shit in my head to someone and she has a really good way of listening and explaining things to me, along with great suggestions that I am going to try like hell to put into practice.

I didn't take my camera this time - just wanted to ride without having a reason to stop (though we stopped a few times cuz this big girl ain't used to going 6 miles in one shot) - and regretted not taking it. I haven't been out to ATT in a while and had forgotten that there were things off the trail that I've been wanting to take pics of...oh well. Next time.

It was a good ride. Good friend. Good talk. Good pedaling.

Now I just have to get my head back together enough to not let what's bothering me break my concentration on the trails at Harris...not sure I'll be able to do that, but I'm gonna try. I've actually been enjoying my time on flat surfaces - road and ATT - but it's time to get back to real trails with real dirt.

Just trying out this new

Just trying out this new fangled mobile blogging thing.

Went out and rode again....

...and wow am I beat! But in a good way. The kind of tired where you feel satisfied with yourself for having done something. I'm not sure how far I rode - probably only a couple miles since it was a short 20 min ride. What was funny to me is that it took me 11 minutes to get from my house to the stop sign where I had decided I was going to turn around and took me 4 minutes to get back to my neighborhood street. Downhill was fun, uphill was a challenge during which I went into total Granny gear (blushes with embarrassment). But I did it and I'm proud of myself for doing it. Oh! I also rode a little bit in my neighborhood...downhill into the neighborhood behind mine and back up that bitch of a hill to get to my house. So maybe a total of 3 miles today.

Now I need to find something to do to keep myself occupied. I find that when my mind is left to its own devices, I tend to get a little sad or anxious. So I think I'm going to clean my closet out or do a behavior plan for my kids. I also need to do tons of work on my websites...photos, layouts, etc.

Heat Wave!

I don't know about the rest of the country...ok, I do know, I'm just sayin'....but we had a heat wave here in Fuquay Varina. It was in the high 60s/low 70s today! Nice and breezy...perfect day to ride. So I did. And dayum folks! I needed it.

I only rode a couple - few miles (remember I AM fat AND out of shape :P) into downtown Varina, but it felt great, especially the ride home. There was a horrid headwind on my way into town and I didn't think I was going to make it up a couple of the inclined areas, but I DID IT because I told myself I was going to do it and tough shit otherwise.

I took a couple breaks because I had the camera with me...and here are a few of the pics. A couple are actually from yesterday when I drove the truck up to grab some pics of the beautiful graffiti on the boxcars, but otherwise they are from my ride today.

Boxcar Graffiti from yesterday:


This one cracked me up:


Open door graffiti:


From today:
3 Country Buildings


3 Country Buildings from a different angle


Power Pole

How STUPID is FCB?

Pretty damn stupid, my friends.

My familia and I are down near Myrtle Beach, SC. I brought my bike to ride. I went to get my helmet to go ride. I DIDN'T BRING IT!! I'm so stupid! So my poor bike is sitting here...unridden. :( Poor Gustav.

Ok...but I did take a fairly nice night picture from the balcony of the condo at which we are staying. It's looking north toward Myrtle Beach.

Skidmarks....

Love 15 minute lunch...and I came across that one today. What I want to know is does it work for bike riding too?

"how do you tell how fast he was going by skidmark? - A difficult question. It's much easier to tell with tightie-whities since they don't bunch up as much, but as a general rule, for every quarter-inch of width, add 20mph, and for every half-inch of length add 10mph to the posted limit. This equation will give you the approximate speed he was going when he lost control of the car and shat himself."

What it is

When I first started writing this blog, I had all intentions of keeping it to biking and some photography. But I've discovered that life happens too...and I'm a person who needs to share my life with other people.

I haven't been on the bike much...you can read about why in other posts. I'm dealing with some incredible depression right now - the likes of which I haven't dealt with seriously in about 7 years. I was depressed right before I tried the abilify a couple months back, but this is SO much worse. 7 years ago is when I decided I didn't want to be on this planet anymore...my life was so bleak and the hole so black, I couldn't deal. I never tried to take my own life, but that episode scared the shit out of me. It was my first foray into the realm of anti-depressants and medication for severe depression. I've gotten better since and haven't had anything near that depressive episode until now. And god damn...it SUCKS.

The things I love - photography and biking - have become like chores. All this in the blink of an eye, it seems. This depression came out of nowhere. I'm working on getting the right medication into me so this doesn't happen again, and I'm working on getting my head wrapped around the fact that being depressed and/or bipolar are life long conditions that are to be taken very seriously, as they can have life altering consequences.

Don't let me being a little nuts scare you off. I was bipolar before I told you I was...you probably thought I was a little cracked in places. You just didn't have the correct name. Now you do. Hi. My name is Jodey. ;)

I'll get back to being me soon...I can feel me trying hard to surface. It's just going to take some time. In the mean time, I'm not sure how often I'll update this blog...or maybe I will. I find writing things out to be very cathartic, and I also hope my struggles with depression/bipolar disorder, no matter what community you come from, will help people understand the struggles or help with their own struggles.

It doesn't just take a village to raise a child...it takes a village to maintain a person.

Go me!

I rode 4 hard, hilly miles at the gym today. Could have gone further, but...didn't. Mental shit.

I'm happy to go see my shrinky-dink tomorrow to report in that my (yay!) pills aren't so yay...they don't seem to be keeping the sad cycles at bay so much. I can deal with manic cycles, it's the sad ones that I have a really hard time with. We'll see what she says tomorrow. Maybe it's time for the mighty Zoloft to come back out of the cabinet. Oy...not even going there tonight.

Good grief!

It's been at least a month since I've ridden consistently. That is just not cool AT ALL. The older kid has been tracked out for a month...went back last week to school and I haven't been to the gym OR hit the trails.

I'm feeling scattered...I may just hit the gym tomorrow instead of going to the trails, but I'll see. If I do anything outdoors, it will be a few loops at Harris on the beginner trail. I need to build myself back up to where I was. For some reason, I seem to have gained some fear again. Sigh. I can do this...I can do this...I WILL do this.

I can tell it's screwing with me - my moods aren't as high, I'm more apt to be upset about stupid shit, I've gained weight (and god knows THAT'S not needed)...just all around not feeling good about me. So the exercise will help! Yay exercise! (It's usually Yay Pills!)

One Thing Leads to Another

First off, I want to share a photo of me that I love:


Some of you may know that I make, and sell, custom designed candy wrappers...here are a few different packs of them.

Sarcasm Pack:


PMS Pack:


Happy Holidays/Snowman Pack:


Why am I showing them on my blog? Because I took pictures of them using my new homemade softbox! (Thank you Lidarman...Cheap Lighting).

Front of softbox:


How I'm lighting the softbox through a hole in the back:

Oh how it sucks to be short

So I got those pants today from REI - the ones I was going to wear all winter to ride in...I'm TOO SHORT! There is no way I can wear the pants to ride in because they are sort of yoga pant-like on the bottom (they flare a bit, for those who don't know what yoga pants are) and pool onto the floor as they are too long.

I'm pretty pissed, actually. Such a good deal and I can't wear them. Damn.

Bikin' Broads Maintenance Skillz Clinic (Saturday Night)

Hey y'all! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this entry written...but here I am and here we gooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

We had a FANTASTIC turnout at night 1 of the Skillz Clinic put on by TORC/The Clean Machine! This was the portion of the Clinic at which the parts of the bike were sort of de-mystified for many of us...Tamara went over each part of the bike from wheel to wheel and explained its purpose in life...from presta vs schrader valves, hydraulic to cable actuated disc brakes to rim brakes, high gear to easy gear and where the chain is on the cassette or front chain ring...and so much more. And then it was hands on fun time for the chicks...and hands on it was, folks! Men, if it turns you on to see a woman working on a bike, you'd a been a horn dog that night! Bikes on stands, women turning bikes onto handlebars/seats, women with tire levers, grease under their nails, fingering rear derailleurs...whew! The estrogen in the room was overpowering!!

Oh - and whoever picked out the beer and snacks - GOOD CHOICES! I can't remember the name of the beer I had, but I know it was a blueberry wheat beer and it just freakin' rocked! There was smoked gouda, brie, swiss; pears, apples, grapes; hummus and the most adorable little pitas (said like a woman, right? :P)...fantastic and classy food.

Here are some pics from that night:










And thank you mucho to my good friend, and guest for the weekend, Daniel, for taking all these wonderful photos (except the valve photos - those are photos from the interwebs). You can see the rest of them on my flickr account.

I will post part 2 - the SKILLZ part of the clinic later today.

Oh REI...how could you?

How could you have 50% off in your outlet section then an additional 20% coupon for me to use? You forced me...coerced me...twisted my poor wittle arm and MADE me buy those Moving Comfort No Chill Hybrid Pants for only $24 plus shipping and tax. REI should hang its head in shame for putting out such a good deal that I, Fat Chick Biker, could not resist purchasing them.

They have lots of other good deals, but nothing else I need. I looked at Keen's and Camelbak's, but they didn't have what I wanted.

Hopefully these pants will fit and my ass won't be cold this winter while riding Gustav around them thar woods. :)

My kid is so cool!

My older son, M, learned how to ride a 2 wheeler with no training wheels today! It took a little under 2 hours to teach him. I am SO PROUD of him for staying with it.

We did the "no pedals" way of learning and it really works. I took the pedals off his bike and make sure the seat was low enough for him to reach the ground with his feet and let him coast down our driveway about 10 or 15 times until he could do it without putting his feet down. Once that happened, I put the pedals back on and he did the same thing a few times, then we went riding around the road right in front of the house and I explained road rules, etc.

I'm just really really proud of him. He did such a great job listening, concentrating and doing what I asked of him!

Here are some pics:

I want to be able to say this....

...so I'm gonna go out and get me $50K of plastic surgery (maybe more?), then I can get on The Bike Snob's blog too! Oh joy!

Click me now...you cannot deny the compulsion to click.

/sarcasm

Yay for getting stronger!

I went to the gym today and rode 4.4 miles on the Expresso bike. It was pretty easy once I got my big ass in gear. After I did that, I walked around the track a few times, then decided to try out the elliptical machine. I shocked the shit out of myself! Last time I did it, which was probably 5 or 6 months ago, I was at 4 or 5 on incline and 4 or 5 on resistance. Today, I hopped on and STARTED at 5 incline and 6 resistance! And I was almost at a running pace. Granted, I didn't do it long - 10 minutes and went almost a mile - but the fact that I DID IT at all is what amazes me...and that I wasn't about to keel over...good times...:)

Anyway, I feel sort of good tonight, so I thought I'd share my accomplishment with my 3 readers. :D

Say it with me: "GO FAT CHICK BIKER!!"

Winter Wearing

What do you wear in the winter to bike in?

The lowest temp I've biked in is right at 40 but felt colder. I had on my biking shorts, thin cotton leggings and my cotton capris; sports bra, thin long sleeve cotton shirt, thicker long sleeve cotton shirt and sweat jacket.

I've also worn thigh high tights under my capris along with my biking shorts and a couple layers of shirts under the jacket and that worked nicely too.

My newest acquisition is a pair of capri tights to wear under my pants/over my shorts. Now just have to find stuff to keep the footsies warm.

Oh! And what do YOU wear on your hands? Lidarman wrote this fantastic blog entry about the gloves he's tried for cold weather riding. Go read it!

How many?

How many bikes do you have and why do you have each of them? I'm curious...definitely not going out to buy a new bike!!

I just have my one - GT Avalanche 3.0 Disc. Name of Gustav. No "after market" components on him. I did try some Forte Campus pedals on him, but I really disliked them. I bought some metal pedals the other day b/c I put the plastic ones back on, but since I wear cleats on my shoes b/c I ride indoors and clip in (and don't remove them for outdoor riding), the pedals are getting destroyed. I need to get a pedal wrench though...or borrow one. I'm sure one of my bikin' buddies has one I can use.

Things I'm Looking Forward To!

I'm looking forward to this coming weekend and next week. Why? Because:

1. my friend Daniel is coming to visit me again! This is cool because Daniel lives way up in Northern Canada...so it's special when I get to see him since it's so far away.

2. there is a Bikin' Broads Mountain Bike Clinic this weekend! I'm so looking forward to this - lots of things I want to work on, but mainly working on getting over this fear I seem to have developed. I'd like to talk to other women and see how they view this sport.

3. since Daniel is going to be here, he's going to help us out with the Bikin' Broads clinic by photographing us! I'll be otherwise engaged, so Daniel has kindly agreed to help us out with taking pictures.

4. I'm hoping to meet another person who shoots and get the 3 of us together to shoot while Daniel is here, but I'm not sure it's going to work out. If it does, it will be a blast!

5. Some of you will think I'm a horrible mother, but think what you will...my older son goes back to school on Monday! Woohoo!!! A month of being tracked out...oy.

6. RIDING!!! Next week!!! While the kids are in school!!!

7. Daniel and I have an appt with a friend of mine to shoot her on Monday if our other thing doesn't work out.

8. RIDING!!! Next week!!! While the kids are in school!!!

Of Training Wheels and Other Things

Today. TODAY. TODAY is the day I will teach my 7 year old to ride his brand new 2 wheeler. I hope. He has been riding on a 16" wheel bike, which was definitely getting too small. So Grandma and Grandpa put out for a new bike for Chanuka...which is 3 weeks away...and hubs and I went out with 7 yr old and bought it from Target this past weekend.

Ok...yes...it's junk-ish, but for what he'll use it for, it's ok. I can't even remember the brand name. I want to see if he'll get into mountain biking and start riding the easy trails with me before we get him a "good" bike. I mean, there's nothing wrong with this bike for a 55 pound 7 yr old kid, so we'll see how he does.

ETA: Not today - too windy and he and I are having Mommy/Kid time and going to see Kung Fu Panda at the dollar fifty movie in a bit. I have a few pics to edit, then we're out!

One More Photo

My Dad's birthday is today. He's 65! We had a surprise party for him at a Chinese buffet...this is from there:

Day After Thanksgiving Ride

I couldn't stand it...I HAD to get out of the damn house, so I went on a ride right before sunset on Friday afternoon. This time I used my Mom's cruiser/comfort bike and rode around their neighborhood on it.

The bike itself was really comfortable - after the initial shock of not having ridden that type of bike. I couldn't believe how DIFFERENT it felt from my mountain bike. If not for the seat with shocks, it would have been a great ride. The seat was crazy bouncy - too different from my normal seat for comfort for me. And I had to jack the damn seat post up as high as I could...I was having nightmares of the seat shearing off. Oy.

Anyway...here are some pics from where I rode in Greenville, NC:

OMFG...I'm sooooo damn full!

I cannot believe how full I am. We had soooo much good food - turkey, peas, stuffing, sweet potato something-or-other, etc etc. But before I stuffed my fat face, I went out and rode around the neighborhood...just 2.3 miles in 17 minutes. Not too bad...not too great.

Hope y'all are having a great Turkey Day!

Jodey

Happy Turkey Day!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Turkey Day. I also hope you get lots of riding in today! I'm going for a short ride just around my parents' neighborhood in a few minutes...just feeling the need to stretch the old legs out before dinner/supper/turkey time (3pm ET).

Hey! Don't forget! Fat Chick Biker LOVES comments - so leave me some, k?

Love y'all!
Jodey

Hell-met of a Statement

This is a PSA from me to wear your helmet when you ride. No abject nudity, but you can see a little more than usual...so if you don't like fat chicks or stretch marks, DON'T LOOK! OMG!!! Click HERE to be taken away from the sinful and horrible picture!! I happen to like it.

And I've been recently informed that it looks somewhat like a condom ad...:P



















If anyone would like me to shoot some "helmet safety" photos of them, let me know. I'd be happy to...or any other images for that matter. :)

Bicycling Magazine Funny

I had to laugh today when I saw an Adam&Eve ad at the back of Bicycling Magazine lauding 50% off and a free gift for using some code when you check out.

If you don't know what Adam & Eve is, it's a really good online adult toy store (and from right here in NC - Carrboro, methinks). You should check them out and throw some biz their way. ;)

Enjoy.

My Favorite Picture from HOAR

This is my favorite picture that I took at Heel of a Race...at least so far:



I think the angle and the blur really capture the essence of speed and the determination on the biker's face says it all.

3.5 miles at gym

I hauled the 2 kids and my big old ass to the gym this morning in the 35 degree weather. Did 3.5 miles on the bike..broke a sweat but wasn't breathing too hard, which was just what I wanted to do. Kids were in child care and they bitch if I get them too soon, so after I was done with my workout, I sat and wrote stuff in the checkbook register.

And that, my good people, is called FCB's Method of Time Management.

Laters.

Biking Mojo

I might have gotten a little teensy, weensy, tiny piece of my biking mojo back. The FCB Mojo Meter is at about 1 out of 10...ok, maybe 1.25.

I rode Harris yesterday and Jesus Christ was I tired. Just 2 laps on the beginner trail and I was wiped. Guess almost 2 weeks of no real riding will zap the endurance. Well, that and some medication that is totally whacked. I thought I loved the abilify...not so anymore, folks. Not so at all. In fact I wrote my shrink this morning telling her I want OFF of that shit b/c I want my energy back, among other things. That med, not riding and being sick are the things that have really reduced my endurance. I'm hoping that I will find that if she takes me off it and puts me on something else, I will regain what I have lost...at least a little.

Anyway, enough of the meds rant...that could take fucking DAYS if I go on. So I rode 2 laps - the first lap was ok...a little slow and I stopped at the place that always freaks me out. Yanno, the place between the trees. But I did the big rooty twisty place at the end that I always psyche myself out at. Second lap was better - did both places no problem, but had to walk one little hill. Just couldn't push myself to do it.

Funny - I got to the end of the first lap and saw a red sign attached to the map thingy that's there. It said something like "Caution - it's hunting season. Although we don't allow hunting on Harris Lake County Park property, there is hunting in the surrounding areas. Please make sure you wear appropriately bright clothing while using the Park." Lovely.

I uploaded more HOAR photos to flickr

so go and check them out! CLICK ME

Shot the HOAR today

And I'm half happy with the results. Some of my pics turned out really good. Some not so much. But hey - this was my first real "action" shoot, so it's ok. I'm happy that I learned a couple things:

1. I really need to get a faster focusing long lens if I'm going to shoot action
2. I really need to learn to pan b/c the effect is REALLY damn cool

Here are a few of the "good" shots I got today:



I've got lots more, but I haven't gone through them yet. They'll all be put up on flickr eventually.

I wanna ride. I WANNA ride. I wanna RIDE!

Yep. I WANNA RIDE...I might go Saturday morning before race, assuming Harris is open. I think I'll do a few quick spins around Harris' beginner loop, then maybe go back on Sunday and do it all again. Yeah...that's the ticket. :P

Lake Crabtree and broken toe

I called Maggie this morning and asked if she would like to ride with me at Lake Crabtree today...she agreed. We got there around 12:15pm, looked up at the sky and watched the snow start to fall a little. As we got up to the trail, it started snowing in earnest...for a whole 5 minutes.

I really think I've lost my biking mojo. Maybe not having biked for 10 days and having been sick for almost 3 weeks has done something to me...but I was not "on" AT ALL today and it fucking pissed me off, pardon my language.

I can see the point some people were trying to make on a thread on Trianglemtb.com a week or so back about not riding out of your comfort level...or at least not TOO high above it. Maybe Crabtree is out of my comfort zone or maybe Maggie is right - I look at the trail and get overwhelmed instead of taking it piece by piece. I think I expect myself to be able to get out there and hammer through these things, even though in my head I know I can't and shouldn't be able to. I see all these other people who make it look so easy and I get pissed off and start feeling inadequate about my skills. So I think for a while I'm going to stick to Harris...no matter how boring it gets for me, and master it. I am going to work on my endurance, weight loss and skills. I will persevere and I will succeed...I'm just a tenacious bitch like that. :P

Ok...enough of that. NOW...let's have a pity party. I'm pretty sure I broke my 4th toe on my right foot this morning. Not only that, but I split the top of it open and it hurts like a MOFO. Not only THAT, but yesterday, the fire safe fell on the same foot, across the area right below all my toes. Waaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

And one more for the night...some FCB-y photo goodness...

Pics of me and some other stuff that I've reworked and feel like showing off cuz I LIKE 'EM! :P

HOAR - no, not WHORE...HOAR!!

Heel Of A Race!!!

I'm totally psyched about this cuz I'm going out to shoot my first race and this is IT! I'm also volunteering to help out wherever else they need me - and parking is one place I know I've been assigned to so far.

I'm thrilled and will be studying up on taking action shots and asking a good friend of mine for tips on action shots...*coughs*...you know who you are, so be ready for my email, k? :-* :P

Yay me for doing something new!

Bikin' Broads Women's Mountain Biking Skillz Clinic

And I'm freaking EXCITED!!!

Here's some linkage to the N&O blog and some linkage to the Skillz Clinic page on the TORC website.

Cool that we got written up in the regional Triangle newspaper's, the News and Observer, blog...and even cooler that Fat Chick Biker is writing it up here! LOL Just kidding. I'm attending, maybe taking some photos and bringing along a friend too! He's from Northern Canada and is a photographer, so he'll be taking pics more than I will, since I will be biking my ass off...learning how to fall (hopefully) and some other skillz.

I wish I had pink stuff to show my womanly pride...someday I'll have my RIDES LIKE A GIRL stuff...someday. But for now, I'll stick with my silver men's GT Avalanche, name of Gustav. He works for me...works me out. ;)

So I hope some other Bikin' Broads see this and come. It's gonna be fun. We'll have two groups from what I understand - a beginner and an advanced. My hope is that we can learn and participate in some of the advanced activities (if we can...I'm totally a beginner).

Anyway...here's to learning bike maintenance and having a wine/cheese treat. And no...there will be no whine with my cheese. :P

My Morning - good for a laugh

So hubs has been out of town, which means that I've been home A-L-O-N-E with the ankle biters for 3 days. Remember that older kid is tracked out (meaning he's home all day with me) and younger kid goes to preschool a few days a week, otherwise he's home with me too.

So this morning I'm happily sleeping when kid #1 runs into my room like his ass is afire yelling "Mommy! Megatron did ..... (and that's all I heard b/c I burrowed my big ass further under the covers)!" I mumbled something back to him that sounded like "that's nice" but really meant, in Mommy speak, "leave me the fuck alone, can't you see I'm sleeping." He comes back in a few minutes later and says "Mommy. MOMMY! Look at what J did to me! He poured his yogurt on me." Mommy peeks out from under the covers and sure as shit there's about a container's worth of organic strawberry yogurt dripping from the arm of my 7 year old. "Go to the trash can and scrape it off." "Ok" he says. I went back to sleep...again. (Remember, I'm not feeling well - I've been sick for what seems like forever at this point). Not 3 minutes later (or maybe 20....), kid #2 comes running in and says something about the GOD DAMNED TRANSFORMERS. It was ON. I flung the covers back, pissed off that the fucking Transformers had ruined a perfectly good sleep, and slammed out into the living room to see what my kids had destroyed. Nothing. Good.

I walked back into my bedroom and went to pee. I'm sitting ON the toilet and ...WEEE-OOOOO....WEEE-OOOOO....WEEE-OOOOO..."WHAT THE FUCK!?!!?!" I screamed to anyone who would listen...which was no one. Seriously, mid-stream the house alarm goes off and I'm thinking to myself "God...what did I do to piss you off this friggin' early in the morning?" I'll spare you the pee details, but let's say it was not a pleasant, nor easily cleaned up situation. I got up, ran out to the living room and turned off the alarm. Yelled at the cowering children to ask them "WHO OPENED THE DOOR?????" Nobody had opened any door. Oy...I felt like a badddddd mama.

Last night I changed the light bulb on the ceiling fan and replaced the globe that goes over it. Apparently I didn't put it back on correctly. It chose THAT MOMENT, while I was peeing my brains out, to fall to the floor and set off the friggin' alarm! Can you believe it? THAT MOMENT!

I hope like hell you got a good laugh out of that story.

Where was Fat Chick Biker yesterday?

Yes indeed...where was I? I was on a field trip with my youngest child, J. M and I (since M is tracked out until Dec 8....lord help me) went on the field trip with him and his preschool class. It was...um...yeah...

Here are some pics I took:

Best Sign EVAH....

Is this not the funniest thing ever? I stole it from a post on mtbr.com.

I think this in my head a lot...especially as I was riding on the American Tobacco Trail the other day, trying to avoid all the horse shit. Nasty shit. Nasty nasty shit. I mean, how come people MUST pack out their dog's shit but the horse shit is ok to leave in the middle of the fucking trail? It really drives me nuts. I really am interested in hearing why horse shit isn't required to be cleaned up.

Better Late Than Never

The best voting gift of all NOT WORK FRIENDLY

Sigh...no riding until Sunday

This fucking bites. No riding until this coming Sunday. Why? Firstly because my older kid is tracked out, so I have no where to put him so I can go ride. Secondly the day I could ride is the day hubs and I have a session and my neighbor across the street is watching the older one while the younger one is in preschool. Thirdly hubs will be out of town a bit this week, so again, no one to watch los kidlets. And finally, I'm SICK AS SHIT....again.

So the only day I'll be able to ride this week is Sunday. So my plan, once I feel better, is to go ride at the club...either do a spin class, which I've never done before, or my normal Expresso bike ride as a single speed on a hilly trail...10 miles.

I have high hopes that next week I'll be able to ride at least 2x during the week, like I usually do. It will just have to be at Lake Crabtree or *gasp* UMSTEAD since they are closest to where hubs works. Can you believe he works so close to them and he doesn't ride at lunch?

Anyway....we'll see.

TORC Trail Building Clinic

So as promised (and yes, it really is 3:38am...I can't sleep yet again and I'm sick :(), here is my take on the TORC Trail Building Clinic I involved myself in.

First off, it was FUN. I'm a big nerd, in case you hadn't realized that. I guess it's just the way my brain works, but I LOVE to learn. And when I get a chance to learn about something I've no knowledge about, more the better for me. So when I got there, and Matt was presenting, I was really excited to hear what he had to say. And what was even nicer was that they didn't seem to mind the questions I had. See, I truly had no idea how getting trails built works - so I was starting from scratch. My mind went through things like how do we get the land, who controls the way the trails are built, what about the environmental impact, etc, etc. And every question I asked, either Brian, Stewart or Matt answered...and they weren't just short little "ha ha - what a silly question Jodey" answers. They were fully fleshed out, nicely formed answers. And those are the kinds of things I appreciate and that make me want to participate further in things like this.

Anyway, we listened to the presentation, which was an IMBA presentation that was shortened, I believe, and like I said, it was really informative. I surprised myself at how much information I actually retained. I usually need to take notes to retain info, but I think because I was also engaging my brain in taking pictures, I was able to get more. Don't ask...my brain works in weird ways. There was a lot of good discussion about trail building, good questions asked and great answers given.

Once the show was over, we went outside to do some actual hands on trail building. How cool was that? We got to use the clinos to determine the proper places to put our trail, so that we stayed, for the most part, within IMBA guidelines for trail building. Let me interject here that the land on which we were having this session was beautiful, the house was amazing and all the people there were so nice and a bunch of fun. The land/house is in rural Orange County, NC...somewhere past/near Chapel Hill/Carrboro, I think.

Back to the story...so we go out and "design" our trail on the land that Scott has designated for his trail. Yes...this is a REAL trail we are building. There were 2 groups of us and we met somewhere in the middle, I suppose. I didn't see what the other group designed, to be honest. But me, Maggie, Matt, Stewart and Dave all went out and designed our part of the trail, talked about the best places to put the corridor so that we were getting what we wanted as far as turns, incline and layout and used the clino to measure to make sure we were within standards and flagged the route. Then the real fun began.

Stewart gave us our weapo....er...um...tools so we could get out and start building the trail. He gave a great short lecture on how to carry the tools so as not to kill each other on the way in...let us know that how ever many tools we carried in were as many tools we were expected to carry out, etc. So in we walked. Not too far...we actually started at the top of where we had flagged our trail.

The first thing we did was clean the trail - Stewart went in with the leaf blower along the flagged trail so we could see where to clean, then lots and lots of loose rocks and yard yuck were removed. Trees and limbs that were in the way had to come down...and oh boy did they ever. That saw was incredible! Once that was done for a while, it was time to start taking the organic material off the trail face and making a clearer corridor. It actually went pretty quickly - I was surprised. And again, I was surprised at how much information I had retained and how much more I learned while out there actually doing it.

Maggie and I had to leave early, which was unfortunate as we were both having a blast doing this. During our conversation afterward, we both were saying how much we can't wait to do it again.

Oh - and Scott makes the most AMAZING habernero sauce/spread/whatever it's called. Holy shit - it was spicy...but damn...it was addictive almost. If you like REALLY spicy stuff, get him to give you some. It rocked. I had it spread on a burger.

So here are some pictures...lots of them, actually. I'll try to put them in order so you can figure out what's going on without me putting a blurb in right now...