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...

Didn't feel like riding today....

but I did anyway. For about 30 minutes...3 miles...ATT. I've decided that I really dislike riding ATT on that bike. Maybe on my Mom's cruiser/comfort bike with the slicker tires...

Of course, the reason I rode Gustav there was to gain strength and endurance. I should probably ride out there at least once a week. Or Umstead. NEVER AGAIN!!! Hahahaa.

Later peoples...I'm feeling a little blue and my wonderful meds are kicking in. Nighty night.

Artsy pics from TORC Trail Building Clinic

I had the BEST time yesterday at the trail building clinic. Firstly, the land was beautiful. The house was insanely gorgeous. And the people were so much fun!

I could have stayed out there for days and shot...but here are a few of my more typical artsy photos that I so enjoy shooting:

Gun Tree


Tree Stump


Woody Goodness (a particularly appropriate title as I've just had the "do that in your room" discussion with my 4 yr old about touching his parts...oy vey)


Tree Bark


Curved Tree Bark


Another blog with more details about the clinic will come later today when I have more time.

Hives and Bike Updates

Well...the hives never did go completely away. I can't remember the correct term for appearing and disappearing hives, but J has had that going on all day. We gave him Benedryl and he seems to be better, if not a little revved up. Oh joy. *eye roll*

As for the bike - it was totally fucked up. :)Ok, I'm exaggerating. But there was definitely something wrong with it. The gears would not shift all the way down on the right side and the guy working on it had a bit of trouble figuring it out, so another guy came and worked on it. Said he simply started from scratch - reset all my cables, limits…blah blah blah. Look to see if the hanger was bent and it wasn’t…did something by turning the barrel on the shifter.

I'm still not exactly sure what the problem was, but I don't care as long as it's fixed and doesn't happen again.

I'm gonna go ride Harris now. Why the hell not, right? :D

Should I ride tomorrow?

After that honkin' long ass ride today at Umstead that kicked my ass, I'm really wondering if I should ride tomorrow. I kind of want to, but then I kind of don't. I guess I need to look at my bike first and see if I can figure out what's wrong with it and/or take it back to Performance to have them check it. My bike did NOT like me today.

If I ride, it will be Harris, more than likely. I don't want to do too much - I'm still tired. I'd probably do the beginner and 1st loop of the intermediate if I do anything. I don't think I'll be riding at all on Saturday since I have a TORC trail building clinic to attend. I'm kind of excited about it...get to learn new stuff, take pictures, etc. Then Sunday I might have a beginner ride/volunteer thingy with the folks from Burt's Bees...or a ride on ATT with the "wives" into downtown Durham. Either sounds fun to me. :)

Maybe I'll hit Crabtree on Monday...Maggie - you in?

The other thing I want to do - and I need to find out which night is good for hubs for me not to be home - is to do a night ride on ATT. I have been kind of reticent to do night rides anywhere because it just scares the shit out of me to think that I won't be able to really see what I need to roll over or around, etc. But there really isn't anything TO roll over or around on ATT - it's a rails to trails project, so it's pretty flat and the stuff is filtered/packed - well, aside from the horse shit. Gross.

Anywho...I'm going to sleep...again.

Hives...

My 4 year old...bless his little crumb snatching ass...decided to see what Mommy had up on the counter, cuz Lord knows it looks INTERESTING. So he sticks his grimy little finger in the juice of what it is that I had cut in half. Then he puts the grimy little finger in his mouth. "I like that Mommy." "That's nice, Stink."

Fast forward half an hour later...hubs has kids upstairs getting ready for bed.

"Mommy...(this is the 7yr old)...I think you better come up here. J has a rash on his back." So Mommy walks upstairs, takes a look at the little Stink and says one word. "HIVES."

We know all about food allergies in this house - my older son is dx'd with an egg white allergy, he gets crazy with food dyes; the little one had soy and milk allergies as a baby...and now I would bet my ass he has a new food allergy. Wanna know what it is?

Rode Umstead...

So me, Maggie and Carter rode at Umstead today. It was a PERFECT day for biking and damn it...I wished like hell I'd brought my camera. I left the point and shoot in the car, but that's not the one I wanted to shoot with. I wanted my baby...my Canon Rebel XT. But I don't typically carry her on rides anymore. I'm too afraid I'll fall and squash her. But there were so many opportunities for beautiful shots. The falling leaves made for a gorgeous yellow brick road like ride for at least a few areas on the trails...until the Ranger on the tractor toting the leaf blower came by. :O

Umstead is a really really hilly trail system...and y'all know I'm not good at the uphills...according to Carter, we rode 8-10 miles...and I'm sure I walked at least a quarter. Those uphills are bitches and can kiss my ever loving fat chick biker ass! My god...I thought I was going to DIE.

But the downhills...oh the lovely downhills...FUN STUFF man!!

The only really bad part is that I had an appt at 1pm that I was supposed to be at with hubs and I was late. Which made me have a huge anxiety attack...and cry. Again.

Oh...and my bike decided to switch gears on its own today...so off to the shop it will have to go.

Over all, it was a fun ride for me, except for the hills. Not sure about Maggie and Carter...probably not so fun since they had to wait on me...A LOT. Maybe next time we'll ride at ATT or Harris. Somewhere I KNOW I can ride.

Cross all your 2000 parts

I wanna go ride Crabtree tomorrow...but right now it, and Harris, are both closed b/c of the shitty damn weather we had the past couple days. It cleared up nicely today and so I'm hoping that dried out the majority of Crabtree...haha. We're due to meet at 10:30am, so here's to hoping. :)

If we cant ride Crab, we'll ride at Umstead...and everyone can watch me keel over from trying to ride uphills. Best get my granny gear all lubed up and ready for action, cuz she'll be gettin' some good use at Umstead tomorrow! *snicker*

Either ride will benefit me...mentally and physically. I just need to ride.

But now I just need to go to bed. :)

Later peeps.

Found some more funnies for ya

I was looking for pics of my candy wrappers to show someone and came across all these funnies that I haven't shared in a while...

Enjoy!





















and a pic I took over 20 years ago at the National Zoo in Washington, DC: