I'm Back!

Sorry again for the long hiatus... been a busy, but awesome holiday season. A lot has gone on in the month since I've last blogged, but fear not, I'm not going to go into every detail of it. Just a Clif Notes version of what's been going on in the last month... I'll be back to regularly scheduled blog posts shortly.

I ended the semester in a great way, watching my little MBB245 students fret over their finals and then taking a hike up Brown's Peak for one last little adventure before heading off to Indiana.

I spent an amazing two weeks back home, where the temperatures fluctuated between -10 (with windchill) to 65. I actually really do miss the cold weather, so it felt great to get all bundled up and have to put shoes on.

I spent the first part of the holiday with my dad and sister out at my dad's new farm where we walked around enjoying the peaceful forests, eating beechnuts, and finding the perfect 16' tall Christmas tree (they always look so much smaller out in the woods!). It was the first year we've gotten a pine tree (instead of a cedar) since we moved to southern Indiana, and we had a great time decorating it.

The next few days were spent eating homecooked food (and plenty of deer jerky), visiting with family and friends, and curled up with a hot cup of tea and a good book.

It was great to actually spend the holiday on dry land, as I've spent 2 of the last four out on the ocean. You don't realize how much it means to you until you're thousands of miles away, and I happily took my post again as the Trash Monster at my Gran's on Christmas Eve. Everyone loved the coffee table book that I had published, and I got exactly what I had asked for (socks and underwear, oh, the joys of being a graduate student!) as well as some other pretty cool presents. My gran treated the family to an incredible massive dinner on Christmas, and my sister was surprised with a ring from her boyfriend/fiance Justin!!!! Super exciting for all of us!

My dad and I spent Boxing Day turning a 4' x 8' sheet of marine plywood into a beautiful new rudder for the American Fire, some footstretchers, and the last of the repair pieces for the Fire. It was a very productive day, and felt great not only to work with my dad again, but also to get so much accomplished. The Fire's going to be back to new in no time!

On the 27th, I headed up to the farm to celebrate my mom's birthday. After romping around the woods for a few hours, we headed to town for her birthday lunch, some shopping at Unique Thrift Store in Portland, and a movie, and then talked and laughed and caught up well into the morning hours. I woke to a gorgeous sunny morning, and took another long walk all around the farm as I've done a thousand times since I was a kid. I came back and visited with Mom, Emi, and Justin long into the afternoon before we headed back to Dad's.

I spent one more day relaxing and hanging with my family before loading up my bags and catching my flight back to Arizona. All in all, it was an excellent time at home, and I was sad to go.

But, I hit the ground running after returning, donning shorts and t-shirts once again in the brilliantly warm weather. I spent a few days at work, checking to make sure that my experiments were still doing well before spending New Year's Eve at Maloney's, the Insight Bowl (poor Big 10 this season), and then rang in the new year with some of my grad student friends and ended the night telling stories around a backyard firepit.

Jack and I started the new year with a 20 mile mountain bike ride at McDowell Mountain Park and I had a blast showing him the fast section on the Tonto Tank Trail before heading over to Jeff's aunt's house for some new year's beer and guacamole, and then to a bar in Scottsdale to watch the Rose Bowl (same sentiments as before).

The second day of the year was spent in a similar manner, and Jack, Fuji, and I took on Desert Classic of South Mountain. I trained at race pace and then raced back to where Jack and Fuj were rolling along until we all got to Telegraph Pass, where we hoisted our bikes up to the top. We rode the road down all the way to Suda's (stopping several times along the way to steal grapefruits and clementines growing near the road), and ended the night at Gallagher's where we hungrily wolfed down burgers and beers.

I spent the third day of the year snowboarding at Sunrise with Suda. It was only her third time on a board (her beautiful, brand-new board), but she did really well. Conditions were just about perfect: 40 degrees, sunny, and a good 8" of powder at the top of the mountain. It was fun, tiring day, and we chilled to some good music on the way home.

Now it's back to work, but I can't complain. All of my plants and cell cultures did beautifully over the break, and I've got several weeks before I start teaching again.

Dawn to Dusk

Over the weekend I had my first long(er) endurance mountain bike race, the 10 Hour Dawn to Dusk ride... solo. Up until then, my greatest one-day mileage on a mountain bike was about 60 miles, and somehow by February I have to train for my first 24 Hour solo. It's a daunting, exciting task, but considering what I was doing this time last year, it sort of suits me.

I woke well before the sun on Saturday, packed The Fish and some warm clothes, and headed out to my current mountain biking mecca, McDowell Mountain Park. The sun hadn't even began graying the horizon when I walked into the check-in tent and picked up my race number - Number 1. Usually the lower numbers are reserved for the best riders, but in this race, they gave the lowest numbers to the women solo riders, alphabetically. I have to say that it felt both really cool and very intimidating having the number. I made my camp in one of the solo tents and talked to my competition before warming up at 7. By then, the eastern horizon was glowing bright orange and my heart was pumping hard in the cold morning. I was definitely nervous to see how I would fare on the 15.6 mile loop.

We started en masse at 7:15 a.m. just as the sun was peaking over the Supes. We spread out a little bit on the paved dogleg that led to Pemberton Trail before hitting the sandy singletrack. As per usual, we got bunched up again pretty quickly as there is only one good (ie, not a sand pit) line to take for the first few miles of the trail. It was a bit frustrating, especially as the first five miles or so are on an incline and if you lost your momentum (as you do when you are spinning in sand behind a line of 30 other riders), you were toast. Eventually I just bit the bullet and toughed it out in the sand pits, grinding ahead of the line of riders until I came to a spot where we were more spread out. My adrenaline had gotten me past the first five miles of incline, and I reached the first landmark turn to the west before I knew it. The next stretch of five miles is both a blessing and a curse. It has gently rolling hills that are a great respite from the inccesant incline, but also some rocky sections and large uphill waterbars. They didn't bother me at all on the first lap, though, and soon I was on what would become my favorite stretch of moutain biking trail in Maricopa County. It's a tough call, as I absolutely love the 4 mile Sport Loop as well, but this is just pure fun. It's about 3 miles of SUPER fast, winding, gently downhill, smooth singletrack - with waterbars thrown in every 50 meters or so. Wicked, wicked fun. My smile stretched from ear to ear as cranked it in my highest gear and jumped even the smallest of the waterbars. I couldn't help myself. That section flew by, and let back towards the campgrounds through Pemberton Wash, where it looped around the team camping area at Pemberton Trailhead, and finished the last few miles in the sand back to the staging area.

I felt pumped after finishing the first loop in 1:24, and since it was cold I had hardly drank anything, so I had my card punched at the exchange tent, sucked down some Hammer Gel, and headed back out for number #2. Without the distraction of hundreds of other bikers, the first section seemed to take a lot longer, but again, most of the lap felt incredible (the rocky sections were just ok). I finished the second lap in 1:30 (taking into account the brief stops at the exchange tent), loaded up on some more quick carbs, and headed out again. More than 30 miles into the race, I started feeling the incline a little more and was very glad when the trail turned to the west, but still felt pretty good. The rocky sections and tougher waterbars started to show themselves, but the fast descent still made me feel on top of the world, and I still ended the lap with a dust-covered grin. After 45 miles, I knew I had to refuel, so I stopped for a bit longer (10 minutes or so) to cram some ramen and tortillas in my face, refill my Camelback bladder with Heed, and empty my other bladder. The rest may or may not have helped. My butt had actually become numb while riding, but when I got back on the saddle after the rest, it started complaining, and five miles of sitting down on the incline didn't help. Fortunately I have had lots of training with dealing with butt pain, and I just sucked it up until it became numb again. Lap 4 was as much mentally draining as it was physically... I had challenged myself to complete 5 laps, but when I did the calculations after the second lap, I realized that 6 was possible time-wise - if I could hold out for that long. When you realized you are only half-way and have another 45 miles to go... your mind starts to want to quit. But, I enjoy the mental toughness game, and slogged on until I reached the rolling hills. At that point, the rocky sections were really starting to test my mental game, but I dug deep and rolled over every one with flying colors. I was really starting to get tired after the fun section, but the crowds of people at the campground yelling, "Go #1!" boosted my spirits enough to get me through the lap. When I got to the exchange tent, they had set up a good spread of food, so I sucked down a fruit smoothie, some popcorn, and the ever present Hammer Gel before taking a quick break to slather on some much needed chamois butter (no details there!) and hop on for Lap #5.

#5 was definitely the worst. I was at my lowest mentally with two more laps to go, and I developed a cramp in my right hamstring during the incline. I worked it out a bit on the rolling hills, but it certainly didn't like the rocky sections. By this time, the fast section became the section where I barely bunny hopped the waterbars and pedaled only enough to get me to the next stretch of trail. It seemed to take forever to get back to the exchange tent, but I finally did 1:48 later.

Although I was exhausted after biking 15 miles more than I ever had before, #6 was much easier than the previous one. The uphill section still felt endless, but once I reached the end of that, I was stoked. Even the rocky part didn't slow me down, as I knew that as soon as I was finished with that, I was home free. With renewed energy, I flew once more down to the camping area. The enthusiasm at the campground was infectious, and with less than two miles to go, I kicked it back up into my highest gear and pounded out the last miles. I crossed the finish line right at 5... having rode my mountain bike for 93.6 miles in 9 hours and 51 minutes. As soon as I passed through the exchange tent, all my adrenaline faded and I realized how tired I really was. I rolled back to the solo tent as the rest of the solo crowd slowly filed in. I scarfed every bit of food that I had brought, downed about a liter of Heed, and sat down and let it sink in... I had just successfully finished my first long solo gig, and I couldn't have been happier.

After I recovered and packed up a bit, I made my way over to the team camping area and hung out with Mike, Todd, and a few of our Tuesday night riding buddies before awards. I ended up taking 5th of 8 solo geared women, and felt pretty good about it considering the experience level of those ahead of me.

After awards, I tried to stay awake/social for a few hours at the Wild West Rugby Fest social, but I was down for the count by 10 p.m. Surprisingly, though, after a full night of sleep, I didn't even feel sore or tired, so I headed up with Jack and Fuji to watch the rugby matches at CAP Basin. The rest of the day was spent recarbing with Miller Lite, hanging out with the ruggers, trying to convince them that it wouldn't be a good idea for me to play considering the facts that I haven't played in ages and had just finished the longest mountain bike race of my life, and laughing at the drunken fun that is Sunday rugby.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays, and this one was no exception. I got a bit shorted on the holiday last year, as I was busy preparing for rowing across the Atlantic, so I was very excited when I boarded the plane in Sky Harbor for a full long weekend with the family on my grandma's farm.

From the moment that I touched down in the brand new terminal in Indianapolis (which is gorgeous by the way), I became a kid again. Since we were really little, Thanksgiving has always been a holiday of food, family, and lots of adventure (real and imaginary) for me, my sister, and all of my cousins. We spent Thanksgiving Day at my Aunt Carol's house. After an incredible meal of turkey, homemade noodles, and all the fixings that could fit in the kitchen, all of us "kids" headed out to the woods where we spent the rest of the day jumping the creek, climbing deer stands, chucking hedgeapples out of trees (actually a really addictive game that we made up... you kind of have to be a rural, Midwestern kid to understand), and just generally exploring.

On Friday, it was back to Grandma's to begin the yearly tradition of making forts. We've done this since we were old enough to walk out to the pastures by ourselves, and I think we'll probably keep doing it until we have kids of our own. As we've gotten older, we've stopped battling aliens and other enemies, but there is just something timeless about designing and building things that I don't think will ever lose its fun. Since the farm was recently timbered, there were several tree tops out in the woods behind the house where we normally build our bonfire, so it was a perfect place to set up this year. We usually all get together and build one huge awesome fort, but since there was so much to work with this year, we all decided to build our own and be creative. Scott and Mitch went underground and built theirs into a pit left from the roots of a fallen tree, Emi got really artsy and wove a circular fort, Devin built a multiroomed mansion, and I opted to build an elevated fort in the cut top of an old hickory tree - which was a lot more difficult that I had first imagined, as it's kind of our unspoken rule that you can only use naturally occurring building materials. By the end of the day, I barely had my floor finished, but it was still a good time.

After supper, we all loaded up to go watch (a.k.a., embarrass) Devin in his final Brazil Christmas Parade as a Northview Marching Knight. We had a great time watching the band and all the cool floats, and fighting little kids for the candy that was thrown from them. We then spent the rest of the night tending to the bonfire out by our forts and enjoying each other's company in the frosty fall air.

Saturday was spent in much the same manner as Friday, with all of us trying to finish our forts. I think we may have to go back to the one fort idea, as none of us were very close to finishing by the end of the day, but we had some pretty cool frameworks built that just might withstand a year of the elements... only time will tell. That evening we took a trip to the Coxville Tavern for dinner, as Emi and I had wanted to go there for a long time. It turned out to be a pretty cool little place full of history there in covered bridge country. After visiting with some of our other family near Rock Run, we headed back to Grandma's and Emi and I curled up in the bunk room one more time.

Sunday morning dawned to about two inches of freshly fallen snow, which was absolutely gorgeous. I really miss the changing seasons, so it was truly refreshing. Emi, Devin, and I spent the morning checking out our forts (not weatherproof) and talking a walk in the lower pasture before heading out. Although the snow was beautiful, it didn't help matters much for getting back to Phoenix, and after several hours of delays, gate changes, and an hour sitting on the runway at O'Hare (I have yet to get an on-time departure from there September-April), I was headed back to the Valley of the Sun.

Catching Up

Yes, I realize it's been awhile since I've blogged... been pretty busy around here, but in a great, fun way. Things are going really well in my life... lots of awesome adventures to be had and awesome results in the lab.

Ben, Josh, and I took a little camping trip the weekend of Nov. 15th up to Bell Trail in the Wet Beaver Wilderness. We backpacked in four gorgeous autumn miles to The Crack swimming hole, where there were several groups of likeminded people with tents and hammocks strung across the rocks and trees. We managed to find an awesome spot, though, and set up on a small beach next to the creek below the sandstone cliffs and caves. After setting up camp, we hung out at the swimming hole. The weather was warm and the sun was still above the canyon walls, so I decided to take one last flying leap off of the rock for the season. The cold water took the air right out of my lungs, but it was worth it. We played around the area for awhile before climbing up and exploring the canyon walls, enjoying the incredible views from the top and scrounging for some firewood. After our exploring, we spent an hour or so trying to make fire out of flint/magnesium and Ben's knife. We got some good sparks in our cedar bark nest, but not enough to explode into flame, and eventually got out the lighter. We cooked up an amazing meal of chicken, pork, and rice and then spent the rest of the night doing our best to polish off a bottle of RC Cola and a handle of Jim Beam. The light of our fire reflecting off of the canyon walls eventually died down and gave way to the light of the moon, and we finally crawled into the tent in the early morning.

We woke in the morning to the sun peaking into the canyon and the sounds of lots of birds and the gurgling creek. Very peaceful. After enjoying the ambiance for awhile, we packed up camp and hiked out, enjoying the perfect weather.

The next weekend was a fun one as well. It was a busy one for Jack, Todd, and the rest of Dragonfire Racing as they premiered Godfrey Film's new movie, Thrillbillies, and also got ready for the Baja 1000 (Jack raced Ironman on his motorcycle, Todd was paired up with another guy in a car).

Saturday was ultimate frisbee fall league finals. Since we didn't quite have the stellar season (2-8), half of our team decided not to show up for the finals, and I was the only girl on my team for our playoff games. We got crushed in our first game, but managed to pull out a win in the second one to a team that we had beaten earlier in the season. It was a tiring way to go out, but it was fun in the end. The good thing about going out earlier in the day was that we got to chow down on the post-season feast and watch the finals while the last four teams were still battling it out.

On Sunday, Ben, Josh, Haydon, Tess, and I headed out to the Sierra Estrellas to climb Quartz Peak. I had tried to do this in the spring, but felt that with a group, better directions, and a fearless dog, we could tackle anything. The drive out there wasn't as creepy as I remembered it, and I actually had a blast taking the Jeep down the sandy dirt roads. The climb up took about 3 hours with plenty of breaks to rest, enjoy the view, and pull cholla out of Tess's paws. The view from the white quartz summit was amazing, and you could see the entire Valley from a totally new perspective. And, I finally got to meet the famous Mad Hiker, Charles, who was also enjoying the summit with a few friends when we got there.

After chilling on the top for a bit, we headed back down and I had a great time taking the Jeep back through once creepy and now familiar territory sand ruts and back to Tempe. All in all, a great weekend.

The Boy in Striped Pajamas

I went to see The Boy in Striped Pajamas Sunday evening. I had been looking up other movies times, and an advertisement for the film caught my eye. Jo had talked about a book of the same title while we were out on the ocean, and though she didn't do a great job in the storytelling, the basis of the book did catch my attention and I made sure that I added the book to my reading list. For better or worse, the current list of books that I would like to read is far greater than the time I have allotted myself for reading them - as the pile sitting on my desk clearly indicates - and I haven't even gotten around to checking out The Boy in Striped Pajamas. So, I decided to find out where the movie was playing. My first guess was correct, seeing that it was a BBC film and I hadn't heard about it yet, so I took a shower to wash off the weekend's grime and made my way up to Scottsdale.

The movie was absolutely amazing. This may be biased, as I haven't read the book, but the movie did exactly what the book was trying to do: make people think. There weren't a whole lot of people in the theater, but we all sat silently as the ending credits rolled. No one got up for a few minutes; the film had been so powerful. No special effects, no crazy cinematography, no stunts, no famous actors, and the film wasn't even based in the native language where the film took place (Nazi Germany, and the actors were British, so it took a bit to get a feeling that they were indeed in Berlin). But it made you think, and that's exactly what I've done the rest of the evening.

I'm not about to spoil the movie, as I'm pretty sure that it will be coming out to additional theaters, and I am going to recommend that everyone go see it, but here is what it made me think about.

Why are we so bad to other people? I am a very fortunate kid. I grew up in a rural Midwestern town, was nurtured by an incredible, loving family, went to a great school, and had lots of freedom to run, explore, and question the world that was around me. That upbringing allowed me to travel, grow, and learn about other places and cultures, and I grew up to be to be an outgoing, adventurous, and fairly open-minded person. But not everyone is so lucky. A lot of people around the world are brought up in homes that limit their thinking, that brainwash them into thinking that one specific religion, one race, or one way of life is above all others and is the ultimate right. They are taught that from such an early age and in such an absolute manner that it is part of them, and they don't know any other way, and more so, do not want to know anything different, anything outside of their own. Their way of life is comfortable to them, and anything unknown to them is uncomfortable and foreign and possibly dangerous. They don't stop to identify with the other, because it is unknown, and learning something new takes courage and effort (and only the greatest of adventurers would be able to do that, to paraphrase the movie). All of their lives they have been taught that their way is the only way, and all others are wrong. They have taken it as truth without looking deeper, without actually looking for the truth.

The problem is not a new one, from warring tribes of the earliest peoples to the Crusades to the Civil War to the Holocaust to the current genocides that are occurring throughout the world, to right here in our neighborhoods, right now. People generally making life a living hell for those who just want to live and love.

For example, the current protests that went on this weekend against the ban on gay marriage. Where I stand on the issue doesn't matter in the context of this essay. What matters is that the two sides don't understand each other. There is a Mormon Church that sits right on the edge of campus that gives $1 lunches to students once a week. As a grad student that is currently paying off ocean rowing debts, I know that I can definitely use the cheap lunch, as can a bunch of my friends. But one of my friends won't attend the lunches because the Mormon Church gave millions of dollars to the Yes to 102 (basically banning gay marriage in AZ) fund. She doesn't know any Mormons and doesn't want to get to know any of them because of what they stand for. I've got several Mormon friends, and they're pretty good people, generally just wanting to live a wholesome life and spread good will to others. On the other side of the story, the Mormons don't know my friend. She's a great person with an incredible personality who is currently working (way) hard(er than me) towards getting her PhD and making the world a better place. But because of their differences, the two sides will never even try to see eye to eye. They will never try to become friends. They will blindly shove blankets of hate both ways, only fueling the hatred more, never learning, never growing, never trying to understand the other side, never actually solving anything. And this is just one example. How many times over the past few months did you hear that someone hated Republicans or Democrats? How many of them actually took the time to understand the other side? How many instances of racism, sexism, or religious hatred, none of which are actually based on any truth? And that's just in the United States, and we're supposed to be a developed society.

It's awful, and we do it to each other every day. How many times have we seen hatred around the world, caused by a brainwashed fear of a difference, an unknown, blind to truth. In the great scheme of things, we're all the same human race. When everything is boiled down: race, creed, color, whatever, we all want the same things: to live, to grow, to love and to be happy in our own right. And to put down a person you don't know, to judge without the truth, to judge a population of people without understanding them, is just flat out wrong. But yet, it continues on, and no part of the world is immune to the disease. Some cases more severe than others, resulting in the deaths of millions, while others kill hope and happiness with hateful words and actions. Both have real and lasting consequences. Humans have been around this planet for tens of thousands of years. Isn't time we evolved from the judgemental creatures that we are, and took more time to actually try to understand things from a different angle, to take time to uncover the truth about the other side? To maybe coming to peace with our differences, forgoing our resilient pride for once, and realizing that the resulting bond is not a compromise, but a realizing of the truth, to see that we're more alike than we are different?

Go see the movie.... and think about it.

24 Hours of Fury

In my quest for bigger and crazier adventures, Jack, Hannah, Todd (Jack's boss), and I raced in the 24 Hours of Fury over the weekend at McDowell Mtn. Park. We raced as a 4 person co-ed team in the 24 hour mountain bike race, which is the first step in my ultimate solo 24 hour stint in the 24 Hours in Old Pueblo in February.

Jack, Hannah, and I joined Todd on Saturday morning, and had no problem finding our camp amid the dozens of tents and small RVs. Todd had brought Dragonfire's MASSIVE trailer out for the occasion, and we dwarfed even the big-name sponsored teams' camps with the tricked out big rig. The front cab had a fridge, microwave, couches, flat screen TV, bathroom, and the whole bit. The back had enough room to ride around in, as well as a loft with more couches and cots. We hauled a couch outside, set up the grill, and just smiled at everyone's envious looks.

The race started at noon, and similar to last year's 24 HOP, I took our team's first lap. It was a mass start (no lemans), and although the first 20 minutes or so were crowded on the first bit of normally fun, fast singletrack, by the time I got past the Pemberton Wash, the field of 100 riders or so had thinned considerably. The back stretch after the major hill (about halfway through the 10 mile lap) on the course seemed rockier than normal, but I got through it without too many problems and finished my first lap in 1:06. Hannah took off for the second lap as I got some cold fluids into my hot, dusty lungs and hung out with the rest of my teammates and our fans for the next few hours. Todd and Jack both rode two laps during their turns, so my next lap didn't come around until 6 p.m. For my first night lap, I felt fast, but came in much slower than my first in 1:12. I was feeling a bit tired after the second lap, so got some nourishment in me and watched Cars with Rudy on the screen that the race organizer had set up. After the movie, I crashed onto the couches in the trailer for a few hours in preparation for my next night lap. Jack had had a rough second lap, so I woke up and got ready to take Todd's place after he finished one lap, but when he came through, he waved me off, saying he'd be fine for one more. I chilled in the trailer with Angel and Rudy while my teammates slept and then headed up to the start again at midnight. Todd didn't come in for another half an hour, having had a very tough lap that involved two crashes and a pretty hard bonk. I headed out into the cold darkness, my HID headlights illuminating the kangaroo rats hopping across the trail and leading me on to the next hill. The field had spread out considerably in the course of 12 hours, and it felt like I was the only one on the course, alone with the vast desert and a full sky of winter constellations spread out to all horizons. Those stars are old friends that have watched me during many of my adventures since I was a kid staring up at them from our frost covered roof, and their faithful eyes smiled down at me as I made my way through the course for the third time. Although I was pumping hard and my lungs burned with the cold air, I felt completely at peace, completely in my element. It was late and I was tired, but the joy of the challenge welled up in my heart, and I could not have been happier. Unfortunately, Fish wasn't quite feeling it, and the chain problems that I had experienced earlier in the race became more pronounced as the cold derailleur cables refused to shift. It made the bigger hills more frustrating, but even that could not quell my happiness, and I rode into the staging area feeling like I could ride forever. The lap ended up being my slowest (1:17), but I have to say that it was my favorite one.

I slept again while Hannah, Jack, and Todd each took a lap, and then strapped on my helmet just as the first bands of gray etched the eastern horizon. Sunrises out on the ocean were some of my favorite times, and sunrises in Arizona are just as spectacular. The arrival of the sun means warmth, light, and a renewed sense of energy. By the time I reached Pemberton Wash, I was able to make out the trail ahead of me without the aid of my HIDs, and my speed increased dramatically. I rolled back to the start in broad daylight and handed off our timing chip to Hannah and went straight for the pancake breakfast that the race officials were putting on. Two blueberry pancakes and a short nap later, I was feeling on top of the world. Our day laps were much faster than our night laps, but the team behind us was slowly creeping up on us, a mere 8 minutes behind as the boys took their last laps. We were in third place, so wanted to maintain the lead as much as possible, so when I took off at 10:30 a.m. for the last lap of the day, I was definitely on a mission. I had an incredible lap, powering up all the hills, bombing through all of the rocks, and kicking it up into my highest chain ring for the majority of the ride. I finished in 1:07, which left us solidly in 3rd place for our category.

I downed a liter of HEED, munched on some cookies, and found my way back to camp, where I scarfed down some more calories (eggs and sausage) and then celebrated with the rest of the team with some champagne. It had been an excellent race, and we were all happy with the finish. Although none of us won anything in the raffle, we did take home a great plaque for our efforts. Jack and I were exhausted and spent the rest of the afternoon passed out on the couches. I rode 50 miles in a little more than 5.5 hours, so it's just the first step in my long endurance races. Stay tuned for the next step, the Dawn to Dusk in December!

Halloween

All of the election discussions that had been going on in the weeks leading up to Halloween had put more than the coverage of the war and the state of the European economy on the back burner. By Thursday night, I still hadn't decided what I was going to be for Halloween, so I was saved when Jack brought home an energy drink cooler. We spent Thursday evening knocking out the top and bottom and scraping out the insulating foam before I slipped it over my head and was transformed into a... Monster!!

Halloween night was spent at Cripe's house for a party with the majority of VOTS and a few fellow grad students. We've got a pretty creative bunch, with several Michael Phelps, a group of droogs from Clockwork Orange, the cast of Kill Bill, and many others, but Josiah definitely took the cake with his speed camera costume. After a good evening hanging out at the house, we took a stroll down Mill Ave. to admire everyone else's costumes. All in all, a very fun night.

Even though it had been a late night, Jack, Hannah, and I still got up (not so early) to go biking at the McDowells. We parked at our normal spot along the road, snuck under the fence, and were almost to the trail when we looked out over the course to see that it was filled with bikers. We had figured that there might be a bit of traffic in preparation for the 24 Hours of Fury (which we were also training for), but we weren't prepared for the massive multicolored string of riders along the course. As soon as a few bikers got close to us, we noticed the race plates on the bikes and realized that we had forgotten about the Dust Devil race that was going on... on all three of the competitive loop trails. So, we got in the mix of racers and made our way to the parking lot and headed up instead to Pemberton. I was feeling great, and rode ahead of Jack and Hannah enjoying the beauty and solitude of the empty trail. Hannah was feeling a bit under the weather from the Halloween festivities and it got pretty warm through the course of the late morning, so we took plenty of breaks and had an excellent ride along the easy trail. I had never been down the back stretch of Pemberton, and though it was a bit rocky, I absolutely loved the fast downhill, and Jack snapped pictures of our awesome verticals (ok, more like 6') as we hopped over the waterbars. After a good 15 mile ride, we took a Jeep trail back to the truck, got smoothies at Jack-in-the-Box on the way home, and called it a day.

Round #2 of Halloween commenced Saturday evening at Josh's house for the SoLS grad student party. It was another great night of awesome costumes ranging from a group of cross-dressing Red Hat Society ladies, Team Zissou, and a massive eyeball.

After two late nights, I was tired on Sunday, but exhaustion has never kept me away from my true love. I headed out in the late morning to work on the Fire and spent the rest of the day making her look good, putting in the new hatches, and taking measurements for the new equipment and final repairs. No crazy adventures, but a good weekend overall.