Kernville Day 3 of riding and HOME!

Well, I am finally home. Tam dropped me off about 7:30pm, so I will tell you about the day, then off to unpack and enjoy a well deserved glass of Cab@

Well, we started off today with a pancake breakfast at the camp ground that everyone attended. The breakfast was wonderful. Then John, the promoter announced the winners of the contests and did a ton of raffles. Most riders in our group won a little something from the raffles. Hugh didn’t win on the hill climb this year, but apparently he got almost to the cone after riding all day, then climbing with his DH bike!!!! Wow!!!! Great Job!

The morning started a bit disorganized since we decided to drop a few cars off at the post office in town so we would not have to ride all the way back to camp after the ride since there was no shuttle. Well, all worked out fine and we all got to the top for our last day of riding: ALTA SIERRA!!! This is probably my favorite trail to ride.
We had over 70 riders so the ride leaders broke up the group into 2 groups. 1 group was going to ride the loop I did last year which added about another 6 miles of mostly climbing. Tamara, Huck, Norm, Alan and Brad H (we adopted him this trip), decided to ride the harder ride. I opted out and took the easier ride.
O, did I mention it was deer hunting season????!!!!! Yup, kept hearing gun shots every so often….kept you on your toes that’s for sure!!!
Well, this trail is NOTHING BUT PURE FUN!!! About 65% sweet, smooth, curvy single track through beautiful trees, woods and all going down hill! Then we had 2 miles of a fire road climb, then 11 miles of somewhat techy fun downhill fire road. Well. About half way down a rider stopped me and told me rider down and to dismount my bike but that is all he told me. Well, when I came around the next bend on the straight away, I saw a big group of riders huddled over a girl. Apparently she hit a jeep head on. Poor thing couldn’t move. She was lucky enough one of the riders who found her was a doctor and stabilized her. So finally they started to let riders go down the fire road and told us to be cautious and watch out for the ambulance coming up. I kept going and stopped at an intersection because I was by myself and didn’t know where to go. Then I realized, rut roh……..the rider who got hit was a girl with black hair and a pink jersey. So I realized that sounded just like me so I started to radio the others to let them know I was fine and it wasn’t me. I couldn’t get anyone, so I sent Tam a text and a few other posts knowing she would check those places if she didn’t hear from me. So I rode back to the parking lot and waited. I kept trying to radio them to let them know it wasn’t me but didn’t hear anything, so I was hoping no one told them or they already knew. Turns out it was Romey’s wife who got hit which was the funny guy at the bon fire last night dancing naked with a sock.
My thoughts are with them both.

So I waiting for about an hour in the parking lot where we left the cars yapping with the other riders. Finally I saw Norm riding up and then of course got a little worried. He said that Errol, (sp?)Tamara, Huck and Brad decided to take the gnarly single track off of the ride that Hugh was telling them about. Alan’s back was killing him and Norm’s shoulder was done again, so they both took the fire road back. Alan came up next, then Errol. Errol said he took the fork to the left and didn’t see them. Apparently the others took the fork to the right……….ooppps!…Howevah…..it sounded like it was a much more fun ride for them!!

So all of us back and accounted for except Hugh who rode Canell again. So we all went to camp to sign back in, get the other cars and go to a late lunch. Hugh rode in just after we pulled in so all was good. We changed, cleaned up and went to lunch in town at a Mexican restaurant. Then we headed home and our separate ways!

I want to thank the following riders for making this road trip absolutely outstanding in their own way!
Tamara: You absolutely amaze me in every way. Thank you so much for pushing me and just telling me I could do it and there was nothing to worry about. Thanks for waiting for me too so I wouldn’t get lost, panic and be by myself, (no…moi get worried and panic?!!!!!), and thanks for organizing everything!
Huck: Thanks for waiting for me as well, thanks for CONSTANTLY pushing me into longer and harder rides and thanks for always watching out for me in every way. This all started with pushing me to NOT start Reseda at the top but to start all the rides at Cabby. Now I am some how able to ride it in just under 20 minutes which is a huge accomplishment for me.
Norm: Thanks for waiting for me. Thanks for always fixing my bike and lifting it on and off the shuttles which are really hard to reach! Thanks for shuttling us all this morning as well.
Alan: You are always so positive and give me AWESOME tips! It is always a pleasure riding with you and I hope to see Jen more too!! Thank you as well for shuttling us all this morning.
Hugh: Hmmmmmmm, what I can I say about Hugh?!!!! Your endurance just amazes me Hugh! You are always really fun to be around and an absolute crack up.
Errol: I just met you Errol and thanks for calling me Babe! I feel sooooooooooooo much younger now!!!! You are always smiling and positive so welcome to our clan!
Brad H: Welcome to our clan! Thanks for joining us Brad. It was a real hoot and I think I can speak for us all when I say we all enjoyed riding with you and your company this past weekend.
Check out Brad’s website: http://www.backontrackproductions.com/

Ok, so now I am home, the Cab is done breathing and I am SPENT! Need to go shower and unpack. Back to the grind tomorrow. I am soooooo glad I took tomorrow night off from spin!

Don’t forget our own CORBA FAT TIRE FEST Oct 25th Sign up here: http://corbamtb.com/FTF/2009/index.html
3 PROS! Brian Lopes, Ned Overland and Sid Taberlay!

Peace and be fabulous all!

Wendy!

Kernville Fat Tire Fest Day 2 of Riding!

Today we rode Kern Canyon Trail. Huck and Norm rode demo bikes, both hard tails with road bike seats. I felt sorry for them with those seats………well, not really, but maybe just a tad! Didn’t seem to affect them at all, both their speed demon selves on the trail!

This was probably the most difficult ride I have ridden endurance wise. We started climbing almost immediately and the climbs were big, steep fire roads, and I mean STEEP! I think as a whole today’s group was much faster than yesterdays. I found myself last for the 1st 25% of the ride, so I wasn’t happy about that and was really struggling. I was constantly off my bike walking a ton of the climbs, a group of us was. After the really steep fire road climbs we had a really long, steep single track that didn’t seem to end. So I think the 1st part was the toughest part of the ride.
I have to say before I forget that the ride leaders on this ride were just outstanding. The never left me and made sure I was ok, always asking me. When they got a little ahead they made sure they stopped at every intersection so I didn’t get lost and I am sooooooo grateful!!
So after the 1st major break, I caught up with the rest of the ride. I seemed to get my second wind at that point and did much better. The fast riders were soooooooo encouraging as well. The 2nd brake point was another fairly steep climb to get to where everyone was waiting, so they were all watching….in other words……make sure you MAKE THE CLIMB! I turned my IPOD off and all I heard was yelling and screaming of encouragement and them calling my name. How could I NOT make the climb with all that excitement and encouragement!!! WOW!

So then I was pointed the major climb of the ride and I just kept looking UP, and UP and UP and UP. I wasn’t happy, but sucked it up and did it. I didn’t dare turn back, and they gave us that opportunity. But I know I would have gotten too much !@#$%&*^!@ from a few people, so I kept going. Very, very brutal. This climb just never ended. I rode a lot more of this, but still walked some portions.
The last part was awesome, mostly all down hill and very smooth. When I reached the end and the other riders, everyone high fived me, was a great feeling to accomplish a ride like that. Then I went into the river and washed my face. It was 90 degrees when we got finished.
So then we rode up the highway into a lot to wait for the vans and out comes the beer! No water, no Gatorade, but tons of beer! Guess my thirst was gonna wait! So Tamara made sure to save the front seat of the van for me so I wouldn’t….well….get car sick. Thank you for that! Then we went back to the shuttle point and drove back to the camp site to check back in. I was just totally spend, so Tamara drove, you think I get squirly when I am tired and on the trail, you should see me drive when I am tired!!!

So after we checked in, I took my bike to the Specialized trailer. YIKES!!! My bike was a mess! An enormous list of things that was wrong, too much to go into, but it should be fine for tomorrow’s ride, then Huck is taking it to Michael’s to get it fixed the right way.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was too late to eat since we were meeting for dinner at 6:30pm, so I went to lay down for a bit and the others just gabbed. Then we all went to the brewing company:
Hugh
Alan
Huck
Tamara
Norm
Wendy
Erol
Brad H

We had fun at dinner, Hugh did the hill climb contest just before dinner but he won’t know how he did until tomorrow. One guy did it NUDE!!!! O….there’s more!

Soooooooooo, then we went to the bon fire and saw Randy and a bunch of other people. They had a contest/raffle to win a beach cruiser bike. The contest was who could be the MOST funny. The winner, one of our ride leaders today…Romey! He came out to a Red Hot Chili pepper song with nothing on but a SOCK! And danced and lip synced the entire song with just a SOCK on! Can you guess who won the bike?! Yup, hands down Romey! Freekin funniest thing I ever saw!!!!

So now, I am catching up on the blog. We pack up tomorrow morning, check out and head to camp for the pancake breakfast and raffles. Then our final ride is Alta Sierra!

So, until tomorrow night kids, I am whipped! Need some sleep. Hope you enjoyed all the dirt and are creating some of your own fun back home!!!

Peace and be fabulous loves!

Wendy!

KERNVILLE FAT TIRE FEST 2009 DAY 1 OF RIDING!

Kernville Day 1 of riding! Canell!!!
What an AMAZING DAY! We started with the longest ride 1st and the shuttle went all the way to the top starting us at 9200 feet. There were 56 riders on this trail. Not too many women, 5 or 6 that was it, 2 of them being Tam and myself.
Well, 1 of the vans forget to get gas, so they had to turn around and go all the way back to town. John the promoter said we had to wait for them to get there so Tamara thought it best the 5 of us start. Tamara, Huck, Norm , Hugh and myself. So she told John our group was starting. We started riding the paved road then went onto a single track. I was happy we were all starting together since I was a bit on the nervous side riding this new trail. Well, apparently the remaining group of riders……. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM….decided to follow ME! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! It was like letting a bunch of cattle out of a pen that had been cooped up for days! That was the scariest part of the entire ride!!! Way 2 funny. I radioed my group because I naturally had to pull over and told them the entire group started as well and I am waiting for everyone to pass.
So I snook in when I could and hooked up with these really nice, helpful older gentlemen and we did a lot of the ride together. They had ridden Canell for 20 some odd years so I knew they were good to ride with and they were more my speed. My group stopped at the major intersections and waiting for me. Tamara also stopped at a really techy section to let me know….well, it was a really techy section and she asked me if I wanted to follow her. Giggles, U WAY 2 Funny women! How am I suppose to follow your speed demon bum when, well. I can’t keep up?! Giggles, thanx 4 the offer though! I did great on that section, barely dabbed at all and only got off my bike when the guy that was drinking beer crashed in front of me.
So this trail was truly an epic. A little bit of everything you can imagine. Lots of swooping single track, lots of whoops, rock gardens, switch backs, meadows, lakes, water, exposure and of course the plunge!!! Was really amazing! I had a fantastic time and the weather was just perfect!!! I will definitely ride this again next year! Thanks everyone for talking me into riding it and thanks also for waiting for me!

So we rode back to the camp ground and of course no one was at the Specialized tent, they were riding. Had TONS of problems with my brakes and front wheel. The 2 guys that rode with me helped adjust them, Norm helped and Brad H helped with the front tire. Looks like I owe a lot of beers out there to you guys! Hit me up at the brewing company tomorrow night!!!
Well, we drove back to the hotel and I just about died. Was exhausted. We rode about 23 miles and I felt it! I crashed on the bed while Tamara was working on her bike (god, how many red bulls does this women take?!!! Endless energy!)
Hugh had a ton of problems with his bike today too. The cassette Hugh? He rode his big DH bike which was killer because there was a ton of climbing on this trail. And NO, He didn’t tow me, I did just fine thank you very much!!!

So then it was the Pizza Party time! Very small turn out. No free beer this year, maybe that’s why? They even cancelled one of the scheduled rides today because of low turn out. I enjoyed meeting all the people from San Diego and Brad House from Torrance who is STILL looking for another women XC racer for Halloween. Thanks again for helping me on the trail today Brad. Glad you got to meet all my clan as well! Aren’t we all a hoot?!!! Now you need to come out and ride some of OUR trails!!!

Well, we were pretty tired. Tam and I decided to come back to the hotel and Huck and Norm made a pit stop at the brewery which now I am regretting, would have loved a glass of wine to chill out.

So, Alan is now on his way. We lost Brian and tomorrow Hugh is riding Alta Sierra, so it will be just myself, Tamara, Huck and Norm on Kern trail.

Ok loves, I am just beat. I had the most amazing day and evening. Bummed this is our last trip of the year but really enjoying every minute of it! Life is grand and I am a happy camper! Hope all are staying cool in LA and enjoying life!!! Thank you all for sharing my life with me!

Wendy!

PS: We now have NED OVERLAND FOR CORBA FAT TIRE! OCT 25TH! WOW!!!!!!!!!

KERNVILLE FAT TIRE FEST 2009!!! We R HERE!

HOLA PEEPS! Well, I am writing my first blog from my hotel room in Kernville with Tam on the bed and Huck a yappin in the door way and we are talking about Huck's Dutch vacation and in walks Norm! NORM! Oh, and here comes HUGH! HUGH!

We had a quick 3 hour drive here and went directly to the camp ground to get signed in. Everyone else is either coming in tomorrow or just left to late so Tamara and I had a lovely, Yappy dinner @ That's Italian. OK, Maybe just ME was yappy, poor Tam, u get to suffer with me as your roomie this trip! But doesn't the room smell pretty?! (Lavender Candles of course!)

Huck and Norm ate at B&B's BBQ. The owner, Wendy, was closing up and OPENED BACK UP for Huck and Norm so they get get some dinner! THANK YOU! That was very hospitable.Big shout out to you and thank you!

So Hugh just went for dinner and we are all still yapping in the room and discussing the Canell ride, weather and making sure I GET BACK BACK TO THE CAMP IN 1 PIECE! NO LEAVING WENDY BEHIND!!!

So, Hugh offered to tow me again this year, thanx doll, but that would be pretty embarrasing wouldn't it! I CAN DO IT!I REALLY CAN!!!

Ok, so, will save all the good blog for tomorrow night. Big 1st day. After Canell we have the pizza/beer party which I am really looking forward to meeting a lot of other riders I have been talking to on either Face Book or MTBR, so stoked to meet you all!

K, gonna kick Huck out of the room now so we can get some sleep.

Peace and be fabulous all! Will blog again tomorrow night!

Wendy!

KERNVILLE FAT TIRE FEST 2009!!!

This is our last road trip of the year! Total bummer! It has been one of the most amazing summers ever! Wow, the trails I have ridden! The crashes I have taken!!! OY GA VAULT!!!

So Tamara is meeting me at my place at 2pm today and we are loading up. It's a 3 hour drive, so will still get there early enough for a good nights rest! We will need it! Day 1 is Canell from the TOP! We start riding at 9200 feet! AHHHHHHH, I just MAY need a tow!!!

K, will write the 1st blog this evening after dinner probably and when all the other riders are in. Looks like we have the following riders in our group:
Tamara
Wendy
Huck
Norm
Alan
Brian
Hugh
Randy

Still waiting to hear from David Z.

K, I best go get packing and stop a yapping!!! Will miss everyone who is not riding with us, but will make sure I let you in on every gory detail of the trip.

Peace and be fabulous dahlings!!

Wendy!

Tahoe Trip Final Blog!

Well I am finally back in LA and this is my final blog. Myself, Desi, Tam, Pete, Howard and Graham had breakfast this morning in Sacramento and was on the highway by 9am. Pete and Tamara dropped me off about 3:30pmish at my house and I am finally unpacked, have laundry in and relaxing with a great glass of Bordeaux.

This was probably my most favorite bike trip to date. I want to thank everyone soooooo very much for making it just the best!

Maria: Could not have gone on this trip without you and didn’t worry or stress a bit about AV! What on earth would I do without you?! Thank you!
Rick our guide: Thank you sooooooooo much Rick for being our guide, we are very grateful!
Tamara: You did sooooooooo much work organizing this trip and it was a complete success!!! Thank you for everything! You are a true inspiration as well to all us girls…u make me want to work even harder, thank you!
Pete: Yes you ARE a social guy Pete! Just gotta drag it out of you a bit!!! Thank you for driving, thank you for putting the tire on my bike back and thanks for the good tips on breathing and riding.
Huck: What can I say, always a pleasure riding with you! Great job for not riding much lately and working a ton of hours!
Charlotte: Always great to ride with you and you technical skills have shot through the roof! Fantastic job!
Norman: A big huge thanks as always for taking care of my Jamis! Really appreciate it!
Graham: You are truly ALWAYS a pleasure to be around Graham! Thanks for the fantastic slide show!
Howard: Hector!!!! Where’s Howard?!!!!!!! That was the saying these last 4 days. Thanks for being funny, coming back for me on the Flume Trail and just being fun to be around!
Desi: Fabulous to ride with you as always and especially to see a big smile on your face after riding your Enduro! Great job Desi!!!
Ruth: You are really amazing Ruth! Love riding with you even though you are SMOKIN me! Great job!
Richard: You are always fun to have on the rides!
Lisa: Great job as always girl! Love riding with you!!!!
Cosmo: U DA MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for guiding us around Northstar, helping fix my Jamis and filming!!!
Tim: U DA OTHER MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for keeping me in stitches, and especially getting me down Gypsy and waiting for me. O yeah, and spending an hour or so of your riding time to fix my DH bike so I could keep riding! U R THE BEST! THANK YOU!
Eric: You are always say encouraging things to me Eric and I really appreciate it. Great job being the 1st rider down on the 2nd run of Downieville!!!
Louisa and Greg: Love having you guys with us! Louisa, you are one heck of a climber sistah!!!!!!
Yongky: I just loved spending time and riding with you Yongky. You always have a fun, positive attitude even when things go very wrong. Thank you for lunch and thanks for riding with me!!


Ok, so that is it! The next weekend trips are SART/Big Bear, then Kernville Fat Tire Fest. Back to work tomorrow. Thank you again to all that shared my life with me the last week and made it even better! I adore all of you and am grateful to have you in my life.


Peace and be fabulous dahlings!!!!!

Wendy!

Tahoe Last Day!

Tahoe Last Day!
1st I want to say I forgot to mention yesterday that Huck was one of the riders that rode Northstar with us. SORRY HUCK! Thank you for saving my afternoon and loaning me the correct tube yesterday and also giving me cash for lunch today when I left that in the car too!!!

Today was Downieville! Our last day of our vacation. We left the condo’s around 7:20am this morning to gas up and make the 2 hour drive to Downieville. Once we got on the shuttle, we had another 40 minutes or so to drive up to the trail head. We divided up into 3 groups. An A, B and C group. Myself, Charlotte, Howard and Ruth made up the B group.
I took the Jamis on this because I thought it was virtually all down hill…..it was not. We dropped in on Sunshine for about 2 miles, then did some fun descending on Butcher. There were rock gardens, ledges, switch backs, swooping areas, water falls, bridges and climbing of course. A little bit of everything.
We then went into the 3rd divide. This was my favorite part of the trail. Very rolley with much more descending and baby heads to roll over. VERY FUN!!! We caught up with part of the A group that also had the big DH bikes, so I knew what they were going through with the climbs. So the last part we added Norm, Tim and Cosmo to our group and finished the trail off with a fire road and then on the pavement back into town. The rest of the A group had already arrived. It took our group 2.5 hours to get down including waiting and stops.
Then we ordered sandwiches at the store and had lunch at one of the picnic tables in town. What a quaint, TINY town! Some of the riders were getting ready to go up for shuttle #2: Tamara, Huck, Pete, Howard, Ruth, Eric, not sure who else.
Myself, Charlotte, Norm, Tim and Cosmo rode back to the cars. Charlotte and Norm decided to go ahead and drive to Sacramento where we are all staying tonight and making the drive back tomorrow morning. Tim and Cosmo took off to make the long 8 hour drive back to LA.
I am in Pete’s car blogging while they do another run. I was going to go into town, but was too tired to make the walk, so thought I would get started on my blog. So as soon as the other riders get back, we are heading up to Old Town Sacramento to stay for the night and make the drive back tomorrow.

Another amazing day. I have to say that Northstar was my favorite day. My favorite DH trail was Live Wire and my favorite XC trail was Hole in the Ground.

It is 9pm and we are finally in our rooms in Sacramento. I am sooooo spent! Most of old town was closed, so we got take out and will leave around 8am tomorrow. Some of the riders decided to go ahead and drive home, so the only ones left here at the hotel are myself, Desi, Tamara, Pete, Howard and Graham. Huck had to drive back to Palo Alto for work and all else either stayed with friends or just drove home.

What a fabulous trip. Will write my last blog when I get home tomorrow evening sometime.
Exhausted and a bit brain dead, I am outta here!!!

Be fabulous dahlings!

Tahoe Day 3 of Riding!!

Northstar Day!!! Today was down hill day for myself, Charlotte, Norm, Tim and Cosmo. All the other riders rode Emigrant Trail which I hear was awesome. Another 24 miles of XC today! You guys rock! Great job!

So Tim and Cosmo spent a lot of yesterday scouting out trails that all of us could ride and enjoy at Northstar. Our warm up trail was Booster, a blue trail to Flame out, a single black diamond. The 1st part of Booster we had a lot of adjustments, seats, chains, getting used to the deep dirt. That part went by pretty quick. Then we went right into Flame Out. Very fun, but too much pedaling. These trails here I thought were consistently technical, but not steep. I could have used it to be more steep so I had more momentum and didn’t have to work so hard.
Well, once we got on Flame out, it took me all of about 5 minutes to crash. No big deal. It was a steep left hand switch back…ok, maybe more of a really tight burm and VERY loose. I rode up on the outside of out, looked to the inside and instead of just letting go of my brakes and leaning my body in a bit, I decided to steer and just tumbled right down with the bike on top of me. What a goober move THAT was!
Another 5 minutes later, I hear Charlotte scream FLAT!!!!! (at least it wasn’t Tim’s new DH scream: PINCH FLAT!!! F!@#$%^&!!! Gee, wonder where he got THAT from….Don’t worry, I won’t mention any names………. BRAD!

So we finished the 1st part, then waited at the bottom for all to arrive in 1 piece with NO flats! All in all this trail was a bit too much pedaling, but still a great warm up! Very, very loose and deep!
Next trail was Live Wire. Another single black. This trail was very different and by far MY FAVORITE! It was all table top jumps and tons of enormous burms!! And….very long!!!! So we all rode this and pulled over to rest a few times and to let the really fast riders go by. For those of you who have ridden Whistler, this trail was like a smaller Crank It Up, but much, much longer and the burms were bigger too. Leah, I guarantee this would have been your favorite trail as well since you loved Crank it Up so much!!!

I knew I only had 1, maybe 2 more runs in me since I had just ridden 2 really hard XC days. So the rest of the gang wanted to ride Gypsy and I just wanted to have a blast on Live Wire, so I decided to ride that again. Just as I was about to take off, I hear everyone yell at me, FLAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I turned around and saw my rear tire on the Jamis was FLAT!!! Grrrrrrrr!!!! So, Tim took over my bike and also made a few grrrrrrr sounds when taking off the rear tire because he had to get his “special tools” to take it off. Not sure what that meant, but I was just grateful he knew what he was doing. Sooooo, I took out my spare DH tube and it was a Shraeder Valve and needed to be a Presta Valve. Apparently only the Presta Valves will fit on my tires. Hmmmmm I need to trade out my Shraeder tubes for Presta with someone!!!
So…………..patch time! So Tim decided to now just patch up the old tube we took out of the garbage now since it was a Presta. Got it filled up and back on. Looked great! I went to go feel it and it was FLAT AGAIN!!! Can’t you guess what he then said?! Yes, a few choice words and Cosmo added in his version as well.
So, he took it off again, found ANOTHER tear, then patched that! Put it back on and POOF! FLAT AGAIN! OK, 3rd times a charm right? This time, Cosmo found thorns in the tire that were very tiny but apparently big enough to eat up my tube! So he took them out, patched it again and put the tube back in 1 more time. FLAT AGAIN! At that point, I said the heck with it and let me just get the bike and me down the mountain, at least I got to ride Live Wire! Soooooo, everyone else rode down and I waited in the HIKE line to come back down the mountain. My bike was waiting for me when I got down and Charlotte came and got me, took my Camel back and Helmet from me and told me to go get some food and meet them in the restaurant. She must have sensed I was a little flustered?! Good call Char!
So, had a good tuna melt and got some energy back. Had a fun lunch and Huck was able to dig out an extra Presta tube. Not a DH tube, but Cosmo is running very small tubes, and he said it would be fine, so I was just very grateful they were going to give it 1 more try.
So then, Tim took the rear tire off again, Cosmo and Norm both checked the tape inside the tire just in case, and viola! It worked!!!! I was thrilled!!!
So, I figured I only had 1 more run, since I was just sooo fatigued from the last few days so of course I wanted to ride Live Wire again. Charlotte decided to sit this one out and stretch and save her legs for Downiville. SMART MOVE!!
So, Cosmo was nice enough to film this run of myself and Huck. FUN FUN FUN!!! Huck and I stayed pretty close for a lot of the trail and had a blast. Then at 1 point he just lost me and I couldn’t see him anymore. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! But great job Huck! This trail is REALLY long and this time we didn’t stop at all and rode the entire run without stopping.
Now I didn’t see this, but it sounded just hilarious! I was getting pretty tired and I had Cosmo, Tim and Norm all riding BEHIND me. Now they are NOT used to going MY speed, so I think they suffered a bit and got jarred more because they had to go so slow to stay behind me. I really slowed down at 1 spot going up and they all kind of bunched up together behind me. Tim apparently hit Norm’s back tire and Norm at a very slow motion went backwards and down! YIKES!!! Sorry boys, will try to go a little faster next time!!! Wish u got THAT on film!
So we finished off the trail with smiles and tons of fatigue. So then I said I was done, and they talked me into doing 1 more run, which was Gypsy, another single black. Huck, Cosmo and Norm went ahead and Tim stayed behind with me. OMG, THANK U!!! This trail was very, very loose and had some big drops on it so I was a little scared. I walked a handful of sections that were either drops or just scared me a bit too much. Tim was an awesome trail guide, he warned me of everything, stopped and waited for me, and told me which way to go so I had a safe and fun run!!!!
When we got to the bottom, I was just spent! So Charlotte and I rode back to the cars and the guys went up for 1 more long, nasty, gnarly run!!!

We rode back home and then all went over to the condo next door for Pizza and videos of Northstar!!! We also got to catch up with the others who sounded like they had a great day too……………well, there’s ALWAYS a Howard story isn’t there? Howard broke his chain today. Hmmmmmmmm, didn’t Cosmo tell you a few days ago to get it replaced?! Poor Hector!!!!We really have given you some !@#$&* that last few days haven’t we?!

I have to give a big enormous shout out and THANK YOU to Tim and Cosmo today! You 2 are my heroes! It takes a TON of patience to ride with me I know! They both stayed with us the entire time 1 sweeping and 1 in the front stopping on everything that they knew would be intimidating to us. Never pressured us at all, we just had an absolute blast and laughed a ton! Thank you both sooooooooooo very much! Thanks Cosmo for filming, I know it must have been difficult to ride that slow behind me and feel EVERY bump! But now you and Tim got to see EXACTLY how I ride and that helped a lot too.
Tim must have spent an hour fixing my tire! AND Told jokes and had a smile on his face the entire time!!! THANK YOU!

All in all, another amazing day! Life is good, the people around me are fabulous! This is our last night here. We head out on the road at 7:15am tomorrow for the 2 hour drive to Downieville. We have 2 shuttles scheduled. Then we drive to Old Town Sacramento to spend the night and will head out the next day.

Ok, I think that is every detail I can think of. Thanks again to all that shared my life with me today. I feel very fortunate and happy!!!

Sleep time! Until tomorrow night dahlings……..


Be fabulous!!!

Wendy!

Tahoe Day 2 of Riding!

I first have to say that my Gravity Dropper worked PERFECTLY TODAY!!! Thank you to the bike gods!!!!
Today we rode Hole in the Ground Trail and we had 17 riders again. This was my favorite trail of the 2 days so far. We had a little bit of everything on this trail, but it was very, very different than the Flume and Rim trail.
We of course started out with some climbing……grrrrrrrrr, I struggled a bit again with the elevation, but after about an hour or so I seemed to be doing much better and my heart rate was pretty stable. Tamara went over breathing techniques again with me and I used them the entire time.
On the single track parts of this trail, there were these cool little cement pieces that were smooth that gave you a nice break from the dirt. There were big enormous boulders with a ton of maneuvering through them you had to do, This was really fun. I did OK, Yes, I dabbed, It isn’t easy maneuvering through tight boulders, but it sure was fun trying! I scraped the rocks a few times, darn….gotta remember to keep my pedals even through those types of areas, I think that is why I kept bouncing off the rocks….whoops….nothing a little Neosporin won’t fix!!!
Then on a few of these little cement pieces, they went down very, very steep with almost a hole or a ditch right at the very bottom. I stopped at the top of the first one and was trying to figure out how I was going to get my front tire from not getting caught without hucking that, since I don’t do that as of yet…. and I didn’t really see a way I could do that, so those couple I walked. Then Pete explained to me later how to ride those.

We had 2 beautiful lakes on this ride. There was even a boat at the second lake which Howard decided to go lay down in even though it looked like it was going to sink! It was really windy at both lakes too, but oh soooooooo beautiful!!!

All in all, this trail was one of the most technical trails I have been on. You had to be focused constantly and yes…………….keep LOOKING AHEAD! A good friend of mine always pounds that in my head and his wife’s head!!! I did a good job with that, but disappointed I dapped so much. However, today I feel I did very well endurance wise and was very strong. So I am happy! Tomorrow will be the time to work on the technical skills for me at Northstar and with a DH bike, I will feel a little more comfortable.

I have to say I pulled over to walk a small gnarly uphill section on one of the single tracks and Huck was behind me so I yelled for him go go go!!!! He cleared it with no problem and it was sick! GREAT JOB HUCK!!!! Proud of you!!

Charlotte is now the DH hill queen! Well, next to Leah of course, sorry C! Outstanding, fantastic job today!!!!! You have come such a long way and are riding extremely confident and well! PROUD OF U!!!!

I also watched Richard and Greg clear this sick rock at the lake. I think Pete and Huck were going to give it a try, but didn’t catch them if they did.

Poor Yongie (did I spell your name right this time?), broke his chain and rode this gnarly single track without it and came down giggling with a big grin on his face and NO CHAIN! We had run into a few guys with ATV’S (I think that is what u call them), and they gave Yongie a ride back!

We had 1 more single track to go, god , I thought this day would NEVER end, I think Tamara and Rick just wanted to keep us riding all day! When I saw we had MORE climbing on the last single track, I started to sulk abit, then I started to hear cars, so I knew we were close to the end, so I sucked it up, got back on my bike and finished. I almost cried when I got to the road!!!

So then we all went to Truckee for lunch. What a cool, cool town! Reminded me of an old 30’s town. Would have liked to have more time there to shop!

Now we are all showering and getting ready for our group dinner at Rosie’s tonight. I can’t wait to hear about Northstar! Tim and Cosmo have been riding it for 2 days now, and some of us will hit it tomorrow.

A big huge thank you to Rick our guide for leading the ride again today. We really have an incredible group of riders and people….don’t you think? I adore all of you and am very grateful and honored to be riding with all of you. It was really nice to ride with Greg and Louisa which I never ride with…now I know why!! You speed demons U!!! Both of you are incredible!!!!

So, I need to get my face on and my hair done, so I need to stop yapping. I sure hope everyone is doing great and staying cool!!! It was in the 70’s again here, except at the lakes, it was pretty cold and windy. All in all, pretty much perfect!!!

Be fabulous dahlings!!!!


Wendy!