The first race

I. Am. Sore.

Flat, hard packed desert = full day of riding (as opposed to a few short rides in the dunes)

Bumps, lifts and bounces = lots of standing while riding

Riding all day + lots of standing while riding = a great workout with a side of really sore muscles. But in a good way. Minus the whole soreness pain stuff. Honestly, I feel like I had an amazing workout, and I did.

My outer thighs from my butt down to my upper thighs hurt. My inner thighs hurt. My upper arms, across my chest, around my shoulders and over the top of my back hurt. Like I said, a great workout. Totally worth it, I rode really well Saturday. I was proud of me and so was the fiance. I love the dunes, but I get to ride more at the hard packed desert. (don't worry, I never ride without my chest protector) I was doing really well Saturday, really enjoying riding and getting some speed going. It was like a switch flipped and my muscles decided they were done. This was of course after many hours of riding, so no big deal.

The fiance had his first race on Sunday, he did great! There were three of us scattered around taking pictures of his first big race. There are a few modifications he wants to make to the bike, including a twist throttle since his thumb gave out on him during the third lap and he had to slow down. But not bad at all for a first race, I am SO proud of him. Poor thing is super sore today, probably more sore than I was yesterday. At least today I'm starting to be able to move a little bit more.

Ready to Ride

Getting ready to head out. This weekend marks the first desert trip of the season. I cannot express how excited I am to get back out there. It's so relaxing and fun being out there with our friends, away from the city. We're approaching the season with a new tactic of inexpensive and easy. We're pre-making just about all the food, keeping it simple. It saves time and energy on prep and cleanup, and gives us more time to ride. Keeping things simple also means that we have more money that can go towards our wedding.

Just gotta get through the work day and then we're outta here! Can't wait to get back on my quad, it's actually mine now. The fiance traded his 400 that our friends crashed for their 250 plus a little extra to make it an equal trade. The 250 is now officially ours :) I can't wait to go riding! (and I promise to be very careful)

Photostory Friday: Of Riding and Penguins

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I've been talking about the desert for a while now, I've been out three times (and only fallen once!) I keep meaning to get photos up. Now, I don't do photos of myself, it's a personal preference and privacy thing. But since I'm in full gear in these, I've decided to share them.

Here I come over the top of the flats. The bf was in the buggy taking pictures. Renee was challenging me to work on speed down the flat sections.

And there I go, kicking up dirt with my paddle wheels. (the best wheels to have on the back out in the dunes) I was probably somewhere between 3rd and 4th gear in this shot.

And you thought I was kidding about the penguin in the title. Since we skipped our original plans for the weekend, the bf made it Christmas-y for me in the desert. He bought the giant inflatable chubby penguin and mounted it to the top of the trailer. It was actually a convenient way to locate our campsite when we were coming back from a ride.

So, not full gear here, but I have a camera in front of my face. We stopped at a race on the way home to take pictures. The bf is working with this bike shop near work, redesigning and completing their website and doing some photography for them. (Did I mention he finally bought the Canon XSI? It's shiny) It was a little dusty, but lots of fun. Look at my pretty boots! I love my riding boots. We got them on sale, but they were still over $100. The protection is totally worth it...no way to sprain ankles in those things. I do have a Shift jersey, but this outfit is completely Fox. I'm definitely a Fox girl, they have the best riding gear for girls.

Today's PSF brought to you by the lovely Cecily and MamaGeek (links below, go check it out!)

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Of Deserts and Christmas

We had a great trip out in the desert...I didn't try to fly!!! No witch's eyes for me this trip. Renee was a great teacher, she took me and the Manager on a smaller ride and on the bigger rides rode in front of me to model for me. I'll be honest, our first small ride Saturday over to the diner to get a few supplies had me freaked out. But I calmed down and Renee took me under her wing and was really great...I totally got my confidence back. I can't wait to go out there again with her. The bf was happy because he's not so much of a teacher and knew that I'd do really well with Renee. I also finally met Renee's daughter Bells, she's so much fun. She's in high school and we got along great. We laid out on the trailer ramp Sunday afternoon while the bf and the others got back from a photo shoot of a race (we headed back early because we got bored) and fell into a giggle fit that lasted a good half hour. Bells may be a bit younger, but she is seriously cool. (pics of me riding and our desert Christmas decorations coming soon...)

Christmas is 16 days away, I can't believe how quickly it's coming. I still have a lot to do, but feel confident that I'll get everything done. Today I'm going to be practicing for my conducting final on Thursday and doing laundry (SOOO fun...not) On the fun list is putting up Christmas lights around my apartment and working on my Christmas cards (hopefully I'll finish making them tonight) Once I get them done then I can finish all my other Christmas projects.

-advent calendars for my brothers (both in progress....there will be a post with pictures for this)
-paint back of and personalize ornaments
-paint ornaments for colleagues
-paint wooden Christmas decorations that are gifts (angel and tree)
-make candle holders (there will be pictures of this, probably in its own post)
-make frame for my Grama (cookie baking picture with likewise decorated frame)

...I feel like I'm missing some projects on here. But I still have time to get it all finished. :) I also have baking plans the next two Saturdays, which I'm super excited about. Baking this weekend at my apartment (possibly with the bf) and then next weekend with the bf's mom. Next weekend is Christmas with the bf's parents, his mom and I are super excited about our awesome plans. More about those later. I'm also working up a few posts about my favorite holiday traditions and such. I hope you are all having a wonderful December preparing for Christmas or whatever holiday you and your family celebrate.

Happy 1st of December

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving, mine went very well. I'll of course be catching up with all of your stories over the next few days, mixed in with making Christmas cards and getting ready for another trip to the desert. (I promise to not try to fly this time) The bf said we can decorate the trailer...I'm going to put up lights all throughout the inside, I'm so excited. The bf is looking into getting a blow up lit up thing to put on top of the trailer...I hope he gets one, it would be SO cool.

I cannot express how excited I am that it's finally December. I brought my little American Girl Christmas tree home with me and have that all lit and decorated over on my art box in the corner. I'm going to string lights up around the top of my apartment sometime in the next couple days I hope. The bf's mom got me the most beautiful nativity that sits perfectly on top of my DVD shelves. We're partially through decorating at work, the office looks great. The manager and I strung old ethernet cords from the ceiling, wrapped them in gold garland and hung paper candy balls on each loop. It's so awesome...we're lucky the manager is so tall, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to reach things.

December is getting jam packed full of fun holiday activities, my weekends are basically booked now through Christmas. And I can't wait! I spent this evening working on my Christmas cards. The bf bought me this great stamp set and I got the crazy idea to make my own cards this year. I got 4 models made tonight, I want to make 1 or 2 others and then go ahead and make duplicates of all of them. Luckily the duplicates won't take as long as the originals since I'll only be copying them and not designing them. They're not perfect, but I think they work. I'm so excited. There will be pictures of those when I'm done with them. Along with the picture of me on the quad in my gear (the bf hasn't sent them to me yet) Maybe I'll have some new desert ones to add after this weekend too. :) I'll have to get photos of the decorations in the trailer! The bf bought a brand new Canon XSI at Costco the day after Thanksgiving...it's BEAUTIFUL. Incidentally, Costco was cheaper than the Black Friday sales and much calmer too. I'm in love with a camera. It's seriously SOOOOO beautiful. I can't wait to upload pictures that I take with the camera. I think he's bringing the camera out with us this weekend, so that should be great.

Well, I've got to open in the morning so I ought to be getting to sleep here. Hopefully my phone doesn't turn off sometime during the night again like it did last night...luckily I woke up before I was late to work. (I was NOT pleased with my phone) I hope you have a fantastic week, I'll be around to catch up with you all throughout the next few days.

Checking In

Just a quick post to check in to let everyone know that I am doing great :) I'm slightly sore, but it's going away quickly. Part of the soreness is from riding in general, not the fall. Mostly my hands hurt from the fall because I was holding on very tight when I lost my grip on the handlebars. I was talking to the bf more about it today as we recounted the episode to friends at work asking about how our weekend went, and I evidently didn't fall very far. I just tipped off the side of the quad and thus was only a few feet away from the ground when I hit. I landed on my shoulder/side pretty evenly and rolled to a nice stop. (which apparently is the right thing to do)
But anyways, I'm good, almost 100% not sore, and eager to get out again when the time is right. I swear I will be extra careful, and I've learned from the experience and know what to do in the future to prevent such an incident. Also, as requested, there will be a picture (hopefully tomorrow) of me on the quad in all my gear...it's on the bf's computer at the moment, but I'll have him send it over to me once we get to work in the morning.
I hope you all are having wonderful evenings. We're supposed to be getting rain tomorrow, I'm so excited! It's a busy week for me. I'm teaching a flute lesson tomorrow and then probably having dinner with the bf and the manager. Wednesday I've got to bake pies for Thursday when we're driving up to my parents. Friday is decorating and baking cookies with my Grama. Saturday and Sunday are various holiday events with the bf's parents.
Well for a quick post that sure got long. But it's definitely time to turn in, I'm sleepy.

The Witch's Eye: A Tale of the Fall

The morning started beautifully after a great night's sleep, didn't wake up at 6am like the last trip...this one was more like 7:30 or 8. Eager to get out in the dunes, we set out for a ride before breakfast. Decked out in brand new gear, I learned to shift in my wonderful new boots. It's definitely a different feeling being unable to move your ankle or lower leg, but I felt so much more protected and comfortable in these. Regaining my bearings on the quad, the four of us set out for a ride into the dunes, the bf in the lead. This place is different, soft sand, smoother rides if you cross it the right way. Up and around, over and through, racing around in 3rd and 4th gear. Learning to downshift to make it up hills, taking a deep breath and scaling the dunes...not the huge ones mind you, I'm not that brave yet, it's only my second trip.

Riding around, following the bf and the Announcer*. Struggle up the hill-need more power, push in on the throttle, crest the top, follow them down. Going too fast to follow their turn, try to make it over the little ridge in front. Up and over, quad starts to buck, uneven and jolty, make it over, bucking back and forth. Grip breaks free, I go flying, quad goes flying, roll and land in the soft sand. Sit up, the bf, the Announcer and the Announcer's son come rushing over, I'm okay. Not sure what happened and just a little sore and shaken. Stay sitting in the sand for quite a while.

From what they saw, quad and I went the same direction as I flew off, but it tipped the other direction at the last second, remaining upright instead of landing on me. I rolled and didn't try to brace, which kept me safe. I don't remember doing it, but it was the right thing to do. Quad okay, I'm okay, the bf's blood pressure slightly elevated, lots of adrenaline for everyone. We take a break and walk on the dunes. Go back and look at what I hit, I remember seeing it and I remember it getting jolty, then remember being on the ground, uncertain of the middle...I think I closed my eyes. The angled shelf is what I hit, the Witch's Eye. They say I made it up over and several feet before I flew, it got so rough I'm pretty sure that my hands simply weren't strong enough and were torn off the handlebars. I asked the bf, and I think that if my hands were stronger and maybe a little bigger and if I maybe had a bit more experience, I might have ridden it out. I should have stopped before I went over...I forgot I had brakes when I couldn't make the turn. Left hand by thumb sore, probably from trying to hold onto the bike, slightly scraped from inside my glove, but not badly. Right hand a little sore, but not like the left. Left knee feels scraped, but just a nice line-like bruise...probably from the quad. Twisted my head to the side as I landed, slight headache/neck ache for a bit, but mostly better now. Helmet did its job. Good helmet. Covered in sand, the Announcer gave me water from his Camel Pack to rinse the sand out of my mouth.
We ride a while more, I'm a little scared. The bf makes me go over a few hills rather than around, gotta get back on the horse. It's scary, but he's right, I'm glad he makes me be brave.

Good part of the ride? I caught about 6 inches of air...and I didn't even know it until they told me I did it and landed perfectly. I had no idea. Just a little hill/bump, but I got some lift. Kinda cool. Back at camp the bf made a delicious breakfast and then we met up with the group that drove out this morning. The bf is out on a ride with them and I'm resting in the trailer, since they're going to be riding hard and crazy. Even before I tried to fly and fell in the sand I wasn't ready for hard riding. I'm tired from the ebbing adrenaline and am contemplating a nap. Ibuprofen made my head/neck feel better. Overall I'm not very sore, the bf says I landed very well and avoided really hurting myself...the sand was a loose, mostly soft landing.

And don't worry, I'll keep being careful. Now I know to brake before I hit a Witch's Eye instead of trying to clear it. I'll go on probably at least 2 more rides, gotta get my courage back, can't let one little fall keep me down. To be honest I think I scared the bf more than I scared myself. As soon as I saw and hit the Witch's Eye I pretty much knew I was coming off...like when I flew off the trampoline, I'm a little fuzzy on what happened in the middle. The important part is that I'm okay. Just need to ice my hand a little. :) I think I'm going to give into the post-adrenaline fatigue and take a nap while the bf and the others are out on their ride.

I hope you are all having fabulous weekends!

*The Announcer is one of my favorite systems architect guys at work. On the weekends he sometimes hosts a radio show, he totally has radio voice.

Desert Gear

I've got my brand new Fox riding boots, riding pants and jersey.
I've got my brand new Fox dirtpaw gloves and a new pair of goggles.
We packed all the food and prepped the trailer.
The quads are ready and waiting to be ridden.
We got marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers.
18 minutes and I'm off for another fabulous weekend in the desert.
I am SO excited, it can't come soon enough.

I hope you all have a FABULOUS weekend. I'll be back catching up on Monday.

Campfires, Quads and Sandstorms...Oh My!!

I'm just settling in from my first trip out to the desert.

The verdict? I loved it! It was SO much fun.

We got there fairly late Friday evening (around 9:30 or 10ish) and got things all set up and unloaded, and the guys built us a nice campfire because it was pretty chilly. We had planned to leave a little earlier, but the bf's friend the Recruiter was running a little behind and we needed to load up his trailer so we could go. We also had a pizza dinner out there before we left. In the Recruiter's defense, he'd had a LOOOOOOONG week and didn't have time to prep like he usually does. I was really excited when C & A showed up to come out with us. I knew that the Recruiter and his wife had some friends coming, but I didn't realize that I knew them. C works with the Recruiter and his wife A is friends with the Recruiter's wife. We met them when we went out on the jet skis that one time. C is the one who took a wave and got a good 10-15 foot jump. We totally thought he was going to break his jet ski in two, but he landed it great, if somewhat loudly.

We ended up staying up until nearly 2 am just hanging out chatting around the campfire, it was a lot of fun. (total people count was the three couples and then the Recruiter's son and his friend) I woke up around 6 or so, it was SOOOO early, I tried to sleep until about 8. After breakfast the bf taught me to ride the quad. He'd borrowed the 250 from his friend Mo so that I wouldn't have to worry about learning to use a clutch yet. I still had to shift, but it wasn't so bad. We went out on a short ride, it was SO much fun! The guys went out on a longer ride and I hung out and watched August Rush with the girls. :) The bf and I took one more ride later in the afternoon. He took me out to "the tower", or something like that. It's the remnants of some old military stuff. It was pretty neat, what a wonderful view. I only got scared a few times. I don't mind the flatter parts, but when I started going over rough/uneven terrain I got a little scared. (but it was SO much fun!)

The bf's uncle's family and their best friends (the Recruiter's sister-in-law) came out later last night. Let's just say that the bf's uncle isn't always the nicest or most responsible guy, and there was a bit of apprehension. It was slightly awkward, but everything went just fine. I met all of them, and then had very little interaction with them, which was fine with me. The bf, C and A and I lazed around the campfire after dinner before heading into the trailer by about 9 to put on a movie and relax. We made it about 10 minutes into the movie before we all decided that it was definitely bedtime. Things went well until about 2 am or so when the wind picked up. Now, let me tell you, where I grew up we're used to 15 mph winds on a NORMAL day, so I'm no stranger to wind. But dang, it was CRAZY! I finally managed to fall back to sleep after it woke me up.

Sunday morning was a delicious breakfast once again, and then another ride. The bf and I went out with the other guys (the other girls didn't ride) and then ended up breaking away from them after a while. He took me out to the dunes to ride in the sand. I think it was prep for the next trip that's to a place with a lot of sand...completely different terrain. I have to say, I didn't do too badly. I would try the first dune he took me to..that thing was monstrous! But the second smaller one I played around on. I pretty much just had to take a deep breath and go for it, I was a little scared, but I knew that if I stopped I'd fall or roll, so I just kept going and I did fine. We were just starting to head in when the sand started blowing. We had on full helmets and goggles, but man that stuff kept hitting the part of my face that was open in the helmet, and somehow managed to find it's way inside my goggles. I was glad for my jersey, because that stuff was pelting HARD. As we went on it got worse, there was one point where I was afraid I was going to lose sight of the bf, but he signalled me forward and kept me riding right next to him so we didn't get separated. At the worst parts we could see about 5 ft in front of us...at best maybe 15. I don't know how he did it, but after a while we came right back to camp. He's VERY good at finding his way. It was kind of scary, I wished we had mics to be able to communicate through our helmets when we were out there, but I knew that I was safe with him. Our friends were relieved when we drove back into camp. The other guys had gotten back just as the sandstorm was starting and were worried about us. But it all ended well.

Packing up was a dirty, dusty affair since the wind and sand never did completely stop blowing. We did finally get packed up and headed back. Thankfully the wind on the way back wasn't a bad as we had expected. It even rained on our way back home, which was great because it washed off the truck and trailer. (and, well, I absolutely love the rain)

I can't wait for our next desert trip, we're going in two weeks with Mo and that group of friends, it should be a lot of fun. And according to the bf the place we'll be going to very rarely has sandstorms. (yay!) And sometime between now and then the bf is taking me shopping to get my own full riding outfit I get the pants, boots, helmet, gloves, goggles and possibly a new jersey, I'm so excited! There was another style of blues and browns that we both really liked on me, but they didn't have the jersey in the right size. We're going to look at a few different things, and then figure out if I'm getting the rest of the stuff to match my current black and pink jersey or if I'm getting a complete new set. Either way, I'm excited. :)

Whew, thanks for those of you who stuck with me for that entire post. It was just such a wonderful weekend, I'm still so excited about it!

In Brief...

The bf, new and old friends, 2 trailers, 3 trucks, 3 bikes, 3 quads, lots of food, sunshine, sand, movies, campfire, no phones, electronic leashes or a real sense of time. It all adds up to one INCREDIBLE weekend!

I'll have a post all about it in the morning, but for now it's bedtime. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!