Family Zoo

We have a mini zoo at our house.

This is Millie. She is our escape artist. It doesn't matter how tall the fence she gets out.

This is Liza. She is a good dog and like every lab loves to play. She would play 24/7 if we would. Her one draw back is she licks all the time, but this is solved by letting her carry a sock in her mouth. Liza and Mille have the exact same birthday, but they are 4 years apart.This is Tigger. Tigger is the only male animal in the house. We got Tigger from my mom. She was taking care of him for my brother and Tigger decided to adopt our daughter Shandy. Tigger loves to hang out with Shandy and in her room. This is Puffy. Originally Puffy's name was angel, but she looked more like a puff ball, so we called her Puffy. Although puffy is fat she can run fast, especially if you are heading in the direction of her food!This is Ebby. As far as cats go she is perfect. You pet her a little bit and then she goes away. She doesn't like or need to be snuggled or sit on your lap.

This is Cocoa. We have only had he for a short time. She is a very talkative guinea pig and somewhat cuddley.

This is Steffi. She is a very shy guinea pig, but loves to play when we set out her play area.

Great Day

Today was a great day. I got to do almost everything I like to do. I went with my brother to the temple (it was his first time). I got to hang out with my mom, and 2 of my brothers--one came from California and the last time I saw him was about 9 years ago. I met my brothers wife. She is really cool. I got to go for a mountain bike ride. And finally I played softball tonight as a substitute and had the winning run in a tie breaker game! Fun great day doing almost everything I like to do. I don't think I could ask for anything more.

New Saddle

A friend gave me a new saddle for my mountain bike today. It is a WSD Bontrager Infrom RL. The saddle is really cool. I took it for a 12.5 mile ride today and I loved it. After using it I got home and read about it and discovered why it was so great. The seat is made to support your sit bones and prevent pressure on the soft tissue, and it worked. I felt comfortable the whole ride. The one drawback I found was you need to get the seat in the exact position which is right where your seat bones are. This can take a little bit of adjusting and readjusting of the saddle, but once you get it just right it feels great.

URMB Group Ride

Went today and rode up in AF Canyon for a group ride with Utah Rocky Mountain Bikers (URMB). Those who wanted to join the ride met at the pullout before the guard shack. I messaged the ride leader Steve before hand and met them up at the Timpanooke parking lot. Those that went on the ride today were Steve, Derek and Kerry all members of URMB.

We left the parking lot and somehow I ended up being in the front for the first part of the ride. Which is fine, because it was uphill, and I really did not want to get left behind. I stayed up front until we reached what people call puke hill--I think there is a puke hill on every trail. At that point Derek put the pedal to the metal and breezed by everyone. I didn't know it was possible to go up that hill that fast. Now that I do I guess I am going to have to try it. As I went up somehow I ended up riding off the trail instead of staying on it and ended up off my bike...bummer. I broke my record of clearing this hill, now I will have to start my count over. At the top of the hill Derek took the lead. I made a joke about who let Derek take the lead, and he ended up pulling to the back. Sorry, Derek. I hope you know I was only kidding. However since he was in the back and so was I it was fun to visit and talk about team racing stuff. At the top of the hill I made sure Derek went in front of me as downhill is still not my speciality and I hate to hold people up on the downhill. We rode down and then came to gravel hill. Today was a good day for this hill. It was gravely and loose, but I didn't have any problems clearing the hill. At four corners all the guys went first and I went last and they waited for me at the road. I don't know how long they waited for me on the road, but I know Steve went 29 mph and I went 18.6 mph, I'm not going to do the math to figure this out. On the road it was back to the trail and back to the uphill. Derek wanted to do two laps, so at this point he took off, and I got to be in the lead again. Being in the lead on the uphill is not a bad thing and I had fun as we rode along, but at the Summit it was time for me to go to the rear. This part of the trail is my least favorite, because of the loose rocks and dust. However the more I ride the trail the less I struggle with this part of the trail. Toward the first intersection after the I Summit as I rode down there was a motorcyclist. He was telling Steve he would pull over for me to get by however he did not do that. I had to ride around him as he was saying he would pull over. I found out later that Steve had made him stop, which I appreciate, because the last thing I needed, was to run into on that particular downhill was a motorcycle! The rest of the ride was fabulous. I can't wait for the next group ride with this group. It was a lot of fun.

Derek, Kerry and a rider we met on the trail at four corners.

Derek and Kerry while we wait for Steve to investigate a different part of the trail.

Sorry about the pictures hopefully soon I will get a new camera.

Sunflower Seeds

Royce loves to plant sunflowers, every year he plants a few in our backyard and by fall he harvests them and bakes all the sunflowers seeds. This year we ended up having a lot of sunflowers bloom and they are very big! Took some pictures of a few of the plants. Anyone want some sunflowers seeds in the fall?!?

How did that happen?

Went for a ride today on one of my favorite trails the Timpanooke Loop, with some fun riders Dot, Jolene and Heather. Jolene and I have done this trail, but Dot and Heather have not, so we got a chance to share one of our favorite trails. The ride was a lot of fun and all was going well until we came down to the bottom of Deer Creek South Fork. Apparently as Dot rolled across the bridge her chain decided to jump off the cassette and wrap around the inside by the spokes. And it did this without breaking the chain. It took around 30 minutes and all 4 of us to get it out. Dot had to unlink her chain and take her wheel off, and then Dot loosened the spokes (she had needle nose in her camelback--I need to get some for mine). After that it took Dot pulling in one direction Heather in the other and Jolene and I holding the wheel steady. Now it sounds like not a lot of time, but we tried a lot of different things before this was the one that worked. I should mention all of us were prepared with quick links and tools.

Hard to see in this picture, but the link is hooked onto the spoke.Working on getting the bike fixed.

After the bike was fixed we continued on. The rest of the ride was fun. We had to stop on one of my favorite parts of the downhill for horses, but other than that the ride was smooth and fun. I hope the ride was still fun for Dot, because she was not able to shift through all of her gears, so what became a fun casual ride became more of a workout than I am sure she planned. She and Heather both had smiles on their faces when we were done, so I am guessing yes.

Time to get a new camera....these were taken while they were coming uphill. I missed Heather all together to operator malfunction.

Ride Like a Girl

Tonight Jolene and I met up at Mad Dogs in Orem to participate in the Ride Like a Girl group ride. KC Holley led the group. Besides me and Jolene there were five other women who joined the group--Katrina, Patti, Kody, Noelle and Heidi. Our ride destination was a surprise until we met at Mad Dog where once gathered together we found out we were going to Sundance. Sundance is a fun place to ride and I was excited to find out this is where we would be riding.

Once we got to Sundance we completed the necessary paperwork, got our ride/lift wristbands and headed to the lifts. This was probably the worse part of the whole night. I hate ski lifts, ferris wheels and anything else that has me up high. I rode with Jolene and Katrina. Luckily for me they kept the conversation going and I could look at them and not think about how far up we were as I kept a death grip on the bars. I was very relieved once we were on ground again. Prior to going down the road to the trail KC gave us brief instruction on how to ride on the gravel. I understood what she said, but it still didn't make me like riding a gravel road. At the trail we then received instruction on how to maneuver our bikes on a downhill switchback. Downhill switchbacks are probably my least favorite thing to ride. I always get tensed up an end up going around them at granny pace. KC taught me a couple of things I had not been told before, and I immediately put them to work. I found by using less of my front brake and more of my back brake I ended up going around the switchback more easily and not with the stutter, jerk motion I tend to end up doing. I also found my speed was more consistent through the switchbacks. Sometimes this made me nervous as I am not used to staying at a consistent speed. Usually I am so slow I have to pick up my speed. Sundance has a lot of switchbacks and we got a lot of practice on them. We also got to go over a log pile(which was fun), rocks and do a little bit of climbing. By the end I actually was starting to feel a little bit more comfortable going down the switchbacks. So much so, that when everyone parted their ways, Jolene and I took off for a ride up the hill and did a short ride, with of course, more switchbacks. Here are a few pictures from the ride with some of the riders.

The Bonk

My husband and I went to ride in AF Canyon today. I have been telling him for weeks how great Deer Creek South Fork is and we finally got the chance to go together. Instead of starting at my regular spot (Timpanooke Campground) we went to Cascade Springs and parked in the open campground area. Since Royce does not get out much to ride his bike I figured this would be a good spot to start and we could take it a section at a time by going up and back or doing a smaller loop. The trail was in great condition from here up to the Summit except for the part of the trail slated to be worked on this Saturday, and it has been broken in fairly well although I don't think this is the permanent path. I did see a dead bird on the trail, it was pretty big. I wasn't quite sure if I should move it or not, so I left it there. As we got to the Summit Royce was a little winded, but ready to go forward and do the loop. So onward it was. The next part of the Trail Ridge 157 is not ideal. Sometimes this part can be okay, but other times it has a lot of loose dirt and rocks. Today it was loose, with a lot loose rocks. I took this part of the trail cautiously since I had crashed on this particular part of the trail Saturday and didn't feel like doing it again. I didn't crash this time, but came close, and in the exact same spot! Except this time I stopped and lucky for me I was able to look back and figure out what I was doing wrong. Then it was onward down the trail. At the next intersection (Salamander Flats or Ridge 157) Royce took the lead and continued forward on Ridge 157. This part of the downhill was not too bad and is pretty a pretty fast trail. I surprisingly caught up to Royce just prior to the next intersection, apparently his chain had dropped. He quickly fixed it and we met up at the Pine Hollow/Ridge 157 intersection. We stayed on 157. About this point Royce was looking a little peaked, but he wanted to go on, so we did. This part of the trail is uphill, but not too bad. You have a few rocks to maneuver around and over, but for the most part it is a fairly nice grade that is steady all the way. We only went abut .25 of a mile when I looked behind me and couldn't see Royce. I waited and waited, and began to wonder if he had mechanical problems. About that time he caught up to me and looked pretty bad. And he was, he did not feel good at all. He had the classic symptoms, hot, nausea, exhaustion, nausea and more nausea....he had bonked, I thought for sure he was going to toss his cookies right then and there. Since he was so bad off we decided to split up. He would immediately go down hill to Timpanooke Campground and I would head back to the car via Deer Creek South Fork of course (I was too close to turn around). We separated and I went on my way. I love uphill, and this one is not too bad. There is a short downhill, and then you come to the beast. The hill that has loose dirt, loose rocks and is one of those 50/50 hills. Today was not the day. I had to walk about 12 feet....bummer. I continued riding, and then I came to it, my favorite part of the trail. A trail I call heaven. It is sooooo much fun. This trail goes so smoothly and flows. You go down, down, down and then you go down so more and just when you think you are done because you start to go up, you are fooled and you go down some more until you get to the road. Sometimes my quads will be burning from being in my downhill position for so long. The hardest part for me on this trail is not going too fast. Today was perfect. I was on my brakes a little bit more, but I was having fun and going the perfect speed. About half way down I had an epiphany and realized I was not looking far enough ahead. I always look ahead, but apparently not far enough. This is kind of a difficult thing to do because I want to see what is coming up, but looking only a little bit ahead versus a lot a head doesn't necessarily help this. I noticed when I look a little bit ahead I see the obstacles, but I have to go slower to react to them and the control I have over my bike is not as solid. Today on the last half of the downhill when I started to look further ahead I noticed my speed increase, I had better control of my bike, going over the obstacles was not near as difficult and the turns were much easier. The rest of the down hill went smoothly and then I was back at my car. I racked my bike and went to get Royce. When I got to him he was still looking pretty wasted. We got rolling and I gave Royce my EFS and a gu to see if it would help him. At this point I should be done writing, and tell you all is well and after a few hours Royce felt better, and he now knows what it feels like to bonk. But I can't, because as we headed out the of canyon, right at the very end, just before the guard shack, we saw a doe and her baby. The car in front just drove right around them (I guess they don't care about watching wildlife), but I stopped, and so did the doe. Check it out! She looked right at me for a long time, before we finally parted ways. I had enough time to grab my camera, take a picture, zoom in and take another picture and then continue to look at her. It is always cool to see wildlife up close.

Why did they say that????

Like some of you my husband and I have been watching the Olympic games. As we have watched the games we've noticed reports in the paper and reporters saying and some less than thoughtful questions. Below are a few we have seen or read. Most of them my husband noticed, because unfortunately I am not as astute as he is.

Comments on Michael Phelps close win the in the 100m fly.

• "He didn't have to be fastest. Just first" (Daily Herald Paul Newberry) Of course he had to be fastest, only the fastest is first!!!
• "They examined the video and I think the case is closed. The video says (Phelps) finished first. "In my opinion, it's not right but we must follow the rules. Everybody saw what happened." The video showed he won, how is that not right????
• "I'm stoked with what happened," Cavic said. "I don't want to fight this. People will be bringing this up for years and saying you won that race.... Why would anyone say you won a race you didn't, especially when there was proof you didn't.
• "It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time..." (Associated press from Detroit) How can you be the greatest athlete if you only are the greatest at swimming. Should you be great at other sports (this is from my husband, I don't have an opinion on this statement)

Tyson Gray right after he loses in the semi-finals and does not go on to compete for the gold.

• What a reporter asked Tyson Gay right after he did not make it into the finals for the 100m sprint. "How frustrating is it to not be running in the final?" Oh I don't know, he must be thrilled he can't run for the gold medal, he's only trained at least 4 years for this moment....duh.

NBC reporter talking to the winning USA 4x100medley swim team.

• "What did you need to do win the race" (NBC reporter to the USA 4x100 medley swim team) Swim fast seems to be the obvious answer. I don't know if there is a lot of strategy when racing in swimming other than pace yourself and go fast.

After Youngs & Branagh lost their beach volleyball game this reporter for NBC asked some of the following questions.

• "Elaine is your 5th place finish viewed as a accomplishment or disappointment?" They were trying for the gold medal, last Olympics Youngs got the Bronze. Of course they're not happy with 5th.
• "Nicole, given a chance to do it over again what would you do differently?" I am sure she is going to go over and over what she would do differently for the next year, but why would she want to share all her mistakes on television, when everyone just saw them.
• This is the best. Right after Elaine states she will not be going to anymore Olympic games the reporters turns to Nicole and goes "Nicole beach volleyball is a sport of constant partner changes. What is the future of this partnership?" Wow, I can't believe she asked this.
  

I am sure there are many I have missed and I am sure there are more to come. What funny comments have you heard while watching the games?

Tour of Utah Stage 4

I went to AF Canyon to see the riders racing in the Tour of Utah today. I was going to take Mandy since I thought she would like to see how fast the pros ride, but I was wrong. A soon as I told her about the race there was a sarcastic remark of "that sounds like fun". I decided I would not make her go and instead I drove up to Timpanooke Campground and then road my bike up to Summit Loop. As much as I wanted to do the loop I knew if I did I would miss the riders, so I took the more direct route up to the Summit. When I got the Summit there was a nice little group waiting for the riders. I missed the 300 Warriors, but lucky for me I was there in time to see the pros ride. It is amazing to see them on the road. They ride the hill like it was nothing. The first picture is of the 2 riders that were right after the lead rider, I wasn't quick enough to get him. I am guessing they were about one minute back.

No Parking????

Went with Sally on the a couple of Park City trails yesterday. The weather was perfect, and surprisingly we saw hardly anyone on the trail. We passed 6 riders going up and 2 coming back. For a beautiful day I couldn't believe there were not more riders or hikers out, but nothing. Maybe everyone was down in SLC watching the crit. The trails here are really nice, although I did see something funny on the trail while riding, a No Parking sign! Hmmm....I wonder if this applies to bikes. It was a funny thing to see on the trail.

I think Sally enjoyed these trails as much as I did. Check her out bombing down the hill.

We also got a shot of me going down hill. I think I am always smiling on the bike...it comes from riding with your mouth open and completely loving riding a bike.

Flowers in AF Canyon

Rode AF Canyon today. There are still flowers on the trail--hard to believe it is August.

Ride to Spanish Fork

Map my ride is not entirely accurate. Today I decided I would ride my bike to Spanish Fork to meet with a client. I got on map my ride to pick the route from my house to my office in Spanish Fork. After mapping out my ride it said the entire route would be 20 miles. This is no problem, so I decided to ride to my office and back home. Great way to commute and save on gas. I took off at a good time to get to my office and change before my client arrived. The ride was nice, not too strenuous perfect for a commute ride. There was a small part on the road where there was no shoulder. This kept me on my toes as cars were going by at 50 mph and I hoped they would go around me. The worst part of the ride was in Springville. Springville was great because they have a bike lane, but there was a driver turning and talking on his cell phone at the same time, and didn't pay attention that he had a red light! I had to yell at him and he didn't stop, he only slowed up and made me come to a complete stop (along with the other traffic). After that the ride was uneventful as far as cars were concerned. When I got on to Route 6 I was excited for the upcoming decent. However, there was a head wind, so I ended up pedaling a lot. The ride ended up being 25 miles not 20 which put off my time a little bit for arriving to my office. What I discovered on the ride that riding 6 miles with a computer on your back versus 25 miles is very different. By the end of the ride my back was very sore. I had a difficult time changing riding positions because of the pack. If I could figure a way to take my computer that far I would ride every time I had to go to my Spanish Fork office. I guess I'll have to do some research to see what I can figure out.

Concert Date is Set

For any of you that have not seen the Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert I highly recommend it. We went last year and thought we got more than our money's worth. The concert started at 7:30 pm and ended somewhere between 10:30 and 11:00 pm. There was no opening band, there was no intermission. We watched and listened for over 3 hours straight and never felt it was too long. The music was phenomenal as well as the fireworks and light show. If you can when tickets go on sale I would recommend taking the family. We paid $50 a ticket last year and it was worth every penny.

Wolverine Ridge - Final Icup Race

We left for Wolverine Ridge Friday afternoon. Our first stop was to set up the tent right by the race course. We had the perfect spot right under some trees. After setting up we headed to Karl and Dot's cabin for a spaghetti dinner. We had fun vi sting with them and other Mad Dog Team Members. One of the best parts was when Mandy took on the climbing wall over their fire place. The first time she got discouraged and could not figure out how to get up the wall. After watching Johnny and Joey and a reward of a dollar for anyone who rang the bell on the ceiling, she made it! Johnny and Joey also made it to the bell on the ceiling and were rewarded with a dollar. This was Joey's first time to the top. He is only 5 and made it up their!

After dinner and climbing it was time to go down to our tent to sleep. This ended up not being the experience I had hoped. The goal of sleeping by the race course was to avoid having to get up early, early to get to the kids race. This was a great thought that did not come to fruition. I struggled most of the night sleeping. I would hear sounds and wonder what animals were out there and get worried there was a bear close by. About half way though the night Mandy was cold and ended up sleeping in my sleeping bag with me. It is very difficult to sleep with your arms in the air so there is enough room in the sleeping bag. Eventually about 5:30 I got up, stretched and then tried to lay down to get a couple of more hours of sleep to no avail. Oh well, at least Mandy was warm.

After a fitful night of sleep I went and picked up our packets for the race. It didn't take long to get Mandy ready for her race. This is the first race I think she was determined she wanted to do well. I didn't see the start of Mandy's race because I was in the middle of the course taking pictures. As the group came by Mandy was doing great. She had quit the look of determination on her face. I saw her for all 3 laps, and she did a great job holding her place for the entire race. Mandy was the 1st girl for the 9 and under and she took 6th overall for this race. After the awards for the race. They did the awards for the season. Mandy did really well. She took 4th overall and she took 1st out of all the girls.

Can't get any of the kids to look at the camera at the same time.

I wish I could say my race went as well as Mandy's come, but it was over before it started. About an hour before the race started I go dizzy and light headed and two almost pass out moments where I had to sit down. I went to the ambulance to see how the blood pressure was and make sure everything was okay, and of course blood pressure was borderline 90/60 and my pulse was jumping all over the place it would go from 80 to 100 and anywhere in between. I attribute the pulse jumping to the caffeine pill I had taken an hour earlier. After seeing the paramedics I decide to go a bit of a ride to see how I felt. I noticed as long as my legs were going I did not fell dizzy. I also noticed I couldn't push it or I would get dizzy. I kept hoping I would feel better, but I ended up sitting on the ground waiting for our turn to the start line and the whole time I felt crummy. I decided I would ride at a good pace, but there would be no racing today. This was hard right up to the start. The competitive side of my brain was going you'll be fine you can do this, and the logical side was telling me don't risk it just ride and secure your points for the race. It wasn't until we actually started racing that the logical side won, or at least my body made the logical side win.

At the start line Sally and I got to get a small lead over the other races since we had top points for the season. Dot was not there because she moved over to race Women's Sport. It was definitely weird not having Dot at the start line. At Ed's go Sally took off. She was doing great. She got off to a fast start and I was thinking what a great job she was doing. It was great to see Sally in the lead. Unfortunately it did not last and Theresa (Theresa)passed her right before the downhill to the bridge, and then Jen and I passed her on the downhill to the bridge. The first part of the course is uphill, and I kept a good pace as I rode. Not too hard, but not slow as I did not want this to become a casual ride. Eventually I heard someone come by and I asked who it was and sure enough it was Jolene. If I couldn't win this race I wanted her to win and I knew she could. She is a phenomenally strong rider. Eventually I passed Theresa as well as Jen (Mad Dog). Jen and I visited off and on throughout the next portion of the race. Then we hit the downhill and right at the end of the downhill not surprisingly Theresa passed us. Jen and I kept going at our pace as the next part of the course is a gradual uphill with a smile technical climb into the service road. I joked with Jen about taking turns pulling on the service road. Shortly before the final climb to the service road I shifted to my granny and dropped my chain. And of course watched as Jen rode off. This was the pits. I eventually got my chain on and rode off, but since I couldn't push myself there was no way I would ever pass Jen or Theresa after this. I did see them on the service road and was tempted to push it, but I was more fearful of ending up not finishing the race due to health issues, so I kept my steady pace. After the service road I came to the technical climb and ended up meeting 2 team members going up this hill. I was doing well until I had to pass the second team member who was off his bike and for some unknown reason as he gave me kudos he did not move out of the way and I had to take the yucky line and end up off my bike shortly after that. I have thought about this and even if it is a team member I need to kindly speak up and ask him to move. After getting off I ended up walking to the next flat. As I got to the flat sure enough I look back and see Heather (revolution) behind me. I think Heather forgot I was sick, because she said "I know I am not the person you want to see" Since I wasn't feeling good I told her I was sick and not racing. Of course for the next mile or so as we went on the boardwalk and after you wouldn't know it, because we traded places a couple of times. However eventually she was able to get pass my steady pace. During the downhill portion I was having a blast, but was concentrating very hard on my lines, when all of the sudden a rider came up, announced himself, scared the living daylights out of me because I was so engrossed in my riding and then passed. It was the first set of pros to start to pass. A while later the next pro came by and drew what I thought was the perfect line through a place that is hard to find your line. I decided to follow him....oops this was a mistake. It seems I cannot maneuver my bike as well as a pro and ended up crashing in the big rocks...ouch. I ended up getting bruised and had a bent derailleur, but thank goodness nothing serious. I got up and continued on my way. I ended up finishing the race in 5th place with a pretty good time of 1:56 and no passing out. I had to stay seated after the race. Anytime for the rest of the evening I stood for very long I would get dizzy and ooosy. I had fun at the race, but I keep going back and forth about whether I should have pushed it or not. Since I am still not doing well today I think I made the right choice, but when you are competitive (and I am pretty sure I am) it's hard not to give it your all....it leaves you wondering. I guess I will have to wait until next year.

After the race Jolene and I got to go up to Karl and Dot's to take a a shower. I cannot say this enough, but there is nothing better than taking a shower after a dusty, long race like that. I actually felt refreshed and was happy I did not have to spend the rest of the day stinky and dirty. After cleaning up and hanging out for a bit we took off for the awards for the race and season. Dot took first for the season and a well deserved first. She took 1st place at every race but one. I took 2nd place and Jolene took 3rd place overall.

The cool part of the season was our team took first for the Icup Race and First for trail work points. Anyone on my team knows how bad I wanted us to win as a team. That's why there was always lots of encouragement to get team members out to the race. And it worked. Our team worked hard and we placed first. I don't think you could end the Icup race season on a better note.