Adding to my ribbon collection

Another week, another mountain bike race. This time I chose the beginner category (1 lap instead of 2 or 4), so I did 5 miles, which was plenty for me. The course was different this week, and it was more ups and downs instead of just one loooong uphill and quick downhill. However, I did have to walk some of the uphills unlike the last 2 weeks, because I would come across a quick change in pitch and I couldn't shift quickly enough to keep my speed up.

Nevertheless, I got first place in my division! The funny thing was, I thought there were several girls in my age group, so I kept trying to pass all these females that I would come up to. But it turns out there were only 2... At least I came out on top instead of bottom, and got a pretty great workout! My fridge is now starting to get crowded with blue ribbons, hehe. ;-)

Here's a cool video of last week's race --



Those are the "experts", and they are freakin' crazy. In fact, the camera guy is on a single speed. They finish 2 laps before I've even finished my first. Just so you know, none of that video was sped up -- they're really going that fast. It's my goal not to get lapped by all of them by the end of the summer, but I don't know if that'll really happen... These guys are also pretty much all over the age of 35, by the way. I hope to be in that good of shape when I hit 40.

Also, one of the students who was here for the last clinical affiliation stayed on for another month before she has to go back to school, and I have been hanging out with her a bit. She's staying with a couple of girls up on Big Mountain, one of which I have also hung out with, and they like to bike -- one mountain bikes, the other road bikes and occasionally mountain bikes. So I'm excited to have some girls to ride with! I don't mind riding with the guys but I'd like to have someone more my speed. They also like to do a bunch of other stuff so I'm sure we'll be hanging out quite a bit. I'm actually canoeing with some of them on Sunday -- this time without the race part, so that should be a little more fun!

Now, off to go rollerblading!