Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Two Chicks and a Chickasaw Trace



Let me back track a few days first. Bo and I were sick this past weekend. I think we caught some form of the flu from Briar, or something. Briar had the flu last week, and we thought we had escaped, but Bo started getting sick last Tuesday. I didn't feel too awfully bad over the weekend, other than a really bad sore throat, but it turned Saturday's "what should have been easy 5 mile run" into an "OMG I'm going to die before I get home and I have only been running 30 minutes" type of deal. Whew...gotta hate those days. With the lack of motivation I've been suffering from lately, I don't need too many more of those. I need the "Wow, what a beautiful sunrise. I've run 10 miles and feel like I could run 10 more with no problem. It's good to be alive!" type of runs. But anyways, I guess you play the hand your dealt as best you can and hope for a better one the next time.

So I changed the game on Sunday. H, K, and I traveled 2 hours to Chickasaw Trace MTB Park to check out the 9 miles of trails. K is an experienced rider here, he has even won his class at the race before, so H and I were happy to have his expert help. While K was still getting his bike ready, I rode a little loop of the very beginning of the trail, and got nervous right off the bat. So I went back and got H and took her to ride it, and she got nervous too. But we got over it before we took off with K! We had a blast riding the 9 miles of trails at Chickasaw Trace. Check out the pics:
I got passed by this guy


H checking out a steep descent. There was a sign posted here that said "Danger: Dismount Recommended"

But did we dismount?


No! Here is K showing us how it's done


And H coming on down


Note: I came down , too, we just didn't get a picture of it ;)

I tried this hill 3 times and never made it to the top.


H climbing


...and we both went down


Grinding it out...


Up a hill and over a rock!

The main reason we made this trip is because there are some events going on there this coming weekend that I'm going to give a try. First of all, there is 15k trail run this Saturday on the these trails that I have signed up for. It will be my first time to enter a trail race, so that's going to be fun. I haven't really been training specifically for it or anything, so it's pretty much going to be a good, hard training run. I hope to gain some trail experience and have fun. The next day, there is a mountain bike race - the same course we rode here Sunday. I have waivered back and forth as to whether or not I was going to race it, and I have about decided to just dive in. I asked my cycling friend, Chip, about it, and he said the water's fine. K seems to think so, too. Besides, I'm about sick of being a coward. I don't like being timid and scared of everything unknown, and I have a tendency to be that way sometimes. I know I'm not going to be competitive at all - since I've only actually been mountain biking 3 times in my life - but hey - why not? What's there to lose? (besides an arm or a leg, right?) haha - just kidding. I'm going to start in the back and take it easy...just get a feel for what MTB racing is like.


16 comments:

Brooke said...

You are SO my hero. WOW.

tri-mama said...

I love mtn biking and trail running-if I wasn't such a chicken I'd probably love it more. but it's got to be great conditioning for your legs. I hear some cross training calling.

RunBubbaRun said...

That's pretty awesome. The more I trail run the less I like running on the road.. I'm too chicken to to do mtn biking racing thou...

You look great out there.. A mtn bike race. Way cool.. Remember just add a swim and you have xterra?

Triteacher said...

Wow - now that is something to write home about! You are tough!

Unknown said...

Yippee, Lana! Another awesome runner/cyclist comes over to the dark side.

Papa Louie said...

Looks like a beautiful place. Have fun with the races.

Lance Notstrong said...

That looks like alot of fun and you guys look like pros already :-)

Lance Notstrong said...

That looks like alot of fun and you guys look like pros already :-)

Michele said...

I am so glad you are having fun with the mountain biking.
Good luck at both races this weekend.

BTW, you will NEVER get me on a mountain bike, I am TOO old!!!

walchka said...

Some hardcore biking going on. You all rock!

Great pics too. :)

Phil said...

Cool pics .. now that's biking even I can understand. I liked your reference to the "dismount" sign. Who needs to dismount! Great ride.

TJ said...

Looks like yall had a lot of fun.
Good luck with your racing.

Rachel said...

Thos are some great pics! Hope you're okay after your fall. That's kind of funny how you both went down. I think I have to go out and get me a MTB!

Backofpack said...

You are gonna have so much fun running the trails! I don't know about the biking though...

The pictures look great - what an adventure!

jessica said...

lana have you ever heard of the marathon de sables? I just saw this awesome video on it and I'm wondering what a fellow runner has to say about it : http://travelistic.com/video/show/2858

Stephanie said...

you look so cool on that bike. wow.
one day i want to mountain bike, too. i just love the bad looks!!!!!!!!!