a weekend of 1st(s)

kickin' off the weekend
On Friday afternoon Kathy picked Chris and I up at Purgatory to head to a mountain bike festival in Palisade. From what I had read about the race, it felt like a first generation event...a grass roots, lets go race because we love to race and lets put on an event because we want to have fun! So off we went. Kathy had our bikes packed and brought Bread cookies and bottled water for my first drive over Red Mountain Pass. We arrived at Kathy’s brothers house and were greeted with food, wine and a neighborhood block party! The racers turned into pumpkins at midnight while the rest of the hood stayed up ‘til dawn, sampling wine at Dave and Michelle’s Bed and Breakfast hideaway next to the orchard.

morning came early
I shoved down some toast with peanut butter and enjoyed 2 cups of coffee while getting my costume on. We got on our bikes at 7, rolled through town to the dirt roads winding up Horse Mountain and to registration. We picked up our race packets which included a t-shirt, water bottles, stickers, bars, gels and beer, chili and raffle coupons. How much fun is this? A free beer! This Wisconsin-ite felt at home.
The race began as the sun was rising over majestic Mt. Garfield. All racers took off together with Chris "Svetz" Stevenson and Alex "the hair" Hagman at the front. They pulled us over the 15 minute climb only to flat on the rugged, rocky descent. My motto became: it only takes one. Meaning one rock to ruin your day (a reflection on my Phoenix TT). There was a pro chick, Jennifer, up front who was killin' it...and me. I could see her in the distance drafting with her guy teammates through the windy Roubaix. I contemplated my decision to not go out hard but now I've missed the train...hmmm...it's always a gamble. The lap continued with a grueling, gradual climb mixed in with short, steep climbs followed by singletrack through the orchards and finishing with a rock garden descent. Dang this is rough! An hour lap with 2 to go. Kathy was in the feed along with a lot of excited volunteers handing up water and cheering us on. I set out for lap 2 knowing that I had to keep riding smart...eat, hydrate, monitor energy expenditure, keep momentum but don't get crazy. As I started my 3rd lap the spectators gave me a split of 1 minute. Sure enough, there's Jennifer. I caught her on the climb, recovered on the descent, pinned it through the Roubaix to the orchard and I was home free! My first win of the year.

all done, time to eat
The race was followed by an all day festival - beer, pizza, ice cream, a chili cook off, a bmx contest, a live band, dancing, raffles and awards. I think the whole town showed up. Annie and I turned in our free beer coupons as we waited for awards. I won DT Swiss rims and scored 2 pair of socks from the sales rep. What a great day! Thanks to Jim for an incredible event!

girl-y time
On Sunday I spent the morning with Nicole, my first friend born in the 2000’s. We played Magic 8 ball (which told us Liam really does like Nicole!), Barbies, parachute man, wooden block game, read stories, wrote stories, drew pictures, colored Snoopy, painted nails and sang along with Britney Spears karaoke (Kiera, where were you?).
Before heading back to Durango, Nicole and I ran to Target where we had icies and bought each other PINK pillows, PINK flip flops, fruity lip gloss and fashion trading cards out of the $1.00 bin. What more could a girl ask for?