A little time in heaven: BCSP

I think its pretty safe to say that Brown County pretty much fits me to a tee. I love to go there whenever I have the chance and it kills me to come back to the Northern part of the state. I come back only because I love my job, the people I work for and the people I work with. Aside from that, I would move in a heartbeat and so would my family. If I play the cards right (which I'm doing) I will have a vacation home there in the next 10 years and look forward to that day. Until then, I visit as much as I can. The last week I took Mom and we headed down for her annual Mother's day trip to a nice cabin in the woods. Its a dual trip for me as I also get my share of bike time in while I'm there. We took Sunday to get settled in and then the rest of the week I was blessed with the bcsp for longer trail rides. It is a great place to ride and I loved every minute of it! 

Mom and I had a great time and we even had a guest cat at our cabin that helped us feel right at home since we always miss our cats when we are gone. 

There is just something about having a little animal around to keep a smile on your face. This big guy was awesome and due to his Kiss like marking we named him Kiss for a few days. 

After about 4 days it was back to work for Mom, so I came home to make a quick drop- off of her and grabbed to camper, did some laundry and headed back to BC.

After cruising around the trails for several days, it was up to higher heart rate times to get in the DINO race #2 of the year. I was feeling a little "okay" with this race because it involves a lot more climbing than my big frame is skilled at. I woke up that morning feeling just okay, but ready to get racing. I saw I had some great competition show up and was really happy about that since I thought a lot of people might opt for the AL US Cup race. We had a great field of almost 20 gals line up! How sweet is that? 

I knew the steep hill at the beginning would kill, but  it really wasn't that bad. I paced up the first part, then picked up the hurt on the second half. Pretty good plan since I started dead last on the first part, but made it up to third by the midway point. I know I had the training to recover from the first section and was counting on some of the girls burning a few of their matches.  I know my weakness and tried to limit my losses as much as I could, but as a result AnnaJean D. was well ahead of me by the time we dropped in the woods. After that I focused on working up to second, which really didn't take me too long once we got to the more technical sections. At that point I was trying to salvage as much time as I could to the leader, but I simply wasn't the best rider on the coarse that day. I knew I would need to feel great in order to do that, but I really did not and just felt okay. Despite that, I felt I recovered well from the climbs and nailed the downhill technical portions as much as I hoped. I feel my cornering is really coming around which will only help me in the near cross future.  I think that mtb is a great place to gain some technical finesse for cross, especially in the women's field where having the ability to handle the bike plays big gains in results. 

I finished second in the race, holding off a late charge by the KY gang of Kiersta Tucker and Terri Meek. I did the best I could, even though I still look forward to a win at all times. The rest of the DRT squad had some great results with Andy Messer at 3rd in expert and Josh Johnson 3rd for sport open. Zach E. also had a strong result. Not to mention showings by Chad Murphy, David Coar, Scott Wagner, Coach Don G., and Dave Strole. Great job everyone! It was good to see everyone out to get their race on!

In foot/ ankle news: the ankle surgery part is getting stronger, I continue my PT at home a few times a week. The dislocations continue, but right now I feel I have more time before that surgery needs done. My lateral foot pain that I had before surgery has returned in a big way and now feels like a ice pick being jammed in my foot every time I go over any type of a bump. After talking with the surgeon, we have decided to get a MRI to see if there is a fracture or more torn ligaments. I'm so frustrated with this injury that it is making me crazy. I am trying to figure out what is going on, but I feel I just keep hitting dead ends. At this rate, I don't think I can walk without a limp for much longer, but am hoping something is just flaired up right now. But for some reason I have reasoned in my mind that I should have no problem with 'cross. Crazy, I know. But it would take a lot to keep me down at this point.