I spent Saturday morning at the OBRA Meet the Team Ride. No, I am not looking for a new team. I was there to represent my team, though I almost backed out when I read how far we were supposed to ride. Thirty-five miles? Really? I haven't been on my road bike since mid-August and I was supposed to ride thirty-five miles? God help me.
Fortunately, I survived and everyone else did too, even with a mishap involving a truck and one of the new cyclists. That meant it was time for a little celebration at the Polish Festival, which is reputed to be the largest Polish festival on the West Coast. There must be a distinct lack of Polish Festivals on the West Coast because, while the food was decidedly yummy and the dancing was quite entertaining, it definitely wasn't THAT big. The people watching however- that made it all worth it, even if The Haze ate all of our sausage and pierogis and, oh yeah, all of our cabbage rolls. The girl won't eat vegetables but damn, does she like Polish food. Upon arrival at home, Barkernews promptly rolled himself out the door for the debauchery of the Ironclad party and I was entirely self-indulgent. I sat my butt on the couch and parked it there for several hours. It was awesome.
The next day had one word written all over it: cyclocross. So we heeded the call and drove ourselves to Sam Barlow High School with its nasty run-up and off-camber routes. Barkernews had a respectable placing in his ginormous field of competitors and I ended up sixth in a starting field of 26. How? I don't know. I don't ask questions. I just race and try not to puke.
And then we ended our "relaxing" weekend, thanks to Sallyanne, with a visit to see the swifts at Chapman School. I won't go in to too much detail other than to say that a ton of birds bed down in a chimney for the night and it's pretty dang cool to see. So go watch it for yourself.
So that was it. What the Barkers do when they're not camping, climbing, skiing or avoiding people by hiding out in the National Forest. Pretty boring, huh?
Michelle and I lead the beginner women out. She totally would have beat me if she hadn't crashed in the first lap.
Working in tandem with a girl from Sorella Forte. Not really, but it looks like it.
One seriously steep run-up. You can't see it here, but that thing was heart attack-inducing.
Watching the swifts and craning our necks at the exact same angle.
