Fear of Flying

Usually I am very aware of takeoff when I am on a plane, but on this particular day, I felt a little bit different. The winter had been so cold and snowy, and I was finally en-route to someplace warm, where I hoped to ride my mountain bike on dirt under a warm sun. I looked out the window and I was overcome with a feeling of peace. There is something very comforting about a big, deep, blue sky above. White puffy clouds gave only tiny glimpses of the cold, white, frozen world below. It felt oddly encouraging.

Usually, planes make me a bit uneasy, mostly because to my simple brain, a metal tube flying through the air long distances seems to defy physics. As a child, I did not fly. Actually, my whole family did not fly for a long time. I grew up in a family with fear of flying. As much as I want to say that I am over that phase, there will always be that deeply buried fear. So, what would cause such a fear? … the story of my grandfather’s death.

October 28 1949, Air France Lockhead L-749 Constellation crashes into Monte Redondo, San Miguel Island Azores, killing 11 crew members, and 37 passengers. There is plenty of information available about this crash because Middle Weight boxing World Champion Marcel Cerdan was killed on the same flight. Stories and even a movie were created about Cerdan's life and affair with Edith Piaf. As for my grandfather Raoul, my grandmother was shipped a body thought to be my grandfather. Weeks later a misidentification was reported and my dad had to identify another body which turned out to be my grandfather. He could only identify my grandfather by his teeth.

The whole story seemed kind of creepy to me as a kid, but there is a good reason why my dad told me this story. I am sure it bothered him emotionally at the time, but he looked at death, realized his fragile mortality and decided to keep living. This is something each one of us must do at some point in our life. Fear can keep us alive, it can also keep us from living. There is a time to look past fear and get on living.

My dad is gone, and now Art’s dad is gone too. A little of them is in us both. Whether we care to embrace it or not, it is life.

Today’s journey in my life, is to travel to a sunny place where I will ride my bike, laugh, love and live. I will live a little bit like my dad and Art will live a little bit like his dad. It is a beautiful day! .....Hello Arizona!

Homemade Bone Broth Soups

During the winter, I like to make soup every week. They are healthy, economical and taste yummy on a cold winters day. I usually start with roasting a chicken for dinner. After using most the meat, I save the whole carcass to make bone broth or stock.

Bone broth is an excellent source of minerals and is known to boost the immune system and improve digestion. It's high calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus content make it great for bone and tooth health. Bone broth also supports joints, hair, skin, and nails due to its high collagen content.

In selecting the bones for broth, look for high quality bones from grass fed cattle or bison, pastured poultry, or wild caught fish. Since you’ll be extracting the minerals and drinking them in concentrated form, you want to make sure that the animal was as healthy as possible.




Fill large pot with water. Add:
chicken carcass or bones
1 chopped carrot
1 chopped stalk of celery
½ chopped leek
salt

Cook for 2-3 hours. Let cool, and then run through strainer and remove all bones, skin and cartilage. Use broth to make your favorite soups.

I like a tortilla soup with greens.

Tortilla Soup:
stock
chopped fresh chili or pepper
chili powder
cumin
cilantro
rice
carrots
spinach or kale

Winter Fun and Games

Winters come and go, but this year winter seems colder and icier than most I can remember in the last decade. It is not that we have had any big snow falls this year, just long periods below freezing with some form of ice and snow cover, making it hard to ride my bike outside regularly. I enjoy the big snowfalls that allow for XC skiing , but this year has been lean on that as well. This winters activities have included a few days out skiing on the county golf course and a few scattered days riding the road or trails when the conditions have allowed, but in all it has not seemed like a lot.

One thing I have noticed is the feeling of real winter when I am outside. The kind of real winter that I have not noticed in a while. Whether real winter just has not been or I have been in too much denial to notice it during the past decade, is something I do not know. It just seems to be here now.

I have been re-acquainted with the squeaky sound of walking on snow, and cold dry air that freezes my snot. There have been days so cold, that cold doesn't feel cold anymore. As long as the sun shines, I am happy. I feel a tad out of sorts not spending time with bikes each day, but the bike has been replaced with my puffy coat. My puffy coat has been a good friend that I never leave home without these days. Right now I can only dream of the day when I strip down to my skin, leave my coat behind and feel the sun and wind once again on my arms. This thought keeps me going.

Appalachian Hike

Winter Arrives in New Jersey

As a cyclist, winter is something I endure more than enjoy. I know that without black, we would not have white and without rest we would not have strength. The seasons are a perfect combination that I am lucky to experience. Winter just seemed to come fast this year.

December rolled in and so did winter. Christmas is only a week away, and already three snowstorms and the woods are covered under a blanket of snow. I have already tried to hike on ice, ride my mountain bike on icy roads and XC ski on crusty snow. All of which fall into the endure category. There is no doubt that the snow and ice have been beautiful, but winter conditions outside have not been ideal just yet.

The really good news is that the days are already getting longer, which means the countdown to spring is not all that far away. So, in the mean time, there is plenty of hope for some winter fun and perhaps a few long rides when the weather allows.

Crossing Over

After 11 weeks recovering from a sprained ankle, I am finally able to race cyclo-cross. I gave it a few experimental tries in October, but came up short and felt like I needed more time to recover enough to handle the basic off the bike part of cross. As it turns out, this forced time off of racing has almost been a gift. The weather this fall has been so wonderful, and this free time has allowed me to do some great mountain biking. I did so much mountain biking that I could almost say I was getting tired of riding. I have a hard time admitting that I could be sick of riding my mountain bike, but yes, pixy needs a break from her favorite thing now and then, and that is where cyclo-cross fits into the plan.

I took my lack luster attitude on the mountain bike as a sign to do something else, and signed up to race CX at Fair Hill. Fair Hill has a really fun course and Art agreed to ride White Clay on Friday to make for a worthwhile drive south. I nearly fell asleep on my White Clay ride, and I feared that CX would not go well. However, that was not the case. I had such a good race, that I decided to race HPCX the next day. Somehow, I fell right back into racing like I never missed a beat, and somehow I was back to racing every weekend.

Yesterday was Supercross Cup: The 3/4 women had an 8:45 start and were cut to 30 minutes. It hardly seemed worth getting up at 5:00 am to do 3 - 7minute laps, so I checked my options. I had never raced with the men before, but I decided to race my age group with the men, as it would be a better training option. This would mean I would get a full 45minute race. It also meant that I would be out there with Art. Art was second to be called to the start, and before the front row was full, they called my name. I was a little flustered as I assumed I would take the back row, but I ended up right next to Art in the front row. Art looked to me and said “I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to do this but” and he raised his hand to high five me. As we did our high five, I heard “15 seconds”, and we were off!

Amazingly, I held onto the whole group to the bottom of the first hill, then a few, including Art, got away, but I still had a few in my sight in front as well as a few already behind me. Not a bad place to be, I thought. Then I clipped my foot on the barriers, nearly tripping myself. The barriers were a tad tall for me to clear on the up hill with my short legs and weak ankle. From there on, the course got fun with twists, roots, holes, ups, downs and even the stupid curbs. I can’t say I liked the cubs, or even felt comfortable jumping them, but I made the most of what I could do with them, and made it work in my favor somehow.

As much as I love racing the ladies in the Mac series, I enjoyed the lack of expectations that came with this day of racing with the men. I felt a certain freedom with it, and of course one of the extra perks is the heckling and hand ups that do not always take place with the women’s B races. I managed to grab a cookie on the run up. My heart rate was so high that I did not want to eat it right there in fear of puking, so I stuffed it in my skin suit. Instantly, it started bouncing in my bra and driving me crazy. So in between technical sections, I managed to dig it out and stuffed it under my pant leg.

Later I rolled in with 5 very consistent laps (ranging from 7:31 to 7:42) to take a mid pack 6th place. I took a cool down lap and ate my yummy ,warm and now, salty cookie. By the time I found my way to finish line, Art had taken 2nd place. ….A good day all around representing our age group.


Photo by Christy Perkins


Photo by Christy Perkins

Pictures and Words

There is a saying that goes something like " A picture is worth a thousand words". I am not in any way trying to challenge or prove such a statement. I'm just pointing out that with all that a picture can say, there is much that it can not say. Things like: the sweet smell of rotting leaves and decomposing ferns. The feeling of salty, wind irritated tears mixing with sweat on my cheeks. The rhythmic knocking sound of a pileated woodpecker on a nearby tree. My pounding heart trying to climb a rock face at the top of a hill. These are all what make each mountain bike ride a chapter in an ongoing story; the story in the life of a mountain biker.







All the pictures in this post were taken within 5 minutes of each other, at one location, in the middle of a ride, on a cloudy fall day.

Transition Autumn

Pixy vs Spider

Although I have recently made several attempts at getting inspired to blog, nearly a month has passed since I have connected any words to my thoughts. While life continues every second, it is sometimes hard to determine what is meaningful enough to share. While some people may blog for blog sake, I really don’t think all of what I do is all that interesting, nor do I have the writing skills to make these things seem interesting, but here is my humble attempt.

So what has been going on?.... I raced Mountain Creek, and was enjoying the last few lingering, easy, late summer rides in the woods, that were spent randomly riding into spider webs. If you have not experienced this, it may be because I have cleared them for you. It is not something I plan doing or even enjoy doing, but is more of my accidental destiny. When I am riding along, blissfully in flight, I only see the trail, not the fragile bug traps that the spiders have so intricately build across my path. Once a busy spider, and then whoosh, they are riding along on my helmet, soon to be tossed off in a new place.

Most the spider webs are down with weekend traffic, but by mid week they are all back up. As much as the spiders on my face creep me out, it is nice to know that they also have a use for our trails. I like to think that we share the trails, and if you ever look closely at a spider web, they are truly amazing. I am saying this with great respect as a trail builder. The webs have a purpose and follow a natural order. They are also built by hand with tiny hands or legs.

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Then there was the MTBNJ Short Track, which I entered as training for Cyclocross that was coming in September. I took a very minor spill, but somehow managed to sprain my ankle. Three days on crutches, a week completely off the bike and 6 weeks no running or jumping allowed. So it looks like racing cross is on hold for me right now.



It could be way worse, and I am super stoked to be able to ride my bike in some form again. After a few weeks, I finally left my flat neighborhood and rode some hills in Harriman. I felt positively renewed with my climbing attitude since my last Harriman road ride. Many of us ride often, pushing the limits of our mental and physical strength, and we can get trapped in a mediocre place if we bypass needed rest. An injury can give us a chance to rest both mentally and physically. I am not sure if this was the case for me, but I enjoyed my ride and rode quite well considering the muscle imbalances I currently have from my sprain.

Excited from my road ride, I ventured out the next morning to do a mountain bike ride in the woods for the first time since my injury. When I arrived, I went behind a tree to pee and noticed the random pattern of the bark, and the pattern of the leaves on a tiny plant: seemingly random yet with a purpose and a natural order. As I walked back to my car, I walked through my first spider web of the day. On the trail, I noticed the colors of the forest had become more brown. Summer was winding down, and a few weeks off the bike had made it more noticeable.

The morning sun was low and lit up the spider webs in spots. Maybe I just needed to be injured to ride slower and see them, but they were quite beautiful. I was able to save a few by ducking under, but some just fused to my sweat.

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Many have asked me about dealing with missing racing, and yes, it was disappointing to miss the first few cross races, but it’s the little things on my summer mountain bike rides that I miss the most when I am off the bike. Racing is about fitness, but mountain biking is about happiness. A healthy racer needs to be happy on the bike. I am currently working on happiness.

909 Test Racing Pivot 429 Carbon

H2H 909 is one my favorite race courses. The course is not overly technical or rocky, but has some really fun and flowing single track, giggle bursting momentum sections and the longest sweetest descent that I swear goes on for what seems like 15 minutes. This year I was racing and testing my new Pivot 429 Carbon in it's first XC race. I had been racing a steel 29er hardtail for 2 years and I was excited to race this super cool looking bike. I was so excited, that I chose to ride full suspension over my trusty hard tail on a fairly smooth course.

I was unsure of how I would fair on a full suspension bike on the slightly uphill gravel road start, but the Pivot rode surprisingly lighter, almost effortlessly with the combination of larger wheels, lateral stiffness and lack of wheel deflection. I also want to mention that I was running NoTubes Raven 2.2 tires which are very supple, making my wheel lock to the ground until the moment I decide to leave the ground. Those of you that know me, know that I do not leave the ground often, but 909 is one place I may vary from my habits. More on that later.

The pivot descends and rails turns like a bullet, and what really surprised me was how well it climbed. For a bike that felt so plush, the DW-link supplied an efficient and light feel climbing bike, especially in rolling terrain. On steep sections, I could stand and make it happen easier than a hard tail. I was able to get through my last lap climbs very easily even though the bike was slightly heavier than my hard tail.

I sat as 3rd woman behind 2 pros for 2 and a half laps. Then my team mate caught up to me, and I convinced her to go in front of me on the long climb since she was on a single speed and I did not want to force her off her bike if I slowed. I ended up getting a bug in my eye, causing tearing and then clipping a tree with my wider handlebars on the forever high speed downhill, and going for a tumble. Amazingly, the bike was still between my legs, derailieur side down completely unharmed. I did have some cuts, bruises, abrasions and stiff neck, but was lucky to have no broken bones or serious injuries. This fall supplied me with my one "tires off the ground" experience for the day, and it was proof that this bike makes me want to go fast. I was back on my bike in less than 30 seconds and rode in as first Cat 1 female.

My minor injuries kept me off the bike for almost a week, but I am on the mend. I also had Art cut my bars down yesterday after I clipped a few trees riding at Wawayanda.



Pivot 429 Carbon Size small with Fox Float CTD Kashima
Fox 32Fit 120 CTD Trail Adjust Kashima
Sram XX 2x10
Sram X0 Type 2 DR
NoTubes Race Gold wheels
NoTubes Raven 2.2 tires
Easton EC70 seatpost and EA90 stem




Besides being a great performing bike, the Pivot 429 Carbon has some really nice details such as: internal cable routing, dropper seat post routing, rubberized protection on chain stay and bottom of down tube, and anodized headset, seat post clamp and pivots. For me, one of the selling points was the curved, notched top tube allowing stand over for a shorter legged rider like myself.






Although this bike is sold as a XC bike, which it still is, it descends quite plush like a 5 inch travel bike. I would highly recommend this bike for riding the rocky terrain here in Northern New Jersey. Get into Campmor and check one out, if interested!