Coming Back...

I am rarely sick; but when I do get sick, it is usually only a cold that lasts about a week or so. Even though I am only sick for a short amount of time I absolutely DESPISE it (especially when it is nice and sunny)! I have always been active. I am always  running around doing something, so when I get sick all of the sudden, I have to lay in bed all day long, listening to everybody outside having a good ol' time. It is torture! Why don't you just hang me from my toes and cut my fingers off one by one, then stab small little needles through my feet ??? Sadly *sigh*, everybody has to get sick once in a while.

I was sick a month ago, for two weeks. Actually, I could have only been sick for ONE week. It was the third morning of coming down with the cold; I was feeling much better that day, but I was not completely better. I went out saying that I felt better and that I thought I was not sick anymore. The whole day I worked in the garden, I worked pretty hard because I was excited. The next day, I was congested all over again! Typical Aliya! Never patient when I am sick! During the two week time of being sick, I still rode my bike on the trainer (I rode very easy), so I would not loose too much of my fitness.

Well... After I was completely better, I went to MTB with some friends... and, crashed! RIGHT AFTER I WAS COMPLETELY BETTER! I had a minor concussion, and a lot of road rashes! Got a BIG dent in my helmet.

So I had to get a new one! I love it because it is blue!!!

Well crashing put me off the bike for two more days, then I had to ride on the trainer for a little while longer. Soon I was on the road again training.

Coming back from getting sick and crashing has been hard. I know what my fitness level was before I was sick and crashed, and now, it is hard for me to preform at those levels. I have gone through my legs feeling like soggy noodles while climbing, usually I can climb pretty well too!

This weekend I raced a sanctioned race, Copperopolis Road Race (RR). It was a fun course but pretty bumpy. I was pretty excited about the race because the last couple days of training, I felt very good! The 13-14 girls were racing with the 13-14 boys. I decided that I would try to hang with the guys for as long as I could, and hopefully all of the other girls would drop off the back so I could just time trial it all the way to the finish. There was this one girl that I never raced against before that looked pretty strong. Her name was Avery Morin. I talked to her before the race and learned that she was a down hill MT biker. I decided then, that I wanted to get as far away from her as possible, before the descend (Which I heard was very tactical). I am not the best descender!

Well my plan was working out very well until 9 miles to the finish. The whole race, I was looking over my shoulder to see if Avery was behind me, soon I was feeling very confident that she was far behind. Then out of no-where she was right next to me! It was like she had a bungee cord latched to my seat post and was pulled her way up! The descent was not as tactical as I though it would be... it is just very bumpy!We flew down it! I was surprised, because she was a little ways behind me when we were going down the hill! I thought well maybe I could loose her. Then, I saw the 1 km to go sign. It was like it popped out of nowhere! Then Avery began to pass me. I picked up my speed so I could stay in the draft and launch myself past her at the finish line! My legs were burning so bad! I could not hang on any longer, I lost her. She finished not to far ahead of me.

I enjoyed that race 1. because I began to feel my body preform like it did again and 2. because I met some new people (oh.. and 3. because I still won a T-shirt)!!! What more could anyone ask for???



Ashley and me waiting for the jr. roll-out!



The jrs waiting for the race to start!



Avery Morin and me talking!!!



The girls in jr. 13-14 category



A great new friend



laughing and crashing: The Tuesday Mtb rides.

For the past three weeks,I have been holding mtb rides every Tuesday at 3:30. We meet at One-Mile, near the bridge and take off! Last Tuesday, upper park trails were open, so of course, we were all over them! We went up North Rim, 'til we came to the 'B' trail!

For all of you who have not heard of 'B' trail, it is insanely rocky,with weird twists and turns. The trail is very narrow and if you fall, you need to fall towards the mountain, if not you will go tumbling down a cliff (you might get to the bottom faster though)! There are boulders in the most random places ready to kill you. 'B' trail is known for brutally breaking bones! Whoever has gone down 'B' trail.... you are FREAKY CRAZY!!! That means I am calling myself freaky crazy, because last Tuesday, we went down 'B' trail! I survived going down 'B' trail, and ironically crashed afterwards!!!

There are so many differences between mnt biking and road biking, and most of the time I mtb by myself.
One thing I learned was you can not go to close to somebodies wheel when you mtb! I was pretty close to one guys wheel, he put on his brakes, and I tried to avoid hitting him, but ended up doing so anyways! When I got up, I really did not feel hurt, the thing that scared me was that I could not remember some things like what day it was. Soon I remembered it was Tuesday ONLY because I had an Algebra 1 class that day!

I came out of the crash with some bruises, bumps, scrapes, and a mild concussion, but I am recovering (of course frozen yogurt immediately afterwards was a big help)!!! Anybody is welcome to come out and ride (They should at least have some basic mnt biking skills though, like shifting)! Thank you everybody who came out last week, had a great time!! See you all next Tuesday!