Squash Blossom: The High Desert Screamer!

This race was way fun because we got Brad, Kimball, and Jonny to come along! We rode up Friday night and stayed at a sleazy Super 8, where some random Indian guy walked into Kimball's room at 3 in the morning, and then raced Saturday morning!

Here are the random highlights of the short, but fun trip:

The medals they gave you for winning!

The boys before the race. Such a nice day out! Couldn't have asked for better weather.
Michael in the hotel parking lot. (Notice our rental car since someone decided to slam into the Honda!)

Jonny got third place in his category! Right after the race with the whole crew!

The boys at the starting line.

Mike at the starting line checking his wheel. He rode up the road with the "cream of the crop" in his category. He was flying!!

Overall it was such a beautiful day and a VERY fun coarse. A favorite of Mike's. I liked it because after doing Horny Toad, it seemed so much easier and I was a lot more confident ont he technical parts. I was so proud of Brad cause his cassette screwed up, but he fixed it and went on and finished the race. Michael got seventh which was two steps up from last year (considering all the people ahead of him were from up north). I got second overall and first in my category! P.S. It felt good to beat the girl at Cedro who beat me there and Santa Fe. :)

Highlights of The Horny Toad Hustle

Horny Toad Hustle is a race on our own home court, the Dona Ana Mountains. We have been practicing really hard because we wanted to make sure we "claimed" our home turf!

These are a little out of order, but here are the highlights of the race!

Jared came and took third in Cat 3 19-29, even with a blown out knee! Brad and Jared raced too in their categories but we never got any pictures of them! Brad has a sweet video clip if I can get it uploaded.

Michael got a great time of 1 hour and 49 minutes and got fifth overall in a VERY hard category!
Here I am coming in after a VERY HOT race. I drank like six cups of water after coming in! I ended up getting second in 30-39 SPORT and third out of all of the girls!

Mike getting ready for the race. P.S. We truly believe that Starbucks oatmeal is the best breakfast before a race!

Overall: A very hot race. The road up to the top of the mountain is the hardest uphill ever, but so worth it when coming down off of it.

Smokin' Ray gave me a Border Patrol jersey to wear, so during the race I had some guys yelling that they were illegal and running into the bushes.

Another thing about this race is that it is so random. At one point a guy in a grimreaper outfit stands at the hardest technical part and watches you. When I went by, he goes "Liiiizzz Baaarrroow". I was freaking out wondering how he knew my name! Come to find out it was Pablo from Outdoor Adventures.

What a fun race!

Dirt, Bruises, and Sport

The last race I did was Cedro Peak. During the race, I hit a huge boulder and well, my front tire flew off! I hit the ground really hard. I hurried and made sure all of my bones weren't broken and threw my tire back on and took off.

I was riding sport, so I wanted to make sure none of the beginners would catch me because I had just decided last minute to switch to sport (which meant doing 15 miles instead of 6 miles). So I think my pride got the best of me when I decided to jump up without checking out my arm.

Well....this is what it looked like a few days later...

And well, I made it to the finish line! I did it in 1 hour and 50 minutes. I didn't win, but I did beat three sport girls.
I'll take it! Ha Ha

P.S. Horny Toad is coming up and it is so hard! I swear I'm going to fall again! I just pray to make it through without getting hurt. This one is 19 miles!

I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!

Again, this like a month late, but I wanted to put these pictures on so bad! So I finally got the guts to go to the Whaley house in San Diego. I've been many times to the outside and it freaked me out, but finally Mike went with me inside. According to Ghost Hunters, it is one of the most haunted houses in America. They have done stories on it and even did a ghost hunter show on it.

When we went inside, it was night time. The tour guide gave us historical accounts as well as stories of things that have happened to visitors as they walk around. For example, a shost dog will lick your leg, a little girl will pull your hair, a brush of your hand by a little boy, etc. The whole time I had my arms folded and straight faced.

This room was the freakiest for me. The dolls in the window were the scariest things in the house!

Mike was so nuts. After we left, he wanted to go check out the cemetary where all the people were buried. I was so nervous cause it was really dark out. People always say when you see little circles in your pictures that they are called "orbs" or energy you get from ghosts. Not a huge believer in that, but there are some orbs in this picture.
I hate creepy portraits. This room really got to me. Look on the left hand side of the room. It looks like a shadow!

I was sitting in the back of the theatre while the tour guide was talking. Honestly, I didn't feel freaked out at all during the tour. I think I mentally prepared myself not to be sensitive. BUT, at this point I kind of freaked myself out in this room and kept thinking someone was going to be sitting in this back corner.

I hate little carriages and they had marbles set up all ready to play with, just asking for the ghosts to play with them!

Overall, nothing happened. But it was fun to say we tried it out! :)

Signal Peak Challenge

This was seriously like a month ago, but as you can tell, I am blogging everything at once to catch up on stuff going on around here.

First up, Signal Peak Challenge. Due to my crash in Cedro and the fact that I hadn't been to church in almost a month, I decided to sit out on the race and head home to church. BUT, I did camp with the crew before heading back to Cruces.

We had a good time riding around, making SMORES, looking at the stars, and best of all, enjoying the great outdoors. Signal Peak is really pretty. We want to camp out there sometime!

This was Mike taking off on the starting line....boy this was a hard race!

All of the racers.
Mike and company...including a dog. P.S. A yellow lab chased Mike's group all the way up to the top of the mountain!

Mike getting some wood for our campfire!

Lisa goofing off!

Thomas's son Matthew. Such a cute kid and has guts to ride through mud like that.

The nasty rain clouds on the way up. We were luck to miss it!

Overall, a VERY hard race. Some people did not finish. Mike finished in seventh. I hear its the hardest race of the season.