Mountain Bike Monday - Urban Assault Pit Crew

On Saturday, we met up with our Cohutta 100 friends to watch/cheer Brett and Jim on in their race, the Urban Assault Mountain Bike Race. This was part of the Dominion Riverrock event in Richmond.

Would you ever believe that downtown Richmond had such awesome trails and scenery if I didn't tell you? Well, it does! Here's a "bridge" riders must cross. Notice there aren't any railings. I'm not sure what this used to be?!?!?

We saw them take off at the start line, which was closer to Brown's Island. Then, we got in the car and headed to the southside of the river (James River for the non-locals) to Forest Hill Park where we parked and hiked in to watch at various points.

We first caught Brett rounding the corner of a little rocky ledge...

Then, we saw Jim at the top of the hill taking on the switchbacks!

And, Brett..

Then, we waited for them to tackle the rocky climb after riding through the stormdrain. Notice the grafitti heart on the side of the wall of the drain!

Here they come...What determination! It is quite a hill to climb. It's wet, rocky, and steep...

Here's Jim...

And, here is the faithful pit crew/cheering squad hiking to the next spectator location!

And, this dog was so patient the whole time...

Here are a couple more photos of downtown...

And, the weekend wouldn't be complete if we didn't share details of our ride together on Sunday evening at the Park.

We tackled the Lakeview Trails at Poco, which were in great shape even though we had a little rain the night before. There was a beautiful glow from the sun across the lake!

I checked out 2 red sections of trails, rode a little of it and walked a bit, but am ready to start trying new stuff. So, next time I'm doing them! And, I rode over a pretty big log I've not tackled before. All in all it was a great ride. I felt excellent and strong! Not much complaining. MUTT did great! He is a rockstar!

We just beat the downpour of rain! We finished up about 12 miles of singletrack. We cut it a little short since it was starting to thunder. As soon as we got in the truck the sky opened up.

It was a "Good ride, hun" kind of ride!

Hope your weekend was as awesome as ours was!

flowers for mom

Sorry for the delay in posting the card I made for Dynamo's mom, but the mailman held it hostage for a few days, and I wanted to be sure she had actually received it before I posted it.

This card was actually my very first free motion sewn card, but I couldn't post it last week because it was for the special occasion!

I was so excited to learn this new technique that I went on to do more cards! But, I wanted Mrs. C to have the first one because it was made just for her, with her in mind.

I even made the envelope that we sent it in!

a mother's day mini book

This is a mini book that I put together for my mom for Mother's Day! I meant to give it to her in person when we saw her on Sunday, but I left it at home on the counter. So, she got it a little late!

On the inside I filled it with collaged pretties and little thank yous for her.

Still sewing...

I think I've got a little addiction to these free motion sewn cards! I love the collage look. There's not a lot of structure to these...you just let the needle go where it will! This card was made for a lady in our Girls' Night Out group that recently had surgery! I wanted to send her a note to cheer her up.

Leave it to Stampin' Up! to have the best sentiments! Speaking of Stampin' Up!...did you see the new Summer Mini Catalog that's out?!?!

But, a card isn't complete without a decorated envelope! So, I made this one by hand using a page from a vintage children's book!

I wanted something bright and cheery! I know it doesn't match the card itself, but who cares! I wanted her to laugh when she got it!

Mountain Bike Monday - Cap2Cap Half Century Recap

On Saturday we participated in the Cap2Cap 50 mile road ride! We had been reading about how much fun this ride is, so we decided to give it a try! It was a lot of fun and it was something we could do together. It wasn't a race, but instead a nice social ride to raise money for the Virginia Captial Trail Foundation.

Here, Dynamo is getting my bike ready for the ride. It's technically not my bike, but it was for the day. It is Dynamo's bike, the Soma Smoothie. This is a flat bar sport geometry road bike with cross tires.

Dynamo rode Kermit. I think he was one of only a few riders on a mountain bike, but it was good training for him. I still had to push myself to keep up with him at times!

The CSX train was stopped right at the parking area near the start. He blew the horn a couple of times just to say "hi."

And, here's the start line...

The scenery was nice and green. Lots of trees, houses, and farm fields...

And, there were 3 aid stations with bananas, trail mix, gummies, pb&j, and drinks. I tried to keep my stopping to a minimum. Even though it was a social ride, I didn't want to be out there all day.

And, the finish line was nice and festive! We ate some good bbq from Buz and Ned's (Dynamo's favorite), listened to music, and relaxed before heading home!

We finished together in about 3 hours and 42 minutes of actual ride time. Total time was 4 hours and 25 minutes counting stops! My first half century completed! And, for Dynamo, he has completed a century off-road and a half-century on road (on mountain bike) all within 7 days! What a machine he is!!

some free motion stitching

The best part of free motion stitching is that you can let your machine go wild! Dynamo said he heard me upstairs using the sewing machine and wasn't sure what was going on. Sometimes it feels a little out of control with this type of stitching! But, you can never really make a mistake. It's meant to look "not perfect."

It does take some practice to "control" the needle and make it go where you want it to go. Each time I try, I get better. I do like the idea of the mixed textures of the paper, lace, and fabric. It's very different and artistic.

If you want some information on this technique, there's a great book by Bari J. Ackerman called Inspired to Sew you should check out!

I'll be posting more next week so you can see what else I've done with free motion stitching!

Mountain Bike Monday - Cohutta 100 Race Report

Last Thursday afternoon we began our adventure to the Cohutta 100 in Tennessee/Georgia for Dynamo to face the challenge he's been training for. The ride halfway was stressful and long. The tornados had just come through southwest Virginia early on in the day. Debris was everywhere and there were road backups for miles. At 1 a.m. on Friday morning we arrived at our hotel in Bristol. Here are some photos of the damage we saw as we came through on Sunday. It was took dark to take pictures on the way there. Please say a prayer for those affected by the tornado.

On Friday, we completed our ride and we, along with 8 other friends, descended on a little cabin called "Quittin' Time" mid-afternoon on Friday. 

On Friday, the plan was to check-in for the race, prepare the drop bags, take a little ride to loosen up after the long car journey, eat a steak dinner, and then get a good night's rest! The Ocoee Whitewater Center was the site of the start and finish of the race. It was absolutely beautiful! I've honestly never seen anything more beautiful! This was also the site of some of the events of the 1996 Olympics.

Here are the guys checking in and getting their race packets...

After packet pickup we went to the cabin to finish the evening out with our friends! When the alarm rang at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday, reality hit and it was time to get into race mode! 100 miles of off road challenges that included 12,000 feet of elevation faced these 5 guys with only 13 hours to do it in.

On Saturday at 6:30 a.m. the guys were all suited up and ready to go with the temperature being a chilly 45 degrees.

At the start a prayer was said and then the gun sounded. They were off!

Us 5 girls were the pit crew/cheering squad/fan club for these guys. We decided to take a chance and see if we could catch them about 12 miles into the race at the creek crossing near the Ocoee Whitewater Center. We camped out with our cameras ready to catch a glimpse. The guys were surprised to see us this early on in the race.

For those of you who are new to this sport, it's important that you know that mountain bike racing is NOT a good spectator sport. Often, trails take riders deep into the woods and out of sight. Most of the time you are allowed to go to one of the aid stations and wait for racers to come in there. You get brief glimpses at that point as well as a chance to encourage them, but as quickly as they come in they leave.

So, at the creek crossing we first saw "B,"

Then "C,"

Then Dynamo,

Then "M,"

Unfortunately, "J" had some mechanical difficulties and had to drop out of the race at this point.

Next, we ventured about 45 miles out by car to aid station 3 where we could see the guys about the mid-point in the race. We waited patiently for them to arrive. At 51 miles into the ride, they arrived all smiles! They all arrived between 1 and 2 p.m.

First, "C" and "B",










Then Dynamo,






Then "M,"




With them all fueled up and filled with love and encouragement, we sent them off and told them we would see them at the finish line. They all looked good, so we felt really comfortable that they would be able to finish the race strong. Only 49 miles left at that point.

So, as we descended the mountain to head back to the Whitewater Center and the finish, we made a couple of stops at the scenic overlook and the waterfall. The scenery was gorgeous!














Back at the finish, we patiently waited for the guys!

At about 6:35 p.m. we saw Dynamo coming over the bridge towards us and the finishline. We all began to scream and yell cheering him on!!! Dynamo crossed the finishline!! It took him 11 hours and 37 minutes to complete the 100 miles!! Well done!!!!






As he crossed the finishline, I felt completely overwhelmed with feelings of pride and love for him! I burst into tears as I hugged and kissed him, knowing how VERY hard this race was and how VERY much he had accomplished by finishing. I can't begin to describe how extremely proud I was of him at that moment. All that he had worked for had come true. God had kept him safe and had given him strength and confidence to achieve this goal. As I write this, I'm still crying because my heart is so happy for him. He is my superstar!!!



Mission accomplished!!!


Next, we waited for the others to come across. We saw "C" coming across the bridge and all began to cheer and yell.


Then, "M" arrived at the finish!!

Unfortunately, "B" was unable to finish as his body just gave out.

Everyone was a winner in my book because it took lots of work, dedication, and heart to even give such a hard race a try. Every one of the racers out there amaze me.




The food...


And, the podium...


It was all about the socks...


Apparently, some guy followed Dynamo for a while during the race and told him that he was just going to ride behind him and read his socks for inspiration.

We had a fantastic time and I enjoyed every minute with these 8 other people. I couldn't have picked a better group to share a cabin with. They were kind, generous, caring, supportive, and friendly. We're so blessed to have these wonderful people as friends.



Kermit did good...


To view all the photos, visit my flickr site.

For race results click here!