Oooooklahoma...

For those of you who've never been to Oklahoma, you really don't know what you're missing! The wide variety of climates is comprable to that of California, and there's more amusement parks than Orlando, Florida. Also, in the winter, the skiing is pretty nice there. Luckily, most people think Oklahoma is just "fly over country", so it keeps all those foreigners from other states out. Last week, I was there hanging out with the relatives on the family estate on 62nd Street in Tulsa.


Sam & I after finding a sharpie and butcher paper. Grandma was so proud of our drawing that she hung it on the refrigerator.



Anne & I
Mary helping Jerome work at the shop.

HOLY GAS PRICES!

I can't believe that I paid $1.99/gallon of gas yesterday. In fact, when I turned into the gas station, I almost caused a wreck because I was just staring at the gas prices that I wasn't paying attention to the truck that was coming straight towards me. For those of you in the Plano/Richardson area, it's at the Race Track at the corner of Jupiter and 190. Can you remember the last time you paid less than $2.00 a gallon?

First Mountain Bike Race, Ever!

After succumbing to peer pressure from Pedro at work, I decided 6 days before the second race in the DORBA mountain bike series to give it a try. Mind you, I am a true 100% roadie! I've never even ridden a mountain bike in my life! Last Monday, I spotted a used Specialized FSR base model outside on the used bike rack at work. It was a bit too big, size 17, but I figured since I've never ridden a mountain bike I wouldn't be able to tell too bad. I also found some mountain bike shoes that I could borrow along with pedals, a seat post and a saddle. (I even borrowed a bottle cage to put on the bike.)
Last Wednesday afternoon I went out to Erwin Park in McKinney (where the race was to be held) with Jesse and Stephen. Both of them were very patient (well, maybe not Jesse) as I tried to maneuver between trees and super tight corners. The second time around, I became a lot more comfortable. I soon realized that I had to keep up my speed on the super steep up hills because the bike was sooo big and heavy for me that if I didn't make it up, I couldn't lift the bike up by myself. After our ride on Wednesday, Jesse told me that I did "alright" for a beginner. Coming from him, I took it as a compliment.
Saturday morning, I went out again to Erwin with Stephen. I wasn't nervous for my first mountain bike race, but I just wanted to pre ride the course a couple more times for my own self-esteem.
Sunday, the morning of the big event, I was calm and not nervous one bit. I was excited to see what mountain bike racing is all about. As my race started around 11:00, the temperature began hovering around 90F. When I lined up to the start of the Beginner Women's race, I began to get butterflies. The start went off, and of course, I had problems clipping in. So, I started dead last. That got me so aggravated, that when I finally clipped in, my goal was to be the first one into the single track, which was 400 meters from the start. I did it! I was the first through! There was this one woman behind me that could really go between all of those trees and she and I would go back and forth between the single track and the open parts. Luckily, there were about 3 wide open twisty sections that I could just motor away from her. I soon learned that if you got stuck behind riders in the trees, it was nearly impossible to get around them. So, I passed as many people as I could in the open part so that the woman I was playing leap frog with would have a hard time getting through. (I still don't know the etiquette yet of passing people in single track.) When I saw the finish line, I was a little disappointed because I was having sooo much fun, that I didn't want it to end. The beginners did only 1 loop, and I did it in about 42 minutes. I also won 1st female overall for beginners. Not bad for my 3rd time ever riding a mountain bike and my first mountain bike race. I'm not sure if I'll do another one because the Specialized FSR got cleaned up on Monday and put back out to sell.