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Chalk Creek in Nathrop - HS Mountain Bike Season Begins

Ellie and I spent much of the weekend in Salida. I love that town. She had the first race of the high school mountain biking league race of the season at Chalk Creek on McMurray Ranch in Nathrop.

She was very anxious as she went from racing Freshman class to Junior Varsity this year. She knew the competition would be tough. And boy, was it ever. There were 38 girls in her division, I am pretty sure it was the biggest category of the day.

A few of the girls in her category are national champions in various types of cycling.

She has been ill for about 3 weeks and had not been to practice for the last two weeks.
She rode well and placed 6th. We are pleased with how she rode.

The atmosphere at the races is exciting.

Our hat goes off the the crew of folks who put their hearts into putting on such an awesome race.

Colorado State Fair

My sweet mother has always wanted to go to the Colorado State Fair. It is one of the items on her bucket list. However, since she does not drive on the highway or at night (if at all possible) she did not think she would get there. Once she happened to mention it, I knew that we would have to make the trip. That is such an easy and fun one. And oh my, did we ever make a trip of it.

I think my favorite thing of the entire event was watching the kids get to go on a helicopter ride. How cool is that? So cool. The cousins, Angelo and Lando James, were not interested in sitting in the front; Ellie was happy to take that spot. They turn a turn around the fair grounds and a bit of the neighborhood.

Grandma also wanted to buy something special for each of us. Ellie and I both picked out hats. I've been on the hunt for a good hat that does not look stupid on me for a few years. (There is something about my long hair and bangs that make most hats look really silly on me, no kidding!) Ellie has long wanted a straw cowboy hat and scored a perfect one. I think it looks wonderful on her.

And then there is fair food. I was not really interested in much of it, but we did have to share a few funnel cakes. That is a weakness that I have. It has been years since the last time I had one. It was good, but now I am set for another couple of years.

Then there are all kinds of crazy, fun things. Don't we all need an inflatable brain?

I also loved all of the classic style vendors. I took pictures of many of them. I think that would make a great topic for a coffee table book.

I love the rides like this one. They remind me of the time that I attended the fair when I was a young girl.

it was interesting people watching and seeing all of the stuff you could buy. Some of it was good. Much of it was kind of tacky, and a bit fun.

I would have like to try this one, but we had run out of cash at that point. I also had a headache. Don't you think it looks fun?

The rides were kind of fun, too. The boys got unlimited ride passes. Ellie did not feel the need for one.

The one ride that Ellie did want to go on was the Fireball. The boys stood in line with her for a while, then changed their minds about riding it.

She was into it!

The colors of the rides and the midway were even prettier at night.

We also went through most of the exhibit halls that featured animals. Several of us were smitten with the soft, friendly rabbits.

After a BBQ dinner, we headed off to the Mexican Rodeo.

Happy 19th Birthday to My Wonderful Son!

Gifts for Kids - Necklaces and Pumpkin Hats

I've been enjoying making presents for various people lately. They are small projects that I've been able to work on while waiting for Ellie at bike practice, or while watching a movie at home.

This necklace is for Seth. It all started with the one we gave to Maris. It seems that variations on this idea are becoming part of our team kits. They are made with bike parts called spoke nipples. So when they asks if they can have a nipple necklace, too, they giggle a bit and I must admit that I do, too.

This one is for Matthew. He was very pleases when I gave it to him. That made me happy.

This past spring seven of my friends had babies. I loved the fruit hats that I made for my children when they were babies. I also thought it might be a fun way to embrace the coming of fall.

Thus, I am on hat number six. The girl's hats get leaves, the boy's hats do not.

How cute are they!

The pattern for the leaves can be found here in Ravelry. Here is the hat pattern, too.

Of Bears, Broken Bikes and Booty

On Sunday Ellie did the King of the Rockies race, the final race in the Epic Singletrack series up at Winter Park. We could have driven up on Sunday morning, but I wanted to go camping at least one more time before the cold weather set in.

It was a perfect night. The skies were clear and the stars glimmered happily in the indigo sky. The moon at half fun glowed brightly. It was a perfect temperature with out any bothersome wind.

While there was still sunlight, the kids explore the woods and waded in the quiet stream that ran near the road. Ellie's bike, which had been perfectly fine a few days before, was experiencing trouble as there was something wrong with the rear derailer and the wheel could not turn freely. If we had been around any of the biking dads, or if it had been earlier in the day, I would have asked someone else to fix it. However, there was no help available and I was not sure anyone would be available to help the next morning before the race. Being the resourceful and stubborn person that I am, I was not going to be stymied. We had bothered to go camping and paid the race fee, so I set about fixing the bike. Thankfully I was able to devine the fact that the shifters were in unusual positions and that it was the source of the problem. I cleaned the gears and fixed the gear issue. After a light lubing, it was good to go. I was proud of myself for figuring it out.

After getting set up we had a dinner of beef fajitas. We followed that with a camp fire, roasted marshmallows and s'mores.

I imagine that Ellie might have been a bit nervous as she was not feeling all that well. She became ill about a week and a half ago, and was not feeling better. Her arm felt a bit numb and weird from the go kart fiasco. However, she prevailed. Her team was counting on her to win points to help them maintain their placement at the top junior team in the series. So she pluck up her gumption and raced without complaint.

She got her usual good start, but it was not a very good race for her. At nearly 26 miles, it was a grueling race.

She won anyway, but was not at all happy with her performance. She also won her overall category, Beginning Women under 15. She won a nice stein, a special custom jersey and two more first place medals.

We had a new team member with us this weekend who was racing for the very first time. It was very exciting to see how well Seth did in his race, coming in third. I think many others would have waited for an easier race to jump in.

Green Mountain Composite won the overall best junior team. The kids received medals and special hoodies.

We capped of the fun of the weekend by stopping by a crazy little sweet shop in Empire where the malts are huge and the local hippies gleefully sing their tunes and strum their guitars.

A Little Go Kart Action - Uncle Doug vs Ellie

Uncle Doug is in town. He is always fun. Today Ellie and Uncle Doug heated up the go kart race track.

Doug checks out the go karts.

It is a race between two racers.

Ellie cuts the corners sharp.

Doug tried to cut Ellie's kart off, but his wheels got a little crazy and...

He nearly flips it.

Two rounds and they are done.