Mountain biking is dangerous

What: DIRTY GEARS MTB XC SERIES 4
Where: Fort Ord Public Lands
When: Saturday, July 17th, 2010
Distance: 13 miles
Pro-biker who participated in the race: my Aunt Cori!

There she is, waving!

MTV girl aka Emily

Off they go!

My mom, sister, and I went to cheer on Cori last Saturday. If I were to list top 5 most dangerous sports I would definitely include mountain biking as one of them. Loose gravel, steep slopes, downward chutes - sounds like a recipe for disaster. There are some badass chicks out there who can conquer all that ISH and my aunt is definitely one of them! She finished the 13 mile figure eight loop around the hot HOT hot Fort Ord trails in 1:26:35. Such a great time!

After watching the cyclists take off, we tried driving the "back way" to Highway 68. Bad idea. My mom's hybrid Toyota was almost halfway through the craziest dirt trails before she insisted we turn all the way around. And by "insisted" I actually mean screamed/threatened/scared me. FOR the record, Google Maps told us that the "roads" were car accesible. Um, yeah Google, if my car was actually a HORSE. Even then....

Upside: We crossed paths with the bikers.
Go Cori!

MTV crews were there shooting the final scenes for an upcoming episode of Made. A girl named Emily Highland was turned into a "mountain biker" I guess. Here they are filming her employer, a bike shop owner. We heard him say "she's definitely not NOT girly" - two thumbs up for double negatives!

This is right after a quick turn/downhill bit.
She's handling it like a pro.

Despite the heat and jeans, Nicole, my mom, and I hiked up a nearby hill. It was at that moment I was not NOT glad I decided to wear sandals. It gave us a great view:

Click it.

Cheesy - glad she's smiling though!

Photo Op!

Looks like tears - one of her eyes would not stop watering all day!

Hiking Fort Ord

Even though my coworker warned me of ticks on the Fort Ord trail, I still took my mom and my sister on the Jim Wrona Loop. Jim is one of the guys in my running group at work and he discovered this loop a while back. Lately it has been the only trail we go on - hopefully we'll switch it up tomorrow! Here are some lovely pictures from the hike. Spending an hour walking around with my mom and sister gave us a lot of time to catch up free from distractions. :)

The wild turkeys were out again today! I think I see at least one wild turkey every other day. Today they had their turkey tails open. That was a first...

    

One of the many LOST hatches in Fort Ord. This is the lavatory hatch. There are tons of abandoned buildings on the trail, all from when Fort Ord opened in 1917 as a field artillery target range and maneuver area. The 7th Infantry Division was the primary division based at Fort Ord. They were first activated for service in WWI, but their actions in WWII were the most memorable. They fought against the Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater. Division units practiced boat loading at the Monterey Wharf and amphibious assault techniques at the Salinas River in CA. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

  

Happy trails...

Just walking around...

We woke up, ate a yummy breakfast that my roomie made (waffles, fried bananas, breakfast potatoes & ketchup) and then set out on a walk! I showed Kyle where I work and then we tried to locate a trail to walk on behind my building. After roaming around like safari people, we found a dirt trail. (It only took 12 seconds, so we weren't wandering for long.) Fast forward 5 minutes and we were already walking back. We wanted to get going down to Monterey/Pacific Grove and start our bike ride!

While walking back to the duplex, we saw this DOG/HORSE thing. It started barking like crazy and I thought to myself "hold up. I've heard that bark before!" It ended up being the mysterious-neighbor-dog that I always hear, but I've never actually seen it! The guy was H - U - G - E! He put his paws on the top of the tall fence and could peer over! Ridiculous!

Coffee Pot and Mushroom Hunting

I woke up today before my alarm went off, which means that I can justify going online and posting a quick note. Friday's I have an earlier work schedule 6:30 - 3:30. I'm hoping that it will make it easier to get places on the weekend.

I really need a quiet coffee pot to put in my office. I don't need anything big or fancy, just something quiet! Tyler and I saw this joint coffee maker/espresso maker on craigslist that was being sold for only $20 - it was already sold though by the time she replied to me.

If you have a coffee maker to donate, or can suggest a quiet one, please give me a call :)

Looking for something to do this weekend? You can OBVIOUSLY join the Pub Crawl (see older post) tonight and/or check out Blog Monterey for this weekend's events. Really though, how FUN does this sound:

Fungophiles, rejoice! Wild mushroom expert Phil Carpenter and Marina mayor Bruce Delgado take wannabe mushroom-hunters on an expedition across the Fort Ord Public Lands, finding edible wild mushrooms wherever they lie (hopefully not beneath the tire of a mountain biker). 9am-12:30pm, free, meet at the Fort Ord Thrift Shop parking lot on Lightfighter Drive. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Miss you!

Fort Ord Public Lands

Today I went for a run in the Fort Ord Public Lands. I just ran on the roads (only one car passing me by = amazing). I noticed a lot of trails too. If you follow the link you'll see that most of the trails begin on the right hand side of where I was today. I can't wait to explore on sunny days.

The official website describes this area as "some of the last undeveloped natural, public lands on the Monterey Peninsula." With more than 50 miles of trails, this former military base is protected by the Bureau of Land Management and can be enjoyed on foot, bike, or horse! The views are spectacular... apparently there are many rare plant and animal species.