Race Details: The race was part of the Leadville series Mountain Bike Races and was a qualifier for the Colorado Leadville race in the Fall...This particular race is the only one on the east coast.
Race Distance: 70 miles
Terrain: supposedly single track trails, but Joseph described the terrain as, "some single track trails combined with wide fire roads, paved roads, and hike-a-bike sections (unrideable sections). "
Joseph's finishing time: 5:45:03 (I think)
Injury report: none for Joseph!!!
While returning to our home away from home (greg's house) Joseph's bike nearly fell off the bike rack TWICE. We were alerted to the situation by passer-byers speeding up to our car, honking like crazy people, and pointing and yelling at us. The first mishap was BAD. After I figured out what the crazy drivers were communicating I looked in my rear view window to see Joseph's bike hanging gingerly on the bike rack. After an emergency pull over Joseph discovered his back tire 3-inches away from the road. I don't know how the hell the bike didn't fall off. We repeated this scene about 15 miles farther down the road. It was nerve racking. I wasn't the one who put the bike on the rack, but I was driving and somehow felt responsible.
The next day we headed south to Long Island to visit my other brother, Matt. This 5-hour journey was filled with the excitement of NYC traffic and Joseph and I debating (to say it nicely) over whether to follow the GPS directions or directions provided by my family members. In the end, we avoided the GPS' recommendation to drive over the George Washington Bridge and drove over the Tapanzee and then on to a variety of interstates filled with absolutely nutty drivers and made it to Matt's in one piece. Seth enjoyed the freedom of crawling where ever he wanted to and Sam enjoyed playing with her cousins. I played tennis and swam in their salt water pool and Joseph went mountain biking.
My niece, Alexa, invited me to her "moving-up" ceremony from 5th grade, an invitation I could not decline. You would have thought we were at a college graduation. Despite the frustration of watching every 5th grader cross the stage it was fun to be a part of a major milestone in Alexa's life. Other notable events: getting my ass kicked in tennis by my nephew, "drilling" on the tennis court with my sister-in-law, Chris; swimming in their salt water pool.
Our return to NC took about 14-15 hours total, but seemed more bearable. We left Long Island, made a stop in NJ, at my friend Lee's house and then got on the road again. We stopped somewhere in PA for dinner, but I cannot remember where or what we ate, and then made it to Harrisonburg, VA. We attempted to stay at a lower-budget hotel, since we only needed a place to rest our heads, but we requested our money back after checking out two different rooms and witnessing sketchy, shady looking folks loitering on the backside of the hotel. So, we bit the bullet, and stayed in a very nice, brand new hotel and got a good night's sleep. The next morning we hit Starbucks and drove the rest of the way home, with a few stops along the way.
Items lost on the trip: one princess Take-and Toss sippy cup, one infant spoon; sam's pacifier, which was not replaced. So, she no longer uses one.
Items broken: my sister-in-law, Mary's irreplaceable chess board and pieces, from Peru
Difficult Moments with the kids: Our last night in Long Island, Samantha and Seth woke up every hour; Sam kept talking and waking Seth up, or Seth coughed and woke Sam up; our last night at Greg's , Sam slept in the bed with us and kicked us ALL night long. Seth knocking down Mary's chess board and breaking 11 chess pieces.
# of places we stayed: 5
Disappointments: Not getting to see my cousin, Guthrie, his wife Jenny, and their two daughters; Catching a cold.
Highlights: too many to list.
