Upside down sun fall turmoil

It is getting dark earlier with sunset at 6:56 PM. I went for a ride last night & before I could reach the halfway point the sun went down so fast as I kept looking west, like the North Magnetic Pole was pulling at an accelerating rate to place me in darkness. At the same time it was distressing because it was essential for me to go for a ride and placed my thought state of mind in jeopardy.

Some thoughts riding:
*What am I going to do because it is going to be dark before I get home real soon!
*Dag has to take me on a weekend ride, hopefully she will want to and able - Pine Creek Trail on a beautiful Fall Day!
*While searching for classmates over the last few days for our reunion, a fellow classmate, Jeff & I were emailing yesterday quite a bit. It makes one wonder........I think I have a "new" positive anchor. Did I miss something in high school? I hope he drops a line every now & then.
*This year I have made so many new friends (primo), each and every one of them inspire me in some sort of way - anchors in my life. Thanks for the hit on my head from my ortho doctor in 2005!
*Go to the gym and do not think about it!
*I think I need a self day off!

Good Day!

"Love your life." - Henry David Thoreau

Head On vs Tucks & Itchy Butt

A co-worker has a situation with an itchy butt this week, but today it was amplified high intensity, maybe because she had a big grackle in her house & couldn't get it out before leaving for work. It was crapping all over her kitchen & the windows, one of her dogs pooped a trail down the hallway, her brother in law also left a swirl crap for her. Here are a few comments heard:
1. "Ohhhhh I itch"(scoot scoot on the chair)
2. "I have my Head On today."
3. "What is wrong with you?" (she is walking & picking). "I have been itching all week."
4. "When I was little I used to eat shoe jelly candies which caused my itchy butt. I don't know what is doing this. Could it be all the cheese I am eating?"
5. "I could use a pipe cleaner to itch myself ohh no may bend, maybe a bottle cleaner would be sturdier."
6. "I gave you Tucks last night. Why don't you go clean?"
7. "May I borrow your Head On?" (another co worker has a headache). She not only applied to her forehead but all over her face. She goes back to her desk for 5 minutes and says, "Holy Crap my face is burning!"
8. "Oh dig dig"
9. "My bird is out now"
9. "Tucks On" "Head On" "Butt On"
10. "I itch, I burn" What about Preparation H?"
11. "I hope I don't grab the wrong one." She is holding a jar of Tucks & a tube of Head On.
12. "I have to do the "Tucks In" right now and clean up."
13. As she comes back, "That was sick, When I was cleaning I found something...yeah I think a 'roid. I wonder how I got that. I have had good poops all week."
14."Owhh I rubbed my eye." Someone said, "Your pink eye?" "Oh no, I hope I don't get one of those". "No your butt!" "You mean you didn't wash your hands after your Tucks cleaning?" "No I am not that gross." "Maybe I got Head On in my eye."

%**Crash Son**% Laurel Classic Mountain Bike Challenge mtb

Saturday venture up to the Laurel Classic outside of Wellsboro in the Tioga State Forest, the skids were going to race - not I, because of being sick several days with large volumes of water leaving my body. Registration went smoothly, spoke with Eric who I just saw and raced the SM100 & W101. He wants to be a W101 volunteer!! Evidently the SM100 is the race that rocks from several PA residents. >
Chad rolls in at 9:45am along with his VisitPA friends Ray & Nancy, nothing like cutting it close 10am start ZTR is ready to rip he is feeling good.The skids are ready to roll out.

I head up Darling Rd Trail so I can see the riders come down & take pics.
I am anxious on the verdict of the race to see if Dagny & I can have a pacto to stick like bandaids & do it '07, of course cautiously. I see quite a few middle age people doing this so I think we can. I am getting worried early on hoping nothing happened because I saw several juniors go by and I was hoping ZTR would be in the top 3. I was worring at 11:52 (1hr 52min)Kelsi or ZTR has not gone through and I am ready with the camera. I figured if one goes down the other would stay or help the other out - I repeated this several times to myself and two other people. I headed back down to base and wait 15 min and Kelsi is coming down the road all ALONE! No Zachary! She winds through finish and says, "Didn't you hear about Zachary?" Oh crap! She said, "they had to get the ATV six wheeler to get him out of the woods and the Morris ambulance took him to the hospital". Poop! Before I knew it, someone said, we have been paging you and then a DCNR officer came up to me and said he will be ok, he has a broken collarbone & perhaps a rib or two. Officer Caldwell gathered information & his bike was here and the helmet & hydropak were still up on the mountain, which was no problem. Later Caldwell brought his stuff to the emergency room. I could pee now. I guess we can't hang out with Chad & VisitPa...
so Kelsi & I gathered items and went to Wellsboro Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hospital. I called Al and he was wondering if we would still get hoagies from Moose Bros in Montoursville. Heck yes, the hoagies Rule! The hospital gathers info and they take me bake to the xray area because he is having a CAT scan to check his spleen and needed to verify his allergy to shellfish (can't inject the dye). He has a cervical collar on and he says that the morphine is working really fast & his whole body is numb. I never spoke to the ER Dr because they were busy...Don't get me started they only skim the surface. Verified broken collar bone and no ribs broke, despite sticking out, just bruised & spine trauma - won't trust until I take him to SunOrtho. One thing I can't believe is that they never took off his jersey or other article of clothing. It was still zipped up to his neck. He had scraps all over his back and his scalp has bloody cuts all over & bruises but never checked or look on his head or back. Hmmmm.
ZTR recant, He was heading down the grassy pipeline at 25mph & doing really well in the race - top 5 when he hit a dip that went down and up abruptly which casue him to flip over the bars. He landed on the top of his head first which caused his face to hit his collarbone and slam on the ground about 5 ft from his bike. He said he could not move his whole body for 15 min, probably from hitting his cervical spine area. Two riders stopped and moved him off the racers path. Kelsi approached in 30 minutes & saw him laying there. She went to get the DCNR officer & stayed until help came! She was offered a ride back but opted to finish the race. What a sister!.
This AM ZTR wants to do the race nxt yr- "beautiful wonderful trails". We will go up there again between now & then & try a leisure ride..
Results: http://www.twistedspokes.org/2006MTBResults.htm

SM100 Shenandoah Mountain 100 Volunteer Session

www.flickr.com/photos/78407911@N00/sets/
CLICK ABOVE LINK for pics I took.......................below are more links. The weather cooperated for the SM100 and was beautiful. On Saturday, when Kelsi and I arrived, we started right in with getting things ready with the kitchen and filling aid station water bottles. Scott Scudmore (MORE)has a troop in the kitchen whipping up the pre/post race meals. Chit-chatted briefly with several of the riders and helpers. I met Doug & Calvin who were trying out their 1st 100 miler. Doug was a real trooper who stayed with a rider who had a reaction to a beesting. Doug's frame had broken after check #1 & arrived at the campground ready to do some grilling for several hours until his friend Calvin came in at a respectable time. Great to meet Chad's friends Ray Adams 9th(VisitPA) & Nancy Nowicki. By early evening, the cutoff of 400 riders had been met...which meant a waiting "list". At 9 PM Saturday, Chris announced there was 4 to 5 openings.
Sunday at the crack of dawn the race begins as I am on my way to Aid Station #1.
The SM100 had Trek VW sweep the podium. Big hooha to Harlan for winning the Ultra Series! The atmosphere is absolutely great for this race of organizer Chris Scott..what a feel! The riders make the field of a great event as there is quite a variety of fixes,SS,HT,FS, male, female, young, & ole young at heart - whether they hit the gong or not.

**Event recap by Sue George in CyclingNews**:
www.cyclingnews.com/mtb/?id=2006/sep06/smt100_06
Pictures Bill McCarrick: www.buffalo2step.com
Pictures Jack Looney: www.shutterfly.com/progal/gallery.jsp?gid=768a5498ce7ce085b751

All in all..I was low key because I had an intestinal virus wanting to explode all the time.