I know...I know...I've been slacking off on the blog. While my bike is growing cob webs in the garage, I have been busy doing holiday stuff. The webs are going to have to grow a little longer, we are headed to Alabama and Tennessee on Monday. For those of you who are interested, I would like to share my vacation adventure with you. We hope to do some hiking, shopping, ice skating, and just hang out at our awesome cabin. In the meantime, here's some Christmas pictures to check out.

I decided to skip the last race and spend time with my Papa. Saturday would have been my Ahma's (Grandma) birthday.

This Is For You

For the people who are wondering why I didn't post anything last weekend , this is for you. I'm still riding alot, just no place exciting. I mean, come on, you can only pump up Morris Bridge so much. We have been sticking to the easy trails for 2 reasons. 1 because we can get alot of miles out of my sister if the trails are somewhat flat and smooth, 2 because my Dad's bike is a piece of poop and he's afraid the thing will fall apart if he does anything challenging. We have one more race to do and hopefully it makes it. After that, I suggest we leave it for the garbage man to pick up. Anyway, thanks for reading my blog and hopefully I will have something interesting to share soon.

We had a fun 15 mile ride today at Morris Bridge. Good Luck to everyone racing at Alva! ...And see you at the final race at Santos.

FSC #6 San Felasco

Up, down...Up, down...Up, down. If you raced on Sunday at San Felasco, you know exactly what I am talking about!! 10 hard climbs, with no breaks in between. I was definitely shocked to find out the course had been changed. What happened to the nice flowing course from last year?? I was hoping for something easy after that crazy Alafia race, but it so wasn't happening. Oh Well...What do you do when you are up for a challenge? Try your hardest and hope for good results. Thank Goodness the course is only 7 miles long.


This is so awesome... Look, I actually get to race boys about the same age as me.

The start of the race was really hard, especially the uphill grassy climb. I just couldn't keep up with the lead group. But, I was OK with my position in the race. Only 1 boy passed me, so I knew I was still ahead of the rest of the boys. And...about a mile into the race, I kept wondering why my Dad was going so slow. I thought to myself, I must be on fire today because I'm leaving my Dad in the dust. Later, after I had a small crash going down a hill, I found out that my Dad was having some serious bike issues. His handle bars were super loose and his pedal fell off and was stuck to his shoe. I think it's time for a NEW bike Dad!! Anyway, I was actually liking the course today. I didn't dread the climbs and before we knew it the race was over.

I ended up coming in 10th place out of 16 racers. I'm very happy with how I did on Sunday and wouldn't change a thing.

Am I Ready???

Yes, I will be racing this weekend. Am I ready?...who knows!! Don't laugh, but my weekday training consists of: racing around a pond and sprints with my Mom (she's not as slow as she looks). I had to pick a sport that is the hardest to get any practice. It's not like soccer where you have to practice 3 times a week in a field a mile away. For me to get any practice, I have to drive an hour, which is impossible because I can't drive and my Dad doesn't get home until 8:00. So for now... I will have to stick with pond racing and sprints and hope for the best. And oh yeah, I hate the trainer in the garage. Pure torture!!

Been A Long Time

It's been a long time since we rode the trails at Boyette. We usually try to avoid this place during the summer time because it's too hot. But now, with this awesome weather, it was fun to be back here riding. Our ride started off super smooth. My sister cleared Loch Ness and Spider Berm. She was on fire until she took nasty spill on Golf Cart. No worries, Kiki's tough, she hopped back on her bike... and we continued our ride.

What you think of my new helmet?? First time without a visor.


After riding a couple more trails, we ended up here. We were trying to decide where to go, when Kiki looked down at her leg and noticed it was bleeding pretty bad (from her previous crash). My Dad took a quick look at it and made the decision that we should head back.

We took all the easy trails back to the car, then my Dad butterflied Kiki up. On the way home, we all agreed, expect for Kiki's crash, it was a great ride. The weather was crisp, the trails flowed perfectly, and it was nice to be riding someplace different for a change.

FSC #4 Alafia

Hmm, which race should I do? Kid's or Novice?? I watched the pre-ride video on Drew's site and it looked a little crazy, my Mom freaked. She thinks I should stick with the kid's race...she's scared to death I will get hurt. So, my Dad and I signed up for the Endurance Factor clinic. We figured that we would make our decision as to what race to enter after that.

I had an awesome practice with Martin. There were some trails I have never been on before. Like Shelly's Loop and Rabbit Ears. I was able to clear most of course on the first attempt. On the more technical stuff, I cleared on the second attempt, thanks to Martin's advice. The decision has been made, I'm going to sign up for Novice. Can't wait to race!!

Race day: My only goal today is to complete the race, even it means coming in last place. I have to be realistic, take a look at the people I am racing.

Well...the race did not go as smooth as the practice did. I didn't want to burn myself out, so I took my time getting into the woods. Big mistake... now I know the importance of being up front. My Dad and I came across lots of riders who were having a hard time making some of the rooty climbs. With all of the stopping, I started getting frustrated. This brings me to my crash #1, I hurt my knee pretty bad. I hopped back on the bike and finally start to catch back up and then crash #2 happens. I slide out on some dirt going into Bridges. I'm OK, get back on the bike only to have crash #3 on the big drop on Bridges. That one hurt REALLY bad!!! It took me a while to get up. This race course was really beating me up and I could not wait for it to end!! My Dad said that if I wanted to drop out, it would be OK, I said I'm NOT dropping out!!! I barely made it through the rest of the course. I didn't even get to ride down Rabbit Ears because a man was in the way. Finally, made it to the finish line and found out later I came in 18th place out of 24. Wow, that was hard, can't wait for the next race.

Squeaking at Santos

Well...Dan and Ron, my Dad did fix my brakes. Sort of I guess, now they are squeaky and I think he ruined the pads by accident. Got to give him credit though, he tried. Hopefully, after he replaces the brake pads, they will be good to go.

Anyway, can't let some squeaky brakes keep me off the bike. So...we headed to Santos for the weekend. The camping trip was awesome. The weather was perfect, put in about 35 miles, and had fun hanging out with my family.

First time making pancakes, what do you think? OK they do look a little weird, but hey they tasted awesome.

Better Than No Riding

I'm having some issues with my brakes. I only have one that works and the other one is leaking out fluid. I guess my Dad is waiting on some kind of a bleed kit. With that, hopefully he can fix it for me. In the meantime, I don't think it's a good idea to ride anywhere crazy like Carter, with only one brake.

So...we decided to do a little road riding. We headed out the door and over to the LongLeaf trail. It's good practice for my sister because she wants to start doing triathlons next year. We ended up having a fun 15 mile ride.

Can't Get Any Better Than This

Have you ever had one of those days when you just don't want to get off the bike??? Today... I had one. At a crisp 82 degrees we were riding at Morris Bridge. The weather was awesome!! No worries ...just doing what I love and wishing the ride didn't have to end.

FSC #2 Ft. Clinch

Shortly after arriving at Ft. Clinch, my Dad and I decided to check out the Endurance Factor Clinic. I have to be honest, I had a lot of fun riding with some different people for a change. (No offense Dad, Mom, and Kiki)!! Drew and Martin were awesome!! They showed me tons of stuff ...including some good lines to take because the course was super sandy.

Race Day:

Time to get into my pre-race zone. Most people think that I'm intense or that something is wrong with me, but I just don't like talking to anyone before a race. Today, I was dying! The race didn't start until almost 12:00. Way too late, considering we got here around 8:00 in the morning. Anyway, I always said that when I start racing in the novice category, my goal would be to beat just 1 person (not including my Dad)....But now, I'm thinking that is not good enough!! I don't mean to be a poor sport, it just stinks that I went from always winning to being at the bottom. I guess I can't be too hard on myself, I am racing people at least twice my age and size. Hopefully, not too many years away, I will be up on the podium again!!

Race time. I really wasn't paying attention to how many racers were in front of me going into the woods. But I do know that I passed 4 boys and a lady from another class...And I think 1 man passed me from my group. By the 4th or 5th mile I didn't see any other racers, so I swore I was in last place. My Dad said we weren't. I didn't believe him and started getting very frustrated. I was thinking to myself that this really stinks...I'm pedaling my butt off and I'm still dead last.

Well, my Dad was right. We were not in last place. There was actually 10 racers behind us and I ended up finishing in 6th place. Look at the man behind me at the finish line. He could have so beaten me at the end of the race. Instead, he chose to come in behind me and said I deserved the spot. Unbelievable, I know that will never happen again!!

1 down, 3 to go!!

Just A Little Training

My Dad and I headed to Morris Bridge for a some training today. I'm so used to riding at our family pace, so when I stepped it up a little...actually a lot...I got my butt kicked. I even wore my camelbak today. I hate those things, but I might as well get used to wearing it. Racing in the kid's race, I never had to worry about staying hydrated. The races were so short and there was never a need even for a water bottle. And I think I'm going to check out the Endurance Factor clinic at the Ft. Clinch race for a little extra help.

Mud and Mosquitoes

While most of the riders went to Tallahassee for the first race of the season, we decided to do a little riding too...but at Alafia. We did the easy loop in record time without stopping for breaks. It wasn't because we didn't want to take a break, but because the mosquitoes seemed to be setting our pace. If we were to stop even for a second, a gazillion mosquitoes would attack us. Not fun considering we forgot to bring the bug spray. And thank you Dad for buying my new tires. They worked awesome on the muddy trails. I thought for sure that one of us would take a dive in the mud, but we all managed to finish without any crashes.

I finally have some time to write about Labor Day weekend. With school and stuff...and just being busy, it's hard to keep up with my posts. Better late than never, right? So, here it is. My family and I were all sick on Saturday, but we didn't want to cancel our camping trip. We sucked it up, loaded up the car, and headed for Santos. After eating lunch and setting up camp, it was time to hit the trails. We decided that we would stick with the easy ones, so man did it make my sister mad when we headed down Cow Bone... the rocks were freaking her out. She made it quite clear that she would not NOT be racing here this season (Cow Bone is part of the race course). We hurried up with the trail and got our butts back on track... and maybe rode only about 10 miles before going back to the campsite. Oh yeah, before that, I road the red trail by the Vortex area.. and cleared it. I was pretty happy with myself. Anyway, since no one was feeling a 100%, we took it easy. We made a couple spears and a bow and arrow..that was actually pretty fun. Then, my Dad and I headed out for my very first night ride. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I had trouble judging what was on the ground and almost crashed into a tree. I still would like to try it again sometime. And finally, we ended the night roasting marshmallows by our awesome campfire.

After we got home on Sunday, we decided to test out our homemade bow and arrow. Well, it didn't go so good. The bow snapped it half. So, my Papa took my sister and I to Bill Jackson's to get a real one. We had so much fun shooting our arrows...and even hit the bulls eye a couple times.

My Plan

Because of the crazy weather...I decided to hit the trainer instead of the trails. Man...was that rough, it was only about a gazillion degrees in my garage. But with race season getting close, any little bit of training helps!! Speaking of race season, this is my plan if everything goes OK. I picked 4 races out of the FSC Series that I would like to do. I will not be competing with the 6-11 year old girls this year...I have decided to enter as a one-timer (novice). This will help me prepare for next year when I am 10 and ready to enter with the beginner women. Some of the adult courses... I am definitely not ready for...like Gainesville and Alafia (if rabbit ears is included). I have never been to Markham either, so I don't know what to expect from that course. So...my plan is to race at Ft. Clinch, Alafia (kids course), San Felasco, and Santos.

This should be very interesting. I am curious to see how I will do. Can't wait for the challenge.

The End Is Here

Time's up...back to school on Monday!! I'm not complaining... I had a pretty awesome summer this year. I had just 2 more things I wanted to do before going back to school. The first one is skating at Astro and the second one is seeing a sunset from the beach. Saturday afternoon, we headed over to Astro for a couple hours of skating. Then, made our way down to the Dunedin Causeway to watch the sunset. None of us like to sit around, so we decided to bring the bikes and do a little beach riding before the sun sets.

Look what we found!! The sign didn't say no bikes allowed, so we continued on. After coming across a bird watcher, we thought it would best to turn around. Didn't want to bother him and we weren't even sure if we were allowed on the trails with our bikes.

The sunset was awesome!!