The Dirty Dash - The Photos

The "Despicable Minions" before the run.

One benefit of our Minion costumes, we're easy to find in a crowd (under the arch at the front of the starting line).

I am so glad that someone got a picture of my belly flop! Easily my favorite pic!

Wimps!

In case there is any question as to why I came out of the run injured, look at how dirty I am compared to the rest of the team.

The Dirty Dash - Mud and Broken Toes

This past weekend was the Dirty Dash.

For those of you not in the know, the Dirty Dash is a 10k (5k optional) trail/obstacle/mud run held at various locations in the west. The objective of this run is to have fun and get as muddy as possible.

This was my second year at this event, and I have to say that the organizers seriously upped their game! There was way more mud and several new obstacles, such as the mud filled trenches that we encountered as soon as we climbed up the starting hill, the "hometown special" which was a series of 6" pipes laid across a mud-filled trench that we had to work our way over, and a 20' cargo net that one had to go over and down. Not content with just adding new obstacles, they improved the existing obstacles with a liberal dosage of mud and ice-cold water from the several snow-making machines (this is a ski resort during the winter seasons) placed along the course.

You may recall that last year, I ended up with a minor fracture in my left ankle - a partial tear of the tendon away from the bone of the ankle from a spill in the "Hog Wallow"- tire obstacle. I guess that the fact that I am going to come out of the Dirty Dash injured is well on its way as a tradition.

This year, I broke my little toe on the left foot. I felt that I landed wrong in the first trench we encountered on the course. I continued on, but definitely favored that foot for the rest of the run. After I showered all of the mud off, I was finally able to get a good look at my toe. I apologize for the picture right now.

Yeah, nasty. And, the bruised section of the toe doesn't look that good either. It only improved (by that I mean the bruise got nastier and bigger) over the weekend. I also ended up with the expected scrapes one would get from wallowing around in the mud.

The biggest tragedy - even worse than a broken toe - was the fact that I lost my sunglasses in the final mud pit. This year, the mud pit at the finish line was divided into two pits. I remembered that I almost lost my glasses last year, so I handed them off to Greg so I could belly-flop into the mud. I retrieved them before the second pit, but ended up loosing them as I slid face-first into the second pit. :-(

My family wasn't able to come up to watch, so I don't have any pictures. Fortunately, one of my teammates' husbands was up there and took a picture of us mid-race.

Our team was the "Minions" from Despicable Me

As soon as pictures are available from Flo-Foto, I'll post them up here.

Once again, I had an absolute blast, and can't wait until next year. I've been told that they are going to attempt to out-do themselves next year!

Magnetic Poetry

Today for lunch, I made a trip to the local library.

On my way out, I decided to stop in the Friends of the Library Store, located in the Atrium.

Inside, I found this among the other Magnetic Poetry Kits:

How cool! A Magnetic Poetry Kit for Bicycle Lovers. I opened up the top flap to look inside...

Yep, you can't talk about bicycles without mentioning your crotch!

The Library store sells this, and the other Magnetic Poetry Kits for $12.

Caution: Review in Progress!

Last week, I hinted on twitter that something was in the works.

Well, I guess that I should announce that for the next week or so, I am reviewing a Fezzari Fore CR5.

Tyler with Fezzari offered the bike up for review when I saw him at the Tour of Utah this year. Finally, we were able to coordinate our schedules, and I picked up the bike Thursday night.

I'll save any talk about how it rides until the post-review write-up.

I wish I was in Las Vegas

I'm not a fan of Las Vegas. It's hot, dirty and crowded.

I do, however, wish I was there this week.

Why?

Interbike

A giant convention center filled with over 1000+ bike related brands from around the world? Can you say bike geek heaven?

Alas, I'm in Utah, not Nevada this week.

One of these years, I do want to go. It's just a question of time and money. Maybe next year.

If, like me, you are somewhere other than the Sands Convention Center, you can get a taste of Interbike through the innerwebs. I would suggest checking out Interbike TV, where David Bernstein of the FredCast is giving an inside look at the latest news, product launches, and highlights from the show.

Maybe next year.

Write your Senators!

This is an important message from the League of American Bicyclists:

This year, around $700 million of Federal transportation funds, which is less than 2 percent of total transportation dollars, will be spent on bicycling and walking. In 2012 that figure might be a big fat zero. Please contact your Senators TODAY and let them know you support continued funding for biking and walking.

In the next few days, Senator Coburn will ask Congress to eliminate the federal Transportation Enhancements program – the primary funding source for the past 20 years for bike lanes, trails, bike racks on buses, bike education etc. This isn’t safe or smart; it’s not good for the economy or the environment; this is bad health policy and bad transportation policy. But they are going to try because they don’t think bicycling matters.

Even though bicycling projects create more jobs per dollar than highway-only projects and cutting enhancements won’t impact the deficit – the money just won’t be spent on bicycling – some Members of Congress want to force us backwards to a 1950s highway-only mindset: as if oil embargoes, congestion, smog, the obesity epidemic and climate change never happened.

Now is the time to save biking and walking. So, we are asking you to contact your Senator and urge them to support continued funding for biking and walking. Don’t let them take away this vital investment program for smart, sustainable, safe transportation choices.

Please take action today.

Please contact your senators. It's very easy, just enter your zip code, and it will create a message ready to be sent to your senators.

T-Shirt of the Day - Nerd Alert

This may come as a complete surprise to some of you, but I'm somewhat of a nerd.

Yes, It's true.

Since I am admitting my nerdness, you’ll forgive me for these two shirts today. Technically, they’re not bicycles, but I still thought they were cool.

Unfortunately, neither of these shirts is available.

The first one is from 604 Republic, and is in their Design Gallery. If it gets enough votes, it may be made into a shirt.

The second one is from Woot, and didn’t make the cut.

Another nerd confession. Yes, I liked Tron Legacy. No, I didn’t think it was perfect, but I still enjoyed it.

Something Fun

Something fun. We all could use a little fun every so often, couldn't we? 

This video is from 2007, but I saw it again Saturday night as the wife and I were out with some friends.

Enjoy!