Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Labor Day Weekend Recap

I hurt.
Every. Single. Muscle in my body HURTS!
Walking up stairs...can't do it.
Picking things up off the floor, can't bend to grab it.
and even though not one person would care to know this little fact,
just using the bathroom takes some form of gymnastic maneuver!
(picture: hands firmly grasping toilet seat, arms extend then slowly bend to allow body into the seated position)



We spent Labor Day weekend in GA for a three day dirt bike ride extravaganza!
I had Thursday and Friday off last week. I spent Thursday cleaning the house and packing for the weekend.
Thursday morning 6 roses were delivered to our house. One rose for each year Sev and I have been married.
Thursday night Sev surprised me with dinner at the melting pot, one of my favorite places to eat.
Friday morning I went grocery shopping for our weekend trip and packed last minute items. By 2pm Sev and I were on the road.
We pulled into Durhamtown park around 4:30 and unloaded our gear.
By 6pm everyone had arrived and not long after we had our camp fire blazing, steaks grilling and excitement building.
We tried to go to bed early but between the hard-as-a-rock mattress and the excitement, I don't think any of us slept soundly.
We were all up bright and early Saturday morning.
We enjoyed a big breakfast and then scattered about the cabin, pulling on gear, filling up camel backs and dusting off helmets.
We were on the trails by 9:30am.
We did not get off of the trails until around 12pm and that was for a quick lunch and then we were back out again.
We raced down roads, climbed hills, zipped through the trees, splashed through the mud and breathed in more dirt than I thought possible!
We pulled back up to our cabin when the trails were closed and no more riding was allowed. We scarfed down a big dinner of pork chops and bratwursts and fell asleep....more soundly than the night before.
Sunday morning I woke up, feeling like a train had run me over the night before. I was hurting.
I stumbled down the stairs and looked at all of the other eager faces...ready to ride....they were ruthless! By 9am we were back out on the trails. With every jump, bump, rock, and root...my body screamed. I finally began to feel back in the groove and was getting back into the swing of things when it hit me....or better yet, I hit it.

A tree.

A tree smack dab in the middle of the trail.

I never saw it coming.

I was following closely behind one of the guys and he had turned up a bunch of dust. It was hard to see and I was trying to hang on and just follow the leader when we hit a dip in the trail. I was focusing on landing the jump when the air cleared long enough for me to see the tree. There was not enough time to turn or even bail...I slammed, smack dab into the middle of the tree. The bike stopped. I went air born. My helmet kissed the tree, I slid down the tree found myself straddling the front fender of my bike and as if in slow motion the bike and I toppled over and I watched a few stars form in front of my eyes.
I was fine, the tree was fine, the bike was fine and after a minute or two I was back on the trails....I was just a tad more aware of the trees and tried to give them the respect they deserved, ha, because if I learned anything it's that trees do not move, for anyone.
By the end of day I was feeling my best yet and raced my brother out of the woods on the last trail. Victory was mine!
We headed back to the cabin and watched a few guys do some stunt riding before grilling up our last dinner of the trip. We calculated that in 2 days, we had ridden over 110 miles.
Monday morning, I felt every one of those miles.
I hurt.
It took everything I had to pack up our gear and head home.
Sev and I unloaded the truck, washed our bikes and gear down, did numerous amounts of laundry and then I hit the shower...where I washed off 2 inches of dirt, if not more.
Feeling clean and refreshed, I went to sleep, at 7pm.
I woke up this morning at 7am and I hurt.
My body hurts, but even with the stiffness and the sore muscles I would rather be sitting on the seat of a dirt bike then this seat behind my office desk. It's a crazy sport, but I love it and the only thing I would change would be that there were more female riders...I spent the weekend with 8 guys and if I learned anything, it's that men are nasty, nasty creatures! Ewww.
That is how we spent our labor day weekend.

5 comments:

Jackie said...

Glad you are ok and glad you all had a blast. Becareful I like being your Aunt! Love you girl, AJ

P.S. Oh, will guys please get tired of this sport before Perrin decides he wants to join you all.

Meredith said...

I was worried about you, Linds. Glad you are ok! And I am glad you had fun. Just don't let Perrin do this!

Jonathan said...

Linds, thanks for the shirt. I love it! Remember, I got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine!!!

PS. Perrin already wants to ride!

The Dales said...

#1- Perrin WILL not EVER ride. Period.
#2- Glad you all came back in one piece and lived to tell about it!
#3- We still love the airplanes on P's wall!

Anonymous said...

I love the Melting Pot too and so does my husband now. I took him to one in Chicago on our honeymoon :)

Dang girl, dirt bikes sound scary! Sounds like my kind of fun!