Who takes care of who (whom?)?

GU, the GREAT CHIWEENIE (dog)

(Saturday) Cub gets home and looks like someone punched him in the face a couple of times. He takes me out and then heads straight to the refillable flushing drinking bowl. He comes out and falls asleep. He wakes up and goes and sits by the refillable flushing drinking bowl, occasionally looking in (I think he was thinking of taking a drink).

He stumbles over to the foot of the bed and doesn't make it. His head is on the blankets and he keeps closing his eyes. I went over and did doggie first aid. Soon, he got up and made it to bed. Don't tell him, but he still looked like someone beat him up.

CUB, the sick rider (human)

It all started when I got stung in between the eyes by a bee thursday night on a downhill while we were riding our bikes. Saturday after the meet my eyes and face still swollen I had the shakes. I spent quite a bit of time in the bathroom. Sweat was pouring out of my body despite the shivering and chicken skin. After sitting by the toilet for almost an hour, thinking I was going to see lunch again, I tried to make it back to bed.

I don't remember what happened except I was laying on the floor at the foot of the bed and every time I wanted to close my eyes GU would lick my whole face. After about an hour of this process, I started to feel better and made it to bed. By 9pm I was feeling alive, not great, but enough to watch some shows on the internet.

OUT OF JAIL

Gu hurt his leg jumping out of the Honda Element and has to stay in the bedroom for a while (no stairs, jumps, or high speed chases). Inside their heads, this is what we were thinking during these 12 seconds...

CUB "the other rider" (person)

I hope Gu realizes he'll have to stay in here till his knee gets better. Poor GU.

GU "the Great Chiweenie" (dog)

Cub, Cub, CUB, CUB!!!! We can break out of here. Let's go. Oh no! I smell chicken. Let's go. Let's GO. LET'S GO!!! Jail can't hold the both of us. C'mon let's go. CUB. CUB. PLEASE. I can smell dinner. I'm gonna starve in here. Look at me, I'm emaciated. CUB! The Guard is coming.

Mountain Bike Nationals here I come!

GU, the Great Chiweenie (dog)
The ride to the race was longer than usual, but the place we got to place our den was perfect. Up on a hill with a bunch of other dogs and their rider companions. Cub was nursing his broken ribs from playing kickball and Megan was getting ready for her 2 races, cross-country and super D.

Cub and I cruised around cheering and meeting new people around every turn. I cheered loudest for Megan and she looked to be riding pretty fast. We even got the chance to try our first pump track...I think I should have tried with Megan first, but Cub was starting to be able to hold his ground with those 5 and 6 year olds.

I was pooped. Riding around and being up for most of the daylight hours was tough. I even met some guy who was trying to be stylish like me, with his red sunglasses, and another guy who just won the short track that seemed to like getting his picture taken.

Cub, the other rider (person)
Driving to Colorado for a couple of races is always tough, but sitting in the car with broken ribs made it even tougher. Megan wanted to race the Sport Cross-country race and the Open (non-pro) Super D before we headed for more summer adventures. Camping was crazy packed on a hill above the main starting area. We were lucky to even find a spot in the high grasses on a pretty steep slope.

Megan raced great, with a 3rd in the Cross-country and 2nd in the Super D. Gu, as always, whined every time he saw her coming or going. While waiting for one of Megan's award podiums, we went over to try to pump track (small area that you should be able to use your momentum to get you over the small bumps). I wasn't very good at it. Most of the children around were way better than me.

On our last day, we watched the PRO short track races. They are fun because you can see most of the course and it doesn't take long. After the race, we asked some of the riders if we could get a pic with GU and them. JHK and Adam Craig were happy to cooperate. Too bad I almost missed getting GU in the shot with JHK.

I COULD HAVE DONE MORE.

INTERVIEWS WITH CUB AND GU (SAME QUESTIONS, BUT ASKED WHEN THEY WERE AWAY FROM EACH OTHER).

Question 1: You finished 3 laps in the 8 hour mountain bike race and you still had 3.5 hours left, why did you quit there?

GU (dog) - I could have done more, but Cub's steering in between the tree wasn't going too well. At one point he tried to run me into a tree, but luckily I moved to the other side. I think he decided that the trail was too hard for him.

CUB (person) - I could have done more, but GU kept moving the wrong directions to catch new smells right when there were trees lining the trails. We were on a technical swoopy trail that my handlebars barely fit between the tree and then he switched and ran me right into a tree. I think he was tired, so I decided we should be done.

Question 2: You stayed to watch the 24 hour race as well, what was your most memorable moment for the weekend?

GU (dog) - Dinner. (thanks Jim Northey)

CUB (person) - After seeing the legendary Tinker Juarez finish, we rode by his RV and introduced ourselves to him, his family and mechanic. He was lifting his son for a picture with GU and he had to hold him up for about 5 minutes. Tinker then said, "I'm a little tired here." Maybe it wasn't the best time to have him pose for pics...he did just ride for 24 hours and rode way over 200 miles.

THE OTTER 2009: Cyclists, Bike Riders, Cheerleaders and Legends all in one.

JUST A FEW PHOTOS FROM SEA OTTER. SORRY FOR THE DELAY (FAMILY EMERGENCY).


Pua Sawiki - endurance mtb champion










Mountain bike hall-of-famers:

Ned Overend and Greg Herbold










Below are the GT Cheerleaders

THE COOLEST 24 IN 24 WORDS

GU - THE GREAT CHIWEENIE (dog)

Rain. Hard rain. GO Cub. Don't take me. YES. Rain. Sleep in warm tent. CUB. MORE Rain. Pizza! Harder Rain. Is that CUB? DONE.

Quote of day
"Don't put me down in the mud. You might not see me again."
CUB - RIDER WITHOUT A NAME (person)

Rain. Fun mud. Rain. Not fun mud. Creek pulls me in. Grips float down stream. Creek pulls me in. Warmer. HARD RAIN. I'm done.

Quote of day
"There's puddles so big they have puddles of their own."

THE COOLEST 24 was a great race that raised money for the DREAM FOUNDATION this year. Thanks to all those out there cheering and to my support crew.

I finished 8 laps before sunrise (app. 99.2 miles and over 14,ooo ft of climbing) and didn't feel that it was safe to take GU out on any of the laps. He was thankful for that.

*** The race was shortened to 22 hours due to the weather forecast and safety of the riders and my fenders made me look clean compared to other riders. GOOD CALL TYLER!

THE WILDFLOWER RIDE

(Cub) Both Gu and I decided to write about yesterdays mountain bike ride even though we had a great time this past weekend at the Redlands Rotary Ride, Redlands Classic and LA Circuit Race. Today's blog was written as if it was happening to us at the moment (Gu thought it had more creative flair from that perspective).

Setting the stage: April 1st, 2009. A short ride up Cypress Mountain Road to show Megan the wildflowers that Cub saw the day before on his long ride through the beautiful hills between us and Paso Robles/Templeton. After riding up and down we decided to take riding photos and some off the bike...

CUB ... Rider without a Name (Human)

"This is the spot," Megan says "Can't you see the red flower."

"I know this is the spot, but I can't find the flower," I reply.

Megan takes Gu out of the pack and she is slowly moving up the hill with Gu. She's stopping near the red flower.

"Megan can you move a bit so I can get a better shot of Gu and the flower, " I say.

Megan is moving a bit to the left and Gu spots something. Boy he gets scared easy. Its probably a small bug or something.

Click. Click. Zooming in. Click.

"What do you want GU?" Megan says. "Cub I don't know what he wants."

"Boy he's cute though," I say. "Okay, that's probably enough pics for today." Climbing up the small hill.

Megan picks GU up...
GU...The GREAT Chiweenie (DOG)

What's that noise I hear. I guess I can take a closer look. WHOA!!! That's a snake. That's a SNAKE.

"MOM. MOMMMMM!!!" I say. "Don't you see the snake? It's goin' to eat me. Can't they open their mouths 3 times the size of their head? If that's true, he could eat me."

Megan's not paying attention to my pleas. I guess I have to meerkat to show I'm serious. WHAT? Your still not picking me up.

CUB. Quit taking pictures and come get me. PLEASE!!!!

YES. Cub's walking up the hill. "Okay, that's probably enough pics for today," he says.

"SNAKE," Megan finally says. Pick me up. Yes. She does. "It's right there", she says.

"Where?" Cub says.

"There," she says, "Let's go."

Put me down I'll get us out of here. I'm going to run out of here as fast as I can.