Tuesday Night Ride and This and That...

Tomorrow Kai and I head to the GWN for a visit with Grandad (its his birthday tomorrow!) and the Jones family reunion (my mom's maiden name) where some of her 10 siblings and their offspring and the offspring of those offspring and so on will get together for 3 days of fun in the sun (hopefully) on Wasaga Beach. The last time we did this was in 2002 and we met in Wales (I won't even attempt to spell the town where we stayed!) I am excited but very apprehensive about my first flight with Kai without his Daddy's capable assistance!

So tonight the packing is almost finished and Buns is in the washing machine (we had to sneak in to get her out while Kai is asleep and we'll have to sneak her back in there, all nice and fresh and smelling like a daisy before he wakes up!) It is amazing how black a stuffed rabbit can get in just a few days. She seems to spend a good part of her day with her head in Kai's mouth. What an existence! 

In other news, my application to practice as a professional psychologist in Massachusetts was finally accepted today!!!! It has been a long road to get this far, full of headaches and way too much paperwork. So the next step is to write yet another exam, and then I can practice independently in this state. Good news for me indeed!

Now, the Tuesday night ride part! Well, in addition to enjoying some nice road riding since we got here, I have found myself a mountain biking partner and a regular Tuesday night ride! It has been a long time since I've been part of a regular weeknight riding routine. There was Tuesday night at the dump in Victoria with Graham and Blackie et al, then there was the Dead Goat road hammerfest in Calgary. Something about Tuesday night and riding just seems to go together. I've been riding with Barb and her four legged buddy Sprocket for 3 weeks now. Barb knows the trails at Great Brook Farm like the back of her hand so she has been a great tour guide. She is trying to talk me into trying downhilling but I think she'll have to keep trying...

Great Brook is turning out to be a great place to ride. There are no big hills, neither steep nor long, but that just seems to be the nature of the gentle rolling terrain around here. There are plenty of technical challenges. There are lots and lots and lots of roots, tons of baby heads and lots of much larger rocks too. What the trails lack in elevation they make up for in twists and turns. I even have a well placed bruise on my left hip, courtesy of last night's ride. I used to have a perma-bruise in this location when I was riding in Victoria so I felt a little nostalgic when I saw it there last night. There is a certain obstacle known as the "Rock Wall" that had my number last night. I didn't try it at all the first night out (exercising some IQ points), I cleaned it last week and just couldn't do it last night. I tried 5 times, that means 5 not so graceful dismounts with my bike teetering on its chainring and me wobbling on top trying to figure out how to get off with the ground seeming too far away and the rocks below me looking pretty sharp. I think I got off easy with just one bruise. I'll be skipping next week's ride but will be back to face off against the Rock Wall again when I get back! Maybe I should borrow Barb's helmet cam to record either my success or failure for a blog viewing. 

The blog might be a little quiet for the next few days, unless Greg gets inspired to write or to avoid his homework while Kai and I are away! A bientot!