Candy Cranks

Hello All- I just returned from a month of vacation and fun!  Here are a couple of biking highlights:

Lumberjack 100: The trip started off with the Lumberjack 100 mile mountain bike race in Michigan.  It was my first 100 miler-4 laps of 25 miles on buff single track.  I entered the single-speed category.  All was well until mile 32, when my egg beater pedal broke!  It couldn’t be repaired and of course I didn’t carry extra pedals, so at the next aid station I begged the race volunteers to duct tape my foot to the pedal so I could finish lap 2.  Hey, I traveled a long way for this race and there was no way it was going to end over a mechanical!!  Anyway, the duct tape held, although it SUCKED to have to mash the pedals on the steep climbs instead of just hopping off and walking them.  I had no choice as it isn’t exactly easy to walk with one foot attached to the bike!  Regardless, I managed to finish lap 2 and get some new pedals.  Finish time was 11 hours and 7 minutes.   DUCT TAPE ROCKS!

Biking and dogs update:  The new dog has fit seamlessly into our biking focused lives!  We put a lot of effort into discipline and it really paid off!  We never had to use any training tools other than voice command.  We did some trial runs in a campsite with my husband biking in front, the dog running after, and I was the sweeper doing voice commands to keep her in check.  She quickly understood that her job was to stay a safe distance behind the lead bike or a bit to the side regardless of speed and she was an ace!  Although we won’t ever do this on a road or on busy trails, the Colorado back country trails were perfect for this.  As far as animals, squirrels, etc, she had no time to chase anything if she hoped to keep up with us!  She was very focused on her job.