Helping at Field Day

     In the morning, I got dressed and filled some powdered Gatorade into my bottle with water and went out the door by 7:25 so Megan(my big sis) could drive me to school. I had been picked to come down to school early to help with setting up field day with some other friends that were chosen. When Megan and I got to school, we waited in the lobby of the school. Soon, I spotted Abby, one of my classmates that were chosen, come around the corner. We said hi and asked her what were we supposed to do. We had to take the field day items and bring them out to the field. The grass was wet and soaked my feet in minutes of carrying items out to the field and coming back for more.

      After Megan brought out a few items, I told her to tell Mr. W, our gym teacher, she was here helping and stuff.  In the meantime, me and Abby finished carrying out the stuff and were helping Charles(another classmate in my class, chosen to help)fill water balloons for the water balloon toss. FINALLY I figured out how to fill the water balloons. So Abby, Charles, I and Iook turns. For some reason, after Abby's first few water balloons she filled, she got little bubbles in the part when she tied her water balloons, so Charles and I joked that every balloon she tied was cursed, either had a hole or a water bubble(it was true). Which got us a bit drizzled when Abby's turn came up to fill a water balloon. But Abby wasn't the only one that was cursed, after Charles tied the balloons and gently plopped them down in the bucket we used to put the water balloons in, they popped, which ticked him off cuz it takes a bit to put the water balloons together.

      Whenever Abby got bored, she checked the bucket for 'Midget' water balloons, or the runts. So when she found ones that were to small, she would(it was usually Charles's balloons)take it and throw it against the wall we were working by(it was like a paint balloon that didn't have paint). After the first bucket was filled Mr. W got us a second bucket to fill. Pretty soon we had more water than water balloons in the bucket, for Charles kept accidentally popping them. Finally we were finished with the second bucket of water balloons. When Mr. W came to see how we were doing, he had a bag full of Trident gum, and let us pick two packs for helping out with field day. We said thanks and went to class, it was really fun helping out with field day. Abby, Charles, and I were proud to say that we set up everything for field day. Yes, this was one field day to remember(almost forgot, Megan went home and got ready to volunteer helping for field day, she gave out third place ribbons).

Your Zany Mountain Biking Girl,      :P

– Avery

Island Lake

      On the day of Island Lake, we ate breakfast, and hurried out the door. The car ride was a long hour and twenty minutes, which left me a nervous wreck. I had gotten a road rash from the road at home about a week before the race. What happened was that Meilee and Dad had these Nerf guns and I was on a Razor scooter trying to avoid the small, squishy, bullets. I was able to dodge all three of Dad's bullets, until, I lost my footing and basically body slammed the road, but without meaning it. :>| 

So that's what happened, I was a bloody mess. 

      When we got to the race, we got registered and ready for the race. Dad set up the bikes and Megan(my big sister), me, and Meilee set up the chairs on top of the hill where the race started. I planted my chair on top of the hill across from a bench from the track after Dad gave me the cowbells to cheer on the other racers. After cheering for all of the expert and elites, me and Meilee went exploring in the sandy hills and pebbles. Soon Dad called us, we had about twenty to twenty-five minutes until the race. On the trainer it was until it was time. 

      I had to get in line soon, so I got lined up behind the Clysdales with the other 11-14 year olds.  Pretty soon it was time to start. 

"Three,"

"Two,"

"One,"

"GOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Quickly I push of with all of my energy and started to pedal. Most of the racers in my class were already up the hill, Ride your ride Avery, don't worry about the other riders. I pushed my way up the hills. Suddenly, I suddenly  felt the ground slide underneath me I looked down and saw a root slip and I was on the ground. Having a crazy instinct, I looked at my bad elbow that got a really bad scrape from the scooter incident. It got scraped, again.

      Instead of looking at the scrape, I looked at the GOPROS and made sure nothing happened(because Dad fastened one on my front wheel)real quick then hopped on my bike and started up again. Up and down, more hills. I passed some road crossings and suddenly came across a train crossing and there was a train. One minute, two minutes, three minutes..... Soon the train passed and we were able to go again. Soon, I fell, again(luckily not on my arm)but it was three quarters of the way in. 

      The up hills were the best of the ride. Not to mention the jumps, of which I got a few high ones. I asked some people how many more miles were left, one of the riders said two miles, so I started to go harder. Soon we started to go into a dirt track and I saw the finish line! PEDAL, PEDAL, PEDAL!!!! 

Almost there and......finish!!!! Turns out Meilee's(speaking of lil'Merwee,  make sure to check out her blog too!) derailer broke three miles in and she had to do a single-speed the rest of the way. 

      I got...umm. I'm not sure, fifth or sixth. But I will post up what I got when I find out. :P

Your Zany Mountain Biking Girl,

-Avery

Pontiac Lake

       Pontiac Lake was the first race of the biking season(cuz Yankee Springs was rescheduled due to the bad weather), and guess what? IT DIDN'T RAIN THIS TIME! Yay! It was actually pretty nice out there, other than the blustering winds tearing at my face. To be completely honest, I was kinda FREAKING out. Being in SPORT MEN 11-14.....YIKES! But the upside to this uncontrollably unstoppable unstable(triple U syndrome)roller coaster inside, is that my older sister, Megan, came to live with us, and to support me in my MTN biking(not just that but Dad attatched a Gu pack to the frame of my bike and it was MOCHA flavored, my FAVORITE!!!!).

      Anyway, before it was time to race, I had to go on the trainer for about 15-20 minutes. But that time period felt more like five minutes. Soon I was waiting in the back of the line waiting for my wave to be called. I talked to Zack, and Will, some friends in the beginner men 11-14, for a while. Soon a race stager came back, looked at all of us,

"Beginner Men 11-14?" He questioned, looking at Zack and Will, who nodded.

"Beginner 10 and under?" He asked Meilee who nodded also.

He then looked at me.

"Umm... Sport Men 11-14," I replied.

"Oh! You gotta go! You're  suppose to be up there with the others!" 

      So I had to hurry up to the front of the line. I looked at the boy in the top left(I was in the second row)that looked like he was in my class(in the end I found out he was). He was like..... this big compared to me, WAIT! No, more like..... THIS BIG! I can't show you in words, cuz....ummm... it's. just. too. stinkiń. complicated. so I'll just show you it like this.

I was just like, umm okay. When I looked at him, he looked back at me, it was just like, AWKWARD.

      Pretty soon it was time to start. 

"Fifteen seconds to go,"

I was really FREAKING out now. Sooner than words could express the race stager was already saying the last few numbers.

"Three,"

"Two,"

"One,"

Oh man! My legs are already turning to jelly! 

"GO!"

 I sprinted off with all of the speed I could possibly manage. The boys were already five meters ahead of me. Ride your ride Avery, don't worry about them, ride your ride. So that's what I did. With all of the hills(more like mountains by my perspective at times 'till I got to the top)were draining my energy by the minute. Up and down, up and down, up and down for the first few miles. Finally it started to go down hill, the trail finally started to do my bidding. 

      People were passing me here and there, they were elites, sports, and experts. Once and a while there was a guy that would stay with me for five minutes or so. One of these times there was a man that rode with me for ten minutes.

"I'll let you pass me when there is a chance." I said as I heard the chains of his bike click as he changed gears on the false flat.

"Thanks, but I think I'm good right here. You're doing great. Market sure to spin on these hills," he replied.

I was kinda astounded at his reply, the guys that passed me only stayed with me to wait for a good time to pass without disturbing my rhythm. 

"Ummmm...Okay." I replied to his strange reply.

      Soon he left.

"Keep it up!  You're doing great. Remember to spin on your hills!" and he left. Pretty soon another guy wanted to keep me company. He told me the rest was downhill and that I was doing great. The guy left me at the turn to the grass and told me I was almost there and to keep it up. I pedaled as hard as I could and came to the home stretch. ALMOST THERE.............. and FINISH!

      I got an hour and sixteen minutes and 2nd place, twenty minutes away from the other boy that was much bigger than me(if you forgot, look at the picture and read that paragraph). Meilee got 2nd place, too. Two hours and a minute(speaking of 'lil Mei, make sure to check her blog for recent updates!)for Meilee. Pontiac Lake, CHECK. Island Lake is next on the list!

Your Zany Mountain Biker,      :P

-Avery