Pain on the Plain
On Friday, September 28, we left town and headed to Palo Duro Canyon State Par
k. This was the beginning of a 10 day camping trip for us. Our first destination in the canyon was for "Pain on the Plains," a TMBRA (Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association) event. We arrived on Friday evening and were joined by Paul and Sue (Jim's p
arents) who pitched a tent on our campsite since every spot in the state park was full. Saturday morning Jim went and prerode the course and then came back to get ready for his race. His race was Saturday afternoon. Jim entered in the beginner class for his second attempt at mountain bike racing. We all headed over that afternoon to the start/finish line to watch him go. He did awesome! He finished 2nd in his age group and 3rd overall in the beginner class. Yay, Jim! After Jim's race came the Kids' Kup. All four of our kids participated this time and did much better than their first attempt. Kudos to Jim and Paul for helping Paige and Reese get their training wheels over the course! After the race we headed back to our campsite where we found that Paul and Sue's tent had partially been blown down by the strong wind that was blowing all day. Jim went over to see if he could help fix it. He walked around the sid
e of the tent, and just as he was going around I saw him jump back rather quickly. He had walked right up on a rattlesnake! Thankfully, the rattler warned him not to get any closer and he heeded that warning. Of course, everyone
at our campsite and a few of the neighboring ones had to come look. Then the snake was "taken care of." This was rather interesting since the only weapons anyone had were rocks, logs, etc. Anyway, after this adventure the rest of the evening was rather tame. On Sunday we went and watched the other races. These were the sport an
d expert classes. The beginners and sports raced the same course, the sports just did it twice. The experts were pro/semi-pro riders and they had a somewhat different, MUCH longer course to ride. After the expert race the park started clearing out a bit. Before Paul and Sue left, they let Jim and I go on a ride together while they watched the kids. We followed part of the race course and I have to say - it was a lot of fun. Perhaps when the kids are a little older we can all race! :) We just hung out and enjoyed the quiet and the views on Sunday night and Monday morning before heading out to the next part of our camping adventure.
arents) who pitched a tent on our campsite since every spot in the state park was full. Saturday morning Jim went and prerode the course and then came back to get ready for his race. His race was Saturday afternoon. Jim entered in the beginner class for his second attempt at mountain bike racing. We all headed over that afternoon to the start/finish line to watch him go. He did awesome! He finished 2nd in his age group and 3rd overall in the beginner class. Yay, Jim! After Jim's race came the Kids' Kup. All four of our kids participated this time and did much better than their first attempt. Kudos to Jim and Paul for helping Paige and Reese get their training wheels over the course! After the race we headed back to our campsite where we found that Paul and Sue's tent had partially been blown down by the strong wind that was blowing all day. Jim went over to see if he could help fix it. He walked around the sid
e of the tent, and just as he was going around I saw him jump back rather quickly. He had walked right up on a rattlesnake! Thankfully, the rattler warned him not to get any closer and he heeded that warning. Of course, everyone
at our campsite and a few of the neighboring ones had to come look. Then the snake was "taken care of." This was rather interesting since the only weapons anyone had were rocks, logs, etc. Anyway, after this adventure the rest of the evening was rather tame. On Sunday we went and watched the other races. These were the sport an
d expert classes. The beginners and sports raced the same course, the sports just did it twice. The experts were pro/semi-pro riders and they had a somewhat different, MUCH longer course to ride. After the expert race the park started clearing out a bit. Before Paul and Sue left, they let Jim and I go on a ride together while they watched the kids. We followed part of the race course and I have to say - it was a lot of fun. Perhaps when the kids are a little older we can all race! :) We just hung out and enjoyed the quiet and the views on Sunday night and Monday morning before heading out to the next part of our camping adventure.
1 comment:
You go Jim why did you not wear any biketown shirt?
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