Paul's t-shirt & Lizzy's non-race

Went to Granite Bay last Saturday with Lizzy for her first race of the season. Lizzy wasn't feeling very good last Friday but we were hoping she would recover in time for the race. We have overcome 2 vehicular hurdles, her car with the bike rack on the back said "check engine" in the dashboard and my little Saturn said "check engine soon." Inspite of everything, I found my stepfather's truck which had no dasboard messages and thank goodness he loaned it to us (yes Lizzy, I know you're dying to say it, so say it...).

However, we should have looked at the car problems as "a sign" of what is (or in this case what is not) to come. Lizzy was okay during the drive, that is as far as I could tell. We got to my friends' Paul & Rachel's house in Granite Bay. It took us about 2.5 hrs. to get there. Lizzy napped for a couple of hours and was looking pink again after waking up. Lizzy, Rachel with her 2 kids Chris & Mikey & I went to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Roseville (I think) to do some carbo loading. Here's a pic of me & Mikey after we've stuffed ourselves with pasta and spumoni.

After dinner things seemed pretty okay with Lizzy. Her stomach started to act up again after we got home. We were up until about 11:45 and Paul came home earlier than anticipated. Paul is an airline captain for United (among other things) and is at the mercy of all kinds of delays. We were glad he was back early since this is also his first race of the season and his first mountain bike race ever. Here he is Sunday morning getting ready to warm up.

Unfortunately, Lizzy still wasn't feeling well enough to race :( She was soooo looking forward to doing this course for months. Being the real trooper that she is, she went to the race to cheer Paul on. Here's Lizzy & Paul. Don't let the pinkish tint on her cheeks decieve you. The woman was grey.

Yes folks, Paul's is the tallest bike Lizzy has ever seen. And, as Paul is so very proud to point out to anyone who would listen (or even those who prefer not to listen), the only bike in the race with a kickstand. Seriously! Anyway, here's Paul waiting for his wave to start.

Here's an action photo that I took of Paul jumping off the kerb.

It was a great day for a race, warm and dry. Paul finished without injuries. That was his goal and it was accomplished :) Lizzy & I suggested that Paul sport the lycra look for his next mtb race. But, if he doesn't want to do that, we'd be ecstatic if he'd loose the kickstand! Also, he got what he came for -- the mtb challenge finisher's t-shirt! Too bad the picture of him wearing his t-shirt didn't turn out.

Even if Lizzy got to race, I think she would have had a VERY hard time. I mean, check out the competition below:

Hanggang sa muli, untile next e-time...