I’ve Been Tagged

cycling, miscellaneous | UltraRob | Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 12:32 pm

View of Red Rock Canyon Open Space from my parents’ house. When I was growing up, the grassy area on the left was a landfill.

I’ve been tagged by Fritz at Cyclelicious to tell five random facts about myself. I was also tagged in December by Biking Bis but never got a post written.

When I was 6 months old, my mom put me in the top bunk of my brothers’ bunk beds so I could watch my siblings play. My Dad had put a board across to keep my brother from falling out so she thought I’d be safe. My brother climbed up with me and his weight pushed the mattress down enough that I slipped under the board. I fell head first onto the concrete floor. My Mom saw it happened from across the room but there was nothing she could do. At the ER they couldn’t find any signs of a concussion but a x-ray showed I had fractured my skull. I was kept in the hospital overnight and sent home.

I’ve lived in 4 houses in my 36 years. I was only 2 when my parents moved to where they still live so I don’t remember the first one

I’ve been in 49 states. Guess which one I haven’t been to.

I did an unsupported solo ride of 140 miles when I was 16. It was part of a bigger trip. I rode about 130 miles to part way up Independence Pass. I met the rest of my family and we camped for 2 nights. Then I rode on over to Aspen and up to the Maroon Bells. My brother and I then climbed the Maroon Bells. We also did an overnight trip to do Pyramid Peak and 3 high thirteeners on the ridge to the south of it.
The day after finishing the mountain climbing, I tried riding home. I ended up running out of daylight. I was a little less than 30 miles from home with 23 miles of downhill and a drop of 3,000 feet. I was bummed I didn’t get to ride the easy part. I had thought my tires felt really low but I kept pumping them up to 100 psi. A few days later, I figured out my presta valves were stuck and I only had about 40 psi. That’s when I learned to always depress the valve before pumping.

I didn’t get my drivers license until I was 18. I could get everywhere I wanted to on my bike. When I was 18, I was working for a stucco company and my boss was happy I couldn’t drive the trucks out to the job sites so I got my license. My first year and a half of college, I rode 10 miles each way from my parents’ house. I never missed class because of weather. Not even when it snowed 8 inches or when it was -10 degrees. Now I’m dependent on driving and don’t commute by bike nearly enough.

Now it’s my turn to tag 5 other bloggers. I know this meme made the rounds the end of last year on several blogs I read. I don’t remember which ones and I’d rather ride my bike than spend time figuring out which ones. If you’ve been tagged before, I’m sorry to tag you again.