Have a Nice Weekend

Hope you get out! Side that is.

Yeti Beti

Okay, is this too much Yeti for you in one day? I hope not, because I just discovered the Yeti Betis. The Yeti women's mountain bike has their own site and monthly Beti bike rides. It couldn't get any better...

...Unless it was in the Northeast. And unless they add Betty Mountain Girl (Betty with a y) to their page of Betis. Till then I'll still be riding my hardtail drooling over their bikes.

Beti Bike Bash

I know-- you're thinking Betty you misspelled Beti right? Well it turns out that Yeti is hosting an all female mountain bike race out in Colorado called Betti Bike Bash. Killer right?

Their site features all the details if you think you can make it. The race is to keep RACE from being a four letter word and get more women riding and racing. Just love it and it sounds like a blast. Hope someone can make it and send me a race report!

Learning New Trails

Misty and I have been learning all the new local trails for our daily walks. We particularly love this open meadow. I will be dreaming of this place while I am stuck inside today.

We don't need 'em

Aerobie

photo by KEVY47

I had never even heard of an Aerobie until I was swimming in a local lake and spotted something bright pink in the bottom muck (you know that nasty mucky, leafy stuff at the bottom of lakes?!).

I shouted to Adam, "I think I see a pink frisbee. I'm going to try and grab it." Little did I know that it wasn't just a frisbee, it was an Aerobie.

Adam was pumped to discover that I found one and proceeded to describe how far they can fly with extremely little effort. We tried it. It's true. The thing freakin' flies.

The Aerobie Quarter Mile Record is broken.

Dog Walking

We tried to get her to walk on two feet...



She tried to get us to carry her...

100 of Something

I've been fascinated with the idea of 100 mile or kilo of mountain bike events for the past few years. Fascinated in the sense that I love to spend time looking for events, looking at event pics, and sometimes even registering for one. Inevitably I neglect the actual "training" component and sort of wimp out right before the event. Maybe this year I can continue to neglect the "training" component and just go for it.

Regardless, here is a compilation of some random 100 mile/kilo mountain bike events that I've been checking out. Maybe if there is one near you- you may beat me to the punch.

photo KTesh

• Hampshire 100 (this one is always on my list:)
• LumberJack 100 (could this one get any cooler?)
• Leadville 100 (good luck on this big league 100er)
• Shenandoah Mountain 100
• High Cascades 100

The Weekend

What a weekend! We just went for it and threw the lists to the wind. We need more weekends like this.

Fresh adventures and posts this week!

Regular Scheduled Programming

We'll be back to our regular scheduled programming later this week. Still settling in after a big move. More adventures to come!

Best of Biking

Hope you all don't mind a few - best of-- posts. I'm finishing moving this weekend (finally!), attending a fake graduation (meaning I'm still not really done with grad school yet), and trying on bridesmaid dressing (yucky!). Anyway, starting soon, very soon, nothing but fresh tips, reviews, and pics! Thanks as always, for reading and your kind comments. They're really appreciated!

Being Tired Helps (with biking!)

My Biking Resume

Girl's Guide to Better Biking: Technical Rock Gardens

Jamis Women's Satellite Bike Review

How to Find the Right Bike Shop

For the guys: How to Get Your Girlfriend to Ride with You

I love Pandas!! What is a Panda?

How To Find a Comfortable Bike Seat

Terry Damselfly Bike Saddle Review

Dog Reviews and Recaps

I thought I would cull together some of my favorite outdoor dog reviews and tips all in one post. For the dog lover in you:

How to Introduce Your Dog to the Tent for the First Time

More Tips for Letting Your Dog Sleep in the Tent

Backpacking with Your Dog Basics: Part I

Backpacking with Your Dog Basics: Part II

Ruffwear Approach Pack Product Review

Who is Betty Mountain Girl?

Welcome new readers and visitors from Freckled Nest! If you're new to Betty Mountain Girl you may be interested in this previous post....

I learned to love the outdoors by chasing my brothers through the woods with a self made bow and arrow. Later I followed them to boy scout adventure camp and found that I could be just as good at backpacking, mountain biking, and canoeing. Since then I’ve been getting lost in the woods, finding my dog who is lost in the woods, or basically trying to get lost in the woods at least everyday.

I play outside. That’s just what I do. Sometimes I race other people who are out on the trail, but they don’t always know that we are racing.

Some of the sports I love, but I am always taking on more: kayaking, mountain biking, canoeing, camping, hiking, backpacking, juggling, frisbee, whiffleball, kickball, dancing in my living room.

Guilty Confession: I one time spilled a giant container of duck sauce on our carpet, and told my boyfriend he did it when he was drunk.

Loves
Wind in my hair
mud on my legs
swimming holes

Hates
wet grass when wearing sandles
slugs on the tent in the morning
panty hose

Superpowers
eating chips and salsa
getting lost
finding perfect pets

Teammates- My team is composed of the following

Adamyak, he’s sidekick #1, always picking me up places, laughing all the way



Nuggets, aka Misty. She talks with a southern drawl. She’s a hunting dog who is petrified of gun shots. She is most at home trotting through the woods, hot on the scent of a chipmunk.



Betty Mountain Girl, me, going place, doing things, trying stuff. Blogging, snapping shots, trying to race while laughing. It’s even easier than it looks.

Get Ready

My requirements for outdoor happiness:

• campfire
• tent
• woods
• tired dog
• tired legs
• yummy food
• swimming
• wheels
• friends
  

Western Spirit: Cycling Trips

If you haven't seen the lust worthy trips over at Western Spirit, you must get on their mailing list. Every year around this time I get a killer catalog in the mail featuring Fruita singletrack, mountain biking in Idaho, and multi-day touring adventures through Utah. Here are a few of my dream trips:

photo cred- Gary Colet

Backcountry Hot Springs

Start by cycling through Ketchum, Idaho to the Dollarhide Summit, which sports a blanket of wild flowers in the right season. The fact that this trip involves daily trips to hot springs is just sublime. I can't think of anything better than mountain biking all day and retiring to a few natural hot springs. Did you see that they bring you chairs for the campfire? And the food, the pictures of the food are enough to make me want to go.

campfire from a Western Spirit Trip
photo cred- Gary Colet

Fruita Singletrack or Crested Butte Singletrack

Both of these singletrack based trips look amazing. On the Fruita Singletrack trip you jut over the Kokopelli Trail, ride a few serious climbs, huge descents, and finish it up on swooping singletrack. It sounds like a slice of mountain bike heaven. The Crested Butte Singletrack sports loads of views, fields of flowers, and stands of aspen mixed in with some serious climbing, which of course makes for some serious descents. Can you say Kowabunga?!

There are loads more trips that make my dream list from Western Spirit- but there's just not enough space. Check them all out here.

Remember This

Do you remember last summer when I posted these photos of a camping trip?

That was a great weekend. Right now the weather is absolutely perfect, but I'm stuck inside trying to get a slew of work done before this weekend. After these next couples of weeks I quit on the all work and school and no play thing. Quit. Done. Then it's time to play.

All I really want right now is my darn fishing license and a pole. How's that for random?

Vibram Fivefingers Product Review: Just In

So yesterday I gave you a little peek at my new pair of Vibram Fivefingers. Now, I’m going to give you my intitial thoughts on these fivefinger things.

more pics to come!

Vibram Fivefingers hot to trot

For one they’re super hot right now. Everyone is wearing them where in the Northeast and everyone is chatting them up. When I went to the store to buy mine, I was literally followed into the shoe section by a sort of frantic women saying she called to have her size held. Thank goodness I wasn’t a size nine or I may have had to fist fight for mine.

The barefoot movement is picking up speed

If you didn’t catch my first post on barefoot running check it out here. Basically, the theory is that we all used to run around without shoes on years ago and didn’t seem to have as many foot problems because our bodies somehow compensated. It’s a nice idea and seems to be picking up some popularity. It’s sort of like unschooling your feet.

But I’m not much of a runner

My faithful readers know that I am not much of a runner. It’s always something that I say I want to pursue further, but find that two wheels are just so much quicker. My review will cover the range of active sports that Vibram totes they’re shoes can handle- things like hiking, kayaking, and galavanting around town. I’ll tell ya’ how it is.

Trying on Five Fingers

Trying on the Fivefingers is too funny for words. Let’s just say that forcing your little toes into the market is like trying to drunkedly throw a dart- it’s hard. Use all your resources-- including the sales clerk.

How do the Fivefingers feel

That’s hard to spit out- how do the fivefingers feel?! Let’s just say….odd. It’s sort of weird to have all your toes spread out and it certainly forces you to walk differently- sort of all splayed about.

So stay tuned as I give you a sport round up of the Vibram Fivefingers later this week.

The Vest

To me the best, most useful, piece of outdoor gear is a thin vest. When I first discovered my love of the outdoors at boy scout camp, I had a favorite camp counselor who was always sporting one. I soon coveted my own vest and randomly all these years later have realized the vest still tops my favorite outdoor gear list.

EMS Women's Windstopper Vest

Why the vest? Here are my reasons:

Transcends sport

The vest transcends sport. Working perfectly for mountain biking, hiking, climbing, you name it. Now find me a half zip cycling jersey with two back pockets that can do that.

They’re affordable

Something about a vest, maybe the lack of two sleeves, that seems to keep them affordable.

They hide the belly

You can always have the after ride ice cream if you’ve brought your vest along. Wink wink

It’s perfect for Goldilocks

When I ride during the wee morning hours I find that a vest is just enough warmth, but not too much.

Kills the ride up

You know the ride up. You’re biking with a camelback-you’re hiking with a backpack- and your shirt, well you know… it rides up. For some reason vests don’t.

Vibram Five Fingers Product Review Preview

Yup that's right- I've got me a pair them Vibram Fivefingers. I'll be reviewing the Five fingers this week and will pass along the skinny to you. For now- the try on:

Bare feet (PS silver is the new pink)

You put on the Fivefingers by putting your toes in first. This is much easier said than done- especially the first few times. For some reason, you don't have as much fine motor control over each individual toe as you do, say your fingers. So after a minute or two of me laughing and thinking- middle toe why won't you go over to the left- I got the little buggers on.

So there you have 'em- the Vibram Fivefingers try-on...and a piece of fuzz on my carpet...and my dog's foot, because what's a try-on sess without your dog sniffing things out?

Complete review to come. I'll try them out with a couple of different sports/activities and let you know. Pray for my knees. Pray for my knees.

Bug Season

Right after my little brother's favorite season- mud season- it becomes my least favorite season- bug season. We are starting to head into peak bug season now and I thought I would hit on some of my current bug solutions.

• Bug spray with deet- I am petrified of it, the deet that is, but at the same time I am sort of petrified of getting Lyme disease too so most days the deet wins that contest. But really, I try to spray it only on clothing and I try to only use it when I think I'll really need it.
• Cover up- if the weather allows it- I will just put on long sleeves and long pants. On my cycling trip last year the only long pants I brought were rain pants- so I wore rain pants while cooking dinner to keep the bugs away.
• For Misty- while I have heard you can safely use Skin So Soft on your dog to keep the bugs off them, I find it messy and smelly. Instead I find that a really good flea and tick repellent like Advantage works the best.
• Ride fast- no lie sometimes this is my only solution. It's sort of a pace yourself thing. You need to ride just fast enough to stay ahead of the swarm and just slow enough that you can keep the pace up the entire ride.
• Avoid riding with groups- ha! It's true though. Don't you hate getting eaten alive waiting for the last rider to show up at the trail junction? For the love.
• Head nets- In really heavy season I've worn a head net. Not the kind your lunch lady wears, more like these Bug Out Headnets
  

Newbie Backpacking

If you’ve enjoyed the outdoors for a while now, you will inevitably take a newbie hiker/backpacker on a trip sometime.

I’m talking about the kind of newbie where you must explain wicking fabrics vs. cotton, hanging food, etc. Having gone on a few of these trips myself, I’ve started a collection of odd items that people bring on trips.

• Glass dog bowl- because it was their dog’s favorite bowl. Trust me- once your dog has put in a few miles, they could care less about what they are eating from. I’ve even used a plastic bag in a pinch.
• Decorated backpacks- oh right that is me.
• Rolls of paper towel- ummm what do we do with the dirty ones may I ask?
• You won’t believe this one- Lysol. Yes, Lysol. The logic was to use it for the latrines. For me- if the latrines are that bad I’m using the woods.
  

That being said- some of the most fun trips are ones with newbies. If everything always went seamlessly I would just start shopping at the mall on the weekends rather than hiking or biking through the woods.

Terry Pro Deal

If you haven't signed up for Terry's Pro Deal Monday email, you are missing some great deals. Every Monday they send out an email with a few hand picked items at half price. They're not just trying to unload unwanted merchandise either- these are sweet products.

Take for instance one of this Monday's Pro Deal items- the Damselfly saddle. I just purchased this last year and reviewed it here. It's a killer saddle for performance mountain biking. I really needed something that allowed me to get far back on descents and this saddle answered the call.

Not to mention the cute skorts on sale this week.

I really like Terry's cycling gear. If you haven't tried their stuff yet, here are a few things they do really well:

• Gear specifically designed for women. Lots of companies claim to do this, but Terry is the real deal. It's all they do. You won't get any weirdly long sleeves or straps, because they really find and make some of the best cycling gear for women.
• Saddles- their saddles are heaven. If you are a picky bike seat person, you must try one of their saddles.
  
• Padded bike shorts- I've tried many different bike shorts and I really love Terry's. Hits in all the right places if you know what I mean.
• Enough yet? You already love them? Nice!