Birthday play by play

So yesterday was my birthday and for a while now I've been wanting to do a "day in the life" kinda photo day but not had the thought to do it as working from home my life is pretty boring on the average day. But a birthday has to be different right? So I decided to document the day with a photo montage throughout the day.

This also checks off another goal in my 101 in 1001 project #26: Document a day in my life through photographs. Hurrah! I should update my list soon, and update my album with new pages of completed projects.

So the day started off the same as everyday does, I got up around 6.30am (despite me turning the alarm off so I could lie in, damn internal body clock!). After a quick bathroom break I grab my sweater and it's off for the morning mile. That's my morning walk with the dogs. We walk for about a mile every morning which can take anywhere from 20-30 mins depending on the amount of pee breaks they have.

When we got back from walks I fed the dogs then set about making my own breakfast. Again same as it is every morning: glass of orange & cranberry juice, with a bowl of cereal ( oatmeal, flax flakes, ground flaxseed, 1/2 banana with soy milk).

After breakfast I opened my cards and chatted to my parents on the phone. During this time Bob woke up and after his breakfast we set about getting ready to out for the day ahead :) Last year on my birthday we went snowboarding, and whilst I enjoy the snowboarding I don't enjoy the cold, so this year I opted for my other favorite hobby Dirtbiking! Now that Rowher Flats is open again, after burning down a couple of years ago in the Southern Californian wildfires, we will be going a lot more too! It does take a while to get the gear ready but by 10am we were fully loaded and ready to roll!

Bob recently bought a new bike, a KTM 450 so he was really eager to get out and try that baby out on the dirt! Rowher Flats is our closest off-road area but is still about a 45 minute drive. Thankfully the roads were clear and by setting off later we'd avoided rush hour traffic. When we got to the parking lot there weren't many people there, just a few other trucks, and everyone was already out riding. Plus we had clear skies and great weather, the forcast was for a high of 69 degrees, plus with the recent rains we'd had the riding surface should be good too!

Boy was the riding good! After a wobbly start (I always take a while to warm up) we sped off to parking area 2 & 3 just to warm up. I could see that the rains had really packed the dirt better, and it was soft dirt, lovely for riding on. The rain had also left some pretty big ruts in the dirt too, and I tend to be a rut magnet and end up stuck in them (that and big rocks) so I had to have my wits about me! After the warm up we headed back then decided to do the fireroad up to the top of the mountain. We set off with me leading, and that's when I knew we were going to have fun! I've ridden on dry lake beds, up mountains, over rocks, pebbles and sand but yesterday I had something new.... PUDDLES! After riding through a couple of smaller puddles and thinking it was fun, I can across a HUGE puddle which I noticed too late, not knowing about how to ride through puddles I did my usual and went into a panic and ended up riding straight through the middle of it!!! Yep, splosh. It was like the parting of the red sea :) Water came up the sides in a wave, but I knew enough to keep the power on and keep going!!! With a grin on my face, and muddy water all over me and the bike we kept on riding until we reached the mountain trail of the fire road and headed up the twisty trail. This was one of the first riding experiences I had at Rowher, so I love the fire road up the mountain. It's a pretty wide trail but with some tight bends, and lots of braking so it's always good practice for any trail we do after. At the top of the mountain is a look out point where we usually stop and decide which trail to do after. When we got to the top me and my bike looked like this...

Incase you can't see well that's me with mud from the knee down. The bike is cut off in the photo but trust me it was the same! Bob said he was behind me when I went through the puddle and thought it was awesome, lol! He went through it but managed not to get covered in mud, unlike me. I should mention too that I was wearing my new dirtbike pants and jersey, which were predominantely white! Well no more!

Bob took this photo, then took a similar one with his phone and uploaded it to facebook with my new moniker: Di "mud magnet" Hickman, lol! I think this photo shows better the mud don't you? Guess I have a laundry load in my future.

One of the things I like about lookout point, is you ride ride ride, all the twisty turny riding then you get to the top and see this beautiful view. Oh and it's sooooo quiet! Well until more dirtbikers come, but you get the idea.

We always stop here, even with friends. It's just good to get up the mountain and rest your hands from the ride up. And stretch your legs. Good point to regroup if there are a few of you in your riding group too. Always good to make sure you're all present and correct. Bob - check, Di - check

After look out point, we rode along to red gate then down to the other side. We did veer off a little on a side trail up a steep hill and some bumpier terrain. In all a 15-20 mile ride. We stopped for a break then headed back :) By this time it was lunch and we were famished so brief stop at Red Gate then again and look out point (again both good regrouping stops ) and we headed back down the mountains, and back through the puddles to the truck. When we got back we had lunch which I'd prepared earlier that morning. I had a Sun-dried tofurkey sausage sandwich with lettuce and alfalfa sprouts. Packed with carbs and high in protein (one sausage is like 29g of protein I think).

I think I pretty much inhaled this sandwich I was so hungry. Riding for 30-40 miles, and out for 3 hours! Online calculators say that Motorbike riding burns 15o cals an hour for my weight so minimum I probably burned 45o cals in that 3 hours as dirtbiking is much harder than regular motorbike riding.

After lunch was scoffed we decided to call it a day and loaded the truck back up. But not before I managed to snap this pic of my bike before we put it on the truck. Yeah I think something needs a wash when we get home!

When we got home we unloaded the truck, and Bob hosed off the bikes. Then we sat down and relaxed before showering and getting ready for dinner. We had lots of options for dinner, but we were both already flagging from the 3 hour dirtbike ride, and hour journey home that we decided to stay local and as we're going for Indian on Friday we decided on burgers and beer at Red Robin. For those not in the know you can get a free burger on your birthday if you to their site and sign up for their e-club. We like Red Robin as it's pretty much the only place that does proper chips (fries) and malt vinegar! Mmmmmmmmm. Of course the meal started off with a couple of tall glasses of Fat Tire ale! Yum!

Then we had burgers with chips, ranch, ketchup and malt vinegar. We both had extra chips too, which is another benefit of Red Robin, bottomless chips! As much as you can eat with your meal! As I was finishing off my meal and we'd got the bill (yep used the birthday coupon they emailed us) I was then thoroughly embarrassed when the staff came out with a birthday dessert and sang happy birthday to me! Um yeah, you can opt out on this so just let them know beforehand. Anyway I figured the dessert was here now so why not eat it? Right? Afterall I am all about saving the earth, and not wasting food etc. Plus is WAS my birthday! So NOT a P90X meal but so good! lol!

The evening consisted of another dog walk, a couple more beers at home and some TV watching. In all a good birthday. I am so tired and aching today though, that I am switching my scheduled 'legs & back' workout to a stretch workout instead. That should loosen up my shoulders a little.

On the dirtbiking front I had a GREAT ride, really felt like I meshed with the bike and began to understand it's power finally. I enjoyed it so much that I dreamt about dirtbike riding pretty much all night! lol!

364 days till the next birthday, but not that long till the next ride :)