McDowell Mountain Meltdown

Ty entered his second mountain bike race on Saturday. It was at McDowell Mountain in Fountain Hills and the weather could not have been better. Mike (Ty's dad) was down from Page and decided to enter too, so we had two racers to cheer on. 

Granna, Ethan, Jack, and Gavin

Ty stretching: Napoleon Dynamite style

The Woods boys...or should I say men?

Ty at the starting line (in grey, first on the right)

A beautiful start!

Now, some of you may remember that Ty's first race didn't go too well. He had a great start, but had to stop three times to fix flat tires. He really felt like he could have placed if it weren't for all the external problems. Well, this time, Ty had some internal problems. About 7 miles into the 12 mile race, Ty and four other racers were all in the lead and keeping within about 50 feet of each other. He was feeling great...until a certain power bar he had right before the race decided to reappear... He had to pull over for a second and make sure it all came up. Once his stomach felt cleared, he got back on his bike and kept going...until breakfast started to reappear. Ty had eaten three maple & brown sugar instant oatmeal packets for breakfast and all three packets made their journey upward one at a time. Then, when that was all through, Ty had one more huge puke--just for good luck. By this time, Ty had been passed by almost everyone in his age division and he was riding all alone. But good 'ol Ty--he didn't give up! He kept going! Because he was alone, though, he started getting confused about which way to go. He came to a fork in the trail and went left. Wouldn't you know it--he was supposed to turn right! A few miles later he realized he was nowhere close to the other racers, so he found a service road and, after hopping a fence with his bike, made his way back to the finish line. He ended up riding a total of 13 miles in a 12 mile race. Now that's going the extra mile! Way to go, Ty! I'm proud of you!

My oh-so-nauseous (and slightly disappointed) husband...

By the way, I told him to make a "sick" face for effect in the picture...