Polar Plunge II

    We continued our practice races at home on New Years Eve with an evening short track race at my parents' house. It was an all-field course, as the woods were too muddy to ride in. We have done quite a bit of riding on the trail and the laps have thinned the leaves dramatically. There's little left covering the dirt now. That's the first time I have ever had this problem. We never ride enough to flatten the leaves, let alone crush them up.

     We are lame when it comes to New Year's celebrations, at least compared to "normal" people. We did our short track, had dinner and went to bed. Then we got up early the next morning and brought in the New Year with an XC race on the trail. I got out there very early while the dirt was frozen and was able to knock out the first three laps before it began to thaw.

     After the ride, it was time to gather everyone for the polar plunge. We jumped into the pond behind the house last year. It was so much fun that it was decided that it had to become a tradition. My Dad was sick so he could not come this time, but Dina and Tavis from work committed. We were to jump at 2pm. The time came and only the crowd showed up. Dina was a complete no-show and after many angry calls we found out that Tavis was taking a nap. So I jumped in by myself. It had been really cold in the days leading up to this, but today was warmer and that made the water feel that much colder! There was ice at the edge of the water, so I know it was cold. Air temp was 54 degrees so as soon as you got out you began to warm back up. I decided to jump in two more times for each of the people that bailed out on me. Losers!

Reaching down for a piece of ice from the edge before the first jump

It's about to get cold

     A few minutes after I jumped Tavis called. He thought we were jumping at 3. So he came at 3 and we did it again. I let him jump first so I could watch his reaction. He got out of the water so fast! I don't think his knees even touched the dock as he came out. I did two more jumps just for good measure. It was a fun way to start off the year. Cold water is so refreshing! You should try it some time...

     You can watch our video of the jumps below.

Polar Plunge video

New Year's Day sunset

     I have been having some of those oh-so-fun car issues lately. The weather has been really cold for Tennessee and my car has been freezing up. I got a few tanks of bad gas and water built up in my fuel tank. We have had many nights in the single digits and that has caused my fuel lines and fuel pump to freeze up a few times. I missed church one day and almost missed work if it had not been for my Mom taking me to work. That was a good time. I'm 27 years old and my Mom took me to work. After getting a new fuel filter and running several bottles of HEET through my tank I finally got it cured. Got to love car issues! But The Bull (that's my car's name) lives on and is ready for another season of traveling.