Making of a Villian...

 

I was invited by the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde charities to decorate the start of the race "trail" in the theme for this year- "Super Heroes"...

You can't have Super Heroes without having a villain, so I got the idea of making OverEnder Man...

 

overender:  when a mountain bike suddenly stops ( by a rock or rut) and the rider flies over the handlebars and flips through the air.

 

Thinking through everything, I knew he had to be big... big enough to be seen from the highway...

 

and wouldn't it be cool if he evilly held an unlucky racer's bike over his head in triumph?

"No Problem" is Not what Jon said when I told him what I wanted to do- but we, mostly he, figured out how to get it done!

We cut out two silhouettes of Endover Man...

And then screwed them together, with spacers in between...

So there was a ledge to wedge the deflated bike tires into, a two by two stuck up from his head also that was braced between the frame and the pedal...

 

That part worked-but then we just had to figure out how to make it stand up...all by its self and not fall over on a biker...

 

You can see the 2x8s bolted to his boots- and inside the "gap" between the two sides of the villain are fence post that Jon hammered into the ground a couple of feet...

Oh- and the poor victim is a second skin, stuffed and dressed in bike gear, added a nice touch though the poor guy didn't get much attention when everyone watched the racers go by... 

 

                           

 

We got  every out to the fairgrounds....

 

 

 

And set up a few more Super Heroes....

 

 

Jon about had it when I didn't like the first place we put Superman, but after some grumbling, he did move him to the other side of the tunnel...

 

And as the kiddos of the racers "tried out"  the trail the night before...

We finally went to get a beer, well some really good Mexican Food and I had a margarita, cause the kids were away and we would have to be back to the fairground in 12 hours- starting a 6:00 in the morning to trail marshal and man the time tables...

A Bike Stampede...

The Twelve Hours of Mesa Verde mountain bike race was last weekend. Something like 900 racers descended down on the Montezuma County Fairgrounds on Saturday...

 

 

 

 

The theme of the race this year was "Super Heros"

And many went all out...

 

 

The bikers have to run to their bikes from quite a distance, called a La Man start. The bikes corralled in the rodeo arena....

 

 

Then they had to go right past me, through a cattle shoot, it was kinda a stampede

I was behind a locked gate. I'm not that crazy! ...

...

 

 

 then a stand still....

 

 

 

And there they go...

 

 

 

How you win the race is to complete the most laps on the assigned  trail- across the highway at "Phil's World" a labyrinth of single track- well known in the Four Corners- that's 8 laps- or continuous riding for teams or single competitors, yeah, they're crazy!

 

I landed in Ladybug...

Just received my advance copies for the May/June edition of Ladybug Magazine!

How cool is that!

I was thrilled to work with Suzanne Beck, a wonderful art director, again. I had illustrated a poem a few years ago in Babybug ( see here) with her.

Yes, I did knit the sweater on the little boy- on like 00 double pointed knitting needles.

 I probably love the sandpipers the most, they were a late addition, thought it needed something more when I was almost done...

I love watching them in the morning and in the evening when we rent a beach house, running around the sand looking for bugs and keeping ahead of the surf...

 

The May/June edition was not out at the magazine shop in Durango yesterday when we went over there, even though I get some copies from the publisher it is always fun to go in a store and buy one, trying to refrain from opening it and telling the cashier, " I made that!!", I'll try again in a week or so.

The Ladybug Website has some fun "kite" painting activities, my husband discovered and  was painting a little while ago...

 

Getting into Ladybug comes at just the right time, the school year is almost done, getting ready for the SCBWI conference in LA in August, I'm refreshing my portfolio, both my book and my online website, my postcards and business cards.  I kind of need a "I'm not crazy to be doing this" reminder!!