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Barbarella: The Barbara Howe diary
Just as Barbarella bumps through the universe, comically oblivious to the dangers and threats being thrust at her, Barbara Howe has had a few misadventures of her own. After an illness-filled season in 2006, the 31 year-old Velo Bella rider is working to get her fitness back in 2007. Although 'cross is still the favorite discipline of the Marin County, California resident, Howe is returning to action by racing her mountain bike. When not training on and around Mt Tamalpais, she keeps busy cooking and sewing.
Follow the fortunes of this free-spirited individual here on Cyclingnews.
June 18, 2007
Tutus and stilt dancers
All sorts of things went on this past week. I finished the longest (both in time and length) road race that I've done in two years in which I managed to meet my goal of starting the final climb with the lead group. Along the way I managed to win an intermediate sprint for $20. It went something like this...the women's peloton ambles along, they pass the 1km to sprint sign, they pass the 500m to sprint sign with no increase in speed. At 200m I can't stand it anymore, clunk clunk clunk ka-ching into the big ring and away I go. Whooo hooo, no one near me as I approach the sprint line, the peloton goes wild, they scream and cheer as I throw my arms up in victory, and the $20 prime is mine!
The rest of the race wasn't nearly as exciting. I was dropped on the big hill but was able to catch up again on the descent. I got beaten for the second sprint which stung my legs. I then got dropped a second time up the big climb, and again, was able to catch the peloton after the descent. I didn't even try for the third sprint prime, as I was more focused on trying to hang on for the final time up the big climb. In the end the race took just over four hours but I still had another thirty minutes of rolling back to the car. That race tired me out. The drive home was bad, with all the traffic, and the stopping and starting. As I hit the home stretch, the Golden Gate Bridge, my legs felt like they were about to cramp and my bottom started to hurt.
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On the scale of things Sunday was much more fun. After a few hours of pretending to work but mostly just sitting I rode home and dressed up for Miss Rosie and Master Ken's costume wedding. The preparation for this wedding started many months ago with the inspiration to make a tutu. I've wanted to make a tutu for some time now but needed a really good reason to spend countless hours cutting and sewing. Several hours of internet research prompted me to shell out the money for the Classical Tutu Book by Ms. Folts as well as a bodice pattern. I wanted Josh's costume and my own to compliment each other so we made several trips to the fabric store together.
The fabric store is the third circle of hell for Josh; he's ok with the idea but can't stand actually being there. He basically left his costume design up to me. Each time I left the store I was a bit poorer but had much more stuff for making a costume....cord, boning for structure in the bodice, fifteen yards of net and tulle, several yards of patterned fabric, elastic, hooks and eyes, lots of thread, bias tape, chiffon, lining and some crushed velvet for Josh's cape. I'll skip the boring part but the tutu took quite a while to construct, Josh's costume on the other hand went much quicker.
The wedding.
It was held at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. As we had never been there before, we were keeping a close eye on street numbers on approach, when lo and behold, we see a line of extravagantly dressed people nearly a block long, and we assume that this must be the place.
Once inside one could only wonder what would happen next, with thrones and lots of candles in a roped off area, it was anyone's guess. Josh and I perched ourselves up above the stage area for a bird's eye view of the festivities. The wedding started with Rosin Coven playing music and narrating while we enjoyed the dancing and the performance art. There were stilt dancers, ski dancers, belly dancers and a woman who popped out of a lotus flower danced a pas de deux with a wandering soul then went back into her flower.
The exchanging of the rings was done without words, with a female shaman. It's amazing how powerful and emotional pure action can be.
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After the ceremony there was a shadow puppet show of The Giving Tree, a vegetarian buffet, an invigorating round of kechak in which nearly everyone participated, the Circus Metropolus along with a few DJ's that lasted long into the night. As I was wearing dancing apparel I decided that I would join the crowds on the floor for a boogie. Miss Rosie was teaching hula hoop so at any given time there were hula hoops strewn across the floor, the entire evening was super fun.
In lieu of wedding gifts, Rosie and Ken decided to have donation boxes for local charities. I was really impressed with the scope of costumes people had. There was everything from Louis XIV costumes to man corsets to feathery shaman outfits to gothic cosplay costumes. I don't ever expect to attend another wedding quite like it. It was more like a big crazy party than anything else. Late at night my dancing/recovery started to tire me out so we decided to head back across the bridge, and to our nice quiet bed.
Barb
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Barb Howe
- Dancing, er I mean recovering from my race, the night away.
- The crowd went crazy during the round of kechak.
- Rosie the hula hoop teacher, got everyone involved.
- Waiting for the fun and games to begin.
