Yeeee.. har!

Last night I went to a Wild West party. What a party!. I was just orienting myself, as you do, wandering around the facility, checking it out, heading in the direction of the main mass of people (for there should be the margaritas). The main room and dance-floor was practically deserted, but in a much smaller room out back I found an enthusiastic mob cheering on the brave souls that were havin' a go on the mechanical bucking horse, or bull, it was headless so you couldn't really say for sure. I was standing there wondering if I'd be brave enough to get up there when a sane voice appeared beside me, attached to the Jase, and said 'people with bad backs really shouldn't do that'. At first I agreed, but after a few mini margaritas (pfft.. they were really skimping on the cocktail budget), I was suddenly feeling the love in the room and had to give it a go. Actually, I was watching the dismal performances of my fellow mechanical bull riders and knew I could do better.

I'm pretty sure that none of my readers knew me as a child, so it may come as a surprise to learn that I spent my entire childhood on the back of a horse. Many horses, in fact, some of them 'quite wild', and it reallymust be a miracle that I'm alive and intact. I was also exceptionally time efficient as a youngster and learned that it's hardly worth the effort to saddle and bridle the horse when a rope attached to the halter works just as well. Also, why open the gate when you can just jump over it? I had a daredevil friend and together we did alot of crazy stuff that our mums never knew about, becoming very good at the important business of staying on the horse. Of course, in those days I was not wearing this:

My main worry was that I was going to have a Janet Jackson-esque wardrobe malfunction mid -ride, but the saloon dress performed well and so did I. That mechanical thing had some wild moves but I was up for it and, after a certain point, I started to feel a bit self-conscious at all the whooping going on and let myself inelegantly flop off it onto the crash pad, skirts flying. My back was fine but my core muscles got a 10 second workout that they haven't forgotten. Here's the trick. Don't try to grip to hard with your legs, just relax and keep your core strong, allowing yourself to slide around with the centre of gravity. I don't know what all the fuss was about. It's not like a real horse that bucks you off then gallops off, quite possibly aiming a hoof at your thigh if it's really feeling mean. City folk are soft. ;)

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Tomorrow is my TT restart. I'm sitting here just waiting for my fake tan to set for my before pics. I'm almost finished setting up some web pages to track my progress and should be able to post the link to that in the next few days.