Bike Racin', C to the McC Style

New name, new blog

2008-09-15T11:45:00.002-04:00

So, as my much smarter and prettier than me sister pointed out (and also OLDER than me, btw), now that my name has changed “caramccauley” might not be the best pick for the address of my blogspot.

MY NEW BLOG ADDRESS IS http://caraapplegate.blogspot.com/

It needs a little work but will get there, someday. If you would like to have a link on the bloggity blog underneath the cool peoples listing let me know!

Hopefully an update there later today about the supertabulastic awesome good workout I got at the Asheville Grand Prix.

No more posts here…. It was a decent 2 year run.

I STILL need a name for the new blog. HALP! “Smurf along with Cara” is the interim name, a holdover from my radio show in college where I was just as (not) creative.

I needz your help!

2008-09-11T20:36:00.003-04:00

Halp! I need a new name for the blog!

After 7 years of marriage, that we celebrated yesterday with a store-bought cake and mexican food (we're high class, I tell ya), I have officially changed my last name to Applegate. (i.e., gone to Social Security and everything!)

So, it kinda means I gots to change my bloggity blog name. Suggestions, please?

Yay to being married for 7 years!

Race to the Rock

2008-09-07T23:24:00.004-04:00

After returning to work on Tuesday, volunteering for the United Way’s “Day of Caring” on Thursday, and then skipping out of work early on Friday to attend to a very important matter (of someone else’s) at the courthouse, this week practically flew by!

Saturday dawned bright and early and I drove to my buddy Dwight’s for a long, hilly ride that I was certain would hurt me, as my poor little hamstrings were screaming at me for improperly weeding on Thursday. The ride itself was relatively short – 3 hrs 15 minutes, but my longest since the Hot Doggett in July. And it seemed as if we tried to hit every long climb possible in a 3 hour radius of his house. I discovered two things: one, my arm can make about 2 hours and 20 minutes before screaming in protest, and two, my old staple of gel-as-fuel for rides of that length is no longer sufficient. I bonked, and boy did it suck. A mere 3 miles from the house we had to stop to buy me a coke, which got me home in much better spirits.

All the climbing on the Saturday ride totally trashed me and I was useless all day long, somewhat concerned about how my legs would react to that as I planned on racing a hill climb time trial up to the top of Chimney Rock Park in Lake Lure, NC (just 20 miles away) on Sunday.

I can’t remember if Dwight told me about the race or if I told him about it, but one thing is certain: the smack talk was frequent and severe. When I smack talk it is usually with full knowledge that I will get creamed by the person I’m handing it to, and this was no exception. This AARP card holder is fast, and always beats me. So when I started 30 seconds after him and could see him up the road on the “flat” section at the beginning, I figured that was the end of it.

I have no odometer, and have never been to Chimney Rock before, despite having lived in the Asheville area for more than seven years and riding by it fairly often. So, I really didn’t know how long the ride would take me – but the grade suited me and I was able to turn the legs over fast and furious. 10 minutes in I was surprised to see Dwight through the trees in a switchback above me, and at 12 minutes I caught him and made the pass. At 20 minutes I was sprinting up the final pitch to the finish line, to the congratulations of the small fleet of volunteers at the top.

Dwight rolled in about 45 seconds later, and fellow Ashevillian and former Coors pro Ned Gallaher and I took turns ribbing him about getting “girled”. After receiving our rewards (Ned & I won our categories, Dwight was 2nd behind Ned), we descended in a bus for about the same amount of time that we climbed, just barely arriving safely at the bottom.

I talked Ned into riding some more with me, “an easy ride around the lake”, while Dwight avoided more of my adventures by going home. After thoroughly preparing myself for an easy 1 hour spin with a small bottle of Motortabs, Ned & I set off. The first thing that is important to mention is that quite often, I block unpleasant memories out of my mind. So it was to my mild surprise that we hit the first rather steep climb after crossing over the dam. “oh well,” I thought to myself, “I guess I forgot about this one!” And the next, and the next, and the next. And then, I misremembered a turn that sent us up a climb that was harder than the one we TTed up, and made poor Ned ride on gravel on his delicate tubulars. I was dreadfully worried that he would be pissed at me, but we talked cheerfully the whole time and he never seemed concerned in the slightest that I had, er, lost my bearings a bit. Fortunately Ned was a little more prepared than me and he shared a bag of jelly beans that prevented the bonk that threatened to set in. I had a blast riding with him and was so happy to have a partner who took my misdirection in stride.

Dwight on the left, Ned on the right.

With officially tired legs and sore arm (it lasted less time today), I made my way home to “recovery” tacos and a big sodie pop. The interminable pile of housework awaited, although my meowmie had different ideas.

Maxine says "no you may not fold laundry"

US 10k Classic - Laborin' on Labor Day

2008-09-07T21:56:00.004-04:00

US 10k Classic
Marietta, GA
Labor Day, September 1, 2008

The Saturday of Labor day weekend, 2008, I found myself en route to a mountain bike race in Chattanooga with the Andykins. With the previous weekend’s debacle of a mountain bike race still fresh in my memory, I chose to be supportive wifey wife and wait instead for the road racing on Monday to play my cycling hand.

While Andy was busy securing third place on the dusty, roller coastery course, I explored the island around Lake Chickamauga on my bike, following the ride with a quick run to try to get some familiarity of the action in my legs. We then packed up and headed on over to Atlanta, where on Monday we planned on competing in the US 10k Classic, a cycling/rollerblading/handcycle/running race that travels down 10 km of a completely shut-down Cobb Parkway (except the Elite Men cyclists, they do 100km on a circuit).

After a highly entertaining dinner with my 3 partners-in-non-crime (a.k.a teammies Deb, Christy & Tonya), where we discussed the intricacies of a 10 kilometer road race on a bike, Andy & I settled in for pre-race prep. The length of his race required gathering up race food, getting water bottles ready, etc. etc. My prep consisted of putting empty bottles in my cages (more aero) and pinning my numbers on my jersey. Oh the luxury!

Our 7:15 start time came sooner rather than later and we were all congregated by the Cumberland Mall, waiting for the big show to begin. Understanding the seriousness of the event, I brought my cell phone with me and took some pre-race photos (check out the slideshow at the bottom of the post)

Soon enough the men were off and we were not far behind them. I’ve done this event three times before: 2003, 2004 & 2005. Each time I made some mistakes and learned something new and important and pretty much was always at the back of the money. Knowing my fitness is, ahem, “low” at the present time, I had my game plan settled long before we suited up to get to the start. It was almost derailed on the first roller out as my legs protested from running the previous day. As we approached the first prime, a Cheerwine rider popped out in front of me and I was in perfect position to follow her as she went for it. Here, experience finally served because I chose NOT to go too – in a 15 minute race someone in my current condition has 1 match to burn, and it wasn’t going to be on a prime I had little chance of securing.

Though a break formed and a half-hearted chase ensued, I followed along for the ride until about 1k to go, when it was game on for the long, 40+ mph sprint to the finish. A Metro Volkswagen girl made a move in front of me, and I followed her, congratulating myself on seeing the move. Should’ve stuck that wheel, though, she wound up 3rd! Somewhere along the way I lost it and I was spinning along in my 50 x 11, coasting then even braking a bit as riders ahead of me bobbled, shooting a hole here and there, smiling with the big goofy grin I remember from years past, but this time because of the idea that I was actually mixing it up in a sprint for the first time since my crash in June. We crossed the line safely and I knew I was firmly esconced in the decent money – 15th as it were, and you won’t hear me complain about that!

Best of all was that I was finally happy after finishing a race, and perhaps it had something to do with the giant chicken we passed en route.

(my teammates Deb, Tonya and Christy were 19th, 20th and 23rd, respectively, and learned a very valuable lesson about the big chicken)

Velosports 'Cross Clinic/Race October 4 & 5

2008-09-03T21:09:00.001-04:00

If you don't need the clinic, at least come to the race!

http://www.tricitiesroadclub.org/mccx.htm

it is about 1 hr 30 min from Asheville....

Where has I been? WVA 8/23-24

2008-09-03T13:39:00.001-04:00

It has been a long time since I have posted a real post. I’m not too sure what I’ve been doing, but every day I seem to make it through the maelstrom of life and the computer is the last thing I want to touch.

We had a good weekend of August 23/24, travelling outside of our usual Southeast circle to a mountain bike race at ACE Adventure Center near Beckley, West Virginia. Andy is really digging mountain biking right now and with me not caring one way or the other, I go along to keep him company. I foolishly signed up for the race but found that I could hardly manipulate my bike on the more technical aspects of the course due to my still nowhere close to being healed shoulder/arm issues. So, amidst very bad spirits I bailed after the first 13 mile lap.

The race was well run and the trail excellent, excepting that I suck at mountain biking and it’s even worse when I’m injured. I stopped to help someone with a broken chain (again!), so couple that with my MI good deed and I should have two good Samaritan acts coming my way at some point in the future. Unless, of course, I was really paying back all the favors that I receive on a constant basis. Most likely the latter… d’oh!.

The ACE Center is great, though! Tons of camping, cabins, horseback riding, mountain bike trails, a water park, and whitewater rafting if you care… even a restaurant/pub onsite! They let the mtbers camp for free (which we did), and let us into the water park after the race. The promoter gave us free burritos and Powerade, and had a keg too! But we don’t drink so it was sodie pop for us.

Lots and lots of fun was had afterwards hanging out with the Shogrens & Chris M. of Team Bi-atch and other WVMTBers at the water park. We all had to wear PFDs and at first the swimmer in me whined about it till I realized a PFD means you can float in the water with NO effort whatsoever… So many hilarious shenanigans ensued I am hard pressed to describe them appropriately. Let’s just say on several occasions I laughed so hard I almost wet myself, except I was already wet so it wouldn’t have mattered.

I spend so much time travelling to races and racing and travelling home from races that rarely do I get to spend any quality time with the people I compete against, and dagnubbit that is a shame. Especially when water parks are involved. No pictures can be had of our adventures but they will certainly last for quite a while in my memory.

Next report: Labor day weekend and the US10K classic, where the women race 10km for $10k. Yeah!

Cara's Marquette Trip: Pictorial

2008-08-29T13:50:00.004-04:00

What good would a trip to the UP of MI be without eating freshly picked raspberries until your belly aches? Well, for me, it wouldn't have quite the same ring to it...

Somehow I failed to plant raspberries of my own this year but mark my words, next year I WILL HAVE THEM! And they don't produce really yummy ones the first year so I'll just have to be patient. But, WANT WANT WANT razzleberry plants of my own...

While in Marquette, after the bike race, I went to the Farmer's Market with my beautiful Aunt Sara. A strange sight was at hand: PIRATES! Shopping with their pirate children. So I took a photo.

Further research showed the real reason they were in town:

My post-race meal was probably not the best choice by athlete standards, but the restaurant name provided a few minutes of entertainment:

These young'uns are probably going to grow up to be major troublemakers.

Like their mommy... (my big sis)

My Grandpa always has a story to tell... maybe one day I'll write them down. Here he is yarning one out to my big brother...

Cara's summer: Pictorial #1

2008-08-29T13:25:00.003-04:00

So not a lot of news from me of late... and I just haven't had a lot of creative juices flowing. So here are some photos to share, with a little background.

Coming home from St. Louis after my short-notice trip home in June, I had some stowaways - Captain Smurf to keep me in the right direction, Little Koala (creative name) to love me, and Speed-e the running monkey to keep me fast.

When I returned to the office, a crime had been committed in my cubicle!!!!

One of the cool horsies we saw in Louisville...

WANT. WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT!

I am an Olympian! and so can you...

2008-08-20T20:19:00.000-04:00

Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Race, Cara Take 7

2008-08-09T23:51:00.003-04:00

From Negaunee to Marquette, MI and all sorts of places in between

So, Cara’s Episode 7 of the Ore to Shore Mountain bike classic has come and gone, and it was a good lesson for me, and a great confidence builder.

The long road rollout for this race was awesome – 4 miles of pavement to jostle for position and for me to follow wheels somewhere in the top 40. I didn’t see too many women ahead of me and wasn’t too concerned – my goals for the day included “riding within my limits” and “not crashing” – not necessarily conducive to racing, but it sure had me relaxed! I was feeling pretty strong for my first race since Nationals at the beginning of July.

Off road I felt really comfortable. It helped a lot that there was hardly anything technical in my way – some sandy downhills, random rocky sections, some tricky uphills, a few berms/washouts, but there were pretty much always at least two good lines to follow, and nothing that involved me lifting my front wheel too high (good, still can’t do it with the bum arm). Also, the rain that came overnight and a little at the start was a mixed blessing – tacked up the sand and trails and made me a ton more confident. The “mixed” part is because the sand was of course sticking to my chain and getting stuck in my cassette and everywhere else…

The first bit of chain suck (chain suck, Mommy, being when the chain gets caught up on the gears and prevents you from moving forward, and often caused by dry chain and/or crap in the gears) and sign of trouble came just 35 minutes into the race – I had hitched a free ride on a long pavement section from some silly goose on a ‘cross bike, and was smirking to myself at how smart I was being by letting that guy do the work, when we started uphill and I couldn’t pedal anymore. Tried to back pedal but couldn’t free it; had to get off the bike and fix it with my hands. Dang, momentum and 2+ minutes lost. “Oh well,” I thought to myself, “onwards and upwards!”

So I set about passing all the people who had just passed me, and later on a couple uphills had similar issues – there I just had to get off the bike and run it out. I was irked, to say the least, but it was still manageable. (and, I can still do my ‘cross remounts!)

The final blow came at 1 hr 7 minutes into it – after a fast downhill, going uphill, decided to shift from the big to middle ring and got the chain folded over itself and firmly wedged underneath the front derailleur. After assessing the situation and not being able to extricate the chain immediately I hit the lap button on my watch, just for grins. 10 minutes later I finally gave up on trying to unwedge the thing and decided to take the chain apart. My arm was hurting pretty badly at this point from trying to loose the chain with force and I was more than a little frustrated. Eventually I got the thing free and put it back together, only to see that a young teenager (probably 14 or 15) had broken his chain on the same hill. So, I handed him my chain tool and he said “what do I do with this?” The blind leading the blind, but I spent a few more minutes teaching him what to do and waiting for him to do it. Total time loss on that stop: 31 minutes.

I was about 9 miles from the finish at that point. Stopped at an aid station for lube at mile 6, and then approached the sandy downhill section - where I have crashed every year - with a devil-may-care attitude. The rain helped a lot, but I made it through on the bike and with no issues whatsoever – yippee! Passed a ton of people, too, pretty much all of them walking. Just rode in enjoying the view, the people watching, and the trails – sometimes it’s good to actually take the time to notice the route you’re traveling. :-) Crossed the line to the very relieved cheers of my family, who had worried that I was lying on the side of the trail broken somewhere. Fortunately, it was just the accursed bike today…

Firstly, I can’t say for sure that my problems stemmed entirely from not paying attention to my chain lube situation before the race, but I know that having a pretty dry chain compounded my chain suck issues. I had lubed my chain before the pre-ride on Friday, but didn’t really pay attention to it this morning, and then right at the start the skies poured on us, basically washing away what little lube was on the chain, right before a sandy ride. (duh!) I obviously take for granted having handy bike boy(s) around before most races.

Secondly, I am doing this ride again next year! Screw the long one – I’ll never be able to do well in it because all the pros come out for it, and I suck at mountain biking. Plus, it cooks me for the whole day. But the shorter one, it has tons of pavement AND hardly any of the technical stuff, and I had plenty of energy afterwards for quality family time. Of course when I told Andy I wanted to do this one again he asked “we could do it on the tandem?” and the sad thing is that yes, I agreed. We could probably win that on the tandem. YES I PUT IT IN WRITING! Top 5, anyway. There were some 12 year olds who were pretty fast…

I have no idea how I placed, or how I would have placed if I were to subtract 35 – 40+ minutes from my time… but I think pretty well. I’ll have to snoop on the results whenever they post them online to see what coulda, woulda, shoulda happened.

Whew, long winded report (did you expect anything less?). I did a second “race” later in the afternoon, I’ll have to post about it tomorrow. For now, it’s off to beddy bye. But I’ll post a photo teaser for the 2nd race.

Pre-Ore to Shore, the pansy ride

2008-08-08T22:08:00.003-04:00

Short post because I'm oh so tired. Not really sure where the last two days have gone but I guess that's what happens when large amounts of family gets together.

Pre-rode some of the course yesterday and today and it is dry dry dry and sandy sandy sandy. Couple that with a girl who's shaky on the bike and majorly lacking confidence and CAN'T crash and you get slow slow slow timid timid timid, probably doing myself more harm by being petrified of every pebble in my way. Executive decision: I'm doing the "Soft Rock" 28 miler, not the "Hard Rock" 48 miler that I've always done, since I first started coming up here for the race in 2002. :-(

Feel kind of like a pansy but shouldn't... saw lots of fast guys and gals out pre-riding the course today and am kind of bummed I won't be there for the excitement of the big race start. But not overly concerned, as it were... 28 miles will be fine, hopefully i'll be done in about 2 hours and I'll still have the energy to do the 4 mile "Junior Rock" race with my cousin's son Toby. maybe, that 4 year old boy has got a lot of energy, hopefully he can channel it into moving the bike forward.

Air travel

2008-08-07T11:38:00.004-04:00

Ah, refreshing air travel. The art of sitting next to someone, talking about mundane aspects of your lives for the duration of your flight, and then introducing yourself at the end of it with a "take care" tagged on at the end. All I really wanted to do was read my juvenile fiction and be ignored...

Apparently, I'm one of the many people worth watching at the airport. At least, that's what I suspect from the doubletakes people have been doing when I walk by. I couldn't quite figure out why, and looked in the mirror to make sure i didn't have any boogers on my face or something. I mean, I know I have crazy hair and a bright green t-shirt on... but apparently wearing knee hi socks with 3/4 pants was not the best low-profile option. Now, if only tabloids would post about my awesomeness and I could get some $ out of it...

I'm glad that my "who cares?" attitude extends to what random strangers think about me. But the best is watching the suits with their blue tooth ears do double takes - hey buddy i might be trying to get a bank deal out of you next week, and you wouldn't even know! muah hah hah.

Back on it

2008-08-06T10:41:00.001-04:00

I just did my PT today. It would appear, since I haven’t been posting about it, that I haven’t been doing it except when at PT Paul’s office. In many cases, appearances are deceiving but as applies to me and PT, WYSIWYG.

Probably a “real” post tomorrow at an airport. I’ll say this though – training buddies are awesome!

Andy post natz

2008-08-04T16:50:00.002-04:00

So, Andy’s 24 hour mountain bike nationals bid with his team is done… and they were 2^nd. Living vicariously is more than slightly nerve wracking when you want them to win and the chips don’t fall in quite the right spot. The team that won had done several of those 24 hour events and had their pacing/resting strategies just right, it was amazing how consistent they were! Chapeau to them. And chapeau to the Kobold Watches/Cannondale boyz, bringing home the 2^nd podium spot in their first 24 hour race together (and for 3 of them (the young’uns, of course), their first 24 hour race ever!)

Now Andy is in the car, continuing south then westward toward CO, where next weekend he’ll compete in the Leadville 100. I am so confident that he will beat Lanceypants, I mean, he beat another former Tour winner in a hundred miler this April. (Floyd) I think I’ll bet $.02 against anyone who says Lance will beat my Andykins. Yeah, I’m a big spender! Harrumpf.

Anyway, as for ME, me me me me! I came home Friday night and my car did not MOVE until this morning when I went and saw PT Paul. Lots of progress has been made on my little arm and now I don’t need to go see him except to learn new exercises, so probably next week sometime. The shooting pain is gone, replaced by the occasional ache, not quite the same range of motion as before, and an overall sensation of not quite rightness (who doesn’t have that most of the time, anyways?). Progress!

As for the weekend, I did all of Coach C’s workouts, some long-neglected housekeeping items, and some serious websurfing as I waited to “watch” the 24 hour boys complete their laps on Granny Gear’s website. I also ate about 50 cherry tomatoes that are now ripening on my tomato plants (now would be a good time to insert a picture, that of course I don’t have). They rarely make it into the house, those tomatoes…

Up this week: 3 day work week (yay!) followed by cake-baking for a co-worker, to be dropped off Thursday on my way to the airport to fly to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A bike “race” disguised as a family visit awaits… oh boy oh boy oh boy! (race is in quotations because it is highly unlikely that my just-returned-to-training-can’t-handle-a-mountain-bike body will really allow me to race it) But I still can’t wait…

Slacker

2008-08-02T19:01:00.003-04:00

Oh, this has been a great day. Listening to Harry Potter audiobooks on CD, (bluetooth headphones let me go anywhere in the house!), "watching" 24 hour mtb nationals... and a bike ride with Coach C's intervals done as prescribed, ending with entering the house 15 seconds before a deluge began... yeah!

Now the boys are 8 hours in and in 2nd, but 15.5 minutes back... :-( Wah! The thing is, there are still 16 hours to go... so hope is not lost... and word on the street is that Daniel double flatted on his first lap.

Okay, can I talk some more about Pua Sawicki? Holy crapoli, she's now on Lap 7, 8 hours in, and has LAPPED every one of her competitors. 1/3 of the way into the race!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I guess I need a project to work on or something... but I keep getting drawn to the computer... F5 F5 F5 give me some more results!

Spoke too soon

2008-08-02T13:27:00.001-04:00

Looks like Daniel might have had a mechanical on lap 2 and was 18 minutes slower than travis' first lap... so now i think they're in 3rd... maybe i shouldn't "watch" anymore and just wait to hear what happens in the end... because I don't like this sick feeling in my belly... :-(

Andy at MTB 24 hr Natz

2008-08-02T12:22:00.002-04:00

So I've eschewed going to watch the NRC Presbyterian Healthcare Criterium in Charlotte today in order to rest my back that I effed up yesterday picking up my bike box that I shipped to my aunt's in Marquette, MI for next weekend. Who would have thought that a bike in a box would weight 51 pounds? Well, the box weighs more than the bike, i think...

Haven't ridden yet because I am decluttering the house. But you can't declutter all the time, so what else can you do?

Live vicariously and "watch" the 24 Hour Nationals via the Granny Gear productions super nifty real-time splits web site.

As I write this the race is only 1+ hours underway. Andy's team, which consists of the same guys who were here last weekend, had the first guy through! (travis livermon, "Thinks someone in their 30s is old") And I scoped out the competition, if they keep this up the starz n' barz is a mere 22.5 hours away. Of course, lots can happen in 22.5 hours.... but i'll keep my fingers crossed for 'em.

"holy cow" factor to the 3rd rider across the line on the first lap - Pua Sawicki racing in the women's solo class!!!!!! She already has a 13 minute lead - after only 5% of the race completed! Note she is on a Wobblenaught bike fit... must be the fit, yeah. I wonder if anyone around Asheville could fit you?

Thank you, Granny Gear Productions, for enabling this couch potato to watch from 948 miles away...

A happy day...

2008-07-30T13:26:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to my favorite mandymeow...

who moved out of state quite a while back in pursuit of smartypants studies...

And i no longer see every weekend for our myriad shenanagins, most of which are inappropriate content on the bloggity blog... but usually involve something foolish, silly and fun!

sometimes i even see her in fruit...

Rain.

2008-07-29T15:55:00.003-04:00

They tell me we’re in a drought right now. The rain dumped on me on my ride home yesterday. No biggee, except I forgot to stuff newspaper in my shoes so when I rode to work today I had wet feet.

Got in the car to drive to a store at lunchtime, holy snikes it stunk to high heaven. Left the shoes underneath the front tire to dry out and stop stinking up the car.

Wouldn’t you know it’s raining buckets out there right now.

Hopefully I will still have shoes when I leave tonight. They will still stink regardless of who has them.

Oh, and I have done at least one round of my PT today, just soes you knows.

Fell off the wagon...

2008-07-28T22:50:00.002-04:00

Well no blog updates from me this weekend! I sucked at doing my PT. In that, I didn't do it. :-( Somehow watching the (anti-climactic) Tour time trial, doing laundry, working on the garden and baking cookies for Andy & his 3 teammates tired me out too much to do it on Saturday...

and on Sunday I spent most of my day at the Off Road Assault on Mount Mitchell, hell no not racing it, but watching Andy and aforementioned teammates tear it up out there. Well, I saw them in two spots over a 5 hour time frame, does that count as watching? I did get 3.5 total hours in on the bike... and tons of socializing which was much needed... and of course was totally fried when I got home, as if I had raced but no not really.

Andy managed 4th place after cracking in the latter part of the race and getting passed by a young'un. And his "thinks someone in their 30s is old" teammate Travis (age: 21?) was 2nd, with his other "thinks the same thing" 19 year old teammate Alex in 8th.

My girlfriend Karen, who helped me celebrate my birthday this year NOT in the emergency room (where we were 2 years ago on my bday after she got knocked down), won the women's race in 6 hrs 40ish minutes. Who wants to spend that much time on their mountain bike? Who wants to spend that much time on a bike, period? Well, not me. Blech! But it was fun seeing everyone.

When I rode home I passed some people who still hadn't started the last technical trail before the finish - they had been out for 8 hours, which probably meant it would be a 10 hour day for them. EGAD! no, no, no. I was grateful when I turned right to begin a short descent to the house, and pitied them as they turned left to go up over the mountain on Kitsuma...

Cried in PT today when I realized I had taken a step back in healing... probably because of the riding and gardening this past weekend. But since I have now written a 4-week base period program for my intro into 'cross, the healing better happen regardless! Today was day 1 of officially being on aforementioned program, and I managed to do all three tasks I assigned myself - run (15 minutes, not even a shuffle!), ride home, and do my PT. Yay! Of course I got rained on during the ride, ironic since we are in the middle of a full-on drought and haven't seen rain for weeks, during which time I haven't touched the bike...

But I digress. Here is a slideshow to some photos I took this weekend. Not the best, but there they are...

Iz mah birfday

2008-07-25T16:45:00.002-04:00

So, I managed to do my PT twice yesterday. Was so tired after my ride last night (ride to work + ride to time trial = 3 hours, not bad for a first official day back) that i just went to bed... And I didn't post! Oops, doesn't take long to forget.

So earlier today I saw on my phone that PT Paul called, "oh crap" I think, "he's calling me out!" I'm so ashamed, especially since when he called I had not yet done my morning PT... (but i did it at lunchtime... and will do it tonight...)

but why was he really calling? because he's very thoughtful, and...

I know I am loved because like 5 billion people sent me well wishes, among other things. Thank you one and all!

Off to meet my sweetie and a girlfriend for my first mountain bike ride since my tumble! I've limited it to 1 hour so as not to hurt myself too badly... :-)

Tour: oh, I guess I do like bike racing!

2008-07-24T11:16:00.001-04:00

Last year I barely glanced at Tour de France results day to day; for whatever reason it just didn’t interest me. Somehow, this year, my interest has been piqued again, and I watched it “live” on cyclingnews text updates today. Then, when the lead break of two riders got to about 5k to go, I went into the break room to watch. I swear my HR went from resting to 100+ just waiting for the cat & mouse game to end! It was agony! I’ve never enjoyed participating in cat & mouse sprints (since I suck at slow speed sprints), but in the pro peloton the video makes you think you’re right there. Even now my muscles are a little wobbly… holy crap. Now I have a slight image of how European football fans feel…

Rode my bike into work today! First time in a month and a half. Almost forgot to do my PT (but remembered in time…)

And follow this link for a news update on my cycling team. No news in there about me; if you ain’t part of the show, what’s there to know?

Report: Day 2

2008-07-23T20:36:00.002-04:00

Here is positive report #2: yes I did my PT today. This morning (no crunches, ran out of time). At lunch (in one of the conference rooms, theraband attached to the doorknob), and at Paul's office, so I kinda couldn't avoid that one. We actually did some weightlifting, which made me feel as pathetically wimpy as I did my freshman year in college when some foolish SLU baseball players called me chicken legs in the athlete's weight room... In case you couldn't imagine, damn wimpy.

However, the "acute pain" days are long gone and I've moved into "habitually sore" so that's a good thing.

In other long overdue news, Andy did not make the Paralympic squad, in case you didn't guess. He posted about it to his blog a long time ago; click here to read the details. You can find photos in a later blog post here.

Another news point: I will officially start consistently riding my bike tomorrow. Since I have written it down, I'm committing to it. Three weeks of slackerness after natz is plenty.

And here is something all cubicle dwellers should fear:

Yes, I'm doing my physical therapy!

2008-07-22T15:13:00.001-04:00

I went to see my physical therapist yesterday, and unabashedly admitted that I’ve only been haphazardly performing the few simple tasks he assigned to me. No excuse, really, but at least I owned up to it.

Paul is supercool, but drove home the point that healing will happen a lot faster, and more smoothly, if I take care of myself! (duh)

So, how do I hold myself accountable? By using Mr. Bloggity Blog to keep me honest… Once per day I will be posting confirmation that I completed my exercises as required (using the cool email function so I can sneak it out from work). I mean, that’s the goal. You can expect a few one lined posts in the next week or so… I’m sure it will make my little mommy happy to know I’m doing my exercises.

So, YES, I did today’s first session of self-directed PT at 6:45ish. I was so inspired I tried to do some sit-ups, too. My poor little wimpy core could barely manage 50 crunches on the ball… hmm, apparently I need to do more than just my PT. I also did my exercises at lunchtime. J

So, there’s today’s affirmation. My next post should come tomorrow evening.

As far as my shoulder feels, the pain is greatly diminished and is now more of a nuisance than distraction. I almost want to get back on my bike… Almost.

Hot Diggity Doggett, year 2

2008-07-20T22:13:00.008-04:00

This weekend was the French Broad Cycling Classic, in my hometown of Ashevegas. It was the first time in 8 runnings I haven't competed in it – and that really didn't bother me at all, not even at the TT, my supposed specialty.

So, let me take you back one week, to my last bike ride excluding Friday/Saturday, where Andy & I participated in the Hot Doggett Century in and around Mars Hill, NC on July 12, 2008.

I had hardly ridden the week before, a post-Nationals depression of sorts plus a much needed reprieve on my injured shoulder. Andy insisted that we do the 100 miler on the tandem (there was a metric option, which I did last year, most of it with my supercool friend D-dub). I begrudgingly agreed, admonishing him that if I blew, he might be riding the tandem in solo. He said we could treat it like the cookie ride it was, stopping at the rest stops and making sure we were adequately fueled for a steady endurance ride.

Yeah right.

We always go to the front at the start of long group rides, mainly to stay out of trouble. So, we pretty much stayed at the front for the first 30 miles. The group had a police escort and a moto for those 30 miles, shutting down the intersections and making us feel like we were the leaders of a stage race or something, excepting that Mr. Policeman underestimated the group's speed on the downhills… which slowed us down and didn't bother me at all!

Here is the sight I saw when I turned around on the back of the tandem... Johnny G. leading the chase...

Bowlesie on the left hamming it up...

Anyway, we knew when we hit the first real climb of the day, the ride's namesake Doggett Mountain, we would be out the back. So we picked a slightly above comfortable pace and rode steady, as about 15 guys went on ahead. We actually beat about 4 guys to the top!

Here is the view I saw as we began the long climb up Doggett...

The Biowheels guys stopped at the top for refueling, and we decided to keep going and make use of the rest stop in Hot Springs at mile 52. We all wound up regrouping on the descent and then the long winding road along the river, disappointing the guys into a rolling paceline rather than just towing them along. I think they would have been fine sitting on our wheel all day, hee hee.

When we stopped in Hot Springs, to the surprise and delight of the volunteers, everyone else went on and we figured that was the last we'd see of them.

Much of the rest of the ride is a blur to me, save the one constant: good legs! Fearing an implosion of epic proportions, I was super diligent about fueling myself, and also made sure to rest my legs when they needed it (so much easier on the tandem when someone else is pedaling too, and we're setting our own pace)

The last climb is the 6 mile Sam's Gap, which leads us over the mountain into Tennessee, then a super fast descent winds us back down. I couldn't believe I was STILL feeling good, and we only had about 12 miles to go after the top of the climb. So, I finally gave Andy some constant power on that climb and we railed it, treating it like a race finish. We had already merged with the 65 mile ride at that point, so we were passing a lot of the later (perhaps not so fit) riders at that point. But, at the base of the climb we saw a sight we didn't think we'd see again that ride: a Biowheels jersey. Oooh, he was cracked, and we blazed by him. And then another. And then another! I couldn't resist heckling them, it just seemed natural. Then we passed some other guys who had been in our early front group… by the top of the climb we had caught all but 4 guys… and blew by one on the run into town. We really crushed it into the finish, crossing the line at 5 hrs 29 minutes. Take off about a 5 minute stop, and that is one fast ride for one of the hilliest centuries around. How the heckadoodle did we do that?

It is fun to get all sorts of attention just for finishing the ride on a tandem. I don't think I've ever had a more enjoyable century. My shoulder was only a nuisance rather than a distraction (big improvement!), and I didn't even feel completely trashed the rest of the day (napping helped). We got to see all sorts of cool peoples with whom I've lost touch as I've retreated further into my hermitude, got a waterbottle & t-shirt along with our entry, AND they served us yumtastic lunch afterwards (yes, including HOT DOGS - they were quite tasty). Definitely the most fun at a biking event I've had in all summer.

Thank you, Rotary Club of Madison County for such a well organized and fun adventure!

One Month + 1 day

2008-07-16T10:49:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was the 1 month anniversary of that blasted crash.

I am still injured, and I haven't ridden my bike since Saturday (although that was a great 5.5 hour tandem ride, I'll have to post about it soon - I even got photos!)

Oh, the post crash injured funk! I've never known it so badly.

At the Cowbell Challenge on June 21, as I hobbled around in the same sling I left the hospital in (see photo), I met a physical therapist who just happens to have his office in my new hometown of Black Mountain. Paul Arsenault of Summit Physical Therapy told me I needed to come by his office, and I thanked him and said I would, knowing full well that I would be healed in a jiff and wouldn't need him. As if!

So I (finally) stopped by this past Monday, and he showed me some simple exercises to do that would help strengthen the muscles around the injured muscle (which stretches underneath my collarbone and prevents me from having full range of motion). They're all supposed to be done "pain free", which means the movement doesn't cause me pain. Problem is, the next day I was so sore from doing the tiny little exercises he gave me that I haven't done them since! Arrgh! I think I'll try again at lunchtime today though. He also mentioned a few things I SHOULDN'T be doing, and apparently lifting objects above my head, and large awkward objects like a bike is a no no. (My shoulder's been telling me that, but that hasn't stoppped me...)

I alternate between really angry and really depressed. Today, it's a mixture of both. My circle of friends has been pretty tolerant of my hot and cold attitudes, bizarre poorly reasoned lashings out, and general weirdness-in-not-a-good-way, and I really appreciate it. Can't seem to shake the funk, although I have periods of calm where I almost, almost feel normal... till I move it, of course.

Masters National Criterium Championship

2008-07-08T20:44:00.001-04:00

Masters Nationals Crit
Friday July 4th, 8 a.m.

Rain.

Easy corners.

Small field.

Sleepy Cara. Motivated Christy.

I didn’t even start with the field in this race – I just didn’t care. They went hard and I went about 60%. It was raining and crappy out, and too freakin’ early in the morning. Tried to let them lap me but they were going too slow! Eventually I caught back on, but had pretty much 1 speed. Any surges and I would get gapped and TT back on. Eventually a split went up the road, and I thought, “good, now I can get lapped like I want.” Then I noticed Christy was in no-woman’s land and I had to bust my ass to get up to her to help her. Wound up on the front of the 2nd group for the last 5 laps, and made my race to the last corner in an attempt to lead Christy out. Unfortunately, the wheel sucker who had sat on the entire time purposely took the crappy line straight toward the wet metal grate and Christy hesitated to not hit it, missing said wheel-sucker’s wheel. 6th and 8th, and a totally numb arm with no feeling or control in it after 1+ hour in the drops. Ah well… I had a small sense of satisfaction that I had at least attempted to help Christy, albeit it was too late…

The Other Side of the Coin

2008-07-06T21:46:00.004-04:00

Betsy posted her take on the Tandem Road Race from last Thursday. Click here to read it. She actually has PHOTOS to illustrate along with the story. Why are everyone else's race reports always better than mine?

Believe it or not, I raced the criterium in the rain on Friday morning. Well, I made an appearance. Didn't quite have the legs, heart or ability to hold the handlebars to "race" it... and I hope to write a report sooner rather than later, if only to explain proper racing etiquette to people who should know better. (taking bad lines to try to force people onto wet sewer grates = low class, moreover NO class) Not that anyone reads my blog. But it will make me feel better!

This weekend was sooo awesome being at home with no plans, I'm so bummed I have to go to bed now. After having lived in this house for more than a year, we finally hung up many of the pictures that have been gathering dust in the attic corner. And, remember the picture of the boxes that I posted at the very beginning of the year sometime after a straightening binge? Well, they're strewn all over the guest room floor again, all to look for one tiny little thing. Maybe I should just throw them out the window... (you probably thought I was going to say I cleaned them up! yeah right.)

Thanks to my teammate Laura, my teammate Jen's hubby Tony, and my super awesome friend Jody for ensuring the survival of my container garden and my kitties in our absence. So nice to not come home to dead things. And, we have baby tomatoes! Still green, but growing! I've never made it this far, excepting the one time about 50 romas grew out of our compost heap.

Masters Tandem Road Race National Championship

2008-07-05T23:13:00.001-04:00

Masters Tandem Road Race National Championship
Cherokee Park
Louisville, KY
July 3, 2008

After a pretty uneventful day and a half of resting between road races, Thursday morning came and brought still more waiting, this time for the day to progress enough for us to go to Cherokee Park in Louisville, KY to compete in the tandem road race with a bunch of other crazy people. As the day progressed, and I started to run out of Sabrina the Teenage Witch episodes to watch on YouTube, I became more and more nervous. It has been a long, long time since I have been so anxious before a race (excluding this race last year). So long, in fact, that the only nervousness I remember in all of my 10+ year long cycling career is from last year’s tandem road race. (selective memory?) I felt absolutely sick that we would get trounced by our nemeses or anyone else for that matter, that we would crash and further injure me, or any number of other awful things. There were also a lot of positive thoughts trying to dispel the queasy stomach land in which I found myself, including the facts that 1. Andy is a very good bike handler, 2. I had no control over the braking mechanism (a good thing when speed is of the essence!), and 3. both Andy and I have quite a bit of road racing experience. However, my prevailing pre-race sentiment was “can we just go home now?”

It was sprinkling a bit on the course, and there were some wet spots in critical turns that further added to my nervousness. We were to do 10 laps of the 5 mile circuit. We lined up with about a dozen teams comprising several different races, and were told we could tell our competition apart by the range of numbers, none of which mattered to Andy because he wanted to beat everyone. The gun went off, and we were immediately on the pedals, intending to be the first tandem through the hairpin that came a few hundred feet past the start/finish line. We led just about the entire first lap, going hard up the climbs and trying to split the field into a more manageable size. As we passed under the clock, I saw that we rolled 11 minutes 11 seconds on the first lap. Dang that was fast. The second lap we eventually formed into a group of 5, and we were still absolutely hauling, with Andy & I leading the charge up all the hills, still trying to crack people.

I think it was midway through lap three when we shed the next two tandems, and it was just us, the Shogrens (nemeses!) and a 90+ couple that was really railing the corners. We followed that couple through a few turns and even though Andy had told me not to say anything to him going into the corners (because I need to trust him) I couldn’t help but say “go our speed, not theirs” – I just wasn’t comfortable with how fast they were going! And perhaps, with good reason. At the start of lap 5, I think, we led again through the tight hairpin after the start/finish, and continued on down the downhill through a fast, off-camber “funnel” as I called it that only allowed the use of half the road. You had to be careful in it because even in the individual race I found you could get pushed to the outside and dangerously close to the edge if you weren’t careful. We were exiting the slight turn when I heard the horrible skittering sound of a shopping cart being thrown to the ground, no wait it was the 90+ team hitting the deck. I almost lost what little food I had in my belly at the time, because quite frankly I am petrified of falling down again, and also because if a single-bike crash is bad, a tandem crash is at least twice as bad if not moreso.

After that crash, it was the McApplegate/Shogren showdown. They hadn’t really played any cards just yet, taking a few pulls but being mostly conservative and following our wheel, or so I thought. Andy and I took laps 4/5/6 pretty easy, still pushing pretty hard up the climbs but getting a little rest on the flats, too. Gunnar and Betsy matched us pedal stroke for pedal stroke on those laps. Toward the end of lap 6, we pushed the pace up Cochran Hill, the hardest of the circuit, and had the tiniest of gaps at the top… through the left hander to the fast downhill, through the fast left hander at the bottom, and after we came out of that we had a slightly bigger lead. “Go!” I urged Andy, and we sped through the slight downhill to the second to last climb to the finish. At the top I looked back and saw we had at least 15 seconds – yeah! How did that happen? I had no idea, but we’d take it… So we entered into time trial mode and buried ourselves for the next lap to establish a separation. At this point it had started raining again and the road was officially wet, instead of the random damp patches we had seen earlier in the race. We lapped a team that had been with us until the third lap – they were crawling and the stoker’s left side was bloodied and shredded. Erk! Then, as we approached the first turn on lap 8 we were told to be careful, and there was a team standing on the side of the road, looking dazed and torn up. We took the turns very conservatively, because we weren’t going to win the race on them but we could certainly lose it! And finally, after 15+ miles of time trialing, we crossed the finish line as the first mixed team, 50 miles in 2 hours even. Yea! It was such a relief to be done safely, and also to successfully defend last year’s win.

Unfortunately I have no photos of the podium, as we didn’t have time to go back to the car to grab the camera. (that might be a good thing – I think I pulled a terrible grimace when I forced my right arm above my head for the first time since the crash, and knifelike pains went through my beleaguered muscles).

To be quite honest, I have no idea how I was able to ride so well – I guess Andy pulls the best out of me. Two and a half weeks before that race I thought my riding was done for the year, and I couldn’t lift my right arm away from my side. Now, it still pains me to grab for my water bottle, but without needing to shift or brake on the tandem, I’m not as useless as I feel on my single bike. As Sabrina Spellman would say, “Whoo hoo!”

Playing the Waiting Game

2008-07-02T22:45:00.001-04:00

I feel the need to post something since in theory I’ve had tons of free time, but there’s nothing much to report. Resting between bike races is so boring – you feel listless and trapped, and anything you might want to do is a no no because it costs energy that you need to be saving for your next race.

I did put my skimpy swim suit on today and mosey on down to the beautifully inviting and empty pool… just as I was shrugging my shirt off a family with two young children came screaming in ahead of me… so I spent about two minutes in the water getting splashed at before I went into the lukewarm hot tub and floated a bit… still felt quite good. I got back into the pool right before I left, and tolerated the kids’ shenanigans for a minute or two more before crawling out. And of course, as I left, they left too. GRRR!!!!

We went to the road course in the afternoon and watched the last race of the day finish, then did a few laps of the course to practice screaming through the corners on the tandem. We hit a rock on one of them, skipping the rear wheel out, and it sketched me out a little (a lot?). Gunnar and Betsy just “happened” to be on the course at the same time (yeah, like we don’t know when we’re being stalked!) so we chased them down and heckled them (oh, wait, I guess that would make us the stalkers?). It was fun riding tandems in tandem with the coolest bike racin’ couple out of West Virginia… but it’ll be GAME ON tomorrow! Just like the Dread Pirate Roberts, THERE WILL BE NO SURVIVORS! Muah hah hah.

Well, Harry Potter is over on HBO so I guess it’s time for bed. Hopefully the next post will be all about how we took everyone to skool in the tandem road race at 3:35 tomorrow!

May I mail it in next time, please?

2008-07-01T15:39:00.002-04:00

Today was my Masters Road Race Championship. It was 9 laps of a 5(?) mile circuit in a nice park in Louisville with lots of twisty turnies and up and downs, and rode more like a crit than a road race. With my bum shoulder and the long day yesterday, I felt awful when I had to wake up at 6 a.m. after not quite enough sleep.

Anyway, we made our way over to the course with plenty of time, and after changing etc etc I tried to spin around on my bike and get a feel for the finishing climb. Hmm, I guess I really did go hard yesterday, because someone had stolen my legs and replaced them with lead-filled prosthetics. The nerve!

My only goals for the race were to stay upright and with the main group. I decided instinct needed to guide me for anything beyond that. It didn’t take long for me to know I wouldn’t be a contenda for the starz and barz… firstly, it pained me enormously to stand while going uphill, and it was an uphill finish. Secondly, because of the aforementioned lead filled legs. Oh, and the whole lack of fitness thing – painfully obvious on day 2 of racing. When you realize things like that, it makes it hard to summon energy to do anything spectacular, like help out fellow Southeasterners in the group, or go on suicide solo attacks, or do anything but ride passively along, reacting to events rather than being proactive.

Eventually the field whittled down to 7 of us, and I thought “hey, I only have to beat two people to get on the podium!” I could do that. Just sit on 5th place and let them lead me into the finish. But, when the finish came, and I stood up and felt the awful stabbing feeling in my arm and shoulder, I just sat back down and let the sprint go rather than deal with any more pain. ProTour rider I am not! (in reference to all those Pros who get up and finish races with broken collarbones and wrists and whatever else…) So, 7th it was, and I was secretly kinda glad because then I didn’t have to wait for the podium ceremony and watch someone else get a striped jersey.
A blissful day of rest tomorrow followed by the Tandem Road Race on Thursday afternoon – that is going to be crazy (and crazy fun)! Looks like we might have quite a few tandems on the course at that time and dang, that is going to be one heck of a sight… not to mention challenge.

4x Cara, 7x Andy

2008-06-30T21:11:00.003-04:00

Sometimes, despite all the silly little turns the run of your life sends you down, things work out for you in the end. (beginning?)

Yesterday & today were so loooong… Everything we did seemed to take not much time, but it kept adding up and by the end of yesterday we were beat. Not the best pre-BIG race prep!

Up at 5:45 this morning (because Andy never sleeps when he actually has to depend on an alarm), and to the time trial course by 7ish. Andy’s individual event was at 8:58, so when we arrived we got started right away getting him set up for his race. Once he was out on the course, I thought I would be able to nap a minute or two, but it just didn’t happen. It is great to see so many people you know at these events, but you have to be super anti-social to take care of yourself to prepare for your event, and I didn’t really do that.

Andy came in from the rainy, windy 38k time trial in 50 minutes 52 seconds (or somewhere around that), which was good enough for fourth in his age group (podium!). He didn’t seem terribly disappointed (he shouldn't, that is really good!), as I think his attention has turned a bit from the individual events to the tandem. We came back to the car, and he immediately set about resting up for our tandem effort which was to take place 3 hours later.

This year, we signed up for the Masters Mixed Tandem Time Trial, mainly because my fitness just hasn’t been where it should be all season, but also because we hadn’t won that title. I warmed up on the trainer while Andy took the tandem out for one last check-up. I took care of myself nutritionally the way I always do, which has always served me quite well.

Fast forward to our time trial: gusts of wind blowing down tents and the metal barricades, and a cross-tail wind on the way out with a cross-head wind on the return meant that we were really going to have to kill it on the second half of the course. We went out of the gate last, chasing two teams 2 & 4 minutes ahead of us. Immediately I knew something was wrong with me – my HR was suppressed, so I ignored it, but my perceived exertion also seemed to be stoppered at 7-8 out of 10 – not good! I kept hoping to see the team that was immediately ahead of us, to give us a rabbit to chase, but it didn’t happen. I tried so many different techniques to get my “sea legs” so to speak, to no avail. So this killed me mentally… then, as we approached the turnaround, I looked to see where our competition was. It seemed as if we had put about 15 seconds into the tandem in front of us, but I just couldn’t tell and it further aggravated my mental state that we weren’t obviously ahead of them. Grr.

With about 5 miles to go, Andy started the verbal coaching – “I need you, Cara!” which yanked me out of my reverie but didn’t seem to pull anything out of my legs. Out of all the tandem efforts we’ve done together, this one seemed to stymie me. Even at 1k to go my body seemed to be fighting what I was willing it to do. But as we crossed the line, I almost reluctantly turned my head to look at the clock, and saw emblazoned upon it in red digital numbers 1, and 50:42. Which means, we went damn fast, and we won! Go figure. We also, in the first time of our history of tandeming, went faster together than Andy did individually. Andy was totally wasted, drooling all over himself and unable to speak for a little while. I felt nothing other than a deep ache in my legs (and the now constant reminder of my encounter with the pavement two weeks ago). Therefore, I feel like I let him down somehow. But, at least we won! And, to add a little icing to the cake, we had the fastest mixed tandem time of the day! Mmm, perhaps we SHOULD have entered the elite race…

Tomorrow morning I’ll contest the road race. I still can’t stand on my bike, and that course is super twisty turny up and down. If nothing else, I’ll learn it well for the tandem road race on Thursday, but I certainly have no expectations for the individual. The fun thing about that, is that it usually leads me down a good path…

Louisville-bound

2008-06-29T09:34:00.003-04:00

We're en route to Louisville, KY at the moment, for potentially my last road racing of the year - the Tandem and Masters National Championships.

(what did I tell you, I never did write my Cowbell Challenge report)

Tomorrow is the Tandem Time Trial. My teammate Christy never did find a bike to use so there will be no Team Inferno/BMW-Bianchi showdown. My shoulder is still royally whacked but I think I'll be okay. Andy tells me I have good legs, my teammate Laura who I rode with yesterday tells me I have good legs, I'll just believe them and leave any self-evaluation out of it.

Things that have happened between now and my last post:

Andy & I rode the tandem every day except Wednesday. He tells me I have good legs because we terrorized the group ride with 35 mile an hour lead-outs on Tuesday night. (man o' man that is fun!)

Friday night we participated in the Town Mountain Hill Climb on the tandem. We just narrowly escaped being girled by Andy's former athlete Lauren Franges, who is now on the US National Team. There wasn't a tandem category so we signed up for the men's A. There were four sorry fools in that category who were tandem'ed. Andy also did an individual effort and took third. It was one of the most fun nights I've had in a long time, because we saw so many people we haven't seen in soooo long. I've taken some photos but can't figure out the bluetooth on my new phone at the current moment, so hopefully i'll figger it out sooner rather than later.

Yesterday Laura and I rode for an easy ride, and it was my first venture on my individual bike since I was knocked off my bike two weeks ago. We spent a good 1 hour forty minutes out there, and though my shoulder was tender and sore, and potholes/rough pavement made me whimper, I was able to shift and brake. Standing up is a no go though. Still, the fact that 1. my bike is fixed (thank you Andykins!) and 2. I was able to ride it, is a big deal. I spent so much time on the back of the tandem the last week with my right arm cradled against my chest it was hard to imagine being able to put weight on it.

So, should be good to go for tomorrow. Now we're within an hour of Louisville and will be pre-riding both the TT and RR course today. Time trial tomorrow, my road race on Tuesday (if I do it - I hear it's pretty twisty turny). Then, a break of sorts till the main even, the Tandem Road Race, on Thursday. Hopefully somewhere in there we'll be able to snag some sort of hardware again.

I think I'll have a decent amount of time to post this week, so maybe I'll get past the <1x a week doldrums I've been stuck in.

Cowbell Challenge, Part 1

2008-06-22T21:45:00.002-04:00

I am way too tired to write the "race" report of the Cowbell Challenge from the gimpy support person's point of view right now. As I mentally compose said report, and probably never ink it out, below is a slideshow of some pics I took of the boys in their quest for Cowbell domination, to entertain you in the meanwhile. Forgot the regular camera so these were with my celly!

I will say that training with a bum arm is a lot easier on the back of the tandem - I rode 1 and a half hours today with my right arm mostly off the bars. But at least I was riding (thank you Andy)!

Friday is a good day!

2008-06-20T16:52:00.002-04:00

Good new Fridays, bad news Mondays is what they always say… whoever “they” is…

And so the visit to the Doc went well, prefaced by the fact that I feel 10x better today than yesterday (2 hour naps = very yes). Range of motion is decent (I almost could wash my hair with my right hand today), and he said it’s normal to not be able to lift my arm above my head after a fall like that. Who knew? Besides people who have had falls like that before… the anger is slowly dissipating, replaced by accepting resentment…

I might even go for 45 minutes on the trainer tonight!

There is so much good in the world

2008-06-18T21:13:00.005-04:00

As I've said before, my life as a full time peon/part time bike racer is pretty programmed - there is not nearly enough time in my world to meet all the good eggs in the world, especially when you have to sift through so many bad ones. But sometimes, you stumble upon one just when you need it most. (or, in this case, it seeks you out!)

I came home from work today, tired and dreading my first bike "ride" (a.k.a. the trainer), but with slightly more mobility in my arm than yesterday. I dug the mail out of the mailbox first, and found this waiting for me:

Hope you can read it. Basically it is the nicest support person in the world, wishing me well, and most importantly, not judging me for (if I recall correctly) pulling every four letter word in the English language (and some in French, too) out of my hat as I sat and evaluated my bum arm and broken bike in the hot hot sun.

How could this not make my day 15 million times better?

But I still only made it 30 minutes on the trainer. Just too darned tired...

Mad as a donkey munching on bumblebees

2008-06-16T20:47:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago my teammate Evie sent an email around complaining about being “stung” by the lame Georgia Cup promoters, hence the munching on bumblebees comment. I steal her line now, and I’m sure she won’t mind, because I feel exactly the same way today.

This weekend was mostly great – I traveled to Salisbury, NC for the state road race championships with my teammate Jen, where we met up on Saturday with 5 other of our team hotties. It was a good day, albeit a pretty negative race that ended in a field sprint, but it turned out okay because we were 2nd and 3rd in the sprint (Jen, then me), and took the masters State Championship home because the girl who won is from VA. Yay!

Then we spent Saturday night in Charlotte hosted by our beautiful teammate Christy, grilling dinner and sharing fun story after fun story.

Sunday was the Open Women race and more of the same from Saturday, only with a few different players. We still had 7 hotties, although the names changed a bit, and the race was still pretty negative. We were on the last lap, a few miles from the finish, and I had finally gotten my head in the game and was mentally preparing for the sprint, where I intended to decimate everyone (I can say this, since I didn’t get to mix it up so no one will ever know what I could’ve done).

We started on the one downhill of the course (seriously, just one downhill), and were approaching the steep part with everyone giving everyone plenty of space… or so one would think. I was on the right hand side, minding my own business, when out of the corner of my left eye I see a flash of red, hear a shout, kind of like “what the hell are you doing?” and then hear the tell tale sound of a wheel swiped out… briefly I think “it’s behind me, I’m fine” then still out of the corner of my eye I see the red flash flying toward me in the air and think “oh f*ck, she’s going to hit me!” And so at 30 mph some silly girl broadsides me and I’m thrown to the ground, landing on my shoulder and sliding, sliding, sliding… the first thing I remember hearing is “what the hell were you doing? And then you took my teammate out too!” and I think, “damn, two of us went down.” But they’re both up and off the ground and I’m laying there, stunned, flashing back to Iron Cross, and wondering if I broke anything. I stand up, look at my bike and wonder if I can roll in to the finish (no way, both wheels are trashed, not to mention my body).

My shoulder was hurting like a mofo. But, all I could do was scream at this girl as she got to ride her bike away “enjoy being healthy!” and perhaps a few choice words that I should be ashamed of but am not. I was pretty out of it and only remember hazy details of what happened after that, but I vaguely recall asking Evie if she was okay and she seemed it, though scraped up, and then my whole team was there and that was pretty sweet even if I couldn’t express it in my dazed condition. I didn’t want to take the ambulance because I’m a cheapie but when I couldn’t move my arm I thought “hmm, I guess I better…”

The Xrays came back with no broken bones (thank goodness!) but the only way to know if there is anything torn is an MRI, which I’ll need to do if I don’t feel significantly better in 3-4 days. Since I still can’t lift my arm more than a few inches away from my body I’m somewhat concerned… and am still mad as hell. I thought writing this might be cathartic but I still want to punch a certain someone in the face… if this had happened in a big NRC race, it would be par for the course and I would say “that’s bike racing!” and be grumpy and move on. But since this happened in a field of 20, and the top prize was like $60 or something lame like that, I am pretty pissed. Mmm… perhaps words can’t express just how angry I am. I had finally gotten myself on track to regain what little fitness I could for nationals, and now my chances to defend our national title are wrecked by some idiot racing for last place glory in the state champs. Boo. BOOO!

A big thank you to my beautiful teammates for hanging out with me in the emergency room, listening to me rant incoherently and helping me get dressed in order to leave. You guys are the best!

Up next: Well, Andy says I have to get back on the bike on Wednesday, even if it’s the trainer. The $65 I paid for the Cowbell Challenge on Saturday I’m pretty sure will be another casualty of this little adventure, but I’ll be out there anyway, supporting Andy & his cutie pie teammate Daniel as they tackle the 12 hour duo event. I can only hope the pain subsides enough to let me do something aerobic.

Andy is home!

2008-06-12T22:21:00.000-04:00

After being away from me for more than 3 weeks, the Andykins came home super early Tuesday morning. Waiting for him was his new friend, Ozrath (the green guy with the big mouth). I adopted him for Andy at Adoptacritter. He is pictured here chilling with Andy & Mr. Monster whilst watching Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Yes, I realize that I am 30 years old.

It's ON!!!!

2008-06-11T14:20:00.001-04:00

Team Inferno/BMW-Bianchi versus Team Inferno/BMW-Bianchi in the Tandem Time Trial at Nationals?

Oh, it’s on! It’s ON!!!!! And that sneaky BY-ATCH didn’t even tell me!

https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Registrants.aspx?item_id=2122

new reason to go on a crash training regimen….

IT’S ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As Voldemort said to Harry Potter before Harry kicked his arse, “you will lose”….

45+ hours

2008-06-09T14:47:00.002-04:00

Well, this past week, starting last Monday & ending today (so actually, 8 days a week) I’ll have spent more than 45 hours in the car. I am insane! My family used to call me Cara Crazy Head and they weren’t lying.

After the Meals on Wheels fundraiser last week, where I melted spectacularly in the heat, I got a call from my sister that got me to thinking I should go home. Mom told me not to, so I didn’t. But when I went to work on Monday, I haphazardly packed a few things that would be useful in the event I did go home…and after a brief conversation with my sister I wound up leaving after working a half a day. So, 10+ hour drive #1… fortunately I have some very dear friends who took care of my plants and my kitties in my absence (THANK YOU!) so I knew I was covered there. And thank you for keeping me & my family in your thoughts.

Although things in STL (hometown) weren’t picture perfect, they were ok enough for me to leave on Thursday to fulfill my team obligations for the Liberty Cycling Classic in Philadelphia, PA. Home to Ashevegas for a brief visit with my precious meowmies (and veggie plants), then off to PA jiggity jog for 10+ hour drive #3.

Needless to say, my legs were totally crapped out and the racing was an appearance only situation. But I still really enjoyed the scene and hope to enjoy it as a well rested & mentally prepared racer one day, and will write a report on it later.

We are in the midst of 10+ hour drive #4 right now, and I anticipate a return to some semblance of normal training & life this week… and for those who know, things are getting better at home. Slowly but surely.

Better?

2008-05-27T22:07:00.004-04:00

Four days off the bike has done me a world of good. What I did with that time, I couldn’t necessarily tell you, although my husband might when he comes home and sees that all the laundry is put away and that there aren’t any more papers on the office floor… unless, of course, I muck it up by the time he gets home. Entirely plausible.

I think the Kiwanis Club and Goodwill also appreciate my time off the bike, as they received a substantial amount of STUFF that will hopefully make them some much needed $.

It is amazing the amount of CRAP one can accumulate in a short space of time. And how easy it is to ignore said crap for days, months, years on end, even to the point that you TAKE IT WITH YOU when you move from one house to another. Jiminy Christmas! The saddest, saddest thing of all: there is so much left to do. But, at least I can walk into the office now without tripping…

Soon, very soon, I’ll be hitting ebay with some sales stuff. Man will that feel good!

Other fun little things:

When I was in college, I used to drive 55 mph EVERYWHERE: on the interstates (to save gas), on other roads where possible (because I was a bit crazy.) Now, I’ve slowed down from about 70+ on my commute to work to 60 – it still pisses people off. But, the mpg on the BMW went from <21 to 24 mpg.
Facespace is total timesuck.

If you say “talk to you later” to me, I wish you really would. For serious.

Marky mark is engaged! Yay! To the most hottest girl on the planet, too. Excepting my BFF. (but why o why no photos? or descriptions of how it happened? my other BFF has done so....)

MP3 players/phone combos ROCK.

Current music: Colbie Caillat, Jack Johnson, Counting Crows, Dispatch, Brett Dennen, Yael Naim, one of the Fergie songs (I admit it), the Once movie soundtrack, and a bunch of other random stuff that would probably confirm I’m weird, as if I hadn’t done that long ago. obviously the fave remains jack johnson...

I only watched two things on TV this weekend: crappy no electricity The Wedding Date, and a powerpuff girls episode because I wanted to hear Mojo Jojo's maniacal laugh.

Off to bed so's i can ride tomorrow... and if anyone wants to ride up Folk Art x 2 with me after work, let me know!

Reflections on European Travels

2008-05-25T19:23:00.003-04:00

So, I finally had the breakdown that has been threatening since February.

I won’t go into the details for now, but let’s just say I’ve spent the last three days doing anything but riding my bike, working, or taking care of anybody except the bare minimum team stuff. Much needed and long overdue. It is mostly worked out and I anticipate returning to the bike tomorrow to try to get back on track for Masters Natz the first week of July. I figure it can be done since last year I pretty much had the same thing with a horrible illness.

Anyway, I found a blog post written on the airplane on the way home from our trip to Masters Worlds last August, and I post it now for your enjoyment (and now I can recycle the paper it was written on and continue my purge!):

Reflections on our European Travels
September 1, 2007

Banana + nutella = love

Banana + nutella + crepe = heaven

I firmly believe that good cheese was invented to make me happy.

For all the pictures I took, I somehow forgot to take one of Roger and Annick together. But I’ll remember them much longer than any of the images would last… [Roger & Annick are the friends we visited after the racing was over]

Traveling with bikes has its rewards, but man what a pain!

Two of my favorite French language publications include all the stories about les Schtroumpfs by Peyo, and Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. How incredibly fun and happy is it to find a book that combines the two in a short cartoon?

For you non-francophones... here is the translation: Smurf 1:"hah hah hah, lazy smurf has taken to talking during his sleep!" smurf 2: "yes, I wonder with whom?" Lazy Smurf: "What? A sheep?" Frame 2: "But, I don't have a pencil!"

If you don't get it you should go out an read The Little Prince immediately. or are you already a Grown-Up who wouldn't understand?

6 Hours of Tsali: Executive Decisions

2008-05-19T22:07:00.002-04:00

This past weekend there wasn’t really any good road racing around, and with Andy on the verge of leaving for 3+ weeks, I felt it was important to try to spend some time with him. So, if you call racing our bikes at the same time in different locations on the course spending time together, we accomplished that at least.

The fun started the night before with the arrival of one of Andy’s adorable teammates, Daniel Corum. No bike race would be complete without some bad-yet-so-good TV, so we watched a couple episodes of Ninja Warrior. It was doubly bad because I never would have clicked on that show, and now if I’m mindlessly channel surfing I’ll gladly watch it – what a riot!

Up early on Saturday for the not quite two hour drive to the Tsali Recreation Area, a really cool place in the middle of nowhere, 18 miles away from Robbinsville, NC. We got there with plenty of time to spare and set-up camp in a nice spot a little bit away from the real pit area. It was nice to do it that way because the guys could focus totally on resting and not have to worry about distractions from other teams. Since they were doing a two person team in the four person category (yeah, didn’t make much sense to me, either), they would need all the repose they could get in between laps.

The race started with a 1/3 mile uphill run to our bikes; I didn’t want to waste too much energy on it – in theory I had 6 hours ahead of me and it would actually be better for me to not go as hard on the first lap since I always have to pull over for people on the singletrack. So I jogged to my bike and enjoyed watching everyone sprint up the hill. I felt really good and metered my effort at an endurance pace. Even though I hadn’t been on my mountain bike in more than a month my skills weren’t too bad (for me). I was happy with how I was expending my effort, and felt pretty good. My 2nd lap was even better than my first, as I hardly had to pull over for anyone. I was eating and drinking where possible and felt confident that I was adequately fueling myself. Toward the end of my third lap (about 3 hours in) my belly started feeling a little funky. I decided to take a break at the tent and drink some coke and force part of a clif bar down. 8 minutes later I finally got up and reluctantly got back on the bike. I definitely stopped for too long and climbed fairly slowly; I could tell I was a bit fatigued. Somewhere in the middle of that lap I puked up everything I had been eating and started feeling really crap-ola. My legs still felt fine but my belly was ruling my body, kind of like a bad office environment – you are capable of doing what needs to be done, but your freakazoid psycho totally irrational boss won’t let you do it, and in fact forces you to do things that just don’t make sense, like throw up the energy drink and bar that you so clearly need to do your job. So, I did what any person with a strong instinct for self-preservation would do in such a situation: I quit.

I don’t need to justify why I stopped, seeing as I am a road racer with obligations only to race on the road, and in my own words, suck donkey balls at mountain biking. But it does feel rather silly to admit that I quit while I was winning the freakin’ race. (I didn’t know that at the time) I’m sure I could have soldiered on and managed another lap at a time sufficient to maintain that place. However, I would have been wrecked for the rest of this week and unable to train like I need to in order to meet the few loosely defined goals I have for myself this part of the season. Not to mention risking getting terrifically sick as I did last year after this race. So, stop and lay on the blanket is what I did! And the small pang of regret I felt at doing so was not enough to get me out on another lap.

So ends my race story. My lap times were as follows: 65 min, 63 min, 66 min, 85 min. Yeah, I stopped and looked at the lake on that last lap. Actually tried to figure out a way to get down to it but couldn’t manage it…

Andy & Daniel’s story continued, though, even as I lay on the blanket wondering why losers like me waste $ on entry fees. They were turning pretty consistent times and had established a good hold on third place in the “open money” division. A bunch of KHS youngsters + their mentor were whooping up on everyone, and the Sycamore Cycles team was solidly in 2nd. Hovering about 3 – 4 minutes behind my boys, however, was the Biowheels squad. Kinda like that pesky wabbit, they just wouldn’t go away! They were causing Andy & Daniel great concern as the race went on and the gap stayed about the same. They had two times as many guys and therefore fresher guns going into each lap. Finally, the last exchange rolled around and Daniel was waiting for Andy to come in so he could start his 8th and final lap of the race. He was pretty tired but we sent him out with a bottle of mostly Red Bull that would hopefully give him wings, just like the commercials advertise. After Daniel went out Biowheels’ Dennis Helton came raging in about 4 minutes later… I felt good about that gap, even though their last rider (store owner Matt Johnson, who really enjoyed making me worry that the guys wouldn’t keep 3rd) was totally amped to catch him.

The minutes ticked by, and Andy and I waited anxiously. You could see the headlights coming through the trees before the finish, and as the time approached when Daniel should have been returning, every flicker of light was sweet anticipation that it would be him. Finally, he appeared like a beacon in the night and there was sweet relief – the podium finish was maintained! A mere twenty seconds later, Matt came through totally exhausted, having ridden his brains out trying to catch Daniel. To think that a 12 hour race in the end came down to 20 seconds… good work, boys.

Below is a slideshow of photos from the event… which can be found here

Up next on the agenda: I think a trip home to STL? Geez, I guess I better decide… yup, will probably be home to remember all the soldiers who have served us in various wars… and race in a TT… then on May 31 the Wheel Ride for Food in support of Meals on Wheels of Asheville & Buncombe County, I think… and the weekend after that, Philly! All of this subject to change at the drop of a hat, of course…

Happiness is....

2008-05-15T10:02:00.001-04:00

Finally commuting to work even though it’s going to rain, and not caring, because…. You have fenders!

BMW Performance Center

2008-05-14T21:00:00.003-04:00

Since I already wrote about my trip with my team to the BMW Performance Center on the team website, it seems silly to post about it here.

So, I'll just post the links.

Here is the news item that talks about it:
http://www.bmw-bianchi.com/newsDetail.php?nid=56

And here is my "diary"
http://www.bmw-bianchi.com/diariesDetail.php?reid=75

And here is a slideshow! I hope to add more to this slideshow soon...

You could read this in so many different ways...

2008-05-09T14:26:00.001-04:00

Sunday's Race has been cancelled due to several angry mothers (in reference to a race cancelled in Orange County, NC)

Are you kidding me?

I just laughed and laughed when I saw that...

Gifts

2008-05-09T11:01:00.001-04:00

I’ve received some really cool gifts this week!

See photo (thanks Goo!). A book on how to not be fat, like those frogs on the other side of the pond, a t-shirt encouraging abundant donut consumption (my favorite!) and my 5 year acorn in recognition of my servitude to the (very nice) Man.

See the team news page for my most recent writing. Seems like one item a week for any given subject is my limit… and I pushed it this week with compiling the Ring of Fire results, too (though no write-up – bonked at 9 p.m. isn’t a good setup for writing).

Team get-together this weekend to receive the NEW CARS and drive some fast ones… Life is good.

LKOTB

2008-05-05T21:44:00.003-04:00

LKOTB = lame kids on the block.

yup, they sucked then and they suck now... and yet, i kept listening to the single, in awe of their suckitude... guess i'd really just like to be in 6th grade again...

Oh, wait, this is my bike racing blog? crap. i don't feel like writing about it right now. rode my bike 6 days in a row last week - a good run all things considered... took today off to pot plants and do andy's expense report.

have a really voluminous week planned - can't wait can't wait! and with that said, gotta get to bed to be ready for it...

but here's some websmurfing for all you reality-escapists: look at the Veloforma team as they lounge all casual like on a race weekend... look more like models to me... wish we could smoosh the country together so we could race against them.

Dang. Missed it!

2008-05-03T22:28:00.004-04:00

Whilst chilling at the house transferring music to my phone so I can use it as an mp3 player, I remembered that Brett Dennen is coming to Ashevegas, with Missy Higgins who also rocks... his CD is so good it might actually motivate me to get out, so I thought I'd doublecheck the date. Oh, snap! It's tonight. 10:30 now, I'm sure he's done playing. POOP!

Another fun opportunity lost to my apathy... surprise surprise.

In fun news: look at the silly photos I had on my celly, waiting for a blog post. Hope you can make them out.

so not true!!!! quite the opposite, actually.

smoking baby. someone call DSS!

The Future

2008-05-02T22:31:00.004-04:00

I am not well known for my love of children. I'm a crabby old lady in a 30 year old's skin who doesn't like noise or misbehaving children. I've had the good fortune, of late, to meet really cool kids though. I can handle them in small doses. And when I can give them back.

But I gotta admit, it is cool what is going on at the Mellowdrome on Thursday nights. Look at this little guy's face! He is determined.

See more such photos here. They're all pretty cool.

Don't think, for an instant, I am going soft... Although I did go "Awww..." when I got the latest pics of my niece and nephew... but no warm fuzzy craving for ninos of my own...

Strive not to Drive

2008-05-02T15:24:00.001-04:00

May is National Bike Month. The City of Asheville is, as they have for the past several years, promoting Strive not to Drive week, May 12 – 16. I thought I’d just try to commute as much as possible the whole month though, (and onwards and upwards!) because it saves me $ and gets me fit(ter). Oh, the things you can do when all you have to worry about is work and home! And a little bit of racing…

So, rode home Wednesday. Did the full commute yesterday. And rode in this morning; yay, at least $12 saved!

Here are some fun facts:

b Ride into work: 21 miles, three turns total with a small off road section. Stoplight sprints to avoid stopping on the four lane.

b Ride home from work: 22 miles, off road section again, more turns, but just 2 stop lights & 2 stop signs.

b Cat calls are obnoxious even at 6:30 in the morning.

b Catching up with a scooter at a stoplight and tagging on when it pulls away is pure joy.

---

Racing tomorrow in Charlotte (Dilworth Criterium). Next weekend, special team bonding session in SC; much better than CSC’s silly little boot camp.

Skool's out

2008-04-30T21:30:00.002-04:00

Tonight was my first night of no skool. What did I do to celebrate? I rode my bike home from work. The long way. Like, the 2x as long way. 3 hour rides during the week! Life is good. I'm back on track, I hope.

And then, I cooked dinner. A real live have to chop veggies kind of thing. And now, I have to get ready for bed, so I can ride back to work at 6 a.m. Yay!

Super Short Update

2008-04-26T13:40:00.001-04:00

Am in car en route to Athens, GA for the crazytastic Athens Twilight
crit tonight at 7:45. My only goal is to come out of it with all of my
skin intact.

Skool is done! I think. Now, a brief respite while I regenerate my
damaged brain cells, then begins the CPA application process.

In the meantime, I have started a container garden and hope to have
some homegrown veggies this year!

hopefully a post tomorrow.

Brief Update

2008-04-21T12:51:00.002-04:00

Am taking a short break from working on what I hope will be my final homework assignment at UNCA! I won't promise it because I may wind up back there in the fall, but I sure as heckadoodle hope not.

Weekend was 1 good day, 1 not so good but still okay day... this week is going to be busy with finishing this paper, preparing for my final, and celebrating the day after. hopefully an update to come wednesday night.

Racing Athens Twilight on Saturday night, think positive thoughts for me, please? at least i get to see the mandymeow, that's all that matters anyway.

In other news, I found a ton of abandoned plastic pots in the basement that will work perfectly for my peppers in the container garden... and they are starting to outgrow the starter tray so it's time to transplant! yay. step 1 in a successful garden is getting things to grow. now let's hope i don't kill them in the transplant and subsequent care. or that my kitties don't bite the heads off the tomato plants as Minou did the last time i grew veggies...

Walnut Grove Road Race

2008-04-14T12:15:00.004-04:00

Upstate Race Weekend
Walnut Grove Road Race
Spartanburg, SC
April 13, 2008

Yesterday, with a 55 mile road race in Spartanburg, SC, just an hour and a half away, and starting at noon, and no rain in the forecast, I was ready for a good road race. (all the stars must be aligned!)

As I stood at registration and handed over my $30, my mood shifted and I glumly thought “that’s too much money for too little prize $, no one’s going to show, this is going to suck.” (never fails, just call me eeyore) Oh well, the cash was out of my hands before I could grab it back.

There were actually about 25 of us on the line, not too bad for such a small payout. My former teammates Patty Shoaf & Kelly McLaughlin, Team 19’s Christina Dekraay, and Advil Chapstick’s Laura Bowles were a few of the women I mentally marked. With 5 of us BMW-Bianchi hotties lined up (yours truly, Christy, Janet, Melissa, & Amy) chances were good we’d be able to do something to shake it up a little.

The course consisted of two 27.5 mile laps, with mostly short rollers, way too many bumpy roads and a TON of wind. A few attacks came early on, and even though my legs felt like crap-ola I was in a position to cover so I did. After one failed attempt off the front with Patty & Laura, I realized there was no way I’d be able to handle too much time off the front, as I was barely hanging on after being caught. So, I decided to sit in and wait till at least the second lap. About 15 miles in or so (no odometer), we came upon a longish hill that really put the hurt on everyone. A rider new to the scene named Casey Gale had a small gap on the field. I happened to be behind Laura, and followed her as she moved up the field. A niggling thought struck me that she would attack, and dagnubbit she did. Instinct caused me to follow her lead, and I suffered up the climb behind her. By the top we had quite a gap so we quickly organized and started a three woman time trial. Had I realized it was going to last the whole race, I would have sat on and refused to work – I really didn’t have 40 miles of horsepower in my legs. Actually, after about 50 minutes of being away I was struggling up the climbs and begging them to not leave me. I was useful on the flats and descents, seeing as I had at least 20 pounds on both of them, so I had Laura’s support in keeping me with them. The pain in my legs was out of hand, though, every time we hit a hill – all those days of skipping workouts (and there have been many!) finally caught up with me. I was definitely not the one to send in the all day break. But, I was there, suffering my little death march, and once established I only hoped that I could make it to the finish line in 3rd or better.

About 10 minutes from the finish Casey dropped her chain. Laura & I waited, and when she came back she attacked through. F**k! Laura easily followed her, and I couldn’t respond at all. In retrospect a little mental toughness might've served me well, but I don't know. I was pretty fried. It was then up to me to maintain my 3rd placing and not get sucked up by the field, which I had no idea where it was. I thought we were on the finishing road, but I wasn’t all that sure. It wound up being a really difficult 10 minutes… there were at least 4 rollers, and every time I hit one I prayed it was the last… only to crest it and see that it wasn’t. I knew I was going slow, I felt like I was crawling, but I managed to keep the two ahead of me in sight (well, the follow truck, at least), so that kept my hope alive.

Fortunately, I managed to limp into the finish and maintain third. Christy was 2nd in the field sprint for 5th place, and Amy & Melissa right there in the mix of things for 7th & 8th, respectively. And fellow WNCer Laura outsprinted Casey for the win, which was no surprise to me. Had I stayed with them for the remainder I doubt the outcome would have been any different, except that I wouldn't have been such a nervous wreck for the last however many clicks.

If you look at the results, it looks like the race was really small. In reality, the field behind us split and a bunch of girls (not riding as a group) missed turns somewhere, and were lost. My poor teammate Janet was one of said ladies. Her hubby Dan went to search for her, and I waited in the parking lot in case she came in while he was out. By the time she was found after riding 75 miles (resourcefuly borrowing someone's cell phone), I was the only one left in the parking lot - even the promoters had scrammed. One of the big disappointments of the day...

I was totally wrecked after the race. I had to force food down, felt like I was going to puke most of the time, and was useless at home. Spent the evening watching Star Wars on TV; the only time I felt not ill was when I was resting. Andy told me I should feel like this after every race. Holy crap, I would probably never race again... but still, a great training day even if I felt I let the team down a bit... and they'll say I didn't but still... It gives me hope that I was able to pull that off, ALL THANKS TO A STRONG TEAM blocking for me in the bunch.

Click here for Bowlesie's report....

Good tunez

2008-04-12T16:26:00.003-04:00

Just woke up from a nap where I listened the the (new to me) Brett Dennen CD. Had a black kitty purring on my chest the whole time. Life is good!

Sometimes, your heart pulls you in different directions from where your head tells you to go. I was planning on racing on the road today, up until about 8 p.m. last night. For whatever reason, I decided mountain biking was a better choice. Actually, I let someone else decide for me... wound up being a great choice. I missed my road teammies, but i'll see them tomorrow. As part of a fundraiser for the Pisgah area chapter of SORBA, I got to ride lots of trail at Dupont State Forest, which I would never do on my own because there's like 10 million turns and I hate being lost. Superstar Karen talked me into it and waited patiently for me, uh, everywhere. I tried to go hard up the hills so she wouldn't have to wait for me there, but she just went harder... Ah well.

Also discovered (one of) the reasons I was so uncomfortable on the bike on Thursday... saddle 2 cm too low anyone? Had it the right height today and felt a lot less sucky. ;-)

Now, off to do our taxes... perhaps I should unplug the internet first though... :-)

Mountain Biking

2008-04-10T21:31:00.003-04:00

Mountain biking is such a use it or lose it skill. And, having not ridden the bike in more than a month, it's gone. Karen & I met up with enduro racer Trish Stevenson and set out to ride in Pisgah Forest, something a little more challenging than the same ol' same ol' of Bent Creek Experimental Forest. As we were getting started a young'un new to the area rode up and randomly joined us. I was super comfortable holding up Karen & Trish but with a new person in the mix it made me nervous. Ah, I can't blame random stranger for me sucking. (although it would be nice if i could!) I just couldn't get out of my own way on the damn bike.

A mere 10 minutes in I snapped my freakin chain. I really felt like a stupid roadie when Trish immediately came to my rescue and started fixing it, and I stood by and didn't do much of anything. *sigh*

We got going again and I stumbled along behind the girlz (+ young'un), feeling clutzy and out of sorts, even uphill. And then, at 33 minutes, the damn chain jammed up in my front derailleur and fell apart again. Of course, I was dropped at that point so I just stopped in the middle of the trail and started fixing it. grumble grumble grumble. When we finished that particular trail I limped back to the car on a fire road.

Funny thing is, we were planning on switching me over to the Kona hardtail Andy rides when he doesn't have a team bike... guess this will really get the wheels in motion on that one. First time in 9 years I've had a mechanical with the old skool Schwinn Homegrown... pretty good run, anyway.

So, Andy wanted to go do a mountain bike race on Saturday. I usually tag along and "ride" whatever race it is (as I always qualify when "reporting" on them), but this experience has me so disillusioned that I think I'll skip it. Off to get ready for bed so I can commute to work via bike tomorrow and save $6+.

Aweso

2008-04-10T13:36:00.006-04:00

Without ME, it’s just aweso.

I have really been lagging behing on my blogging duties. My email duties. My race report writing duties. My BMW-Bianchi News update duties. My cooking duties. My taking care of myself duties. Even my bike riding duties! Okay, they're not all duties... but things I would like to do.

Rock Hill was a blast. My team rocks! I need to ride my bike more and eat less. But i sure do love my team!

In the absence of a race report written by yours truly, here are some photos I stolded from my teammates. Better photo takers than I....

Waiting for the first round of the sprints... the plan was for me to lead christy out... it worked, she was 2nd across the line and immediately advanced to the finals. I managed to talk my way into the repechage... a really good story. makes me smile just writing about it.

Here (street sprints warmup) Andy is probably telling me I don't suck, even though I hadn't been on my bike in 6 days.

Warming up for the crit on Saturday. that i didn't finish. and barely started. It was awesome to have the whole gang underneath the two tents that Tony & Jen brought. So thoughtful!

Talking to much-faster-than-me Tanya Nestvogel on the road race start line. She was one of the few willing to do work during the race. My hat off to her!

Last night in class when I should have been listening and taking notes I jotted down some thoughts about the weekend. Maybe i'll get a chance to formulate them into a real report before this weekend comes around and I have another race to write about!

Mountain biking tonight with my girlfriend Karen, another one of those "much faster than me" types. Still have to do our taxes. Time is running out!

TT Clinic Ashevegas 4-16-08

2008-04-09T23:06:00.003-04:00

Wednesday April 16

Time Trial clinic with Andy Applegate

Free for clients, sponsored racers and juniors - all others 10 bucks

5:30 – 7:30 at the Mellowdrome.

Call for a space and more info - 777-2523

Remember, the Velosports TT series kicks into gear next Thursday, April 17!

---

bummer i can't be there... 2nd to last night of class!

Catch-up

2008-04-05T22:05:00.003-04:00

Yup, I've been MIA for a week.

The Assault on the Carolinas last week destroyed me mentally. I started a post, it was really long, like 1500 words. Who wants to read that? Especially when some of it needed to be disclaimered as not appropriate for men's eyes... So, to make a long story short, 3 hours in sub-50 degree rain did me no favors, mentally or physically. In fact, I am still recovering physically from it over a week later...

Friday night (last night) was the first time I rode my bike since the Assault. Are things better? Mayhaps.

A post to come about the weekend's racing tomorrow. We're in Rock Hill, SC for the annual Rock Hill Bicycle Club Spring Omnium.

Leef i alone

2008-04-02T21:11:00.002-04:00

srsly, tho. i wrotez a blog post from the weekend... too much self loathing... must... wait... till... brain... returns... to... normal... (or what passes for normal).... and nose... stops.... runningz....

New do

2008-03-27T21:08:00.003-04:00

Okay, I've been down in the dumps lately. I haven't been riding even half as much as I would like , I've been overeating, and dammit, no matter how much I think it'll help, it only makes it worse!

So, I got my hair cut. That's one way to lose some weight!

Shoot me now

2008-03-23T21:40:00.005-04:00

Man I can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow. BOO, BOO I tell you!

Last night Andy, Mark & R$ch were watching some movie with guns in it, so I went to bed early (10ish). Woke up at 12:30 to the slamming of the downstairs door, groggily asking not-yet-in-bed Andy what was going on. "Rich & Mark rode bikes to a bar downtown." Mark took his singlespeed mountain bike, Rich took my 30 year old, 3 speed Raleigh cruiser. Even though I was 75% asleep I was highly amused. This morning, after waking up at 9 a.m. (!) found out they figured they had each drank about 15 beers each. Then, today, they rode most of the Off-Road Assault on Mount Mitchell course with Andy (5 hours). Mark only had his singlespeed.

I planted some vegetable seeds in a starting tray (let's hope I don't kill the plants this year as I did the last time I tried a garden), wandered around the house randomly cleaning, worked on the taxes, and generally doing anything that helped me avoid homework or getting out on my bike.

Finally I forced myself out about 3ish; after deciding I didn't want to deal with dogs I just rode straight down the mountain to Bat Cave and turned around. Stopped everytime I saw a coke or pepsi bottle that looked like it had a rewards cap on it - 5 coke lids, 4 pepsi lids. I even skipped over about 4 because i was too tired toward the end to bother. I do have a serious problem. only 2 hours and 30 minutes of riding, with a phone call stop in the middle (thanks Cora!). Not terribly motivated, although the mountain climbing forced it a bit.

Man I have nothing interesting to say. And guess what? I like it that way! I liked my weekend at home so much, I think I'll do it again next weekend.

The Assault on the Carolinas is on Saturday. If you have been reading this bloggity blog for a year, you may recall last year's edition, in which Andy & I asserted our tandem domination. Well, sadly, the Andykins is leaving me. For the week, that is. He'll be riding with his OTHER tandem partner in Colorado Springs. Obviously this bums me out but such is life, and one of the (small) sacrifices that must be made if you want to go to the Paralympics. I suggested to Mark that we ride the tandem instead (I really like making the front group!) but Andy is afraid Mark would break our tandem. (Mark = 6'4", Andy = 5'8") So, I'll be flying solo and not making the "race" winning break this year. Ah well.

One other super cool thing happened this week: our team kits arrived. I don't have mine just yet, but see my super hawt teammate Laura model them below. There are also matching sportsbras and shoe covers... meow!

6 hours 40 minutes

2008-03-22T21:20:00.003-04:00

Is NOT how long I spent on my bike today. But Andy, Mark & R$ch did, with 10,000+ feet of climbing. Weirdos. Apparently their store stop involved Mark's consumption of a corn dog. I knew I was doing something wrong!

Thank goodness for cyclo-cross buddy Dwight calling me to go ride with him. Otherwise, I probably would have finished our taxes but not set foot outside. And then I would have missed my first (mild, thankfully) sunburn of the year, feeling like death on wheels, and generally having a grand 'ol time riding out to Lake Lure and other illustrious places. And a Coke once it was all over.

I didn't feel so hot after just 20 minutes on the bike, so ride leader Dwight said we could alter the course and notch it back to less than 3 hours. Good thing we did, since as we pulled up to the house after 3 hrs 40 minutes I really didn't think I could do any more... but still, a good day.

Topped it all off with cheap mexican food and watched Mark & R$ch each drink 2 x 32 oz of Dos Equis. Now they're working on their 3 apiece 40 ouncers of crappy stuff. Insane. And they will get up tomorrow morning and tear Andy's legs off. Hmm.... maybe we're doing something wrong.

Breakdown

2008-03-21T21:51:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite Jack Johnson songs is "Breakdown", and I can even quote you my favorite words of the song: "The wisdom's in the trees, not the glass windows..." but the lyrics that are floating through my head right now, and have been for the past week, are "I need this old train to breakdown... Oh please just let me please breakdown"

No breakdown for me this week, but a meltdown for sure. I raced last weekend, and discovered to my delight that the late-early season base mileage worked beautifully - I have tons of endurance. However, it seems that 4 intervals since 'cross nats is not enough to do anything but keep me in the field of a bunch of on-point collegiate & fast regional riders.

On Saturday, at the Out Like a Lion Road Race in New London, NC, midway through the race my head told me to counterattack someone and I did, and it was a good move. Fast people came with me, and I was excited that a something might work. But when they pulled through going seemingly twice as fast as me I knew I - and the move - was screwed. Durn. Not ready for that yet. I couldn't seem to keep myself at the front when the sprint came so didn't bother. I need to work on that attitude. Deb & Christy struggled a bit with positioning up the last riser and were top 15, I think.

The City Park Criterium in Salisbury, NC on Sunday was three sweeping corners with a big two step hill to the finish. I would have been totally fine except I mistimed my warm-up and missed my pre-race potty stop. Let's just say that every time we went past the bathrooms I considered dropping out of the race... and after the race I went straight to the bathroom. I tried to attack a couple times, but there's something incredibly unfun and not right about going hard with a full bladder and, um, other things. I wasn't totally useless but I definitely couldn't pull a hilltop finish out of my discombobulated self. Deb & Christy were 9th & 10th, respectively.

So that brings us to this week. We are trying to wrap up audit at work and dangit, it is making my brain hurt. Which makes studying hard, which in turn makes test taking hard. I have had two incredibly poor test grades in a row, the worst in my life in fact, and so this week I went on bike strike. Throw that in with some self-loathing and pity and you have weight gain 4000, unanswered emails, and a constant headache.

Thank freakin' goodness we had today off! I bailed on riding with some of my bestest friends so I could clean and declutter the house. Although a lot of the self-inflicted mental anguish has slightly diminished, it is still lurking in the mist, threatening to rear its ugly head, and my poor little brain couldn't handle driving a whopping twenty minutes at 9:30 a.m. Fortunately, Andy dragged me out on the tandem late this afternoon (first time since September!) and we got a good 3.5 hours in.

And now, Andy's teammate R$ch and athlete/ex-teammate Marky mark are here and life is good. Within 5 minutes of arriving I had silly glasses on Mark and my mood is 10x better. Now i must post this so I can hang out. Yay!

Spring Forward Time Trial, a week late

2008-03-14T21:55:00.007-04:00

A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. - Lois Wys

How cool is it that my old college roommate calls me on HER birthday, to tell me she’s buying me something for mine? That’s just silly cool. SILLY COOL! Happy birthday heatherhead!

Crapoli this week was too busy to write a race report about last weekend – and I so needed to! So I guess I’ll do a quick one now, before it’s off to bed so I can go race tomorrow.

Saturday’s Spring Forward Time Trial in Knoxville, TN (should have switched names with this year’s Tundra Time Trial) was nothing but insane. Insane I tell you! 30 degrees and snowing, wet roads, and half the field paid but didn’t show up. We still had 9 women or something like that racing and victory was not a given. I had no idea how everyone would respond to the weather, and I only knew one of the girls (on a $6k orbea). If the bike makes you fast, she should have annihilated me.

FINALLY having learned some lessons in cyclo-cross, I dressed warmly. Then, I did something completely contrary to the nature of bike racing: I decided to worry more about staying warm than going fast – and boy did it pay off. Underneath a school overhang, I actually got a decent warm-up in; half an hour on the trainer before a 40k is okay. I bundled up and trundled over to the start, a little shocked by the cold air and wet snow hitting my face. Some of the masters guys who had only done 20k were coming back at that point, and I really didn’t pay attention too closely to their frozen shoe covers, the ice caked on their bikes, or looks of desperation on their faces. Most of the women started ahead of me, at 1 minute intervals, so if nothing more I would know where I stood while out on the course.

The wind was against us on the way out – mean, nasty, biting, and vicious. I can honestly say I have never ridden such a slow 20k. I wasn’t thinking per se about going hard, just getting the pedals turned over to go forward, something I was doing very slowly. 38 minutes it took me to get to the turn around! I couldn’t believe how creepy crawly I had gone… but at times the wind almost knocked me off my bike, blowing me 6 inches sideways as I hit some brutal crosswinds. The one positive I could think about it was that I would have a nice tailwind on the return trip. When I approached the turnaround, snow still falling heavily, ground slick and wet, I came in a lot slower than normal, and thank goodness. I went to brake and all it pretty much did was knock the ice off my rims… wow. I was so surprised that I told the turnaround guys as I did it (who talks during a TT?). Ah well, fortunately it was an out and back course.

Even on the way back, I still was caught in some scary crosswinds that made me question the use of a disc wheel. I also hoped that no hill would require my little ring, as I realized it was caked with ice and shifting would be impossible! (didn’t need it, of course, but did have to do a small amount of mashing).

1 hr 10 minutes. Slowest 40k I’ve ever done. Andy & I did a low 53 something on this course on the tandem in the Fall! Before the bad weather came I had been targeting 1 hr to 1hr2 min, depending on the course. Whoops! I did manage to pass all the women who started ahead of me, except the super fast triathlete who either flatted or quit and was brought back to the school in a police car. So, I won. Yay! And I lived to tell the tale, which is almost as important, of course.

Andy also won his race. Apparently, he is worth 5 times as much as I am. Still, it’s quite nice to have a hubby who wins so I can bask in his glory.

my poor little feetsies... 3/4 inch of ice on the covers... fortunately they are still mostly waterproof, after all these years!

if you look closely enough you can see the ice on the brakes, the chain rings, the down tube, and the cranks! i had mini-stalactites on the bottom bracket...

andy and kent bostick, the legendary "bostasaurus", post-race. see the snow?

All quiet on the busy front...

2008-03-12T17:24:00.001-04:00

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” - Henry Ford

My… head… asplode. Life is too busy. Can someone send me a bottle of TIME?

Race Report Preview

2008-03-08T21:24:00.002-05:00

Just a preview of what today's Spring Forward TT was like... full report to come tomorrow, I hope...

Snake Creek Gap, (not) Greenville

2008-03-02T18:52:00.003-05:00

I think the self-inflicted stress of this past week took its toll on me, and manifested itself in the form of fatigue and distraction.

Saturday's Snake Creek Gap TT: I felt sluggish from the start, and had a hard time powering up anything, and struggled in some technical spots that really shouldn't have been an issue. Toward the end I tried to ride something I probably shouldn't have, crashed spectacularly (actually, I almost saved myself, and that was perhaps my undoing), and gave myself some nice burns & scrapes on my right leg (at least I'm keeping it on the already damaged side). As I lay in the leaves on the downhill side of the rocks, trying to extricate myself from my bike, the usual men's 34 miler winner passed me, going about 20 mph and riding the sh*t like it was merely broken pavement. I took a moment to stare after him, wishing there was some way I could rob him of his supernatural powers. Dammit.

Ah well. I finished the race without any other mishaps, but a bit demoralized because I should be going a lot faster than in February, and I was actually 2 minutes slower. I did recognize that I knew I didn't have any snap, and I walked a bunch o' crap I shouldn't have.

Dwight totally rocked it and beat me by like 33 minutes or something ridiculous like that, winning the old geezer category by a landslide. Since I was still planning on racing Greenville on Sunday we had to bail before awards, which in retrospect we should have stayed for because I denied Dwight a chance to enjoy the awesome hair band that was playing fun cover tunz, and also enjoy his podium. Selfish me. I wound up 3rd in the 17 miler, yay, and hopefully fellow Ashevillian Stephen was able to pick up our awards for us. (I hope they look something like the 34 miler awards) I look forward to waving mine in front of Andy's face, as he was booted from the podium by two guys who smoked it this time.

So, we were back in town a little before 8. I tried to find a car wash so the BMW could look hot & sassy at Greenville, and the Ingles touchless wash had 8 cars lined up waiting to be washed. WTF? So I went to another one that was a whole $1 more, but it said no bike racks... grr. Patience exhausted (there's always precious little to start with), I went home, intent on leaving 15 minutes early in the morning to get the thing washed.

9 p.m. - so tired I can barely hold my head up. To bed, with the alarm set for 5:15 a.m. Alarm goes off, gets turned off. I wake up at 8:50, 10 minutes before race start, 1 hour away from the house. Oops!

Ah well, it wasn't meant to be. I managed 3.5 hours with a good group of friends, and did some much needed housework and other odds & ends. Will I ever be ready to race on the road? You betcha! Try again next week... :-)

WANT

2008-02-29T09:02:00.001-05:00

WANT:

http://www.ae.com/web/browse/product.jsp?catId=cat90052&productId=0427_7664

Kinda like this:

yeah, it's photoshopped, get over it.

Night ride

2008-02-28T21:34:00.003-05:00

Well, finally got SOMETHING accomplished on the bike today. I skipped out on my hard workout on Tuesday, after almost falling asleep at the wheel driving into work, and then felt more repercussions on Wednesday and could barely turn the pedals over. So, to compensate for that, I ate anything junky and edible in sight and also drank tons of soda. Ugh, not feeling so good right now.

Happily, I managed to get out on my mountain bike tonight! not quite 2 hours, most of it in the dark and 30 degree weather... a fellow WNCer who is a hell of a lot stronger than me, and also better technically (of course, who isn't?), joined me, and it is not easy to keep up with a skilled singlespeeder in the mountains! I still got dropped on the downhills (embarrassing), and had to kill myself to stay with him on the uphills. I'm beat now, but i'm sooooo grateful I got out. And we didn't get rained on!

Up this weekend: Still on track to do what I mentioned in my previous post of the week: Snake Creek Gap Mountain Bike Time Trial in Dalton, GA (the last one!). The Andykins is at team camp so I'm going to carpool down with my 'cross buddy D-dub & his wife. It won't quite be the same without Andy but should still be fun. Sunday will be the Greenville Training Series although I just got an email hyping that George Hincapie will be there, and rather than motivate me to go it does quite the opposite.

In other news: I finally had a dream about swimming. I'm quite sure it's been over two years since I've been in the water, 7 years and 1 week (to the day!) since my last competition (400y I.M., thank you very much), and yet... is it time to return? I don't even have any pictures of me from my swimming days - the best I could find was this slightly embarrasing photo of me exiting the water at the 2004 Biltmore Lake triathlon. damn i look like a hoss. That's me, the white whale catching the guys who started 4 minutes ahead of us...

Weekend recap - no racing

2008-02-25T16:31:00.001-05:00

I didn’t race this weekend, though there was racing a little more than an hour away. Everyone at work has been coming in while sick and I was petrified of catching whatever it is too, so decided to play it safe and not race. Rumor has it that both days were big ol’ field sprints, my complete un-favorite. Oh, shucky-darn, I’m so bummed I missed it (read: dripping sarcasm). We did, however have a small contingent of BMW-Bianchi hotties there, and on Saturday Deb placed 6^th and Jen 12^th (?) and on Sunday they both avoided the typical carnage that comes with a speedway race, with Deb placing 3^rd and Jen 8^th or 9^th. Good job ladies!

Meanwhile, I tried to catch up on 8 months of bookkeeping that I had procrastinated on (16+ hours in front of the computer over two days, what is this, a 7 day workweek?), and also got to ride my bike quite a bit (4 hours on Saturday and just 2 on Sunday, since I didn’t want to go over my weekly hours and I could hardly even believe that I had actually followed my weekly schedule and gotten all my hours in!) My legs are pretty beat today and I had a hard time making it up the three flights of stairs here at work (yes, we have an elevator, I’m what’s known around here as an elevator snob and I’d hate to ruin my reputation).

Anyway, on Saturday as I was riding out to meet my friend Karen, I passed runners who were participating in the Black Mountain Marathon. This is a 26 and 40 mile race that goes up into the mountains around our house. The guys I passed were some of the quicker ones in the marathon, but they still looked like they were in a heap of pain and probably still 1 mile away from finishing.

After I met up with Karen, I finished her 2.5 hr loop with her (another funny story, the girl who never complains or admits to pain said she was beat at the end of it! Motherhood must be making her soft ;-)), topped off my bottles at Casa Masson, then headed back to the homestead. I approached our house 1.5 hours after leaving Karen’s, and saw MORE PEOPLE running down the road in the same direction as when I left four hours previous! 7+ hours of running… Helllooooo! If you ride a bike you can COAST! That’s the whole reason I gave up the swimming & running part of triathlons… well, maybe not the whole reason. Anyway, I was glad I was coasting on my bike as I said “good job” to them.

So, lame post #1 for the week: it was a super productive weekend for me. No one knows but me, but it was. J

Next weekend: the final installment of the Snake Creek Gap TT in Dalton, GA (should be interesting, since I haven’t ridden my mountain bike since the last one), and perhaps, just perhaps, Greenville #4 on Sunday. If I feel like it.

Plastic bottles/Mycokerewards salvaged this weekend: 2

Plastic bottles/Pepsistuff points salvaged: 2

I bet neither company knew that having these incentive programs would indirectly help the environment!

Future Goal

2008-02-19T13:43:00.002-05:00

It's been more than a year since my friend Karen shared this video with me.

She promised me a box of cookies if I do it! I intend to attempt it as soon as I'm done with my CPA crapola. I'm just posting this here as a reminder... I bet my video of failure will be a lot funnier...

Tundra Time Trial

2008-02-16T22:41:00.005-05:00

The Tundra Time Trial is a single day event in Atlanta that Andy I & participated in last year and 2006 as well.

I only went because Andy wanted to go. Living 4 hours away, there is little reason for me to do this event as you shall soon see, and as I discussed last year (see link above). I didn't get to ride the tandem this year, though, as Andy partnered with our current houseguest. I've been skirting around mentioning our houseguest in my (few) posts of late because it's Andy's place to reveal it, but with an article in the paper today I guess it's time.

In contrast to the two previous events I contested, where last year I was underdressed and almost hypothermic, and two years ago I crashed like an idiot at the turnaround, this year the weather was perfect (in the 60s!) and I didn't do anything too stupid. Even though my legs were hurting from my first rest week of the year (yeah, figure it out), and I was riding my TT bike for the second time in 2008, I felt like I was able to do a pretty good job of putting the power out. 9.8 miles in 23:48 is okay. You know, for February. I wound up knocking two minutes off my previous time which is quite a shocker. It's been so long since I've set PRs for myself on any course I was amazed that I could knock so much off. Guess it goes to show what staying upright in warm weather can do for a gal! I also had the best time out of 29 women so that's not so bad.

But before my ride, Andy & Matt raced the tandem and posted a respectable time of 20:26.95. 1 hour later, Andy started just before me on his individual, setting a course record of 20:07.48. Unfortunately for him, another old guy (just kidding!) went a 20:07.39. 9 one hundreths of a second faster! Fooey. (or as gunnar would say, "poopie pants!") These times were good enough for first and second on the day, and so Frances (the winner) and the Andykins got supercool glass trophies, just like last year.

First, third, then 2nd place trophies...

Did the first effort cost him the super coolest trophy? Probably, but you never know... At least he still got one!

Here are the boys as Frances opens the champagne...

And what did I get? I won't waste space on an image like last year, but Andy did take a photo of me on the "podium".

Lonely, eh? No one else showed up, I just happened to be there as I was waiting for Andy to get his super awesome trophy.

I grumbled a bit about how the guys got cool trophies, and one of the officials said "you could win this, it goes to the top 3 times!" I'm not always very good at hiding my reactions and he probably had a brain hemorrhage from the look I gave him. Kristin Armstrong couldn't even break into the top three on this course. That's a cop out classification and I hope they know that.

Matt asked me, "so where are all the elite women?" Either 1. They're not spending $25 to race for medals in February when they could be out training, or 2. they're at home or on the sidelines taking care of the men's kids so that the guys can race! You can be sure if some cool prize were on the line a lot more women would be out there.

That being said, it's great that there's a race, and it's great that I have a husband that can win one of the cool prizes, 'cause I get to look at it all year long too (and now we have 3!). But I can't wait to do the Susan G. Komen Race in Macon, where there isn't even a men's race! :-P

(non) Drinking Problems

2008-02-14T10:22:00.002-05:00

I have a problem. I really, really do. There are some positive benefits to my problem, but it still remains a problem.

Sunday, on the last leg of our team ride, I told the group I would join them at the house. I turned my bike around, pulled to the side of the road, and picked up a bottle.

I stuffed the bottle in my pocket. Then I found more bottles, and eventually I had to leave them and only take the caps. (10 in total) Believe it or not, I understand my obsession (free stuff! save the environment by recycling other people’s trash!), but I can’t stop it. Now, Pepsi has added PepsiStuff, and I’ve started collecting those too. At the start of my last mountain bike race, I found myself staring at the ground behind the starter’s feet, wishing I could take the cap off his Coke bottle. focus much? Help!

Hot hot hot!

2008-02-13T22:11:00.000-05:00

Oooh, we sizzle...

Fun when there's no sun

2008-02-12T15:46:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, at the suggestion of a very smart lady, I purchased a blue tooth transmitter and a set of Bluetooth headphones. I’ve been wearing them as I zip around the house cleaning, cooking, etc., mostly listening to Audiobooks on my mp3 player (I just love audiobooks!) Those headphones have really made housework a much more bearable thing.

We have a guest staying with us for an extended period, and I decided it was high time to stop blasting the TV at 70 decibels on mornings when I’m on my trainer (like today!) So, I hooked the transmitter up to the TV last night, charged up the headphones, and stuck ‘em on my head this morning when I turned the TV on so as not to awaken anyone.

Wow, it was like my own surround sound theatre stuck right to my ears! With no wires! And little discomfort! Why o why have I not done this before? Believe it or not, when 6:45 a.m. rolled around I was bummed I had to get off my bike. I never did watch my Project Runway that I had taped last Wednesday (don’t you dare tell me what happens). Guess I’ll have something to watch tonight. J

The message is: if you’re going to spend an indecent amount of time riding your bicycle indoors on a trainer, invest in some Bluetooth headphones and a transmitter to give yourself the surround sound experience you so richly deserve.

Team Camp!

2008-02-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

Official BMW-Bianchi Elite Women's Cycling Team Camp

February 8 - 10, 2008

somewhere in NC near VA...

So, this weekend was our first “official” team camp of the year. (Our second will be when we pick the cars up from the BMW Performance Center sometime in March).

Camp was staged in a small house situated on Lake Hyco in Semora, NC, courtesy of our superawesome teammate Carol, who unfortunately couldn’t join us. We started the day off with some individual photos so we can update the team page on the website, and quickly moved on to the real item on the agenda: riding! With the sun shining, temperatures in the high 50s/low 60s, and 9 hotties with whom to ride in a sea of blue, the day looked promising.

Indeed, it was a grand ride full of rotating pacelines, two up riding, and town limits sprints that quickly turned into uproarious random-sign dashes. I am the official queen of the Blanch Metal Plant sign sprint, and damn proud of it. Everyone threw her hat in the ring at one point or another, but if the weekend were a points race I believe the award would go to (itty bitty climber type) Cora. She’s a sneaky one, she is!

After one minute shy of four solid hours on the bike, many map-check stops, and a store stop where a sign proudly proclaimed “no shoe no service”, we made it back to the house with plenty of time to engage in scantily clad pillow fights and other random acts of silliness, none of which really happened. Except the 4 hour ride of course.

The evening was marked by lots of good food, good company, and some serious spazzing out (mostly by me) as we handed out some of the Defeet goodies that were delivered to us courtesy of our fantabulous contact there. A little bit of team stuff was discussed but mostly we just hung out like the cool crowd that we are. (ahem)

Sunday was another beautiful, although slightly chillier, day, and after some worrisome time spent with the plunger we set off for another day of happy riding, this time outfitted with new Defeet armskins, socks, gloves, and for 6 lucky ladies (not me, wah!) spiffy white Slipstream shoe covers. (we drew names. I pouted. It was great, no not really.) The sun was shining just as brightly as the day before, but the wind had picked up and from time to time we were greeted with a gust of epic proportions. As the ride went on, the wind grew stronger, and at times we found ourselves caught in blustery cross winds that really, truly pushed several of us off the road. As I looked at the tiny ladies ahead of me, who were leaning at 120 degree angles to the road, I was actually grateful for my current state of winter weight, which kept me thoroughly grounded. (Seriously, I’m the biggest woman on the squad, except Kim, because she’s pregnant, but she wasn’t there).

All too soon, the 3+ hour ride came to an end and we rolled back toward the house, full of contentment yet a bit of longing, that every weekend could be like this!

Thank you BMW, Bianchi, DeFeet, Rudy Project, Dr. Alan Kritz, Thomson, Motortabs, Maxxis, Capital Cycling Club, The Spin Cycle, Carol & Scott, and a slew of others for making this past weekend, and every race weekend in 2008, possible for us. We are so very grateful!

Snake Creek Gap TT #2

2008-02-06T17:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I mentioned in my last picture post that I raced this weekend. What I should have said was "raced", as I say for all mountain bike races I participate in. Really I was just along for the ride with the Andykins.

Last year we did this race in March, but it's a 3 race series, best performance out of 3 is how it's scored. There's a 17 mile option, and a 34 mile option. Since I'm S.L.O.W on a mountain bike (super lame, outrageously wimpy), I've opted for the 17 mile. I didn't think there was a need for me to spend 5 hours on a mountain bike in January or February, anyway. (March? hmm, maybe.)

My goal for the race: stay upright, as I did in January, and actually *try* to go hard on the climbs, unlike last time, when I was just riding. Torrential storms passed through Dalton the Thursday before the ride, so I doubted I would improve my time.

I really enjoyed the ride, but hated it at the same time. Last time, I got passed by a bunch of the 34 milers and hated it. So, this time, I wanted to be among the first 17 milers to depart and thus avoid getting passed by the 34 milers. I failed to take into account that I'm not that fast, and therefore boatloads of the 17 milers would be passing me. I get really nervous when there are people behind me and consequently I really, really sucked in the last 8 miles on the technical sections. Firstly having to constantly stop for people to pass me, secondly being constantly worried I was getting in people's way, and all the time being on or near rocks as I was stopping...

---

Okay, I started this post a while ago. It's really embarrassing to reflect upon all the areas that I walked, mainly because I am so risk averse it's detrimental to going forward. Even more embarrassing, is when a photographer takes photos of it and then posts the freakin' thing for all the world to see! At least I look hot in my kit. (right? just play along) Worse yet is that immediately after my picture is one of the Andykins, tearing it up in the same spot. Man I suck. Note to self: ride more next time. (yeah right! that stuff is really scary up close!)

Even with my suckiness, large amounts of stopping/walking, an endo, and a slower course than last time, I managed to take 8 minutes off my time. Go figure! Still placed third, and was totally spanked by the two women ahead of me, who beat me by 19 and 7 minutes, respectively. Wowzers! I bet they could ride that section...

Anyway, the last one is March 2nd. Not sure if I'll be going, since my love will be at team camp, but we'll see. It sure is a lot of fun! (except the pictorial proof of my lameosity, no no no!)

Early Morning Ride

2008-02-05T14:14:00.001-05:00

I intend to write a race report about this weekend, I really do.

But for now, this is the view that greeted me as I approached my work this morning. Hopefully you can make it out, my phone camera let me down a bit.

Mountain biking!

2008-02-03T21:45:00.000-05:00

For my weekly update, let's backtrack to Thursday when some FUN bike riding actually occurred.

As I've mentioned previously, my weekday workouts in the winter typically consist of planting myself in front of the tv (on my bike). Thursday, however, I was bound and determined to get out on my mountain bike, with my newly re-built light battery helping me out.

Even with a chance of evening rain and the temperature dropping into the 30s, I didn't care. I needed to get outside! Andy rode all the way from Black Mountain on his mountain bike (~1.5 hrs) to meet me by my work so I wouldn't be doing my first off road night mountain bike ride alone.

We headed up the mountain and 15 minutes later dropped down into Bent Creek Experimental Forest, sticking to the fire roads because the trails were apparently really muddy. Well, okay, we did ride one super short trail once it got dark, just for giggles, and it was spooky fun (and dry)!

Anyway, for once in our joined lives I was dressed weather appropriate (how many times will I be eternally grateful for the winter jacket I received for the '06 cx season?), and Andy was slightly underdressed - we had to stop a couple times for him to stuff his hands in his armpits to warm them up. His new HID lights, one on the helmet, one on the bars, made my 9 year old niterider look dirty and lame in comparison; there was definitely some light envy going on.

The ride was going great until we reached the main road, and the rain started to fall. Boo. Poor Andy, he was already frozen to the core, and we still had to go back up the mountain! So, I rode as hard as I could (which of course was still a crawling pace for Andy), and Andy was silent as I listened to the huff and puff of my wimpy little lungs.

Back to the car we went, where for once *I* was the one loading up the bikes (as they were icing over) while Andy sat in front of the heater, internally whimpering at the pain that was enveloping his hands.

Men are from mars - Andy complained only twice about his hands - once the first time we stopped, the second time when I got in the car to drive us home. He also didn't let it affect his ride, something I have a big tendency to do. Oh, my shoe is digging into my ankle? I have to pee? My nose itches? My hair hurts? My eyeball is twitching? I better stop and fix it, or maybe I should just stop... Maybe I should work on my attitude...

There is something to be said, however, about cresting Pisgah mountain in the dark and being able to look at the night glow of Asheville as you descend back to the car, even if it does happen to be in a rainstorm that eventually freezes over the whole county...

One of these is not like the other....

2008-01-27T23:54:00.000-05:00

Second long training ride of the year is in the books!

Because the trails were reportedly quite muddy, and in the interest of saving 2 hours of drive time, we opted for a ride from the house today. Christy & I set out on the heels of Andy & his teammate/Christy's coach Jim, hitting the climb up highway 9 not 10 minutes into the ride.

I knew Andy wasn't crushing it but it still was a challenging first climb for me. 3/4 of the way up I knew it was hurting Christy a lot more than me! Seems like 5 hard days in a row had finally caught up with her... When Jim & Andy went straight for their 4 hour ride, and we turned right for our 3+ hour ride, Christy informed me that she was cooked. Guilt immediately flooded my conscious as I had picked out a pretty mountainous route, but we were able to find her a shortcut home and I was left to my own devices to finish the ride.

It was lonely as I headed toward Fairview on Old Fort road, but as I pedaled uphill into a headwind at 4 mph I was sure Christy made a good decision, all things considered. Plus, this way I was able to pick up two mycokerewards caps and put the bottles in the recycling bin where they belong.

With no one to snap photos of, I still happened upon an interesting situation that made me think of Sesame Street.

Clearly I need more interesting things to look at on my rides!

First Team Ride of the Year!

2008-01-27T08:58:00.000-05:00

Yay, I actually get to blog about riding my bike OUTSIDE for once!

I have been stuck inside on the trainer for at least 7 days. The trainer is boring and does nothing to enhance your staying upright skills, but there are some very tangible benefits to using it, one of which is the super controlled environment. (Also the mere fact that it lets you ride when you otherwise couldn’t!) Although the rides haven’t been long (average = 1 hour), they have been quality! Plus I’ve gotten some good tv watching in. However, I always feel a little weird whenever I return to the road…

So, the point. My teammate Christy journeyed into town on Thursday for some performance testing at Velosports. I begged my boss to let me off at 3 on Friday, and Christy and recent Asheville transplant Melanie Black and I snuck out for almost 2 hours on the road. We just trolled around Biltmore Forest, staring at the gihugic homes and gabbing away. I’m pretty sure I mentioned about 15 times how excited I was to not be on the trainer for one more bleeping day.

After a hearty meal of yummy Thai food, we all went to bed prepared for a long ride on Saturday. I’ve been known to develop some overly complicated schemes in my time, and concocted a plan that would allow those who wanted it more T.O.B. than others. So, Christy, Jo & I set out from Black Mountain to meet Liz, Deb, Jen & non-teamie Melanie at Liz’s house, about 1.5 hours away. I mentioned to Christy that we would have to go over a mountain to get there, but I’m pretty sure I omitted that it was pretty steep and she most likely wouldn’t like it. Hee hee. After 1 hour or so of riding, we hit Rose Hill Road. At the bottom, when it had already started to pitch up, I pointed to a power line and told Christy that’s where we were headed. Silence. Oh dear, I thought to myself, and decided to climb at my own pace so as not to encourage the expression of misery. Jo didn’t mind at all since she loves climbing. But Christy took it all in stride and we met the other four riders after the long descent, working out almost perfectly (for once!).

Much fun ensued after that (I swear every dog in Buncombe county must be attracted to Liz, they’d chase her and no one else), and when we hit the 3 hour mark we stopped for a photo at the top of Merrill’s Cove, where the group split up again. For me, four hours is a solid ride, and in the winter I try to do a 4-5 hour ride on Saturday/Sunday. It was my first of the year, but I felt great the whole time! Plus, it was awesome to have a ride with six other strong, hot chicks.

Today, it’s mountain biking in Dupont… I hope I have the same amount of fun as yesterday!

From L to R, hot Bianchi Bike, ME (must lose winter weight!), Christy, Melanie, Deb, Jo, & Liz. Unfortunately Jen took the photo; I need to try to Photoshop her in!

Attack!

2008-01-24T09:29:00.001-05:00

Earlier this week, I inadvertently sent an email to an audience for whom it was most definitely not intended. How embarrassing! But most importantly, how dismaying. Of course, flame war ensued, although I chose to ignore most of the messages, and my only emails sent were apologies. Some of the responses, while perhaps merited, really hit me hard. For me my Catholic upbringing means feeling guilty about everything “wrong” that I may or may not have ever done, and might do in the future, so I already felt pretty poopy about my flippant remarks going to the wrong list-serv. Having a bunch of men who don’t understand how this woman thinks (don’t even pretend!) attack me for a message that was supposed to go to an all-woman audience… well, foo. Not fun!

Fortunately I also received many messages of support, and of course all the women (for whom the message was intended) got a good laugh out of it. I’ve never shied away from being court jester, so have at it. J

At Christmastime, a good friend at work gave me a paperweight as a present. It sits on the base of my computer monitor, and is typically my response to all things that irritate me, and I give it to you now!

Cold Weather Riding

2008-01-21T13:38:00.000-05:00

I wrote this (or should I say, save your eyes, plagiarize?) for the BMW-Bianchi team website, but couldn't get it to upload. The problem must be between the computer and the back of the chair. So I'll post it here in the interim.

For this first diary of 2008, let's look at what one needs to consider as one ventures out into sub-freezing temperatures. Me, I only need to consider what movie I'm going to be watching on TV as I ride flat laps on the Computrainer. But, for the ladies on our squad who actually venture outside, special consideration has to be given to keeping warm.

Following is a list of clothing used by Jen when she trains in 20 degree weather.

"There has to be better winter glasses besides ski goggles... my eyeballs were cold!!!

I am wearing amfib tights AND Marmot rain pants, neoprene booties AND neoprene socks, glove liners AND lobster gloves (nanoo nanoo), fleece expedition weight long sleeve shirt with fleece windproof jersey AND another windproof jersey AND my Ironman jacket with huge pockets in case I had to shed stuff (I didn't), oh and can't forget the neoprene face mask AND scarf AND fleece hat. Am I missing anything?"

Andy also made it outside yesterday - 5 hours in sub-freezing weather. I clearly need an attitude adjustment!

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Lame Accuracy

2008-01-18T11:32:00.001-05:00

The good folks at Anagram Genius have a little widget into which if you type your name, or anything, it will come back with an anagram of the text.

I’m Lame Accuracy. How fitting!

Low Profile

2008-01-13T22:30:00.000-05:00

Yup, I've been keeping a low profile. Class starts this Wednesday, the in-laws just left, and we (hopefully) just submitted our clothing order for our super sweet new BMW-Bianchi kits. No picture yet, I'm not sure I want to spoil the surprise. They're going to be super-fly, as always!

Saturday I didn't ride the bike as I was hiking around the Biltmore Estate with my in-laws and a g-friend. I hadn't been there in 5 years and it was time for another visit. It reminded me of the Chateaux in France that I visited years ago with my study abroad program, but at the same time, instilled this funny feeling in my gut that I couldn't place as I was walking through the house. A mixture of longing and repulsion is the best way I can describe it. Damn I would like to be that rich, but I could never be that pretentious (I don't think, but who really knows? give me $5mm so we can find out please) ! There are so many better things in the world to spend money on. But then again, perhaps that is the viewpoint of one who can't swim in her money as Vanderbilt could (kinda like Scrooge McDuck in the animation Ducktales).

My disgust notwithstanding, the Biltmore is a beautiful place. Great for photos, and yet for whatever reason I only took two, both of gargoyles. I like this one though. I took it from a 3rd story window, but didn't feel like I was breaking the rules as the photo as of something outsidethe house.

Today Andy & I went out on our own separate bike rides. I think he felt guilty that he was leaving me to fend for myself, but I didn't mind, so long as I got on my bike. We dressed warmly and left at the same time, he on his mountain bike, me on my road. It was 42 degrees at the start and it was supposed to get colder, but the sun came out and I burned up and probably sweated out about 4 pounds. Got home long before Andy and started working on part of his b-day present (it's tomorrow, if you know his email bombard him with well wishes!)

As I took the first batch of cookies out of the oven, I heard the door open and a little moan "help me!" Apparently Andy got caught in a blizzard high up on the Blue Ridge Parkay and was half frozen. Silly boy.

Here is part of his (requested) present. If you look closely you'll see some of it had already been pilfered, not 5 minutes out of the oven...

The in-laws visit had very positive effects on us, though: I thoroughly cleaned the house for the first time in I won't admit how long (though maybe it still didn't look it), I got rid of a lot of junk that was cluttering our lives (still can't tell though), and Andy at least finished the main part of his "winter break" project. Yay!

First Commute of the Year!

2008-01-08T13:07:00.001-05:00

So, I finally got my butt into work on my bike today. This is a Big Deal, as it has not happened in a month or two. Well, okay, I kinda had to, because I can’t keep having TWO cars at work all the time (Andy picked me up on Friday on the way to the “race”, and I never came back to get the car).

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I commute, I always am reminded/relearn certain important facts:

Multiple blinkie lights look funny but save your life (check – I had 3 on the back, one on the helmet)
Illuminite legwarmers are fun too.
If it takes all night for your battery to get a 1 hour charge, it’s time for a new one. (RIP little buddy!)
If you forget to charge your battery and are planning on riding 1.5 hours on unlit streets, maybe you should rethink.
If you have to improvise a light situation, best not to do it at 5:50 a.m. and say it will only take 5 minutes.
I am so used to being scared on a bike by stupid things that I do that I’m not really anymore.
When you ride by yourself and you see MyCokeRewards on the side of the road, you can stop and pick them up.

It’s a good thing I pretty much have the route from home to work memorized, I was able to miss all the potholes working from recollection alone.

My head hurts

2008-01-07T00:12:00.000-05:00

I can officially say right now, I'm one grumpy Cara. It comes in spurts, and for the most part I'm happy-go-lucky. But then, when the clutter of my life starts to overwhelm me, all it takes is the mere thought of something to freak me out. This does it.

This is only a small portion of the boxes that remain unpacked from our move LAST FREAKIN APRIL. Then, I have the email clutter. SHOOT ME NOW!

In other news, I went mountain biking yesterday. It was way fun. It was a "race" that I rode, yet still rode 6 minutes faster than when I rode it last March (okay, i didn't endo this time)... woo hoo! I got 2nd again, and again, not DFL! Did I mention it was fun? It's way too late to be piecing words together... but it was fun! I like mountain biking when I don't fall down.

Monster Sketches

2007-12-31T17:56:00.001-05:00

I am pretty sure these are a result of a particularly lively department meeting.... My brother got all drawing skill in the famblee... and no, Mr. Monster doesn't have a tail...

On another note, I got a new computer! First time in my adult life that I've had my very own brand new computer... and it came with a "free" 3 in 1 printer, hence the monster scans. I found them as I was "purging", something that doesn't happen nearly enough in this house.

Andy's Christmas Present

2007-12-30T11:55:00.000-05:00

I never know what to get Andy for Christmas. Our trouble is, whenever we need something, we go out and get it! This always makes the task much more difficult than it should be.

Go backward to 2001, when the first Harry Potter movie was released. I had read the books, Andy hadn't, and so saw no need to go see the movie. We were staying overnight somewhere for a 'cross race, and decided to see a movie (which, as another aside, we never do!). Monsters, Inc. had also just been released, and in the end seeing that won out over Harry Potter. [scoff!] Can you even imagine?

This movie solidified Andy's love of monsters, not the scary Alien-vs.-Predator kind, but the supercute and just-like-us Monsters, Inc. kind. We watch the movie at least 2x a year, and he just loves their silly goofiness.

Okay, back to 2007. I was randomly surfing the net one day in November, and found the Monster Factory. Andy happened to be looking over my shoulder and went crazy - he really wanted one of the monsters (yes, I realize he's a Grown-Up, disregard that fact). I looked at the prices and thought (but didn't say aloud) "hmm, I bet I could make one for a whole lot less."

And so, I set out to do so. $.25 for some remnant fabric that caught my eye at a thrift store where I was making a donation, $6.50 in stuffing/thread/felt (lots of leftover), a week of doodling at work, and a weekend of off and on creation (when he just happened to be out of town in AZ, lucky me!), and I give you: Mr. Monster.

Andy also received a few more useful things from me, but this was his "main" present. And he loved it! (do I dare believe I'm exposing our goofiness for all to see? oh well.)

The really cool thing about making a monster is, flaws and imperfections are expected. Hee hee.

Christmahanakwanzaa

2007-12-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, it’s been a week since my last post. You would think that I would have had plenty of time in MI to do one, but the heart just wasn’t there (imagine that!) I’m sure you can.

It was a weekend of mixed emotions – sadness that I had to say goodbye to my grandmother, in my life for all of my formative years plus some (actually, many would argue I’m still in those years), but happiness for the impromptu family reunion her passing provoked. I am so glad that I was able to make it up there. It was great to see my cousins in their Grown-Up roles, as parents and responsible types, and a bit surreal to contemplate that as my grandparents were to me, so now are my aunts & uncles to my cousins’ children (and my parents to my sister’s kids). I felt a small twinge at the thought that that will never be me, but not enough to propel me down that path…

Thank you to all of you who have expressed your sympathies. It is deeply appreciated.

At the same time, it was nice to return home to the kitties and the endless housework and the idea that even after all that travel I still had two days to compose myself.

Here is how our December 25 played out:

8:30: I just can’t sleep in for the life of me. Up and at ‘em! As Andy still slumbered, I made a Chile Relleno Casserole and popped it in the oven. He arrived and asked about the cinnamon rolls. Oops! Popped those in too and 15 minutes later we were in business.

Present opening! I couldn’t believe all the prezzies we had for just us… I like to give presents but I still think I’m a poor college kid so I just don’t lavish anything. Clothes and DVDS and stocking stuffers and also some very welcome gift cards (no, I don’t think they’re a cop-out!) from the parentals. But we exchanged ours first: I had long suspected that Andy had accidentally discovered a photo of his “main” present, but held my tongue (and hoped) in case I was wrong. There is a long story behind this, and it most certainly merits its own post. (more later) In short, he loved it, and I got off cheap! Hee hee. (perhaps you can pick it out in this photo of the post-gift opening aftermath)

As for Andy’s present to me, for many years I have wanted a rain barrel and a composter (our current compost pile is a hike up the hill and I don’t turn it, um, ever?). I felt certain that they would propel me to have the garden I keep imagining but only once have tried (unsuccessfully) to bring to fruition. So, no more excuses, 2008 will be my 2nd garden year, and first successful one! I think I’ll (re)start with containers though.

Somewhere in there we threw in a tandem ride, kitchen floor tiling (andy), and general laziness (the best of all). My legs felt pretty decent after almost 2 weeks off the bike, but I still had to be coerced to ride – clearly I’m not 100% ready yet.

Throw in some phone calls to the parentals, and then you have me slaving over Christmas (Navidad) dinner. Oh wait, no, you don’t. Chicken enchiladas (yes that's the recipe) was all we had, but damn they were tasty. Andy says it’s the spiciest thing I’ve ever made (read: he loved it, it burned my lips off)…

We finished the evening off by watching our first Netflix movie… yup, we’re lame. But it was sooooooo welcome.

3 is the magic number

2007-12-20T17:39:00.000-05:00

I have a 7 hour layover as I head northwestward to see my family.

It would appear, that after 3 hours of net surfing, 3 really is the magic number. Plus my back is killing me. And I'm thirsty. So, I hardly answered any of the emails I intended. Perhaps tomorrow.

Word of advice to the holiday traveler: if you are planning on travelling, please make sure you are clean before you start. Because you will probably be a little rumpled by the time you end. If you already smell when you start, well, you're giving yourself a giant handicap with the ladies. and the rest of the traveling population.

Secondly, if your next-seat-neighbor has his or her head buried in a book, and refuses to make eye contact with you, and answers your questions/comments with monosyllabic responses, it probably means (s)he want to read aforementioned book. Surely.

One demonstration of Hell on earth is greatly anticipating your airplane deboarding to get rid of a stinky annoying next-seat-neighbor, and then getting stuck on the tarmac for an extra half an hour.

Only 3 more hours of waiting! That damn magic number again.

Natz wrap-up

2007-12-20T08:16:00.000-05:00

I've started about 5 different posts about what happened on Saturday/Sunday of natz, but I just haven't brought myself around to finalizing any of them. So, I'll force this out and be done with the 2007 (race) blogging season.

My grandmother passed away on Saturday morning. She was 93 and suffering from Alzheimer's, so it was not unexpected, and yet, at the same time, these facts didn't seem to lessen the pain or feeling of loss. Oh well. It made it hard for me to be excited about standing outside in the pit watching Andy suffer in the snow, and a whole lot harder to care about the elite race on Sunday.

I waffled on whether to start the Elite race - the ground was frozen and treacherous, and my heart just wasn't there. But in the end I decided I needed to at least give it a go, thinking perhaps the shock of competition would pull something out of me.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2007/dec07/UScrossnats07/index.php?id=/photos/2007/dec07/UScrossnats07/UScrossnats0713/2007-12-16_12-05-29_2

At least I made cyclingnews! Can you find me on the start? (hint, 3rd row....) I had a good start and was successfully avoiding the carnage as women fell down left and right... but it didn't take long for the engines to shut off and for me to stop caring. I didn't even finish a lap, skulking off the course toward the end of the lap, after the first flight of stairs.

Watching the men's elite race helped me take my mind off of the silly thoughts that permeated it. First, there were the pro guys. They were so awe-inspiring, I have no idea how they can go that fast on that stuff. Then, there were the fast guys who were dressed silly-ly. The guy in JEANS (with a belt) and a jean vest! and, "money man", some guy with a burly beard and $1 bills safety pinned to his black kit. I don't know the point of it, but I almost peed my pants from laughing and if Andy had needed a pit on the first lap I would have missed him because I was so busy watching "money man".

Natz update

2007-12-15T23:27:00.000-05:00

We arrived here without too much issue on Thursday, pre-rode the course in muddy cold yuck, then checked into the hotel and chilled out.

I had a pretty good start in my race on Friday, riding in about 6th place or something silly like that. I slid back to 9th for a good while, but midway through the race, stuck in the mud somewhere, or on the ground, I think I forgot I was racing and lost a couple spots through the rest of the race, winding up 11th. I didn't even know how I placed till I looked at results online. My feet were blocks of ice, my hands too, and I don't react well to cold temperatures. I'm not too disappointed with the ride but I can honestly say I wasn't even tired after the race. Andy was an absolute rockstar and had a clean bike ready for me every half lap, which I gratefully took. I think I was picking up about 3 pounds of mud per half lap...

Andy's race today was completely icy and while he had the legs to stick it to the big guns, he didn't quite have the cajones to follow them on the icy, rutted out course, especially after seeing a guy slam into an unprotected lightpole at full speed. So he finished well off the pace, frustrated with the uncooperative weather.

I received some bad news from home this morning, and I am very sad right now. Racing my bike has no appeal to me at the present time, and I'm not sure I'll race tomorrow. I haven't completely ruled it out, so we'll see; maybe I'll line up afterall.

Kansas City... here I come!

2007-12-13T23:48:00.000-05:00

Actually, we're here... I just keep thinking of that "Kansas City" song and "if I have to walk, I'm going just the same..." Oh, and here's a note: if you're going to sing a song at work before you leave, make sure you actually know the lyrics. They do not include "they've got some crazy little women there and I'm gonna get me one." Nope, not at all.

The drive west from Ashevegas wasn't too bad, although we hit some pockets of bad rain and we didn't get anywhere near my all time record of 9 hrs 15 minutes. More like 10.5ish. Stopped at the hospital to visit my sis and the newest addition to her family, a whopping one day old, then headed to the house I grew up in.

We left from my parents' house not too early this morning, and rolled into KC about 2ish, heading straight to the course, after I took us on a random detour. Thank goodness for maps on the PDA! They lead us astray, they lead us back... hmm.

As we travelled across Missouri, it was interesting to watch the landscape change from brownish bleak to TUNDRA. Yeah, those ice storms they've been showing on the weather channel? They really did happen. A shock to the system after riding in 70+ degree weather on Tuesday.

This whole 'cross season, we've been riding on dry, dry, dry ground, and I haven't really needed my B bike. So, how ironic for me that the last race of the year I'm definitely going to need it... because it is basically one big soupy mess. After just one lap on the course I had about 10 extra pounds of mud caked on it. The course isn't that exciting from a layout standpoint, but the mud makes it so. Believe it or not I think I could do well on it. However, with the temperatures dropping below freezing tonight, all my pre-riding may have been in vain for it will most likely be a very different course tomorrow.

Off to bed... I don't race till 2 tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes... I haven't set any particular goals; with the stacked field in the 30+ race, I'll be happy with top 15, no joke. In the end, I don't care (too much), I'm just so excited to be here!

74 degrees

2007-12-11T16:19:00.001-05:00

December 11, and it’s 74 degrees out.

Doesn’t make any sense… I don’t believe in global warming. Give me more Styrofoam!

Losing Weight

2007-12-11T13:52:00.000-05:00

My sister just lost at least 6 pounds, 11 ounces!

Okay, maybe there’s a new girl on the block, too…

Welcome Abigail Marie! (how that fits in line with naming her after the world’s coolest Aunt, I don’t know, but whatever…)

Shenanigans

2007-12-09T23:07:00.001-05:00

I don't get to see my teammates as often as I would like. And it's a damn shame, because they are all so super cool. Believe it or not, these shenanigans were NOT my suggestion! I know it is hard to imagine, given my history, but I thought that my silliness had been tamed a bit.

Perhaps race reports tomorrow... let's just say one not so great, one good, but lots o' fun over the weekend. For now, a two day work week and much anticipation for the combined family visit/natz trip!

Done for now!

2007-12-07T08:44:00.001-05:00

Ugh, I can’t believe I made it through everything I wrote on my scheduled! I was even coloring my hair last night at 10… Writing it out can really work, go figure. I’m soooooooooo glad it’s over until January… now I can just focus on finishing up the CX season and NOT overeating through the holidays.

Anyway, hopefully I just finished my last fall class! If so, maybe next year I can go play in races like this: