Laid er' down

I got a later start than normal for my afternoon/evening ride but it was sunny and dry so I couldn't complain. I headed up North along the Burke Gilman to do some interval work. But seeing as it was hovering around 37 or so I took my time warming up. In fact, I was seriously contemplating the benefit of doing an interval in that cold of weather. And just when I mustered up enough persuasion to pound out the watts, I hit a patch of ice and went down, HARD.

With my ego just about as bruised as the meaty flesh of my rump, I turned around and headed back home. More embarrassed than anything - I was really thankful for the people who came to my rescue when I went down. I thanked them profusely and headed back on my way.

Oh well - I was overdue for some drama. :)

Too much trainer time...

I just put in a solid 3:15 on the trainer. I can't believe it myself. Little Ms "I don't ride a trainer but 4 times a year" has turned into an indoor junkie. It sucked though. My butt hurts and I think I cured myself for indoor riding for a solid week of pouring rain. All I have to do is remind myself why I'm doing this to my body and the watts keep pedaling out.

A champion is made a day at a time.

What's your longest indoor trainer session?

Quickie...

Christmas was great - spent it with family and had ZERO drama. Excellent. Giving gifts is such an awesome treat - and causing a few tears of joy is definitely worth it. :) Jaimie's due at the end of January so we'll get to spend some more time with them soon.

Ryan and I are still in project mayhem at home. This morning the demo crew showed up and I snuck away while they were working. Why hang out? If they need to get a hold of me, they'll find a way to reach me I suppose.

We now have HOT water! Good thing because last night I came home after my 3 hour ride in the pouring rain and 37 degree weather and hopped right in the shower. Oh it felt good. Despite the screaming barfies.

Headed up to Burnaby in two weekends to do some racing. It should be fun!
And a nice break from the steady cold rain falling from the sky this time of year....

Progress

The insurance adjuster came over this morning and confirmed that everything is covered. What a relief it was to hear that!

The furnace will be covered - yeah! And as I type there's a clean up crew tearing out our basement floor covering as we speak. The furnace is supposed to be installed today - hopefully they'll finish tonight. Tomorrow our walls get torn out and dryers come in and start sucking the moisture out of the air. Our office is starting to show where the moisture is traveling. Crazy.

Meanwhile, I just have to sit and wait while the work.

Training wise - I got a good ride in. Miller's basing my next training block off of kilojoules burnt - and at my peak I'm supposed to hit 12,250. Ouch. That's going to hurt.

Update

So yesterday a plumber came over and wanted to charge $1400 for replacing our hot water heater. I called them back and canceled the work order because we were able to buy the water heater at Home Depot for $400 and will have Tom come down and install it. Considering insurance won't cover that portion of it then we might as well save as much cash as possible.

The heater guy was over and determined that the water damage was the straw that broke the camels back. He used the analogy of putting a brand new engine in a 1969 Honda. It's just not worth it. So the cost to replace a furnace and bring it up to code - $3,400.

Meanwhile I haven't heard back from our insurance agent yet to find out when they will come out and inspect the damage. So I hired Coit who specializes in water damage and restoration. They are starting the work tomorrow morning. It was kind of wierd though. Originally the manager of the company called me to tell me we were at the bottom of the waiting list. But then he found out we had Chubb insurance and suddenly we were shot to the top of the list. Funny - money does talk.

We've been staying at my mom's - she's so generous I can't believe it. We still need to get some Christmas shopping done and life must go on....

Makiah even senses somethings going on. She's so sweet - I brought her into the office today and she's laying right next to me. Beats sitting in a freezing cold house I suppose.

Mayhem

So here's the semi-long version of what happened to us this weekend.

Thursday night the national weather service had a severe wind warning for the Seattle area. They were expecting gusts up to 65mph and record rain fall. Ryan and I got home around 10:30 after hanging out with friends in Ballard to sit at the kitchen table, chat for about 5 minutes and then BOOM the lights went out. We went to bed and heard all of these emergency vehicles go up and down our street to fix some issue. We didn't sleep that well - I kept thinking about the big trees in our backyard and the proximity to our house. Luckily nothing happened there.

We woke up, walked down the street and saw that a huge tree blocked Meridian and completely knocked out the power lines and cable. The weird part though - my mom had partial power. Her building has three power sources so she had lights in most rooms but no frig or furnace. We camped out at her place for a little while and visited with my brother, his wife and Coleman the incredible.

Saturday we decided to go climbing. But Friday night I remember falling asleep and waking up to some sort of rushing noise. Ryan thought it was just the forced air but I didn't think that would happen without the power. We left early that morning and ended up staying over at Ben and Danielle's that night. They had this air mattress that kept deflating throughout the night - but it had a pump on it so we could inflate when ever we realized our elbows were touching the floor.

Sunday we headed back to the house to feed Makiah and ran into our neighbor Jo. She was roughing it at home and using her fire stove. We were chatting for a while and Ryan went inside to feed the pooch, only to come back out and "uh, Jen? Our basement's flooded." Crap.

He put on my big green boots and then tromped downstairs to shut off the water line to the house. Basically our water heater failed and the bottom dropped out and the water line ended up running for 2 days. So when we discovered it, we had about 12" of standing water. Fun times.

Ryan's step dad is a plumber and he suggested getting the water out asap. We used our garden hoses to try getting the water to siffen out but by the time we got any water out, the basement had already gotten rid of all the water. Where it went, we don't know. Apparently our concrete slab has lots of cracks in it and it seeped through. I don't know if that's good or bad.

Meanwhile our power was still out. Thank goodness. All of Ryan's computer equipment was still plugged in and would have fried our circuits and could have potentially caused a fire. Now we're in full water damage mode and are on a huge waiting list with water damage experts to get it fixed. Our insurance company has been informed and we're waiting for an inspector to come out and assess the damage.

Crazy. Our property manager at the office had a tree fall on his house! Poor guy - things could definitely be worse.

Well back to the mayhem....

As if!

As if my last squabble about the weather was really all that bad. Today we had gusts up to 60mph and up to 85mph expected tomorrow night! The wind is blowing like crazy! So I thought I'd post before the power goes out.

Miller gave me a game plan - the pain and long miles begin today. Sweet. I knew it was coming - it was only a matter of time. :)

The Weather outside is Frightful

Seriously, who wouldn't want to ride in the mid-forties, with wind gusts up to 35mph? I mean if my trees can't take, and trust me, our backyard has some serious carnage from last nights storm, then why wouldn't I want to go out today? Indoor trainers - bah!

I've been reading some mental training books recommend by Carrie Chattel (Sorry if I butchered the spelling of that one!). She's the mental training coach who came to Starbucks and did an informative clinic. Anyhoo - one of the books, "Body Mind Mastery" has some interesting takes on training. First of all you have to treat training just as importantly as racing- mentally and physically preparing for your peak event. (I'm of course picking and choosing what I think is most applicable to me at the moment - when I reread this book again I'm sure the meaning will completely change.) And another tip was to train in less than desirable conditions. I knew there was a reason I live in the PNW during the winter! And probably why PNWer's have such a high success rate when racing abroad. At least that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

It's funny - I keep the book next time my bed and read little bits and pieces out of it every night. It seems to be helping - so why not? It sure beats the typical trashy romance novel. Well, not always. :)

Weekend Warrior?

So I'm starting to wonder if I fit into the weekend warrior athlete description. Usually on Saturday mornings, I'll wake up at 8, eat a good breakfast and jump on the bike to meet the ladies at 9:30 at the shop. Then we go out for a 4+ hour ride and battle through inclement conditions. I usually make it home before it gets dark - but just barely. We've been putting in the serious mileage. It's super fun though and helps us bond as a team. We attempted our first pace line in nasty windy rainy weather - and it blew apart really quickly. Thank goodness Annette was there to get us going again - and we were quickly back to it. I was behind Liz though and she didn't have any fenders so I was seriously sprayed the entire time. By the time we stopped I was caked in mud/road grit from head to toe.

Sunday we went climbing - and my body is getting used to the movements. I'm able to do 4 solid pull ups in a row now. My goal was five - I'm almost there!

Oh - and I can't forget to mention my new shorts! On Saturday Liz had an awesome Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange. And one lucky person got to take home some nude colored shorts with a penis screened on it. They were awesome! Guess who that lucky person is? Yours truly. Don't forget to wave when you see me on the trail because I'll be saluting!

Excess? That's my middle name

Ok - so maybe I over did it for once. :) First it started with sugar cookies that ended up making me feel sick to my stomach for three days, and then I decided that dark and white chocolate cookies were just what I need to feel better. I know I have no resistance - why do I do it to myself? This time it was in the name of Liz's party - but I'll be lucky if a single chocolate morsel even makes it there.

It's official!

I'm officially a Cat 2 on the road now. Sweet. I was starting to stress a little about obtaining the upgrade - but turns out I had enough points all along. So now I'm on board for Redlands!

We had a good meeting last night. Basically we're concentrating on regional events and getting the BARR as a team - and doing a couple of NRC's. Our calendar filled up quickly. But it should be amazing.

Ahhhh... there's nothing like waking up to the glow of a morning sunrise illuminating my house. Usually it only happens in the summer - but today I got a treat. It's just what I need because I test again today on Cougar to see if my LT has gone up. A little extra bonus definitely lifts the spirits.

I went for a night ride with Melinda last night down in W. Seattle. We did a nice big loop - about 30 miles worth and it was nice to get on some new terrain. We almost made it on the freeway and added the Portland ride just for kicks - but then realized we didn't have enough food or water - so maybe next time. :) Lucky girl - she's headed to Cabo this morning for a 5 day diving trip. 90 degrees sounds mighty good - as I look down and see it's currently 37. Burr!!! (Just remember the sunrise Juice!)

We're actually looking to take a girls trip over to Leavenworth in January for a week full of snowshoeing, skate skiing, downhill and biking, not to mention cooking yummy food and doing some yoga. I'm going to see if any cabins are available while she's away.

Wow - racing will be here soon! The off season sure does fly by when you're having fun and occupy your winter with other sports.

Amateurs practice until they get it right.
Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong.

BTW - the yoga/climbing/boxing/weight lifting is working! I was able to climb like a billy goat today. Sweet!

So I took a gamble this morning - staying home rather than getting some tracks in up at Baker. But seeing as it's the second of December, and the race season will be here before we know it, I decided it was time to put in some hours of training with the ladies. It's beautiful out - although 35 degrees. We may run into a couple patches of ice - but that's much better than fighting the wind/snow/rain mix so I'm happy that I stayed home. We have a meeting next week to discuss the calendar and look at the sponsorship - I'm excited.

Glenn reminded me of the upcoming 6 day at Burnaby - time to inflate those race wheels and get back to some anaerobic breathing. Fun times! I'm still not sure if I'm ready to get back on my track bike yet. :)

Tomorrow I head to the Summitt with Melinda to do some skate skiing. Should be fun!

Thinking about new years....

I decided last night that I am going to try and ride the rollers everyday before I have my first cup of joe. Why? Well why not? 30 minutes a day - can only increase my fitness and help me use my dusty skin suites.

I've been climbing a lot lately. It feels good to get some upper body and core strength going. I set a record this week by climbing three times. Amazing. I even bought a new pair of climbing shoes. Wow - things are getting serious. I swear it's the only thin keeping me sane while we experienced this winter storm. I don't see how the people in the heartland do it - training indoors that is. I would go stir crazy. Actually - I probably wouldn't have any interest in cycling. Maybe I'd be a professional curler or something.

I get to ride me bike outside for the first time since Saturday today. I'm stoked! Marcy and I are headed to the gym so I can beat the shit out of their heavy bag. Should be fun. I broke out my old pink gloves. Last time I fooled around I was sore for a day afterward. What a different kind of fitness! I miss boxing's intensity and discipline. It's the same in cycling - but I haven't found how to direct my workouts yet without the help of a coach. But I'm working on it.

I've been having a hard time with my dad lately. To make a long story short - he wants nothing to do with Ryan and have a relationship with me. I don't get it. I've expressed to him that Ryan and I are a pair - he is my world. And I told him that for us to have a relationship then he's going to have to soften his approach with Ryan. He said he wasn't willing to do that. Ouch. I refuse to get in the middle of it anymore though - but it still makes it a struggle every time the mud gets stirred up in the bottom of the pond. Funny how holidays bring out the monsters. I guess everyone needs a little Jerry Springer in their lives.

ice ice baby

The parking lot is empty. Only a few SUV's with 4WD and studded tires decided they could fare the weather and come into work. Unfortunately I live at sea level - near Fremont - where it doesn't quite get cold enough here to prevent me from walking/biking/driving the 1.2 miles into work. Dang. Everyone else I know stayed home. But seriously - I only see a dusting of snow on the shady parts of the Canal. Although Ryan said it took Ben 3 hours to get home last night in what usually just takes 1/2. Crazy!

I'm going to try and make it in for a spin class tonight. Hopefully the instructor will show up. If not, then it's a solo venture on the trainer.

SNOW!

So this weekend while most of America was at the shopping malls adding to our obesity and over consumption problems, Ryan and I headed to the mountains. After our big extravaganza on Thursday and a late night, Josh, Molly, Ryan and I went to Crystal to get some turns in. They had a lot of powder - and although we didn't make it there until noon, we still skied our brains out and had a blast. Talk about being sore the day after though!

Saturday I went on a team ride - good thing too because it's now chilly out side and threatening snow. Do you consider 3 people a team? We did some mileage but I had a really hard time warming up and was thankful when I got home and we had clocked 50 miles. I came home to a trashed house - but who cares? It's all my mom's china and stuff anyways. It'll go back eventually.

Because Sunday was supposed to be snowy at sea level we decided to head north to Mt. Baker. Boy were we in for a treat. Powder was piled up to our thighs. We had a cut a trail to get down the mountain. It was amazing. We skied all day - despite Ryan's fogging up goggles. I have missed skiing so much since I started cycling. But all of the pedaling has paid off because I'm in the best shape of my life and things just keep getting better! It makes me smile just thinking of what a great time we had at the mountains. I wish I was better about taking a camera with me. All I can bank on is my memory - and creating more powder memories in the future!

The drive home was LONG. It snowed all the way to Bellingham. It took us 3 hours in what normally takes 1. But we made it home safe and sound and were sound asleep by 10. Nice. Let the recovery begin!

I'm not sure if it was the weather, what I ate or what - but the last couple of days I've been in a serious funk. I think I'm finally over it - but holy moly I was down and out! Then yesterday, half way through - it felt like a curtain lifted and returned me back to my normal self. It was weird.

Now I 'm back to it and ready to tackle a day filled with prep for Thanksgiving. We're having 11 people join us - should be a packed house! Wow - there's a lot of work to do leading up to that dinner!

What's more work....

Going around the lake in 55 degree pouring rain, with the last few miles in blistery winds

-or-

Coming home and raking leaves. (We have a curly willow, red tree from the neighbor, red tree from our house, and two baby Filbert trees in our front yard. Not to mention the neighbor across the street who has the biggest tree on the block but definitely produces almost as much waste as our willow.)

That's a tough one - good thing I just did both in one day! Lucky me when I got home the wind died down and the rain stopped. And feeling guilty about having a trashed yard for our Thanksgiving company, I figured, why not? It's all or nothing.

Oh - and I washed the car today. Now I'm considering going to the climbing gym. Yeah, I'm nuts.

Poor puppy

Did hill repeats on Juanita today. On my way down the shallow side I noticed a scared sweet puppy on the side of the road. I yelled at it to go home and continued down the hill, thinking it had just escaped and was looking for a cyclist to bite. Turns out it was a run away and while I was coming back up the hill my heart sank down when I saw a bunch of cars stopped on the road - honking. Luckily the little pooch was still ok - just scared and in the middle of the road. I called her over and searched for a missing collar. This woman pulled up in a BMW - she was going back to work and saw the dog in the middle of road and was concerned as well. My only option was to go to a neighbors house and call the humane society. But she did a good deed today and took it to her house, put it in her backyard with her dog and was going to call the humane society from home. Who knows - maybe she'll keep it? It was a sweet and really cute dog. But it's middle name is Hudini.

The repeats went well - some random guy in a white Buick honked at me and flipped me off for no apparent reason. I just laughed. :)

Not that I'm counting or anything

But it has been 12 days of rain so far. As long as it stays cold and the mountains are getting ample snow - then I'm happy. Winter sports will start in about 2 weeks!

Anyone have any skate skis they'd like to off load?

mazama bound

Whoa that weekend flew by!

Friday night we went climbing with some friends and then ended up at Ben and Danielle's house for a fabulous dinner of black cod and chantrell mushrooms. Then we headed out to Sunset Lanes and got our bowling on till the wee hours of the morning. Fun times!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early for a team ride - which headed north up to Hollywood Hill. The majority of the crew split off from there and headed north and I headed back with Kate because of a previous obligation for a female psychologist workshop. We crested Hollywood at 11:30 - the meeting was at 1 so I tempo'd back home. Kate has a back injury so she ended up peeling off while I got in my intensity.

The meeting was good - lots of information and how to deal with your own inner demons about cycling. Carrie gave us each a list of different books to use as resources if we're interested. I'm definitely going to check them out.

Saturday night we headed out to the Palace kitchen with Lincoln, Shelly, Johovah, Annie, Annie, Jean-Paul, Sema, Ryan and Nicole. Quite a crew! Lincoln had made reservations at Jazz Alley to see the Average White Band. It was awesome! We were out late again - this time only till 1am because the garage closed.

Sunday we went to our first Seahawks game. Ryan's employer Pacific Ridge Homes won box seats from an auction and had a fully catered suite for about 8 of its employees. He won the tix about 2 months ago. Seahawks won over the St. Louis Ram's - a HUGE win for the division title and getting into the Playoffs.

We were exhausted by Sunday night. I didn't make it on my Cougar ride - but think it was wise to chill considering the blizzard outside and how physically tired I was.

And now it's Monday and Ryan and I are making plans for next weekend to go to Mazama and view a property we're potentially going to put an offer on. Should be cool!

Gobble gobble

So I put this decorative turkey on my breakfast table - and everytime the table slightly moves it pecks. It's pretty funny really - I think I'll name him Al. It's nice to know a turkey's got your back when you're typing.

Ah the rain and COLD is back. At least it's snowing in the mountains. The freezing level has dropped to 2000' and it's about 45 and raining here in the low lands. Isn't that right Al? Peck peck peck.

This is the third day in a row where I woke up with a stiff neck. I'm not sure when I pulled something - but it's not happy with me right now. Now if I could only get Al to peck the shit out of my neck....

beta or not to beta, that is the question

I really struggled on the bike today. I had the past two days off after a three day block and I feel like my legs are lead weights and they just won't put out the power my mind is trying to tell it to. And because I'm so damn competitive, I start getting down I'm not reach my specific interval. I pulled over, called Mr T and had him do a pick me up. And really, it is all in the mind of the beholder. After having a border line panic attack - and consoling with Ryan - I was able to pull it around and get in another solid effort. But that was all I had in me unfortunately. It just wasn't my day today.

These LT efforts are much harder than I initially thought - especially when fatigue starts to set in. I'm just working on the adaptation phase - and soon I'll be solid again. It's hard - but it's supposed to be. Truth be told - I ate like crap yesterday which is probably the reason my legs feel like shit. No more cookies, chocolate, mango and ice cream all in one day. What was I thinking? BINGE....

Coleman the incredible

I must admit, I have the cutest nephew in the world. See?...



He loves, loves loves to laugh. And throws his head back like his auntie. :)

5 days and counting

So the cold weather moved east and the wet and wind took it's place. It's rained HARD the past 5 days in a row. I'm keeping track because last year we almost broke our record of 60 days in a row but on the 37th day it didn't rain in the particular spot they keep track of the precip and the record still stands.

I'm prepared for riding in this crap though, let me tell you. Last winter I put in the miles and hours on the bike - peaking at 22 hours last January. Needless to say I have my system down now. And good thing because I'd rather be wet and poured on than spending hours inside on the trainer. So for all of you wondering what I wear:

1. Bomber rain coat (rainypass.com) - keeps you dry from the outside in and has vents in the pits to help get rid of the sweat.
2. 3mm Diving gloves - sure they make your hands stink like an underwater basket weaver - but you're warm and that's all that matters.
3. Knee high wool socks.
4. 2mm Neoprene Booties
5. Dorky cycling cap (deflects the rain from getting into your eyes)
6. Clear lenses that cover 1/2 your face.

Hmmm.... am I forgetting anything? The only bummer is - as soon as you stop all of that heat you've been generating causes additional moisture and unless you plan on moving again in 5 minutes, you get chilled down to the core and then your mind starts playing tricks on you.

Training has been good the past 3 days. We're working on increasing my threshold by riding just below and around it. 11 more hard core training days and then I test again up Cougar to see if it's making a difference.

Cougar Test

It was chilly yesterday - high of 44. Miller and I talked and I'm ready to get down to business with training so yesterday I headed out to Cougar Mtn to do the shallow side and put out some serious power. I managed to get on my bike by 3:30 pm - knowing full well I would be riding home in the dark. So I strapped on my lights, pumped my tires and got a flat before I even left the house. Good thing it happened at home. I changed it quickly and was out the door trying not to burn all my candles on the hour and and half ride out to the base of climb.

This is the first test I've done where I haven't psyched myself out - and really put the pedal to the metal. I made it to the half way point in 18 minutes - not bad! Last year my PR was 25. I summited just as the last sliver of sun set over the Olympics - in 37 minutes. I made up the most time in the first section - now I need to work on continually putting out the power in longer duration. I was pretty happy about it but from here on out I have to do some serious threshold training to improve my power.

The ride home was SLOW - but it was cool doing it on Halloween and seeing all the kids out trick or treating. Oh I remember those days. MMMMmmmmm candy.

Miller was going to put on a training camp this upcoming weekend for his athletes - which I was uninvited to. Apparently it's a guy thing and unless I want to sleep on the floor - NO THANKS! - then I get to battle my threshold training solo. Even Molly is staying home. Manfest 2006 continues on...

Halloween?

Last time I checked, today is Halloween.

Yet when I wore my fish head costume into work - riding my bike over Fremont bridge, waiting for the bridge to go up and down, waiting at the light on the Queen Anne side that takes FOREVER - only one lonely person honked and yelled. Where's the spirit? Does it only come out at night?

Saturday night Ryan and I were treated like rock stars. Today - nothing. Maybe it works better when there are two loonies out and not just one.

But that's not going to stop me. Maybe next time I'll go naked with just my fish head on. Surely I'll get some honks then.

On a serious note - today I do power testing up Cougar. The pain and hard core dedication begins today. Fun times!!!! I'd do it with my fish head on but the head wind in the tail would prevent me from swimming upstream as quickly as possible. Make sure you honk if you see a fish head riding around today. It'll make their day.

Today was Chil-ly! It's supposed to get down to freezing on Monday night - and I-90 has closed the mountain pass to vehicles due to inclement weather. Crazy! And to think last night it was dry as a bone and Ryan and I wandered the streets of Fremont and Ballard with fish heads on. It was awesome. I love getting into Halloween. We went to a couple of parties and saw some excellent costumes. Fun times! This morning I woke up a little groggy though and pooped - so I ended up spinning on the rollers inside. Shame shame. But you have to have fun every now and then. :)

Team wise - I decided to go with TiCycles. We are hoping to have a regional sponsorship where several riders can go to the bigger NRC races of the season and represent. I'm stoked - especially considering we'll be able to train together and work toward a common goal all season. Saweet.

Back to lounging....

The obsession

I think I'm a blogger junky. I seriously check blogger before what's happening in the world around me - before eatting breakfast, before heading out for my ride, before making my bed. I'm obsessed. I'm the reason your visitor counter jumps high every day - I return over and over again just to make sure I don't miss anything. It's like getting a present when people write in them. Some people go to forums where they can have discussions and dialoge - I go to blogger. Sad, I know. But someone's got to do it.

Now if I can just slowly ease myself off of blogger I'll be good.

Training news - the new off season hasn't started yet. I'm still in the maintenance phase. It's nice not actively working for something on the bike - but I'm ready to get back to it. Miller and I talked and my first goal is project 110%. That means I'm going to raise my overall power in my zones by 10% of what my highest outputs from last season. And I'm not going to stop until I get there. The actual hours on the bike will decrease this winter, but my quality is going to spike and I'll be crying home to Bubba more. Fun times - you'll all get to share them with me. :)

Having a life!

I'm beginning to really love October and it's nearly over. The weather is a little chillier but the days are still somewhat long. But most importantly - I'm just riding to ride and maintain some fitness - not training to increase my fitness. Actually that begins next week. :)

Team wise - a couple of options are opening up for me in the near future. More on that later....

Team News...

I just got the word today that Tamarack will not be funding a women's road team next season. Bummer.

I have sent a couple of inquiries out to various teams but know that what will happen will happen. Miller thinks I should just fly solo for the season and get some results. Even if nothing pans out I'm doing what I love and am paying for it anyway.

So the question is - do I join something locally or do I just venture on it solo?

Hmmmm.... decisions decisions.

Blogger blogger blo blogger

Sorry blogland - I actually took some time off the bike both mentally and physically and am just now easing back into it. I almost stopped riding altogether the other day. You know the lead weight feeling you get where you don't think you can turn the pedals over even if you wanted to? Luckily Ryan was there to talk me out of throwing my bike into the canal and just calling it quits. Thank goodness I'm not training for a world cup right now. My mental attitude was in the dumps! But we all go through it - and always come out on the other side. In fact, I picked myself up, dusted off and am good to go.

Ryan and I are looking at property over in Methow Valley. We took a day trip yesterday to Mazama and met with an agent. She showed us some "rustic" cabin and also an A frame that had some seriously sweet vintage lamps in it. And then she showed us this amazing new green construction that would be totally awesome. Too bad it's 299 k - way out of our price range for a recreation property. But who knows, maybe we'll end up getting something similar. The drive over and home was awesome - it's absolutely beautiful out in the Northwest.

I have a serious craving for Bran Muffins.. gotta go.

drizzle on my shizzle-nizzle

I too join the hundreds of cyclists in the Northwest that are making it back to the gym for the first time since last winter. Luckily I knew not to add any weight but am working on getting my joints prepped for later season mud slinging contests. Well apparently using the bar was a little too much. Or rather I did a psuedo squat and now am in a little pain in the lower back. Just goes to show I need to strengthen my core and lower back. Yowsa.

Last night we had our first Tuesday night ride - it was fun. About 8 people showed up and we all had lights. Super fun! Today the rain's back....

Back into the mode....

LONG travel day home - we were dealing with customs, flying and long lines for about 9 straight hours on Sunday. But it was all worth it the moment my skin hit the sheets. Slept like a baby.

I've been gathering my thoughts about the upcoming season - ways to tackle my lofty goals and getting all my ducks lined up in a row, so to speak. My number one goal next year: Aggressive. Time to put the hurt on. But that in turn means to put the hurt on myself in order to reach my goal. I'm putting more focus on LT this year than before because I need to start winning some stinking races!

I reluctantly re-joined the gym down the street. They changed their dues recently and upped the price - but it's super close and I'll actually go. Plus there's that added motivation considering I'm paying for it month after month. I'm going to try and incorporate weights throughout the entire season, not just in the fall. And they have yoga and spinning classes.

Training log - why did I stop keeping one? What was I thinking? Time to jot down everything including my resting HR each AM.

Diet - limited sweets and no beer. This is going to be hard. But I've done it before - so I can try it again. ;) Ryan has been bringing home some tastey IPA's and Belgiums.

Killin' time in Toronto...

Ryan and I have spent the last 5 days in the area - mainly relaxing and taking in the fall colours. We arrived on Monday and stayed at Roanne's parents house for a couple of nights before being booted out to make room for their English relatives. No worries as we headed up north to check out another Great Lake and help Cam celebrate Send Fest 2006. Unfortunately the day we ventured to this really cool crag called Rockwood a serious down pour started. Luckily the rock was over hanging but the climbs themselves were too steep for me. Ryan styled it despite hurt fingers. He's been itching to exercise since we left Seattle.

The following day, Thursday we headed Old Baldie near Kimberly, a small country town with some amazing rock bands. It was CHILLY that morning - with highs in the upper 30's. The fellas jumped on the rock and it started snowing! Talk about cold!!! They kept climbing though despite the weather and I huddled underneath a down sleeping bag. It was the first snow of the year and temps are still super cold.

Tonight Ry and I headed to Mississauga Ice Dogs to watch a hockey game. It's fun experiencing hockey games with Ryan because it was such a huge part of his life when he was younger. I think he's going to rejoin the Tuesday night hockey league once we get home.

Speaking of which - I'm really looking forward to getting home and putting some miles in! This low key lifestyle has got to go!!!

new year

Well it's the end of the season and almost the beginning of a new training one. With that being said, I'm already starting to think about goals for the next one. Here are some of my new season resolutions...

1. Yoga sessions 2-3 times per week in the off season, once a week during the season. (mental training, flexibility, strength)
2. Weight training 2-3 times per week (strength so I can push bigger gears)
3. Rock climbing at least one a week in the off season (strength, core focus)
4. Diet - limit alcohol to once a week, same with ice cream. :)
5. Try either skate skiing or short track skating in the winter.

Calendar wise - I'd definitely like to do a ton more NRC races. 10-15 in total. Hard core stage races included.

We're headed this morning to Toronto for a week of relaxation and rock climbing. Our dear friends Cam and Roanne are getting married. Should be a blast!

scratch race

I've been laying awake in bed for the past hour replaying and reliving the scratch race in my head to try and digest and learn from what happened. First and foremost - this year was the strongest women's field at track natz for a long time. To have to have qualification heats says a lot about sheer numbers. And also that each heat is stacked with the nations best track racers. I'm excited to have experienced it but somewhat dissappointed in my own performance. I was hesitant and did not express 100% of my ability. I know I had the fitness no problem but I wasn't willing to take the risks necessary to go for winning moves. Why? Maybe lack of experience, maybe fatigue and mental defeat. Something I can certainly train for next year though. Someone once said, "You can keep making mistakes, just never make the same mistakes twice."

I ran a large gear for the scratch race -51x15. My legs felt a little tapped and tired from the previous night. But all in all I just didn't have the grrrrrrr required to make it go. Damn. It makes me hungrier.

Points race final

By nearly making the mistake that would have cost me the qualification heat and using the points as a miss and out - my game plan was entirely different for the final. First I upped my gear - knowing that the race was going to be fast and furious. I also wasn't going for any hard efforts in the first several sprints because the pace was going to be constantly fast. So I rode in the back - sucking on Hammer's wheel. I knew her move was coming too to lap the field but I don't know why I hesitated to get on her wheel when she made the move from the back. I keep playing that moment over and over in my head. Everything in my body was screaming at me to stick on her wheel and it would have been a free ride around for 20 points. But my slight hesitation cost me a better placement.

The rest of the race went well - although i have never seen so many women pass on the apron. One offender finally got DQ'd - good! Those cheaters. Kick em out. I managed to gain a single point on the 30 to go sprint placing me in 11th. Had I positioned myself better for the final sprint I would definitely had 5th. Oh well - next year I'm working my pursuit so I can be that much stronger and make moves all the time. I had such a good time last night - and am headed back today for some scratch racing.

By the skin of my teeth...

This morning we had the points race qualification heats. I didn't sleep well last night because I kept rolling my mass start test lameness over and over in my head. Plus the pressure was on to make the race tonight so I had some serious anxiety. I think I only slept a total of 7 hours.

I got a really good warm up this morning though on the track. I hadn't quite reacquainted myself with the track so it was nice to do some hard efforts and feel the wood out. The transitions are sooooo smooth - you seriously can't feel them. I sat on a motor for several laps - just to wake up my legs and remind them that they are fast and I did train all season for this so HELLO!

I was in the second heat. The first heat contained World Champ Pursuitist Sarah Hammer - so it seemed like everyone was watching her every move. She really dictated the pace of the race and got her points early - leaving the rest of them up for grabs. I couldn't really watch that closely though - super nervous. We lined up at the rail and the pace was fast from the get go. I kept getting boxed in time and time again during the sprints so my fate was decided in the last go. Luckily I made the sprint and was the last woman to qualify. I almost was taken out by Laura from lipton - she came down in the sprinters lane and almost chopped my front wheel. My right foot actually came unclipped - and I had a wavering moment where ladies behind me were squealing - but i managed to clip back in and handle myself for the second to last sprint. Phew! That was a close one.

Our final points race is going to be screaming fast. I'm uping my gear and playing a completely different game this time. Should be fun and exciting!

Uh, can I have a redue?

So the mass start test pretty much sucked. I don't know who was riding my bike - but it wasn't me today. The legs felt heavy, the gear too big and I couldn't kick the gear over. Strange. My time was 2:50. The time standard is 2:34. But only one woman made the time standard - out of 20 women.

A lot to work on - but that's in the past now and I'm ready for the next race!

Dan's Bronze and Gold Medals

Dan rocked the 4k pursuit final in the bronze medal round. He also won the gold for the U23 classification - he's floating on cloud nine!

Unfortunately Jimmy narrowly missed the scratch qualification. Which may have been a good thing because at about 20 laps to go in the final 5 guys crashed and one poor guy had to be taken to the hospital with a head wound. Scarey.

I did some flying efforts to feel out the right gear for the mass start test and hit the nail on the head first try in a 50x15. Ryan timed me and I made the 500m in 33.5. Then I'll just need to settle in and get er' done with 6 laps to go. It's time to push myself and express 100% of my ability.

headed to the track....

Track natz day one

Arrived into LAX yesterday afternoon and almost upgraded our rental car to a Hummer. Ha! Ryan would have died. If we weren't staying for so long we might have seriously considered it. Can you imagine? Bright obnoxious yellow with shiney rims to match.

We hooked up with Dan and then Jimmy - to discover my head set disintergrated. Apparently they give up the ghost after two years or so - and luckily I didn't have any events today so we were able to get it fixed by Andy the Shimano rep. What a stud. I owe him a bottle of red wine because apparently he's overloaded with beer.

Dan is a rock star. He made the final four in the pursuit with a time of 4:45. He's stoked!!! And he won a championship for the U23 classification. Excellent!!! Jimmy has a scratch heat this morning and we're headed back to the track to root him on.

More to come....

Starcrossed

Yesterday morning I woke up early, all excited to get on my bike and do some hard fast efforts on the track. Only to arrive and discover the track has 4 Saturns parked on it, yellow tape across it and a 3" think electrical cord running across it. Silly me, what was I thinking? So I headed down to Golden Gardens to do my efforts and was reminded how hard it is to simulate the track. :)

No worries though - I still made it count and the legs are feeling good! I finished my fish head last night too - just in time for us to leave for LA and Toronto. I'm really looking forward to some down time with Ryan.

Then last night Melinda and I headed to Hagen Berman's Starcross at Marymoor. Cross looks like an awesome sport -super fun and those pro men make it look so easy. Kabush came out too - he ended up third. Sundt put on a show with his young teammate who at one point had a nice lead. But nothing really got away from the lead group of 9 guys. One unfortunate soul had his tubular roll off his rim near the front of the course and had to run the entire 2 miles with a bike slung on his shoulder to the pits. He was looking strong too and putting on lots of attacks. But his attempt was in vain. I wonder if he ended up in 9th anyway - that group passed everyone a couple of times.

Cross looks like it humbles most people. It's a throw down sport - and that really appeals to me. But after track I'm resting until the winter training starts. Maybe next year?

rollin'

Only a couple days left till show time. I took yesterday off the bike completely to let my legs calm down and chill out - and it was needed. I rode into work yesterday to have my legs throb. It's only 1.2 miles. I know, pathetic. But today I woke up, feeling anxious to move the legs around and get some energy pumping through them again. Motivation is high - but one more day off should do the trick.

I just looked at my October training - holy moly it's light. Only 4 days on the bike per week? What am I going to do with all that free time? Time to pick up another sport. I'm checking into speed skating.

Goosebumps

I got a call from my friend Mary last night wishing me luck with track nats. It was a perfectly timed call - and helped me refocus and get excited about nats. I actually got goosebumps thinking about it. I was so tired from my effort yesterday that I just about cracked. She helped me realize I am going stinking fast and only good things are going to happen at nats. And then I got a text from Emily - wishing me the same. The timing couldn't have been better.

But alas this morning I headed to the track early to get in a session before work. It took 45 minutes to get there - usually it's only 15. Then once I got there this fog covered all of Marymoor. No worries though - just as I got to the track it cleared up and you could only hear the waddling of the geese in the middle of the infield. I warmed up - in what felt like an enormous gear - 51x16. I should have known right then and there to rest, go home. Take a load off and do fun things. Instead I attempted a flying 2k effort in a 50x15 and cracked. My body is tired - my mind is starting to play tricks on me and I made a good decision to just go home. But I'm supposed to be tired - and now I get a couple of days off the bike, do some fine tuning this weekend and then WHACK! Rip some legs off at nats. Thanks Glenn for the encouragment. Again, perfect timing.

So yes, I think I'm ready.

And if I ever start thinking running sounds good - all I have to do is think about this dude's toes...

Final Countdown...

So only a few solid days of training left before we head down to LA. I'm looking forward to the competition - and also a little sad to say good bye to the season for the year. But all good things must come to an end - and winter training will whisk by the long dark hours of the year. Time to start planning for next season!

Training

What a great past two days of training. Thanks to Jennie - she helped coach me on some techniques that I hadn't heard before. For instance the Kirby (Klugal? I can't remember the real name of it) is important for core strengthening when you start going fast and keeping your crotch planted on the saddle. I tend to get sloppy when I'm tired - losing some core stability and my power starts wavering. It was good - she's such an inspiration and I really enjoyed training with her.

So one thing we both noticed is that I'm not pushing beyond my pain threshold. I hit the wall and then back off. I have yet to figure out how to endure beyond that wall and go beyond. I suppose that's what really sets you apart from other competitors - the way you're able to go beyond yourself and just cope resulting in nothing less than spectacular. Jennie said she's just put herself into that uncomfortablness so many times that now it's almost second nature to be able to push through the wall. So I'm striving for that. If you train that way you'll race that way. Nothing less than 110%.

Oktober Fest

Yep. It's that time of year again. Time for tiny little potent tasters for $20 and drunken crazy people in Fremont. My favorite time of year. And the sun is supposed to poke it's head out of the clouds later today. I was just getting used to the rain!

I've been reading Kele's blog about her time at the OTC and found another camper Renee's blog as well. And the big news:.... they are making the women's team pursuit an Olympic event! Saweet!!!! And they're also bringing back the team sprint. Yeah!!!! More opportunity to shine and get your foot in the door at the Olympics. So that makes me wonder when the emphasis will be placed on women domestically to start churning out the power houses.

I was talking to Jennie Reed about the women's track scene in the US. It seems like it's either local racing or world cup. But what about all the steps in between? What happens if you're talented locally and want to go up regionally and nationally? Do you have to do it through the men's ranks? Unfortunately that's the battle I've been facing. The only time there's enough domesitc competition is at nationals. Where are these ladies during the track season? Most are roadies or can't get the financial support and backing to travel across country for the UCI sanctioned races. So what happens? We develop an enormous gap between skill levels. I wonder if that will change in the future. How can I help???

blah blah blah. It's Friday.

Long Slow Days

Well the rain coat came just in time yesterday for my first 2 hour ride in the mist. And it turned out I didn't even need it - it cleared up last night while I rode. But I think we have a winner. It breathes really nicely - and I don't have to layer underneath it. My bike is 80% winterized - all I have to do is install the permanent rear fender. I'm using one of those racer blades right now. And one last thing to figure out - gloves. I'm still on the hunt.

Two weeks and I'll be racing my heart out in LA.

Yo!

So I swear I tried to upload some photos for all of you early today and blogger just pooped me out. But no - it's not working. It's probably the same problem that haunted Kele.

Last night Ryan and I headed out to the track for the typical Tuesday night motopace. He doesn't feel comfortable riding the mini-honda because he feels like he'd be stepping on someone's toes so I rode behind his motor instead. First response - agh the exhaust! I sucked down some serious tail pipe. Oh well - a girl's still got to do her motor pacing, right? It took us a couple tries to nail down the right effort too - he has so much torque on that thing that it was hard to keep it steady. Plus there's all this goose shit all over the track from the Canadian airforce. Yum - finishes off the tail pipe nicely with a minty fresh piece o' doo.

Good thing we did get out to the track last night because the rain is back. It's been steadily raining all day - and I have a two hour fun filled workout to do in it! Fun times!!! Good thing I have both fenders on - wait a second - no I don't! Rain rain go away.

Where's that super duper rain coat I ordered????

rrrrr rrrrr rrrrrain

So drizzle puts a slight damper on my planned workout session tonight. It's hard to simulate motor pacing on a track bike.... I'll have to get creative.

And last night I did some lifting - only to discover Stoney G's weights are all for upper body! I mean really, climbers don't have to work on their upper bodies. They should be stacking the weights up for some leg presses! Back to the drawing board to find some cheap gym without too many cheesers.

I sewed this killer fish head costume this past weekend. The same one, I must add, that Ryan and Ryan laughed at and said I was crazy for wanting to create such a childish thing. Well Sunday night after Ryan got back from climbing I showed him my fish head and he looked at me straight faced, "you have to make me one of those." If my pictures weren't such a pain in the butt to get up - I'd post one for you. (Sure I know, I keep saying it. But really - I have to go downstairs, boot up Ryan's computer... download the photos... ok I'm going.....)

Let the steady sunday's begin!

The leaves are starting to fall to the ground, the rains are definitely on their way - and you have to wear knickers all the time now to protect against the chilly air. And the weekly women's Sunday ride is back in effect with today being the first go and a chance for new comers to the scene to ride with other racers and check out the dealio. I'm going to head down there to lend a hand - it should be a nice meeeeellllllooooowwww pace. And much needed after yesterday's fast twitch motor pacing. Tim paid me a really nice compliment - saying my bike is dialed in. My hips don't sway at all - no rocking, nothing. Thanks to Reed at Speedy Reedy. I should send him over a thank you note...

Two weeks till nats.... I'm getting anxious and pumped!!!

Getting things done

So while I had some down time I was able to research a bomb proof rain jacket and some killer tyres and tubes.... found the best all weather gloves on the planet - all in preparation for the rainy months.

http://showerspass.com/cart/product_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=29&osCsid=1308dc4ca03e2c9fd52b9847b80d4786
http://orgear.com/home/style/home/handtools/gloves/descent/71506

I'll let you know how the jacket survives once it goes through a solid week of pouring rain. ;)

And I heard from a dear friend Laura Todd who lives in Bellingham. She forwarded a link to the Weepies who were recently highlighted on NPR. Deb Talan is a dear friend of Laura's - and everytime she's in town I try to go see them. It's good homegrown stuff - check it out if you like folky music. Comfort music for sure.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6041220

sore throat

Uh oh. I knew it was coming. I got home on Sunday, smooched my sweetie, only to find out on monday we swapped bad germs. And now I have an inflamed lymph node on my right side. I tried gargling, I tried icing it with ice cream - to no avail. I soothed my weary soul with chocolate. I woke up today barely able to swallow. Good thing I cut my ride short yesterday.

Now it's time to pound the fluids! This is the third time this year I've had some cold like symptoms come up. Hmmmmm.... Emily mentioned once that she was always sick when she was cycling all the time. I wonder if that's true - are you more suspectible to getting sick when you work out everyday? Is your immune system that exhausted? And it's a vicious cycle when you can't work out. All you addicts know what I'm talking about. Injuries and illness are on the same level - LAME!

Getting Closer....

Last night was good - real good. Both Ryan's brought out their motorcycles even though we ended up using Stan's from the shed. Miller lead the first two efforts - both ramping me up to 33 mph. My goal before nats is 35 with sprints. If I can do that then things will be looking good for the old juiceypoo.

The first effort was 49x14 and I felt a little spun out when we'd do our big efforts. Then I put on 49x13 and was able to spin like a mad woman. Unfortunately some random people entered the track on their normal bikes so we had to stop our workout to get them off - safety first. :) Then Mr. T got on the bike and ramped me up to 32-33mph. It feels good to go that fast - but I know I have to go just a little bit faster to get where I want to be. I think I remember Becky Quinn saying she paced at 40. Hmmm... something to think about long term wise. Give me another year - and I hope to be knocking on that door.

Pooped

Yesterday I had the urge to tackle my overgrown and neglected yard. Luckily it's the end of the summer and most everything is dead so I didn't have to worry about pruning things back that much. But I will say that my front hedge required a lot of work and filled 10 lawn trash bags full of ivy leaves. But it's done and I can neglect my front yard for an additional 6 months now. :)

Today we're headed out to the track for some motor pacing efforts. Should be fun. I'm still exhausted from this past weekend and then yesterday. But training for nats shouldn't be easy.

MS 150 Ride

Just got home and showered after a long and amazing day in the sun on my bike. Jill, Zana, Carol, Kristin, Paul and I all ventured the 75 mile day from La Conner up through Bow, around Chuckanut and back down the Skagit flats. It was great - the sun was shining, the rest stops great and the support was amazing. This is a ride I will do year after year after year.

So a recap of the highlights - 5 flats between Kristin, Jill and I. It rained for the first time in months and washed all the debri to the side of road - causing an unusually high amount of flats. Oh well. After the 4th flat we decided doing all 75 miles just wasn't in us so we did the shorter 50 mile version. ;)

The real reason we cut it short? Beer Garden. :) We hung out with some of the Harley guys and got to hear their take on MS and their commitment to involvement. The candle light vigil was filled with hope. Key note speaker was another amazing cyclist who was in the prime of his life and suddenly struck with MS. He's still pedaling and is slowly gaining his strength back and learning how to deal with MS. The biggest contributor is seeing how many people get involved with the MS ride year after year and give so whole heartedly to the community. Pretty touching if you ask me.

Pictures to be posted soon....

halloween

Anyone got any costume ideas? I have access to a sewing machine and am looking to create something fabulous....

Limp noddle

I feel like one - especially after this morning's 2.15 hour massage. Oh Genevieve - she rules. I feel like a million bucks. :)

motopacing

I must admit, I haven't been this tired or exhausted from a workout in a long time. Yesterday we headed to the track for some points race training behind Stan's motor. I decided to make the points race my primary focus at nationals - the ultimate of ultimate track races. So Miller had me put on a 47x14 for my first effort and we cruised for about 50 laps with some sprint intervals thrown in the mix. We'd count down every 5 laps and he would have me sprint around the motor simulating a sprint lap and then jump back on at 27-28mph. I really struggled with the last effort - but he also ramped the speed up to about 32 or so. It was all I could do to hang on. :)

After some rest and sitting for recovery, I put on a 49x14 and we did it again. This time a shorter effort - I had a hard time even getting my legs to spin around. But once the intial shock wore off - I was good to go and we hammered. It is amazing to me to think Hammer and the world class pursuitists can hold that same tempo without a motor and drill it for 3k. I think I'll try it once I fully build my aerobic engine. The second effort was much harder - we were cruising around 33-34mph. The motor is super fun - but exhausting. You don't realize it until you're done. I felt like puking afterward. I came home in a heap. Poor Ryan had to carry me to bed because I couldn't muster up enough energy to watch our movie. I love those kind of workouts - they tax you physically and reward you mentally. I'm excited to see what happens at nats.

5 years and counting...

Ryan and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this weekend. He came and cheered me on for the last Friday night racing and then we headed out Hwy. 20 for an epic road ride on Sunday. Saddly, Marymoor racing is done for the year. It was a great end of the season party - Dan Harm ran around the track NAKED. It was funny. There was free beer and we stayed till almost midnight. Fun times.

Our ride on Sunday was amazing. 42 miles each way - up to Washington Pass and back. Lots of climbing - I burned 2250 kcals on the way up and 725 on the way back to give you an idea of how strenuous it was. Ryan rocked it - that man can climb! We had a blast. Lots of laughs and good memories created - I'm so happy and in love with him. GUSH GUSH GUSH.

Oh and on a side note - Friday they posted a cancellation of the T-town races. Man am I glad I left early!!!

So the rain followed me - but not before I was able to get in 4 out of 5 pursuit efforts last night. I trained the first couple with Kele and then suddenly she lost all power, cracked and next thing I know I'm circling as hard as I can go and she's leaving with all of her stuff. You know it's funny - with pursuit work more than anything you have to be 100% because if you're not there mentally and putting in a solid effort then BAM! You crack and you crack hard. You're physically testing your body for 4 minutes straight - to see if you can sustain a super hard long endurance effort. It's only 4 minutes you say, but often the hardest 4 minutes of your life. I'm sure it doesn't equate to labor or getting a route canal without any drugs, but it sure tortures you while you do it. It makes me wonder what the amazing pursuitists - such as Hammer or Annette, think about to block out the pain when they do them. The moment you focus on the hurt, you start slowing down. You have to let your determination carry you through the entire 4 minutes - let the discipline it takes to be a good pursuitist shine through and prove you can ride your bike hard and fast all by your lonesome. Hmmm... something to think about. Sounds like I need to open up my sports physcology book again and do some mental training....

So I left....

I kept hearing the flash flood warnings and decided that I was lonely and ready to come home. I called United, rebooked my flight and I write this from my office. Am I disappointed? Only because I didn't get to race against some of the east coast's fastest female cyclists. But rain happens so oh well. Now there's a tropical storm hitting the east coast sending buckets upon buckets of water down onto the area.

Back to training....

Rain rain, go away!

Yesterday morning - rained out.

You know it's bad when every 5 minutes that National Weather Service interrupts a broadcast and flashes an emergency warning of flash flooding in the area. I am already looking into flights home. I'm thinking about adandoning ship and just heading home - cutting my losses so I can save some cash for a different trip. The forecast says it's supposed to be cloudy the rest of the week - and it's a tough call but I would hate to have flown all the way out here only to have about 1 hour of track time and no racing. As soon as it's a decent hour I'm going to call Ryan and let him know my plans. If I can get on a flight tomorrow for a reasonable price then I'm out.

Marc and I toured downtown Philly yesterday. He tried to take me to the infamous Philly Cheesesteak but the line was out and around the building so we opted for this gigantic piece of Italian pizza. They sure do know how to make pizza around here. We got to see the Liberty Bell - they make you go through a metal detector just to view it. Strange. And they have all these barracades around all of the buildings. Marc said it's been that way since 9/11. I can't believe it's been 5 years since then. Apparently some crazy dude recently streaked buck naked through the Liberty Bell exhibit and tried to ring it with a hammer. Hence the metal detectors and security.

It's humid here. We walked for hours yesterday around the city - from Marc's favorite bar to another. I definitely recommend bringing good walking shoes not flip flops if you come visit. Everything's flat so you can traverse things easily - but flip flops aren't so good. I am itching to get on my bike.

Speaking of wa wa's...

So I arrived late last night in Philly - after waiting for about 2 hours for my bags and bikes at the airport, shelped my stuff to the Hertz Rental counter, and was told there's not really anything to eat in the immediate area other than Wa Wa's. And speaking of Wa Wa's - this one just down the street through the turn pikes and other freeways and byways is a SUPER wa wa. They carry everything - from bandaids to whole wheat sandwhiches. Naturally, I was intrigued. But one swoop around the maze of roads surrounding the Philly airport resulted in me back tracking and going through arrivals. So I called it a night and headed Northeast to Trexlertown.

This morning we had Keirin heats - and it didn't go so well. For some reason I just have trouble with getting on the motor. Remember my last incident in Colorado? That little relegation for not taking the wheel fast enough? Well this time I pulled lucky no. 1 and had to take the motor. I was going to at all costs. Until this other woman beat me to it and soon I found myself on the aporn and DQ'd. I pleaded with them - but they weren't willing to reverse their decision. Oh well. I felt like an ass. But then comes the beauty of track racing - you get to try it again in 5 minutes! And try I did - we had a heat of 8, and of course I drew lucky no. 1 again. But this time I fully let someone else take the wheel. I sat in the back, jockeying for position, to take a huge flier around the side but to no avail. Oh well. The keirin, much to my competitive streak's unwillingness to give up side, is just not for me. Stick to what you're good at, right?

Well unfortunately that didn't pan out tonight. We were misted out. This weird rain ensued on the drome and all races were cancelled after several hours of waiting. We were post-poned till tomorrow morning but the forecast isn't looking so hot. Lame.

Good thing I have wonderful host housing and am going to visit Marc the shark tomorrow!

TTYL, Jen

Hello, hello. Bonjour, bonjour. Hola, hola. Konechewa, koneche-wa-wa

That song is stuck in my head.

I woke up at 3 this morning - thinking randomly about rollers. Why would I suddenly wake up, toss and turn for 1/2 hour - and think immediately about rollers? Strange.

I leave tomorrow morning for Philly. It should be fun. I'm a little nervous about filling my free time, but I'm sure I'll figure out something to do. Maybe I'll check out the art or local history.

One thing's for sure - I'll miss my bubba. We celebrate our 5 year anniversary the day I get home.

My itchy dog

Tufts of hair scamper across the living and dining room each time you walk through. As quickly as I vacuum them up - they return with the ting ting ting ting of Makiah itching her ear due to seasonal allergies. Poor d.o.g. Yet she continues to scratch - trying to shed her super long fur in one last attempt to cool down for the summer. I did douse her for fleas - but to no avail. She truly has allergies.

This week is a rest week. It's been nice but I find myself bored silly with finding things to do to fill my time. I actually got desparate enough yesterday to clean my kitchen floors! I know it's disgusting that I don't clean them as much as I should. I mean honestly, two times a year is not enough. But who has time to do such lame chores? At least I scrub the bathroom on a regular basis. That would get really gross if I didn't.

Ryan and I have been making winter plans to do some dry wall and finish off our basement. We actually shook hands on it. (Meaning, right now we have every intention of doing what we said, vs. the last two winters where we only talked about finishing it. ;)) We have all this space downstairs and all we have to do is hang a little more dry wall, mud, tape and paint. It's ridiculous how we procrastinate. I swear if I win the lottery or something I would hire someone to do the projects we just can't get to. Then I'd really be bored!

That picture is from Makiah at her "spot" she digs everytime she accompanies Ryan to Little Si. She digs herself a comfortable hole and then lays down in the dirt. We caught her with a muzzle full of dirt - look at her expression. Like, don't mess with me jerks.

speaking of Jerks - Miller called Dan and I jerks yesterday after we lodged him in a port-a-potty out at the track. He didn't like that - we thought we were being hilarious. Whoops. Sorry there coach! At least we didn't tip it over. :)

A new PR

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn for a Sunday morning 10 mile TT. My good pal Jill joined me on the trek down to Green Valley. They hold this TT several times throughout the season - and it's a nice indicator of your times and strengths from one part of season to the other. I managed to still knock of more time - a total of 1:07 actually. Not too shabby. And only 15 secs off of Gina! I'll get her, I swear! Maybe if I got an aero helmet....

It's funny - I averaged the same time for a 3k pursuit as I did for a 10 mile. That's not good. Obviously I can go faster for the pursuit. All right Juice, you now have some thing to seriously focus on. Bring it.

last mva night for juicy poo

Last night was my last Friday night. Our Cat 3 men's field was stronger and faster than usual - and on a snowball race we averaged 28.5mph. Pretty stinkin' fast. Then we had a progressive points race and I was able to hang - but ended up not getting any points. I tried my heart out in the final sprint, but had poor position to come around all of the guys to truly open up my sprint. Oh well.

And - I was the ONLY woman out there. What happened to the ladies? Where did they all go? I wish we still had a women's field. Just so I would have some estrogen in the mix. But I guess it's time to get used to that.

Mmmm coffee. We were up late last night at Rock Bottom with Ben and crew. It was fun.

fantastic friday

Last night Ryan and I went on a date. We went to see Double Take, an art exhibit showing at the EMP. There were pairings of paintings from Paul Allen's personal collection - from Monet to Lichtenstein. As the curator repeated over and over again, it was fantAAAstic! Definitely worthwhile and cool to check out. I think the show's running thorugh September.

Afterward we were headed to Bizzarro's for some yummy Italian food but they were closed for a private function. Too bad - they changed their menu recently and Ryan has been dying to get in there and check it out. Luckily the Latona pub has excellent food and tastey beers on tap... a good standby when you're starvin' marvin'.

Earlier in the day I met up with my friend Nina for a short hour spin. It was good to be on the bike with her - and she reminded me just how crazy things got before I desided to start racing. In one summer I did STP (210 miles), RSVP (185 miles) and RAPSODY (145 miles). Holy moly. That's a lot of mileage - especially condensed in one day! How did I manage that one? I'd die if I had to do that now. :)

Actually, I really enjoy the long rides for the sheer fact that it feels so good to be off the bike and rehydrating/fueling. It makes those 100 mile road races a piece of cake!

Some not so random thoughts....

Last night I had a 3/4 mental break down. I'm not sure how it snuck up on me - but suddenly I found myself slightly paniced and wondering if all the intensity I've been doing is really going to benefit me. I was tired and fatigued and found myself in a conversation that created doubt in my training and ability. After finishing a 5x5 points race with the Master's men field I started getting really harsh on myself. When you've been working so hard toward something and believe in what you do - well let's just say it was a slap in the face. A reality check of sorts. Tears welled up, emotions ran wild.... I almost broke down. Thank goodness Ryan was there to encourage me - he dusted me off, picked me up and reminded me again that it's the long term goals that I'm after. Pain and suffering is part of the process.

"Why do you ride your bike?"
"Because I love to."

And that's all that matters.

Fam-damily

My little sister took an amazing photo of the whole family while we were down in Oregon. My brother had to toss Coleman up in the air to try and get him to calm down and smile for the camera. After about 20 tries we finally got it!

And no, I am not wearing flip-flops. :)

Workout Windup

This is my heavy week for training - a good track push before I settle down, get some recovery time in and then attempt to kick some serious bootie at nats. For all of you trackies -here's a break down...

Monday - road threshold day. 6x6 min with 1:1 recovery.
Tuesday - Fast Track - 3x3k fly, 3x2k fly, 3x500m SS, all undergeared. OUCH!
Wednesday - AM Road Threshold work 3x10 min OG Z3/4, PM - Race
Thursday EZ
Friday - Race with the 1/2's
Sat - 3 hr road ride

Last week by the time Friday rolled around I was pretty worked from all of my pursuit training. Hopefully this week my body is adapting to the increased load and I will be able to work on sustaining an even harder work load. I've been eatting well - mmmmm heirloom tomatoes! and trying to load on the carbs before a big effort.

It's cloudy today - I wonder what's up with the weather.

mellow monday

Do you ever have the feeling that if your life wasn't full of events or things to look forward to during the week you might go stir crazy? I am driven by goals - small and large. I have to be constantly working toward something or I will find something to occupy my time. Fortunately I set my professional life up to a point that it requires minimal thought, energy or stress - and am just reaping the benefits. I mean really, who wouldn't enjoy 20 hour work weeks where your commute is 1 mile away, the environment is super supportive and everyone there enjoys what they're doing? It's a dream job. So waking up Monday morning feels just as good as waking up on a Friday. And what used to be a ridiculously long work week has now shrunk to nothing. I know, it's disgusting.

Ryan's in Durango right now working with some fellas to get a top secret program up and running. Sounds like he made some great progress with them as well as experienced their local mountain biking scene. He called and told me he was single tracking it with Walker Thompson, this local bad ass, and he took a corner too hot, lost control and bashed into a boulder injuring his hip. Poor guy! What's he trying to do riding a bike? Just teasing. :)


Sunday I hung out with my mother in law Trish and we went to the Asian Art Museum to see Night Sounds: Nocturnal Visions of Mark Tobey and Morris Graves. It was amazing. One of them lived near La Conner in the 40's in this handbuilt house on top of a bluff where the only access was to climb up the bluff into the house. He was isolated from people, industrial sounds - and surrounded by the ocean, animals such as owls, fish, etc and painted some amazing pieces of a northwest winter. This one painting really struck me - he captured the turbulant black water that is constantly moving, only highlighted when it peaks and catches the moon and disappears back into the black abyss. Art is so amazing when seen in person.

And yes, for the record - I did do some yard work yesterday. This morning I'm headed to the dump to heave our mammoth lame counter top Ryan disassembled. Fun times. :)

Quiet time...

My mother in law just left - and it feels really strange to have the whole house to myself. It's rather quiet and boring if you ask me. I'd much rather have company all day and avoid the nagging chores I've been ignoring all month. But I suppose I better snap to and get something done... having quiet days like this only come around once in a blue moon.

I got the call, again.

As if the first time wasn't bad enough. Last November I was about 10 minutes into my workout at the gym when Nina's phone started ringing. It was Ryan - frantic because he was stranded on the side of the freeway near Lynnwood. He had run out of gas. He even admitted thinking that he had to get gas, passed about 20 stations on his way to the freeway and just spaced it. So I rescued him - releaved he was ok but a little upset that he doesn't pay attention to such critical details.

And then last night after track, while preparing a fabulous feast of chicken indian food - I got the call.

"The van just died. I don't know what's wrong."

"What do you want me to do about it? If you're stranded call 911 to let them know you're there."

"No, I'm going to see if I can get Maggie (the van) going again - it was wierd, she just powered down all of a sudden. No warning - nothing."

He hangs up. I continue cooking - things are smelling really tastey in the kitchen. My mouth starts watering. Two minutes later the phone rings.

"I'm out of gas."

NOT AGAIN!!!!

Luckily this time he was on I-5 right at where the 520 exit merges off of the 5. I looked in the garage - and voila! A full gas can ready for rescue.

A quick cruise to the freeway - and there was poor little Maggie - deader than a doornail in the split between the two roadways. I was a little pissed at first - next time - well, there's not going to be a next time. What's up Mr. Triplett?

We got home and had our great dinner around 11pm and I got to tell him stories about my race night. He told me he had climbed 4 pitches of 13c. We went to bed and dreamt of sugarplums. ;)

Rain

It started misting this morning. That just means I have to wait another 1/2 hour for the roads to get washed down of all the slick debri built up before going out there and grinding my 10x10s standing starts. Fun times! Actually it hasn't rained in Seattle in over a month - so the yard will be happy for sure.

Last night was my first solid pursuit effort in prep for nats. I had 6x 3k overgeared flying efforts and they were hard. As the night wore on, my times were getting slower and slower but that's when it counts, so I kept on. I actually feel good this morning - but we'll see how the legs respond once I get on my road bike. :)

Later, jen

Shots by Deb...

Marcy got a new job - as a high school photographer. She had to set up shop to practice and make sure everything works. So I had her take a pic of Makiah and I. Check out the cheesy background.

Oh - and Amara took this saweet shot at the FSA challenge. It was taken during the 200m TT - getting my best time yet, 4/10ths of a second then my previous PR's at marymoor.

"Don't let Mindy or Jen catch us!"

I will definitely take that as a compliment. Someone said that's what Gina told the small break away from today's Gig Harbor Road Race. Is little ol' me really a big ol' threat? It made me chuckle. :)

So the race was only 35 miles - on rolling terrain with one 1/4 mile steep rise at a 7% or so pitch. Then once you summit you continue on a false falt that puts you right into a head wind. It was a great course - and it was nice to see how far my climbing skills have come. I just wish I would have some sort of power data from the race - cuz I know them watts where flowin'!

We basically got a break of 8 right from the first lap up the hill and then held on from there. It widdled down to 4 - Dana, Beth, Gina and Suz on the final climb and Mindy, Trisha, Shannon and I were trying to chase them down. Unfortunately my track legs were slightly taxed from last night and I couldn't pull an ounce harder than I had before. Oh well. The finish was good - a sprint between me and Trisha. All in all - a great day of racing. I really thinking my training has come a long way - not only physically but mentally.

Oh - and last night I raced with the Cat 3 men and got two 3rd places - one in a 25 lap scratch race and another in the 10 lap tempo. Saweet! And I used a much bigger gear last night - 51x15 and it felt good. I think it's safe to say I finally graduated to a bigger gear!

Ok... enough rambling... time to shower my stinky butt.

It's Friday, already?

Today is the first day where I had some extra time to kill after work. I'm amazed at how quickly the week flew by - and am glad the weekend is here! The fam damily is headed down to Seaside on Sunday for a week and I get to join them for a couple of days. Should be a ball.

I just bought tix today for T-town. So I'll be able to confirm or deny the rumors about it... I also heard Tamarack might be able to find some additional funding for the trip. Saweet. :) I know I've said it before, and I'm definitely going to say it again and again, but it's great having that kind of support.

mmmmmm pasta ... carb loading for tomorrow.

Later!

hump of the week

This is a pic of Tyson on Chronic.. Ryan didn't have any of himself on it. But it will give you the general idea.....

The weekend threw me off a bit - I kept thinking today was Thursday. Racing on Friday and Saturday instead of the typical weekend days confused me. :) (HAHAHAHA~!!! I just read my last blog entry - proof I was confused about what day it was!)

Last night was fast track. I did some 600m efforts with Annette in the pursuit position. Which brings up two things - my seat squeeks like crazy when ever I sit on it... and second - my starts are lame because my bars are too high. Time to get those fixed today. But on to better and much more important news.....

Headed out to North Bend tonight to watch Ryan do some climbing at his home crag little Si. The hike to the wall is about 20 minutes - through a really cool forest. Our dog Makiah knows it so well she herds us all the way up. It's definitely her crag too. We went up on Sunday and stashed some beers in the river - a well deserved and tastey beverage on the way back to the car.

Ryan nearly sent this hard 85 foot overhanging route. He one hung it from the top - almost completing a redpoint. Then he climbed 5 other pitches of equally hard routes and could barely wake up on Monday morning. Then last night I called him on the way home from the track and he redpointed Chronic - a 13b. Bad ass!!!

Tonight is his 4th day on and I'm going to bike out there to join him and watch. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pics...

Where did the week go?

Suddenly it's Wednesday and I am trying to remember all that happened in the past few days. First - my sister took some awesome photos from the sprint session. My favorite of which:

http://www.marcysutton.com/stuff/jenn/072806_037.jpg

I'm excited about what lays ahead for nationals.

Ryan and I went for a ride out to Mercer yesterday and did some tempo work. My goal was 1:1 15 min threshold tempos - and easily tackled that goal. Ryan sat on my wheel while I grinded out the power. It felt really good - I haven't worked my aerobic base in a while.

Well back to work...

Qualified!

So after watching track on Wednesday night, I had a really hard time sleeping. I kept thinking about this weekend and the stakes at hand - worried about making the national qualifier because on Thursday we bought our tickets. I visualized the points race- covering the attacks by Murdin and Annette - making sure they didn't get a gap or a lead... building my confidence up in my head and repeating positive thoughts to myself.

The challenge started with the Pursuit on Friday morning - something I have never done nor trained for. My intention was to podium so the pressure would be off for qualifying. Well Jen, expecting to place top 3 just doesn't cut it when you've never done the event, let alone practiced a lot in that position. So I was a little bummed with a time of 4.18 - but hey, you have to start somewhere, right? Then Amara, Kele, Annette and I did the team pursuit - and let me tell you how much FUN that event is. We actually executed it as if we practiced it a lot. We placed 4th out of 5 teams. It was great!

Break for evening session... headed to Miller's parents house where they cooked us some treats and made espresso. Well whatever was in the espresso proved essential in the points race. I opted not to do the Keirin because I wanted to make sure I qualified for nats in the points race. Wise move. I had enough gas in the tank to win 2 sprints and a single point in the race. Unfortunately I missed the first sprint round and PANICED! I knew I had to kick it up a notch and race my race - not let those ladies get away with my points. I ended up winning the next sprint lap, then got one point in the 3rd sprint and took a flier around everyone to clinch a 2nd place to Jennie Reed. YES!!! Podium hair! I can't tell you how excited I am! Ryan got to see it - so did my mom and Marcy. It was incredible! Thank you all!

I LOVE track

I wonder how many times I have posted that as my blog title. It's definitely more than once. But in all reality - I really really do LOVE track. It is one of the funnest sports to compete in and watch. My friend Jill and I went tonight to watch Wed. night racing and there's such a good energy there and people are so friendly. I really think I might have some serious clients for the skirts too. Fun times.

The FSA GP is this weekend - hopefully we have a full field of 8+ women... otherwise they will nix our mass start races. I think we will have enough though. Should be fun! Feel free to come watch - racing starts at 7... there's a beer garden too!

The Morning After

Fired up from the night before, I had a really hard time catching some zzzz's Saturday night. The following morning we had a super early crit - and because the local promotors put it on - it was important to Tamarack to support the race. We rolled in at 8:40 - the race started 5 minutes later - only to be delayed while they towed several cars that were parked on the street. With 7 teammates and only 24 racers total - we were able to work on leadouts, team tactics, attacks and solo ventures. I paired up with little Brooke (not to be confused with the other Brooke who leads the team - they call her Mama Brooke). We were designated to go for the second prime together. I kept near the front for most of the race - just waiting for my chance. But unfortunately when the prime bell rang Brooke was near the back of the group and we weren't able to execute out plan. No worries though because Tamarack flooded the field and was able to win it.

At one point M. Brooke asked if I felt ok and told me to attack HARD off the front of the group. I nailed it - no one responded and soloed for 3-4 laps. Ok - note to self: don't hit it so hard you can't recover but learn how hard you need to nail, be able to recover and pursuit it in for the win. Timing is everything. But I gave my first really hard attack a go - and it felt good - real good to do that.

I was taxed for the finishing sprint - and when the leadout train started was unable to pull it together. I still managed 7th - but was pooped from my solo attack. Fitness will only cure that! All in all a great weekend. It definitely built my confidence and I'm really looking forward to staying home this weekend! I've been gone every weekend since the tail end of June!

The Twilight

As predicted, Lipton had attacked about three times before they had Kristin attack and sail off the front for a time trial effort for the win. Lipton did a really good job of slowing the pace through the corners and unfortunately we didn't organize a paceline soon enough to reel her back in. The rest ensued in a series of counter attacks and fast paced action around and around downtown Boise. I was feeling good - really good - in comparison to last weekend. Resting and nursing the cold was exactly what the doctor ordered for a good performance.

Since Kristin was off the front she was unfortunately given prime after prime making the rest of us fight tooth and nail for $25 here and there. And since I was feeling so good I decided to go for it and nailed a prime. It was close though and I had to give it some serious gas - I actually think I got to open my sprint up full throttle and see how it compared to the full time pro cyclists. All I can say is that things are coming along and the planets are aligning again. :)

To get over the hurrdle of moving in the pack I mentally rehersed the situation over and over for several hours prior to the event. Constant positive affirmations were key to gaining confidence... and it showed! As a group we rode really strong together and Brooke was able to pull 3rd in the field sprint, Jen 5th, I was 13th, Carrie 15th, Mary and Jana and little Brooke following (sorry, I can't remeber where you ladies placed!). We were all stoked about how hard we worked as a team and with a little practice we should be able to put the odds more in our favor.

I was barely able to sleep that night - replaying the whole crit in my head looking for ways I could improve and reliving my glory-hardest-$25-prime-EVER... seeing us form a paceline that would have caught Kristin.... The sheep counting trick took awhile to work.. plus the fact we had the Morning After Crit at 8:45am in less than 7 hours....

Boilin' Boise

Temps are well over 100 here in Boise... and tonight is the 20th Anniversary Twilight Crit. We should have a small but stout field - locals Kristin Armstrong brought a couple of her Lipton teammates and are sure to keep things fast and interesting. Tamarack has seven racers - so we have a top heavy team. I'm looking forward to seeing how well my body has recovered from having a cold this week. It's hard to figure out the best way to tackle the heat - do you warm up inside? Do you warm up at all? Do you even worry about doing any laps on the course prior to the start? Hmmmm... one thing is for sure - that beer, I mean recovery drink, is going to be TASTEY!!!

Watching the Tour

Last night we headed down to Magnuson park to watch a big screening of the Queen of all stages. I sat there mezmorized as Rasmusson tapped out a tempo no one could rival. He gets into the zone and just tap tap taps. His upper body remains calm, his lower body working like a well oiled machine.

And poor Flyandis. He cracked hard. He only had 10k to go - and as expected, the attacks started coming. His teammates were well behind him at that point and he didn't have anyone to shepard him. The final climb is a doozy - and it broke many a man. Unfortunately it also broke the mallot juane. So many times I have been there myself - cracking under the pressure... unable to continue on at that tempo. Is it a mental thing? Look at how many other guys were ok with continuing on at that pace, surprized when they realized they were passing poor Floyd. It's almost as though you have to hypnotize yourself while in the pain cave and just plow right through it - ignoring all feeling and shutting down your brain from any self doubt. I definitely think it's a mental thing... now if I can just unlock that pain cave and battle through it...

Still fighting this persistant cough. I rode yesterday and made the mistake of getting my heart rate up. It hurt. I guess I'll just have to save that for the weekend....

Suspicions confirmed....

Yes, I have a cold. Dang. Getting sick is almost as bad as an injury as an athlete. I've been pumping the fluids and cold meds for two days now and am starting to feel better. And it's always a catch 22 whether training when feeling under the weather is helping or making it worse. So I've been staying off my bike. And I'm going to miss the Gastown crit. Oh well.

Pole con mole

So some people have a hard time spelling things - but I have a hard time pronouncing them. Tonight at dinner I ordered pole on mole - (pollo con mole). Whopps - I butchered that one!

This morning I woke up with a slight hack - Jana and I went for a nice morning ride and then I came back, showered and felt like poo. I decided to give the race a go - mainly because the course was so much fun and I came here to race. And I was doing my goals - positive self talk during the race, moving forward constantly and not being the last person in the race. And then boom - I hit a wall and started feeling terrible. Once the pack caught me, I had an asthma attack and had to pull over before passing out. Darn - two races in a row where I have terrible performance due to things outside my control. I had taken a couple of hits from my inhaler prior to the race and unfortunately that didn't have any effect. I still feel a little wheezy hours after ward - and think I may be fighting something. Tomorrow will tell.

After thoughts

So after today's less than stellar performance... I've had some time to reflect and think about how I can turn it around and look at the positive side of things. And - I learned that I am strong enough to be in the crit and am more comfortable cornering with the pack around. In the first few laps of crit I felt great - and then I stopped fighting for positioning. So tomorrow I'm going to fight - if but one person at a time and work my way up to the front. A new day - a fresh start!

Day Poo - I mean two....

Woke up as usual in the middle of the night with a hungry stomach. Luckily I didn't lay there as long as usual before heading to the kitchen to eat some left over pizza. I fell back asleep pretty easily and next thing I knew it was time to get up and start putting some breakfast down for today's crit.

During the warmup my legs were feeling a little heavy and I felt slightly hungry - psyching myself out a little bit. The race started and I had a hard time moving up in the field. The course had a slight hill on it and the field started falling apart right away. I managed to get stuck behind a couple of slow riders and next thing I knew I had no gas left in my legs to make the bridge. Two ladies caught up to me and we worked together for awile until we were lapped. I jumped on the back of the group and tried desparately to hang on and move up in the group - only to be shot out the back with 24 laps left to go. I figured I might as well call an ace an ace and pulled myself because I wasn't only destroying my legs, but also killing my confidence. I pulled over frustrated and disappointed. A quick call to Bubba and he cheered my spirits - as he always does.

Jana and Mary did really well. Jana pulled 18th and Mary was 24th. They both fought hard to stay where they could and Jana even pulled a prime. So what happened to old Juicey Poo? Is the fatigue of racing and traveling starting to take its toll? Time to dust myself off and pick myself up and go out tomorrow and do it again!

Day One - Shorewood

Today was hard. 60k in humid heat with a strong international field. It was a pretty straight forward course - basically 4 corners with one little S curve in it. And they were yelling out primes constantly which kept the pace blistery fast. My seat might be a tad low - so I should fix that up tomorrow. I'll tell you what though - hesitating at all will prevent you from moving up and staying up. Women were braking a lot in the corners - which prevented smooth transitions. I went for one prime - but lost it by a world champ sprinter. Tomorrow is a new day though and with that experience under my belt I'm ready to take them on tomorrow.

Milwaukee

From the airplane I was struck by how green this area is. It makes sense though - it's America's Dairyland and that doesn't happen from land that's not rich. It took about 10 hours of travel time to get here - and our host housing rules. I slept like a bear in hibernation - over 12 hours. Apparently I needed it. We race later this evening - 60k!

Yesterday's Monday Madness

Ryan and I headed out on an early evening ride yesterday - an easy jaunt down to Seward park and back. We came across several people who obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed. First it was this guy driving an I-Rock in our neighborhood who thought he had the right of way taking a left and yelled, "what'd you say punk?" Big man, let me tell you! We laughed and continued on.

Then we passed this commuter who I had told "on your left." Well apparently he didn't hear me and yelled, "DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?????" Yes, dildo I said on your left and you just got passed by a GIRL! Too bad I wasn't on my pink bike.

Then we were cruising through arb - where I always have some kind of interaction with beast, car or rider. But nothing happened. That is until we pulled up to the light at the U and two Broadmark riders were chased down by an angry bike commuter who yelled at them for passing him in the arb. Agh - what was up with people yesterday? Seriously - it's not like summer suddenly gives these people the right to take it out on cyclists. Does my jersey scream "lay your emotional baggage on me?"

What a weekend!

So the competition at the AVC was a lot more stacked in comparison to IDGP. In most of the mass start events over 12 women showed up and about 5 or so women were there to race. Dominating the field of course was Becky Quinn. She won every race with the exception of the 5 mile - it was agreed before the race to let Kele solo off the front and win it. Annette was there to race, as was Kele, Auna-Brit and Heather too. Heather did much better at her home track and after a little thought - we think she was feeling the pressure of having the national coaches and pro teams at the IDGP. She had several podium finishes and it was great to see her do so well.

I ran too small a gear for the final Keirin heat - I should have geared up an inch or so. I ran a 50x15 and should have been in 51x15. Oh well. Lesson learned.

And I'm done with Miss N' Outs. I didn't even get my heart rate up. Oh well.

The points race was great! I was definitely collecting a lot of points - up 14 when suddenly I pulled up track and moved in behind Noreen. Then she let a gap open up and I had to close it to the main group. Then the group took off again for a sprint and I couldn't hang from exhaustion of the early points. Unfortunately the group ended up lapping me and I slowly clawed my way back up to 0 points. 75 laps with sprints every 5 laps - we averaged over 28 mph. I ran a smaller gear - 49x15 and the legs felt better... but I'm thinking I may have been better off with a larger gear. Oh well - I managed 5th.

On the last day we had our 5 mile scratch race. It went well - I was definintely in control of the race. Although at one point I was in the sprinters lane, following Becky Quinn and Annette. Annette didn't look down track when she followed Becky and Mary was trying to sneak in between us. Unfortunately that caused a crash and Mary went down, grazing me and lucky I just kept pedaling and snuck through the crash. At that point we had maybe 10 laps to go. The wind up slowed down as we stayed up track and continued racing. Then the final sprint came and I got behind a slow poke and had to come the long way around for 5th. Annette was relegated for failure to hold a straight line, which put me into 4th place. All in all it was a good race - despite the crash and near wipe out. I'm stoked that I'm learning from my experiences and putting my knowledge to the test. It's so enriching to have such good competition - and I'm stoked that I'm getting hungrier for a win - I can sense it coming together. This level of competition just shows that you have to be on your toes at all times and take advantage of every situation. If you give these women an inch they'll take a foot. I ran a 50x15 for this race and the gear felt perfect.

Now two days at home and then I'm off to Wisconsin!