Ted & his new buddy.

Pazza and me.

Best buddies, Pazza and Shamus.

2nd half of Redlands

This is my new TT helmet, as modeled by Dad.

Home from Redlands now and missing the warm, sunny weather we were treated to. The rest of the race continued in pretty much the same fashion as the first part, with me really not feeling so great. I developed terrible stomach cramps, which are still bugging me, along with the regular cold symptoms. Not sure exactly what I picked up because I still have an appetite, but just don't feel "right."

In a surprising turn of events, our landlords have given approval for adoption of the smaller hound. He's in foster care now and I am awaiting a behavior report to make sure I would want him, but if all goes well, I could have a dog soon. I am very worried about our little kitties, as I don't want them to change at all, nor do I want them to be overly stressed. I've emailed everyone I know who would have an idea of how this would/could affect them, and everyone seems to think it should be okay, including my family's long-term vet. We'll see. I have a feeling Pazza won't like sharing her "mom" with a brother.

Ted and I are going to visit Rusty at the end of the month. We bought a ticket for Ted and I'll use the family benefit of flying free via standby. It should be fun to go to Memphis, as neither of us have been there before, and I think Rusty will have a lot to show us.

Redlands so far

This is one of the hounds Ted and I saved. Isn't he cute? I desperately want to take him home with me.

I'm in Redlands, California now, and it's been quite a whirlwind of a trip. Our team is pretty happy just to be here after a wave of questions over whether we would be allowed to start the race. We originally had five of us heading down here, which is the minimum number needed to start, but one of our girls has a nasty hamstring injury and was hoping to cancel her trip. She searched and searched, and eventually found a girl from California who agreed to ride in her place on our team, so we thought all was set.

Monday night, around 10 pm, the California girl decided to bail on us, so we were down to four riders. We all emailed and called, desperately trying to find a replacement, but no luck. I was supposed to be heading to Spokane on Tuesday afternoon for an early Wednesday flight, but I cancelled those plans and waited. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, the promoter agreed to allow us to start with four, so we were good to go.

Yesterday's stage was brutal for me. It's been a while since I last blew up that badly. I was feeling good and climbing well up the first major climb, but then I blew sky high and all of the women I had dropped began passing me back. I guess it didn't help that I rode the last 15 miles solo in pretty windy conditions. I just got slower and slower as the race went on and finished way, way down. Yikes!

I woke up this morning with a sore throat, congestion, headache, and a cough. I'm not exactly sure what to do about this afternoon's crit. Part of me feels like I should just start it since I am here, but the other part just doesn't feel so great. Hmmmm... not sure.

The happenings

Where to begin? Ted's grandmother died, so he spent the last week in Chicago and Wisconsin; he's very happy to be back in nicer weather. While he was gone, I did my first mountain bike race, which was actually pretty fun. I raced in the sport category, which is one step up from beginner, and I've been getting some flack for racing there; some people say I should have done the pro/open category! These people obviously have never seen me ride off-road. I've ridden a mountain bike about 5 times ever and I still can't get used to the concept that I can actually ride over rocks and roots. Put me on a rocky descent and I'll most likely walk down parts of it. The climbing portion of the race was the only part where I actually did okay and passed some people - they would pass me back a few minutes later on the descent.

Rusty and I planned last week to surprise Mom and Dad with a visit from him. I picked him up at the Lewiston airport on Monday and we showed up at the front door, completely unexpected. Since Ted was out of town, I stayed down in Lewiston for a few days. We didn't do anything in particular. One day it was 65 and sunny!

We planned to leave yesterday to race in the Seattle area this weekend, but bailed at the last second (the car was packed and everything). I have a touch of a cold (thanks Rusty), so I wasn't super enthusiastic about racing, and Ted wasn't excited to travel after all the time he spent on planes and in cars during the past week. So, Ted's out riding now and I'm just taking it easy at home. I really don't want to get sick before Redlands, so I'm trying to keep this thing from progressing.

The hounds we rescued are still at the Humane Society. They're going up for adoption on Monday. They look so much better. I still would love to adopt them both, but I don't think it's going to happen. It's really tough to find a decent apartment in Pullman that will allow both dogs and cats.

That's the update for now. I have a nasty headache, so I think I'm going to lie down for a bit.

stuff

Last weekend's races definitely got some hard efforts into our legs. The roubaix was incredibly muddy and rocky, and we were both very sore for a couple days after. The time trial was okay for the first one of the year. I may be doing my first mountain bike race this weekend, which should be amusing for anyone who watches. Ted's grandmother is sick, so he may be heading back to the midwest in the next few days.

I am judging an Iron Chef competition tomorrow night at WSU, which should be fun. It should be some good food and some good entertainment. That's about all for now!