You think your winter is bad?

They predicted a big storm would hit Pullman today. We awoke to a TON of snow on the ground this morning. We have more than a foot and a half on the ground and it is still snowing. Hitcher was able to escape from the yard for the first time today because there is so much snow along our fenceline that he was able to easily bound out; Ted has spent the morning shoveling a line along the fence, with hopes that the hound will stay in the yard. WSU is closed for a snow day today... for the first time since 1985! It will be very interesting to go to the Cal/WSU game tonight (they say it's still on schedule) because I imagine the crowd will be much smaller.

Just as I finished typing that last sentence, I looked out the window to see Hitcher jumping over the corner of the fence. Thankfully, he just ran across the street to the park where his girlfriend from across the street was playing with her owner. Now I just really hope that this behavior does not continue. If it weren't for all this snow, he would not have figured out he could escape.

Snow Ride

Rather than riding on our trainers today, we decided to brave the cold and snow on our mountain bikes. We got more snow last night and today, giving us a thick coating all around, and an even larger storm is coming Thursday. When we began our ride, the snow had ceased falling and parts of the sky were a bit blue. The roads were slushy with snow, but overall not too bad since the temperature was above freezing when we left the house. We were riding during the sunset, and with the drifting snow, it was really pretty; I'd still trade it in an instant for warm sunshine, though!

We turned around after about 40 minutes of riding, with a headwind in our faces and falling temperatures. Sure enough, the roads began to grow icy, and I suddenly found my front wheel yanked from underneath me. Down I went. I've got some bruises, but nothing too bad at all. Not more than a couple minutes later, Ted suffered the same fate, tumbling and rolling across the ice. Thankfully, he didn't fare any worse than I did.

Although we both crashed, I think we're both glad we got out. It was just nice to do something outdoors, rather than sitting on our trainers in front of the TV. Winter, winter, winter!

Another good weekend ride

Busted!


I made these cinnamon raisin bagels last week.


I bought a couple of these marzipan penguins from Huckleberries in Spokane a couple weeks ago. Marzipan is just one of the best things ever.


Hitcher and Shamus are getting along better and better all the time. This was the first time they had ever curled up together.

My car is finally home, after about 7 weeks in the body shop. Ted and I drove to Spokane Wednesday to pick it up, trading in the loaner for the RAV 4. Everyone told me my car would look brand new, but it's really amazing when you see it in person after seeing what it looked like after the deer. You would never know anything happened to it. It seems to drive fine, which is all that really matters.

We got another long ride in yesterday, doing the same route Ted and I did last Saturday. This time, however, we had seven starters, with five of us doing the whole ride. And, we rode all the way to the top of the Lewiston Grade, our final grade, giving us six more miles and 1200 more feet of climbing over last week. The grand total was over 8800 feet of climbing over 77 miles. We were all pretty blown by the end of it, but it was a really good group ride... one of the best group rides I've been on in a while. There were no hammerheads or super slowpokes, making for a nice, evenly-paced ride. With three grades and two other significant climbs, people had plenty of opportunities to go faster or harder if they felt so inclined.

Yet again, we have more snow today in Pullman. It's been snowing since early this morning. Enough is enough! Where is Spring?

Long Ride

We may still be unable to ride here in Pullman, but at least we have the Lewiston/Clarkston valley nearby. It really is amazing to see the climate differences between here and there, even though there are only 35 miles in between. We headed down to ride this morning, inviting others to join, but having no takers. I guess no one was "up to" our planned ride.

We managed to get five hours of riding, 70 miles, and almost 7600 feet of climbing... and we stayed dry! The forecast called for rain or snow, but the skies were kind and held off until 5 minutes after we returned to the car. Thank goodness we opted to only go halfway up the Lewiston Grade or we would have been very cold and wet. It never went above 39.

We rewarded ourselves by sharing a Fazzari's Shotsy pizza with my parents (excellent pizza!), and now get to take tomorrow off. It was so fun to get outside to ride today, but I am tired from my first long ride of 2008.

Cycling Art

Ted gave this commemorative poster to me for my birthday. It is really cool visually, but it also has a neat story behind it. The artist, Hannah Kirshner, also happens to be a cyclocross racer, and I have raced against her a few times. Ted and I briefly chatted with her at one Seattle race several months ago.

Around my birthday a couple months ago, Ted saw an article online, advertising Hannah's posters. She was making and selling the posters to help fund her own trip to cyclocross nationals in Kansas. Ted thought they were really cool, and also wanted to help her make it to nationals, so he bought a poster for my birthday, and had it neatly matted and framed. The mat color is a perfect match for the red in the print. So, we now have this cool print hanging on our wall, and it commemorates our trip to Kansas.

to Chicago

Ted and I ended up spending our weekend in Chicago after his grandfather died last week. I just returned home this afternoon, and Ted will be home late tonight. We were only there for a couple days, but we did manage to pack a lot in.

My car is still at the body shop in Spokane. Originally, it was scheduled to be done December 21st. With my weekly calls to check on the progression, the date has been pushed back time and again. I called last week and was told the car would be done for me to pick it up on Friday, so Ted and I were going to head up to get it. Sure enough, I got a call Friday morning saying one more part is needed, and the part is nowhere to be found in the U.S. The guy "hopes" the part will be in Spokane by tomorrow. For some reason, I'm not getting my hopes up!

I took the body shop up on their offer of a loaner car since they have had mine for 7 weeks now, so I took a taxi to the shop today from the Spokane airport. I had called from Minneapolis to remind them I was coming and they said the car would be ready to go. Of course, when I got there, the car was not ready to go and no one could find the keys. I waited for 20 minutes before they managed to find the key, but at least I have the car. It's a sweet Chevy Lumina.

The pets are definitely glad to be home. I arrived home to find the rugs askew and overturned, the toilet paper and paper towels shredded to bits (hmmmm...Miss Pazza must have been on the kitchen counter since she's the only one with claws), and the cat grass plant overturned on the sofa. Yes, the kitties were busy.

Hitcher has done nothing but sleep since I got home. He gets so stressed at the kennel. This time he also had his vaccinations, which they say makes the animals not feel well, so he's under the weather too.

Ted and I had our hopes up that the snow would be melted enough for us to ride outside this week, but the Pullman streets are a slippery mess. I just attempted to do a short run and came home early after nearly falling several times. Ted discovered Yaktrax this year and they are fantastic when it's slippery outside. The only problem is that my pair is with Ted on the way home from Chicago. That's okay, though. I'll get a good trainer ride in tomorrow. Time to start counting those calories again after a couple days of misbehaving!

We're going to be riding indoors for a while, I think!

We have about 8 inches on the ground right now.






Yard full of snow.

back on the bike

After taking eighteen full days off from training and exercise, it has felt wonderful to ride the past two days. My coach planned for me to take some time off after cyclocross nationals, but I ended up taking a bit more off than planned when I got sick. I cannot remember the last time I took so much time completely off from training. It was nice, but I was getting pretty itchy to get back into it. I don't know how "normal" people do it. I just don't feel good when I don't exercise almost daily. I guess I've been doing this too long to be normal anymore, in more ways than one!

I got a new trainer for my birthday, which makes riding indoors much more tolerable than it had been for the past year. My old trainer was given to Rusty for Christmas probably ten years ago, and it was sounding worse and worse. I had to turn the TV up to its max volume just to hear during an easy spin. An interval workout? I just accepted that I wouldn't hear a thing during those. Hitcher would sit behind the baby-gated threshold and whine, letting out an occasional howl. I don't think he understood what that horrible sound was, and what it was doing to his mother. For the past six months I would hop on the trainer, half expecting my resistance unit to explode a la Ben Rhodes. I just hoped my unit wouldn't put a hole in the wall or ceiling.

When I rode inside yesterday, I couldn't believe how quiet my new trainer was. It is fantastic. The volume on the TV was not even half of its max!

Today we even got to ride outdoors, and we're riding outside again tomorrow in Lewiston. I will say that taking some time off makes you really motivated to get back out there. Now, if the snow would just stop coming...