Vote for me!!!

Vote for Pazza

Pazza is taking part in the "Ultimate Mortal Pet Combat" and she will win. Vote for her here:http://www.thatantonguy.com/blog/

Kiss

Face to face

Dancing with a dolphin named Nimbus.

Back from Bermuda

Back from Bermuda. Unfortunately, Hurricane Florence cut my trip a couple days short. Bummer, but I'm glad I'm not stuck there. I have yet to get all my photos back (a full Bermuda report will follow with those), but I have a few to share. I got to do something I have always wanted to do - swim with dolphins. It went by way too quickly, but it was very cool. Dolphins are so cute and intelligent. They're really amazing creatures.

Run!

When all else fails, RUN!!!

Ted and I decided to do some cross practice last evening, so we headed to the local high school, which has lots of fields and gravel - perfect for a simulated cross race. We set up a course and each headed out to practice. Eventually, we ended up back together again. I led down a short, relatively steep descent, and then headed up a short hill. Suddenly, I had these bad stinging sensations on my ankle and back, and did not know what was going on. Ted yelled at me to keep going, but I had lost my momentum by that point. As he rode past me, I could see wasps following him, and simultaneously felt more stings everywhere.

I dropped my bike and chased after Ted on foot, still getting more stings. You know in cartoons how they show bees chasing characters? Yeah, they really do that; they chased us for a couple blocks.

Ted grabbed the car, his winter coat, and some jeans, and picked my bike up from where I had dropped it. All in all, I have at least 10 stings, while Ted got the better end of the deal with only (!) about 5. Not fun. The worst part is the itching I have now. I popped a couple Benadryl this morning after spending much of last night tossing and turning from the itch.

The lesson from this? Keep moving (like Ted did) when bees/wasps are on your tail. Do not stop like I did because they will really get you. Nasty buggers!

Getting older

Lots to do in the next few days before I head to Bermuda on Monday. My trip to Bermuda is going to be awfully long, as I fly to Salt Lake City and have a 9 hour layover there before taking the redeye to Newark, and then on to Bermuda. I decided today to get a hotel room in Salt Lake City to help pass the time. At least I'll be able to watch a movie or take a nap vs. sitting in a terminal all afternoon/evening. On the plus side, my trip home will be much easier with only small layovers.

I'm having puppy cravings again. I should say that I always crave a puppy, but that it gets more intense from time to time. Right now I covet every puppy I see walking down the street! To make it worse, I torture myself by looking at the available shelter puppies online - I always find at least three I cannot live without.

I can tell I'm getting older because I can no longer do a hard physical effort without a pretty decent warmup. Last night I attempted to do a time trial with only 0.4 miles of warmup. Didn't work so well. Just a few years ago, people older than myself would insist that they had to warm up before a hard effort, which I didn't really understand; now I do. Scary.

Rusty and me from 1984.

Congrats to Rusty

Congrats to my big brother, Rusty, who is officially done with his pilot training today. He is now an official employee of Pinnacle Airline. It only took him nearly 28 years to get his first "real" job. Tee-hee. Just teasing!

Cake I made for my mom's birthday.

Shamus and me (with bed head).

Kitties in a box.

I spent part of my afternoon making this lime chiffon cake, as recommended by Ted's sister, Corrina.

A recent sunrise. Too bad the power lines are in the way.

Not much

Not a whole lot has been going on lately. It has actually been kind of nice to have a couple weekends without travel, though I'm sure I'll get "itchy feet" again before I know it. Staying home has given us the opportunity to do some things we don't do all that often - watch movies, eat at local restaurants, do local group rides, and cook. Basically, I've kind of been lazy lately.

This weekend we'll be going to a wedding, and possibly going out to a few bars with our friend, Ben. Otherwise, more laziness will probably ensue. I do really need to get some good practice in on my cross bike, though.

Crazy skill

Now, this is what I call bike handling skill:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907

Kidney stone?

It looks as if I may have had a kidney stone last night. I had one back in 2000 that was severe, requiring a couple trips to the ER and lots of pain meds; it had blocked my ureter, but I was finally able to pass it.

I woke up sometime before 3 am last night and had a lot of abdominal pain, which spread to my left side, and then around to my back. I was also really queasy, but I think it was mostly just the pain that was making me feel that way. I tossed and turned for a few hours, contemplating a trip to the ER, but eventually fell asleep when the pain had lessened. Called my boss around 4 to tell him I wouldn't be in this morning. Feel okay now, except my lower back is a little sore.

Bermuda bound

I'm going to Bermuda the first week of September to do the Bermuda Grand Prix: http://www.bermudagrandprix.com/ I bought my ticket last week and I'm starting to get excited. From what I understand, the racing is pretty much secondary for most of the people who travel to this race; it's really about relaxing at the end of the season and having a good time. I offered to buy Ted a ticket, but he can't take the time off of work, so I'll be heading down there with some of my fellow TRIA teammates. Should be a good time.

Ted has suggested that I hit the tanning salon a few times in the next few weeks to build up my tolerance to the sun a little. I'm actually considering it since I am so naturally white. Never did I think I would ever go to a tanning salon!

Doing a time trial tonight. Not sure how I'll feel since I'm still kind of sick. Uh-oh, the radar shows some storms heading straight for us.

Ouch.

I had to throw in one cute photo for good measure.

More cracks.

The reason we all wear helmets.

Ted's ring had to be cut off.

Ted's bruised forehead.

Ted crashed

Ted crashed hard yesterday - his first bad one in about four years. During the sprint finish, someone cut him off, taking out his front wheel in the process. The guy behind Ted went down hard too, riding over Ted's head. He has an awful lot of road rash and bruises, but thankfully nothing is broken. His forehead is pretty badly bruised, which is the thing that concerned me the most, but he has been lucid ever since the crash and has never seemed concussed. He's currently in the shower, scrubbing out his wounds as well as he can (and occasionally screaming in pain). For those of you who are fortunate enough to never have experienced road rash, showering is pretty much hell for the first few days after a crash.

Don't forget to take your rings off when you ride/race. I often forget to take mine off, but I think I will remember from now on. Ted forgot to take his ring off yesterday (he usually does) and his finger proceeded to swell enough that they had to cut it off.

Photos will follow shortly.

Tour de Toona

Where to begin? Back from Altoona and sick with a nasty cold that began on the final day of the race. Not feeling so great at all. Went to work this morning and just slept all afternoon.

Overall, the race was a positive experience, though I did not have a great personal result. Our team did well overall, so that was great. I had a crash which caused me to plummet in the overall results, and then did a fair amount of work to help teammates, which hopefully did some good. It was just nice to finish the race this year. It's a long, tough one that wears on you mentally and physically. It is also the only race I know of where the women do the same courses/distances as the pro men for the entire race, and where the women's prize list is actually BIGGER!! I did about 430 miles in the past week.

We had some horrible rain a couple days. It was coming down in sheets! I thought it was hail a couple times because it was stinging as it hit my arms and face.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2006/jul06/toona06/toona065/mz06toona5_31

The moon

The moon was bright in Pullman recently.

in Pennsylvania

I'm in Altoona, PA now. Thank God it's not as hot as it was last year, as we are again staying in non-air-conditioned dorms. Last year I held off on buying a fan, telling myself it would cool off. It never did cool off and I bought a fan after four sleepless, sweaty nights - definitely a worthwhile investment. This year, I'm not fooling around and already have my window fan in place.

The racing begins tonight with a three mile time trial that has 16 corners. The women don't start until after the men, so it'll be getting dark by the time we go. I'm just hoping the cloudy sky doesn't give us any rain.

Ted, looking sporty (or maybe gay?) for our ride.

Ready to ride this afternoon.

Pazza outside

Shamus, lounging in the back yard this afternoon.

Pazza with her "bird"

Upside down in the cat tower.

Recap of the week

I figured I'd do an update while I wait for my toenails to dry, so here's a quick recap of recent happenings.

Last weekend:

Racing in Missoula was fun. The weather was scorching, the courses were pretty, and the fields were small. Ted and I shared a room with Ben Rhodes, which saw us all grabbing ice cream and then sharing a pizza one night (shouldn't it be the other way around?). All in all, it was a positive weekend, with all three of us having decent time trials. Poor Ben won the 1/2 TT, only to find out that the officials had later changed some of the times, moving him back several places; they didn't follow the rules, as they changed the results after the next stage had begun. In fact, I think it was after the next stage was over.

Monday:

The bakery was closed so I had the day off. I guess there's not enough business right around the 4th to make it worth staying open. I pretty much just relaxed and watched the Tour, which I love having on daily. It is a bummer that a lot of the big names are out because of the doping scandal, but it is also fun to have it be less predictable.

Tuesday:

Didn't do a whole lot for the 4th. Went for a short ride and had the tiniest baby bird crawl/hop out in front my wheel. I was inches from running over it. We stopped and looked at the little guy who was chirping and lost, and obviously abandoned. We started riding again after moving it off the road a little bit, and I decided we should bring the bird (I temporarily named it Stanley) home. I know... it was a stupid idea, but I just felt sorry for the little thing. We never did find him anyway. In retrospect, it's probably good I didn't bring it here, as I saw Pazza's reaction that night when she broke her cat teaser, "catching" the bird part of it; she proceeded to run from Ted and growl whenever anyone tried to take it from her. Yeah, Stanley wouldn't have lasted long here.

Wednesday:

My mom and I "won" a "facial" from Mary Kay, which ended up being a typical sales pitch at the woman's home. She had us try a bunch of products out and then tried to sell them to us at the end. Now, she did say that we each had won a $10 gift certificate - the only catch was that there pretty much are no products available for that price. I was pretty shocked when she was listing off the prices for things. To think that I survive on my $1.50 Dove bar soap and grocery store moisturizer.

Had dinner out at Sakura, a Japanese/Chinese place in town, followed by ice cream.

Thursday:

Planned on doing the Lewiston time trial but the weather was awfully iffy. Thunderstorms were all around, so we opted to stay up here and do intervals instead.

Today:

Pretty uneventful day. I discovered this game/promotion that Volvo is doing in conjunction with the release of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. If you have a lot of time on your hands, give it a try. The first clue you need to start the game is "Black Pearl." Some of it is pretty tricky. http://thehunt.volvocars.net/us/thehunt It's addicting. I spent a chunk of today playing with it.

I convinced Ted to dress up (along with me, of course) in goofy cycling gear/clothing for our spin tonight. I wore a pair of Rusty's old Prime Alliance shorts, which I pulled down to my knees, along with a huge jersey of Ted's, yellow sunglasses, and calf-high socks. Ted wore a ratty old jersey of mine, as well as a pair of my shorts, which are short on him. He also sported his old helmet and Oakley M-frames. He said he'd kill me if I post photos, but I think I can handle that.

This weekend:

Heading to Seattle tomorrow to do a big money crit, followed by a road race on Sunday. Here's hoping it's fun and we come home with all of our skin.

My messy mask.

Half a day of sleep and cucumber beauty treatments

Heading to Missoula, Montana this afternoon for a weekend of laid-back, low-key racing. The fields will be small and the courses will be pretty. Plus, Missoula has a fantastic ice cream shop that I'll have to hit at least once. I just feel guilty leaving the kitties here alone every weekend.

Did one of the local TTs last night and had my best time of the year. I was a little concerned that I was possibly coming down with something because I slept for 13 hours Wednesday night. Not sure why I slept so long. I woke up and it was 12:30 - shocked me!

I had some cucumber left over a couple nights ago after making a salad dressing, so I came up with the brilliant idea of making a face mask with it. I found a recipe on the internet and whipped it together, though it seemed a lot runnier than it seemed it should be. I laid down on a towel on the living room floor and Ted volunteered to "paint" it on my face with a pastry brush. Didn't work so well, getting all over everything and running down the sides of my head. The cats found it interesting, though. Either the recipe was messed up or I should have used a regular, rather than English, cucumber. I think I'll purchase a mask the next time I want to try something like this.

I just ran downstairs because I heard a crash and knew Pazza was into something. Sure enough, she was on top of the refrigerator again. Apparently she's been eating holes through the cat food bag while we're gone. She's a little piggy.

The plate I won, made by a Baker City artist.

Me, leading the crit.

Ted at the start of the first road race.

Baker City, Oregon.

Elkhorn Classic

Ted and I traveled to eastern Oregon last weekend for one of my favorite races, the Elkhorn Classic: www.elkhornclassic.com

We shared a room with Ben Rhodes and Chad Conley, which made for crowded space, with 8 bikes, 4 trainers, 2 coolers, and 20+ wheels. Thankfully, our room was relatively large.

I have had both great and awful days on stage one in past years; I'd say this year fell somewhere in the middle. It was hot - 90 degrees or so, and I made sure to drink lots of concentrated sports drink. I drank 4 bottles during the race, which normally would have been sufficient, but I found myself getting the chills and goosebumps with 10 miles to go. I was determined to hang with the other two girls I was with until the finish (two others were ahead up the road), which I managed to do. I was not feeling well at all after the finish - chilled, light-headed, and queasy. I heard others later say that they had experienced the chills too, including Ted, so it was a rough day for many.

I was concerned about how I would handle the heat for the coming stages, as the forecast called for rising temps throughout the weekend. Surprisingly, I had a fantastic time trial - definitely my best of the season. I stayed focused throughout the course, which has been a problem for me this year, and finished knowing I had done a good one. Ted felt the same way, so we were both in pretty high spirits.

We were all pretty wiped out from the heat, so we took a nap in the air conditioning before the third stage crit Saturday evening. I don't know what came over me, but I had a great crit, riding near the front the whole time and sprinting for numerous primes. I finished and Ted told me I had won $100 prime, but I didn't think I had. Sure enough, I did win $100, and also another prime - a gift certificate for a local store. I never win primes, so I was pretty happy. Alice Pennington told Ted after the crit that I have a "wicked sprint." Hmmm... never thought of myself as a sprinter.

Our final 100 mile stage progressed as it always does, which means it pretty much stayed together until the final 10 mile climb. Three of us dropped the rest, and then I was dropped from them with 1 km to go. I finished 3rd on the day and moved into 2nd overall, which I was happy with. I finally feel like my fitness is coming around for the first time this season; it has been an extremely frustrating season until now. All in all, I walked away with $300+ bucks. Ted had some stomach problems, but still seemed to have fun.

Pic from Nature Valley time trial

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/jun06/naturevalley06/index.php?id=/photos/2006/jun06/naturevalley06/naturevalley061/Imgp8312

Belated Nature Valley update

I realized that I never finished my Nature Valley update, so here's a brief synopsis. I felt okay with my TT, though I certainly wasn't thrilled with it. The second stage was brutal because of severe crosswinds of about 25 mph, which entirely splintered our field. It was also filled with crashes, taking out several of the top contenders. Thankfully, no one from our team was hurt. I ended up finishing in the 2nd chase group, which included 3 of my teammates and had about 40 women total. I was pretty frustrated at the end of that stage, but then I discovered that pretty much everyone was frustrated with it, so I tried to just move on.

Rainy crits are not among my favorite things, so I was not thrilled when the streets of downtown Minneapolis were soaked. I admittedly set myself up for a bad crit when a huge thunderstorm hit, complete with lightning, severe wind, and marble-sized hail. The streets were flooding and hail was piled up in the gutters. Everyone seemed to think the race would not happen, which I was honestly pretty happy about. I pretty much got my hopes up that I wouldn't have to do the crit (it scares me), and then let my fear get the best of me when I actually had to race. It was not a good night for me.

The 4th stage was awful for me. I just couldn't get my legs to move. My heart rate was elevated and I was working hard, but I just couldn't turn over the pedals. Not sure why. I felt awful and was struggling to just hang on, as it was another super windy day. Eventually, I couldn't do it and got popped, which made me really unhappy. I packed it in at the feed zone. Demoralizing day, but I think something must be going on with me and making me feel bad on the bike. Hopefully I'm not getting sick.

So... that's it for me at NV. My teammate, Carmen, had a fantastic performance in her first NRC race, but she ended up crashing in the final stage, breaking her clavicle.

The flowers I planted yesterday.

Pazza and me.

Shamus looking outside.

Starting the Prologue at Mt. Hood.

Overheard at work today...

"I spent a whole summer high on acid." Yeah, I work with some real winners.

Stage 1 of Nature Valley

Stage 1 of Nature Valley is done. No results posted yet, so I have no idea how it went. I think my time was similar to my time last year and I had a good result last year, so we'll see. The race is different this year because most of our stages begin in the evening, which is good for me because I can sleep in. My teammate, Sharon, apparently was worried that I was sick because I sleep so much. Ted informed her that I could easily sleep 10 hours on any night.

The field here is huge - about 142, I think, which could make the downtown Minneapolis crit very treacherous on Friday night. I'm hoping a large chunk of the field gets time cut tomorrow, but I think that is doubtful. I just want to stay upright while I'm here.

Philly

I'm in St. Paul now. Got here last night from Philly, which was a good experience, but a disappointing race. I got stuck behind two crashes on the first lap of four. The first crash was pretty nasty with girls strewn all over the road. I had to get off my bike and carry it around the carnage, and by that time, the pack was gone. I chased hard, but never regained contact, and was pulled out after lap 2, along with a bunch of other women.

The race here starts on Wednesday and lasts through Sunday. I think it'll be nice to get home after this trip, and to see my kitten.

Ted's birthday cake.

One of the renovated rooms in the Davenport Hotel.

Good weekend

We had a fun Memorial Day weekend, doing a wide range of things we don't normally do during the racing season. The first stop was in Coeur d'Alene where we went to a casting call for the "Amazing Race." Ted is slightly embarassed by the fact that we went to an audition for a reality TV show, but I figure he'd be pretty happy if we actually were chosen and got to travel around the world on someone else's dime.

About 100 teams of two were there to audition, and 75 of those were selected randomly to actually be interviewed on camera; we were selected about 2/3 of the way through, which meant we ended up standing in line for a couple hours, for a couple minutes of air time. I will say that people watching there was great, as you truly had all kinds there; one particularly amusing team to watch consisted of two flannel-wearing women with pig tails, whom Ted called the "Meth addicts."

We finally got our two minutes of time for which we had not rehearsed a bit. Ted definitely was the one who carried it for us, with me piping up here or there. Some teams had whole song and dance routines rehearsed.

After the audition, we headed to the Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane, which was my treat for Ted's birthday. We got a nice penthouse on the 14th floor and the hotel itself was really neat to walk around in. We had dinner out, followed by some drinks at a new martini bar (mango mojitos are good).

On Saturday, we decided to ride our bikes up Mt. Spokane, which is a 12+ mile climb. It started misting about half way up and then began to pour. I knew I was going to have trouble going down when my hands were numb and we were still going up... and I was right. I was frozen, so we stopped at a lodge part-way down the climb and Ted rode down to get the car. He was a good sport because I know he was frozen too.

The weekend in the Spokane area finished up with a visit to Ted's aunt and uncle, with good food and a soak in the hot tub. We also watched most of the Indy 500, which I had never seen before, and found surprisingly exciting. I was hoping for Danica Patrick to do well just because it would be neat to see her do well in such a male-dominated sport.

I made a cake for Ted's birthday on Monday, which was my first fondant cake. It's definitely far from perfect, but I think it was okay for my first try. It's definitely not low on calories.

Off to Hood River, Oregon tomorrow for the Mt. Hood Cycling classic, which goes through Sunday. It'll be a tough one.

Me with some horses (and a mule) in Wenatchee, Wa.

Horses

I love horses. When we lived in Laramie, Wyoming, Rusty and I had a horse named Lady. She was the sweetest horse in the world and we would often just hop on her bareback, bribing her with hay until she was parallel to the fence so we could jump on. She had to be put down years ago when she became sick; we had all discovered bike racing by that point, so she didn't get ridden nearly often enough. I have not been on a horse since I was last on Lady. Seems like forever ago.

I find myself longing to ride a horse. Anytime I see a horse by a roadside, I just want to hop on. I would love to own one again - to be able to just go for a ride at the end of the day. It is so relaxing and fun. I hope someday to be in the position to get a horse again.

Watching the Preakness on Saturday was awful. It was so sad to see Barbaro break his leg. I just hope he'll heal and be able to be a stud horse.

Enumclaw

Racing in Enumclaw didn't turn out so well for Ted and me. We both started out okay, but then tuckered toward the end of the weekend. I was plagued with mechanical problems in the RR, causing me to lose some minutes and some G.C. places. Ted blames himself for my mechanicals, as he is the one who works on my bike, but I tell him it isn't his fault. Afterall, he warned me not to cross-chain, yet I did it anyway (not once, not twice, but 3 times!), causing my wheel to completely lock up each time. Just a part of bike racing.

This weekend will be a weekend off, which will be nice since there is so much consecutive racing coming up. Plus, it's Ted's birthday on Monday, so it'll be nice to spend it somewhere other than a bike race.

Weekend recap

Thankfully, I came home relatively happy on Sunday evening. All in all, I think I raced pretty well, considering the small number of races I have done this year and the fact that I have been sick. I ended up getting second in the time trial, which I have to admit was disappointing to me. I wanted to win the time trial. A fellow racer was drafting off me in the time trial, which I have never had happen before. Irritating, to say the least, though I'm guessing it was not intentional.

For the crit, I really needed to get some points to maintain my status... which did not work out so well. I did, however, ride the crit well, which is an accomplishment in itself for me since I am a big wuss in crits. I stayed near the front the entire time, which I almost never do. So, I stayed near the front for the entire race, except for the final few hundred meters when it really counted; hmmmm... something's not right there. I guess I should work on that!

The road race course was pretty tough. We had a mild 12 mile stretch to start it out and then headed up a 12 mile climb. The climb was, of course, followed by a long descent, and then a long flat, windy section back to the start/finish. The woman who had won the tt and the crit got a flat a few miles before the climb. It shocked me to see a couple teams head straight to the front to pick up the pace in attempts to keep her (and some of her teammates) from catching back on. Bad etiquette, in my opinion. The pack should have maintained its pace until the climb, giving her a fair chance to get back on.

Anyway, she didn't manage to get back on before the climb and things broke up quickly there. Pretty quickly, I was in a lead group of 5, which then shattered itself (I was the first to fall off). I recovered and rode at my own steady pace, which allowed me to catch everyone except the leader before the top of the climb. At the top, I was with a girl who is a very good climber, but who apparently does not at all like descents. I looked back after the first two switchbacks to see that I had a huge gap on her, so I gunned it and kept going. I was gaining on the leader, but never did catch her.

So, that's how it all went. We'll be racing again this weekend in Enumclaw, Wa, so hopefully the upward trend continues. Summer is finally hitting the northwest this week (high of 92 today). I like summer and all, but this has just come on a bit too quickly for my taste. It was 29 when I was driving to work one morning just a couple weeks ago!

One more.

Pazza and Shamus cuddling yesterday.

Our dessert from a couple nights ago. I love Baskin Robbins' clown cones. My mom used to get them for us when we were little.

Random Stuff

Heading to Wenatchee this afternoon to do an omnium: http://pazzovelo.com/events/races/2002/wenatchee/

I am really hoping to have a good race this weekend since my racing has been less than great so far this year. A good race would really restore my morale and my confidence in my training, so here's hoping that I come home happy on Sunday. This nasty chest cold is still hanging on a little, but I am definitely on the up-swing.

I got my hair cut last week, along with my mom, by a woman who was my neighbor my senior year in college. She seriously could be a character in a movie with a voice like Minnie Mouse, a professional bodybuilding boyfriend, a collection of 3000+ angels, and her whole outward appearance; she is petite with short, spiky white hair, a round face, and an odd skin tone. She is extremely forgetful, asking questions over and over in a matter of minutes, and constantly giving you compliments. She's very nice and friendly, and I think she's good at what she does. Plus, she's entertaining. I switched to her recently after years of having a friend's wife cut my hair, which got me thinking about how awkward it would be to run into my old hair stylist, as she would obviously know that I have been going to someone else. Hmmm... not sure how I would handle that.

My boss has been getting grumpier and grumpier lately, leaving me to determine that he really does not enjoy what he does. When I interviewed with him, he told me this romantic story of how he left his other job late in life when he walked into a bakery, realizing that his true calling was to own a bakery of his own. All of his employees talk about how hard he is to work for when he is gone. My one fellow employee told me a couple days ago that he thinks our boss would be a great guy to know outside of work, but he's just so miserable inside those walls that he's awful to work for. It's really too bad because I, along with all of the other employees, see numerous changes he could make to his business that would make him happier. To start with, he could stop being the delivery boy and actually do some of the baking himself. Anyway, I'm just ranting now.

I'm off to make a pasta salad to take with us this weekend. And, to play "da bird" with Pazza. If you have a playful cat, you should get one of these toys: http://www.thecatconnection.com/Da-Bird-Cat-Teaser.html Pazza and Shamus both love it. Pazza actually goes looking for it and pulls it out whenever she can.

Rusty and Alex.

Ted and me on the jet ski.

Dad, Mom, Rusty, and me at the reception.

Ted and me at the wedding reception.

My little cousin, Taylor.

Rusty and me at Rum Runners in Islamorada.

Chloe, the street performing dog, doing her tightrope walk in Key West at the nightly sunset celebration.

Dad's henna tattoo. Yes, he did it willingly, without force.

Mom and Dad in Key West.

Sunburned behind the knees. Guess I didn't put sunscreen on very well.

Florida trip

The trip to Florida was a great vacation. Mom, Dad, and I went down several days before the wedding itself to spend some time in Key West, which is an interesting place. It was extremely busy and touristy, with a very active night life. I have never been to a place where I could feel the gay community so strongly, though I guess that's not surprising since Key West proclaims itself to be the "Gay Capital of the World." They even have a pink section of the phonebook that is dedicated to gay businesses, along with a pink taxi company, and signs saying, " The End of the Rainbow." We did have some great food there, and tried to go snorkeling once, though there really wasn't anything to see.

Key West was fun to wander around, but it was nice when we finally headed north to Islamorada, where we met up with everyone else. Our hotel was right on the beach and was a huge complex, with several tiki bars, pools, and restaurants. We all went to the tiki bars pretty often where I became a fan of key lime coladas. Yummy. Rusty, his girlfriend, Alex, Ted, and I hoped to try parasailing, but it wasn't too be; too much wind one day and a broken boat the next. Instead, we rented jet skis for a half hour, which I had never been on. Rusty and Alex lucked out with a faster jet ski, topping out at 51, while Ted and I only hit 41. I got bucked off at one point when Ted was driving and made a sharp left. I was holding on, but I guess it wasn't tightly enough. At first I thought I was going to pull Ted in with me, but it was just me.

The wedding itself was held right at our hotel too, which was super convenient. I barely made it to the ceremony on time because Rusty's Alex was having trouble straightening my hair, which then led my cousin's wife, also Alex, to take me to her room to finish the job. We were the last people to the ceremony before the bridal party. Oops. I later found a message on my cell phone from my aunt, telling me I needed to get down there. The ceremony was short and the reception was nice, held under a tiki hut on the beach. I think everyone had a good time.

All in all, it was a nice trip. My only regret is that I didn't get to swim with a dolphin, which is something I have wanted to do since I was little. To make it worse, I found out on our last day there that I could have done it at a place right next to our hotel. Oh well.

Racing Updates

So, to complete the Willamette updates (finally), it was a good weekend for the team, as my teammate, Suz, won the G.C. For me personally, the remaining stages didn't go so well. For whatever reason, I could not focus in my time trial. When I found myself thinking about what I would eat for lunch later that day, I knew I was not having a good one. Not sure what was going on, but I just couldn't get into it. Hopefully I can fix that soon, as I have a bunch of more important tts coming up. The final road race didn't go great either - I could tell it was my first stage race of the season because my legs were complaining from the start.

I had hoped to race in the WA state championship road race this past weekend, but found myself with a nasty chest and head cold, so ended up sitting it out. I always get a bit grumpy when I am watching races I would rather be doing. I am going to race next weekend in Wenatchee, WA, so I'm crossing my fingers that everything comes together better for me there.