Hillside
Friday, September 15, 2006
Lessons from Bermuda
Bermuda was fun while it lasted. Thanks to Ms. Florence and her anticipated 80+mph winds, I had two less days in Bermuda than expected. Much more a vacation than a bike race, there was a lot of time spent on the beach and out on the town, which was good for me since I had not raced in well over a month and wasn't exactly at my peak of fitness. Thank goodness I had absolutely no expectations for the actual racing part of the trip or I would have been extremely disappointed.
The opening reception for the race was held at the headquarters of Bacardi International and featured an open bar. By the end of the night, it was obvious that skinny cyclists who do not normally drink much should not be allowed near an open bar.
Lesson # 1 from Bermuda: Do not tell a Bermudian bartender that the Dark and Stormy he made for you (a mixture of rum and ginger beer and Bermuda's national drink) does "not look very dark," unless you want your drink to taste solely of dark rum. The featured quote was from my teammate Gina and led to us both watering down our drinks, and later feeding them to the lawn.
Riding our bikes around the island was fun, though it was challenging to remember to ride on the left side of the road. Plus, I don't think I have ever sweated as much as I did there; it was so humid. It was a nice way to get around, though, and the beach was an easy ride from our host house. The water was so blue and clear. Unfortunately, I never actually remembered to take my snorkel and mask to the beach; I remembered to take them to Bermuda, but then never remembered to use them while there.
Lesson # 2 from Bermuda: Do not ride your bike home in your bikini unless you want to be pulled over for "indecency." We were riding our bikes home from the beach when two female police officers told us we needed to cover our bottom halves because it "caused the men to honk." In retrospect, we did get a lot of honks, and even some applause, but none of us thought anything of it. Apparently, you can wear your bikini top off of the beach, but you must have your bottom half covered.
We originally planned to just get around the island by bike, and occasionally by bus. Scooter rentals are available all over the island and seem to be the way most people get around in Bermuda (not surprising since gas is nearly $7/gallon). We decided we would rent three scooters, putting two of us on each one, so Eric and I walked down the hill from our house to the scooter shop. Jenn and Meg had already picked up their scooter, so they were all set.
We were given our helmets, followed by a brief lesson on how to ride the scooter. Eric did his test ride up the hill by our house, and then it was my turn. I immediately gave the scooter too much throttle and found myself heading straight for a wall. The guy was yelling at me to use my brakes, which I figured out just in time. The guy shook his head at me and gave me a repeat lesson. I looked at Eric and said, "This may not be a good idea. Maybe Gina should drive it instead." He told me I would be fine, so off I went up the hill on my test ride.
I got to the top of the hill and stopped to turn around. I had been instructed to just push myself around with my feet, rather than actually trying to ride the scooter around (I think I had scared the man a bit). I put my feet down and suddenly the scooter was out from under me, but I was still holding on. I tried to grab the brake, thinking the right hand was the brake (WRONG!), and was totally out of control. Finally, I managed to grab the brake, which caused the scooter and me to spin around in circles together before crashing right in the middle of the street in front of our host house. We went down hard. I was very frazzled and ran into our host house to get Jenn to ride the scooter back down to the shop for me. In my haste, I had not only left the scooter lying on its side in the middle of the street, but had even left it running! Needless to say, that was the end of my scooter riding. I ended up with a nasty bruise on my right thigh and a scratched elbow. Oh, and just maybe I had a little bit of a bruised ego.
Lesson # 3 from Bermuda: If you nearly drive your scooter into a wall, it is time to call it quits. Throttle takes practice.
We got word that the last two stages of the race would be cancelled, and that we needed to make arrangements to change our flights. Fortunately, we were all able to change our flights to the following day (Saturday), which ended up being the last day to fly out before the hurricane hit. Everyone went out Friday night and had a good time... and probably a little too much to drink. I managed to end up having a local guy follow me around all evening, which got really old. Even after several people told him I was not interested and that he should leave me alone, he followed us down the street to a different bar.
Lesson # 4 from Bermuda: If someone is creepy and will not leave you alone, do not make efforts to be polite and kind. Straight-up tell the person to get away from you.
I knew it was going to be tight to swim with the dolphins and make my flight on-time on Saturday. Jenn was nice enough to drive me on her scooter to the end of the island where the dolphins are kept. They are kept inside the maritime museum, which is really interesting. I wish I would have had more time to walk around there.
Swimming with the dolphins was a wonderful experience. I lucked out with being the only person in my session, whereas the next session had ~15 people. I got the full half hour to myself, which meant that I got to interact with them a great deal. They are fascinating, adorable, intelligent creatures. As my last experience in Bermuda, I could not have asked for a better one.
The opening reception for the race was held at the headquarters of Bacardi International and featured an open bar. By the end of the night, it was obvious that skinny cyclists who do not normally drink much should not be allowed near an open bar.
Lesson # 1 from Bermuda: Do not tell a Bermudian bartender that the Dark and Stormy he made for you (a mixture of rum and ginger beer and Bermuda's national drink) does "not look very dark," unless you want your drink to taste solely of dark rum. The featured quote was from my teammate Gina and led to us both watering down our drinks, and later feeding them to the lawn.
Riding our bikes around the island was fun, though it was challenging to remember to ride on the left side of the road. Plus, I don't think I have ever sweated as much as I did there; it was so humid. It was a nice way to get around, though, and the beach was an easy ride from our host house. The water was so blue and clear. Unfortunately, I never actually remembered to take my snorkel and mask to the beach; I remembered to take them to Bermuda, but then never remembered to use them while there.
Lesson # 2 from Bermuda: Do not ride your bike home in your bikini unless you want to be pulled over for "indecency." We were riding our bikes home from the beach when two female police officers told us we needed to cover our bottom halves because it "caused the men to honk." In retrospect, we did get a lot of honks, and even some applause, but none of us thought anything of it. Apparently, you can wear your bikini top off of the beach, but you must have your bottom half covered.
We originally planned to just get around the island by bike, and occasionally by bus. Scooter rentals are available all over the island and seem to be the way most people get around in Bermuda (not surprising since gas is nearly $7/gallon). We decided we would rent three scooters, putting two of us on each one, so Eric and I walked down the hill from our house to the scooter shop. Jenn and Meg had already picked up their scooter, so they were all set.
We were given our helmets, followed by a brief lesson on how to ride the scooter. Eric did his test ride up the hill by our house, and then it was my turn. I immediately gave the scooter too much throttle and found myself heading straight for a wall. The guy was yelling at me to use my brakes, which I figured out just in time. The guy shook his head at me and gave me a repeat lesson. I looked at Eric and said, "This may not be a good idea. Maybe Gina should drive it instead." He told me I would be fine, so off I went up the hill on my test ride.
I got to the top of the hill and stopped to turn around. I had been instructed to just push myself around with my feet, rather than actually trying to ride the scooter around (I think I had scared the man a bit). I put my feet down and suddenly the scooter was out from under me, but I was still holding on. I tried to grab the brake, thinking the right hand was the brake (WRONG!), and was totally out of control. Finally, I managed to grab the brake, which caused the scooter and me to spin around in circles together before crashing right in the middle of the street in front of our host house. We went down hard. I was very frazzled and ran into our host house to get Jenn to ride the scooter back down to the shop for me. In my haste, I had not only left the scooter lying on its side in the middle of the street, but had even left it running! Needless to say, that was the end of my scooter riding. I ended up with a nasty bruise on my right thigh and a scratched elbow. Oh, and just maybe I had a little bit of a bruised ego.
Lesson # 3 from Bermuda: If you nearly drive your scooter into a wall, it is time to call it quits. Throttle takes practice.
We got word that the last two stages of the race would be cancelled, and that we needed to make arrangements to change our flights. Fortunately, we were all able to change our flights to the following day (Saturday), which ended up being the last day to fly out before the hurricane hit. Everyone went out Friday night and had a good time... and probably a little too much to drink. I managed to end up having a local guy follow me around all evening, which got really old. Even after several people told him I was not interested and that he should leave me alone, he followed us down the street to a different bar.
Lesson # 4 from Bermuda: If someone is creepy and will not leave you alone, do not make efforts to be polite and kind. Straight-up tell the person to get away from you.
I knew it was going to be tight to swim with the dolphins and make my flight on-time on Saturday. Jenn was nice enough to drive me on her scooter to the end of the island where the dolphins are kept. They are kept inside the maritime museum, which is really interesting. I wish I would have had more time to walk around there.
Swimming with the dolphins was a wonderful experience. I lucked out with being the only person in my session, whereas the next session had ~15 people. I got the full half hour to myself, which meant that I got to interact with them a great deal. They are fascinating, adorable, intelligent creatures. As my last experience in Bermuda, I could not have asked for a better one.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
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/
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
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.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
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!
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!
Friday, September 01, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, August 25, 2006
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!
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Crazy skill
Now, this is what I call bike handling skill:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907
Monday, August 14, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
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
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
Monday, July 24, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, July 07, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, June 30, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Overheard at work today...
"I spent a whole summer high on acid." Yeah, I work with some real winners.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, June 12, 2006
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.
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.
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