A bit of contrast

I woke this morning to my HR guy calling me. Hard to believe anything could be such an emergency on not only my day off but on Christmas Eve. I guess if you bring enough drama into your life then you can make anything seem like a true emergency. The fact that I got this call while I was still in bed just confirmed the fact that I've made the right choice in leaving my current job for a new one.

My second confirmation came when I was reading Fatty's blog this morning. There is a beautiful family suffering from a horrible disease. Fatty's optimism and love for his family is in sharp contrast to the silly drama occuring at my clinic over a small sum of money.

In four weeks I will no longer manage the South Jordan clinic for Intermountain. Instead I will be working in the Office of Research. Through research and clinical trails there will hopefully come a day when cancer can be cured and families like Fatty's will be able to once again take having a healthy mom for granted.

Winter fun

Here's my little angel getting ready for her Christmas performance at the school. She danced so well and as you can see she is beautiful! I have to admit having a teenage daughter is harder than I thought it would be. Over the past few weeks I've realized how nice it was when she was little. I miss the days of knowing she is home safe and sound with me and not out there in the big scary world. Recently she fell in love for the first time. I have had to resist the urge to follow her around 24/7. But I've come to the realization that she is old enough to make her own choices, to a certain extent, and I cannot be there for every decision she'll have to make. However, if I could afford to, I think I'd hire someone to follow her around for me.



Sunday Tara and I went up Millcreek for a nice ski. I love going up there. Sometimes I complain because there are too many people and dogs, but once we get up past the elbow there are fewer people and it is peaceful and beautiful. Besides, I can't complain too much because it is so close! I can get up there, get in a good workout and be done by lunch.



Getting out in the winter is good for me! I get some good cross training in and I appreciate the winter beauty and I appreciate being able to ride my bike when I can. I'm sure that variety really is the spice of life!



Today is Christmas Eve. My house is quiet because the kids are at their dad's. I'm heading off to meet the family for some bowling action and tomorrow I'll get to spend the whole day playing with my kids. Austin gave me my present from him last night. He gave me a set of glasses. He is always teasing me because I have more water bottles than actual drinking glasses. He also made me a book. He took all of my favorite cycling pictures and some of my quotes from my blog, did some photoshop work and had them made into a book that he titled "Tour de Shanna". I love it! I also love the fact that I have such a wonderful, thoughtful kid! I'm so blessed!

Busy, busy, busy

Alisha pointed out I've been a bit MIA. Life has been crazy! That is not a complaint though. It is good. I like busy and when things get slow I manage to fill up any free time I may have. I thought I'd graduate and have lots of free time to become a TV addict. Fortunately it didn't happen. So here's what I've been up to. . .

November 11th I finished my Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration. Since then I've been applying for jobs. Funny thing, once you graduate it is time to start paying on those student loans. Fortunately, I've landed a new job! This news is so new that my employees and physicians don't even know yet. I guess I'll find out Monday if any of them read my blog. Anyway, I start my new job in the Office of Research as a clinical billing analyst at the end of January. I'm excited to learn new things and take on a new role. A bit more money is going to be nice too. I have also seen the end of my "boss" days. I will no longer have employees! Don't get me wrong, I have some great employees. It is just that the few that aren't so great suck up a bunch of time and cause plenty of headaches.

Since October I've also been on a diet. So far I'm down 15 pounds! Yeah! To answer the common question of "how are you doing it?" Well, I am burning more calories than I take in. No, there is no magic pill. I have to say no to some foods that I really want to eat, I have to stop eating when I want more and I work out HARD. Sometimes I'm hungry and sometimes I'm cranky but I'm looking good and loving it!

So with all of that big stuff I still have the usual things going on. I've been teaching my classes, playing with friends, shopping with my sisters, baking goodies with the family, watching my daughter dance and sing and helping my son with his college classes. Overall I'm living a wonderful life full of wonderful people. Right now the bikes are hung up but tomorrow I'll hit Millcreek for a good ski and enjoy the beautiful snow. I'm working on keeping a good winter attitude because sometimes I get SAD because of the dark and the cold but I have to remember cycling season is just around the corner!

Overload?

Well look at me, actually with the group. That was the most energy I had all race, it was a backwards slide for me after that. I've been doing two races a weekend for a few weekends now. Usually I feel pretty good during B flight and pretty good for about the first 2 laps of A flight. Then I bonk hard and suffer through the rest of the race. This week though I felt sluggish and miserable for all of B flight. My HR was flat and so were my legs. I'm sure it is my body's way of telling me to recover.



If it looks like I'm going in slow motion it is because I was! I swear my legs and bike were full of lead.



Oh well, it was still beautiful. As you can see from this picture, Wheeler is always amazing and even in slow motion I couldn't help but be glad to be out there in such a pretty venue.

Last week was a bit insane. Tuesday I went up to Logan to watch the Aggies basketball game with an old high school friend. It was fun but it was also the beginning of my slide into sleep deprivation and overload. Wednesday night I taught my usual two classes at the gym but my paranoia about gaining back the 12 lbs I've lost over Thanksgiving made me work extra hard. Thursday morning I was back at the gym for another two hours maintaining just below lactate.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Mom is awesome and did a wonderful job as usual. Thankfully though she did forget to let the rolls rise soon enough and they ended up being hockey pucks that the kids enjoyed throwing over the fence. I say thankfully because they are my weakness and without them I was able to not go too overboard on the calories.

Thursday evening my sisters and I browsed through the Black Friday ads to plan our attack. My anal little sister, who is also pregnant, made me call Walmart twice to ensure that we could get in the store before 5 am even though they are open 24 hours. I'm sure the lady on the phone thought I was a complete idiot. "Yes, because we are open all night you can come in the store any time!" was her trying to be nice while dealing with idiots reply.

I was in bed by 9 so I could meet my sister at 4 am at Walmart so she could get a big screen TV. At 10 I was awakened by the sound of elephants coming up the stairs. It was really only my son's friend and his size 14 feet clomping up to use the bathrom. About 12:30 I made it back to sleep. I awoke again at 3:30 to an overpowering smell of spray paint and a huge headache. I stumbled downstairs to the basement to find the walls spraypainted dayglo, 4 fans going, and a space heater going. I called Austin and scolded him for trying to blow up the house and for trying to kill his sister and I in our sleep with the fumes. I had to leave to get to Walmart so I told him he needed to get home and make sure his sister wasn't dead and to get her to a safe place if the house still smelled. (I tend to be overdramatic when sleep deprived.)

My sisters and I survived the mob at Walmart and then Kohls. I managed to almost finish my Christmas shopping. Shelley missed getting her TV but Casey managed to score the Kitchenaid after hours of pushing our sale items around the line at Kohl's. After shopping I headed home and put up the tree with Ashley. We decided to go with completely non traditional colors on our tree. The ornaments are mostly fuschia and purple and the lights are LED blue and white. From outside at night the tree looks like an alien craft has landed in our house. It is awesome! I think if we get one more strand of the LED lights you'll be able to see our tree from space.

I was in bed by 7 pm and slept straight through until 6 am, then it was time to get up and get ready to race. As previously mentioned the race didn't go so well but it was a fun day anyway. I think I'll be glad to get back to work tomorrow and get a little sitting on my rear end time.

Cyclocross State Championships

Yesterday was the State cyclocross championships at the Weber county fairgrounds. It was another dry day but very cold. My first lap flat problems continued. 16 ladies started out in B flight. I was towards the back first lap but once we hit the long gravel road and pavement stretch I started passing people. My legs felt great! I thought that if I could hold my position through the barriers and on the grass I may be able to continue to move up on the asphalt.

As we crossed the horse racing track and headed for the barriers I realized my back tire was totally flat. I dropped several F bombs and pulled out of the race. Canyon Bicycles was nice enough to loan me a wheel. I was still feeling good and wanted to race so I waited for the lead pack to come around and since I had left the race behind teammate Kara, I jumped back into the race right behind her. Her and I went back and forth for the remainder of the race. Again I would gain ground on the asphalt only to hear the women coming around me as I worked the barriers.

On the last lap I slowed letting the other ladies pass me since I really was not in contention. Stephanie and Megan fought it out for first with Megan pulling it out in the end. These ladies are awesome! Congrats to all of us for having such an awesome field of competitors this year.

After the B race I went and told the officials what had happened and got my self put into last place. Kara and I found some food, changed my flat and got warmed up for round two. I told her what great training and how fun it is to race A flight. Her and I always manage to talk each other into crazy things. . . the voice of reason as Lacey would say.

The heavy hitters showed up for Women's A flight and soon it was Kara and I off the back and duking it out for last place. Kara made it through 2 laps before blowing herself up and pulling off. I made it through the 3rd lap when I hit my wall. Fortunately, I can ride my bike completely blown, I guess I've done it enough that turning the pedals is now just instinct. However, the barriers are a different story. They were getting sloppier every lap. Getting on and off my bike seemed to be some kind of algabraic equation and I just wasn't getting the formula right. On my final lap I managed to drop my chain and struggled to get back on my bike. I couldn't figure out who raised my seat during the race. The final two barriers were maybe 20 yards apart. My brain decided that instead of the effort of getting back on my bike I should just run (okay a very slow jog) between the two. Thankfully by this time I was lapped and done!

Overall it was a great day. Lousy placement on the results but I'm hoping more for the long term result of improved fitness and higher LT going into next road season.

007 Heaven

Now that is a beautiful thing! I'm so glad Bond is back in a hot and sexy way. I was so disappointed when "Remington Steele" became Bond. He is way too pretty to be a hardened assassin. I saw Quantum of Solace on Sunday and loved it! Although Casino Royale had a better story line, I'm glad Bond is done with that mushy love stuff and is pissed and ready to rock.

Double the fun!

Yeah! Thanks to Rios I have pictures. Speaking of Rios, that girl rocks. She did her first ever cross race on Saturday. This is a big leap for a dedicated roadie that confesses to only riding on dirt 2 times previously. But she did great and I think she'll be back!



It dawned on me the other day that the road season is right around the corner. I'd really like to go back and do a lot better than the 22nd place finish at VOS that I did last year. I have also realized that I never go as hard as I do during a race. So I've decided to use cyclocross racing to get my anaerobic training in. I've also decided that 40 minutes isn't quite enough so for the rest of the season you'll see me in both A and B flight.



The B race started off with another front flat out of the gate. Nancy flatted too and after getting her flat pumped up, I pulled out the goathead and Matt and Bart pumped mine up too. Nancy flatted again but I managed to stay in the race and even catch two people.

I drank my recovery drink, went to the bank, cheered for Kris as she raced and then it was time to get warmed up again. I tooled around on the Moab and warmed up with Nancy. She decided that carrying her bike around the course for B flight wasn't as fun as racing so she was headed back out for more.

As usual the speed demon women in the A's were off the line and down the road leaving me chasing. The course was very different from the morning's race since the dirt had thawed to soft sand and mud in places. I felt pretty good for the first two laps but then I was cooked. Nancy must have been feeling the same because she got off course and was coming towards me. I made myself finish though, pushing as hard as I could. I knew I was tired though because I was making stupid bike handling mistakes but I managed to stay up and finish.

It was a beautiful day! I had lots of fun and got in two really great workouts. I also got to spend quality time with really cool, fun bike people. I can't wait to do it again next week.

Wandering aimlessly?

I've been feeling a bit lost this week. Monday was my last class at University of Phoenix. Once my grade posts I can apply for my diploma. Yeah?! I know I am supposed to be excited but really I'm feeling kind of lost. I sat down the other night and looked at a magazine then I had a nice dinner with my kids. The entire time I kept feeling this nagging, like I should be reading, or taking a test or attending class online. I'm sure I'll soon adjust to my free time but for the moment you may see me a lot on Facebook. I seem unable to pry my computer from my lap.


I'm also feeling excitement and the fear of the unknown as I now look for a new job. While my current job has got me through school with lots of flexibility, it wont be enough to pay back my student loans.


I'm also quite apprehensive about letting my daughter grow up. I know I don't really have a choice in the matter but it is still proving to be quite difficult. I envied my sister the other day when her biggest child stress was her two year old cutting her own hair. Aaaaagh, the easy days. My fears have been compounded because my gorgeous C cup daughter seems to have fallen in love. The signs of this newfound love are everywhere. She's spending more time doing her hair, spending hours with her cell phone pressed to her ear with no real conversation going on and there is the dirty jacket of his she's constantly wearing.

I'm quite proud of myself. I've resisted the temptation to call in sick to work and follow my daughter everywhere and have just resorted to compulsive calling and texting her. I just know how easy it is to see only a nice pair of legs on a bike and overlook a million red flags. (Okay the nice legs on a bike part would be my downfall, but I'm sure she has her own blinders.)

So I guess I'll do the only thing I can do. Pour myself a glass of wine, lube my chain and go attempt to race my bike tomorrow. . .

Living in the now

So I was sitting here looking at my bruised legs, some bruises a day old and some a week, and wondering why I am already looking forward to next week's cyclocross race. I'm not particularly good at it, I usually manage to hurt myself or my bike and I end up exhausted and lots of dirty clothes and bike maintenance to attend to, but still I love it.

So, aside from the fact that lots of really fun, cool people show up to race cross, I've decided that during a cross race you are forced to live in the present. You hear it all the time. . don't dwell on the past, don't obsess about the future, live for the moment. During a cross race (or any other kind of a race for that matter)everything else goes away. For 40 minutes yesterday I didn't think about my bills, my work stress, my family stress. I thought about trying to catch the person in front of me, I thought about not getting caught by the person behind me. I thought about the best way to negotiate the mud. I thought about breathing deeply and pushing harder. I truly was living in the now. I'm guessing my fellow racers were doing the same because there were lots of smiles!

Yesterday started out a bit hectic. Pre race was spent in a foggy Heber swapping out Kara's tires and adjusting her brakes. We collided hard on a warm up lap and went down on the asphalt. Kara felt so bad I think she was actually trying to catch me as I flew through the air. We were banged up but no serious damage us so we spent the next 10 minutes readjusting brakes and wheels once again. Then it was time to start.

I had a terrible start. My shorts, which are becoming a bit baggy, snagged on my saddle and I didn't get clipped in. I caught up to the bottle neck at the barriers only to get dropped on the grass. I worked hard and tried to settle into a rythm. I managed to pass a few people but then lost some of them as I bogged down in the mud. I thought the way to go was to gear down and spin through the mud. Apparently this is the way to go if you want to get the absolute most mud on your bike and tires. I finished toward the bottom of my field, mud covered but happy.

I hung out and watched the rest of the races. It got warmer and drier and the races became faster and less muddy as the day wore on. I had fun cheering for Kara's son in his first ever cross race. He did really well but is still feeling bad about the little kid that finished last. While he was racing I took Kara's other son up to the top of Mt. Heber (the giant mud/poop hill that serves as the run up). I turned around just in time to see his little head disappear over the edge. I ran over and looked down and was relieved to see him laughing happily as he rolled and slid down the muddy embankment. He was covered in mud and wanted to do it again. Sorry Kara. I forget you have to watch those little ones all the time.

I finished out the day eating yummy lasagna at Teresa's and enjoying good company and wine. Be sure to check out Two Wheel Lovin ladies for all of the racin ladies action.

Next week will be better. . . right?

I'm in the process of finishing up school. . . finally. At 38 years old I'm finally getting my BS in Health care administration. Yeah! I think. Now I'm finally qualified to do the job I've been doing for the past 6 years and I have lots of debt to pay back.

I'm in the final week of my last elective class, the psychology of personality. It is pretty interesting but to be honest I just don't care. I just want to be done already. I really wanted to email my teacher and ask him what the bare minimum of work I could do and still pass. Instead I decided to do my work and finish strong, or so I thought. I got an email from my teacher last night asking why I had not participated at all in my learning team. I thought this was weird since I had done my part of the work assigned to me in Learning Team A. Turns out I am not in Learning Team A I'm in learning team D. Great! Now I get to help on a second project. Aaaaargh! So much for skating through this class. Instead I'm doing twice the work.

So I've had all of this school drama on top of all of the work drama. I guess since I've finished employee reviews everyone has decided to worry about what everyone else is doing instead of worrying about themselves. It really reminds me of my kids. You know how it is, "she got one more piece of pizza than me waaaaaaaaaaa" and "I cleaned the bathroom last time, waaaaa". The only difference between my employees and my kids is that my employees are adults getting paid to do a job- and I can get new ones!!!

Whew! I got home tonight and was eager to slip into my sweats and cozy slippers and enjoy a little bike maintenance. As I was taking off my shoes I realized that I had been wearing two different black boots all day. It is so nice to see some weeks come to an end.

Thanks alot Stace!

I've been tagged by Booger Dawn herself. Here goes. .

8 various things

8 favorite TV shows (I'm just going to list shows that I've actually seen, which isn't many)
The Office
Arrested Development
SNL
The Biggest Loser

Sorry, I guess I don't even have 8 of those, maybe I'll do better on the next list.

8 things I did yesterday:
employee reviews
taught spin class
went to school
Didn't turn in my paper that was due
Facebook
unpacked from Moab
Shopped for spook a boo stuff
lifted weights

Whew, at least I did 8 things yesterday.

8 things I look forward to:
Cyclocross this weekend
Wine this weekend
Hanging with Kara this weekend (are you noticing a theme here?)
Finishing my employee reviews
Getting to eat again tomorrow (I'm out of calories today)
Summer
Having a new neice
Being done with school in two weeks!!!!!!!

8 favorite restaurants:
Tsunami
Zupas
California Pizza Kitchen
Red Rock
Thai Delight Cafe

Crap, not only do I need to watch more TV I need to eat out more too!

8 things on my wish list:
A new mountain bike (I broke mine in Moab)
A new road bike (just because)
Someone would pay off my student loans
Someone would go fold all my laundry
I didn't have a yard
I was going to Moab again this weekend
My employee reviews were done

8 People to tag
Amy
Shannon
Lacey
Kris (sorry Kris- I suck)
BG

Those are the only people that might actually do it.

Moab Mountain Bike Special Olympics. . .

Okay, not really. But if they did have a special olympics I would have taken Gold in both the One Legged Pedal Race and the Uphill Seated Track Stance.

The bike problems really began when I loaded up my old Schwinn Moab and noticed that the front tire was missing several of its knobbies. I think it was jealous of the road bike and thought it might get more ride time if it had smoother tires. No worries, there are plenty of bike shops in Moab.

My teammate that had invited me to Moab got really sick and so I picked up a gal I met last week at cross and we headed to Moab. There we joined the rest of our group of people that I either didn't know at all or barely knew. Turns out there were two condos full of friends of friends but it didn't matter we were all family bound by a single love of singletrack. Friday night was a great night of sipping wine, sharing stories and getting to know each other.

Saturday I had my choice of two groups to ride with. Group A was heading out for a road ride. Since I only had my mountain bike and I had put knobby tires on the night before, that didn't seem like a good choice. Group B contained a nice mix of mountain bike guides and world class mountain bike racers that were planning something "epic". Hmmmm. . . maybe not a good fit for me either. So I decided to do my own ride.

I opted for Klondike Bluffs. I chose Klondike Bluffs because some of the roadies were thinking about riding a trail later and I wanted to have something left. Klondike is a fun little climb with a fun descent but not so technically difficult that I was likely to injure myself and have to limp out. It was a gorgeous day and I kept a good pace up the climb trying to catch people in front of me. At the top I admired the view then headed down to be back in time for lunch. I had barely gotten onto the slickrock section of the trail when I stuck my front tire into a crevice in the rocks and did a weird slow motion endo. Instead of flipping all the way over (the proper way to endo) I got my back tire up as high as it would go and then fell onto my right side. The rock was hard but no injuries so I hopped back on my bike.

I noticed as I was riding that my cleat felt loose so I stopped again to tighten it. I twisted my foot to get my shoe out of the pedal and my shoe stayed stuck to the pedal but the pedal came right out of the bike. Somehow my dumb endo had managed to strip the pedal from the crank and the inside of the crank was no longer threaded. I waited for McGyver to show up and I thought about trying to use Gu as an adhesive but neither of those ideas panned out.

With my right pedal in my back pocket, I hopped onto the saddle and clipped in my left foot. I bounced down the slick rock stopping often to dismount and walk the more rugged sections. I was jarred enough that at the bottom I was happy to be back onto the jeep road. However, I still had a long ways to go and by now I was fed up and hungry and getting a huge blister on my foot. So I pedaled with only my left leg while my right leg hung out like dead weight. A few people passed me and asked if I needed help but most tried not to look at me. Like if they don't mention my handicap it is like it doesn't exist.

The rest of the day was great. I did a little wine tasting and then enjoyed an amazing dinner with my new friends. We had great conversation and all of the other tables were envious of us. I'm sure they were staring at us because we were so glamourous. . not because we were loud (I love the effects of a good red wine). After dinner it was time for the annual Moab Halloween Party.

If you've never been to the Moab Halloween party you are missing out. People take their costumes at this event very seriously. Sexy, raunchy, bizarre, weird and disgusting costumes were there but none were boring. Mine might have been the lamest costume since I went as a French Maid. I spent some of the night dancing with one of my new friends who had dressed up as a Hooters girl. He looked great although I was a little uncomfortable with him constantly pushing his breasts into my back.

I also spent much of the night dancing with Bob. Bob was wearing a bright read wig in a pixie cut and aviator sunglasses. Bob from Sedona introduced himself and I told him I was Shanna from Salt Lake. Some more dancing then "Dana?" I corrected him, nothing new it takes a while to get my name right. Then he asked "what do you do in Reno?" I told him I don't do anything in Reno. More dancing then, "do you get up to Tahoe much?" I informed him that I'd never been to Tahoe. He found that very hard to believe since I live in Reno. More dancing then again, "what is it you do?" I told him I was a maid. Then we made out on the deck. What the heck, that is what Dana the maid from Reno would do!

Today I woke up to a screaming headache and blue skies. The weather was too nice to waste so I rented a bike and deciced to make myself suffer by climbing Amasa Back. I've done Amasa a few times before and I think it is my favorite trail. I rode with my roomie to the trail head and we were off. Well kind of. We hiked down the "step" section and onto the trail. I had noticed at the shop the pedals were a bit tight but I wasn't worried. By the time I had hiked through the fine Moab sand to the rideable part of the trail, it was taking a ton of force to get in and out of the pedals. Of course I had tools in my saddle bag, the problem was that my saddle bag was on my bike.

I rode down the first rocky section and managed to get clipped in at the bottom. I started climbing the next section and ran out of steam (sram shifters, I was always in the wrong gear). Unable to clip out, I balanced as long as I could, then fell over onto my side. This patterned continued with me falling on both sides fairly equally for maybe a mile before, covered in dust and scraped up, I said "no more". We rode for another hour or so towards Hurrah Pass before deciding that it was too lame and we were too hungry. We turned in our rentals and headed home.

I love the weekends

I love the weekends. I just can't figure out where they go. Here it is Sunday night and I haven't written my psychology paper yet or done any laundry. Obviously I'm still not working on either. But oh well, the weekend was so much fun that I don't even care.

I left work early on Friday and went to see an old friend. We used to work together and went through our divorces together. We drank mojitos, ate bundt cake and watched Sex in the City. I managed to blow 2 weeks of dieting all in a single evening but I had a blast doing it.

Saturday morning I was not at all in race shape thanks to a nice little hang over. I raced terribly but made myself not quit since I deserved the punishment. It was still fun - plus I won a brand new pair of mountain bike shoes! Kara was racing so well. Her and Tayler were way off the front duking it out but Kara flatted and was forced out of the race. She'll be back next week though and watch out! I'm sure she'll be in the A's before we know it. Margaret also tried her second ever cross race by borrowing my bike. She also had to borrow my shoes and I had to show her how to get in and out of the SPDs. She has no skills over the barriers but tons of fitness and speed on the bike. Next week she'll be back on a borrowed bike to give B flight a shot.

Saturday night I revisted my youth by getting together with an old high school friend. I can't believe it's been 20 years! I don't feel that old!

Today I went for a nice 45 miler with teammates. The weather was perfect! Even arm warmers were too much for temperature. Now it is back to the grind of school, work and the gym but hopefully there is a trip to Moab in my near future!

Update

Not that you care what is up with me but I just manage to have one of those lives that is well let's just say- never dull.

I figured out the porn music! I was playing around and put a bike game widget way down at the bottom of my blog. I'm not sure why the bike game had porn music in it but some of us cyclists might like porn with bikes in it.

While we're on the Sex subject I'd just like to let everyone know that I am straight. Don't get me wrong I like women, just not to sleep with. While I have lots of friends of varied sexual orientations I am an old fashioned girl and I like boys- usually the wrong ones. It just seems like I've been asked my preference a lot lately. I've also been sent invitation to a lesbian bike tour and been put on some Facebook list of people that I might "like" that are all women. Maybe this is all just an indication that I need to wear make up and do my hair more often.

In other news my 14 year old daughter is mad at me because I wont let her go see Panic!at the disco with some sister of an ex friend of her brother's that got kicked out of her house. She thinks my whole goal in life is to torment her. I took her to Body Worlds. She really enjoyed it but by the time we hit the genito/urinary part of the tour she said, "Mom, I don't want to see anymore penises!" (I really do hope she'll feel that way for the next 10 years!)

Actually it is the other way around- the 14 year old lives to torment me. She has begun wearing all of the same clothes that I wore in Jr. High. Right now she is wearing "skinny jeans", a purple tie and suspenders.(She still hasn't figured out why I keep calling her Cindy Lauper). She has also agreed to babysit my ex-husband's sister's Sugarglider. I call it "the rodent". I thought my dog killed it when he stuck his big nose up to the cage and "Ringo" the sugarglider flew across the cage slamming into the other side.

Recently I've seen pictures of myself. I'm not sure when I grew this spare tire around my middle so now I am on a diet. This seems to make me have less love for people and much less tolerance for them. In spin class this morning I was a tad grouchy with the talkers in class. I said something to the effect that if you got out of bed to come to the gym at 5:30 you should make it productive by burning some calories and moving your legs more than your mouth. I guess it doesn't matter because they weren't listening anyway. It didn't help my attitude that the main yapper had on a UCA Cheerleader shirt.

I was pretty excited today though when my boss told me she'd throw me a party once I finished this class and got my degree. Yeah!A party! Not a promotion, not a raise so I can pay back my Federal Student Loans- A party!!!

Crap, I'm out of calories for the day. I guess I'll go to bed so I can start dreaming about breakfast.

Spooky!

Somehow I have music on my blog. I didn't put it there. It kind of sounds like 70's porn music. Very strange. I will have to figure out how to put better tunes on there- when I'm not at work. But for now boom chick a wow wow. . . .

Cross Rocks!

Heber cross was so fun yesterday. I didn't do very well but my bike worked great! I just need to work on my barriers. I can't believe how slow I am over them. I don't think I was this slow last year. . . but I'm still getting to know my new bike. And now that my new bike feels completely different than last week we have to get to know each other all over again. I guess I was getting used to having really crappy brakes because I found myself not pedaling way before the barriers and then coming to nearly a complete stop way before the barriers. But on the bike I felt great! Amazing what a new bottom bracket will do! So this week I'll get out and practice my barriers some more. I'm sure I'll have it by the end of the season :).

Pimp my ride

I think I might be grateful that I stopped myself from throwing my cross bike into traffic last week. Scottie got a sweet new cassette, derailluer, chain, bottom bracket, cables, seat post, stem and pedals. I quite possibly sold my soul to the devil to do it but it is worth it! I am looking forward to a very cold race tomorrow with the added benefit of shifting and braking that I so missed last week. It should be fun! I've got to go pack. . .

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad! What can I say that Stacey hasn't already said on her blog? Dad really is the most genuine, caring, loving, generous, hard working, kind hearted man on the planet.

Love you Dad!

Frightmares!

Well, lesson learned. Three glasses of wine last night, followed by three consecutive trips on the Wicked and lunch is not going to stay down.

Today I took my daughter her friend and my son's girlfriend to Frightmares. Every year my son works there. In the past he has even been "actor of the year". Today was family appreciation day so we got in for $10 a piece. It was a perfect day!

We got there as it opened, parked 5 rows from the front and felt like we had the park to ourselves. There were no lines so we just got right on everything. The Wicked was so fun we got right back on again and again. I now appreciate the downtime of standing in line. However, the 14 and 18 year olds seemed to have no problem tackling 12 rides in an hour and a half. After the Wicked I took it much slower and made sure to stay off any spinning rides.

Later in the day we marched through the haunted houses. I thought I'd be deaf from girls screaming in my ear but I can't complain too much because I did my share of screaming. (I don't know why they made the old lady go first!) In the last haunted house "Fun House of Fear" my son chased us out the exit with a chainsaw. I think he was enjoying that a bit too much!

UCA Party

Good times with my bike family!

Well that sucked!

First cross race of the season and I sucked. My warm up sucked. . . . my big mouth sucks. . .being over emotional sucks. . . my brakes sucked. . . taking out the pole because I couldn't make a turn sucked. . . switching to my mountain bike with the seat waaaaay too low sucked. . . not being able to clip out of my mountain bike sucked. . . being unprepared in just about every way for this race ensured that I sucked.

Before I left James asked me if I was going to race Heber next week. Of course I am! I got all of the crap out of the way today so I am going to have a terrific rest of the season!

Did I hear that there's a cash bar at the UCA party tonight!?

The Sandbagging bug is contagious!

Looks like the cyclocross women have caught the sandbagging bug too. If you were forced to upgrade to A flight last year, probably because you were reapeatedly lapping me in B flight, shouldn't you race A flight again this year? Or maybe it seems okay to race B again because there is now a Women's C flight? Does that mean I'm supposed to downgrade to C? That would be great. . I could probably kick my 14 year old daughter's butt in that group. That would make me feel good.

I've finally lost it

I guess it was only a matter of time before my insane schedule caught up with me and made me insane. Last night I finally lost it. First let me give you a little background for those of you that don't know how things "run" at the Heath/Matheson household. Austin is 19 works 2 jobs and goes to school full time. Ashley is 14, gets almost straight A's in school, is on the dance company, basketball team and races cyclocross in the fall. Me, I also work two jobs, go to school and race my bike.

Usually we manage to keep track of each other through text messages and phone calls. Well yesterday Ashley got her phone taken away at school. She was good though and fessed up by calling me from a friend's phone. Last night was one of those nights where I get home from work about 5, throw on my gym clothes and go teach 2 classes. I miss seeing Ashley because she doesn't get home from dance until about 5:40.

So after stopping for milk I headed home from the gym. The house was dark and quiet. I had only one message on my phone from Austin saying he'd be at work until 11:00 but no message from Ash so I started to get worried. Ash knows to be home by dark and to always let me know where she is. I tried not to panic and checked all her friend's houses that were close. I called Mom to see if she had heard from her. Then I started going to all of her friend's houses and calling the entire West Lake dance co. By 9:30 I was really panicking. My brother came over (he's a police officer) and offered comfort but said they wouldn't put out an alert for her until she'd been missing longer or if we knew she was in serious danger.

Of course by this time my imagination had got the best of me. I was sure someone had picked her up or she'd got into some trouble. I didn't know if I'd ground her for life or just be so grateful to have her back. About 10:00 my ex-brother in-law pulled up. He was worried since the cops were at my house but he had my daughter in tow. He had picked her up to babysit for him. She had told me about it but I completely forgot. What with the wedding and funeral she was also going to this week I had brain overload.

So I'm sorry to everyone that I called and harrassed and got worked up. I'm going today to pick up a giant calendar so we can write everything down and maybe I can keep some sanity!

The Cavemen cometh. .

So Fatty's blog has had me thinking. First off I don't really like what Lisa's friend said (you'll have to go to Fatty's blog and read it for yourself). Anyway, no woman should ever say anything to the effect of "have to ride with us girls". That makes it sound like we are all slow and could never keep up with a man and should be home scrubbing pots or painting our nails or something. I know some really damn fast women that a lot of men would be lucky to hang with- not have to hang with. The implication that you are a slow, fat, out of shape man to be riding with women is insulting to us women!!

Outside of that comment Fatty's post was great. I'm glad that he is man enough to admit there is a neandrathal in there that makes him want to catch women on bikes if only for the sole purpose of clubbing them and taking them back to his cave.

But that begs the question of what is the protocol? Not that I pass alot of men nor am I suddenly going to start going slower so I don't pass you. But do you want me to smile and say hi? comment on the weather? or just pretend like I didn't see you there suffering?

And maybe I'm a bit of a chick neandrathal because I like to chase just to see if I can hang. . . and even better if I can pass.

Along those same lines I once dated a guy (it has been known to happen) that was a cyclist (supposedly a track racer from somewhere East). We had a few dinner dates then decided to ride Emigration. At first I wondered why he was letting me take the lead. Then I realized he couldn't hang. . . at all! Then I didn't know what to do. Is it more insulting to ride really slow with him while he's gasping? Go ahead and then stop and wait? I chose to ride easy but I still dropped him. I asked all of the women that were passing me if they'd seen him and what they thought I should do. Needless to say that was our last date. I guess a real man wouldn't have cared but since then I've tried to only date guys faster than me.

So the neandrathal thing brings me around to RMR. I suspect that a bit of this caveman clubbing stuff was going on a couple of weeks ago when there was a 20 man and one woman pile up in C flight. My teammate Kara was feeling good and still in the race with 3 laps to go. She followed another teammate off the front. The remainder of the field put the hammer down to chase and the result was a big mess! Was this a neandrathal reaction? Given the previous week's comments of "ma'am can you please get out of the way?" I'm kind of thinking so. You know, if you don't like being behind a girl in a race, don't let it happen.

Even sweet little Alisha Welch has dealt with comments like "OMG, you're a girl!" as she passes men in hill climb races. I guess it is good that her hubby is still faster than her up the hills. . . but only a little. One day she just may beat him. I'll be watching for Dave standing on the side of the road beating his bare chest and throwing leaves!

Harvest Moon Crit

It was a great day for a bike race! It was pretty hot for the end of September but I'll take that over too cold!

My back has still been bothering me, although it seems to get a little better each day. But I decided to take some Tylenol and give the race a try anyway. They combined us with the 123 women and we were off for 45 minutes. I was worried about the longer time but as it turns out I actually started feeling better as the race went on.

Laura P. took off right from the start. The field managed to stay together for the first few laps but the 123's were just too fast for us 4s and the field split into 2. The 4s worked together and maintained our speed and when the 123s slowed we managed to catch them. It wasn't too long though before they were launching attacks and dropping us again. For the rest of the race we had our own little field. There were a few attempts to bridge but none lasted long. Eventually our entire group was lapped by the faster gals.

My cardio felt great and I was able to stay in my drops pretty comfortably. The only time my back really gave me trouble was when I tried to stand. Pushing down on the handlebars was pretty miserable- so I just sat! But overall I feel pretty good about my performance, even though my results don't show much. I took some good pulls and attempted to break up our group but was never able to stay out too long. On the final lap I should have been more aggressive about staying toward the front since the final sprint after the corner was so short. So between bad positioning and sprinting from my saddle I slid backward and only finished ahead of 2 people. Oh well. It was a good last race. I'm happy that I was in a group and able to give some hard efforts. And of course, crits are always fun!

James was out taking pictures so hopefully I'll have some to post soon.

Crash and Burn

Crash and Burn. That is the new nickname that Scott gave Kara and Me. I'm not sure which one of us is which.

So today I took Kara to her appointment at the wound specialist. Her ankle on her left leg is non-existent from the swelling. There really is no skin from her knee down to her ankle. When she removed the bandages the wound was covered in a nice green slime.

Her conversation with the doctor went like this:

Dr:How did you do this?
K:bike racing
Dr: A motorcycle?
K:no, a pedal bike
Dr:a BMX bike? (sheer puzzlement. You know he's imagining Kara on a beach cruiser)
K:no, a road bike
Me:Like Tour de France
Dr:(Still puzzled) How fast were you going?
K:28-30mph
Dr and male nurse: silence
Dr:maybe you should wear leather
Me:That would look great with the kit! Ski Utah leathers!

By going with Kara I had hoped that would mean they would give her good drugs and I could drive her home. But no, they slathered her leg with lidocane and the doctor went to work scraping, yes scraping off the green stuff. He scraped until it bled. I cringed in the corner and Kara, stud that she is pulled her hat down over her face and sucked it up.

I was impressed with Kara's fortitude. She threatened to go take care of the patient throwing a fit in the waiting room, she accused the doctor of making grown men cry and she told him he needed to do it faster "like ripping off a bandaid". But no tears and no swearing. I probably would have cried like a baby but dang that girl is tough.

Afer her visit I drove her to the pharmacy where we gawked at the hot pharmacist. Then we had a nice lunch. She still has some more healing time but hopefully with two oral and one topical antibiotic she'll get her ankle back soon.

Bummer!

I thought I had signed up for the Contender Cross clinic on Thursday nights. I can only go every other week because of my classes at Gold's but it still would have been worth the $5. But I just looked on the list and I never did register- dang! Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go by myself to the park by my house and practice. (You should see my big pouty lip). The neighbors already think I'm weird anyway. I'm sure this will help.

Licking our wounds

Last night I went over to visit Kara. Her road rash is terrible! It starts at her ankle and goes all the way up to her waist on the left side. There really is no skin on her elbow and her forearm has another huge patch. Crazy girl should have been sitting around with her leg up but instead she was playing hostess, keeping everyone's drinks filled and taking care of kids. By 8 her leg was swollen pretty good and by that time I was also leaning forward in my chair attempting to take the pressure off my back. We're quite the pair!

Today Kara had big plans to sit home and watch football while her hubby took the kids to the Zoo. I hope that is what she did. I woke up with the back feeling pretty good and too much pent up energy. I cleaned the house and couldn't take it anymore. The sun was shining, the leaves were turning and there was a nice cool breeze blowing. How could I stay off my bike? So I decided on an easy ride up Emigration. By the time I'd pumped up my tires I was starting to think that riding might not be such a good idea. . . oh well, I don't generally listen to reason. So I went. I turned off my bike computer and rode without heart rate. I took it pretty easy since breathing deeply seems to be the second biggest source of pain, right after standing and pulling on my handlebars. So I sat and spun all the way up. I got passed a lot. I even got passed by a guy with fenders and a rubber duckie on his handlebars which he squeaked at me as he went by. I must have been going really slow!

So now I'm sore, but not too bad. The ride was worth it. I needed the mental break that riding gives me and it would have been terrible to waste such a beautiful fall day. I think in a few more days I'll be good too go! Harvest Moon here I come!

More of the same

Back to PT today. There was more folding, popping, hugging and twisting. After that another coworker put electrodes on my back and set me up on the heating pads. I wish I could say that I immediately felt better. Instead I spent the afternoon trying not to breath because the wrong move would cause major spasms and major pain.

At 3:30 I left work and headed to the massage therapist. My old girl had moved so I was trying out a new guy. Turns out RB is one of my students from spin class. He was really good and for the first time all week my back felt good. So in one week I've had both coworkers and students see me undressed. . . . weird!

So now I'm at home, back arched over a pillow full of ice. I'm still moving with great trepidation but I am able to breathe a bit deeper. I'm hoping that I'm at least headed in a healing direction. I am missing my bike.

No worries though. Kara is recovering from having her infected road rash debrided today and we have big training plans for tomorrow. We're going to sit and drink margaritas until the pain goes away. . . .

Frustration!!!

So this picture doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything except that it explains why I struggle getting on and off my bike- it's the Bootay!

I guess the pic does have a little to do with my frustration since Saturday was when I went down hard on my back when I couldn't clip out of my pedal. My back between my spine and shoulder blade have been killing me since. If I sit up straight it is not too bad. However, lying, moving, even a deep breath sends a stabbing pain clear around to my sternum.

So yesterday I finally gave in and asked for some help from a PT in my office. He had me take off my shirt. Then he pushed on my back a bit, rolled me over, folded me in half and pretty much sat on me. My back popped and he lit up a cigarrette. Well okay, he didn't light up but I kind of felt like that is what should have came next.

Anyway, my back felt better momentarily. It also felt better this morning and I got in a decent workout at spin class. However, tonight's step class didn't go so well. I tried to sit out the weights but since I teach the class and there is a bit of a language barrier at the WVC Gold's I have to show the moves and not just tell them what to do. So now I'm in pain again. I'm not looking forward to another "quickie" PT session tomorrow and I gave all my Lortab to my ex. Dammit!!!

I just want to feel better so I can be ready for Harvest Moon and the first cross race on the 4th! Frustrating!!

Cyclocross and Mosh pit

Practice, practice, practice. . . .

This is what happens when you miss the hop onto your saddle and ride your back tire. To give a bit of perspective the white spot is the width of my cross tire!



Yesterday was the cyclocross clinic at Tanner Park. Bart Gillespie, Kathy Sherwin and Ali Goulet were our instructors for the day. They were really great! All of them were very patient, especially with those of us that are athletically deficient and lacking any sort of coordination.

My day started out a bit frustrating. I had taken my cross bike into the shop for its free 90 day tune up. I'm glad it was free because when I got it back the front derailluer was all messed up. Kara and I spent warm up time adjusting the cable so that I could shift into the big chain ring. It is still not working great. I know that I have Fisher Price (aka Tiagra) components but the shifting did work prior to the tune up. What a pain! At least the clinic was awesome even if my bike was not.

We got lots of practice over the barriers, which I still need more of. I've given up on doing my dismount the fancy way. I just swing my leg over and behind and kind of fall off the bike. The "fancy way" as I like to call it, is when you stick your foot through, clip out, and then jump the barriers. The problem is that the clipping out part was just one too many things to think about for me and so I didn't clip out and then I'd go down every time! I did crash really hard once and strained something in my shoulder/back area. Ouch!



We also got some practice turning, trying out different apexes and lines to take and braking and skidding. I did find out that my brakes suck! No matter how hard I tried locking them up it just wasn't happening. I may have to get some better pads.

This is Diane practicing her turns.



BG turning. . .



Us practicing our starts. . . I'm pretty good at my starts. At the few mountain bike races I did this year I was first to the single track. Of course, once I got there I was just in everyone elses way. . .



After our start practice they wet down a section of the hill so we could practice some off camber muddy turns.

Jennie shows how its done. . .


BG goes down. .


again. . .


Pretty soon it got really muddy and everyone went down. . . even Ali


I stayed up this time but missed the turn. . .


The hill got me too. . . this was after a slow motion somersault backwards down the hill.


It was a great day. I really appreciated all the help from pros. I'm glad I have a couple more weeks to practice and get my bike working and then soon we'll be racing! Yeah!!! It is going to be a blast!

The mosh pit. No, falling in the mud wasn't what I was referring to . . .

After a shower and a brief nap I met teammates and friends for dinner at Porcupine. Ricky is moving to Washington so we had a going away bash. After yummy food and a few beers we moved the party to Liquid Joe's where the Spasmatics were playing. The Spasmatics is this awesome 80's band. I gave away my age by singing along to every song. It is cool having cyclists for friends. Who else can bounce up and down in a mosh pit continually for 3 hours and not get tired? I'm glad all that endurance training paid off. We danced our buns off and had a great time! (By the way Sohmy, it really was Todd grabbing your butt and not me!)

Here's what 5 years and 5K looks like

BEFORE:

This isn't a true before picture- just before the braces were off. When we started this whole ordeal she had a bite like a Shitzu. It is good that we started fixing it early. (If you want to know what an adult looks like with an underbite check out Michael Phelps smile. He has a big bottom jaw and his top teeth are all crowded and scrunched.) If we hadn't started when she was 8 she would have needed her jaw broken to fix the problem! Instead she suffered through palate expanders, retainers, gear and lots of pain. To top it off she throws up every time they do a mold. Today was no exception.

AFTER:

Not a true after. She has 4 nights of teeth whitening and then her smile will be perfect!

Time for Chapter 5

"Autobiography in Five Chapters" The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost . . .I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in...it's a habit.
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault
I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.
There's a hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

Taken from Karen Salmansohn's article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-salmansohn/which-brick-road-is-right_b_124915.html

"low-tuh-juh"

That is what it says on the shirt the race gave me. So now you know how to pronounce it. Well, sort of. You do have to run it together and mumble it in the way that only a true Utahn can.



Here's the Ski Utah boys at the start. Yes, it was the middle of the freakin night. Holly had the hotel have breakfast ready for us at 4:30 am. That is early even by my standards.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day. Ski Utah was well represented and finished well. . .

M Cat 1,2,3:

Jeremy 4th
Jan 14th
Kirk 20th
ET 21st
Spence 22nd
Clint 34th
Todd 35th

W Cat 1,2,3:

Alison 2nd

M cat 5:

Norm 4th

Masters 45+

Ken 33rd
Ted 37th

2 Person Relay

Sean & Dave 9th
Breanne& Chris 11th
Sheri & Shane 13th

My good friends the Greens did awesome taking first in the "Fun" tandem category and Tara, Steve, Brent, Doug, Curtis and DW all finished strong.

I spent the day keeping track of the Men's licensed Cat 4. Before we even hit Preston they were combined with one of the Master's Men categories. I didn't worry about separating them out. I couldn't even think about how to get 100+ cyclists back into their own racing category. I knew that Strawberry would do plenty of separating with no help from me.

I leaped frogged the leaders of the Men's 4 all day. They were good boys and played by the rules. I got to see a lot of my friends and teammates throughout the day. It was pretty fun and pretty exhausting. Once my group hit the bike path I was off to the finish line. The sun went down taking the warmth with it but thankfully at 8:15 Holly said we could cut it off. Ash and I went to our hotel and warmed up in the hottub.

Sunday was nice. Ash and I did some shopping then we met up with friends and hit the alpine slide and a movie. It was nice to actually be able to enjoy Jackson without needing to eat every hour and without having to use the handicap restrooms to lower myself to the seat.

A friend of a friend had extra bunk beds so we spent Sunday night in Teton Village. The situation was quite interesting. At dinner the Friend of a Friend (FOF) kept asking me questions about DQs and what my job as an official was. He also asked me about the groups mixing and working together. I told him that there wasn't enough of us to watch everyone so we mostly keep track of the licensed riders and that everyone else is on the honor system. I mean really, how could you feel good about beating someone or getting an extraordinary time if you cheated?

After dinner we went back to the condo. He showed us to our room and then the FOF and his wife hurried out the door. They didn't get back until very late. This morning they were in a hurry to get out the door once again. Later I found out the reason for the weirdness. Turns out the FOF actually did cheat and started with a different group 20 minutes earlier. Pitiful. I hope his conscience bothers him and I was glad I was there to make him squirm, even if it was unknowingly on my part. It may be too late to see if I can get him DQ'd but since he took 3rd in his group I'd like him to have a big X on his name.




Today Ashley and I headed home early. We took a small detour so she could show me the Snake River. She had spent a week rafting the river and wanted to show me the cool rapids she had run. It was beautiful.

We made it home in plenty of time for me to go get my Dad's tire and windshield fixed. (I took his car to Jackson since mine died right as I was leaving the city.) If you can't tell I'm quite hard on cars. I managed to chip his windshield as well as get a giant nail in his tire. Steve and Brent are studs and helped me change it despite their aching knees and legs. Ashley was disappointed that they weren't as fast as NASCAR and she made a point of letting them know it.


Overall it was a great weekend. Now I'm eager to get back on my bike. No I didn't at any time wish to be riding 206 miles. Although a nice, free 50 miler would have been perfect!

Lotoja revisited

2 years ago was my first Lotoja. My sister volunteered to be my sag and I stayed with my good friends Ben and Jen Green in Logan before the race. I was pretty new to the whole racing thing so when I registered in my age group I didn't realize that they wouldn't automatically put me with women. So my category that day was 50 men aged 35-40.

It was a great day . . for me anyway. My poor sister rear ended someone about 10 minutes after I started. My entire front bumper was ripped off and the police officer wasn't about to let her drive it with no turn signals. She did the only thing should could under the circumstances and burst into tears. It worked and she made it on time to Preston with me none the wiser. The Greens in the meantime were worried she wouldn't make it so they ran home and grabbed the essentials like powerbars and gels and were there in case Stacey didn't make it. I had no idea any of this was going on. I was enjoying a beautiful day on my bike.

In Montpieler my parents showed up. It was really cool to see them and they were very excited and impressed by the race. They were also a little shocked when right there in the open I loaded up on chamois cream.

Most of the ride was great. I felt pretty good until the last sag stop. I was dehydrated and in a lot of pain. At the last neutral feed I went in the porta potty even though I didn't need to go and took a little nap. Only 30 more miles to go.

Somehow on the way into Jackson I got on the bike path. Soon I was wandering off course. Fortunately, I could see other riders on the road down below me and I realized that I was a bit lost and delirious. I found my way to the final stretch into Teton Village and the people cheering from their cars helped me find a little more speed. I finished in 12:26 minutes, 13 in my category of men. Not bad.

2007 I tried again. It was obvious by mile 100 that I was much slower than the year before and my neck was killing me. I had spent the summer on my trainer with a broken elbow and my neck was unable to hold my head up with a helmet on for very long. DNF.

2008 and here I am again. I'm not racing this time. Although already it has been a bit stressful. This afternoon I dropped my cross bike off at Contender for a tune up and when I went to leave- to head out of town for Logan- my battery was dead. Dad saved the day by bringing me his car and getting mine towed to the mechanic. Tomorrow will be a long day sitting in my car, watching the suffering, keeping track of the racers. Tomorrow I'm an official. I'm sure at the start line I may be a bit sad that I'm not racing but Sunday when I can still sit down without assistance I'll be glad I didn't put myself through the suffering.

I am excited to see my friends that are doing it and I wish them all the best. Good luck to the Greens, TA, DW, DJ, and all of my incredible SKI UTAH teammates and all the rest of my cycling family.

Thanks Gary

Before C flight started tonight I mentioned to Gary the comments made to us ladies the last couple of weeks. Things like "you can't sprint with us" and "ma'am can you please move over?" I figured maybe some of the guys didn't know we were part of the same race.

Gary is a big supporter of women's racing. He wants to see us out there and he loves it when we have a big field and we race hard. So he gave a nice little lecture before C flight. He told the guys that yes we were part of their race and if he caught any of them telling us to get out of the way then he'd get them out of the way. Aaaaah. . . chivalry is not dead! (Our other plan was to sneak Margaret into C flight and let her whip up on the boys a little. That would have been fun but I'm sure Gary would have caught on pretty quickly.)

So off we went. I was inspired by my teammates. Margaret was out there hanging on nicely to the A flight and Jamie stayed in B flight for the whole race. Ski Utah women rock!! Kara jumped into the race late because her tire was flat at the start. The race started out at a decent pace. I worked my way to the front. I forgot how much nicer it is up there. Of course, the pace picked up. I slid back and worked my way back up towards the front. I did that a few times then the break happened and I got popped off the back (nausea again- and no I didn't have a latte and a giant bag of cookies before the race ;)).

I did my usual routine of riding at 5 mph until I got lapped then jumped back into the main field. I hung on until the final lap. It was fun! It is such good anaerobic training and it really does make racing with the girls easier. Besides I'm sure it was one of the last gorgeous nights left before it is dark and cold. Awesome!

Last Summer blast!

Well let's just say that the weekend didn't start out so hot. I felt crappy on my Saturday ride and only did half of the ride I wanted to. Then I went home and cleaned out my closets. . . boring! While cleaning I compulsively checked the weather on the internet and the forecast never changed. . rain, thunder and lightening. It wasn't looking good for downhilling. So come Sunday morning I was still lying in bed pouting when Kara called. "Come up," she said, "just a few clouds." So I grabbed my mountain bike and threw in my tent and sleeping bag for good measure.

Thankfully Kara just lives and doesn't worry about things like the forecast. It ended up to be a beautiful day! Her husband's friend (aka line up for Shanna) didn't show so it was just Kara, Scott and I. Kara invested in knee and shin pads so there was no worry about her holding back (you're laughing if you know Kara, holding back and Kara don't belong in the same sentence). In fact most of the day I would catch up to Scott and together we'd ponder Kara's whereabouts.



We did my favorite run, that Scott hates because you have to climb (only like 800 ft.) to get to another mountain, Deer Crest.



We finished the day with a long run that headed us into some deep forest and eventually connected us with Midmountain. It was awesome!



After we had exhausted ourselves they headed home to pick up kids. I was planning on meeting friends at Soldier Hollow the next day so I decided to camp. I stayed at Wasatch Mountain State Park. The fall leaves are starting to turn (see above).

I got a great campsite (no worries Mom, I was in a designated site with cell phone service and other campers near). I set up my tent and headed back into Midway hoping to hit the Timp Freeze for dinner. I had fond memories of going there as a teenager after a day of skiing at Deer Creek. Unfortunately, it was closed. I settled for fast food in Heber and got back to camp just as it was starting to rain. I was happy to have a reason to get in my tent and have nothing else to do but read my book.




At about 8 pm there was a break in the rain and I got out of my tent and went for a nice long walk and got ready for bed. (See above picture of the view from my campground. That little sliver of silver is Deer Creek.) I climbed into my sleeping bag at 9 just as the rain started up once again. The roar of thunder echoed through the canyon. I slept with the racket of rain on my tent until 1 am when the first small drop hit my face. It seems my "GoBeDry" rainproof tent system had about all it could take at 6 hours of torrential rains. Before I got any wetter I bailed for the Jeep and I traded the sound of rain on my tent for the sound of rain on my metal roof- still soothing.

It was the lack of sound that woke me. Finally at 7 am it had stopped raining. I enjoyed the warmth of my bag a bit longer before getting up and breaking camp. The tent I'd abandoned was actually pretty dry inside with the exception of two small puddles, one right where my face had been.

I grabbed a gas station breakfast and met my friends at Soldier Hollow for the Sheep Dog Trials.



The dogs were amazing. Through only whistles and voice commands the dogs would gather two separate herds of sheep, guide them through gates and then eventually would separate 5 wearing collars and get them in a pen. It was awesome considering I cannot even get my dogs to stay off the couches.



I finished off the evening with a fish fry at Kara's house. Scott fried the halibut he'd recently caught in Alaska. It was delicious! I especially enjoyed talking to Inger. She's Scott's Mom. She marches to her own drummer and makes no apoligies for it. She comes to my spin class and works harder than most people half her age. She is the only person I've ever had complain if class didn't go the full 60 minutes. She's a hoot!

So despite a rocky beginning, it ended up to be a great weekend.Now I'm a little more ready for fall. This week I start teaching two more step classes in trade for the lesser amount of riding I'll get in. I guess ready or not fall is here. As I was driving home I looked up at the peak I had ridden my mountain bike off just the day before- it was covered in snow.

Maybe it's time

Maybe it is time to see the doctor about my stomach. I've blamed the heat, dehydration and even the altitude but today I had none of those. And there's been days I've ridden with all of those factors and my tummy has been fine. And today the problems started early. I thought maybe the nausea would go away once I was warmed up. But when I met the team 10 miles later I still wanted to throw up.

We headed up Emigration. I was looking forward to making it to the top of Big Mountain before turning around. Not even half way up I could no longer keep pace with the team even though they were going at a real reasonable pace. I've climbed Emigration much faster than that but today it was not meant to be. So I dropped off the back, went into an easy spin and got passed by every old man and weight watcher groupie out there. I only kept going because it was such a beautiful day and I knew the weather was supposed to turn ugly for the rest of the weekend. It felt like the last ride of the summer :(. The other thing that kept me going was the runners. No matter how miserable my stomach was, at least I wasn't running half a marathon.

I made it to the top of Little Mountain and turned around and headed home. The tummy is still not happy and the food commercials are killing me. I'm bummed I missed more of a beautiful morning ride but at least I got my closet cleaned out and at least it wasn't a race day!

So I guess I'll buck up and find a good gastroenterologist. The problem is that I know a lot of them because I work with them. I really don't want people I know sticking scopes in places. Especially if they are only going to come up with some catch all diagnosis like "irritable bowel syndrome". (That diagnosis is like pointing out the obvious- irritable bowels- ya think?) Then in the back of my mind I keep hearing the discussion at the family reunion that the Matheson's have an unusually high rate of colon cancer. So high in fact that the University of Utah was at one time doing a study on us. Ah, a proud family heritage.

Bummer

Well Diane just emailed me to inform me that the Women's categories for the eagerly anticipated Harvest Moon crit have all been combined. That sucks. As the last UCA race and not a hill climb I was hoping to do well. I have good power and I can handle a corner. . . just not quite as well as the pro women.

As if women's racing isn't discouraging enough. If you don't already know there is no Cat 5 women's category like the men have. There is no come and try out racing with other newbies. Instead come out and race against women that may have years of experience. Add to that incentive, the fact that Women's 4s usually race with the Masters women. Masters is just another name for women that were once pros but are "out of shape" or just don't want to go as long or hard. They are still usually very strong and of course they know how to race.

So let's say you stick it out in the Women's 4 and you figure it out and you start winning. This is not necessarily a good thing. Win enough and you "get" to upgrade. Well sure, if you're strong enough you shouldn't be racing with the beginners, but once you upgrade to a Cat 3 you now get to race with the pros. Usually the the Cat 3 women are combined with the 1/2s.

Okay, okay. I know I'm whining. And I know the reasoning behind all of this combining the women. There just aren't enough women racers. I'm not sure where they are. Maybe home barefoot and pregnant? Handing up waterbottles to their men racers? Afraid to try because of all of the above reasons? Afraid of helmet hair?

C'mon ladies. I know helmet hair is not attractive but racing is fun! You get to push yourself harder than you ever thought possible . . . it relieves stress. . . the racer women are nice (most of us anyway). . . and well it is just cool.

Happy Birthday Austin! Yes 19 is scary!

Happy Birthday to my not so little kiddo Austin. If you guessed that I had him when I was 10 then you are right!

Austin is awesome! My favorite thing about him is how quiet he seems. Really he is just taking mental notes for later. Once he knows you he will harrass and tease you mercilessly. He has the best sense of humor. I never knew the nightly news could be so funny. . but if you watch it with Austin it is hilarious!

I'm so proud of how well he is doing in school. He almost has his Associates in Graphic design then he'll attend the Art Institute to get his bachelors in WebDesign. He works (if that is what you call his job) at Backcountry.com as a photo assistant. He is such a great kid and would be one of my favorite people even if he weren't my kid!

Love you Austin!

RMRzzzzzz

On my ride home from the crit I started having detailed fantasies about Crown Burger. It was then I realized I hadn't eaten since lunch! Duh. . no wonder I felt so tired at the crit. I had gu in my pocket and even a fruit roll up but forgot all about them and didn't feel hungry until I was headed home.

It was another one of those days at work. I'm not sure why Tuesdays are especially hectic but I think it may be that our psychologist is there and that is when all the crazies come in. Dr. V also finally made it out after surgery so I could parade him around to all my physicians. I don't think I'd ever go to him. Not that he's not a fantastic surgeon, its just that he could have only started shaving recently and I'm not sure I'd trust him with a scalpel. He looked like a kid dressed up for halloween in his scrubs and pressed white lab coat.

The Crit

C flight was small tonight. The first few laps they were taking it easy, which was fine with me. I was struggling early on to find any power. Kara got sick of the slow pace and attacked on the back stretch. It was awesome! Her short break worked nicely to speed the field up and dump me off the back. She wasn't out too long before being caught. Some young punk pulled up to her and politely said, "ma'am, could you please scoot over" WTF?! She's racing against you and if you don't like her up front then do your own attack.

Once I got off the back I waited to get lapped then hopped back on. I didn't stay for long, I was just done. I wanted a nap. I didn't feel the need to pace with Kara even though she was yelling at me to get my A back in there. I quickly wished I had stayed in since I was immediately acosted with unsolicited advice. Apparently my cranks that used to be awesome, hollow, light and stiff needed to be traded in for the carbon ones which I had been told (by the same person)were too flexible and not stiff enough. Um thanks? Do you have a cheese burger?