Monday, March 31, 2008
Happy Birthday Grandma!
My Grandma has always been ahead of her time. She taught herself to drive long before women were supposed to. (She did drive with the emergency brake on the entire time but she did it!) She also worked when she wanted to and because she wanted to. I think the most important thing my Grandma taught me was the difference between wanting a man and needing a man.
My Grandma was loved and cherished by my Grandpa and he always allowed her as much independence as she needed. After he died she remarried a long time family friend and neighbor that had lost his wife. Although he is a great guy he had different ideas about what a wife should do. (He wanted her to be at home during the day and cooking him a big lunch and she always has a very full social calendar.) In her late 60's she packed up and left him. She rented a cute little condo with her savings and was ready to reenter the workforce if she had to. It was the bravest thing I'd ever seen anyone do. Even in her 60's she didn't have to have a man to support her. Wanting a companion to enrich your life is one thing having your life and identity dependent on a man is another.
She's back with him now. She's laid down the rules and they spend time traveling and bowling together. She asked me the other day how to lose the little bit of a belly she's gained. Like at 79 you would worry about such things! Gram is my idol! Thanks Grandma for being the strong independent woman you are and for being a great example to me! Happy Birthday!!!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Powertap dreams down the drain? Or put your money where your daughter's mouth is?
As you know I've had my heart set on a power tap. Really I am just looking for some kind of hard data that my cycling is continually improving in some fashion. But I may have to face reality and wait until next tax return for such a luxury. Last week at my daughter's orthodonist appointment I found out that my ex husband has likely stopped the orthodontic insurance that he was carrying on my 13 year old. I should have known he forgot about her metal mouth when he gave her a giant bag of bubble gum for Easter! This will leave me with $1800 of metal and rubber bands to pay for. (If you are thinking that my ex should help pay for this you are so right! And you have obvioulsy never tried getting blood from a turnip either!)
Yesterday afternoon while I was taking a shower my daughter ran upstairs to report that water was dripping into the family room again. Fortunately, the $200 I paid the last plumber to cut a hole in the ceiling of my family room and tell me that every thing was fine has not gone to waste since the hole allows the water to drip directly into the family room and not add further damage to the ceiling.
Instead of dealing with the dripping I reacted in true Scarlet fashion and packed up the kids and we went to dinner and a movie. Well tomorrow is finally here and I really need another shower. I guess I'll put a bucket downstairs and this week I'll call another plumber. Maybe I can find a plumber that is a cyclist and he can use the money to by himself a Powertap.
On a side note- I have already set aside the money for my new Felt (see previous Isn't she lovely post) and no amount of dripping is going to keep us apart!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Secret powers!
Windy RMR
I'm sure he doesn't say that's my girl when he watches me race. But he is nice enough to stay and watch and always tells me what a good job I did. Actually I don't feel too bad about today since I have been sick all week. I had a bit of trouble clipping in at the start so I immediately started drifting back. By the narrow part on the back stretch I was already losing the main field. I hooked up with 6 other guys and we formed our own second group. It was really good wind practice as I moved around continually trying to find the sweet spot out of the wind where I could catch my breath. I hung with those guys to the finish and got in a good workout and had lots of fun. I'm looking forward to giving it another go on Tuesday. The season is still early and hurt as it may I'm going to hang with those ridiculous Porcupine guys someday soon. I heard one say today, "so even though I'm a 4 now I can stay in C flight! Cool I'll stay here another year or so." Milk it!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Off kilter
So I don't know if I'll be able to ride tomorrow. I'm not supposed to wear my contacts but my glasses are missing a lens and the prescription is about 5 years old anyway. Also it is supposed to snow again and the LeMond continues to make the mysterious noise. Of course, she never makes the noise when Sam is around (fickle- this is how I know she's a girl!)
I'm also getting really behind on my schoolwork. For some reason my computer at work wont allow me to post to school. I can't really call hardware support and say "hey, I can't go to school anymore on work hours, help!" So maybe tomorrow I'll just stay in bed with my laptop and finish my paper on what I'd do if I were the drug czar. Since I did bring my leftover Lortab to my BF last night maybe I'm not the person to ask!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Isn't she lovely?
Saturday, March 22, 2008
RMR and Triple Valley
I knew I couldn't chase back on so I sat up. That gave me a while to have a nice little arguement with myself. There was a voice that said, "come on B! pull off and call it a day." Fortunatley, the other voice that said, "quit being a pansy, get in your drops and ride like you know how to" won out. I caught back onto the first pack but didn't stay long. (Okay guys, how long are you going to stay in C flight? Is it really still fun to beat the pants off beginners and women?) I then caught onto the second pack.
As I'm merging in with them I look over to see Diane with blood running down her face onto her jersey. Just like the pro she is she is working hard and racing well despite the gushing nose. I hung onto that pack for the rest of the race. The tempo was hard but doable. Thankfully, my subconsious took over and I no longer had to remind myself how to ride the course.
After the crit I headed West with Diane and James. We rode the Triple Valley Road Race stage. Going out my HR was 135 and we were flying over the hills at 20 mph without breaking a sweat. That kind of easy riding can only mean one thing- we're F'ed when we turn around. We went to the B turn around at the Sinclair. The gas station was barred up and the gas pump had been burned (I've felt like doing that!). So without a refill on water and with no more sugar, we headed back to the car. The headwind was brutal! Diane and I tucked in behind James for most of the ride. We were only able to manage 13 mph on the hills and were happy to make 18 on the downhill. Diane used all of her paper towels and rode the entire 50 miles bleeding with peices of paper towel shoved up her nose. That girl is one tough chick. Watch out ladies!
Thank you Mistress Julie for letting me sleep in a bit longer tomorrow. Brandi has nicely offered to let me off easy with only a climb up Emigration.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Aaaah. The commute
Cool Dude!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
I'm in a Magazine!
This picture was taken on the last day of camp. Every day we rode 60 to 120 miles for 6 days in a row. On the last day I did a 5 and half hour century. I was thrilled with my time after having ridden over 450 miles in the previous days. The century also included a big mountain pass and lots of rolling hills.
Susan and Lon put on the camp and they did a great job. They are both RAAM record holders and probably still hold the tandem record. We were also lucky enough to have two other Women Solo RAAM finishers at camp. It was great to learn from them and get to know them. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of their camps I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Baby Project
Now that we're home they've mostly forgotten about the poor baby. They are busy singing along with Zac Effron and texting boys. Occasionally one of them will ask the other to check to see if the baby is still breathing. Then they will suddenly revert to playing dolls and they'll love it and goo over it for a minute. Then Zac will be back on and the baby is forgotten about.
It is cute. I wonder how the boys do with it. I also hope it works and that by day 6 the girls will think hard before they get intimate with boys. I wonder if it would have worked for me. I doubt it. I grew up taking care of my little brother and sisters and babysitting a ton, but in the heat of the moment you forget all about consequenses. I'm thinking birth control.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
A few numbers
Today I burned about 1000 calories. At 2x a week that is 8000 calories a month and 48,000 calories in 6 months. That is almost 14 pounds of body fat! Woo hoo!
Today's commute:
Miles- 30
Calories burned -1000
Time spent at the gym -0
Gas stations passed with no fuel purchased- 4
Pollutants pumped into the air by my car -0
Monday, March 17, 2008
Happy Birthday Mack!
Oh and Happy Anniversary to your parents!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Mesquite!!
Friday Liesa and I found the Jensens at Lee's Discount Liquor in Mesquite. Doug was like a kid in a candy store. We carbo loaded with a nice dinner at the gold club and turned in early to be ready for a killer ride up Utah hill the next day.
Saturday we met the rest of the group at the Oasis. I warmed up by visiting with Don and MM on their tandem. Once we turned onto the frontage road it was time for my interval workout to begin. 4 of us pulled off the front. I practiced my attacks on the rollers until we hit the longest hill and I got dumped by the guys. I had almost caught them by the time we hit the store in Beaver Dam. I stopped since I knew this would be my last chance for a real tiolet for about 40 miles.
After my stop I started the 17 mile climb alone. I worried only about keeping my cadence up and keeping my HR at lactate. I climbed well, got in a good rythym and was thrilled to feel the sun on my skin. At the top I turned around to head back for more intervals on the rollers. Most of the group headed down the hill into St. George to make a century out of it. I wanted more intensity and fewer miles and I got them!
The descent was long and cold. I hit the rollers again heading into a fierce headwind. I was still feeling great and I stood up on every roller pushing my HR up as high as it would go and then recovering only to do it again. I made it back into Mesquite and I spun up the big hill to the condo. It was nice to be done before the big winds picked up. Jerry and I had a nice lunch on the deck while we waited for the others to return.
Ryan cooked a lamb and Shelly fixed the rest of the delicious spread. Our other friends all came by and we had a great time talking, drinking and laughing until 2 am! Today as we were leaving we could see the road we had climbed off in the distance disappearing into a cloud. We were quickly welcomed back to winter by terrible roads covered in snow. So sad to be back to winter but at least I got out of it for a little while. Back to the gym tomorrow.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Off to Mesquite
I'm headed down with my good friend Liesa. She is one of those women that can do any sport and is naturally good at it. As a former competetive body builder she always looks great! A couple of summers ago we went downhilling at Deer Valley. She was complaining that her front shock was making some kind of noise on the first two runs. When we got on the lift for our 3rd run the guy putting our bikes on noticed that she had no front skewer! That explained the banging noise- scary!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Learn to watch for cyclists
A passer-by asks you for directions. As you talk to him, two workmen walk between you carrying a door. In a flash the passer-by switches places with one of the workmen, and you are left giving directions to a different person. Do you think you would notice?
Researchers at Harvard University played this trick on some unsuspecting people and over 50 per cent failed to spot the change.
This phenomenon is known as "change blindness" - only a tiny fraction of all the information going into your brain enters your consciousness. People often fail to see a change in their surroundings because their attention is elsewhere. (Like on a cell phone!)
Even stranger, if you are concentrating on something, you can become blind to other events that you would normally notice. This "inattention blindness" is possibly the reason why motorists collide with cyclists.
Just as it is important for road users to keep an eye out for cyclists, cyclists must also take steps to ensure they are seen by motorists.
(Taken from Transport for London)
Click the link below to test your attentiveness.
http://www.dothetest.co.uk/
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
What is up with Wednesdays?
In the meantime I had the maintenance man following me around. While generally I enjoy having a man around asking me what he can fix and what he can do for me, today I just wasn't up for it. His helpfulness seems to have increased since he found out that Bob Roll is not my boyfriend. (Time to get some pictures on my desk of me and my real BF!) He did manage to fix the locks that weren't working for one person in my clinic. Now they work for her and no one else. I hope my docs aren't seeing patients in the parking lot tomorrow while I'm in my meeting. He also "fixed" all of my exit signs. Now they make some horrible migraine inducing noise.
Speaking of patients I had the pleasure of speaking with one particular pain in the rear repeatedly. He is unhappy with his dosage of medication. He refuses to see the doctor so they can have a discussion. So now he is getting a lawyer. I would love to hear what the lawyer has to say when he tells him that I offered him a free visit at anytime for tomorrow to get his meds straightened around. Speaking of doctors, I have 2 with the flu. Lovely.
In the middle of all of this fun my new therapist dropped by again. (You'll remember last time she stopped by while I was snoozing on my desk.) So I just talked to her while she followed me, the maintenance man and the locksmith around the clinic. What a parade we made! My new employee arrived just in time for the main circus act. Gosh, I hope she comes back tomorrow.
As for spin class I am going to start some new rules. #1 if you are new please don't come late and bring 10 of your closest friends. #2 if you are larger than a B cup please wear a bra!
Okay, I will survive. I will make it to sunny Mesquite and I will be riding my bike up a big A hill! It will be great. I will be suffering on my bike and my good friend Doug will tell me a dirty joke or comment on how nice my carbon fiber looks and all will be well. Then we'll get back and he'll sob (pretend) uncontrollably. It is quite a sight to see a 6'4, 220 lb man in lycra weeping loudly. Then his wife will make us some spectacular food and feed us until we can barely manage to get our alcohol to our lips. His daughter Leni will tell me all about her glamourous life in Vegas and I will sleep like a baby.
The Civil War at Hale Theater
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Recovery? Ride
Of course, with all those people and two teams represented, the ride was only kept slow because of all of the traffic lights splitting up the group getting out of the city. We ended up splitting up and heading North. My group headed up around City Creek, through the Aves and up to Wasatch. My legs were so blown from going all out on Saturday that all I could do is spin up each hill. My teammates were great about waiting for me. But with my max HR for yesterday at 188 it was hardly a recovery ride!
By the way my sister saw us flying by Liberty Park and said we looked awesome!
So this week I only have 3 spin classes and a kickbox class. All of which will be at recovery pace. My work and extracurricular activities schedule is slammed with a play Tuesday night, dinner with an old friend on Thursday, a massage and meetings at work every day. Somewhere in all of that I need to find time to pack for Mesquite. Utah hill is going to hurt but it will be my last big tear myself up before the real racing begins. I'm looking forward to a weekend with my old clubbie/ultra distance bike friends.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
RMR
They held the race on the oval instead of the drag strip. This is both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that it takes out any technical skills that the usual course requires making it a little safer. However, the speeds can get pretty high and once you get dropped it is difficult to get back on. Men with bigger hearts and quads will always dump us gals on the oval. When we race on the drag strip I know the pack will slow down at each corner so I can usually get back on then. I was also looking forward to finally making peace with the end of the drag strip that crashed me.
I feel like I did well. I started off near the front and held on for as long as I could. Adrenaline got the pack moving fast early on and I started losing places quickly. I stayed ahead of the other women until about 10 minutes in Brandi hit her full stride and passed me. I caught onto packs and wheels wherever I could but the main field ended up lapping most of us at least a few times. I'm not sure if the ladies were scored separately or not. Hopefully, because that would mean I was top 3. Regardless of results it was great anaerobic training and those crits at RMR will make me a better cyclist!
It was fun to watch Sam in his new kit on his hot new bike. He so deserves to be on a good team with teammates that actually work together. He also was long overdue for a new bike since he's been racing the old white Raliegh that was never intended for him. He looked comfortable on his full carbon and Durace Specialized Tarmac. He got in a break early on and although they were eventually caught, he pulled away again and won the B flight! Way to go baby!
Well, time to go change my tire and get ready to head out for some more badly needed mileage.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Are you kidding me?
Are you kidding me? Remember in ET (the Extra Terrestrial) when then erect that huge quarantine tent in the front yard? Well my neighbors have one of those. It has been up for 2 days now. The only thing I can figure is that they've outgrown the garage as a family room/party place and have had to add on to their house West Valley style. This and the permanent yard sale across the street add to the charm of this neighborHOOD.
Are you Freaking kidding me? They closed the liquor store closest to my house. This meant that I had a choice of driving downtown, to Magna, or to Kearns to get a bottle of wine or going home and drinking the BF's crappy Natural Light. Do you realize that in other states people can stop at the grocery store on their way home from work to buy a bottle of wine to have with dinner? Did you ever notice that on the door of the liquor store they have a warning about drinking and driving? I did not know that I could actually start drinking in the liquor store. Today was the first day I actually considered it. I always thought it was a take home kind of place.
I do feel better since I found some Castle Creek Outlaw Red! They had it in the California Wines section. Sad when even the liquor store refuses to admit that alcoholic beverages can be made here in our very own Moab.
The Ladies
Anyway, last night was a nice little get together with the other women on my team. It was great to meet all of them. They are all amazing women juggling careers, school, BFs, husbands, kids and a love of the bike and racing. We have a lot of women with a lot of strengths and we are going to kick some butt this year!
We had some great food, wine and even a fashion show (trying on the kits). Laura H. our women's leader came out to welcome all of us. It was really cool. Tomorrow we officially kick off our season with the first crit at RMR. We'll have at least 4 Women racing C flight and at least 1 in B and A flight. Go Ski Utah!!!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Too Funny
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Bacon Coma!
My lethargy stayed with me through my drive home and a 15 minute power nap did nothing to help. The gym was just weird tonight. As I sat outside the classroom waiting for my class to begin people just kept coming up and talking to me. First a guy in a wheelchair came up and shared his joy of zipping around the track. "I couldn't go this fast with 2 good legs!" he said. I just smiled and continued my stupor.
Then my neighbor from Camaroon came over for a visit. He is the biggest blackest man I've ever met. It is fascinating when he hangs out in a traditional African dress in his front yard. It helps me to understand why men like skirts on women. As always my "big, strong legs" are a favorite subject with this man. Is he hitting on me?
Finally, some man I've never met in my life comes walking up to me. I'm seriously looking around trying to figure out why he's headed my way. "How are you? Don't you remember me?" He then did some weird pose with his head and body as if this would somehow trigger a memory for me. "I'm Kenny Olson". Again, more smiling, nodding and blank staring on my part. I felt so out of it from the freaking bacon. Maybe I looked like I needed a friend or something?
Unfortunately, no one showed for the step class I was subbing. So I spent some time working with the new instructor. She's never really done step let alone taught it. I tried to give her my 18 years of teaching knowlege in 45 minutes but she's going to need some work.
Spin class was the usual odd mix of people. I turned up the music and zoned out until my calves started cramping. Too much salt and sugar is obviously not good for you. As Isabelle says when she knows she is going to do something naughty "DON'T DO IT." Good advice from a 2 year old. However, she is like her aunt. Even while saying don't do it, she knows she will.
Monday, March 3, 2008
That's my Girl!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Snow Canyon (no snow to be seen!)
Desert Rampage!
Not a cloud in the sky! Yesterday was my first attempt at a mountain bike race (not counting Tour de Suds where I do more suds than racing). I Started off well into the six mile course sitting second and third. Once we got to the technical climbing section of a river bed wash, women started dismounting and walking up the 2 and 3 foot ledges. I was sitting 4th coming out of the wash and onto the long dirt climb. I hung onto that position but by the time I reached the top I was having some vertigo issues. I stopped and did a gu and then picked my way down a steep gravely descent. I felt better in time for the next climb but by then I had lost more positions. I ended up finishing 7th.
I enjoyed the rest of the day soaking in the rays and feeding Sam. Today we're off for a nice road ride up Snow Canyon.