Shanna's Stuff

Should I do it?

2011-09-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Should I revive my blog? I became really lazy with the invention of Facebook. Instead of going on and on about my crazy life I began finding clever ways to condense my current state of mind into a single sentence. But, sometimes I might like the option to expound. We'll see. . .

WTF?

2009-05-17T09:30:00.001-07:00

This sign is a good warning to people that try to ride without a front wheel. Your fork will get caught in a perfectly square hole and you will endo, especially if you're wearing your strap on turtle shell.

Bear Lake Road Race

2009-05-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

Why can't more races be like this one? Instead we have a ton of races with lots of climbs and strung out fields. I guess I should move somewhere flatter?

The race was fun and remarkably no one went down despite the constant battle for second wheel. The first flat 20 miles were pretty uneventful. There were a few short lived attacks from Ski Utah and two even shorter attempts at a paceline. As we neared the rollers the "other Stephanie" (not THE pirate hooker ICE Stephanie) went to the front and set a hard pace. I kept up with her and attacked on the hill. This managed to break our field from 20 down to 10. Unfortunately, I lost all of my teammates and a few good allies in the effort.

The Other Stephanie continued to keep working her way back up to the front and was very content to pull and even resisted offers to take a break- that woman is an animal! ICE Stephanie launched attack after attack on the downhills. I covered each one but everytime I caught her she'd slow down and the rest of the field would catch us. This continued throughout the rollers. Other Stephanie pulls, ICE Stephanie attacks and I chased.

As we headed toward the finish the pace slowed and I had a feeling that ICE Stephanie was going to give my last year's early break and solo finish a try. Sure enough, when the turn was in sight she took off. I once again chased but couldn't hold on. Finally another girl took up the chase and soon I was caught by the pack. With nothing left I gave a meager attempt to sprint but gave up when I realized I had been passed by all 9 women in our pack.

So I'm not too happy with my placing. In hinsight I realized I should have hung back and waited for someone else to go after ICE Stephanie and saved myself for a better sprint finish. But overall I am happy with my racing. I managed to stay up front all day, pull a few hard attacks and chased down several attacks by a kid half my age. The bright side is that ICE Stephanie will likely upgrade and instead of working us over she'll be getting worked over.

5 Mile Pass

2009-05-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

I have this great teammate that is always willing to work and sacrifice in road races for everyone else. I've seen her launch attacks and set up her teammates for the win. She's awesome! So when she wanted to mix it up and do some mountain bike racing this year I was happy to support her and give it a go. She's super tough on a mountain bike and so even though this was her first race she bypassed the beginner category and went straight for Sport. I've done a few mountain bike races and I am usually a bottom feeder in the beginner category so I happily stayed in the beginner category.

Due to the rain they shortened the loops and delayed the race. I was happy with my hard push up the hill. On the way down I did my usual and try to stay out of the way of the fast guys that were lapping me. (Thank you to everyone that tells me you're coming and which side. If you don't tell me then don't expect me to even try to stay out of your way. And if you buzz by me without a warning only to crash right in front of me don't expect sympathy.) Despite some stupid tip overs in the mud and some walking with my bike I managed to hang onto second. Kara did awesome! She finished 5th in the sport class on her heavy, old Gary Fisher.

Since yesterday's workout wasn't the physical blow out I expected I'm hoping to get in some miles today on the road bike. So far I am unmotivated to ride in the rain again. Aaaaaagh! Crazy weather!

Never dull

2009-04-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

As I stood outside the hospital in the sunshine, cursing the weatherman for saying it was going to rain, crabby because I chose to leave my bike home, I saw the man. He was staggering down B Street propelled forward by the combination of slope and gravity. When he reached the bus stop sign he reached out, grabbed the pole and stopped his forward momentum. He swayed, lurched once, and somehow managed to land on his back on the lawn. I left my post at the bus stop across the street, knowing that as soon as I left my ride home would come. I crossed the street and hovered above the man and asked if he were okay.
“Are you an angel?” he asked me, he was laying face up, his arms outstretched, fly wide open.
I told him no and again asked if he was okay. “Are you trying to get to the hospital? Do you want me to get you a wheelchair?”
“I want to go see my friends. I can’t see your eyes.” He replied. It was then that I realized I might have had a bit of an otherworldly glow with the sun behind me shining through my blonde hair. He told me his friends were at the Veterans’ Memorial and he just wanted to be with his buddies.
I was at a loss for words. I wasn’t an angel and I couldn’t take him to see his friends. I helped him find his feet and told him that bus 11 would take him to the Veterans’ Memorial to see his friends. He was likely drunk and I probably should have called the police to pick him up for public intoxication but I just didn’t have the heart. The man thought I was an angel after all.

A little break from the norm

2009-04-26T14:00:00.001-07:00

I spent the weekend "recovering" by officiating the collegiate race. Holly failed to mention that the prerequisite for collegiate races is that they are only held in really crappy weather conditions. This weekend more than filled that requirement. Saturday I kept warm in the rain by dancing and thinking about how happy I was that I wasn't racing EC. Thankfully, a good friend let me thaw out in her hottub last night so I was ready to spend today freezing again but this time with a little snow added into the mix.

Despite the cold, the races were great and I had a lot of fun. It was a nice weekend with a little excitement thrown in for good measure. Now I can return to my regularly scheduled program of working and working out.

Love it

2009-04-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

Check out the new tabloid blog under cool links. Can it really count for a tabloid though if it tells the truth? Looks like Women's Cat 4 racing even got some notice, not that racing with a potty mouth is anything to be proud of. I'm looking forward to the update tomorrow after EC.

I'm baaack

2009-04-23T20:18:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know. I've been a huge blog slacker. Much has changed in my life since my last post. Mostly I've just spent my time becoming queen of Word Challenge on Spacebook instead of rambling on about things here.

Since my last post I've changed jobs, classes and have lost 20 lbs. All good stuff. I love my job! The work is interesting and I have no employees. No one has complained to me about what their coworkers are not doing, I haven't had to call a plumber or clean up blood droplets left in the waiting room. It is fantastic! There have been a few challenges from people that think I'm trying to make their lives difficult by making sure we're compliant, but overall things are good.

Another thing to like aobut my job is the commute. Work pays for my bus pass so between the bike and bus I rarely have to drive anymore. The bus takes longer than riding my bike but the entertainment is fabulous. The bus gives me enough material for its own blog!

Despite a plethera of bus anecdotes, plan on the usual bike racing adventure stories. So far I've done one race this season (not counting the solo riding I did in Vegas.)I raced Hell of the North. I whined and complained and threatened to keep my butt in bed but Kara was so excited that I showed up. It was freezing! I chose to ride my cross bike due to the long section of mud that each lap promised. Right off the start my brakes were dragging onto my rim and I had to stop and fix them. I watched the field ride away. Cussing and swearing I put my head down and hammered into the wet snow that was blowing sideways. To my surprise I looked up and saw I was catching someone. I hammered some more and managed to catch and drop a few more. I felt good and managed to sprint for 5th not bad for starting out dead last and with a 48 up front.

Last weekend I missed Tour of the Depot for a rainy weekend in Colorado with Backcountry.com. This weekend I'll be missing East Canyon to officiate the collegiate race, I can't say I'm sad about that! I am looking forward to the downtown crit in a few weeks.

Random Thoughts

2009-01-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking how things change. When I was a kid it was such a treat to go to McDonalds. Usually it was too expensive for us to get Happy Meals so we just had to go with a burger. I thought how when I had kids I'd have enough money to buy them Happy Meals. My kids got plenty of Happy Meals growing up- probably too many. Now they love it when I actually take the time to cook. It is a treat for them if I take time to prepare a meal and we stay at home and eat it together. I guess it is one of those "be careful what you wish for things".

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

I'm finding that I'm moving very slowly today. No, I'm not hung over. I really didn't drink much at all last night. I've found over the past few years that I don't really need alcohol to give me an excuse to be uninhibited. I also don't really need the horrible hung over feeling the next day. I'm moving slowly I think because I am afraid that once I get going with my chores I will be off and running and will not slow down for quite a while. It will be full steam ahead into the new year.

Christmas was great! I think I am finally learning to manage my expectations better and am okay with change. Don't get me wrong, I still miss the days when my kids were up bright and early and would race each other down the stairs to see what Santa had brought. But, things have changed. This year on Christmas Eve my kids and I negotiated wake up times for the following day. I really wanted to be up at 5 so I could spend some quality time with them before heading off to see my nephew and nieces. They made it pretty clear that wasn't happening and settled for the still ungodly hour of 7.

At 6:45 I had already been up and had drank half a pot of coffee. I couldn't wait anymore so I knocked on their doors. Instead of the patter of little feet stumbling out of bed in their new pajamas, I was greeted by the moans of disgruntled teenagers. I waited 5 minutes before knocking again this time adding, "come see what Santa brought!" I could hear the eye rolling through their closed doors and through the covers that were likely pulled over their heads. I finally threatened to leave them and go in search of children that actually wanted presents when they managed to make it downstairs.

It isn't that my children are ungrateful, they just really enjoy their sleep, they always have. My kids have always slept very deeply and been near impossible to wake up. While I've always regarded sleep as a necessary evil, my kids bask in it.

Once up my kids enjoyed opening their presents. Santa brought the family Rock Band and a blender and we spent a wonderfully long weekend making smoothies and jamming out in our family room. I managed to make it out to see the little kids on Christmas Day and got to enjoy a little time playing Barbies with the girls and listening to my nephew play Jingle Bells on his new guitar. My sister and her husband looked tired by 8:30 am as they sat in their living room scattered with wrapping paper, dolls of various sizes, and horses in pastel colors.I had forgotten how exhausting Christmas is when you have little ones and had only remembered the excitement. One day they'll look back and miss those days.

A bit of contrast

2008-12-24T09:57:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-11-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-11-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-11-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-10-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

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. . .

2008-10-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Good times with my bike family!

Well that sucked!

2008-10-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

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. .

2008-09-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-28T10:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-09-18T18:43:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

"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"

2008-09-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-05T20:40:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

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?

SanPete Classic

2008-08-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Whew! It was great to be back out racing. I am sad that the season is coming to a close. Just the Harvest Moon Crit and we'll be racing cyclocross.

We had a good field starting out with 14 racers. Early on Margaret started with the attacks. With her in the field there is no chance of sitting on and having a group ride- if the pace lets up at all she's gone. Fortunately, she's on my team so I can let the other girls work and pull me up to her. 17 miles in Bev decided it was her turn to attack. Since she is an awesome time trialist we decided we couldn't let her sit out there too long so I chased, pulling most of the pack to her. As soon as we caught Margaret and Kara went off for a counter attack. Crap! I was not recovered and got completely blown off the back.

I don't need much recovery though so I caught my breath and attempted to chase back on. I jumped on wheel after wheel letting them pull me back. By the time I'd caught 4 or 5 women the main field was split in two. I caught back up to the chase pack and there were only 4 left off front. I hung on up the hill despite really wanting to throw up. Kara ran out of water an popped then we managed to drop the RADD girl. Now it was down to Melanie, Jo and me. I knew I could outsprint Jo but Melanie has some serious power. I hopped on her wheel and was ready when she took off at the top of the climb. She pulled me down to the 200 meter mark where I came around her. I hoped she was worn out from pulling me the last 6k but I sprinted too soon. I was out of full power and Mel got me at the line. I finished 6th. I was really happy with my race. I managed to average 172 hr topping out at 190. It was a good, hard, fun day on the bike.

I'm IN! Watch me compete!

2008-08-22T19:47:00.001-07:00

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kendall card 2.0 » Another Day on the Bike

2008-08-22T13:11:00.001-07:00

kendall card 2.0 » Another Day on the Bike

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Olympic musings

2008-08-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

Since Tour of Utah is over I'm back to my Olympic addiction. Here are a few of my observations:

*To the Chinese women divers: I hope now that you've won Gold and Bronze they will feed you. Of course you don't make a splash. At 60lbs you could do a cannonball and not make a splash

*Why do the women's volleyball wear bikinis and the mens baggy shirts? Come on. . I wanted a little Top Gun action

*BMX is cool

*The open water swimmer amputee is awesome (sniff, sniff)

*Did the swimmers use all of the razors because the Brazilian mens volleyball players are only a couple of days away from looking like Grizzly Adams.

*Track stars have nice legs

*To the USA men's and women's 4X100 relay teams. . . velcro, bubblegum, practice?

Tuesday Night Worlds

2008-08-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Finally I made it back out to RmR tonight. My commute from work is 40 minutes to an hour and between leaving work late and my vacations I haven't made it out for a while. Tonight wasn't looking much better but Dr. V got called into do an appendectomy so he had to reschedule our meeting. Thank you to whomevers appendix burst so I could leave work early!

I am happy to report that I felt great tonight! I thought maybe they were taking it slow but I looked down a few times and we were going 28-31. I did manage to get popped off the back at about 15 minutes in. I was just not paying attention and the field sped up. I got lapped and got back on. (Sorry Gary, I didn't pay 8 bucks to ride by myself. . I do that everyday on my way to work). I did start moving up the outside down the straight away. I just wanted to not be off the back going into the turn. Somebody started whining that I couldn't contest the sprint. I assured him that I knew the rules and he wouldn't be outsprinted by a girl tonight. When the bell rang I pulled off eager to be out of the way of the craziness.

It was fun and felt good. . . . Sanpete here I come!

Feeling better about Time Trials

2008-08-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

I woke up a bit crabby today. I'm not sure why. . it's not like I had to race the stupid time trial. It's just that they aren't too exciting to watch and I couldn't understand why they needed marshals there 2 hours before they were to race on a closed course. I wasn't looking forward to standing in the hot sun for hours even though I knew I'd get my daily bottle of warm water from the volunteer tent.

But things got better once we got there. First they needed help in the rider sign in. All of the racers got stamps on their hands so I got to hold hands momentarily with the racers so I could apply the stamp. I'm hoping that will give me more good cycling karma and make me faster. I need all the help I can get since I've been standing around and not riding for a few days now.

My next assignment was for the scales at the start line. I really wanted to help be a holder but I feared I'd be too distracted by the skin suits to do a good job and I didn't want to drop anyone. So I settled with touching the bikes. It was a great job since all of the riders had to come by me. They sat in the shade waiting for their start and when they ran out of chairs they sat on my cooler. How many other people can say Tyler Hamilton sat on their cooler?

Ashley quickly tired of her marshalling job. They put her by some barricades and it was pretty obvious which way the course went since the riders were still in a chute at that point. So she came and sat behind some riders and got a few more autographs for her Rock Racing hat. When she tired of that I shoved her into a Canyon bicyles car and sent her out on course behind a rider.

So it was fun but I'm glad its over. I'm not sure that I'll volunteer again. I spent a lot of money driving all over the place. We did get some swag at the end but next year it might be more fun to choose where to go watch the racing and be able to just enjoy it without getting yelled at by motorists and pedestrians. Hopefully there will be a next year.

Another ROCKin' day

2008-08-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

How freaking cool is this? Tyler Hamilton, me, Freddie Rodriguez, and Ashley. Damn!

On the way home from Snowbird we stopped in 7-11 for some gas and Rock Racing was there. One of the guys had a bag full of hats and he graciously gave one to each of my kids. We took them along with the hat I got in the motorcoach last night and headed off to the signing at Contender.

When I gave Tyler my hat to sign he gave me a funny look and asked,"where'd you get this hat?" (Maybe it was his?) I sheepishly admitted that I got it out of his motor coach.(Good thing he hadn't left his shorts in there!) He commented that it was "used and abused". I said that as long as it was one of RR team that used it I was thrilled to have it.

Both Tyler and Freddie were extremely gracious. We thanked them both and told them we'd be out at the race tomorrow to watch them. Freddie said he'd be in the cheering section. He laughed when I told him that I didn't blame him because Time trials suck! (He's actually had a stomach bug that has been bothering him. Then again my stomach hurts just thinking about climbing the Alpine loop).

In other news I have to say congrats to my good friends Tara, Steve, and Mel that all completed the 300 ride. For those of you that don't know they did the same route that the pros did today. . . all 98 miles and 14,000 feet of climbing. Impressive!

The Crit. . .

2008-08-16T17:18:00.001-07:00

Fast Freddie. . . looking cool right before the crit.

It was a beautiful thing. 150 guys flying down the straight at 35 mph, flying through turns, breaking away, suffering to hang on, crowds screaming and cheering. . . and people still watch football?

The podium.

It was a great night. All my favorite cycling friends were there to watch and cheer. Sonia and I made sure we were right by the start/finish line. We had so many people wanting to constantly cross the street. A lot of times the same people kept coming back and forth. Some I'd let out to cross and they'd be on their cell phones dilly dallying. It made me a nervous wreck! But it was a safe race, no crashes, no idiot pedestrains strayed onto the course and it was an amazing sprint finish.

After the finish I went and found my kids. They had already been hanging out in the Rock Racing Coach but they were nice enough to let me in for a peek. They even gave me a hat one of the guys had left in there. Sweet! After that I met teammates for dinner at Rio Grande. It was a fantastic night!

This ROCKS!!!!!

2008-08-15T21:40:00.001-07:00

Thank you Sean YD! You are right. Why settle for the Caddie when you can go in the motor coach.

Nice flat screen. . .

The cockpit

No. . this picture is not upside down. It was taken by shooting into the mirror on the ceiling. . oh yeah. .

Me, stepping out in style in my new Rock Racing hat. I can only imagine who's head this was on before mine. . . ahhhhh. . .

So Freaking cool!!!!!

Um, oh yeah. . . there was a crit too! I'm tired. More on that tomorrow and more pictures too!

Tour of Utah Stage Two

2008-08-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

I managed to get a few pictures today. Austin was up early and ready to go since his GF was coming along. We found the camera and the walkie talkies and he even cleaned out the Jeep. This pic is of the race before they turn to go up the short climb to the top of Little Mountain.

Right after this picture two girls with panniers rolled up from Parleys. They asked which way to Salt Lake. They were finishing their tour from Banf, Canada. They managed to finish their journey in style by riding through an NRC race! They were excited when we told them. They didn't seem to fully understand what we were saying but the word Chipotle got them excited. We passed them down Emigration and they were whooping and hollering with joy. It was cool.

No, I'm not in the car. I thought Austin took a picture of me in front of it but I cannot find it. He is the responsible one in the family and he wouldn't let me sneak into the car. I do have a really cool picture coming of Brandi, Ashley and me with RYAN TREBON! Brandi recognized him-not sure how she can do this when he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt- (stalker?) but I'm glad she did. He was really nice and hopefully some of his cyclocross awesomeness will rub off on me.

Ashley and Michelle got to be Vitamin Water girls for the day. They preceded the race caravan with swag and Vitamin water from the crowd. They did such a good job that they were asked back for Saturday's stage. I'm sure I'll see her fly by hanging out the back of the truck while I'm standing on some hot road making motorists angry.

Oh, by the way. . . there was a bike race today! Here are the current standings so far:
1 Blake Caldwell, Garmin/Chipotle
07:37:40
2 Darren Lill, BMC Pro Cycling
00:00:04
3 Jason Donald, Garmin/Chipotle
00:00:18
4 Jeffry Louder, BMC Pro Cycling
00:00:24
5 Brent Brookwalter, BMC Pro Cycling
6 Glen Chadwick, Team Type 1
7 Phil Zajicek, Team Health Net
8 Cesar Grajales, Rock Racing
9 Tyler Hamilton, Rock Racing
10 Oscar Rivera, Rock Racing
00:00:28

Cool to see local Jeff Louder in there. Tomorrow night is the downtown crit. I'm so excited! Crits are my favorite, both to race and to watch.

At the finish line today (and in the canyon)it was nice to see some teammates. It was especially nice to see Chase back out on his bike. He said he'll get his wires off his jaw on Tuesday and that he's looking forward to a years worth of plastic surgery-ick! He seems to be in good spirits. He is an awesome kid and I have no doubt that he'll come back stronger than ever.

On the drive home tonight I saw something interesting. A Chipotle kit on a bike pulled up next to me at a stoplight. At first I just figured it was a local rider but then I looked closer. The first thing I noticed was that this guy was riding on 3500 S. in West Valley! I don't usually even dare drive my car on that road let alone ride my bike on it. I noticed that he had not just the kit but socks and was riding the Team Felt. This guy didn't look tired enough to have just finished Stage 2 and he was a little stockier than most of the guys in the pro peleton. Finally I just had to roll down my window and ask what the H he was doing. Turns out he is part of the staff for Chipotle and was just out for a ride. I gave him some advice about a better route to take West and he agreed 3500 S. sucked. I hope the rest of his ride was nicer.

Well, time to go watch some Olympics then off to bed and up for an early bike ride. Sanpete road race is coming up quickly!

Tour of Utah Stage One

2008-08-13T19:44:00.001-07:00

No pictures today. After teaching at the gym it was rush, rush to get out the door. Of course, I couldn't find my camera, or my walkie talkies. . just one of those kind of mornings. So we didn't get a lot of time before the race to check out the "equipment" but it was still cool to see the big teams like Chipotle and Rock Racing. It was cool to see our Utah All Stars too, although I can't tell who anyone is since they're not in their usual kits.

We had marshall position one so we got to see the early break. It was huge, but I guess they got off course and lost most of it. It is pretty obvious that we need more marshalls. . . and ones that know what they are doing. Better course maps would help too. After our first stop Austin and I headed to the loop up on hill top road. We had enough time to drive around and see what was up. They had Austin assigned to a corner where there was a dirt road. The cyclists weren't likely to get off course there. However, there was no one at the intersection of US89 so I dropped him off and went back to the fork early on.

It was fun for me to see my friends Holly, Robert and BG go by. Richard came by on his motorcycle and I got a high 5. Kind of like a big parade of all the people I really like followed by a huge peleton of amazing cyclists.

Tomorrow we only have one stop in Morgan so I'm hoping to make either the finish line or the top of Big Mountain to just be a spectator. I'm also hoping to get to the race earlier . . . maybe sneak into a Rock Racing Caddy for a picture. . shhhhhh. . don't tell.

Downhill fun!

2008-08-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I didn't get any pictures this time. Sunday Austin got us lift passes and he, Kara and I headed for the hills. I'm not sure if it is just the heat or the end of the season but both Kara and I have had a hard time recovering so a little easy DH action is exactly what we needed.

As we started down the first run Kara took off. When I caught up to her she was squeezing the skin on her knee together and it was crusted with blood. She had crashed hard slamming her head into a tree. (I know this is starting to sound familiar). She said she thought she might need stitches but since the bleeding had stopped we carried on for a few more hours. Austin was doing great on his new 29er and it wasn't long before him and Kara were headed down the black diamonds. Kara's feeling was that she was already bleeding so what the hell. I stayed on the blue trails but was feeling good. I was riding well and not being a chicken and I was clipped in so I am pretty happy with myself.

Anyway, we had a lovely day flying down great trails with the cool mountain air and not a car to be seen. At 1:00 we met Lacey and Sharon and had a nice lunch on the patio. When Kara got home she cleaned up her knee and since she could pretty much see to the bone she headed to the Instacare where she got 12 stitches and was told to stay off her bike for 2 weeks. I'm sure I'll see her in spin class on Thursday. After all Sanpete is coming up.

I'm an addict. . .

2008-08-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

I'm a big dork. I love the Olympics! I have reminders on my email, I browse through the photos and I watch every sport I can. My desktop is configured to show me when my favorite sports are on and on what channels. I think my favorite things are the little stories about the trials and tribulations that some of the athletes go through to get to the Olympics. Last night the cute little kid that saved his classmates in the China earthquake got me boobing. I'm sure tonight they'll have some story about a guy that didn't have a pool to train in so he swam in the sewer and I'll be crying again.

Update: I just talked to my teammate Kara. She is still wearing the clothes she went to bed in last night and has been watching the Olympics all day. She decided this morning to quit cycling and become and Olympic rower. By this afternoon she's given up hopes of rowing and is now chasing dreams of Olympic beach volleyball. Nice to know I'm not the only Olympic Geek.

Little brothers

2008-08-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know how or when but I'll pay you back for this one! I just hope this doesn't adversly effect my gas mileage!

What a weekend. . .

2008-08-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Tour of Park City. Since I was officiating I got to stay up there the night before. Ashley came with me and we headed up early for some girl time in PC. We hit the arts festival and then paid too much for Mexican food but got to sit out on the deck. She came with me on the promise that we'd get up early and hit Walmart before the race so she could read "Breaking Dawn". Unfortuntatley, we found out that Walmart in PC doesn't open until 7 am and we'd be on the course by then. She was pretty bummed.

But Holly saved the day. Ashley and I were just returning from a swim in the hotel pool when Richard called and said that Holly would pick us up a copy of the book at midnight and have it there for us pre race in the morning. THANK YOU HOLLY! Yesterday would have been a very long day of whining about when we could get the book if Holly hadn't saved the day. Holly was a bit tired when she showed up to be the Chief Ref on only 2 hours of sleep but she made both of our 13 year olds very happy.

My job yesterday was to follow the pack of 85 Cat4/5 men. They got off to a rocky start when the announcer told everyone they were the masters group. A few turned around but we got it straightened out. My daughter thought it was hilarious when she figured out why the guys were pulling off the road and she giggled even more when a few relieved themselves off thier bikes. Thanks guys for entertaining my 13 year old.

The pack stayed together for a long time. I had to warn a few guys because they were just hanging out in the left lane. I understand that we all get bumped out there but you cannot just ride out there- it is not only against the rules it is dangerous. Thankfully it wasn't anyone I knew! The field finally split with a one man break away up Chalk creek. I followed him until he was caught by about 10 others and then I followed them all into Evanston. At Evanston I got some food and headed back to the start line so that I wouldn't miss the 123 finish.

It was exciting to see teammates Jeremy Smith and Spence DeBry cross the finish line in 1st and 3rd. Clint, ET, Todd and Jan all looked strong but somehow missed a turn and hurt their finish time and placement. At the finish line we were dealing with number issues because the race bible told everyone to put their number on the Right but then the Sportsbase trailer was set up on the left. The worst part was that the finish line was in a rec center parking lot where they were holding soccer tournaments. That meant we had vans full of kids and soccer moms driving and walking where guys were trying to sprint. I thought I'd have a heart attack!

Then I saw Jamie pull up and went over to talk to her. That is when I heard about Shane getting run down by a driver. Fortunately he is okay but his bike is in peices. Patrick got in a few punches and the guy was charged with assault. I think the guy got off easy. I think he should be charged with attempted murder! Breanne also took a spill and ended up with some facial cuts. Scary stuff!

Tour of PC looks to be another Epic race/ride like Lotoja. At 12 hours we finally shut down the finish line but I'm sure there were plenty of riders still out on the course!

Here are a few pics. . . I didn't get very many. . . too busy!

I won't let her kiss boys yet but Moose in drag are okay.

Ashley riding a bike rack. Nice position although she complained that the seat was a little uncomfortable.

Today Kara and I decided to avoid cars and hit the trail. We headed north to meet Diane but she changed her mind. So we went on up to Snowbasin anyway. We picked an easier trail but it was still more climbing than I wanted to do. At the time I was wishing we'd paid the chair lift fee but I'm glad I got in a good workout. It was nice single track with a few rocky patches but nothing technical. We were done by lunch and had a nice lunch and beer on the deck at The Oaks.

Back in Blue

2008-07-31T20:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend I will be back in blue. Baby blue that is. I am working as an official for the Tour of Park City. I have to admit I was a little disappointed that I wasn't racing when I saw that they were actually giving cash prizes for Women's 4. (Usually we race for socks or T-shirts). But then I remembered that the 30 miles I did at Chalk Creek last week hurt like hell and that I am in no way ready for 170 miles in the heat, money or no money.

So I still get to be there watching smooth, tan, male legs pump away for hours on end and I'll even get to see more racing than just the women's 4 field riding away from me on the hills. I'm pretty low on the officiating totem pole. That means I'll do whatever Holly and Richard tell me and hopefully not have to use any of my official powers. So race hard, race fair and I know it is hot but wear your helmet if you are on your bike.

Chase. . .

2008-07-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard teammate Chase was hit by a car in Canada. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers

http://thechasepack.blogspot.com/

Poor sick Doggie

2008-07-28T19:40:00.000-07:00

My little Berrie doggie has been sick. She wont eat, wont drink and she doesn't even try to bring me the ball or get on the couch. So today I called her doggie daddie and we went and took her to the vet. $200 later they don't know why she is sick. Some kind of a virus combined with the fact that she is a medium sized dog and 13 years old. She's on antibiotics and special food- which she actually ate but it is $3 a can.

Poor Berrie doggie. She's going to get better though and soon we'll be playing frisbee at the park again.

Mixing it up

2008-07-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

So I just couldn't take another day of exercising in the heat. It just seems to suck the life out of me. I told Diane that I feel like I'm in a chronic state of dehydration. I'm thinking it would be great to get an IV every night. Just a nice little saline drip going so I would wake up feeling refreshed.

The heat seems to amplified by the fact that I come home to my swamp cooler. Despite the fact that it has run on high constantly for the past 2 weeks it seems to do little to cool the house. There is a nice cool spot directly under it but the dogs have already claimed it. Remember when I was complaining about the cold? Geez, tell me to quit whining.

Anyway, I gave myself a break from the bike and went to Gold's Gym. I got there late so it was the usual hung over, post party scene - girls with words on their rears, guys in muscle shirts and couples arguing by the ab machine. I did the elliptical for 40 minutes which seemed like an eternity because everyone else was on and off the machines in 10 to 15 minutes. I also lifted some weights which I'm sure I'll feel tomorrow. Anyway, the gym makes me both glad to not have to pay for a membership and appreciate riding outside!

The best part of the the day was seeing Kim. She is also an instructor at Gold's. She is one of those amazingly positive people that is just great to be around. She was telling me about finishing her first Marathon and instead of describing the event as grueling or hard she said it was "pure heaven". Wow!

I am not a Ferrari. . .

2008-07-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

So after today's race I'm chugging up towards Parley's summit in my Liberty. I'm doing well passing people when I see a sports car quickly riding up behind me. Soon he is close enough that I can see the Gold insignia and as he zips around me like I'm standing still I realize it is a Ferrari. Sweet! But then I have to laugh because it is just like on my bike races. I'm zipping along doing fine feeling good when someone passes me like I'm standing still. I guess it is all about perspective.

Chalk Creek Road race was today. I felt good about this one despite the hills. With Alisha, Allison, Breanne and Jamie all playing with the big girls in the 123 field I thought I might get a top 5. At the start line I only recognized a few riders which is pretty unusual. Missy blew the whistle to start and 3 of the women took off like greyhounds out of the chute (I guess they didn't get the memo that in road racing we have at least 5 miles of BSing before the racing begins). I hung on up small rollers but we lost 3 women pretty quick. The three hammer heads at the front stayed at the front and set a fast pace. By the second big climb I was off the back.

I suffered alone in what I thought was a headwind until the turn around- then there was a bigger headwind. I'm still not sure how this is possible but biking seems to invite headwinds regardless of direction. Still I was able to hammer back down the road and keep some speed up going back over the rollers. I managed to pass one competitor but never could catch Kris. I finished 8th but after I found out the top 3 places went to Olympic speed skaters (19 year olds that train 6 hours a day) I am not counting them and am giving myself 5th. Top 5 right where I expected to be!

Speaking of perspective, this was Alisha Welch's first Cat 3 race. She won, beating out some heavy hitters in the 1/2 field.

My favorite memory game

2008-07-22T18:41:00.001-07:00

Let's play:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

3. If you can't say anything nice, don't comment. If you do, I'll delete it OR point out what a jerk you are! (he he)

Capital Reef Round 2

2008-07-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

CRC was not a race I'd planned on doing. I had looked at the course weeks ago and decided it was a climbers course and I was still looking forward to some more July downtime. But with no kids, no school, no boss to ask if I could take another day off and a free place to stay, I had run out of excuses for not doing this race.

There were only 5 women registered in the Women's 4 field and three were Ski Utah. Not bad odds.

Once again I stole these pics from Rios blog. I took a few but left my camera at Kara's place in Fremont (I'll just use it as an excuse to go back soon). Thanks Slingshot for taking great pics!

After the TT I was only 44 seconds out of first. That has to be a record for me. I usually lose at least 2 minutes in a TT. (It is not so much that I've improved but my kick butt teammates Allison, Jamie and Breanne have all upgraded.)

After the TT we rode 10 miles back to Fremont. By then Kara and I were starving and we had to race again in only 2 hours. I had a big protien shake and a banana. Soon it was time to gear up and head out for the next stage. By the time we got to Kara's 90 year old grandma's house in Teasedale my stomach was churning and angry. I stole a couple of Grandma's Tums and got ready to head out for my warm up. It was then that I realized my cleat was spinning around due to a missing screw in my shoe. Thankfully Grandma had a screwdriver. I tightened the two screws the best I could and we headed to the start.

My stomach was still angry as we rolled up to the start line and took off in the hottest part of the day for a very hilly circuit race. I made it down the hill and around the corner. As soon as we hit the first hill I was off the back. By the second hill I pulled over and threw up. My stomach felt better but I was weak and miserable and going very slow. My cleat was also loose and I had no power and was not comfortable standing up to climb. When the Jr. passed me (yes I was going that slow) his follow car got behind me for a while. I really thought about quitting at that point. I think I was full into altitude sickness. Since I had only about 6 miles left I decided to finish out the stage so I'd at least have the option of starting Stage 3 the next day. My 44 second time out of GC was now a 15 minute deficit.

We headed back to Fremont where I drank what seemed like gallons of water and took apart my old shoes to fix my good shoes. I went to bed as early as the party on the front lawn would allow and woke up every hour to drink more.

On the way to the Road Race the next morning Kara was full of plans and tactics. She was sitting in third with 5 minutes to make up. Maybe if she could get a break away she could close that gap. My stomach was feeling better but I was exhausted. I was really dreading getting on my bike. I told her I'd work for her if I could but really my goals for the day were to just finish, not throw up and not cry.

We got into Torrey and pulled up to Shane riding down main street swearing and screaming that his start time was in 3 minutes and he couldn't find the start. His exact words were @#%! @#$! We couldn't find it either and flipped around. Torrey isn't that big and we still had plenty of time before our start.. .. or so we thought. We found the start at the park and as we got out Breanne and Jamie informed us that everyone's start time had been bumped up by 30 minutes. We got to the start line just in time, once again with no warm up and this time no Kris. We told the refs that we didn't think she'd quit and that we were sure she'd be there if she'd known about the time change. Finally, after they waited a bit they started us.

There was a screaming headwind and I was determined to stay with the pack into the wind and up the big climb out of Torrey. We settled in at a reasonable pace and took turns pulling at the front. Surprisingly I started to feel really good. I even went to the front and set the pace up some of the climbs with the idea that at least if I was up there and no one else wanted to work then I could set a reasonable pace.

Since I was still with the pack and Kara had been pacelining right behind me I told her to attack up one of the rollers in Fremont from second wheel. She got a little excited and took off on the downhill right before the turn into Fremont. Suddenly I didn't have anymore downhill power as the field came around me and gave chase. After the corner I was alone. I could then hear a hissing sound. I thought my tire was flatting but I looked down and could see my front brake rubbing. I opened the lever but by this time the field was gone and there was nothing left in my legs from the climbs.

Now I was alone and because of the time change I had moved into 4th place. No amount of chasing would help my standings and likely I wouldn't be of any further help to Kara. So I pulled off and relieved my bladder. Now I just wanted to finish. I still felt pretty good so I just went at a good pace and enjoyed the ride.

Back on the TT course I saw Slingshot. He told me that Kris was only 30 seconds back. I slowed and waited for her knowing I could use her help up the hills and she could use some help going down. We worked together and enjoyed the ride. The officials told her she couldn't help her teammates so she backed off for the finish. Really I don't think it was going to matter since she had already helped me by not being able to find the course. Kara hung in the with the climbers until almost to Torrey. She did manage to get her first podium of her short race career by finishing 3rd.

I'm happy to say that Breanne and Jamie did well finishing behind the Laura's (Howat 1st and Patton 2nd) for 3rd (Breanne) and 4th (Jamie). They had a good sized field of 10. Allison had some mechanical problems but I think she still finished 6th. Way to tear it up ladies!

Regretfully I left the quiet of Fremont for the usual chaos at home. During my long rides alone I had lots of time to scope out property. I'd love a little piece of land up there. Hopefully one like Kara's with no cell service!

Once home I sat in traffic to take my son to the urgent care for an ulcer on his eye and picked up my daughter from her river rafting trip. I just got a shower and now I can sleep as long as I want!

A hidden gem in the desert

2008-07-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

After a couple of hours of mountain biking around the Desert Rampage course, which was right by our condo, we headed to Kanarraville for a hike. Since this hike is not actually in Zion there was no entry fee and hardly any other hikers. We followed the river for about a mile. As we hiked the canyon narrowed until we were forced to hike in the cold water. Steep cliffs climbed hundreds of feet above our heads. There were two waterfalls. Fortunately, someone had put in ladders made from ropes and tree trunks to help us get up them. It was amazing!

The trail becomes the river.

No where to go but up!

Stacey climbing the second waterfall. This ladder was shorter than the first but most of it was swinging rope.

Ashley needed a shower after all the hiking.

Austin is afraid of heights so he wasn't too thrilled with the ladders but he conquered his fear and did it!

Matheson Family Reunion in Enoch

2008-07-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

After a fun few days with the girls I met my family in Enoch for a family reunion. This and the old farm house are all that is left of the Matheson dairy. This is the farm where I rode my first horse and learned to shoot a rifle.

Capital Reef Day 3- hiking and biking and eating

2008-07-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

The ladies take a break

Capital Reef hiking

Yummy food at El Diablo. Rattlesnake cakes, rubbed Atlantic Salmon and Chai ice cream were just some of the exotic dishes we ate.

The ladies. . . Lacey, Kara, Shanna, Amy, Shannon and Sharon

Capital Reef Day 2 the epic ride

2008-07-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

At this point we were still thinking this was the best trail ever with Golden Eagles soaring above our heads and blue lake below. It was so beautiful!

The top. At 10,010 feet above sea level there wasn't much air. See the blue sliver? That is the lake way below.

The bikes get a boat ride back to civilization.

Ahhh. Much happier after water, pecan sandies, strawberries, and Mountain Dew provided by our rescuers.

Our rescuers!

Me before I started dropping F bombs.

I had looked up on Utahmountainbiking.com and found a nice trail around Fish lake. The description said the one whole side of the lake was easy beginner trail then it said something to the effect that intermediate riders would continue on the same trail as it climbed above the lake and around to complete a 26 mile loop. Sounds reasonable right?

Kara and I headed out about 10:30 and said our goodbyes to Amy and Lacey since they just wanted to do the easy flat trail by the lodge. About 5 miles into the ride I stopped to fix my flat back tire and take out the duct taped tube that was dated 03 (disclaimer: I did not put this tube in my tire!) The going was great for about 10 miles. Although no one had ridden the trail for a while, it was nice single track with some rocky patches and a bit of climbing. Suddenly the trail turned steep. We rode what we could and hiked a bike when it was too steep.

After about an hour of alternating hiking with riding we looked across the lake and realized we had made no more progression around the lake only elevation gain. We still felt the top was near then we'd descend and be back to the easy stuff. Another hour plus later we finally did make it to the top. At 10,010 I had to keep stopping to breathe because Kara used all the oxygen by going ahead of me. We finally made some progress as we rode across the top of the ridge. Finally, we began heading back down and out of there (we thought).

The first descent was awesome. It was alpine trails with fun, steep but rideable sections. Then one more short climb and we were heading down again. Now the going got really rough. Still steep but with giant boulders. Some sections an expert level rider could manage but much of it had to be walked. Kara went down hard and her helmet saved her noggin when her head slammed into a tree. Finally we made it back down to lake level but the trail was non existent due to boulders. By this time we were both out of water and food and we'd been on the trail for over 4 hours. I couldn't see Kara for a while and thought I was hallucinating when I heard voices. Finally I saw Kara sitting on a boat drinking fresh cold water. I climbed aboard and the fisherman were very nice telling us we looked like we'd been in a fight and offering us a ride back. We probably had 6 more miles and at least 3 of it were unridable boulders. We managed to do 18 of the 26 miles around the lake. I think I'll email utahmountainbiking.com and let them know that "intermediate" isn't quite an accurate description.

Capital Reef Day One

2008-07-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

From the top you can see all the way down into Goblin Valley and Escalante.

When we arrived on Wednesday Lacey and Amy drove Kara and I to the top of Elk Horn camping area and dropped us off for a little down hill mountain bike action. We descended down the face on an old cattle road. There was no one in sight and we even beat the truck back to the house. It was awesome!

BBFFs!

2008-07-07T21:21:00.001-07:00

Tara and Shanna. . best biking friends 4 ever

Me and the gang at USG. Shanna, Steve, Tara and Jason after the TT.

Happy Birthday Shane!

2008-07-06T19:51:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Baby Brother!

I'm so glad that I never successfully managed to kill him growing up (and I'm not just saying that since he now carries a gun and a tazer). If I would have known he was going to grow up to be so cool I might have been nicer! Shane is great! He's cynical, sarcastic and hilarious! He is also a great Dad, brother and officer. I just love him!

I remember how much fun we had as kids playing Starsky and Hutch on our big wheels. Funny that he's still playing cops and robbers but now for real. We also would spend hours playing Hot Wheels, Atari and picking on each other like only siblings can do.

Happy Birthday kiddo!

Diva's coming back

2008-07-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Sweet Singletrack

3 crashes, two trips to the ER a partially torn rotator cuff and a broken elbow later and my Downhilldivaness was suffering. I used to fly down mountain bike trails no fear whatsoever. But it turns out a couple of painful crashes on trails that were really easy made me a little weary. I can't imagine losing even part of this summer to an injury. But I missed it. I missed that zone where I'm flying down and not even thinking, the bike moving beneath me and the trail opening up before me. I started of a little scared today but I made myself ride stuff, I made myself clip in and I found the zone again. Maybe I'm not as fast as I once was but Diva is coming back!

Summer Time. . .

2008-07-05T07:03:00.001-07:00

Summer is. . .

Riding east on a cool morning and watching the sun come up over the mountains. . . late evenings. . . riding through sprinklers to cool down. . . fireworks. . . BBQs. . . good friends. . . . family. . . mountain biking. . . no arm warmers. . .bike races. . . more freckles. . . . less weight. . . fresh fruit. . . starry nights. . . a campfire. . . new discoveries. . . helmet head. . . the nation's birthday. . . Playtime. . I love summer!

Grind Pictures

2008-07-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Pics stolen from Rios as promised. .. .

Hot Ski Utah chics. . .

Even Hotter after. . . literally

The Team party tent. .

Crit Happens. . .

Gate City Grind

2008-06-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

These are the only 2 pictures I got before my batteries died. More coming soon that I'll steal from BG, James and Rios.. . .

This is Kara trying out her new Lithia saddle in the hotel room. Sitting on it wasn't enough so I snapped her picture as she rode across the room (I was laying on the bed). I'm not sure why she was brushing her teeth at the time!

The race. . .

Stage 1 17 mile circuit- 2 laps

This looked like a great course for me- except for the 2 hills in each lap. I knew if I could just hang on through those four climbs I'd be in the sprint finish. The pack took off right from the get go with 14 Cat 4 women, 2 juniors and Margaret racing 35+.

As we started the first climb the juniors started squabbling with Jamie. Kara saw the opportunity and broke away, keeping the pace high up the hill. We caught her on the gradual descent and Jamie immediately countered. Ski Utah organized, got on the front and blocked. Melanie from WW attempted to bridge and the rest of the field followed. As soon as Melanie pulled off looking for some help the pack immediately slowed. It seemed no one else wanted to do the work. It quickly became evident that we wouldn't even have to get up front to block because Jamie was easily getting away as the field panicked if they weren't on a wheel. This pattern continued with Melanie working her buns off up front with no help. Finally, she pulled off and yelled, "work like you want 1st place!"

After 10 miles alone Jamie slowed and let the pack catch her on the climb. After strategizing with Margaret she pulled up next to me and told me I was going to attack at the top of the climb at the turn. Since I was too hypoxic to talk I just nodded my head. I was really thinking about puking not attacking. I had managed to stay in the pack for 3 climbs. We made the turn and I went. Not hard like an attack should be. It was weak but my team was sitting three abreast slowing the field. Damn them! I was so tired I really wanted to be caught. Finally Diane jumped and caught me. As she zipped past me bringing the field with her she said, "we're not going to let you do that again!" I am assuming that she was referring to Bear Lake. No worries. I surely didn't have 10 mile TT in me. I was just hoping to hang on for the next climb.

With me caught Margaret and Kara launched the next counter attack. Melanie popped off the back this time. I hung on for the rollers and tried to gain as much momentum as I could for the short steep climb. I had made it through all four climbs. Now I just needed to recover for the sprint finish. As usual with a couple of miles to go the field got antsy. This slowing allowed Mel to catch us. By this time we were down to only 9 riders. Just before the 200 meter mark Margaret shot up the right side and headed for an early sprint. It paid off. She crossed the finish line first. I tried to grab her wheel but was cut off by one of the 15 year olds. I managed to find a new line and crossed the line in 5th. At least I wasn't down any time going into the TT.

Stage 2- 6.4 mile TT

Kara, Kris and I were all a little crabby. None of us like TTs, especially in the heat. So when Kris said her coach told her she needed to warm up for 45 minutes Kara replied with, "maybe if your coach was out here in 104 degree heat racing against 15 year olds he could tell you what to do."

Let's just say despite a good warm up on my part, my legs felt like lead and my HR wouldn't go up. I lost 2 minutes on GC.

Stage 3- Super cool crit course

Oooooh I was so ramped up for this course. Jamie was 1 second in the lead on GC. We had big plans for attacking, making the field work, and setting her up for the time bonus priem as well as the win. I couldn't wait to be up front flying through the turns, standing and pedaling out of each turn and thinning the field. Sometimes the body just doesn't cooperate.

Immediately off the finish line I could see the girl second in GC powering up. I wasn't going to let her go so I jumped and got a good gap. The field caught pretty quickly and up the hill Diane attacked. I slid to the back of the pack and hung on for a few more laps before the accordian effect finally blew me off the back. I worked with some other dropped riders but I was no help to Jamie. Margaret managed to stay up front to help and win the prize priem of a floor pump. Jamie got the time priem for a 10 second bonus but she sprinted in at 3rd for a second place GC finish. Still it was a pretty nice race for her last event as a Cat 4. We'll miss having you in our field, Jamie! Tear up the 1/2/3s!

I finished 9th in the GC. Maybe 8th if I'd bothered to protest my crit results. But after sitting under the Reynolds tent helping the team to finish off 2 coolers full of beer I didn't really care anymore. Overall, it was a fun, exhausting, great weekend. Way better than pulling weeds huh Rios?

What a difference a year makes. . .

2008-06-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a year since Gate City. This year is so different:

Last year: Ice paid for my hotel room that I stayed in by myself
This year: Sharing a room and the cost with two teammates

Last year: I drove with a bolster on my lap, under my arm in an effort to force my elbow to bend beyond 90 degrees.
This year: Thank God the elbow bends so I can drink while on my bike

Last year:I followed the Men's 45+ around the road course in my Jeep
This year: I'll be chasing the Cat 4 women around on my bike

Last year: I stood at the turn around of the TT
This year: I hope to gracefully execute the turn around at the TT

Last year: My heart broke when the Women's 4 field lined up for the crit. I wanted to be out there racing so bad
This year: I hope to kick butt at that same crit

Last year: Mitch tore the bumper off my car
This year: I still haven't bothered to get it fixed.

Last year: I made great friends Holly, Rachel, Richard and Missy
This year: They are still great friends but dang am I happy to be racing!!

Dang!

2008-06-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

I was just starting to feel good about my Time trialing when I looked online and saw this:

Men's Time Trial 75-79
1, Roland Jeppson, Providence, 27:36.

Women's Time Trial Master 35-39
1, Shanna Matheson, West Valley City, 28:58

Beat by a little old man. . . . . dopers. . . ;)

In better news I may have inspired someone. Super cross country cyclist Asta may get into racing when she finishes riding her bike to Virginia. Training with 50lbs of panniers up Cedar Breaks will make her dang fast up those hills. Watch out Portland women!

Bling!

2008-06-22T13:59:00.001-07:00

All the bling. 4 Golds and 1 Silver.

The only part of the hill climb that didn't suck. There was a nice little downhill right before the grade turned 10 +. The paramedics should really have been at the top. That was where I wanted to puke.

This is me wearing Road Race and overall Omnium Gold.

Saturday I started the road race already knowing I had Gold. Michelle King was up suffering in the Uintahs and the rest of my competition didn't bother showing up. We started in a big pack of men and women ages 29-49. We had recreational riders, juniors and Cat 123 men in our group. The pace started out fast as we headed up toward the climb. As usual I hung on just fine until the grade got steady and steep and then I drifted back and off the pack. Some of the women were able to hang on longer but eventually got dropped by the men too. Alisha said they were in the women and childrens pack.

I found another guy and we worked together. I'd pull on the less steep sections and I'd get on his wheel when the grade went up. Once we crested the top and turned around we had a serious headwind. We worked together until we hit the flats but then I lost him. I soloed in about 15 minutes off the main field. I was happy with my performance. I averaged almost 20 mph for 40 miles on a race with a big climb.

While descending I saw the guy on the handbike still climbing. I had been beating myself up for not being able to hang with the pack but when I saw him I decided I really don't have a reason to feel sorry for myself.

New Friends

2008-06-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

This is Asta and Blair. On their way to Virginia on their bikes. It was fun to meet them and talk to them about their travels. Hopefully they have made it over Cedar Breaks and are setting up camp in Panguitch. I'm pretty jealous! What a way to see the country. One day, when I have a few less responsibilities I'll give it a try. I've added a link to their blog on the right. Check out their awesome adventures.

USG pictures

2008-06-20T19:22:00.001-07:00

The crit was a great course! Alisha, Michelle and I had our own little race with the rest of the women's field strung out all over.

Ahhhh the Time Trial. Still not my favorite event but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I was able to keep my HR right at lactate for the whole race. I've just got to keep working on my sustainable power.

Silver Medal

2008-06-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

Pics coming soon. . . Today was the criterium. This is the one race I really thought I had Gold. But when I got there I saw that I was going to have some real competition this race in the form of Michelle KIng with Paul Tracy cycling out of Las Vegas. I have raced against Michelle before and she kicks butt. She said her team decided to stop and do the crit on their way to the High Uintahs Classic. I'm glad they did, it made for some great racing.

We had 12 women at the start line. Alisha Welch jumped out right from the start and I followed. Michelle was right behind me. Immediately we lost the rest of the field. Alisha is super strong and Michelle and I were happy to let her pull us around for a lot of the race. We each tried a couple of attacks but all were immediately shut down. The final two laps were at a good pace. As we rounded the final corner I was still sitting third wheel. I jumped out of the saddle but it was too late. Michelle attempted to come around Alisha but the straight was too short. I should have moved up before the turn because by the time I finished cornering they were already sprinting. I got third in the race but because Alisha is not in my age group I got Silver behind Michelle. It was so much fun! We lapped everyone else in the field except for one.

We stuck around and watched the rest of the crits. In the Master's men 35+ a guy from Paul Tracy got in a solo break. The field was so disorganized that his lead kept getting longer despite me yelling the time gap to them. He eventually lapped the field and set his teammate up to sprint for Silver. It was impressive racing. Unfortunately, there was a crash in that race and the next one as racers came around the final turn at full speed trying to set up for the sprint.

Now were back at camp and we have new campers next to us. Two sisters (siblings not nuns) traveling from San Francisco to Virginia on their bikes. Today they rode from Milford. Each girl has about 40 lbs of gear packed in panniers on a steel road frame. Tomorrow they tackle Cedar Breaks- OUCH!

2 for 2

2008-06-19T19:30:00.001-07:00

Well so far I'm two for two. Golds in both of my worst events. Hill climbing and TTing. That pretty much sums up the competition. I met one of my competitors today and she seemed a bit freaked that I race on a team. Then tonight at the TT I saw a competitor wearing a camelback (it was only ten miles.)

But i have to say it was pretty fun. I started behind the old men in both races. So on the hill climb I passed the girl on flat pedals wearing skater shoes, then I passed about 4 guys in their 70's. I don't care it still feels good to pass someone. Tonight in the TT I passed the same old men and some Juniors. Miss thang Tara who started a minute behind me passed right at the end. Dang I've got to get this girl to race!

Tomorrow is the crit! I'm excited because I love crits but a bit scared given the caliber of riders I've seen out here. I'll just need to stay up front or just go off the front. Either way I'm planning on another Gold Medal!

Update on the campers. We still haven't figured out the weird pedophile situation. Now we have a typical 2 and half kids kind of American family and some bikers (the kind with the engine). Their beer is looking good. We do have another cyclist here at the campground. He did the Marathon route and this is his first foray into racing. He DNF'd the hill climb. Bummer of a first race.

Roughing it

2008-06-18T17:12:00.001-07:00

Well here we are in good ole' Cedar City Utah. I opted to miss the painfully steep climbs of the High Uintahs classic road race and chose to do the Utah summer games. We decided to save money and camp but both my son and I needed to attend school so here we are at the KOA camping out with our laptops. Lucky Austin gets to do an audio presentation pretty soon.

The KOA is good entertainment though. Next to us we have a man with a long beard wearing a kilt, a tie die shirt and flip up sunglasses. He is traveling with a young Asian man and 2 very young women both dressed like it is 40 degrees. I'd swear one of them is Elizabeth Smart except that she's been found.

Very Elusive. . .

2008-06-16T14:05:00.001-07:00

It is seriously easier to buy drugs or nuclear warheads online than it is to purchase this saddle. Every place says that you cannot buy it online because you need to be measured for it. Whaaaat? What exactly are you going to measure? Let's just go with I've had two kids.

So I saw somewhere online that Sunrise Cyclery in Logan had this saddle. After the race Saturday Kara, Kris and I headed over to see if we could snag it. The nice young man came over and Kara asked to see the women's saddles. He pulled this saddle off the rack that must have been 10 inches wide and 4 inches deep and weighed at least 5 lbs. I glared at him and Kara laughed hysterically. Still no Lithia. I guess I'll swing by St. George this weekend and pick up a couple at the shop where I bought my first one. I'd better stock up because I'll never find it again I'm sure. My other option is to go with the saddle that my friend Diane just bought. It kind of resembles a small bedpan.

Ouch! That hurt.

2008-06-15T06:18:00.001-07:00

Little Mountain RR State Championships were yesterday. They marked the end of a 3 week training overload filled with increasingly longer intervals at threshold. The goal is to break out of my usual short bursts of intensity that make me a good sprinter and teach my body to endure longer intense efforts which will make me a better time trialist and hill climber. Sometimes you have to get worse before you get better. In other words, I had pretty low expectations for this race.

The first lap was a blast! Good old fun pack racing. I survived the first small climb with the pack. After the descent Jamie broke away in an effort to make the field work. Once we caught her I counter attacked and teammate Kris came with me. I expected us to be caught sooner but once again the other teams were saving themselves, hoping Ski Utah would do the work. Then we hit THE hill.

Immediately the pack was strung out. I could see Jamie and Bre holding their own up front. I powered up until there was no power left then sat and spun my way up. The air was stagnat (that's how it goes when you're not even moving fast enough to create a breeze) and it got hot. My calves started cramping and I really thought about quitting. Instead I took a couple of endurolytes and downed some water. Kara caught me and we worked together to catch Kris and Allison, a mountain biker with Revolution. The four of us worked together until the hill once again separated us. By the last time up the hill I was fried. I watched Kara and Kris climb away from me. I hoped to catch them at the top but my right tricep was on fire and I was unable to stay aero and in the drops so the wind slowed me further. I finished 12th out of 14. About what I expected.

Breanne and Jamie along with Allison (Kuhl) managed to dump the rest of the field. Breanne finished first and Jamie pulled off another spot on the podium with 3rd. It is with mixed emotions that I report both Jamie and Breanne are close, if not there, to the 30 USAcycling points that will force them to upgrade. On one hand I am a bit happy to see them move up and give some of us a chance to float to the top. But I am sad too. It has been so much fun having them at every race. This is the first year I've had teammates that work together so well. They have worked for me and I have been thrilled to contribute to their race whenever I can. It will be great to have more Ski Utah women in the 123s and I know the Lauras will be happy to have thier help. I don't doubt that they will both continue to kick some serious ASS!

RAAM 2008

2008-06-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

This is a race that I find fascinating. After finishing Lotoja I decided that 12 hours and 26 minutes was the longest continuous amount of time I ever wanted to spend on a bike. But last year at the PAC tour I got to meet several amazing RAAM finishers and record holders. Lon Handleman still holds the Tandem record from the early 90's. I met Caterina "Cat" Berge and got to hear stories about how she couldn't feel her hands for two weeks after the race. I watched videos of Lon and Susan Notorangolo literally dozing off taking turns riding stoker on their tandem. Amazing!

Anyway. . . 2008 RAAM is underway. The mental and physical suffering these people will undergo for a bike race is truly inspirational. I've added a link to a RAAM blog at the right. Check it out.

The craziest route ever

2008-06-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

First here is a picture of my race yesterday. There I am sitting right where I wanted to be. Which is where I was for most of the race. I'm still trying to figure out what happened. Anyway, in my self loathing I forgot to mention that once again my team kicked butt! Kara led Breanne out for the win and Jamie pulled off third. The rest of the team did great as well and we ended up with 6 trophies!

That brings me to today and the frustrations continue . . .

Plan A was to head out with some teammates for a nice long ride since yesterday's crit was so short. We were planning to meet at Canyon Bicycles on Wasatch at 9. At 9:10 I figured I had missed an email since I went to bed so early last night. With no idea where they were I went with plan B. I drove over to my friend Doug's (AKA the Big Bad Wolf if you did Little Red) birthday ride at Murray Park.

When I got there they had already headed out. By this time I just wanted to ride. I knew they were headed up Emigration so I jumped on my bike and headed that way. About half way up I saw them coming down. I turned around and chased. I caught them on Wasatch. I was feeling good so I pushed it along Wasatch and since I had missed part of the Emigration climb when we hit the bottom of Old Mill Road I turned around and headed back up, 2 more times.

I cruised back to Murray park feeling good but hungry. Doug's wife had yummy BBQ ready and beer. About this time I realized that I had somewhere lost my car key out of my pocket. So I finished my beer and got back on my bike. I headed home to pick up my spare key. When I got there I started the mower for my 13 year old and rode back to Murray park once again to get my car.

Out of all that I managed to get in almost 60 miles and a few good climbs. I did not get a whole lot of yard work done but at least the lawn is mowed.

Sugar. . ah honey honey

2008-06-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sugarhouse crit. Well what can I say but #$%@!! I felt this was one I could do well at. I thought I had done every thing right, food, sleep, a good warm up. Who knows? I was feeling great for most of the race. Hanging on fine with the pack, chasing any surges then suddenly with four laps to go it was like a switch flipped. Suddenly I had no energy. I thought for sure I had a flat on my rear tire. I caught a teammate and she assured me that my tire was fine. I was just powerless. I spun my way in for a disappointing 11th.

So I think what it comes down to is that my fitness is just not where it needs to be. I pushed hard this week working on intervals at lactate. I took Friday off but maybe it just wasn't enough recovery. But I'll just keep plugging away. I'll keep trying to balance two kids, two jobs, school, training and racing. I know there is more in me. Watch out world. . . you haven't seen the best of me yet!

An early humpday. . .

2008-06-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well at least that it what it feels like. I made it over the one year hump of my crash. I had told a teammate about it being my one year anniversary and she said she was thinking about that this afternoon when she saw a guy on a bike get hit by a car! Maybe tonight would have been a good night to go do what normal women do and shop or go see Sex in the City.

But off to RMR I went. I felt great but I was struggling mentally. I hung on for a while, but off the back. I was getting yo-yoed and having to work harder than if I just got up and stayed in the pack. Finally I didn't want to chase and I sat up to work with a slower group. I'm glad I did because there were a couple of crashes and on my last lap the ambulance was coming around the corner towards us and that was enough for me to call it quits.

RMR is a good workout and good pack experience so I'll keep doing it. But some nights it is just scary! I can't wait for Sugarhouse this weekend. Back to riding with the women. Back to good solid racing that isn't nerve wracking and best of all none of the women have ever spit on me!

I guess I should just be grateful that I'm not in the ER tonight telling them that no they cannot scrub out my road rash on my broken elbow until I get some drugs!

Whew! That was close. . .

2008-06-03T10:07:00.001-07:00

I was just suddenly reminded of why I do not have a credit card. If I did I would have bought the Pinarello (full carbon/Ultegra) on Chainlove for $1100. WTF!?! Maybe I would have bought 2!

I heart Scottie!

2008-06-01T06:36:00.001-07:00

Is it finally true? Have I found my cyclocross stallion? Yes, yes, yes!! Third time is the charm.

First I had my heart set on a great deal on a Felt . . . . see previous post about waiting on a man. .

Then I found my beloved Poprad. Beautiful steel carbon mix, Ultegra/105 components but when I got him he was huge! He reminded me of this horse I once loved- Bud Light. Bud Light was a beautiful blonde stallion. Big watery brown eyes pleaded for us to go for a ride in the Uintahs. I'd have to lift my knee to my chin to put my foot in the stirrup. Once in the saddle I couldn't stand in the stirrups because his back was so wide. After a ride I'd feel beat up and sore. He was strong, fast and so sweet but he was just too big.

Fortunately, I have a teammate that is 5'11. She is an awesome athlete and is going to kick butt at cross. The Poprad fits her great. So with her buying it from me I had the money to go in search of yet another cross bike.

The first shop I went in I was thrilled to be greeted by "socks". This guy not only races cross he kicks some serious Ass at it. We talked about ordering the Poprad in a smaller size but with Greg's comments about Lance, Trek has dumped the Lemond line and it is nearly impossible to get stuff from Lemond. I looked at a Rocky Mountain but they didn't have anything small enough in the store and Socks was uncomfortable selling me something I didn't get to try out first. After my experience with the Poprad I felt the same.

So I headed to shop #2. They also sell the Rocky Mountain but again didn't have any in stock. The comment "if you were actually going to race cross" also turned me off. Here is a small tip to people working in shops that actually want to sell stuff. I have money to spend. If you make me happy I may spend tens of thousands of dollars in your shop. Please do not assume that because I have big boobs and blond hair that I am not an athlete, that I do not race or that I am looking for a basket for my beach cruiser.

Off to shop #3. I decided to take the lead on this one. I found a sales person and told him, I raced cross last season, I plan to race it again this season, these are the components I want and this is how much I have to spend. It may have also helped that a friend in the shop congratulated me on winning Bear Lake. Aaaaaah respect!

So they let me take Scottie out for a nice ride. We went to the park and I practiced my mounts and dismounts. We rode on asphalt, dirt trails and grass. The reach was a bit long but that could easily be fixed by a shorter stem. Only the first date and I was falling fast and hard. Back at the shop they swapped out the stem, put on smaller handlebars and Scottie and I left and I even spent about $300 less that I had planned. Looks like I've found a shop where I will be spending future tax returns and any other seemingly disposable income I might find.