Should I do it?

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.