I'm headed South again. My son jokes that I have it backwards. Most people get 2 weeks of vacation and I go on vacation every two weeks. It is nice to be at a point in my life where I have both the time and the money to have some fun. Mostly I'm just chasing the sunshine. More cold and rain and possibly snow predicted for SLC. I'm am sad that I'll miss watching the BF kick some more butt at the crits.
I'm headed down with my good friend Liesa. She is one of those women that can do any sport and is naturally good at it. As a former competetive body builder she always looks great! A couple of summers ago we went downhilling at Deer Valley. She was complaining that her front shock was making some kind of noise on the first two runs. When we got on the lift for our 3rd run the guy putting our bikes on noticed that she had no front skewer! That explained the banging noise- scary!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Learn to watch for cyclists
Imagine...
A passer-by asks you for directions. As you talk to him, two workmen walk between you carrying a door. In a flash the passer-by switches places with one of the workmen, and you are left giving directions to a different person. Do you think you would notice?
Researchers at Harvard University played this trick on some unsuspecting people and over 50 per cent failed to spot the change.
This phenomenon is known as "change blindness" - only a tiny fraction of all the information going into your brain enters your consciousness. People often fail to see a change in their surroundings because their attention is elsewhere. (Like on a cell phone!)
Even stranger, if you are concentrating on something, you can become blind to other events that you would normally notice. This "inattention blindness" is possibly the reason why motorists collide with cyclists.
Just as it is important for road users to keep an eye out for cyclists, cyclists must also take steps to ensure they are seen by motorists.
(Taken from Transport for London)
Click the link below to test your attentiveness.
http://www.dothetest.co.uk/
A passer-by asks you for directions. As you talk to him, two workmen walk between you carrying a door. In a flash the passer-by switches places with one of the workmen, and you are left giving directions to a different person. Do you think you would notice?
Researchers at Harvard University played this trick on some unsuspecting people and over 50 per cent failed to spot the change.
This phenomenon is known as "change blindness" - only a tiny fraction of all the information going into your brain enters your consciousness. People often fail to see a change in their surroundings because their attention is elsewhere. (Like on a cell phone!)
Even stranger, if you are concentrating on something, you can become blind to other events that you would normally notice. This "inattention blindness" is possibly the reason why motorists collide with cyclists.
Just as it is important for road users to keep an eye out for cyclists, cyclists must also take steps to ensure they are seen by motorists.
(Taken from Transport for London)
Click the link below to test your attentiveness.
http://www.dothetest.co.uk/
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
What is up with Wednesdays?
I can't sleep because I have that nagging feeling that I've left something important unfinished at work. I left my office a mess so I could get to spin class. My day was spent averting one crisis after another. Something went down which left my sweet Nurse Care Manager near tears and forced me to pull two employees away from their jobs to deal with the mess.
In the meantime I had the maintenance man following me around. While generally I enjoy having a man around asking me what he can fix and what he can do for me, today I just wasn't up for it. His helpfulness seems to have increased since he found out that Bob Roll is not my boyfriend. (Time to get some pictures on my desk of me and my real BF!) He did manage to fix the locks that weren't working for one person in my clinic. Now they work for her and no one else. I hope my docs aren't seeing patients in the parking lot tomorrow while I'm in my meeting. He also "fixed" all of my exit signs. Now they make some horrible migraine inducing noise.
Speaking of patients I had the pleasure of speaking with one particular pain in the rear repeatedly. He is unhappy with his dosage of medication. He refuses to see the doctor so they can have a discussion. So now he is getting a lawyer. I would love to hear what the lawyer has to say when he tells him that I offered him a free visit at anytime for tomorrow to get his meds straightened around. Speaking of doctors, I have 2 with the flu. Lovely.
In the middle of all of this fun my new therapist dropped by again. (You'll remember last time she stopped by while I was snoozing on my desk.) So I just talked to her while she followed me, the maintenance man and the locksmith around the clinic. What a parade we made! My new employee arrived just in time for the main circus act. Gosh, I hope she comes back tomorrow.
As for spin class I am going to start some new rules. #1 if you are new please don't come late and bring 10 of your closest friends. #2 if you are larger than a B cup please wear a bra!
Okay, I will survive. I will make it to sunny Mesquite and I will be riding my bike up a big A hill! It will be great. I will be suffering on my bike and my good friend Doug will tell me a dirty joke or comment on how nice my carbon fiber looks and all will be well. Then we'll get back and he'll sob (pretend) uncontrollably. It is quite a sight to see a 6'4, 220 lb man in lycra weeping loudly. Then his wife will make us some spectacular food and feed us until we can barely manage to get our alcohol to our lips. His daughter Leni will tell me all about her glamourous life in Vegas and I will sleep like a baby.
In the meantime I had the maintenance man following me around. While generally I enjoy having a man around asking me what he can fix and what he can do for me, today I just wasn't up for it. His helpfulness seems to have increased since he found out that Bob Roll is not my boyfriend. (Time to get some pictures on my desk of me and my real BF!) He did manage to fix the locks that weren't working for one person in my clinic. Now they work for her and no one else. I hope my docs aren't seeing patients in the parking lot tomorrow while I'm in my meeting. He also "fixed" all of my exit signs. Now they make some horrible migraine inducing noise.
Speaking of patients I had the pleasure of speaking with one particular pain in the rear repeatedly. He is unhappy with his dosage of medication. He refuses to see the doctor so they can have a discussion. So now he is getting a lawyer. I would love to hear what the lawyer has to say when he tells him that I offered him a free visit at anytime for tomorrow to get his meds straightened around. Speaking of doctors, I have 2 with the flu. Lovely.
In the middle of all of this fun my new therapist dropped by again. (You'll remember last time she stopped by while I was snoozing on my desk.) So I just talked to her while she followed me, the maintenance man and the locksmith around the clinic. What a parade we made! My new employee arrived just in time for the main circus act. Gosh, I hope she comes back tomorrow.
As for spin class I am going to start some new rules. #1 if you are new please don't come late and bring 10 of your closest friends. #2 if you are larger than a B cup please wear a bra!
Okay, I will survive. I will make it to sunny Mesquite and I will be riding my bike up a big A hill! It will be great. I will be suffering on my bike and my good friend Doug will tell me a dirty joke or comment on how nice my carbon fiber looks and all will be well. Then we'll get back and he'll sob (pretend) uncontrollably. It is quite a sight to see a 6'4, 220 lb man in lycra weeping loudly. Then his wife will make us some spectacular food and feed us until we can barely manage to get our alcohol to our lips. His daughter Leni will tell me all about her glamourous life in Vegas and I will sleep like a baby.
The Civil War at Hale Theater
Last night I got to go see the Civil War at Hale Theater starring Merrill Osmond. My boss invited the leadership committee and the physician's advisory committee to a nice night at the theater. We arrived early to a yummy dessert bar complete with chocolate fountain. A gentleman came in dressed in authentic Civil War attire and talked to us about his outfit. Then we got to take a tour of the theater and see where they make costumes and design sets. We also got to see how the massive stage works to move actors up and down and all around. We finished with our tour just in time for the play to begin.
As with all plays at Hale, the show was superb. This was one of the more somber plays I've seen there and Ashley asked me if I was going to cry throughout the whole thing. I pretty much did. The acting was great and Merrill's deep rich voice has been touched with a bit of roughness thanks to age. Ashley sat enraptured as she has for every performance we've ever seen there. Since watching her first play there at the age of 7 Ashley has starred in several plays of her own including Beauty and the Beast, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, High School Musical and now she is rehearsing for Lil' Abner at Westlake. We are going to sign her up for some summer camps and hopefully she can get into some acting there at Hale.
It was a great night! Thanks Boss!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Recovery? Ride
I had dropped an email to the team earlier in the week asking if anyone wanted to do an easy Sunday ride. Josh responded saying he wanted a 2 to 3 hour slow, flat ride. This sounded perfect for me since this the crit was my last push in my 3 week periodization training schedule. Sunday would be the beginning of my rest week. A few more teammates also responded. I showed up Sunday at 9th and 9th at 11:00 expecting 5 or 6 other teammates. We ended up with about 20 Ski Utah and another 10 Porcupine riders. (Now I know where my old team was on Sunday's last year- pirating other team's rides- Just kidding.)
Of course, with all those people and two teams represented, the ride was only kept slow because of all of the traffic lights splitting up the group getting out of the city. We ended up splitting up and heading North. My group headed up around City Creek, through the Aves and up to Wasatch. My legs were so blown from going all out on Saturday that all I could do is spin up each hill. My teammates were great about waiting for me. But with my max HR for yesterday at 188 it was hardly a recovery ride!
By the way my sister saw us flying by Liberty Park and said we looked awesome!
So this week I only have 3 spin classes and a kickbox class. All of which will be at recovery pace. My work and extracurricular activities schedule is slammed with a play Tuesday night, dinner with an old friend on Thursday, a massage and meetings at work every day. Somewhere in all of that I need to find time to pack for Mesquite. Utah hill is going to hurt but it will be my last big tear myself up before the real racing begins. I'm looking forward to a weekend with my old clubbie/ultra distance bike friends.
Of course, with all those people and two teams represented, the ride was only kept slow because of all of the traffic lights splitting up the group getting out of the city. We ended up splitting up and heading North. My group headed up around City Creek, through the Aves and up to Wasatch. My legs were so blown from going all out on Saturday that all I could do is spin up each hill. My teammates were great about waiting for me. But with my max HR for yesterday at 188 it was hardly a recovery ride!
By the way my sister saw us flying by Liberty Park and said we looked awesome!
So this week I only have 3 spin classes and a kickbox class. All of which will be at recovery pace. My work and extracurricular activities schedule is slammed with a play Tuesday night, dinner with an old friend on Thursday, a massage and meetings at work every day. Somewhere in all of that I need to find time to pack for Mesquite. Utah hill is going to hurt but it will be my last big tear myself up before the real racing begins. I'm looking forward to a weekend with my old clubbie/ultra distance bike friends.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
RMR
Yesterday was the first in the RMR criterium series. It was decently warm and even though it threatened rain it never did. Ski Utah looked awesome with good representation in every field. It was especially awesome that we had 6 women total, 4 in the C flight.
They held the race on the oval instead of the drag strip. This is both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that it takes out any technical skills that the usual course requires making it a little safer. However, the speeds can get pretty high and once you get dropped it is difficult to get back on. Men with bigger hearts and quads will always dump us gals on the oval. When we race on the drag strip I know the pack will slow down at each corner so I can usually get back on then. I was also looking forward to finally making peace with the end of the drag strip that crashed me.
I feel like I did well. I started off near the front and held on for as long as I could. Adrenaline got the pack moving fast early on and I started losing places quickly. I stayed ahead of the other women until about 10 minutes in Brandi hit her full stride and passed me. I caught onto packs and wheels wherever I could but the main field ended up lapping most of us at least a few times. I'm not sure if the ladies were scored separately or not. Hopefully, because that would mean I was top 3. Regardless of results it was great anaerobic training and those crits at RMR will make me a better cyclist!
It was fun to watch Sam in his new kit on his hot new bike. He so deserves to be on a good team with teammates that actually work together. He also was long overdue for a new bike since he's been racing the old white Raliegh that was never intended for him. He looked comfortable on his full carbon and Durace Specialized Tarmac. He got in a break early on and although they were eventually caught, he pulled away again and won the B flight! Way to go baby!
Well, time to go change my tire and get ready to head out for some more badly needed mileage.
They held the race on the oval instead of the drag strip. This is both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that it takes out any technical skills that the usual course requires making it a little safer. However, the speeds can get pretty high and once you get dropped it is difficult to get back on. Men with bigger hearts and quads will always dump us gals on the oval. When we race on the drag strip I know the pack will slow down at each corner so I can usually get back on then. I was also looking forward to finally making peace with the end of the drag strip that crashed me.
I feel like I did well. I started off near the front and held on for as long as I could. Adrenaline got the pack moving fast early on and I started losing places quickly. I stayed ahead of the other women until about 10 minutes in Brandi hit her full stride and passed me. I caught onto packs and wheels wherever I could but the main field ended up lapping most of us at least a few times. I'm not sure if the ladies were scored separately or not. Hopefully, because that would mean I was top 3. Regardless of results it was great anaerobic training and those crits at RMR will make me a better cyclist!
It was fun to watch Sam in his new kit on his hot new bike. He so deserves to be on a good team with teammates that actually work together. He also was long overdue for a new bike since he's been racing the old white Raliegh that was never intended for him. He looked comfortable on his full carbon and Durace Specialized Tarmac. He got in a break early on and although they were eventually caught, he pulled away again and won the B flight! Way to go baby!
Well, time to go change my tire and get ready to head out for some more badly needed mileage.
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