Aaaah. The commute

When else are you going to see a Shetland Pony, llamas, a bowling ball, crime scene tape, a motorcycle display panel, 2 shoes and a big, fat white man wearing a shirt that says "I'm Black" all on your way home from work?

Cool Dude!

So, I was just checking out the Church of the Big Ring http://thechurchofthebigring.com/. (Good to be an "active member" of something) and they have a really cool interview with Burke Swindlehurst of the Bissel Pro Cycling team. I got to meet Burke at the 2006 Tour of Utah where I was a traveling course marshal. He was a really cool guy. Every day he'd thank us for the work we were doing and thanked us for cheering him on. He was always willing to let us drool over their team bikes too! This is a picture of me with my son Austin and Burke. Very cool!

I'm in a Magazine!

I'm in Ultra Cycling Magazine. Okay, so it's not VeloNews but it is still really cool. The above picture is of me with Susan Notorangelo, Lynn Anne Vesper and Lon Handleman. Last year I won the McSweeney Scholarship to attend a PAC tour training camp. (See full article at http://www.ultracycling.com/about/mcsweeney.html).

This picture was taken on the last day of camp. Every day we rode 60 to 120 miles for 6 days in a row. On the last day I did a 5 and half hour century. I was thrilled with my time after having ridden over 450 miles in the previous days. The century also included a big mountain pass and lots of rolling hills.

Susan and Lon put on the camp and they did a great job. They are both RAAM record holders and probably still hold the tandem record. We were also lucky enough to have two other Women Solo RAAM finishers at camp. It was great to learn from them and get to know them. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of their camps I highly recommend it.

The Baby Project

Ashley asked if her friend could sleep over tonight. What we didn't bargain for was the Baby doll that came along with her. For a school project Ashley's friend Ashleigh (2 of them is 2 too many) has this electronic doll that she must take care of for the next 6 days. How well she takes care of the baby- feeding, changing, consoling- is all being recorded for her grade. Things were going well until we got in the car to head to the gym. The loud singing of songs from RENT made the baby start crying. Both girls went into an immediate panic of rocking, cooing and trying to find the bottle. I thought it was hilarious!

Now that we're home they've mostly forgotten about the poor baby. They are busy singing along with Zac Effron and texting boys. Occasionally one of them will ask the other to check to see if the baby is still breathing. Then they will suddenly revert to playing dolls and they'll love it and goo over it for a minute. Then Zac will be back on and the baby is forgotten about.

It is cute. I wonder how the boys do with it. I also hope it works and that by day 6 the girls will think hard before they get intimate with boys. I wonder if it would have worked for me. I doubt it. I grew up taking care of my little brother and sisters and babysitting a ton, but in the heat of the moment you forget all about consequenses. I'm thinking birth control.

A few numbers

Gas is $3.19 a gallon. By riding my bike to work just 2x a week I will save about $70 a month in gas. Even if I can only commute for 6 months out of the year that is $420 in savings.

Today I burned about 1000 calories. At 2x a week that is 8000 calories a month and 48,000 calories in 6 months. That is almost 14 pounds of body fat! Woo hoo!

Today's commute:
Miles- 30
Calories burned -1000
Time spent at the gym -0
Gas stations passed with no fuel purchased- 4
Pollutants pumped into the air by my car -0

Happy Birthday Mack!

Happy Birthday Mack. 9 years old today! My favorite memories of Mack are when he'd come over so Austin could babysit him. He'd be talking up a storm to Austin but as soon as I was around he'd clam up. This kid is all boy. He loves video games, the trampoline and playing with his friends in his neighborhood. I love how he so despises anything girlie that he wouldn't even eat off of the princess plates at Morgan's birthday party. Mack is quiet but there is lots of mischief and a wicked sense of humor bubbling just below the surface. I love you nephew! I hope you had a great day today!

Oh and Happy Anniversary to your parents!

Mesquite!!

This is the view from our condo in Mesquite! Look at that blue sky!

Friday Liesa and I found the Jensens at Lee's Discount Liquor in Mesquite. Doug was like a kid in a candy store. We carbo loaded with a nice dinner at the gold club and turned in early to be ready for a killer ride up Utah hill the next day.

Saturday we met the rest of the group at the Oasis. I warmed up by visiting with Don and MM on their tandem. Once we turned onto the frontage road it was time for my interval workout to begin. 4 of us pulled off the front. I practiced my attacks on the rollers until we hit the longest hill and I got dumped by the guys. I had almost caught them by the time we hit the store in Beaver Dam. I stopped since I knew this would be my last chance for a real tiolet for about 40 miles.

After my stop I started the 17 mile climb alone. I worried only about keeping my cadence up and keeping my HR at lactate. I climbed well, got in a good rythym and was thrilled to feel the sun on my skin. At the top I turned around to head back for more intervals on the rollers. Most of the group headed down the hill into St. George to make a century out of it. I wanted more intensity and fewer miles and I got them!

The descent was long and cold. I hit the rollers again heading into a fierce headwind. I was still feeling great and I stood up on every roller pushing my HR up as high as it would go and then recovering only to do it again. I made it back into Mesquite and I spun up the big hill to the condo. It was nice to be done before the big winds picked up. Jerry and I had a nice lunch on the deck while we waited for the others to return.

Ryan cooked a lamb and Shelly fixed the rest of the delicious spread. Our other friends all came by and we had a great time talking, drinking and laughing until 2 am! Today as we were leaving we could see the road we had climbed off in the distance disappearing into a cloud. We were quickly welcomed back to winter by terrible roads covered in snow. So sad to be back to winter but at least I got out of it for a little while. Back to the gym tomorrow.