Back to the snow

Well I made safe travel back to the land of snow. I flew out of Jackson on Monday morning and had great weather all the way back to Durango. All the flights were pretty much smooth but when I landed in Denver, I was at one end of the airport and had to make a mad dash to the other end to catch my flight to Durango that was leaving in 10min......needless to say when I walked outside to the plane I was the only one enjoying the 29 degrees.

My travels home were busy and of course too short. I missed seeing a bunch of friends and family but I did the best I could with the time I had, plus mom and pops usually have a list of things to do while we are all home:) Which is fine with me, I enjoyed hanging out with my brothers and sis-in-laws and giving Ben(one of my brothers) shit for killing small deer! haha!

I made it to Jackson for 2 days and did a bit of Christmas shopping and visiting, got in an awesome photo shoot with Michelle(check out her blog) and got in a couple of long rides with the Vicksburg crew and talked to 5th and 6th grade classes about cycling, health, safety and all that jazz(it was a blast!)

Now I'm back home and apparently I brought a cold with me, I'm feeling a bit under the weather, stuffy nose, sore throat, a bit achy, so I'm sippin the hot tea, doing my best to sleep and just kick this thing as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to going somewhere warm in the near future and I want to be 100% healthy at the start of this season.

And so it is official.....the pro deal has been sealed. I will be racing for the professional cycling team VBF-Vera Bradley Foundation. We ladies will be racing to bring awareness to breast cancer, so please follow along for an amazing journey! I'm so excited!

Miller was excited to see me:)

CX nationals

So I've been in Bend, OR for a couple of days getting ready for cyclocross nationals on Sunday. The ride out of Colorado was SLOW for the first couple of hours but then things cleared up on the roads and actually got to go the speed limit:)

Once in Bend, I found the host house and introduced myself and got comfy, some of the guys weren't too far behind. On Friday we went to the course to get in a ride during the open time, the only problem was that EVERYONE else was there too. If you tried to go hard in sections, you could get in about 10 pedal strokes and then you would catch up with someone and have to grab a handful of brakes:) Oh well, I did my best to do "openers" and get a feel for the course, which has changed apparently since.

The course was hard and icy in some sections, while others were snowy or grassy. It was different every turn! It also has a set of stairs and a barrier section, everything else should be rideable, SHOULD be:)

Today is Saturday and it was dusting snow this morning but has since stopped and the sun is out. It is funny because the course keeps changing! From muddy, icy, hard, snowy, so I'm sure when we check out the course today it will be different feeling from yesterday and will be different tomorrow:)

Ok, I'm off to go play in the cold!

Last race of the series

I was pretty tired after Saturday's race and I only found that out once I got on the bike and took a couple of laps on Sunday's course. It was mostly flat, fast with a couple of technical sections but for the most part I knew this race was gonna make for a long day.

We started on a clay/dirt running track and did a lap before dismounting and running up the bleachers onto the grass. From there it was bumpy and a lot of turns, a dismount, then flat and long straightaways. Then there was my mind BREAK section, it was a W shape, up and down a hill, tight and off camber. I nailed it perfect in warm up but apparently my brain and body thought it to be too difficult to make it through the section without unclipping EVERY time! I was so close the throwing my bike as far as I could! I was so mad at myself and every lap it got worse! I was holding down 3rd for a while and then Missy caught me and by that time I was in such a mental hole I couldn't get out. So I just did the best I could to finish. I was so happy for Missy b/c she hasn't ridden to great the whole series and then she smoked it yesterday!

So once I crossed the finish line, I quit my self bitching and enjoyed my friends and race talk.

After that Michael and I went to visit Kristin McGrath in the hospital. On Saturday, she was hit by a truck w/ one of those brush guards on the grill at a 4 way stop. Don't know who is at fault or whatever but she had a compound fracture of her femur and had to have a rod put in. She was in good spirits yesterday, looked a bit tired though. I'm sure she is still in a lot of pain. I made sure she had some quality reading material(People mag.) and we had a quick visit, then we left so she could rest. I plan on going back up there today and see her again.....:(

Then after that, there is an awards ceremony at the Embassy Pub for the cyclocross series and I nailed third, so I'm sure it will be fun to see everyone in "street clothes" and not our usual lycra:)

That's about it, getting ready for Bend and home(packing bikes, clothes, etc.)

C ya!

Pictures:)

Aztec, NM
Nissy and I
My single speed wheels match so many people:)
Missy and the wheels match
Teammate Chad Wells, sporting the 80's style glasses....
Durango race before Thanksgiving....

In case any of you don't subscribe to FB, I figured I would post some pics from racing over the past month. I'm glad I was talked into doing cyclocross, what a great experience and a bunch of awesome new friends from it as well. I'm not sure what next fall will hold for me but maybe I will be lucky enough to race for the Hudz-Subaru team again and hopefully have as much fun:)

The season is quickly coming to an end. Today's race was in downtown Durango and it was SO cold...but the course warmed us up REALLY fast.

From the start line we had about 10 yards before there was a steep hill. I had a bad start and got behind a couple of girls and we ended up getting off the bike for the hill. From there is was super technical around some trees and off camber turns downhill, then there was a run up w/ barriers(4) and then a tricky, fast downhill w/ a turn at the bottom. From there we got on the pavement and climbed back up the hill on the road and went across a parking lot and down the hill on another side, again fast w/ a tight turn at the end of it. Then they had 2 small barriers after that, then back to the start/finish. On the first couple of laps I got off and ran the small barriers but after those laps, I felt confident enough and bunny hopped them till the last lap, by then I was too tired to bunny hop again:)

Anyway, I finished 3rd again and I had fun racing with the girls and some of the guys for that matter. For as cold as it was, there was a great turnout!

Tomorrow we head to the college to race, which by the way, the soccer team won Division II championship game, yay! Tomorrow will be a race that suits me a bit better, flat, grass, fast.

My dog is snoring, awwwww....

Homecoming

So I finalized my plans for the holidays....yay!

Here's the plan for the next couple of weeks. This weekend is the final cross races of the FLC cross series and I will be racing Saturday and Sunday in Durango and hopefully I can solidify my 3rd place position. It is supposed to be cold this weekend but at least it will be dry:) This morning, 10:30, it is only 13degrees...brrrrr! Perfect cross weather though. After the weekend is over, I will be getting everything ready to head out WEST, yeah west, then east:)

I'm headed to Bend, OR again for Cyclocross Nationals, Dec. 10-13th. I have no high expectations, I just want to go for the experience, hang out with the team and have some fun with friends. By the time I leave, I will have also shipped my road bike back home to mom and dad's house so when I get home I can road ride and get some good training in. I hope the weather is good:) From Bend I will fly home, the first flight is at 6:10 A.M!!!! That is SO early!!! And to think I used to go to work at 7!! Who comes up with these crazy times! Jeeeezzzz

Anyway, I get to Jackson around 5pm, Dec. 14th and big poppa is gonna pick me up at the airport and we will drive back to Vicksburg. Sometime during that week, I'm headed to my old high school, St. Aloysius/St. Francis to talk to the kids about exercise, goal setting and cycling.

Also, a group of Tiger cycling folks are gonna come up that weekend for a couple of rides through the military park and to hang out. That should be fun catching up with them too, along with all my cycling friends from back home! I have a lot of people to see!!! Toni, Frankie, Michelle, Brandi/P.J., Matt and Amber, Amy, Mark, Keith...whoooaahhh....

It is gonna be a quick 2 weeks it seems;) My brothers and their wives will be coming to town as well, it will be awesome to have the whole family together. It has been a while....

I will fly back out west on Dec. 28th so I can start seriously training. I think I maybe headed to Tuscon, AZ for some warm weather training for a while as well......spring is sneaking up FAST!

Well, I hope to see you all when I come home! I will post the Saturday and Sunday rides on JMC if anyone is interested. I think Rich has an awesome loop in Port Gibson, maybe I can talk him into coming over...hmmm

Until then, I'm gonna bundle up and freeze my tushy off:)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey all, I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving!

Things going on:

Nissy Cobb is in town from Portland, OR. She is here to ride, hang out and check out the college. After the races this weekend(I got 3rd both days) we went to the soccer game Sunday afternoon and watched the Sky Hawks take a victory which will advance them to the semifinals, so they are headed to Tampa, FL.

Today(Wednesday) Lance and Karen are taking Nissy and I skate skiing. Neither of us have done it before and I'm so excited! Thanks Missy for letting me borrow your stuff;)

Then tomorrow we are headed to Lance and Karen's for Thanksgiving. I'm doing a corn casserole, roasted veggies, 2 desserts and a cocktail:)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will post my plans for coming home after this weekend, hopefully by then I will know;)

Randoms

Things I like:

Music- Rusted Root, Widespread Panic, B.B. King, Allman Brothers, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Delbert McClinton, any blues, any rock and roll/jam bands....

Sports- Soccer, football, baseball, basketball, cycling, anything outdoors, beer drinking(it can be a sport sometimes).....

My awesome family, my dog, my truck, hunting, friends, crossword puzzles, socializing, traveling, good food, sunshine!!!!!

The end....:)

Cortez Race

Pictures:

1. Missy and I post race:)

2. Ned Overend

3. Start of the men's A race

4. Snow on the truck that morning

Watching the snow coming down on Saturday, I knew Sunday was going to be a new experience for me. Racing in the snow....I was actually excited and wasn't worried about it being too cold.

The women's/men's B race went off first at 10a.m. and our start/finish was on the sidewalk that was still a bit iced over during warm up. Thank goodness, by the time we started, enough people had ridden over it and the sun hit it just enough to melt but everything after that was snow and mud all over the course.

From the start, Teal(very talented mtn bike/cross racer) took the lead, a FortLewis girl was in second and I came in behind her. After a couple of turns, Teal was slowly making ground, so I made my way around the FLC chick and jumped on Teal's wheel. I thought to myself, if I can just stay here, maybe towards the end I can find a place to jump her. Those thoughts only lasted a couple of laps as I didn't have the stamina Teal had and she slowly pulled away. So I set my pace and went about my business b/c we had a substantial gap from the other girls. I was right at redline, just a bit below, which is all I can ask of myself.

There were a set of barriers and a sand pit towards the end of the course and it felt like I was standing in place going through the sand pit but I was told I did really well through there. There were a couple of the Men's B guys I caught up with and we swapped positions a couple of times and I came in second for the women's race! I don't know how far behind Teal I was but I'm pretty sure it was a couple of minutes....oh well, more practice and racing to be had, then off to Nationals December 10-13th!

Post race, I talked to Teal, she is a cool chick:) She was saying that she didn't know how long she could keep the pace with me on her wheel. DANG IT! Maybe if I could've held on a little longer maybe I would've cracked her! Or I would've been cracked, hmmm, things you have to consider while racing. If I would've blown trying to keep her wheel, I may have gone slower and another girl may have caught me! So I just held steady with second and I'm pleased!

My skills are getting better, I'm handling the bike better, sliding around in the mud, mounting/dismounting, it is all slowly coming together. I still need to work on properly dressing for races though. I was plenty warm during the warm up but I didn't bring leg warmers or knee warmers to go under the skin suite, instead I was just wearing tights and figured I would do hot balm on my legs come race time. But it was TOO cold! So I just left the tights on over my skin suite. Oh well, not much on etiquette anyway;)

This week: lift weights, ride bike(supposed to warm back up to the 50's) and get ready for next weekend's race.

Bike for sale/Dotfit

It's rainin today, which means fun on the cross bike:)! I will probably ride the race course from last weekend and do some efforts......I'm thinking about going to the rec. center afterwards and shooting some hoops.

New videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVOPJRpf1Yo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9RMgs8Wak4&feature=channel

It's funny I have days like this, I want to lift weights, play ball, ride my bike whatever, just a bit of everything! Is that my competitiveness going into overdrive? Or me just wanting to have some fun doing everything? But I have to keep all that fun a bit at bay because I have a race on Sunday and I surely don't want the residual effects of all that fun to show up Sunday when I really need to be on my A game. So I will probably ride my bike and then shoot some hoops....

On Wednesday, I took Miller to the vet for a little bit of surgery....he had a tumor removed from his eye, something else removed from his butt(no details) and a skin tag removed from his back foot. He is such an awesome dog, he comes home all drugged, wobbling around and the first thing he wants to do is chase the tennis ball, awwwww. He is better now, he will have the stitches removed from his foot after Thanksgiving and the stitches in his eye and butt will dissolve.

I'm planning on coming home for Christmas after Dec. 13th, hopefully that week and stay till right after Christmas and come on back. I will be in full swing of riding my road bike by then so hopefully I can catch up with some of my ridin' friends......

Ok, it's just getting colder by the hour, time to go ride......

Cross eyed

There is a funny thing about racing cyclocross, or racing in general for that matter.....

A lot of the times you are running full bore, meaning you are at your max limit, you can't push any harder, if you do you will certainly die!!! Or so it feels. Your whole body hurts, right down to your fingertips! You can hear people cheering for you but you can't even muster a smile or a nod, that would be wasting excess energy that you don't have!

That was the case for me towards the end of our race yesterday:) Rebecca Much, my teammate from Boulder, came to the race, cause she is cool like that, as well as Carmen Small from Durango and the Fort Lewis College girls. It was an awesome field and I knew it was going to be a hard race. And it was! From the gun, I got an awesome start and was in the top 5 and never looked back, at one point I knew I was holding up Much so I got out of her way and let her do her thing, which was WIN:) Carmen got second and I ended up 4th, not sure who was 3rd sorry....

But back to being cross eyed...at one point I looked up and there was a girl in 4th place and I knew we had 2 laps left so I was going to do everything in my power to catch her. But it seemed like every time I caught her in the technical stuff, she would just pull away on the flats, ugh!! Those last two laps hurt me SO bad! I came across the finish line about to loose my marbles, caught my breath in enough time to talk to her and tell her I was trying to catch her.....then she says, "I had a mechanical, I wasn't 4th you were." WHAT???!!! So at some point she came out of the pits, a lap down, and I didn't even realize it I was so cross eyed;) hahahah!!! Now that is what I'm talking about! I thought it was pretty funny.....

Anyway, post race, we all headed to the pub and had some beer, pizza and all in good company. They had awards at the pub as well and then everyone started clearing out soon after. I get home around 7:30 and I was exhausted! Is it ok to go to sleep that early? hehe.....

Today, Monday, is a rest day. I'm headed over to Durango to try on some Endura pants. They are windproof, waterproof, everything proof! Perfect for cross:) Perfect for warming up if it is muddy, cold, snowy, wet....cross racin:) Thats about it....

Another race this coming weekend:)! Whoohoo!

Racin

Last weekend, Chad Wells and I drove 6hrs to Boulder for Haunted Cross and Boulder Cup, it was a total blast! It had snowed that previous Wednesday and Thursday, hence my previous post of snow:) so the conditions were super muddy once it all melted by Saturday morning.

Saturday's race was all about skills, muddy, tight turns, roots, hills and one small sandpit. That was my first CX race ever......thank you Katie Compton for kicking my butt all over the place and lapping me:) Good times for sure!

Sunday was based more on fitness, it had a lot of grass/gravel sections and 3 sand pits that were killer! Again, Katie lapped me and I called it a day w/ 2 to go....but I still had a blast as you can see from the pictures:)

So we came on back home on Monday after going out Sunday night w/ a couple of the guys...Troy Wells, one of his Cliffbar teammates, Adam Synder and Chad and this week I'm getting ready for the local race. I'm hoping most of the people from Durango are coming over(45min drive) Sunday afternoon for some racin and socializin at the pub afterwards.

I'm hoping to do a bit better this weekend, I've been on the course a bunch practicing my skills but my fitness for cross is still lacking a bit but I'm ok with that.....I just enjoy being out there playing:)

Now to see what mom sent me in the boxes:) Thank you MOM!

DA SNOW!

My FIRST snow!!!!! I'm so excited! AND COLD! But it really is cool and Doug, Chad Wells and myself rode the cross course here in Dolores yesterday in the afternoon snow storm and had a blast. Heading out again today too. Here is a quick video of my dress attire and a shot of the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MXDAibkp64

This morning Chad and I did a radio interview on KSJD about the local race on Nov. 8th and just talked about CX in general, it was a lot of fun. I don't know if they do a podcast or what but check out the website: www.ksjd.org.

USWCDP items for sale

I'm still having problem uploading these videos for some reason. So I just have to add the link, sorry about that....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Uazx3PsLM

I also want to give a huge congratulations to Andrea Wilson for doing so well in cyclocross. She is a tough competitor and has upgraded to elite status so watch out girls! Check out her blog: http://blog.brickhouseracing.com/

I'm headed to KSJD radio station on Thursday morning for an interview along with another pro racer Chad Wells, to promote the local race here in town coming up on Nov. 8th. Then I'm headed to Boulder this weekend for my first cross races:)!! Yahooo!!! I will update later in the week to tell y'all how the interview went:)

HudzSubaru Video

OK, I was trying to upload my next video and it is taking WAY too long, so here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi1a66YRMck

And here is the website for that race, it should be fun, my official FIRST race:) Nothing like jumping into a new sport with such a major race!!! Oh boy!

http://www.dbcevents.com/

I'm gonna keep on trying with the videos so come on back in a couple of days and check it out!

Race Across the Sky

So tonight I had the opportunity to go to the premier of the movie, Race Across the Sky, a.k.a, Leadville Trail 100. If you get a chance check out the website or if it is showing in your area, just check it out. It will give you a bit more appreciation to us cyclists and even more to those that dare to ride 100 miles of trails at altitude!

Another cool part of the premier, Lance Armstrong was there as well as some of the other pro racers: Matt Shriver, Dave Weins and Travis Brown, as well as the director of the Leadville race and race anouncer, Dave Towl. What a great show these guys put on, great stories and some good laughs.

So keep checking out the blog, I'm gonna try another video tomorrow, hopefully with some people at Fort Lewis College:) Should be entertaining!

Video throw down:)

Videos

Ok, I'm going to try and upload videos on the blog sometime soon:) So give me some feedback, I will mostly be doing videos regarding cycling and the likes.

I have stage freight so it may take me a couple to get adjusted, so be patient:)

Hope everyone is doing well!!!!!

October

If anyone knows me, they know I LOVE fall(football, hunting, chilly weather) and I LOVE Halloween!!! I usually have my annual Adult Pumpkin Carvin Party but I think this year I'm opting instead to just carve pumpkins on my own, my goal is one a week and I'm on week two:) hehe

It is just fun for me! I remember carving a pumpkin as a kid. Mom would send my brothers and myself outside to the porch with dad. We would have our pumpkins, knives(yes kids with knives!!) and markers to make the face! Yes we were supervised, for the most part, I still have all fingers and toes, so I must've been ok with the ole knife. We would do the typical triangle eyes, nose and the smiling mouth, pretty basic.

Now that I'm "all grown up", I've gotten more detailed with my carvin and I've moved to the "kits". I think they are the best! They have the great tools, awesome designs and they even tell you how to carve the design in the easiest way possible.

So I grab a beer or glass of wine, remember the "all grown up" part?? And turn on a football or baseball game and get after it! And of course my trusty steed, Miller, is right beside me just beggin for a piece of pumpkin and I usually give in:)

When I'm not carving, I'm riding my bike(s). The cross bike is all together and I've been on it a couple of times. I got a bit big for my britches today though, I haven't had any training yet and I decided I would just teach myself how to dismount. I was actually doing ok the first couple of easy tries, I would dismount "ok" but WAY too early. So, of course, on my last try I overcooked it and bit it hard on the ground. There were a bunch of sticks and the ground was so hard and I went down in a heap, it hurt, but I got up, mad at myself for not being more patient and waiting for proper training before giving it a go and decided ride back to the truck and call it a day.

Just bruises and scrapes, which makes shaving and the massage I'm getting tomorrow interesting but I'm sure I will get a ride in. Gotta get back on and try, try, try again:)

P.S. The first picture is my cross kit and swag.....Rudy Helmet and glasses. I got the Rydon II glasses and LOVE them, I recommend them:) They sit perfectly on your nose and has plenty of lens to look through and it sits comfortably behind the ears.

Just for you

These are for the photo gods and for Michelle:)

This was my "walking attire" for the Cancer Awareness walk. I think the first picture, Miller is looking at me like I'm crazy, which I am...:) haha!

Oh, the first picture is the view from one of the mountain bike rides, CRAZY huh?! How pretty!

Questions, did I put up pictures from Single Speed Worlds? Those were VERY interesting to say the least. I can't remember what I put on FB or e-mail to people or post on my blog, anyway. If not let me know!

Sunday Ride

So today, three of us headed out for a 3hr road ride, dressed quite warm because the forecast was windy and rain and it was already getting cloudy. I'm still trying to get used to the climate, the wind is cold but when it stops, it is WARM and when it is cloudy it is cold and when the sun shines it is WARM. So it's a bit different from the south in that, when it's cold, it's COLD and usually wet but this high elevation(~7000ft) it is just a totally different feeling.

So my dress for the ride was: of course bibs, jersey, then arm warmers, leg warmers, light shoe covers, light, long finger gloves. I also brought my rain jacket, and warmer headwear, just in case we ran into a lot of rain-that's when it gets REALLY COLD.

Thank goodness the rain gods held off for the majority of the ride but I guess they were making room for the WIND gods b/c it was like riding in a tornado! Sometimes the wind would be blowing so hard, I would be afraid to look up from the road to see how hard the trees were blowing!! JEEZ!

All this to say that it was a really cool ride b/c I can see now where all that base and racing comes into play for the years to come. It was like my legs thought the ride was semi easy but my lungs were hurting a bit! I can't wait to see what happens next year in racing, after today, I'm really excited.

3hrs after not road riding for about 2/3 weeks and I still felt good, says a lot to me. Anyway, I was just excited and thought I would let y'all know:)

Brrrr

Well I think it official......time for the weather to turn! We had a hard freeze last night, which isn't quite the same as being in MS huh?

I got back from Interbike the end of last week and boy was I ready to get back. Vegas is really cool for like 2 days, tops! Then all your clothes start to smell like cigarette smoke because "the man" makes you walk through the casinos to get to everything, food, outside, check-in, sidewalk...anywhere!! But it is still cool to walk to the Bellagio and check out the fountains shooting up high in the sky to some sort of upbeat song and it does this every 15min or so, a totally impressive use of engineering. And the lights, music in EVERY casino is so festive and party-like, they just are begging you to come in and play! But like I said, it was so NICE to get back to Colorado-silence, fresh air, calmness, no one to run into once you start a walk and a bit of a chill in the air!

I did get to watch my teammates in the Cross Vegas cyclocross race and it was my first cross race to see and it was AWESOME! The fans are so much fun and interesting, the racers(at least my team anyway) are super cool and laid back and the venues are so much fun! I can't wait to get out there and give it a try. My bike is almost pieced together thanks to the USWCDP director Michael Engleman and my sponsors(Blue, TRP, RoL, Hudz, Subaru). A few of us also cleaned up a practice course right here in town and we plan on having some "pros" over (Ruthie Matthes and Chad Wells) to teach us a thing or two about mounting and dismounting and then hopefully I can start racing!

The other thing that is on my agenda in the next couple of weeks, is to fly to New Orleans to spend a weekend with the family, while my brother races his Porsche around town with the others in the Porsche Club. It will be a quick weekend, fly there on Thursday night and fly back on Sunday but at least I will get to see everyone! It has been since April and I'm a family gal, so I miss em! I'm still planning on going home for a couple of weeks sometime around Christmas.

Thanks for reading!

Vegas

So I'm about to head out the door to go to Las Vegas and cheer on my Hudz-Subaru teammates and attend Interbike and I'm so excited! It looks like the weather will be absolutely perfect, high 90's and low 70's which is a bit different than the weather here today! It is COLD(48)! I've got a lot of adjusting to do:)

Interbike should be really cool, I feel like it is Christmas, except there are no gifts for me to take home:( WAIT yes there is!!! Hudz-Subaru gear:) YES! And all my cycling buddies from around the country will be there too, I'm such a social butterfly! haha!

So I will take a bunch of pics and maybe roll some dice and bring home the big bucks and some cycling stuff too! I will post pictures when I get back!

The end of season

Well the end of the season has finally arrived!! Bittersweet for sure.

It finished with criteriums in St. Louis, MO(Gateway Cup) over the Labor Day weekend. The first crit was on Friday night(8:30), which was bit late for me but it was a blast to race at night and I ended up getting 7th, my best finish from the whole season! I was pretty excited and I felt great! Saturday was another crit in a different part of town and I did ~ok....I got 21st, again another personal best for me.

Sunday, the criterium was on a decent road, there were a couple of bad spots that weren't marked and it was sprinkling too....BAD combo....sure enough about 10 laps in a girl caught one of those holes and created the domino effect and I went down with the group.

The plus about it all? The rain actually had the road slick enough to not create too much road rash at all but I'm bruised on my entire right leg. Someone fell on top of me....When I "came" to, I did a quick self check and tried to stand up, the leg was KILLING me but I was willing to give it another go, so the mechanic replaced my rear wheel, straightened out my shifter and gave the bike a look over.

While he was doing that, I took off my helmet to give it a look and everything was all good. So I tried another two laps and my leg was fried, so I pulled out and went to the medical tent and got a couple of bandages and an ice pack and headed back to the car.....be a pro not a hero:)

Monday morning the race was right in front of the Cardinals stadium and close to the arch, it was beautiful!! I warmed up with the ValueAct girls and decided not to race, I have a full season of cyclocross ahead of me:)

All in all the season turned out to be pretty successful:

1. I met the best of the best in cycling and got to ride/race right beside em.

2. I had a chance to get noticed a bit to make a difference, hopefully enough to join a team.

3. Visited places I've never been before

4. Got in the best training I've done thus far! And plan on plenty more!

My next adventure includes racing cyclocross for the pro team Hudz-Subaru and we will be racing from now until December, so lots of snow, cold, wet weather and I'm so excited!

Perfect days

So I had one of those days yesterday where I couldn't wait to get on the bike and just see how long I could ride and where I could go! I don't know if it was the clouds building in the mountains and knowing the rain was coming or just one of those training days that it felt good to ride!

I played run from the rain most of the 3hrs, as soon as it would start sprinkling on me, I would turn around or try to make it to the next turn and head another direction until it passed. Maybe I'm just becoming one of those crazy cyclists that play those funny games that only other cyclists understand:)

So I'm for sure headed to St. Louis for the Gateway Cup, yay! I'm thankful that the ValueAct girls are letting me stay with them at the hotel. It should be fun, they are a good group of girls. The races should be interesting too, the first one on Friday doesn't start till 8:30 at night! That is going to be a sleepless night, it's a good thing that the race on Saturday doesn't start till 5 or so....

Well the coffee has kicked in so I'm off to ride and run some errands.....thanks for reading!

New Plans

So my plans have changed regarding coming home for Labor Day, which is ok because I will be racing more and getting more exposure and experience. I do believe I'm headed to St. Louis, Missouri for a weekend of criteriums

The link: http://www.gatewaycup.com/womens-series.html

It should be another fun session!!!

Some other things are also panning out for the fall and when the time comes I will fill everyone in. Just waiting on the official OK:)

The weather is still perfect here, the nights are just cool enough for a jacket and the days are perfect 80 degrees!

Check out FB for some cool pics from National Crits. I'm so happy for Tina Pic to have won, she is a wonderful person and it was well deserved, her team worked their -ss off!! Andrea Dvorak was always on the front keeping things together, she is pretty amazing herself.

Anyway, catch ya later! Hopefully I can come home before Christmas?????

Some pictures from the trip

I've been lazy since I got back. I've just been riding my bike, playing with my dog and enjoying the awesome weather!! So here are some pictures from the ol camera from the trip....

I don't have any from racing but there are a couple on my FB page from others, thank you whoever you are:)!!!

I'm flying out to Downer's Grove this weekend for National crits, then I think I maybe doing Tour of Missouri instead of coming home on Labor Day. I need all the racing I can get. I will be home sometime!

Home Sweet home

Well real quick, the time trial wasn't all that great either. My start time was at 1:05 and it was screaming HOT! Plus with the lovely black kit, it just seemed to sink right into my skin......I was just tired of the heat by then. The course was an out and back(14miles)and then a lollypop(7miles)added on the end. On the way out, I ran out of water, which wasn't a good thing because a still had a ways to go! And I remember thinking to myself, oh sh-t not good.....but there wasn't anything I could do but just keep going the best I could. The way out was also uphill just about the entire 7miles so I wasn't going tooooo fast but on the way back I was doing between 30-40mph, NICE!!!!!!

Then I get to the start of the lollypop and it was like my mouth just dried up and my legs were on fire! It just seems like I was pedaling in sand but again, I was thinking, "Just get through it, don't quit". On the backside of the course, the Tanner family was there giving everyone a big cheer and it was at the perfect time, I needed it! By then we were only about 3k to the finish, so I just pushed it all the way and was so glad to see the water coolers at the finish line!!!! The first bottle went over my head, the second, third and fourth...down the hatch:)

After everyone finished, we went back to our host houses, cleaned up, ate and then it was off to the river!!!! We floated the river again, one last time and enjoyed the cool water and friends! What a nice ending to Bend.....

I also got to hang out with Mara Abbott a bit more and get to know her better, she and Ally are perfect for each other! They both have so much energy, I was having problems keeping up! But both are so much fun to hang with, good times fo sho!:)

So we finally headed East Sat. afternoon and got back home Monday morning. We stopped in Moab on Sunday night and I decided that when all the tourists leave, I will be back. It is a really cool town but it seems like there are a lot of "tourists" shops, with the t-shirts and all the pottery and stuff like that......no thanks, I want the REAL stuff, I will be back.

So now, it is time to train again to get ready for National Crits in 2 weeks, this should be fun as well!

Thanks for tuning in:)

Nationals

Well sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days but what a time to have a bad day...Nationals:(

I just never quite felt good and I'm sure it is from a long week of Cascade. Our race started at 8:15a.m. which was a great thing b/c : 1. I have a black kit, which is hot as all get out in the summer 2: Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year in Bend, ouch! One thing that was really cool though was that at the start, my teammate Debbie got a call up! Which pretty much means, the field is about 20ft from the start, they call up the individuals that have done really well in the past and I'm sure since Debbie is the current Master's National Champion, that means she is doing really well:) So they let those individuals come up one by one so the spectators can see em and then they let the field come up behind em.....you go Debbie!!!!

It was so good to see her and meet her parents and her friends.....

Anyway, after the second lap and after chasing on twice, I was done, so I just rode back to the feed zone and called it a day......bummer....but if I didn't do it, then how would I know where I stand in the big scheme of things right?!

So tomorrow is the time trial, my start time is at 12:55 and then after that is done, it will be time to float the river. I'm hoping to do decent in the TT but again, it will just be decided on that day.......

Sorry I couldn't represent MS any better, next year maybe.....

Day 3,4

So stage 3 was the time trial. I really wasn't expecting to do to well just because of the previous days' events and I figured I should save some energy for stage 4, which was a good thing because it was hard! But I ended up putting up a decent time and that is part of the Nationals course so that was good training for that as well.

Ha! I'm just now getting Internet and getting back to posting, I'm so sorry!!!! And man, time flew! All I can tell you about the last 3 stages, is that they were hard and fast!!!! The criterium was a four corner crit with a long back stretch and front stretch w/ sharp corners in turns 3 and 4. Someone told me we averaged 27mph for 50min! OUCH! The last day was a circuit course (18miles x 3laps) which is also the Nationals course for Thursday (18miles x 4 laps) so it was good to race that to know what is coming up. I think by Sunday I was totally pooped:) But in a great way!

ValueAct girls were great and taught me a lot and they were all really cool with me being on the team as a guest rider as well....thanks for having me girls!

Yesterday and today are EASY days and then I will be getting ready for Thursday for tomorrow's ride....

Last night I went to see the Tanner family, their daughter Millie is doing the juniors race today and she is a good kid, so I wish her well:) That family is a hoot! I hope to see them again by the end of the week, we will see:)!

Sorry I'm all over the place but I'm trying to put in as much info as possible and get as much done as possible in between charging the laptop, eating, sleeping, sleeping, bike riding, sleeping, hanging out w/ people, sleeping:) hehe

Thanks for reading my rambles!

Day 2

Today was 80miles w/ a 10k climb at the end. So the plan for today was to get 2 of the ValueAct climbers to the climb and job is done for us. Well it ended up being extremely hot today, so I did my job as a domestic(worker for the team pretty much) and got bottles from the car and took them to the girls a couple of times and tried to chase down things that needed to be chased down.....sweh, I'm tired:)

Sorry if my post goes a bit crazy, I'm sleepy....

ANYWAY, so a break got up the road with one of our girls and the peleton was happy with the break so things slowed up for a bit until we got to about 5k from the start of the climb and then the pace started up again.

The break was caught and then it was time for our next girls to go and they did and I came in 16min. back with some of the other girls.

Kristin McGrath got third, so another podium for VAC!!! I'm so happy for my roomy!!!! You go girl!

So I just finished my massage, supper and team meeting for the TT tomorrow. It is 16miles, 1/2 of it is uphill, then turn around and come on back down the hill:) It will be hard but good!

Oh yeah, there have been a couple of crashes the last two days with some bad injuries I think, I hope all is well to those girls....one was right beside me today and pushed a couple of riders over in on me a bit but things have been upright and all is well!

See y'all later!

Day 1

Day one of the CCC was a blast, until the end;).....I did my job to my best ability, which was to cover anything that went and that I did:) Lisa Hunt(director) was awesome, talking to us on the radios and keeping us motivated. I came back and fed from the car and took bottles to the girls and managed to miss two crashes apparently that happened sometime. Also saw Louise from Team LaS'Port from Louisiana, she has family here and came out to give it a try! AWESOME! I did see in the results that she didn't finish, I hope she wasn't in any of the crashes and I hope she is ok!

I finished 3min down because after chasing things for 50miles, you get tired! And about that time, other racers started stringing it out, really putting the hammer down for the last 20k, I got dropped, grabbed some bottles from the car and said my peace:) I joined up with another group of girls and we worked together to get to the finish.

All in all, it was a good day for me......every race is a learning experience and I'm learning how to get to the finish with the front more and more each one. One day it will happen, I'm also learning the value of patience....dang it....:)

So after the race, we had some post race grub and drinks, went back to the team house, had a team meeting for the next stage, got a massage and headed on back to our host house.....

Tomorrow is a day of climbing but hopefully things will settle a bit until the last 20k, but who knows, either way I will give it my all.....:)

Oh, BEND IS SO SWEET!!!!!! Maybe my next move?????:)

Pre ride

So when we got in town yesterday afternoon, we found the host house and went to trader joes for some grub and got back home for supper. They have a HUGE yellow lab named Barney and he is so sweet! Kristin McGrath is at the same house with me, which works wonderfully, we mesh well together.

So this morning we get up had a great breakfast and then went to the other team house and met up with the other girls and went to check out the TT course, which is going to be interesting! It is 14miles long, half of it is up hill, turn around and go back down the hill and the road isn't that great so finding the perfect line will be key so as not to get bumped all over the place!

All the girls of ValueAct are super sweet and nice. I'm sure it is hard for them when a guest rider comes in and they have to show them the ropes every time......so thanks gals for letting me come play;)

Sorry Michelle, no pictures, I haven't had any time, plus trying to get acclimated to the team and my surroundings.....

Things are about to start flying by and before I know it this race and Nationals will be over:(

Did I mention that I'm having a blast????????

Cascade and Nationals

So I'm headed to Bend, OR as I type, for Cascade Cycling Classic July 21-26 and then Nationals(road and time trial)the following week. Lisa Hunt, the director of ValueAct Capital asked me to guest ride for their team and be a worker for their general classification gals. I was so excited and I can't wait! I shall do my job to the best of my ability:) So that probably means that I won't be looking for any stage or overall victories. All that will be great training and a great learning experience for hopefully future endeavors. I'm staying at a host house that will have 5 of the girls at the house, the other 2 will be at another house. So here I come!

Now I can add 3 more states to my list of where I've been:) Unless dad says, you've been there when you were just a little girl, that doesn't count:) Utah, Idaho and Oregon! I've never been to those and the drive has been so beautiful! The rock formations in Utah, the windmills and flat land in Idaho and I'm not to Oregon yet but I'm sure I will post something cool once I get there!

Then Nationals are after Cascade so we shall see how that goes as well! This will be my first time to do road and time trial Nationals, I did crit Nationals last year and had a blast, so this should be fun too!

Debbie Milne, my Absolute Racing teammate, is coming for Nationals as well! She has just won Master's Nationals in Kentucky just a few weeks ago and now she is coming to Bend to show the yougins how she does it:) It should be interesting, the road race is an 18mile loop that we will do 4 times and has a climb in the loop, not my best course but I will do my best. I'm considered more of a sprinter, not a climber:) Oh well, we shall see what happens.....

Another great opportunity on the horizon is the new cyclocross team I'm joining! I think it is sponsored by Hudz and it is based out of Boulder, CO. I've never done cyclocross but I think the director was interested because I'm an ex soccer player and I ain't afraid of a little mud, bring it on! So that may put a small damper in my homecoming in September but we shall see. I haven't gotten any details yet and even though I've been sent the roster, the only girl I knew(do to my lack of cycling knowledge) was Rebecca Much. She is a hoot! Check out her blog! She is laid back, super sweet, so that should be a good start:) and I'm sure she is a wonderful cyclocross racer.....

I also want to give a shout out to Michelle Williams! Thank you so much for your support! I DO have LOTS of extra parts, wheels, bikes, etc. I am taking my vitamins and eating as best I can but sometimes you just want a scoop of ice cream!! I hope all the Data mangement gals are well! Y'all are on my list of friends to see when I do get home, whenever that will be:) Dinner? Cico de Mayo?

Once Nationals are finished in Bend, it will be time to drive back to Colorado for a week, then fly to Downer's Grove, Illinois for crit Nationals. After that it will be crits until cross starts I guess:)

….and hang out with Brandon! He is flying up to hang out for the weekend!!!! YEAH! I don't know the last time I saw him but it has been a while! He is my best guy friend in the whole world! We met my freshman year in college, he was our student trainer for the soccer team and we've been best buds ever since! There was a group of us and we all still stay in touch, when we can! Brandi White, she is in Flowood, MS now as a physical therapist(another best bud of mine to this day), Amy Mann, she is from Texas and lives there today w/ her cute daughter and is fluent in Spanish, Beth Dreher, she lives in Nashville and beat cancer, Sam Corker, she is back home coaching all the soccer teams, Phil Hartness, born and raised in Starkville, lives there today as a financial advisor, Brandon and myself. True friends are hard to find and once you do find them it is awesome to know they are there for you YEARS later and haven't changed a bit! Love y'all!

Ally, 4th of July, bear, oh my

I would like to introduce you to Ally Stacher.  She is a cool chick that has already explored the world at the young age of 22.  She is a super outgoing, fun loving, hippie, bike riding chick that acquires friends everywhere she goes.  We meshed right away and she is going to be a blast to race with.  The world needs more Ally's.  She has gone back home now but we will be seeing each other again soon, at Cascades.  

Also, last week, Carla Thompson and her sister Alice had dinner with me at Serious Texas BBQ in Durango.  We had a blast talking about everywhere they have been in the last 6 weeks of travel, they seem to be the perfect traveling companions.  It was so good to see a familiar face from back home and have a great dinner with friends.

July 4th was pretty mellow, we had a get together with some friends and enjoyed some good food and a beautiful sunset.  That was about the extent of the festivities, I was  tired from the earlier ride, so I turned in before the fireworks.

This morning was exciting though, I woke up to a bear in the yard.  It got away before I got a picture.  I'm sure he will be back though......to be continued......

Weekend events

So this weekend was a great training weekend:

Saturday I drove over to Durango and did the A ride(as long as possible anyway), which was only 40miles but with lots of climbing in those 40miles.  We finished with a killer sprint and I blew up about the time we were supposed to sprint! haha! My heart was about to explode!!! I was so mad that I didn't get to sprint after such a great ride but none the less, more training in the bag right?!

That afternoon we headed out for Albuquerque for the New Mexico State Crit Championships.  I didn't know what to expect, if racing would be harder, different, whatever out west.  When we got to the course, I recognized a couple of girls from Tour of the Gila and figured I would have my work cut out.  Either way, I needed it to be hard for a productive, butt kickin weekend.  The course was flat, nothing special but the weather was trying to play a factor.  It was raining for a while in the previous races but cleared up for our race and it is so dry here, the road dried up in no time!

There wasn't a big field of us but the race organizers had a box FULL of goodies to hand out during the race and it made the race go from the gun! They offered a prim on the second lap and after I settled in, I hammered it from lap 3:) The group caught me and I rested a couple of laps and attacked again.  It was a lot of fun! And I won:)!

After the women's race I got a bit more water, talked strategy for a minute, then spun around till the start of the men's 3/4 race.  I figured I ought to be a bit more conservative in that race w/ the boys:)  It started the same way as the women's, offering a prize/prim on the second lap and the guys weren't to excited about it, so I went for it! I got it! I sat up and waited for them to catch me cause I knew this was only the beginning of a long 45min +3laps.....

A couple of guys attacked and I was able to stick with em and then a group caught us and the majority of the race was a break of about 10 of us and we stayed away the entire time.  I won a couple other prizes and made it till 2 laps to go and by then I was toast......

All in all a GREAT weekend, today is an easy day, then keep going hard this week!

Here is a pic of the great swag I won!!! I told the race promoters and organizers thank you more than once for all the great stuff!!! How nice!

I also wanted to say thank you to the kickstand bike shop for all the goodies they donated.

Tentative Schedule:)

Yesterday I spent just about the entire morning trying to figure out some sort of race schedule.  I'm not forcing racing but I am itching and looking forward to racing motivates me in my training.  So after a couple of searches locally, figuring out Nationals and hoping for a ride at Cascades here is my plan.....

June 27:Durango group ride(which is like racing due to the individuals who are in this ride).

June 28: Criterium in Albuquerque(4hr drive).

Train and motorpace till July 12, which includes Thursday night time trials and Durango group rides if possible with July 4th.

July 12: Tour de Los Alamos, N.M.

July 17th -19th: Sometime in there travel to Bend, OR for Cascade, stay till Nationals which is there as well till August 2.

August 13: Fly to Downers Grove, IL for National Crits.

Sept. 1: friend flies in so we can drive back to MS on Sept. 2/3

Sept. 5: MSU vs JSU football game

Sept. 6: Drive to Atlanta

Sept. 7: Atlanta 10K race

THEN HOME:) Of course, this is ALL tentative;) haha! Subject to change at any given time.

And one or two pictures of my pup for fun.....oh and some yard art;)

Training

So I haven't had a whole lot to write about lately, I've just been training, hanging out and enjoying the life of a cyclist.  It seems I'm riding so much more now than I ever had and there are days when you don't want to get off the bike and then there are those you don't even want to pedal one more time around.  But thank goodness I have a lot more days that I enjoy that those I don't.  I enjoy seeing what my body transforms to, I enjoy the feeling after an intense workout and I enjoy the satisfaction of achieving another day's goal.

I'm hoping to race again sometime soon, until then I will use group rides and practice time trials as race simulation.  

In closing, I took this picture yesterday with my iphone while I was walking Miller.

Twitter

Well I guess I'm officially tweeting now:) Gotta stay up with the times eh?!  So anyway, they are pretty random sometimes I'm sure, but if you know me that is not uncommon right?

So I was trying to get a guest ride to Nature Valley Grand Prix http://www.minnbikefestival.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx but it didn't pan out, so I'm still ramping up the training.  I was thinking about going to New Mexico for a road race and crit or stay in town and do the group ride in Durango and maybe take in the Dolores River Festival, http://www.doloresriverfestival.com/index.php?content=home.  So many options!:)

Y'all have a great day!

Wowzas!

HOW COOL! I feel so privileged to have my 'diary' on cycling news! I'm so excited! I hope it is only the beginning.....time will tell.  I still have a long way to go, right now I'm just trying to get myself in as many bike races as possible for experience!!! I'm hoping for a guest ride at Nature Valley Grand Prix, keep you fingers crossed!

Yesterday was an awesome group ride in Durango.  Those guys and gals are FAST:) But hey, that is how you get better and at one point I had the chance to talk/ride with Ned Overend, what a great guy!

So today will be another good, long ride and the weather again is absolutely perfect!!!!

So here is the article! Tell me what you think!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2009/diaries/uswcdp/?id=uswcdp0906

Music

For those that don't know me too well should know, that I LOVE music! All types, all kinds, all the time!  When I was at work, while I was reviewing reports, driving in the car, working out, checking e-mails, WHENEVER! I love music:)

A couple of favorites: www.pandora.com, is a cool website that you can listen to music for free! You can pick your artist and then they will play that artist as well as others with similar styles, it is really cool!  Another web site that I just found out about thanks to Lance and Karen Webster, www.archive.org, a bunch of live shows from just about any band you are interested in hearing!

Some artists that I dig: Ryan Adams, Band of Horses, Brett Dennen, anything hip/hop right now:),  and the list continues to grow each day. 

Now back to your regular viewing program......

Weekend Fun

So this weekend is the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic(http://www.ironhorsebicycleclassic.com/), including a road race, time trial and criterium.  I've been here about a month now and this week is the first time I've seen precipitation and it just keeps on coming, the funny thing is that there is a chance of snow on the passes for the race tomorrow! That ought to make things pretty interesting:)

Just finished a great sushi dinner(East by Southwest) with Missy Erikson, Michael Engleman, Kristin McGrath and Mara came in towards the end after she finished her ride.

Missy finally (not really) kind of got the go ahead to ride EASY, so we got to spin around together these last few days.  It's good to see her back on the bike and happy again:)

So here are some random photos from the last couple of days or so.

  

Beautiful

Do you ever have those rides where you just want to see what's around the next corner and the next and the next?  I had one of those on Friday.  

I'm no professional photographer like my mom or Michelle but here are some pictures I took on the ride, it was just so beautiful!  The sky is almost dark blue when you look straight up and when the mountains just seem to crash into the blue, it is just breath taking!