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:)