Owie!

So today is Friday, 9:03 p.m. and I'm ready for bed. A cyclist is a lot like the old folks:) We go to bed REALLY early, wake up REALLY early(during racing anyway), drink our food(on the bike) and when we aren't racing or eatin, we are sleeping:)

I'm in Redlands and today was Stage 2, the Beaumont stage. It was hard:) I was doing my best to stay at the front and do my job of protecting teammates and keeping an eye on the competition. I kind blew up on the second lap but I made it to the end before the time cut, which is progress from last year. Last year I got time cut and that was the end of my racing for the weekend. When I finished today I was frustrated that I couldn't hang in with the group till the end and I was exhausted, so I had a couple of moments to myself to relieve the frustration. Afterwards, I was fine and enjoyed that my teammate Alison Powers is in the climbers jersey:) Good job!!!

She has a blog that I follow, check it out: http://alipowers.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow is the criterium downtown at 2pm, so there will probably be an early morning ride just to get the legs moving and then head down to the course around 12:30ish.....

Oh yeah, side bar here......I ran into my buddy Brad Huff(he races for Jelly Belly), I met him about a year ago, SUPER nice guy and it was good to catch up with him and hear about his last year or so since I've seen him:) It is good to get racing b/c you get to see your friends that you FB and Twitter all the time:) YAY! Good for Mrs. Social Butterfly:)

Ok, well it is getting to be that time for me to start winding down. See ya'll later!

New

So I'm in a new host house, new town and getting ready for a new race:)

I know you guys are following the team on twitter and facebook, so I don't have to give you the run down from the criterium, right?! I can tell you though, my tongue was hanging out the ENTIRE time and I was thankful to have just held on to my spot.

This morning we got packed up and drove to Redlands(only like 30min) and settled into the next host house for the Redlands race starting on Thursday. This time trial(tt) will be a lot like the San Dimas one, uphill:), then a road race, criterium and another circuit race. A circuit race is a road race that is on a loop, so you may do the loop 3/4 times and they can call it a circuit race:)

Then on Monday I fly home, I wonder if Miller remembers me;) heheheh

I hear it snowed in Mississippi this past weekend! WHOA! Hope everyone is well and see y'all in May!

San Dimas Race

So the last 2 days have been the uphill time trial and the road race, tomorrow is the crit. On Friday, the time trail was 3.8mi uphill and tough:) I was pleased with my placing and how I did relative to training and the competition, which is STELLAR by the way.

The road race, I feel like I need to work on a bit. Not having the radio and again, how I'm training into racing with racing:) But it will come, what's my motto???? One day at a time........

So tomorrow is the criterium, thank goodness it is in the afternoon!!! I get to sleep in! YAY! I can tell that I haven't done much intensity work because my stomach has been a mess all afternoon:) hehehe......sorry teammates:)

So we will finish up tomorrow and then head towards Redlands on Monday and start racing on Thursday.......San Dimas is usually a great 'opener' for Redlands so hopefully things will progress and I can be a bit more productive for the team. We will see......

It's funny when you are racing because you don't do much else besides, race, eat, sleep.....hehehe so the blog is actually not that entertaining for those in the 'real' world:) sorry......but for those cyclists out there.... what cha think??????

I think I will be in the big state o Mississippi post Joe Martin, which is around May 10-14 ish and I'm hoping to do a couple of school visits for the kids from Christmas!! YAY! I was toying with the idea of doing Tour le Fleur but I just don't want to add to the schedule at this time or put any extra pressure on myself but I may head over to hang out and watch:) See some old friends:)

For some results and pictures check out the following links on Sunday and probably Monday as well:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/

http://www.podiuminsight.com/

http://www.facebook.com/teamvbf

Pictures:)!!!

Here are a couple of pictures from the past couple of days:)

The bikes are the new Specialized Amiras, with SRAM Force, Rolf wheels, Keo pedals and pretty pink Hudz:)!!!

My teammate Alex Rhodes is one of Australia's finest:)

And the beautiful view is from the cool town of Salsalito, not great riding but great for crusin around and taking in the sights:)!!

And the car is our new team car.....hahaha! yeah right!! I wish....

Well it is another beautiful day here in Cali and I must take full advantage, see you guys later!

More posting/no pictures

I have taken some pictures from some of our rides out here but we cyclists like to minimize our walking and steps taken so I'm not going downstairs to get my camera and cord right now:) Sorry:)

Alex and I did a group ride on Wednesday, starting from the Java Hut in Fairfax and probably 20-30 folks, it was nice!! Don't these people have to work? hahahah! I guess things are different out West;) It was a great ride, there were a couple of sprint lines(which I'm still not sure where they are) but I was just following and going after it:)!

Yesterday(Friday) was an off day, thank goodness because it poured down rain ALL day! So it was a good day to just relax, wash clothes and get in some quality yoga. I think it is supposed to be nice the rest of the time I'm here but with the team clothing, I'm totally prepared for anything!

Ok, time to go play in the sun!!!

Check out a couple of our sponsors!

Betwixt-chamois cream

Zealios-sunscreen

Quoleum- sports care stuff....

Blog work!

I know I need to work on my blog a bit and touch up some things. I haven't taken any pictures in a while, I'm totally slacking in that department;).

I plan on taking some pictures today and will try to get them on the blog sometime soon.....:) Nothing much to talk about.....I'm in Marin, CA with Alex Rhodes(my teammate) and we've done a couple of rides. I will take some pictures of where we were because it was so pretty!!! And the group we rode with were very nice and entertaining. Hopefully we will see them again soon!

So I will update again soon and touch up the ole blog. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Follow my team: Team Vera Bradley Foundation on facebook or check out the website and support our team fundraising efforts!

Vera Bradley Foundation

Back in business

So the house we stayed at in Santa Cruz, CA for team camp had spotty Internet, so I didn't fool with it too much, sorry guys.

So from the top.....I arrived in San Jose Monday afternoon, grabbed my bags and Lisa(team director) and Jessi(PR) picked me up. We headed home, which was a stones throw from the beach, 4 bed room, 3 1/2 bath, pool table, awesome place. Most of the girls were already there and everyone is super cool.

The first couple of days it was rainy which stunk but we made the most of it:) On Tuesday, we headed to Specialized HQ for a fit and afterwards we did an awesome climb home, again, rainy but amazing! You should see their gym! It was fully STOCKED, plus trainers, rollers, etc.....

On Wednesday, it was another photo shoot, in the rain. :) Check out Podium Insight and Veloimages webpages for pictures:) It was fun!:)

Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the sun came out and the riding was perfect:)! Things came together with the team and we got to meet a couple of new folks that came along to ride with us for fun.

All in all it was an amazing week and I'm looking forward to racing.

Ok, time to ride;)