Nationals

Well let me just say....if I weren't living in Colorado...Bend, OR would be my home. It is beautiful, clean, fun, great weather, great people, great food, shopping.....and of course, my new favorite place to eat-Cuppa Yo! I was there for a full week and I think I ate there 6 of the 7 days! The owner(Keith) knows where I'm from, why I was there and he met my teammates! hahaha!!! We were GREAT customers;)

My host house was a friend of ex pro Chrissy Ruiter(she's from Bend-lucky), Heidi and her house was so cute!!! She had a sweet black pup named Beta and a huge cat named Otis:) It was nice to care for some animals, making it feel that much more like home.....Heidi is super cute and has great taste and she was a blast to hang out with...THANKS HEIDI:)

So racing.....the first race was the time trail, not a lot of gals signed up because there are only a select few that had a true shot at it and I enjoyed cheering on my teammies:) Alison was fourth and even if she wasn't totally thrilled with it, I was really proud to see her step on the podium and take her medal.

After the awards ceremony, the team went back to one of the host family's house and had an awesome cookout! It was so cute, everything was labeled and the food was wonderful! I think I tweeted the photo:) They also had to big dogs, one was a yellow lab....awwww, I miss my Miller!

Next up was the criterium, this was Erica's race(another teammy)! She was ready, excited, focused and knew exactly what she had to do to get to the finish line first. It felt good executing a team plan and having total success in the end-Erica took 2nd! What a closer!:)

After the crit, we ate some awesome Thai food and then called it a day:) Whew, I was tired.....

Saturday was an off day, the road race was on Sunday. So we had a nice, easy ride and chill day lots of rest b/c Sunday was gonna come fast and early.

So alarm goes off at 6am, eat, coffee, dress, head to the start of the race. We discuss team tactics and off we went:) 113k of fun! 4 laps, with a nasty climb each time....it was totally hard but again, I enjoyed it! This was my second time to do road nationals and my first time to finish....in my mind, it was a successful day and my teammate was in the top 10!! Good job Sanders!

So back home on Monday and Andrea Wilson from TN is in town for a couple of days for some acclimation, she is headed to do some 100mile mtn bike race....she is HARD CORE!!!! Glad she is here and I'm enjoying showing her the sites of the big city:)

So the next 3 weeks will be training and then see where I'm going from there! I'm sure some interesting things will happen b/t now and then:) I shall blog......

Until then, check out this video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LoeAar4gxY

Nature Valley Grand Prix

Whoa! As of now, this was the hardest race I've ever done! I survived but barely and not without some serious aches and pains......

The race is a time trial, 3 crits and 2 road races. The time trial and first crit were on the same day and after the time trial, I was feeling good, excited for the racing to come and that my teammates were sitting in good positions for the evening to come. The crit that afternoon was in a new place than the previous years and what was so funny is that I've been to the same location just in January when they had the Ice Carving Festival with my family! hahaha! I got a kick out of that....and here I am again, racing my bike!

The crit was HELLA hard! I got caught up in a crash early on(I was fine and my teammates who were also in the crash were ok) so we went to the pit, got our free lap, jumped back into the race and went at it again.....sometime later and a couple of other crashes later, the race was over and I was thankful to be finished....OUCH!

That's when I realized how hard this race was gonna be, oh boy.....

The next day was a road race that ended up being cancelled due to weather! Crazy stuff!!! A lot of gals said this was a first for them and they've been racing for YEARS! It was a bit bizarre, so everyone packed up and headed home....

So back to a crit the next day, here we go again:) I started in a better position for this one, tried to get into a couple of breaks that didn't stick and BAM back on the back hanging on for dear life again....and again I made it till the end. I think my fingernails are hurting from hanging on for dear life;)

On Saturday, we had a road race(76miles) filled with steep, quick climbs. I CAN DO THIS! And I DID! :) I was with the main pack coming into the finishing circuits and I was sitting in a pretty good spot and I just couldn't hold it till the end but I was happy that I made that group to finish with.

Sunday was the day of HELL a.k.a. Stillwater...beautiful town but STEEP hills:) I still enjoyed the experience to be honest(is that sick?). I did my best to hang on but my legs were done for even though my head was still ready to rock, ugh...

FINISHED, next race please....Nationals!!! YAhooooo:) Headed to Bend, OR tomorrow with the rest of the gals, should be fun!!!

A quick week

Thank you Kokopelli Bike Shop!

It seems like I just unpacked my bags and I'm getting ready to pack em again:) Yahooooooo....

So my bad ju ju carried over till Tuesday.....I headed over to Durango for the Tuesday 'Worlds' ride with Lance and we met Michael as well. It was going to either be a great ride or I was going to totally blow up-I was feeling REALLY GOOD! About 30min in I was with the hammerheads, enjoying life when I reached over to shift into a smaller gear and nothing. Again, nothing. UGH!

So I pulled out of the group, pulled over to the side of the road in my 12(the hardest gear) and Michael stopped to take a look and my day was over, well kind of. I had to limp back about 8miles to the truck, so I took this 'opportunity' to work on my pedal stroke, since I was probably pedaling at like 20rpms! hahaha!

Anyway there are plenty of positives from this:

1. I think of these issues as opportunities to think about what I would do if this happened in a race and how I would react.

2. Thank goodness for the awesomeness of Kokopelli's Bike Shop for letting me borrow a bike while mine was out of commission.

3. At least it didn't happen during a race.

4. My team mechanic, Brian, was so awesome in overnighting me what I needed to get back to good:)

So also this week, Carla and her sister Alice were driving through Colorado and had the chance to stay in Cortez for the night, so we got to have dinner together! YAY! How cool would that be, to get in a van, point it one direction and just go and I think they are headed all the way to Alaska-HOLY SMOKES!

Well that's about it for the week, time to watch some soccer and get movin....

Bad ju ju

I'm hoping that after this weekend, all my bad ju ju is gone:) Here is the list in order of the weekend:

• Durango - Denver flight delayed 3hrs
• Missed flight from Denver to Tulsa
• Shuttle to hotel.....20min away, supper at 9:30, try to sleep by 11
• Leave hotel at 8 to catch 10am flight
• Get to ticket counter for flight, mechanical
• Flight is going to be delayed 3hrs.....hmmm I race today, this is gonna suck
• Oh wait! flight not delayed just moved to a diff. gate....and we are off!
• Become travel zombie somewhere between Denver and Tulsa and Whole Foods, just wanna get somewhere:)
• Get to host house at 4pm, we race at 7
• Get to ticket counter to go home, they have zeroed out my seats
• Have a 30min layover in Denver, this is gonna be a runner
• The plane lands but can't get to the gate b/c the crew isn't there, tic toc
• Get off plane, run to gate, no plane, wrong gate, delayed flight
• Last but not least........bags don't arrive in Durango for another 4hrs

So like I said, I hope all my bad ju ju is out and gone!!!! The positives were that I got to have most of this happen with Alison T., my new favorite travel buddy b/c she and I could laugh 99% of it off and we had some fun times chattin it up. I also got to see some of my teammates and staff that I haven't seen in a while, so it was good to catch up with them and eat some good post race meals together:)

More positives.....

Tulsa Tough was awesome! I loved the races, the environment, the fans, the atmosphere....good times for sure!!!

On the last day, the crowd had gathered on 'cry baby hill' and every lap it got more crazy. I remember seeing a baby doll that was being tossed around, a guy dressed in the devil outfit and a bunch of crazies cheering us on...I think one guy even offered me his phone number! hahaha! crazy! But fun as hell!

I also got to meet my friend Doug Lamunyon's brothers. One of em owns a place called In a Tub and everything at the restaurant is FRIED! hahaha! I would like to eat there once.....maybe one day....

My host house mom was sooo nice! She had a sweet old dog and the house was right beside a bike path.....just good home feeling....

So I travel again on Monday, I'm headed to Nature Valley Grand Prix and from there Bend, OR for Nationals, NO BAD JU JU! :)

Miller would like to go to the river now.....

So fit I'm sick

It seems we cyclists walk a fine line between being as fit as possible to getting sick. I think I'm one of the lucky ones to be honest....knock on wood!!!!

I was looking forward to this weekend and the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic but as the weekend got closer, my head starting filling up and my throat hurt worse and worse each day, ugh....

I'm a social butterfly and this weekend was full of events I wanted to attend plus all the cool racing! Dang it!:( So no road race for me but I managed to pull my lungs together long enough to do the crit with my teammate Alison and implement our strategy: win, win $$, keep overall GC for Alison.

The crit was 45min and the only 2 people Alison was most concerned with were Alisha Welsh and Marissa Asplund. So our plan was to attack and counter attack, knowing one of those would be chasing at all times, so off we went. I started the race, thinking, keep a high pace, keeps us out of trouble and things strung out. Sure enough, 2 laps in that was happening, so now time to attack. After a lap or so, I look back and see who is chasing:) Plan is working. They catch me and there goes AT!!! Yayyer! And that was it, the attack that stuck! Marissa couldn't get her team or anyone to organize a chase, plus, I won the field prime and AT took all the other primes. "I love it when a plan comes together":)

The last lap was strung out and my lungs had thrown in the towel by then, so I just hung on and finished with the group. And I must say, the crowd was AWESOME!!! They had a beer garden on turn 2 and the longer the break went on, then more rowdy the crowd got, it was a great feeling:)

Post race, Alison and I spun around a bit, then headed home to get cleaned up and maybe some grub. Alas, my lungs and head had different plans. By the time I showered and slowed down, I needed to get food and get home or else my head was gonna explode! Needless to say, I was in bed by 9 and slept till 10 the next day.

After lots of couch surfing, I think I'm on top of the head cold now, so I'll take an easy spin today and get the lungs open and take in the fresh air!

So like I said, we cyclists are super fit and on the border of getting sick all the time, hence the importance of proper recovery, eating right, sleeping right and trying to stay healthy as possible flying/traveling as much as we do.

Next up for me....flying to Tulsa, OK on Thursday with my teammate Alison, I'm looking forward to racing and seeing my other teammates as well:)

I think Miller is waiting for me to take him to the river......