Hello from Tucson

Yep, last weekend Anniston, AL, this past weekend Tucson, AZ.

After Anniston, I flew home on Monday. Michael had a rider in Tucson he needed to help and asked if I wanted to head south for more warm weather. It wasn't too bad in Dolores but cold enough for warm clothing, so if I could go warm I would and I did. So Tuesday morning, I got in a quick 1hr 1/2 spin, re-packed the bags(took 2 seconds) and piled in the truck.

The 8hr drive kind of put a hurtin on me, I was just tired of traveling but once we got to our destination I was happy:) So that rider Michael needed to help just happens to be Clara Hughes, click on her name and it will be clear why I decided to fight it out in the car:)

You can learn a lot from someone like her, on and off the bike. She has a wonderful personality, she is competitive as hell and knows that everyday is a gift. So Wednesday thru Saturday we rode together and I got in some good quality miles.

Saturday we participated in the famous Tucson Shootout ride. The ride is full of strong people and is just as hard as the rides in Durango, lots of pros, lots of strong people, doing some hard training as well. The ride started at 6:30am-yes early, but totally understandable! And we rolled back into town by about 9ish. So a few of us hit the coffee shop for a minute before riding home at about 10:30, yep, by 11 I was done riding for the day. And good thing because it has been getting really hot here already.

The difference in this heat vs MS heat-NO HUMIDITY...DRY, DRY, DRY. And if you run out of water it is a REALLY bad thing! So I've been drinking lots of fluids off the bike as well to stay hydrated.

Sunday, I raced a criterium here in Tucson with my teammate Kristin Sanders, it was a last minute decision on my part and a good decision it was. We won! She soloed away from the field and I stayed in the pack to make sure know one caught her and to sprint for 2nd, which I did :)

It was a great decision to come to Tucson. I leave to go back to Colorado today but first gonna go for one more hot spin:)!

Next up, I fly home on Thursday for Easter, see my nephew, help around the house and getting in some good riding before heading to the USA Crit Series....

Happy Monday!

Sunny King

Every time I say 'Sunny King' I really wanna say 'Sunny Kaaaannnnggg' with a little bit of harmony in there:) I dunno why, that' just me....

ANYWAY

So myself, Kelly B., Andrea D., Janel H., Kristin S. and Cath C, along with Rachel H(director) and Adrian(mechanic extrodinaire) all headed to Anniston, AL this past weekend for the NRC Sunny King criterium and Foothills road race on Sunday. Arriving at the airport and all of us meeting up, it was good to see the crew again, even though it had only been 4 days-these gals and guy are funny and a blast to be around and with.

We all piled into the van and headed to the wonderful host house and a couple of us went for an easy spin around to check out the back roads and get the travel out of the legs.....Anniston is beautiful!

Saturday morning, I wake up around 8ish and head downstairs looking for coffee and Frank(the host dad) offered up a morning tidy-bloody mary.....hahaha, that's funny Frank-nope he was serious. Then I realized it was Saturday morning and hey, if Frank wants a bloody mary by golly, he's gonna drink one. I opted out and enjoyed coffee instead and sitting around the table with everyone and scarfing down some of Frank's wonderful breakfast buffet items. He cooked every meal for us and it was yum a tum! Love southern hospitality!

After a nice pleasant morning, it was time to get in another ride, go check out the course and do some face time with the fans. The venue was only a couple of miles from the house, which was perfect and when we arrived there were already races taking place. I saw my family and some friends from the area and we visited for a bit before myself and the other girls got on the course to take a lap and then off-or so I thought. Next thing I know, we are coming around the start/finish line and the 3/4 women are lined up and we are lined up behind them. Then the announcer says, "Thank you Colavita women for volunteering to race with these 3/4 women and give them some pointers while on course".....WHAT? Wait, what are we doing???

So, Kelly, the awesome trooper she is, goes to the front and gets right in the middle of em. I play it safe with some of the others in the back, thinking I may offer a draft, a couple of pointers and then pull out after a couple of laps. About the time I decide to pull out on the NEXT lap, sure enough, a crash!!! Thank goodness no one was hurt and none of us were involved, all the girls got up and if their bike was ok, finished the race. That was our cue to head back to the house and get some lunch before the evening's events.

The race was awesome, we had a game plan to be aggressive and we were from lap 2!!! Janel won, Kelly was 3rd and the rest of us finished in the group. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Sunday's race was EARLY-9am-to us anyway;) Especially after finishing the crit at 8pm, then watching the men's race, then podium, then home for shower and try to go to bed around 11ish...so yeah, 9 was early.

Again, we wanted to be aggressive and from the gun we were. Cath and Andrea created a break with one other and they were gone! Cath won and Andrea took 3rd, back in the field is was a bit more chaotic because we would get neutralized by the men coming around but all in all it was a great day on the bike. :)

Afterwards I said goodbye to the family, we loaded up the van, back to host housing to clean up and pack up and off to Atlanta airport we went. From there, Rachel, Adrian and Cath went on to Asheville and myself, Janel, Kelly, Andrea and Kristin had an awesome Thai dinner, then watched the reruns of Paris-Roubaix on Versus at the airport hotel! That was a wonderful way to finish the weekend. Miss the team family already......

Next up for me is the Southeast crits after Easter....

Redlands and home

I'm pretty sure I've said it 100 times - "It's good to be home". Colorado is definitely home for me, the mountains are so beautiful, the air is fresh and the temperatures are perfect! Ahhhh, "It's good to be home" (101)

After San Dimas, we drove to the Redlands host house-Jane and Dale, they recycle, they compost, they have a cool cat, a cold pool and a BIG house with a nice kitchen=perfect host house. My roomies were Janel and Heather and we had a good time with Jane and Dale. While in Redlands we had to do a photo shoot for the team, so we used some course recon to get in our shots while getting familiar with the races to come.

The time trial is a booger with a 1k climb at the end that is pretty steep and it hurts so bad-but we all got through it just fine:)

The team won the next 3 stages of the race and we are such a great group. When one of the riders wins, we ALL win and that is what it felt like! We have a lot of fun together and everyone has an awesome personality and it makes us all gel well together. I really look forward to this season-up next Sunny King in Anniston, AL, this weekend. It should be a great race!

But until then, Miller gets all my attention when I'm not riding:)