Boise Crit/Cascade Cycling Classic

I left home last Friday for Boise Crit and Cascade Cycling Classic and just returned yesterday.  It was a great week of racing.

I'd been doing long miles more for Cascade than training for the Boise crit so Michael said I would feel a bit flat for the crit until I rode into it for a while and that is exactly how I felt!  Not much spring or jump in the legs but good power output.  It started raining after about 15min of racing and the roads got slick, the pace slowed  but crashes still happened.  I had my back wheel slide on me one corner but I saved it and none of the TIBCO girls went down.  

We didn't win the race and that was my fault, I'll keep that between the team and myself but that mistake will never happen again and they know that.  

After the crit we took a picture of just how nasty the streets were, it's below in the photos.  

Boise is a great town!!! It's like Durango with a river running through town but it is lower elevation and you can get to the mountains easily.  Downtown is really cool and they have great coffee shops, again, another picture below from one of the coffee shops:)

After Boise, we drove to Bend to prep for Cascade, racing started on Tuesday with a prologue, so we drove straight to the course, changed clothes and jumped on the bikes for a recon ride.  

I was a bit disappointed the prologue wasn't more technical, it seemed to me more of a TT course than a prologue but hey, whatever, roll with it and do the best you can, which for me wasn't a great result and I was pretty disappointed. 

McKenzie Pass day was a good day for the team, I had a great TT and loved the new TT course!! Mt. Bachelor was another good day for the team, crit not so much and the last day wasn't too great but that's racing!  I would've posted more but our Internet at the house wasn't great and I don't have the patience for the spinning wheels!! Check out my teammate's posts - Meredith Miller.  

After all the racing, we joined a couple of other teams for a World Bicycle Relief fundraiser for some beer and food at a local brewery.  I called it a night pretty early since my wake up was at 4:20am but I was home by the afternoon.  It went by to fast, I miss  Bend already, what a great place to be.

Next up, some quick training for a crit this weekend in Michigan, then back to CO for big miles and training for another Europe trip.  We leave on the 13th of August and I won't be back in the states till after the first of September.  Then I'll see how much I have left in the tank for track nationals in LA at the end of September - may or may not happen.  Enjoy the pictures below!

 Coffee break with the boss in Sisters....

 Coffee shop in Boise, too funny!!

 Post crit in Boise..

 Can you guess the only person on the team that still uses a Blackberry????

 Breakfast every morning: Yogurt, Puffins, berries and coffee..

 How does she do this???

New podium shoes....LUV's


Listening: NPR music from New Orleans
Reading: grocery list
Watching: the London run up
Eating: nothing yet! I'm hungry, what's for breakfast
Feeling: good to be home - always!

Mesa Verde

Again, it's been too long since my last blog but so much is going on to occupy my time! The Tour, Miller wanting to go swimming, being at home, all that OTHER stuff:) Enough of the excuses, here is my latest adventure....Mesa Verde!

"Mesa Verde, Spanish for 'green table', rises high above the surrounding country. For about 1,300 years, agrarian Indians occupied the mesa and surrounding regions. From the hundreds of dwellings that remain, archeologists have compiled one of the most significant chapters in the story of prehistoric America." - back of the postcard I bought.

 This was the line to get tickets! hahaha! This almost cracked us but we made it....

 The view while we were in line...

 Angela was a bit put out and couldn't understand why they weren't moving faster, she asked, "Maybe they are having coffee inside."

 Still standing in line - view...

 Finally! Driving up towards the tour spots.  These trees are dead from a fire from 10 years ago.  They said it will take 400 years for it to look green again.

 Navajo Indian fry bread! Had to try it! I think it would've been better w/ just honey and sugar but sure, I'll take it "Chipotle" style...

 Which car sticks out?

 View from our first tour - The Balcony House...

 Soooooo, we are going to come up this ladder????

 Tour guide! Last name...Wheeler:)

 I'm already sitting, we haven't even started walking anywhere! Lazy cyclists!

 The walk down...

 Here is our first ladder...

 But first, we learn a little bit about the ancient folks....

 Instructions on going up..

 2 at a time...

 This is what we see when we get up there....this is cool stuff!!

 We go from big wide open spaces, to tiny, crawling spaces...

 Walking into another tiny spot, behind the walls...

 This is their building materials, clay, sandstone and wood fibers...

 It's just cool stuff!

 Looking to the other side..

 Here is a kiva, it was their kitchen, keeping warm spot and ritual spot.....it was supposed to have a roof on it..

 Looking into one of the windows...

 The national parks numbered each area to keep up with all the rooms...

 This would be where they ground the corn...

 Another tight squeeze....

 Yep, here we go!

 Now up the ladder...don't look down

 This is what we were climbing:) Told you not to look down...

 Tour #2, Cliff Palace...

 The view from the top!

 Walking in...

 Level with the dwellings, you can see the tour ahead of us to the far right.

 Tour guide #2...

 Me not listening and taking pictures instead....

 This is our tour, walking around to the dwellings..

 The view from the dwellings, looking back to where we started the tour....

 Self portrait...

 Angela and I..

 Dwelling paintings!

One last view!

It was an all day excursion and we only saw a piece of the park.  There is a hotel and a couple of restaurants at the park and now I understand why.  I would love to spend the weekend there and take it all in, maybe some day.

Next up in the racing scene is the Boise criterium, then on to Bend, OR for Cascade Cycling Classic.  I love Cascade, it is such a great race and a great time of the year and Bend is a cool town!

Reading: tour maps from Mesa Verde
Listening: Pontoon, by Little Big Town ( funny song)
Eating: Pineapple
Watching: Le Tour
Training: today is easy 1 1/2hrs....I had a long weekend, Saturday group ride/Sunday long ride.  Now I'm getting ready for Cascade..