Asheville trip with the family

I had been excited for this trip since track nationals! When there is a family trip, it's always full of laughs, some funny story and dad walking us all over the place to check things out. And it seems he knows exactly where he is going - all the time - and he can find the coolest things!

But this time he was a bit slowed due to an injury that required surgery this coming Thursday (yes, he put it off for 2 weeks, thinking he could tough it out). He was still a mover and shaker and could outpace any of us, EXCEPT - T3!! My nephew is such a sweetheart and clown! He is 5 and apparently already the class clown.

On the agenda (we were only there from Thursday-Monday) was Tweetsie Railroad, Linville Caverns, maybe Biltmore and building a bookshelf for Ben and Verka for all her books. The pictures below are from most of all that.

We stayed the first couple of nights at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Asheville and it was over the top nice. I was the last to arrive to the hotel, checked into my room and was looking forward to a hot shower. So I started the water, left the bathroom, came back and there was water running over the tub onto the tile floor....oh sh-t....The shower head was pointed right off the edge of the bathtub, against the wall and creating a river that was about to flood the room!! I ended up using every towel, except one to clean it all up! hahaha! What a way to start the trip...

Other interesting things that happened: T3 choked on supper, chewed and swallowed a toy that was supposed to expand and of course a couple of folks ended up getting sick (head cold stuff). I wouldn't have changed it for the world!

Next up is Thanksgiving and I'm looking forward to what that has in store:)! But for now, I'm in Tucson, riding and enjoying the company of teammates and friends.

Tweetsie Railroad was such a cold day!! We all froze our butts off but it was still a blast.
The train....
The train ride - even the hot chocolate wasn't doing the trick...
Down by the river at my brother's house, camp fire, hot dogs and T3 almost falling into the river, almost falling into the fire, falling on the rocks - perfect for him, scary for everyone else...
While my dad and brothers were building the bookshelf, I helped T3 make this his boat. He wanted to float it down the river but we ran out of time....
Brothers at work.....
Whoopsie!!! Who measured this again???? It was a bit too tall, so they had to take it back outside to cut it back a bit.....
Mike, the neighbor, supervising the cuts....
Measure twice, cut once....
YEAH!!! It fits!...
Bonfire funny men.....
Verka, Andrea and myself enjoying the sunset and fire....
Not sure what we were laughing so much about...
My favorite 5yr old EVER!

Reading: Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orlean

Listening: Good Feeling by Flo Rida

Watching: Football!! How bout that LSU/BAMA game!

Eating: Pomegranate

Off season

And so it has started - OFF SEASON! I've enjoyed cyclocross rides, mountain bike rides, long walks and time to do those things that need to get done and still have the energy afterwards to be social;)

I've been cooking, cleaning, loving on Miller, watching sports, making homemade things and reading. I'm headed to Asheville, N.C., back to my brothers house, for a visit and the whole family is gonna be there! I've been looking forward to this since track nationals ended.

These pictures are from a ride I usually do, towards Rico - a beautiful place. And one picture of Dolores from a hillside looking out at the mountains.

Reading: Brandwashing, Martin Lindstrom

Movie: 127 Hours

TV: Sports, 30 Rock and Modern Family

Listening: Taj Mahal and Hugh Laurie

Cooking: Pot roast ~ 4 1/2 hrs :)

Thinking about: 2012 and the good things to come....

Ride to Rico....
Ride to Rico....
Coming back from Rico....
Ride to Rico....
The view of town and the mountains in the background...

I'll post again when I get back from the family visit.

Track Nationals

WOW, what a whirlwind of the last 2 weeks. In my last post I said I had one more 'event' before the start of my off-season and it was my first ever track nationals.

We headed west to L.A. a week before nationals to get my legs and body re-acquainted with the feel of the track, spin of the pedals and just overall going in circles bit. There was also a race the weekend before that I did just to get used to the time at the track and the feel of racing(ended up winning!!).

Then nationals started on Wednesday morning and I was there everyday except Friday, racing my bike and having fun. I was entered in the omnium, scratch race, points race and the madison.

The omnium was 6 events over 2 days:

Day 1 - flying 200, miss n out race, points race

Day 2 - 3k individual pursuit, scratch race and 500TT

I had a great first day and then I concentrated a lot on the 3k for the next day, which turned out good for me but then it was like my brain left the building for the scratch race. I had a horrible race and was so mad! But in hindsight, it was great thing to experience failure and learn from the pressure and I did. I still need to work more on the 500 as well but hey, 2nd place overall I was content-not happy but content.

I skipped the scratch race because, one, I was exhausted from the omnium and two, I wanted to watch and learn what I could from the other experienced girls. AMAZING racing!!!

Also, the points race was more for experience and just to get a feel for a group that size and race my butt off:) So taking 5th there was success in my book. SMALL STEPS :)

Then the madison on Sunday.....I was REALLY tired and not motivated to be honest but I did commit and I'm not one to not show up. Which turned out to be rewarding, seeing that we won! I was completely exhausted on the last throw and when they said we won the national championship, I was overwhelmed! Again, learning experience, how to push through when you are tired, what that feels like to have been so close, take a beating and get back up to stand on top and be successful-WOW...

I met so many wonderful people at the track and enjoyed seeing the differences between trackies and roadies:) Oh boy the chamois time!! hahahaha

I look forward to seeing everyone in the future, pushing myself to get better, racing against some fantastic athletes and having some good laughs at the past.

Here are some pictures from the whole weekend and I shared a video of the madison finish on FB, check it out!!

One of the best.....John Walsh...aka Walshy, he has helped me SO MUCH!
In between races I think...I was so tired so sleeping was not a problem;)
Winding up for the flying 200....
Points race...please note the size of the crowd, apparently some of their best yet...
Going for something? Dunno what;)....
Scratch race maybe?....
This breakaway had me in the box!!! Owie!!
2 of the best!!! Walshy and Engleman!
Myself, Dana Feiss and Kate Wilson(my madison partner)....
Awards for points race.....ha! I'm standing on my tippy toes.....
Points race podium....
The best for last.....Madison National Champs.....

For all results, click on the link below:

Track Nationals

Earth ships

So on one of my trips this summer, I went to Taos, NM for training and came across these 'earth ships'. I had never seen anything like it before and after riding by them for a couple of days, my curiosity got the best of me and so I paid the entry fee to get to check one out.

They are built into the ground, have solar panels, a grey water system, 'green house' inside and most of the building materials are from reused products. Not the most beautiful homes but whatever floats your boat eh? There was a whole community of houses and they drew a lot of curious visitors.

Entrance to the viewing earth ship...
Walkway to the earth ship...
The wall that really caught my eye when we were riding by...
Thank you beer drinkers for your contribution...
A close up of the wall...I'm pretty sure this is eventually covered...

The earth ship from afar...
Glass bottles and cans in a decorative pattern...
Domes...
No this isn't a trash pile but rather building materials....
So they cut the top ends of the bottles off and tape the bottoms together w/ duck tape and the bottoms is what you see sticking out of the wall. I think the bottles help with insulation? Total guess on that one.

So before you build your dream home don't forget to look into having an earth ship!

Last little bit...

Wellpers, that's it....no more road season, all done. I'm sad, which is a good thing, means I'm not burned out or ready to be in the off season(hopefully that mental toughness will pay off next year). I finished things up with the Gateway Cup this past weekend and won the overall.

I look forward to:

my next adventure(I'll have to wait and tell you about it later) at the end of this month

Aspens changing colors and going on some hikes

hanging with the family

endless rides with no time limit in the mountains till it gets too cold

So again, some more random pictures from my brother's house, post race fun and just general team bonding experiences....enjoy.

Verka and I enjoying some dinner outside their house
We were riding around the St. Louis Cardinal stadium when we came up on this sign for parking and insisted we take our picture and while we were there, Kelly saw an old friend of ours....next picture....
We met this guy at the Tour de Grove(St. Louis) races when it was raining and cold. He was one of those random folks that walks up to the tent, looks at all of us in our 'bike clothes', looks at all our 'bikes', crossed the barriers, notices other folks racing around the blocks and says, "Is there something going on today?"

So I obliged and told him we were bike racers and I inquired on what he did-he is the 'Bud Light' guy at the baseball games, you know the ones who walk up and down the stairs yelling, 'BUD LIGHT'. So I asked him to do his 'call', those guys always have something unique to get your attention and man did he let out a yell!!! It was highly impressive. So fast forward a couple of months and we had just finished taking our picture next to the Rock Star parking sign when Kelly says, "Hey, it's the Bud Light guy!" And sure enough......
I love me some chicken wangs! Grrrrrr
Post race celebrations.....Elk Grove I think....

I'm back home, feet kicked up, Miller snoring.

Reading: Tina Fey's Bossypants

Eating: nothing exciting to note actually

Watching: FOOTBALL!!!!!

Listening: my house noises, oh so sweet

Where am I?

These last few weeks, I've had a hard time keeping up with where I am and what day it is! HA! I went to a news stand yesterday and they were selling the Sunday Times and I asked if it was Sunday. The guy looked at me crazy and said, "No we sell the Sunday paper all week, it's Wednesday". Yeah...I knew that...

So the following pictures are from Aspen Women's Stage Race:

Ronnie gets to ride!!! She was on the hunt for Lance Armstrong:)
Ran into this guy after our last day and they finished in Aspen....very nice, I'm sure he was so tired:)
Fun ride the day after racing finished, we had a blast...
Won the Best Colorado Rider jersey the day of the crit and had fun with this picture;).....

Then we flew to Chris Thater, raced, won, before hurrican Irene shut things down. Stayed in Asheville for a couple of days with my brother again, no golfing this time. Instead, he put me to work-painting-BLAH. Then we hit the road again and now we are in St. Louis, getting ready for Gateway this weekend.

That will wrap up the road season for me:( That will be a whole other post......I'm sad it's over, so fast...

While I was out...

So after the Charlotte crit(July 30th-we won!), I headed to Asheville with 2 teammates, Rachel and Adrian for some down time before the next race-Elk Grove(we won!). My brother lives in Asheville and we made the most of the 3 days I was there, as the pictures below show....:)

Shooting his 308 rifle a.k.a. deer killin machine!
Look close in this picture and you will see a red speck, that was the target ~200yards away, it may have taken us a couple of times to hit it...maybe.....
Then on to golf...this is Ben's view out his back yard....for refrence, the target we were shooting at was to the right of this view....
So I'm no golfer, I want to learn but this is as good as it gets right now:)...I did hit the ball
My golfer pose...
Down by the river, hanging out....

Next up....mini training camp, a.k.a. different roads to ride while putting in the time, then on to Michigan, Aspen and New York, then back to Asheville!!! Wonder what else we can do next time I get there?!

Reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Listening: Dave Matthews

Eating: Tomatoes! Yum a tum!

Watching: my dog sleep

Looking forward to: 'training camp'