Cascade and post race

Let me just say that Cascade Cycling Classic was awesome! It felt like a break through ride for me, I got in breaks, I attacked, and I placed in the top ten one day-success!! I had a blast!

Check out cyclingnews.com for results and race reports. Sorry, I was too tired to post everyday:)

So after Cascade, on Sunday, we drove to Portland to spend some quality time with some of our sponsors and participate in a couple of group rides. On Monday, we went to Nossa Familia coffee shop to do a meet and greet and did a group ride. After the ride, they had a keg of Ninkasi beer for us and we sat on the front porch of someone's house and enjoyed the afternoon with friends and beverages:)

Tuesday we drove to Eugene, visited Rolf Prima Wheels warehouse, participated in another group ride(loads of chics on bikes:)),raced in the Tuesday night crit, then went to Ninkasi for more beer drinking and a tour of the brewery-cool!!!! Eugene is a cool town, another one I could add to my list of favorites-it just had some really cool coffee shops and vintage shops, lots of cyclists, great roads and some really cool people:) Which brings me to a question.....wonder where I will settle down and call home????

Wonder if I will ever move back to MS???? hmmmm

Anyway, I digress......so today-Wednesday, I'm back in the airport trying to fly standby to get home and worn out.....hence me not being able to focus on one subject and finish a complete sentence:) sorry....

Next up-a break~3-5 days off the bike. Time to be a tourist in town:) Take Miller to the river, hike, check out some things-then it is back to work, there is still a couple of races to do and then maybe onto the track. I will ride my bike till it snows, then I will take a longer break before thinking about 2011.

ok....when I'm not so tired, I will post more and hopefully it is something worth reading, until then:)....

Bend again:)

I can't tell you guys enough just how much I love this place! This is now my 4th time to be in Bend and I'm loving it more and more.....:)

This race is gonna be a hard one but I'm totally looking forward to it. It is kind of bitter sweet because this is the last stage race of the year. So even though I will be doing one day races with the team after this it feels like it's over, I'm sad......whoa were did the time go?????

It seems like forever ago that I was at my first team camp, then San Dimas, then Redlands...then it starts to blur a bit:) But man what a great time I've had, even the bad days.....jeez...I totally made the right move to quit the ole 9 to 5er and go for it. I'm looking forward to racing as much as I can till the end of the season, whenever that is.....and I'm just hanging on to all the awesome memories!!!

But back to today....this race...it's gonna be hard/fun/fast.......let's do it!

Hometime

Wonder if Miller would wear these?
Post race chillin
The Hillside Girlz!
The week I got home, I had a visitor from home-my buddy, Andrea Wilson. She had driven across the country to do a race in Breckenridge this past weekend and she needed a place to stay for a couple of days before heading up to the race venue. I gladly offered up Dolores as the coolest town ever to stay in:)

So Andrea was so kind as to pick me up at the Durango airport at 10:30 Monday night, then we drove the hour drive home and called it a day, plus I got to see my baby boy-Miller was SO excited to see me:)

For the next couple of days, I had easy rides and Andrea had some business to take care of, i.e. bicycle stuff, so we got to hang out and drink a couple of cold ones and visit my friends for dinner before she left on Thursday morning.

As for this past weekend, I didn't have any big plans until Karen asked me if I wold be the bike leg of a relay team for a triathlon.....whoooo sounds like fun! A chance to ride my TT bike without any pressure AT ALL and have a good time with friends! I'm in! We had a blast! Karen swam, I biked and Terra ran- we were the Hillside Girlz! We got second place to a group of guys by seconds, ahhhhh. So to celebrate, I took a nap, then Michael and I went to Lance n Karen's for a cookout and to watch the replay of the tour(Tour de France). I was asleep by 10......whoa big partier:)

Maybe I'll jump in the river again today with my all my cycling stuff on...hmmmm

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.....