PROOF

I'd like to tell this story through photos:
It was a tough day at the Crankworx Colorado cross country race, with steep climbs and knarly descents....








But, I finished unscathed and in 2nd place .

And to my extreme excitement the top finishers were awarded prize money...in the form of big checks.

Gimmee, gimmee....

Yes indeed. Big check=big time big deal

US National Championships Re-cap

Saturday morning came and my stomach was in knots. I had a peanut butter banana bagel and some coffee. I drank a ton of Nuun. I went to the bathroom several times. I took an Immodium since my stomach was being very ornery. I then packed up and headed to Sol Vista to get ready to race. I warmed up for about 40min, did some efforts, drank lots of EFS and Nuun. I had a bottle of Pre-race mixed up. I was still feeling pretty good-legs felt good, lungs felt good, a calm had settled over me. My mantra for this race was going to be "Strong, Smooth, and Steady". I had cold bottles of EFS ready for Ann to pass me, and I had a cooler of ice-filled water bottles for one lucky family member to hand me to douse myself with.
Soon, it was time to line up. I was one of the very last to be called up to the line-that's always a bummer. My goal was to line up on the outside, ride steady and strong, but not go too hard. I wanted to be ~20-25 going into the first single track, knowing that there were lots of passing opportunities throughout the uphill climb and knowing that a lot of people would blow up on that first grunt of a hill. My strategy worked and I was able to consistently pick people off on that first hill. I went into the downhill single track riding by myself. This is when I sort of lost it- I got nervous and twitchy. I got to the one knarly downhill section where all the photographers were waiting for people to do something spectacular. And I did a spectacular somersault down the hill with my bike still attached. Nice! My good friend Jen Gersbach came down right behind me and just kept saying "you're ok, you're alright, you're ok" as she passed me and then I was like "you're damn right I'm ok!" That didn't hurt! It was go time.
Each lap I got my two bottles, I drank one, and poured one. I was covered in black dirt from my tumble, but I was feeling good. I felt strong, smooth, and steady. I picked off a few people each lap, and I got smoother on the downhill on each lap. I finished the day in 16th. I was happy that I had a strong race from start to finish.
The next day was the short track race. I had loftier goals for this race. I love short track, and I'm relatively good at it. So, again I was called up 3rd to last to the line-ok, this is getting old! The start sucked. They had us lined up on a steep hill that was super rutted. Therefore, anyone in the back rows (me) had either their front wheel or back wheel in a deep rut. That meant that when the gun went off the first 20 girls already had a huge advantage because they were able to clip in and go. Those of us in back had to roll to smoother ground, then clip in and go. I rolled, clipped in, and went to the outside and tried to pass as many people as possible on the uphill. Then, tried to be as smooth and fast as possible on the downhill. Then repeat the process for as many laps as it takes. I was feeling good and had worked my way into the top ten, then I sort of blew up. I had thought I was going to get pulled, but then I wasn't. So then I was like "uh oh, you might actually have to suffer through this whole damn thing". So I decided to ease up a bit. I was passed by a group of 3 girls, and I got on to the wheel in front of me getting ready to sit in for another lap and then try and attack next time up the hill. It was then, to my extreme frustration and dismay, that the official decided to pull me. ME, just ME. Not any of the other 3 girls that were directly in front of me. I was pissed. I may have let loose an expletive that I rarely say and happens to rhyme with my last name. That really sucked.
Anyway, I was in 13th place when I was pulled. That's still not bad. I can be satisfied with that.
My first national championships and it's interesting to see how I stack up. It's been a rough summer for me so far, so I was happy with how I did. I definitely think having the race in my backyard was a significant advantage. I also definitely think that having a full-time job is a significant disadvantage. In fact of those 15 people that beat me in the cross country race, not one of them has a job other than racing their bikes. So now I just need a special jersey for being the "fastest female cross country mountain bike racer in the USA with a full-time job" Yeah, it's official. I AM A BIG DEAL. It also helps that last week I was able to put on a wind jacket succesfully from start to finish, while riding my bike. Didn't touch the handlebars once during the process. I wonder if I can get a jersey saying something to that extent as well...

The days before Nationals

Since pre-riding my anxiety and nervousness grew every day. I was just worried that I would have a lack-luster race for no determinable reason-similar to the race in Colorado Springs. I told myself not to worry, save my energy for racing, just focus on feeling strong, etc. But, the nerves remained. I devised strategies to help me stay cool: wear an ice-filled camel back, pack ice into my jersey pockets, get two bottles per lap-one for drinking one for dousing, etc. Still the nerves remained.
The Wednesday before Nationals I raced the Boulder Short track. To my relief I felt strong and won pretty easily-always a good confidence booster! That improved the nerves a little. Thursday morning I got a message that really helped open up some tight spots that were really bothering me. Thursday afternoon I decided to head up to the race that night so that I would be able to get another pre-ride in and just have the rest of the day Friday to relax before the race. So, after work I started packing all my stuff and getting my bike ready. I took off my rear wheel to clean my bike and noticed that the rear hub was loose-so loose in fact that the whole thing came off in my hand. I panicked. I threw bike and wheel into the car and sped off to the Trek Boulder Store. Dave, one of those owners, took one look at my wheel, one look at my grease smudged, panicked face and said "hmm, that doesn't seem quite right. Leave the wheel with me and I'll either fix it or bring you a new one tomorrow morning at the race venue". So, I left the wheel, finished packing and headed up to the Tanner Cabin in Devil's Thumb.
Friday morning, Dave and Brian, owners of the Trek Bike Store and Cutting Edge Sports, were in the parking lot at the race venue with a perfectly functioning wheel. Whew! Dave then preceeded to give my bike a complete tune-he checked the wheels, he shimmed the brakes, he adjusted the deraileur, he tuned my suspension. It was awesome. I then took my like new bike and played around on the mountain for awhile-scoping out the course and cheering for the Tokyo Joes junior and U23 women. I felt good!
I went back to the Tanner Cabin and lounged for the rest of the day. Ah, the life!

Nationals Course Pre Ride

I went up to Sol Vista to meet with coach Ann and her trusty group of juniors to pre-ride the course. These kids crack me up. They've got skills! I always feel a little self-concious riding with them because, honestly, their skills and bravery put me to shame. Anyway, we did three laps of the course. The uphill is steep to start, but then swoopy and fun. The downhill is steep, loose, and bumpy/rocky. Not an easy downhill by any means. My arms, shoulders, and back were sore after the pre-ride(not to self: next season I'll need to focus more on upper body strength). During the pre-ride I got pretty hot and wasn't feeling well (goosebumps, empty legs, nausea)-uh, oh are the issues I struggled with earlier this season coming back to haunt me??!!

Been awhile...

I know. Honestly I just had no motivation to update my blog...I actually had a few drafts saved that represented feeble attempts to update, but they weren't more than a few sentences. So, here's a recap: after Angel Fire I came to the conclusion that I was over-stressed. Not over trained, just stressed. I was telling one of my friends how it's funny that as an athlete I feel like I'm pretty in-tuned to my body. I know when I'm getting sick, I know when I'm too tired to train, I know when something just doesn't feel right that could be the early signs of an injury. But, I'm not so good with the emotional and mental aspects. Anyway, work was stressing me out-a new role with more responsibility. And, I really missed spending time with my husband working on our house. Both things I figured I could train through, until I found myself dreading riding my bike and looking forward to when the next race would just be over with.
Wise Coach Ann put the brakes on for me. Took some time taking it easy with the training...then slowly building back up. Unfortunately, the time I wasn't spending on my bike I was spending at work instead. Waah, waah I know. I had to skip a few races, cause I just couldn't make it work and maintain sanity. But I made the right decisions because I am truly enjoying the time I spend on my bike these days and I've been able to hang out with Ari and the boys (Tucker and Riley) more.
Don't get me wrong-I've done some races-Teva Games Hill Climb(4th), Sunshine Hill climb (5th?), Mike Horgan Hill climb(4th), Winter Park super loop(3rd), and of course Short track(2nd and 1st). And, I'm happy to say they've all gone pretty well.
So now it's one week away from the National Championships. It'll be my first, and 6 months ago I had some lofty goals for how well I'd do. Now, who knows how it'll turn out? I'm heading up to pre-ride the course tomorrow...

Angel Fire

I got my new bike last week thanks to Cutting Edge Sports and the Trek Store Boulder. They worked overtime to make sure it was all put together and ready to go to Angel Fire, NM to race. Thanks guys!!
So, now for the race recap. Saturday I got up and did a pre-ride loop. The course was pretty wet, really rocky, and slick. It also seemed like a lot of fun and was definitely one of the more technical race courses I've done. I "rocked the casbah" (in Eringlish this means I cleared some rocky technical section) a few times and was feeling pretty good about my bike, my skills, and my fitness. I then cleaned up and spent some time hanging out with Ari at our condo watching the rain fall. Then it was time to get chamoised up again and warm up for the short track. Without realizing it, soon I was standing at the start waiting for the official to send us off. i hadn't paid attention and had lined up on the inside line in the very back row, basically the worst starting position i could've picked. The gun went off and i was in last...through the first turns still in last, watching as the leaders rode away...I was able to pass a few people on the first open climb and tried to bridge up to the leaders who were really long gone. The effort sort of blew me up and I became resigned with my current position. I got a second wind towards the end and managed to move up a bit, but it still wasn't my best performance. As I explained to those that asked what the hell I was doing in the very back for the first lap; my head just wasn't in it.
Unfortunately, it was a similar story for the cross country race the next morning. I could go through a play by play detailing physical struggles and technical issues, but the bottom line is I wasn't there physically or mentally. I took my first ever DNF in a mountain bike race and Ari and I were on the road home before the rest of my field had even finished.
However, we did stop at the New Mexico Vietnam Memorial on the way. I mean it WAS Memorial Day weekend! That was pretty cool actually and put things into perspective a little bit. It also made me wish that my Grandfather was still alive. There are moments when I think of him and wish he were still around, and this was one of those moments for some reason.

Catch-up

Yeah, I'm delinquent. Severely delinquent. I owe several updates for my faithful followers...I would use the excuse that I've been busy, but everyone's busy so that's not really a valid excuse. The real reason is, as my reader's know, I really try to maintain a balance in my life and for the past month I have not been able to get the "life" scales horizontal-i.e. they've been steeply tipped in the direction of racing and work while the other aspects have taken the very back seat in a 15 person van (sorry Ari).
So here's the abridged version to catch-up:
~Sea Otter cross country was hot. I ran out of water, I got a stinging bug stuck in my jersey and got stung several times, but I finished pretty strong and felt pretty good aside from the dehydration.
~Got home to meet our new puppy, Riley. Who is a handful. To be specific he's an ornery handful of mischievous energy.
~Raced in Nathrop for the MSC cross country race. Had a good race. Dropped my water bottle and again had some dehydration issues. Finished 3rd though which I was happy about. Plus my technical skills have improved significantly since the last time I did this race, so that was encouraging.
~Raced the Battle of the Bear race. Way fun, perfect day, great race. I got 4th. Katie Compton, Heather Irmiger, and Judy Freeman came ahead of me. Which I don't mind since they're more on the international caliber of things and I'm just trying to become of National caliber.
~Sold my bike. Found out that some key components are missing on new bike-BUMMER. I am bike-less for now, but the plan is to buy temporary key components and get the bike built up ASAP!!

Sea Otter Short Track

The race was at 1:45 in the afternoon which gave us plenty of time to enjoy a relaxing morning. When the time to leave came, we packed up the Town and Country and headed to the venue. I started to get the familiar pre-race nerves...the permanent need to pee, the full-body jitters, and the inability to think or focus. I was also pretty excited to be wearing my skinsuit-I was always feel like a super-hero when I wear this thing. I got an ok warm up in, but as usual for me I had a hard time getting pumped to go hard. i did several laps on the course. The course was fun, and kind of technical-there was a very steep climb which topped out to a very loose corner. I knew this was going to be the make it or brake it point as not everyone would be able to ride this section. So, I tried to find an alternative route that would allow me to go up on the inside line and hopefully bypass some of the traffic...Too soon, it was time to line up. The call ups were really weird, I don't know how they determined the order. I was called up towards the end, but for some reason there was an open spot on the far right on the front row!! So I figured why not and non-chalantly went to fill that space. I then noticed that Pua Sawicki, a super, super fast and very nice and sincere racer hadn't been called up?! She's usually in the top 5-10 at most national races so this was very odd. I called to her and was going to give her my spot, which would've put me right up against the boards. Somebody said something about being careful to not snag a handle-bar on the boards at the start...and Pua said I should just go ahead of her. So I did. I had a pretty good start, but I wasn't overly aggressive. I just knew that I wanted to be on the right side leading up to that steep climb. My strategy worked! There was a bit of a pile-up and I was able to get through on the inside line. I was with a good group of girls and was feeling good...sitting in ~15th. Then I dropped my chain and had to put a foot down to get it back on and got dropped by the group I was in and passed by several others. I was able to chase a few down, but was really starting to hurt. I was ready to get pulled!! With 3 laps to go I got my wish. I finished in 21st...not quite what I was hoping for, but I feel like if I hadn't dropped my chain, I would've finished a bit higher.
Anyway, my lungs were absolutely burning and I was a bit dehydrated with some goosebumps...but it felt good to be back racing. And then it was time to think about tomorrow's race...

Sea Otter Intro

OK, so I've been delinquent in my blog posting. I apologize. Truth be told, I've been running at warp speed for the past 3 weeks trying to stay on top of work commitments, training, and race prep...it hasn't been fun and I'm pretty much wiped out. Good way to start the race season, right? :)
Anyway, back to Sea Otter. Leading up to this race I was getting more and more anxious and nervous. Then, magically, when the time to race actually came this calm came over me. It helped that I was traveling with two very fun, experienced (and I mean RACE experience wink wink!), and patient girls-Judy Freeman and Caitlyn Tuel. We flew into San Jose Thursday morning, picked up our sweet Town and Country mini-van (no cousin Brian it wasn't a Hurricane), drove straight to Trader Joes, and then headed to our host-housing. Cait and I stayed with the most wonderful family, the Vollstedts. They had 3 amazing kids, a beautiful house, and the most lovable yellow lab (aside from Tuckey-Angel). They cooked us amazing meals every night (complete with fabulous desserts!) They even came out and cheered us on for the short track.
When we arrived, Caitlyn and I unpacked our bikes and re-assembled them. We then took them through the Vollstedts' back fence and into the amazing open-space that borders their back yard...the same open space that we would be racing in on Sunday! My bike was in perfect condition. The new tires felt great, the gears were shifting smoothly, the brakes and shocks were perfectly tuned...I was getting excited!
Friday we went out to the venue, picked up our race packets and went for a pre-ride. The venue was absolutely packed...I've never been to a sporting event so busy. There were hundreds of vendors there with their tents set up exhibiting their latest and greatest bike related products. It was cool. Caitlyn and I found our way to the start of the cross country course and went out for a pre-ride. The course was beautiful and way fun...the downhill sections were a mix of tight, twisty singletrack, and steep, sandy, rutty doubltrack. Pretty Cool. Plus, there was a good amount of climbing-which is usually to my benefit.
Half way through the pre-ride I was getting hot and was a little nervous that i might have bit off more than I was supposed to chew per coach Ann's instructions (do NOT do a full lap!)But Caitlyn knew what she was doing and we turned off at the long loop/short loop junction and headed home.
It was then that I realized that where we were racing, Salinas, has significantly different weather than Monterey, which is less than 20 miles west. Monterey, being on the coast, is typically 10-20 degrees cooler than the inland Salinas. I had been doing my regular weather analysis for the wrong location!! When I DID do a quick look at what the weather was supposed to be in Salinas, I was devastated to see that it was supposed to be in the mid to upper 80's for our races. This was not good news for Erin-I do not do well with heat. This changed everything....dun dun duuuun.

Milestone

Yesterday I achieved a personal milestone. I spent over 5 hours pedaling my bike- all by myself no less. And, it was surprisingly not that bad. I credit two factors for making the time go by. First, I split the ride into two parts. The first part involved hill-repeat intervals which took up about two and half hours. After that I just focused on doing an easy two and half hour spin. Piece of cake.
Actually, I have a suspicion that the bigger factor to my seemingly effortless five hour adventure was the teaspoon of bright yellow powder that I put in one of my water bottles. No, I have not succumbed to the ever present pressure that is placed on any high-profile professional cyclist(read:doping and yes, I'm being sarcastic). No, this substance is perfectly legal and I recieved it in the mail a few days ago from a very reputable endurance nutrition perveyor. It is called PreRace from First Endurance, a personal sponsor of mine. Holy crap. It looks like some sort of nuclear reactive material and a full scoop contains more 'oomph' than a liter of Red Bull. And it is AWESOME! I am sort of tempted to slip a little into Ari's orange juice next weekend and see how many home projects I can talk him into doing;)

I'm a Survivor

I've been trying to suppliment my riding playlist with more interval friendly music. Interval friendly music must have a good, solid, and fast beat with minimal melody and lots of simple and rythmic lyrics ...i.e. rap and/or hip-hop (or whatever kids call it these days). Needless to say, I needed help finding some appropriate songs. Ari was only too happy to oblige.
So, now I'm jamming away to Lil Wayne, T.I., Beyonce, and of course my favorite, Outkast. One song that I've got stuck in my head (which is not on Ari's approved playlist BTW), is Survivor by Destiny's Child...
On yesterday's ride, it came in handy......

For a bit of a change and since I had a longer ride to get in, I headed to Betasso for some fun. I am very happy to report that I succesfully cleared the full Link trail!! Yeah!! I may have done a mini air-fist-pump I was so excited. I also may have said to myself "That's right, Erin, you truly ARE Hardcore! You must've puked out all the wussiness". So, I'm cruising through the loop on top really feeling good about myself when I encounter a very cute dog walking his owners. This dog looked like a cross between an Australian Sheperd and a small mop-very fluffy and low to the ground. As I approach the man is trying to wrestle the dog off the trail, but the dog seems like he really wants to say hello to me and will not budge. Since I can't safely ride around, I unclip and am bending down to say hello to this wagging little buddy when he promptly chomps down on my leg. WTF!?! Needless to say I'm pretty upset. I pull up my tight and check for blood. Fortunately, there isn't any and the owners apologetically go on their way. I get back on the bike and try to pedal, but my leg is throbbing. I spend a few minutes wallowing in self-pity contemplating heading home because surely this creature has caused some sort of hairline fracture to my shin. But then, Survivor comes on my playlist...and then I remember that I am Hardcore, "Erin, you are a Survivor. You just need to get some adrenaline pumping and that will take the pain away."
This actually worked and I was able to tough out the rest of the ride :) Today I have some nice bruises in an impressive bite-pattern.

Hardcore

Yeah, that's me-I am Hardcore. What does it take to be officially considered Hardcore you ask? Well, there are several different ways one can get this prestigious classification. One of which is to go so hard you puke. Which, unfortunately, is a badge that I earned yesterday on a rather intense ride with my coach, Ann Trombley. Long story short, we spent over four hours on mountain bikes ascending then descending dirt roads with some fun LT/VO2 intervals thrown in. For the first half of the ride I was all right and was really excited to experience a new fun little single-track section. Here's a pic of Ann (2000 Olympian) trying to show me how to corner. It's a little blurry because she's going so fast!!

Here's me trying it. Not nearly as fast or graceful. That's all right, I prove my Hardcoreness later in the ride.

Anyway, we make it through the intervals (barely, they were tough!!) and we stop at a little bakery/convenience store in Gold Hill. I have an intense headache so I buy some Advil. We go outside, Ann is talking to me, I'm not feeling well, and the next thing I know I'm losing the contents of my stomach. Turns out the altitude, the efforts, too much water and not enough electrolytes are a nasty combination.

But, I got home safe and sound and Ari and I took advantage of the super warm weather and took Tucker swimming. Turns out Angels love the water ;)

Families that play together...

The whole reason I'm into this sport of mountain biking is due to my parents who would take Devyn and I on mountain bike trips to Moab before it became the thriving Mecca it is today. We still go together pretty often, and actually did just that a few weekends ago. I wanted to show off some of the new trails by my house. So I talked Ari and my Mom and Dad into going with me. It was a great day-and I think we all had fun.

Drudge Forward...

...is more like it. Whose ever idea it was to "spring forward" this early in the year, was not a very intelligent or competent person...oh wait...:)
Anyway, I'm not very excited about the time change. I'm happy for the later sunsets. But, I was really enjoying being able to ride my bike into work watching the sun come up. Now, I'll have to figure out a different training schedule until the days get a bit longer since Ari isn't a fan of me riding in the dark.
In other news, I've just registered for my first non-Colorado national series race. That's right. I'll be going to Sea Otter in Monterey, California- against my and my coach's better judgement. It'll be the biggest race I've ever done, the longest race I've ever done, and the first mountain bike race I've flown to. I'm pretty nervous and a bit apprehensive, but also excited. I decided this season that I want to see how I do within the "national" arena so I figured it's better to start sooner rather than later. It also means that I need to crack down and get some serious longer rides in...hope the un-seasonably warm and dry Colorado weather cooperates.

Mucus Family Reunion

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I succesfully made it through my biggest block of training ever, which isn't saying much to be honest, and then I promptly came down with a cold. And it was lovely, let me tell you. As I spent the day Tuesday working from home, I was sort of laughing at myself. If anyone's seen the commercials for Mucinex, with the Mucus family who are big, green blogs, of well, mucus, that's what I had in my head. In fact, I think the Mucus family had planned a family reunion. They had booked my whole head, with some spacious suites reserved in my chest as well. Every time I cough or blow my nose I picture Uncle Harry Mucus being forced to leave the party early. Anyway, I'm easily entertained...

riskiE

Yeah, that's right-risky with a capital E :) Ok, a bit of a stretch...but after another round of LT intervals yesterday, I was looking forward to a 'just for fun' mountain bike ride today. So, I headed to Betasso, one of the only trails in Boulder County that I can ride my bike to in less than an hour...minus the South Boulder trails that I ride on a daily basis as part of my commute to work. This "Caution" sign is posted at the base of the Link trail...which I think is a little odd. Mainly because if you're reading that sign, you're on your way UP the trail which is hardly dangerous. Nevertheless, it makes one feel rather heroic for even attempting to ride the trail. I ride this trail on a regular basis and relish the technical challenge it presents. True to the sign, it is very steep and loose with lots of technical riddles crammed in. I use it as a benchmark for assessing my skillzz. I am happy to report that I came very close to clearing the whole trail on the way up. I wasn't able to conquer a particularly steep and rocky section that admittedly bests me more often than not. I think I've only been able to clear this trail a handful of times and only under perfect conditions. So, I'm ok and even happy with my 'near triumph'. Here's a shot of the section in question as I'm heading back down the trail...it's gnarly, but in a good way.

Here I am, getting ready to Rock that Casbah!

Phoenix, take two

After coming home from Phoenix, I un-packed, then re-packed, and then went back to Phoenix. This time for work. We were going to the BNI hospital to observe some cranial surgeries to help us with the design of our new product. Let me just say, it was a very traumatic experience. The surgeries went great, we learned a ton, and I was very excited to see several procedures that I had never seen before. No, the traumatic part was flying. Generally, I handle flying pretty well. The worst part for me is the security check where I inevitably get really anxious that they're going to find some illegal substance that someone secretly stashed in my bags (think Bridget Jones). Fortunately, that hasn't happened to me yet, but the possibility still remains in my mind. This time we flew Southwest. I've never flown Southwest. You don't have assigned seats when you fly Southwest. You get assigned a number and based on how high your number is, that's when you get to board the plane and scramble to find a seat AND a spot for your carry-on. I was not prepared for this. I was lucky to find a seat, but I had to move some stuff in order to stuff my carry-on in the overhead compartment. Appearantly, the lady across the aisle from me wasn't a fan of the way I "threw a bunch of pillows out" to make room for my bag. I was rushed and nervous! I will never fly Southwest again.

Phoenix

So, we're back from my cousin's wedding. We had a blast! It was great to see our family and have such an occasion to celebrate. Owen's wedding and his bride were both beautiful, and so was Phoenix actually. I've been waiting in order to have some pictures to post, but that was probably unnecessary because I'm fairly certain that the only people who read my blog were actually at the wedding. Oh well. Here's one of Ari and I and me and Devyn (R.N.). Then a shot of the whole clan with the bride and groom. Sorry about the picture size discrepency, I'll try and fix them later.

Beautiful Morning...

la, la, la! This morning I got up early, bundled up, and hopped on my mtn bike for some more LT intervals. This is a shot from the Marshall Mesa trailhead facing east, documenting that the sun wasn't up yet.

Here's a shot from the Dowdy Draw trail facing west, documenting how beautiful the flatirons are in the morning sun.

After my ride, Ari and I got in the car and drove to the airport. We spent the weekend in Scottsdale celebrating my cousin Owen's wedding. We had so much fun and it was a perfect ceremony. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family, we always have way too much fun together!

Back off Ladies!

This one's taken! It was hard work finding a guy who puts safety first AND does the dishes!!!

Actually, Ari had just got new headphones for his ski helmet and was trying them out. I'm glad I captured the moment.

To top off the weekend...

Here I am halfway through my ride on Sunday. It was an absolutely beautiful day and I was loving being on my mountain bike. Too bad this picture doesn't portray that, but rather I look like I just had some dental work done and can't feel my face... oh well, I never claimed to be a good photographer or photogenic.
This piece of beauty is the view from the bottom of the Heil Ranch trail-which, unfortunately, is about as far as I got after riding to the trailhead from my house. After about 20 minutes of sweet single-track, I had to head back home....

so that I could meet up with these two cuties for a quick hike.

Time Trial

Today was supposed to be a Time Trial test. Every year for the past three years since I've been coached by Ann Trombley of TrailMaster coaching, I've done a time trial test along 36 from Boulder to Lyons in order to get a benchmark for the rest of the season. I'm supposed to go as hard as I can and then Ann is able to deduce what my Lactic Threshold power and heart rate is based on the Power Tap file I send her after the test.
This morning's ride started off fine. I warmed up for an hour, did a few sprints to wake the legs up, and then went for it. The first half was fine...the second half truly sucked. Here are my excuses for a less than stellar performance:

• It was windy
• I didn't have the proper gearing and spun out on the downhill sections
• I met up with a schmuck who refused to get passed by a girl and messed up my "flow" (I'm being sarcastic, but it was kind of annoying because I was breathing too hard to explain what I was trying to accomplish)
• About 3/4 in I realized my legs, correct that, LEG was shot-I've been having some knee issues with my left leg and must've been compensating because my right leg was totally worked over and cramping from doing more than it's fair share of the work.

I think that's enough excuses to cover me... :) Anyway, the test is over with and even though I have a lot of excuses, I still went as hard as I could and am happy about that.
After this wonderful effort, I started to really suffer from an excruciating headache and some severe nausea. Has this happened to anyone before? I'm trying to figure out if this is what happens when you go hard for the first time in many months...or if it was the blueberry Clif Bar I scarfed, or if I didn't have enough coffee this morning?

Yeah for intervals!

I was able to leave work a bit early today and get a good, hard ride in. The weather forecast wasn't that promising, but it actually turned out to be ok...even nice out. I love it when that happens. Anyway, I had some LT intervals in the plan-3 x 12 min with 10min rest between. My legs were burning...I think skiing last weekend took it's toll.

Creating a balance

I have been a bit busy lately, so don't really have anything new to blog about. But, I thought I would share what a typical week for me looks like as some of my cycling friends have remarked to me recently that they "Don't know how I do it". "It" being train enough to be competitive at the Pro level (albeit the Regional Pro level) while working full time as well as finding time to hang out with my husband. I do really try and maintain some sort of balance. Fortunately, I am an engineer and I have a relatively flexible schedule. Also, I have a very patient and independant husband. So, the balance looks something like this: Monday is an easy training day so I try and work a few extra hours to create a buffer for the rest of the week. Tuesdays I wake up at 5:30 and head to the gym, I try to get to work by 7:30 and I treat myself with a breakfast bagel on the way in. I then try to get a 1-1.5hr ride in over lunch or will ride my bike home after work. Wednesdays are usually longish ride days-too long to go during lunch. So, I will either ride into work, ride home from work, or arrange to work from home and go mid-day. Thursday's routine are the same as Tuesday's typically. Friday is a ride during lunch, or a ride into work. Saturday is a long ride day hopefully with my friends...this ride is typically pretty hard and long. Afterwards sometimes Ari and I will go for a mellow hike with Tucker, sometimes we'll run errands, sometimes we'll watch a movie. Lately, I've had to do some work over the weekend as well. Sunday is another longish ride, plus a visit to the gym, laundry, and also I do the grocery shopping for the week. So, there you have it! It basically comes down to a lot of planning!Ari affectionately calls me his bag-lady because I've been known to come home from work with 5-8 bags filled with food, gym clothes, cycling clothes, work clothes, work supplies, etc. The hardest part of maintaining a balance is that once you've got your plan you can't really deviate. For me this means that when I've scheduled a ride, that's the time that I have. I can't wait for the warmer part of the day or the week to get out. I also have to pass up on a lot of last-minute social events. But, that's ok because engineers aren't known for their social skills anyway!

Love the Skins you're in...

Today was the culmination of my "hard" week, meaning it was the last day of week 4 of a 4 week build. Yesterday's ride was pretty tough, and I felt good about the effort I was able to sustain. When I got home, I was pretty destroyed. As soon as I got in the front door I collapsed on a chair and couldn't move for awhile. Once I got going, I took a shower, ate some food, and got into my Skins compression tights. I gotta say, I am amazed at what a difference I feel after wearing these. Last year, a ride like yesterday's would've left my legs achy and sore. But, after wearing my Skins for several hours my legs felt awesome! So now I'm even more anxious for their Cycle line to be available in the US...I can't even imagine.

Yeah for mountain biking!

Today was just what I needed-a great day on my mountain bike exploring new, beautiful trails. The forecast called for high winds, but it didn't look too bad and I figured I could always spin on the trainer if it got worse. It was a bit windy, but really beautiful and fun. I am SO excited that Boulder Open Space and Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance are continuing to work together to develop awesome new trails in South Boulder. I feel truly blessed to be able to ride great trails so close to my house.

Way cool!

This is what I saw on my ride today. I was riding by Baseline reservoir when I saw this bald eagle come swooping down and snag a fish. If I was really cool, I would've whipped out my snazy camera phone and snapped a video. But, I alas am not that cool. The rest of the ride was pretty dang cold, and yes, windy.
PS. I should specify that I did NOT take this picture. My phone doesn't even have a camera. I found this picture on the web.

Is this some kind of joke?

Hmm, the Powers That Be must have read my blog yesterday, because today was an absolutely perfect day until I clipped into my pedals. Very funny.
Anyway, it was still a beautiful ride.
P.S. I am an enginerd who happens to be obsessed with the weather. This pic is from the NREL Wind Station website. It is updated every minute.

Worst Ride of the Year

Today as I was getting ready for my ride, I commented to Ari that "It's days like these where I am so excited to ride my bike!" It was a balmy 50 degrees out, I was recovering from my cold and feeling good, and I was going to go for a beautiful ride on my road bike. HAH! The Powers That Be looked down on me in my naieve excitement and smirked. It was a bit breezy as I was merrily rolling along, so I thought to myself "head east, it will be calmer"! So I went east, and it got windier. So, I said to myself "head north, it'll be better there"! So, I went north, and the Powers That Be laughed out loud. I was heading west on Nelson watching a 200+lb man swerving on his bike in front of me because the wind was blowing so hard he was having a hard time staying upright and going forward...it was really, really windy. And I was really, really grumpy and miserable...and scared. I just really hate the wind. Give me cold, give me heat, give me rain, just not WIND!!
To make myself feel better, I decided that today's ride was the Worst Ride of the Year because, as my friends and family know, I like to focus on the negative. But really, if today really was the Worst Ride of the Year-then that's not too bad I guess. So, really I'm being optimistic!!