Monday, February 21

An actual holiday, don't get comfortable!

At times, things don't go as planned. Last weekend was the second race ever I didn't cross the finish line, and once again because my friends crashed. This one was bad, multiple broken ribs, a collarbone, one collapsed lung, one punctured lung. Glad Everyone is on the mend!

This weekend was the first time since I started racing in 2005 that i registered for a race and didn't show up. But it was probably for the best because this was Brian's race report: "My face and head were so cold I thought I was going to throw up. My brakes were frozen and the 20 mph tailwind made the descent about 48 mph, and the frost was frozen on my glasses." Super! His team however went 1, 2, 5, and he was 7th in the Pro 1/2 field. So proud of all of them!! More on his team to come, but you will be so pumped on them. :) You can join their fan club too if you want.

But for me, the plug was pulled about 8pm Friday night with sweet relief as I resigned myself to, well, taking care of myself. I ate, a lot. Slept, a lot. Took care of, well, not much. Saturday found me riding 2.5 hours on the trainer and just about going crazy by 4pm because I was NOT at the races...that is not going to happen very often!

Other things I have done:
I think of myself as quite the coffee, um, drinker. You can tell I have the shakes because of it so I can't take a proper photo. I'm still sold on Stell coffee but Handlebar is coming in super close!

DVD's. These were all super lame. I wanted to go back and get Easy A and Despicable me again, but then I would have to actually get to a Red Box (Brian thinks they are the most inconvenient conveniences EVER) or Blockbuster.

Once Brian got defrosted we did what any bike racer and down-time-taker would do: Go to our most favorite Mexican food place! Brian always orders the chicken fajitas without ever looking at the menu, with a double order of hand-made corn tortillas!
And they now have mariachi on Saturday nights too? SCORE!!


Sunday I did a lot of the same but I had an itch. I have been on the road bike SOLID for months and when I start feeling a bit out of balancing my immediate knee-jerk reaction is to ride my mountain bike. So I did. And thank goodness for clear weather, snow dotted single track, and tons of motivation! It was an amazing ride!
Looking back over Yucaipa from the base of Crafton. Poor mountain bike, chains getting rusty, headset squeaky but thankfully, my switchback skills were intact!

Top of Zanja Peak, looking out to Morton Peak and Big Bear!

So although there was a slight hitch in my weekend, it ended up being super positive. I have a STACKED spring of racing and nothing more important than getting myself dialed and re-grouping before things are too late! More to come on what the racing season will bring!

Tuesday, February 1

Things I would blog about if I had time

1. Don't complain about how other people ride their bikes, learn how to ride yours and be confident on how to ride.

2. I made it through a W Pro 1/2 race, with cat 5 C men, and I am no worse for the wear. The guys were petrified though. Favorite thing i asked them to do "please put your hands on the hoods, your freaking me out" very nicely of course. They really appreciated the help.

3. I have a higher potential to yard sale myself on railroad tracks than be taken out by the cat 5 men crashing around me. This really happened.

4. Brian is on a new cycling team, and they have a phone number on their jerseys. Call it.

5. There are 5 boxes of unopened Girl Scout cookies on the table. And I ordered three more from a kid at school. If the door bell rings again, we are all hitting the deck.

6. All I do is work, train, prep food, eat food, help with Team Redlands, coach 16 athletes, and sleep. Pretty boring. wink wink.

7. I really like that my new Team Redlands kit matches my bike, helmet, glasses and gloves to a T. I just need some new cycling shoes. Please.

8. We could also talk about how i am not a committed non-gluten eater, but maybe should be, but I am lacking the motivation and the time to research it. This small nutritional fact could be the key to reaching fighting weight and great success. Or not.

I bring the Party to the Party

Do not let the lack of updates fool you. There is a plethora of things to blog about these days, just never the time or energy to make it happen.

Everyone in town or Facebook Land seems to have a cold, so I thought I should try too. It's not too bad, especially when I can get hopped up on Dayquil, Coffee, and a new MultiVitamin before work. Today, I definately brought the party with me!

A few weeks back we had our winter formal and I was abliged to make an appearance. I was toying with wearing something black, grey, burgondy, but those were all way too drab. Instead, I opted for a dress online which showed up the day before and was perfect. This dress in fact was the runner up for Wedding Dress. No joke.

The kids thought it was awesome, said I looked like I was from Candy Land, which is one of the highest compliments ever received. One kid said it looked like the Wonder Bread package too.

My 9th grade class is pretty hip, but didn't know about Dumb and Dumber-fail! So I said if anyone dressed like them, I would buy them a box of chocolates. Paul won big time!
So now you know where to find me, at least you know we will be having fun!