Q and A. With myself.

When I slack off this long on blogging, the thought of a blog post is almost too overwhelming. There has been a wedding, honeymoon, job quit, business began, racing completed and recovery time had. So a brief Q and A will get me started today.

Q: Hey Joy, I heard you quit your job! You must be a) a house wife! b) a professional cyclist? c) You opened a bike shop! d) babies!

A: Yes, I have retired from teaching PE after 8 years. But ALL the assumptions of what I now do with my time are incorrect. Although I see myself as a trophy wife for sure, there is minimal cooking and cleaning involved. The professional cyclist idea is pretty cool, but I just completed my resume for 2011, and lets just say it's not gonna get me paid in 2012. Opening a bike shop would be ridiculous and Brian won't even let us get a puppy.

In late 2009 I began my own cycling coaching company, Big Wheel Coaching and I am now pursuing that dream full time and having a blast! I really feel scholastically challenged and find myself experiencing a lot of growth as an individual, elements I have been missing over the past few years. More (promise!!) to come regarding BWC in the next few days!

Q: Your married, right?

A: YES!!!! In the sprinter van en route from Bend to CA post Cascade Classic, I had a shock of a realization: I have 5 weeks to pull this wedding off! And BOOM! it happened!!

Slight car issues on the way to the ceremony! Right after this photo, Uncle Greg got the car started, subsequently COVERING my face with a spray of water.

There we are!! Who forgets to un-bussel their wedding dress?? ME! If that's as bad as it gets, I will take it!

Q: We heard you went to the Tetons and Yellowstone for your honeymoon. Who the heck does THAT!

A: WE DO! We a) don't like cities b) don't like crowds c) don't like the sun, sand or surf. We picked a spot we could go run around outside and see cool things, it worked out darn well!

We hiked high up into the Grand Tetons to find an awesome reflection, with no other people in sight!

Our Inn created AMAZING breakfast!!! I ate with regards only to taste, enjoyment, and until I was full. Or slightly beyond full.

Although we took a solid 2 weeks off the bikes, these cruisers kept us sane enough! We covered every inch of Jackson, WY to find the best sorbet in town.

Don't play with wild life!! Although we made a few videos mocking our lack of large game findings, we actually saw a ton of creatures!

Sundays you will find me at CycloCross races cheering for my friends and clients, working the pits and if I get tricked enough like yesterday, actually racing my bike! it's all in the name of work now and I am having a blast! Although the race yesterday was a quick kick to the gut, that maybe my lack of training since Cascade needs to be slightly bumped up. Once I got back from Cascade, Coach and I decided to put the heart monitor away and avoid structure. The local crit practice on Thursdays became my interval work and Sunday crits my intensity for the week. That was a vast, but highly important and needed, change from the majority of my extremely structured training and racing season. Since the wedding, I have taken a few weeks off the bike and finally wound up back in the gym, doing core and weight routines and even a TRX class or two. This time of the season is so fun, exploring new physical and mental potential!

This is what happens when Matt Breyer says: "Hey you should race tomorrow!" Me - Nope, I'm good! MB: "No, you should. It will be fun." Me - "OK. What time are we leaving?" Total push over.

Steel bike, great for upper body training!! Nobody said you had to get over these dang barriers nicely.

Doing work, as the Pit Boss for Breyer.