Poor abused road bike.

Man, check this out. My road bike is very filthy from all that wet riding I was doing. Yuck. I guess I really am a mountain biker at heart. I'm looking forward to getting out on my bike tomorrow after being sedentary for four days. It was partially by choice since I've been working on this nightmare of a takehome exam. Thought you roadies would freak at the sight of all the dirt on my bike! ha

NEW BIKE!!!!

Howdy all!

I've been pretty busy lately (what a surprise, eh?) Adam came to visit me last week for his spring break. We always have fun, but this time I didn't really get to see him as much as I would have liked. I was gone most of the week at school working on crap, and he had his own school work to do. We got in some good rides last week though. I really upped the anty of my climbing workouts and really hit it hard last week. I did Lee Hill and Old Stage both three times, Sunshine Canyon 3 times, and Flagstaff once. It was a productive week. Sunday the snow came again and I had to ride in it. It was 35 deg and raining when I started and it eventually went away. Right when I thought that maybe the weather forcast was wrong, the temperature dropped and quarter sized snowflakes began to fall. It was snowing so hard at one point, I could barely see in front of me! My cables got really wet and dirty, and my rear derailleur gave up too. About one minute from my apartment, I had my first road bike crash. I was on the Boulder Creek path and came off a bridge and around a corner a little too fast. My rear tire slid out! It was kind of funny.... I ride all these technical trails with no problem and wreck on stupid wet concrete. Fortunately I was wearing both leg and knee warmers. I ripped right through them and just got a teeny raspberry on my knee. Now both knees of my knee warmers are ripped. If you've seen my knees, they are not the most beautiful, but at least I have cool scars to compare with people! ;)



My new Titus came in the mail a couple days ago. Adam was in Boulder with me when it came. I came home from school and was in my room. My bed looked funny and Adam followed me in. He pulled off my comforter to reveal a big box with the Titus logo on it! It felt like Christmas time as I unwrapped the box and began taking out all the packaging material. Once all that was out of the way, my gorgeous new frame and all my components were there! We went through them and were admiring all the sparkling new bike parts. The frame is new this year with some extra carbon. You should check it out at www.titusti.com under Aluminum Racer-X. The carbon in the rear triangle is great because it makes the bike ride even more like a hard tail(except on really bumpy stuff!) I have been working on building it up and will be taking the bike out for its maiden voyage when I go home for spring break on Saturday. I also swapped out the black Chris King headset for a pink one. I had a pink one last year too and it was fun! I can't wait to take it into the foothills in Albuquerque! I am looking forward to trying my Avid Juicy Carbon disc brakes and DT Swiss wheels. I've never ridden with disc brakes or DT Swiss wheels before! People here in Boulder seem pretty impressed with Titus' new look!



I've been slacking on the collegiate races but will definitely get into it soon! The ACA crits and road races in CO start next month. That'll be painful but good.

Other than that, I've been fighting this take home exam. I really have no idea what I'm doing and there's a chance every problem could be wrong. I really should just do an MS in exercise physiology. I already had a meeting with the dept. If I work as an engineer for a year and still don't like it, this will be my next path.

Happy trails!!!

I had a big bowl of crazy for breakfast

It has been snowing/raining/sleeting since I woke up at 7:30AM this morning. My intention was to go out for a 3 hour ride until I saw how wet it was. I invited my friend Anne to come along the night before. I got a phone call from her, and we decided to go brave the weather. I put on all the warm weather cycling gear I owned AND my new gloves Adam got me. We were completely soaked in the first 5 min thanks to the rain and sopping wet roads. The rain turned to huge snowflakes and our legs grew numb after a short time. We cut the ride short to 1.5 hours, but had fun doing it. Nothing like riding in the crazy weather, huh? Here is a self photo I took after my ride...




I had school and stuff today. I got a call from Anne(she's such a diva!) and wanted to go for a hike with her dog, Bode. We hiked the first flatiron even though the snow was 5-6 inches deep and we couldn't see the trail in some parts. That's what makes it exciting. It was snowing the whole time and was so gorgeous. Coming down was kind of sketch, I got to go sledding on my butt a few times! Here are some pics. It's crazy to think it was in the 70s here just a few days ago!

Wimpin' out

Well, I decided to scratch the CO Springs race this weekend. I've been riding like crap all week. I even threw on my race wheels(which are MUCH lighter than my tank training wheels) and struggled up a climb today. I'm going to the CU bball game with my homie tomorrow night instead and doing some fun rides in the hills at a leisurely pace! Here's a pic of me and my good buddy here in Boulder, Anne. I think she may be crazier than me! I've definitely been having fun with my digital camera!





I'm getting ancy waiting for my mountain bike. It's supposed to come in next week. I'm tired of being a roadie! TGIF.

pics

here are some pics from my ride today. I was hoping they would come out a little better...but this is what it looks like around Boulder. Next time I'll take some photos of the mountains.

Hurt locker, here I come

Howdy howdy!

Well, I've been trying to get to bed earlier, but it's a lost cause so I'm bloggin away for my few readers. I appreciate you reading what I have to say! It gives me a purpose to write. Anywho, not too much has been going on... I'm having an unmotivated week for school. It's been hard to make myself get stuff done, but I'm still plugging away. It's a great feeling to know that next week, the semester will be halfway over....and better yet, after this semester is over, I'll be halfway done. yahooo. Adam was here last weekend and we had a great time! We went skiing on Saturday at Winter Park. My buddy Brian let me use his equipment(I'm referring to his skis, boots, poles... get your mind out of the gutter!!) I checked online and the tickets were supposed to be 50 bucks. We left late to avoid the infamous ski traffic and still got stuck moving 20 mph on I-70. When we finally got to the resort, finding a parking spot seemed impossible. Fortunately, I scouted out a tiny spot in between a snow drift and a car. We managed to squeeze my car in...good 'ol nissan sentra. I had to pee really bad so I ducked down in between two cars and made some yellow snow. We got in some good runs in including one that was a little out of our league. Black diamond with moguls up to my chest, close spacing, super steep...yeah. It was an interesting experience and took maybe thirty minutes to get down. I really want to buy some skiis and a ski pass for next year. Then maybe 8 year olds bombing down everything doing jumps won't make me look so bad! Much to my dismay, we went running and Adam beat me for the first time. I gotta start training for running with him so i can hammer him again. haha One of the ONLY things I could beat him at. That's what I get for having a man who is good at everything! :) :)

check out these sweet shades I found on one of my rides. It's right up there is the big booty ebony edition of road porn!


This weekend will be the first race of the season. I am hesistant to call it a race because I am far from being in race shape. The first race I care about is the Iron Horse in May! These collegiate road races are just for the hell of it! Sunday is in Colorado Springs and will be no picnic.... 50 miles and 10,000 ft of climbing. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but I have gone uphill maybe 4 times this winter and am still doing base miles. It'll be interesting to see the different abilities in the collegiate road scene. Nevertheless, I will be in the hurt locker for a few hours. I'm pretty stoked to try out my new race wheels.

gotta love trying to take those self portraits


I have a meeting tomorrow with the intergrative physiology dept. I'm thinking of doing a PhD and need to find out if that would require me to do another M.S. If that's the case, I think I'll probably go to PT school. I know, I'm all over the place, but it pains me to imagine the rest of my life full of engineering. I should probably try to work a few years first and make some $$$$ since I'm beyond broke. I really need to get me a sugar daddy. (Sorry Adam)

It was 80 degrees here yesterday. 10 days ago it was below zero for multiple days, and now the temp is from 60-80. Crazy weather.

view from my balcony. next time I'll post some pics of Boulder now that I have my digital camera

Well, I will bid you adieu...till next time!

Looney