Strange Sightings and Cycling news...

At work this week, I have been doing some patroling around Denver...making sure the transformers, etc on the power lines are in good shape. This, of course, involves going into some interesting neighborhoods. My favorite is the big trailor parks. You will see trailors of every color of the rainbow, and best of all, the front yards are fully equipped with as many gawdy lawn ornaments as it will fit. I have seen it all, plastic ducks, geese, deer, fake flowers. Sweet. I also saw a woman yesterday "walking her dog", except SHE wasn't walking. The lazy ass was driving her car, holding the leash through the window, and the dog was running alongside the car. Man oh man. Today I saw two one way signs pointing in oppsite directions on the same street.

For those of you who don't follow cycling news, there has been a huge bust in Spain for blood doping. As many as 22 cyclists have been dismissed from the tour, including the team of Liberty Seguros, AND the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place from last year's tour- Basso and Ullrich especially! All the podium names from the tour of last year are gone. It is almost disgusting that all these guys on on drugs. If these top guys were on drugs, Lance Armstrong was certainly doped to the gills as wells. It looks like the Americans will have a chance this year. I'd put my money on Floyd Landis, Popo, or Hincapie. who knows... maybe more of these guys will get suspended. I can't imagine preparing my entire cycling year around a race to be dismissed. They are losers and it's highly unlikely these guys are innocent. This year's tour will definitely be interesting. I am really disappointed because I really wanted to see Ullrich ride this tour. Looks like it's all over for him... I tore my poster of him down. I don't want a druggie on my wall.

I've also been really enjoying watching Wimbledon. It really makes me miss my tennis days. I think someday in the future, I'll start playing competitively again. This will be Agassi's last Wimbledon and he plays tomorrow. I am very excited to see that Pete Sampras is playing again...not major tours, but some fun matches. He used to be my hero and I was obsessed with him back in high school, so it'll be fun to watch him again.

My weekend should be fun. Adam is coming in tonight for a quick trip. I'm racing Eldora MSC. Short track tomorrow, XC on Sunday. i haven't raced in 3 weeks, so we'll see how it goes! I leave on Thursday to Deer Valley Norba National in Utah. I got a round trip plane ticket for $122! Yes!

Photos from Silverton

Great quote

I was reading Velonews today on the bus to Denver, fretting about commuting and having a bad attitude. I read tihs quotation by Floyd Landis and it is really good. I try to do this a lot too and I totally agree with him. He just put it so well.

When talking about racing in the rain: "The best thing to do is just keep on smiling and pretend you're okay, even if you're not. That goes not just for bad weather, but for any time you're suffering. Sometimes it helps if you smile, even when it hurts."

Off to Southern Colorado...my favorite place

I am headed to Silverton, CO tomorrow and I can't wait! My family has a tradition of going up there at this time every year since I was one year OLD! Crazy, huh? My grandparents almost always go too and this time, some family friends are joining the party. We camp at South Mineral campground and it is truly my favorite place in the entire world. It is so gorgeous and I love breathing the clean, fragrant air. I'm excited to get some digital photos of this amazing place. I didn't get to camp the last two years, so it's going to be fantastic. I have so many fond memories of that place and it's exactly what I think of when I think about Colorado mountains. I just wish I was there longer than 3 nights, but alas, I MUST work sometime! My employer probably thinks I'm a wack job for being gone so much. I'm so lucky that my boss is so flexible. He is supercool.

Next weekend is also going to be GREAT. I finally am going to start racing again. This one is Eldora MSC and is right in my backyard. Adam is also coming up on Friday!!!!! YAAAAAAAHHOOOOO!! I haven't seen him for almost 5 weeks, so it's going to be so nice. :) :) He's staying through the 4th of July. I work the 5th, and the next day I'm headed to Park City, Utah for Deer Valley Norba National. I'm really nervous about it, but it's going to feel so cool to be racing with all the pros this year and I'll get to participate in all the hype! sweet. Have fun!

A couple NYC pics...stories later

Just finished watching Coach Carter...such a good movie. Now I am going to bed. I will write some other day, but I know you probably like looking at photos rather than reading my chatter, so here ya go.

At Long Beach Island in New Jersey. It was too cold for the beach!! I dug this big hole with a seashell. I guess I'm a little boy at heart? That's kind of scary...


I am so stubborn and I got in the water, up to my neck. It was FREEEZING, but oh well! It was fun, and I got to play in the waves. It was just me and the little kids out there. There were people fishing and they were so irresponsible. Their line seriously was like 2 ft away from me. They just let it drift far away and let it get that close. They needed Adam's dad out there to show them wassup.

Sonya, Lara, Anna. Lara is the friend in NYC who I've known since I was 1. Anna was my best friend in high school and is living in NJ for the summer. It was so cool we could all hang out together. We took this at a cool bar called Zansibar which is African style. It had all these different themed rooms....and 6 dollar beers. I missed my cheap and delicious Colorado microbrews.

Lara and I went to Central Park and rented a row boat for an hour. I am sooo not New York with my sporty Smith glasses....and let me say, thank GOD! ;)

Scenic photos...and I'm back from NY

Just got back from NYC...I have some real work now to do... all play and no work makes Sonya a happy girl. ;)

I finished up my training before I left with a bang. I actually rode 20 hours from Friday-Thursday and about 18,000 ft of climbing. Awesome! Adam, I can see you shaking your head at me! Thursday, I got up early, made some delish choc. chip whole wheat pancakes, and headed out on my ride. I was feeling strong, but it was quite evident that I was tired. I couldn't really get my heart rate up, but was glad that my legs were still working. I climbed Lee Hill(pics from the other day), up Lefthand Canyon to Ward, and up even higher to Brainard Lake topping out at 10,500. Peak to Peak highway is at 9,600 ft, so there's a road to Brainard from there. About 2 miles from the lake, there is a fee station...and yes...even bikes have to pay. A whopping $1. Last time I tried to go up there, I didn't have a dollar and those fat bastards wouldn't let me through. JERKS. But this time, I came prepared and the view (and climb) were well worth it.

This is a natural spring right outside of Ward. The water is some of the best water I have had. it's not uncommon to see people with huge jugs, getting water just because it's so clean and good. Of course, I had to throw in a picture of PJ(pimp juice)...my bike. ;)


Peak to Peak Highway

Road up to Brainard

The dude I had take this picture kept telling me over and over how he had lots of money. Good for him.

At Brainard Lake... mmmm. I wanted to lay down and take a nap next to the lake.

See how awesome the road riding is around Boulder???

I had a SWEET ride today. I love climbing....it's my favorite thing to do and I am in one of the best places for it. I want to do it all day, and sometimes I really have to have some restraint to not do too much. ;) Let me introduce you to a couple of my best friends. I spend more time riding them than anyone. (haha) Sometimes we have a love/hate relationship, but we always make up in the end. We see each other several times a week...and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

First and last name: Sunshine Canyon...my favorite climb. 5.5 miles, more info on the elevation gain later... has some super steep grades...15%+
The view within 5 minutes of riding out of town. This road actually goes up from the middle of town. aka Mapleton

This is the steepest part...it was kind of hard to take this photo seated and turning over like 60 rpms! It doesn't look so bad, but it's definitely challenging just to ride it!

aha, yeah...you can tell I'm hurting from this pitch...but it hurts soooo good

The view around the top


2) Lee Hill/Deer Trail...another one of my favorites It has some steep pitches, but not as steep as Sunshine. It's a great climb and a good way to avoid the highway to get to Lefthand Canyon. It's a great place to do LT intervals Add Deer Trail for extra steep challenge

What a view



No, I am not stoned...just feeling the pain, concentrating. yeah!



Since this was an evening ride, I got to see some nice views when the sun was setting





Tomorrow I need to finish up my training week with another long ride. This will be with my third best friend...Lefthand Canyon and Peak to Peak Highway. I'll be back Monday, so NYC pics. I'll try to behave. ;) OH BEHAVE...

Hiiizzottt out

I just checked the teamtype1.org blog to find out that RAAM has made it's way into the beautiful state of Colorado. I hope it's not as hot down south for them as it is here. It reached 101 today in Boulder. WOOOWEEE. After finishing my pb&honeyville cinammon honey(my FAVORITE, from Durango) sandwich, I'm heading out to brave the heat wave. I just hope my Cytomax doesn't turn into hot tea too fast. I have a hard work-out cut out for me today, but not nearly as much as our pals doing RAAM. I read that the 4 person male team from Vail is in first. I think that is Nat's team. YEAH NAT! and the 8 person team type 1 is in second. Not half bad for an all diabetic coed team. ;) I am relieved to finish a very short week at work. It's been a tough couple days trying to work a full day AND get in a 3-4 hour ride. I'm off to NYC tomorrow afternoon to visit my first friend I ever made, Lara. However, that means I have to really push it to get my training hours in for the week before I go!

I decided that I have had it with commuting to Denver by car and getting frazzled with the traffic, so Monday I got a bus pass. RTD is the best bus system in the country and man, do I love NOT driving to work. I save money, the environment, and...my sanity! I can ride my bike to the bus stop, but my bike on the bus, get off in downtown Denver, and ride to work! Instead of feeling the angst rising as I see the red brake lights flashing in the parking lot of cars in front of me, I can sit in a comfortable, air conditioned bus, whizzing down to HOV lane reading Velonews. Sweet.

Today I really will take some pics on my ride...I checked and the battery is NOT dead. More later...

Pancakes and rivers

After finding my hr monitor and getting my head screwed in tight, my weekend ended up pretty great. I had a fantastic ride yesterday...almost 5 hours, tons and tons of climbing(somewhere around 30-40 miles of just clmibing), 16 miles of which was on a dirt road(on my road bike..I ain't no roadie, I ride my road bike on dirt). The best female mountain biker in the entire world is training in Boulder for a couple weeks, Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesja(that's a mouthful!) and I saw her out yesterday. That's the thing about Boulder, you never know who you'll see. I should have gone to bed at 10 PM last night after my antics during the day, but instead decided to go have some fun with friends. Unfortunately that meant me getting home at the wee hours of the morning and getting up early again. One of my good friends, Jess Sanders was in town so I jumped at the opportunity to make some pancakes for her before she headed back to da querque. Pancakes are always so much better when you have someone to share it with. Very soon I will be able to share my weekends with my boyfriend again. I can't wait! Only a couple more months and I won't be so pancake-lonely.



As for the pics I promised...well, I took my camera but when I turned the blasted thing on, the red words scolded me saying, "Battery Empty." BOLLOCKS! Sorry folks, next time.

I tried to ride today and my heart rate was well below zone 1, so I cut it short and decided to rest this afternoon. I went out and got a new seat to try. I have been having some issues with these bike seats and am on a quest to find the perfect one. My flavor of the week is called the Specialized Jett. I hope I like it! At least these stores let you return them within 30 days if they are no good. I sat in the river tonight...in my clothes. It was kind of a last minute thought, but man, did that feel good. It's going to become my daily ritual and is amazing for recovery. It's an organic ice bath. ;) For those of you who thought I was crazy, you'll think I'm nuttier when I tell you that I take ice baths during hard weeks and races. It helps! Now I have Boulder Creek, my new friend.

Race Across America starts in a few days...it's only a 3,052 mile race. I'm looking forward to tracking it. I know 2 people doing it this year. One, celebrity Nat Ross(also my friend, Tough Girl Janis Sandlin's boyfriend). He is on the team favored to win(with Jay Henry, Mike Janelle, and another dude), and is a badass endurance guy. I just met Nat officially a week ago, and he is very charismatic. My other friend doing the race is Steve Holmes. He is doing an 8 person diabetic team (they run it like a time trial relay) called Team Type 1 and their goal is raise a million dollars for diabetes(and of course, to win their category). They have a race blog and the web site is www.teamtype1.org. If you are interested in donating or just reading about their endeavors, that's the spot. I'm looking forward to all my big rides this week and topping the week off by going to NYC to visit Lara! I leave Thursday night.

Closet Blonde

OH MY GOSH. Thought I would make fun of myself for a moment and indulge you all in a good laugh. I know you're laughing with me. ;) I'm about to take off on my ride...BUT I just spent the last 15 minutes + tearing my apartment apart, screaming in frustration, trying to find my heart rate monitor. I know I'm an obvious brunette, but I SWEAR sometimes I should have been born a blonde to at least I'd have an excuse for being a moron. (sorry to the blondes, you know I don't mean it!)

Where was Sonya's HR monitor strap?

A) On the bathroom shelf
B) Underneath a pile of clothes in her room
C) On the kitchen counter
D) She was wearing it

Sadly my friends, the answer is D. Yes, I was searching frantically and fiendishly when all the while, it was tucked under my sports bra, right on me. I must have killed more than a few brain cells with those beers I had last night, or maybe it's the fact that I am fueled on coffee. The most caffeine I generally have in a day is from one teabag of green tea or yerba mate so....maybe I'm a little hyper and neurotic when hyped up on the coffee bean. Hopefully the grad school won't read this because although I am off of academic probation and almost at a masters degree in electrical engineering level of education, I seem to be a ditz. SWEET.

Office Space?

TGI-weekend! Sorry I've been slacking on the posts lately, it's been a crazy week trying to work as much as possible, commute to Denver, train, figure out my daily schedule, sell stuff on ebay, etc. Things have been pretty good. I started my internship at Xcel Energy in Denver a week ago and am not racing for a few weeks. YES!

It's been a bit of battle figuring out this whole work/commuting/training deal. I like my job at Xcel Energy. It's a great company to work for, the employees all seem enthusiastic about their jobs, it has great benefits, and my boss is supercool. The commute....not so cool...50 miles a day, stupid traffic... I basically have to get to work at weird times to avoid sitting in traffic for 1+ hours. One time I tried to leave at 7:20 and sat in traffic for an hour and twenty minutes. The last thing I want is to waste away in a tin can sitting in a parking lot of what is supposed to be a highway, and being angst-ridden. I leave my apt by 6 or 6:15AM. The traffic was still busy, but not so bad. I could get off at 3/3:30, get home by 4, and ride after that. I *thought* that was going to work... until I was wide awake every night and it was taking me 2-3 hours to fall asleep for me to get a whopping 5 hours of sleep a night. If I get back from a ride, it takes my body about 5 hours to wind down making me due for actual sleep around 12 or 1 AM. I was trying to go to bed at 10. For recovery, sleep is extremely important. It's just as essential as the actual training itself because without rest, you can't get stronger. Fortunately my boss, Chris, is flexible and he is letting me shift around my hours. He's also letting me work part time so I can go to races. THANK YOU CHRIS! So now I am going to ride in the mornings, go to work around 10ish and stay late(like 6-7). I still have to get up early, but at least I'm not wired when it's time for bed, and the days I don't ride, I can get a few extra hours of zzz's that my body is always begging me for. I am also going to try out taking the the express bus to denver, taking my beater bike on the bus, and riding to work. I think that may be swell. It's like office space at work...tons of cubicles, you name it. I can't help but laugh sometimes.

I've been enjoying my new road bike. It rides SO much different than my old one. The Titus Modena is sleek, stylish, light, efficient, and just plain gorgeous. It also is super smooth on the decents so I can make most guys my bitch. ;) I do wish I knew what was going on with my legs. They really have felt like rotten meat sticks since IHBC. I'm hoping they will come around. Titus really makes some high performance machines and are the best bikes I have ever ridden. This week, I am doing a big week of training since I'm not racing. I wish I was racing today in Nathrop, but 6-7 weekends in a row of racing is just too much for this gal. Next weekend, I'm off to NYC to visit my bud, Lara...aka the first friend I EVER made in my whole life. :) I haven't seen her in two years so it'll be GREAT! Weekend after that I'm off to Silverton to camp with my family...it's been tradition since I was 1 year old. Then the racing starts up again... Eldora MSC, Deer Valley Norba Nat, Blast the Mass MSC or Sonoma Norba(gotta decide...but it's so EXPENSIVE to go to Cali), 24 hr national championships in Wisconsin, Brianhead Norba, Snowmass Norba...yeah, I'll be busy and probably damn tired and broke come mid August! I'm pretty stoked about this 24 hr national championships deal. Tough Girl Productions(the team I did my last 24 hr race with), is being incredibley supportive and giving me the "pro" treatment. They are flying me out to Wisco and paying for everything...can't beat that! I think they are trying to bribe me to be on their team next year...with this treatment it might work!!! These girls are badass because they do every event(DH, Super D, XC, ST, 24 hr)

Well, I'm off to go do a sweet yet torturous 4-5 hour training ride. Can't wait to climb all those hills and check out the view. I'll bring my camera so you can enjoy the views too.

Beautiful.

It's so cool looking, I even took two photos of it. This thing rides sooo different than my old bike. It's really smooth and sweet.

The Titus Modena... a newer road bike designed by Titus.

"New for 2006, we’ve thinned up the aluminum lugs by over 30% and opened them up even further with Titus signature diamond cutouts. The result: lighter weight and increased performance. Sprint faster, climb longer and attack harder-the Modena has what it takes to keep you out front." www.titusti.com

Tough Girls win 24 hours at Erock

Brittany Walker, Sonya Looney (moi), Janis Sandlin, Lynn Bush. (I was an "honorary tough girl" for the weekend)

Me...git it!

The set up

Sonya Looney has been slacking on the entries...

I have been a bad blogger this week, but I had a lot going on. So last weekend was the Iron Horse road race. I left Albuquerque and made it to Durango on Friday. Adam's parents were renting the top floor of a sweet house out in the country. The view was perfect. Sat morning was the race. I started out feeling pretty good and when the pack split up, I was able to stick with the fast girls. They surged again and I dropped off along with a few other people. I worked really hard and caught back on only to get dropped again. I kept chasing, but all of a sudden I couldn't get out of zone 3. I felt so terrible on the bike and my legs would produce no power whatsoever. After that, I just tried to enjoy the scenery and cheer on all the citizen riders. I was pretty disappointed because I KNOW I could have done really well at that race. My average heart rate for the race was 20 beats lower than usual resulting in a very embarassing result. Similary, Adam had tough time and felt horrible like me. Maybe it was something we ate! I attribute it to just being damn tired from racing. We hung out in Durango for a few more days. I did some awesome mountain bike rides. Sometimes i feel like I'm in love when I'm flying down some awesome singletrack in the trees. I get butterflies in my stomach, have an effortless smile on my face, and feel so light and happy. ha.

The view from the porch at the house in Durango. Durango is my favorite place in the world.


Durango has so many sweet outdoor stores. This one, not so sweet, but I had fun playing dress up with all the lame hunting gear.


Me and my sweetie at our favorite park in Durango. It's been hard coming back to Boulder after being able to see him for a month. sniff

My car was loaded down. Stuff in trunk, bikes loaded to the ceiling in the cab!

I drove back to Boulder this past Tuesday and got home pretty late. In a way, it was so nice to come home and not live out of my suitcase! Boulder is a great place to come home to as well! I didn't have much time to relax. The following day, my NEW ROAD BIKE came in the mail and i was running around all day trying to get stuff done. I'm still building my bike, but am ALMOST done. I'll DEFINITELY post a pic of my sweet machine tomorrow. It is such a big upgrade from my frank the tank. I started my internship at Xcel Energy on Thursday. I was dreading the commute, and it was worse than I expected. I left at 7:20 AM and what is normally a 25 min drive in no traffic was a whole hour and twenty minutes. I was in hell. I waited till after six to leave and managed to avoid traffic. friday, they sent me in a trouble truck with a worker so I could see how they fix stuff when there is a power outage. That was a good day...got paid to sit in a truck with AC and see different parts of Denver. From work, I drove out to Castle Rock. I did a 24 hour race called 24 hours of Elephant Rock. Some friends of mine needed an extra teammate so I happily agreed. I even got to be on the news twice. I almost accepted their team offer for the year, but chose Titus. It's called Team Tough Girl which is an all girls team and I think will be rocking next year. They have already done a tremendous amount for being a first year team. Anyway, one of the girls on our 4 person team was sick and essentially couldn't race. It was just to be the 3 of us. When I was taking one of my turns at 3:30 AM, I just laughed. Only a crazy person would be out at 3 in the matin to put themself through a world of pain. The course wasn't that great, just sandy doubletrack, but I still had fun. My legs felt like rotten meat sticks during the night laps, but come dawn, I was feeling pretty good and turned over some smokin laps! Our team did great! Despite having only 3 members, we still won the 4 person team category and beat a LOT of boys too. I think overall(all categories, both sexes), we got 5th. There is nothing like passing dudes wearing a pink jersey. One time I even said, "Excuse me BOYS!" haha I was pretty tired last night. The race was from 6 PM Friday to 6 PM Saturday. I got 20 min of sleep in 40 hours and rode about 100 miles on a mountain bike, so I was beat last night. Today I got to just relax! I am taking a 3 week break from racing and will try and get in some quality training and some fun on the weekends!


The 24 hr race venue

More photos from the 24 hr race coming later...

I'm enjoying tunes by Gavin Degraw lately. I better go to bed. I have to get up at 5 in the morning to avoid traffic on the way to work. booooo Back to the life of rotting in a cubicle. Cubicles really are like being in a padded room at an insane asylum. Considering my last name, I guess it's not entirely inappropriate.