Who says backpacking is for hikers?

Adam and I kind of decided on a whim to take a mid-week camping trip. It was pretty fun and fantastic to be in a tent again. I miss those days... I'm going to live in one for a month or more next summer. YES! Anyway, we went to White Ranch and there were some campgrounds, but you can't drive to them. instead of hiking, we rode bikes there...and up some hills. It HURT. my pack was probably like 40 lbs, and Adam's was 75 or 80. I could barely even put his on, and he made all the steep hills too. Amazing. There were some people in the parking lot who were shaking their heads at us in disbelief. You gotta be epic.

Adam's pack....whoa! I'm gonna fall over and be like a turtle on its back!

My pack...looks like an Xmas tree with various camping ornaments

There's a little man under that backpack!

Eassssy does it. steady girl, steady.

Pack 'er up

Cookies anyone?

School Started...

Sorry for my lack of posts recently but I don't really have anything witty or interesting to say! School started yesterday. This semester should be very informative and it'll knock out TWO more classes till I'm done with engineering school forever. I have 5 total left to get my M.S.

After about 6 weeks of not training, I started it up again this week. It's been good to get back on the bike with a mission. I have a 24 hr race next weekend, and to finish up the season, have some cyclocross and collegiate XCs to tear up! I am looking forward to doing a few collegiate mtb races. They're so fun and chill. I'm excited b/c this year I'll have some tough competition with Amy Drumm and Caitlyn Tuel.

My parents AND brother are coming for the weekend. I'm looking forward to it. I also will be highly amused watching my brother checking out all the sorority chicks. "Like TOTALLY!"

Meet my new friend...

This is my new(used) cyclocross bike. It's a happy addition to the Looney family o bikes and one step farther for me to get out of debt! ;) One of the many loves of my life! ;)

I start school Monday. Good and bad I guess. It'll be a happy change, but the bane of my existence! I turned 23 yesterday and have some sort of Boulder funk sickness. Hopefully I'll feel better and party up my birthday right this weekend. The funk is keeping me from riding. I tried to ride the bike path yesterday and could barely make it. No bike riding for awhile, but that's ok. I raced 6 weekends in a row and could use a break!n Not much going on... just want my chipotle burrito for dinner. yummmm

Snowmass Norba National contd

This weekend was the first time I actually felt like I deserved to be in the pro field. This first year as a pro, and really a rookie to cycling has been mentally difficult. I’ve been really disappointed with my race performance and incredibly frustrated with the rotten meat sticks known as my legs. I’m happy to say that for the past couple weeks, I have felt pretty good on the bike! I was beginning to think that I would never feel good on the bike again, and just have swamp legs forever! I guess coming on late is better than never.

XC was good, coulda been better. I was exhausted all last week and was feeling like maybe I shouldn’t race snowmass. Of course, I had line up in the back row since I have been slack about the Norba series, but amazingly, I started passing a ton of people on the first climb. I was pleasantly surprised that my legs had some kick in the them! By the time I got to the singletrack and looked back, I was in shock!! “WHOA! Look at all the people who are behind me!” I thought in disbelief. I had a pretty sufficient gap on the train of girls behind me on the singletrack climb. They slowly started to catch me and were right on my heels on the technical part of the singletrack. I don’t pride myself on being a fantastic technical rider, so I was as aggressive as I could be. Much to my surprise, I wasn’t getting passed on the descents or technical sections! I think I turned into a decent technical rider in Wisco a few weeks ago. To make a long story short, I was in about 32nd and was so excited and focused on going fast that I forgot to eat and drink. Bad, bad, bad. About 70 anaerobic minutes later, my body crashed…hard. Suddenly I couldn’t really pedal and was sapped of all my strength….aka the BONK. The rest of the race I spent groveling. I downed 3 honey stingers at once which was another rookie mistake. That stuff is just too sweet. Yuck. The whole second lap I was trying to hold the chunks down. I guess my stomach can’t handle that much sugar at once. I fell back to 44th place, but that’s okay!! I got to see where my potential is at for the year and that was worth everything. Live and learn. I was glad not to flat…just 3 weeks before I double-flatted on that same course at the mountain states cup and had to drop out. I was not a happy camper.

STXC: Super fun course, but my legs were trashed from bonking the day before. Basically I would hammer up the climbs and pass people, detonate, and do it again the next lap. My goal was to stay in 10 minutes and I managed over 14! There were some dual slalom bumps too. Here is a pic I stole from cyclingnews. I think Ross Schnell is the funniest guy ever. He may actually be my new hero. Check this out! He’s super fast, but still has a great time. Cycling needs more personalities like this! Check out Nick Martin's blog for even better coverage AND videos of Rad Ross. (see link on the side)


Super D: I was a virgin Super D-er till the weekend. Chris Jung convinced me to try ‘er out, especially since it was free. I have been avoiding this event all year thinking I couldn’t descend. After watching the men’s ST, I rushed to get ready and hopped on the lift. I got off and took the road down to the start and PSHHHHHHHH!!!! My front tire flatted. Of course I didn’t have anything with me to fix it, and no one else did either. I was laughing at the irony that I flatted on the WAY to the super D, and fortunately someone hooked me up with a tube and pump. I didn’t have any tire levers, and those Bontrager Jones tires are great, but a real bitch to get off. A chivalrous old French man took the reins and helped me out. He was grunting in aggravation, but I was very thankful he saved me. He wanted payment…kisses on both cheeks. No problem! I even ran into him later and got to practice my French on him. So the Super D went really well. I lined up with16 other pro women and was feeling very intimidated. There were some pro Dhers on freeride bikes and pro women. I was an IDIOT at the start. Rookie mistake number infinity. I thought I’d run through the grass and avoid the chaos. That slowed me down even more and I was 2nd to last getting on my bike. I started passing people and was pretty surprised. I was thankful for the short climbs because I passed a lot of people there. The descent I was trying to survive and go as fast as I could. Unfortunately I wasn’t taking the best lines because I didn’t pre-ride the course. I guess that’s kind of important, especially since I lost a place by not taking the inside lines. I ended up 10th which was a pleasant surprise to me. I will be doing more of those next year.


I am super stoked about cyclocross. The one race I did hungover last year was pretty fun! I have a weird false sense of confidence about ‘cross races… don’t get it. I need to be humbled and it will happen soon! I am very impatient to get my bike…. I need to learn patience because sometimes I am incredibly impatient.

I struggled today being back at work with the engineers. There are some cool guys that work there, but for the most part it’s a bunch of geeks walking around with thick engineering glasses trying to make conversation. Today I’m pretty beat from the weekend, so again, my patience and sweet charm is dwindling. Sarcastic comments were on the tip of my tongue today, but I bit it back. I try to tone it down at work and seem like a nice, professional, sweet engineering girl. Riiiiight. At least tomorrow I get to transfer to Boulder. NO MORE COMMUTING! My 36 lb beater bike, Frank the Tank, is going to get lonely, especially with a new cross bike I’m going to ride around a lot!

Snowmass Norba National

Stay tuned for a post with lots of fun stuff! First things first, I think I am FINALLY coming on for the season. Better late than never I guess... made some rookie mistakes in the XC, but started off feeling great and strong. I just got home from a long weekend and played hooky from work today to even stay for the series party. I think a good time was had by all. It's nice to be back home and to be ALONE! I love going to races and seeing my friends, but I go crazy sometimes b/c I don't have any time alone!

The most exciting news of the day! After nearly a month of searching for a cyclocross bike, I FINALLY found one that's a GREAT deal and am getting it this week. I can't wait to race 'cross this year. YES!

Some photos for your viewing pleasure. I'll have more from the race later...these are just random ones I took...I thought I took more, sorry these are not as exciting!

I remember a movie quote from the Nutty Professor talking about colon cleansing, but I didn't know you could buy it as a powder and drink it. I stayed with Nina's family one night in Snowmass and found this on the counter. I guess you need to do what you gotta do to stay regular!



Nina (Baum) and the crew normally take ice baths after the XC, but we had the Frying Pan river in Basalt. I stayed with Becca (Blay) one night in Basalt and this was right by her house. BRRRRR....so....cold. The kind of cold that is sheer pain. I guess we didn't get enough pain in the XC




Lunch with the Baum family...Nina's bro Jack, aka Tina. Tina you fat lard! Come and get some dinner. EAT TINA!!! EAT THE FOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Going to Snowmass Norba National tomorrow....stay tuned.

I forgot to write about Winter Park! It was a really fun course, pretty low key race. We got to do two 9.1 mile laps with a decent amount of climbing, and ripping fast descending! I think I may have broken through on the descending at this race and finally have some confidence. The first lap did not go well for me. I felt really just stale and couldn't get my heart rate up. I hardly rode after 24 hr nationals, and I guess I didn't go hard enough the day before or something. I was feeling pretty discouraged about it all, telling myself I'm not racing anymore this year, etc. I decided to push it on the descent and had fun. Then, miraculously, I felt good on the climb on the second lap. I caught most of the experts who started their race about 7 min before I came through for my second. At the crest of the climb, I saw second place right up the road. I was in disbelief and excited that I actually caught back on with how horrible my first lap went. I passed her on the descent, but she was on me the whole way down, pushing my limits. It was good. She passed me at the bottom of the descent, but then there was a sharp turn onto some rolly, technical singletrack in the woods. I put the hurt on her there and gained a minute in probably less than half a mile, coming in for second place. It was exciting and fun!!! the only thing that took away from it was my seat bag opened during the race and I lost my tube, tire levers, CO2 adapter/cartridges, chain tool....that's like 40 dollars worth of stuff. DANG IT.

After the race, we ate lunch in Idaho Springs at this pizza place...Beau something. We were all famished after the race and the pizza took...count it... FIFTY minutes to arrive. We were not happy, and our waitress was pretty unfriendly as well. Maybe she hated me b/c I was pimping it with 6 dudes, or maybe she just hated pizza. I'll never know.

I leave tomorrow for Snowmass. A little nervous b/c Sunday after WP, I did a hard ride and then a run and my body hasn't fully recovered. I may be doing the Super D at snowmass too.

Meet the ugliest shoes you have ever seen. I swore I would NEVER own a pair of these things, but then I tried them on. so light and comfy. So if I'm wearing ugly shoes, I may as well go BIG and get a flashy color as well. Cheese anyone? ;)

Oh, school starts in 2 short weeks. It's bittersweet really. I will get away from the monotony of working(thank GOD), but school poses quite a few challenges. Maybe I need those challenges to keep things interesting.

Winter Park...ready to ROLL!

Race report coming up....Going riding now so later!

Spencer took us to the race. When he pulled up, B.Fuentes says, "Oh, did you borrow your mom's car? The 'ol grocery getter?" It's the pimp race machine...you can take the kids to soccer practice and then take it to the bike race. ...a grocery getter of many uses.

The horn on this thing played a pirate song!! When Spencer honked it in a tunnel, we were all surprised...and when he honked at an old jammer to give up his parking spot, that worked too.

Look at Collin's suuuuwweeeet callick. NICE! Must have been getting down!

LOOK! The girl's gone wild bus!!!. ooo mama.

Everyone meet Grandpa Fuentes. These sweet shades are for the real deal. You can really mac on some chics with this secret weapon.

Random pic I forgot to throw in earlier. This is my thing...on trips, I go in store and try on the most ridiculous things I can find and take photos. This was in Wausau, WI. These Wisconsin folk are STYLIN with the jacket and the choobaca slippers. Those are hot man. Heeeeeyyy baby!