Off the back...

I pretty much had the worst performance in my entire cycling career this weekend. Unfortunately, the stress I had to go through to get myself TO the race managed to ruin my legs for the weekend. It was almost 90 degrees and humid outside, so it was pretty hot. We all got a little bit of heat stroke. So Saturday was the short track. I started out pretty good but suddenly my legs just quit and faster than I could bat an eye, I was off the back. All I could do was give Frosty the look that I wanted to be pulled. I just could NOT go hard. My body would not let me. The pace I was riding was one that I could talk and ride one handed. My body just would not let me. :( It was pretty embarassing riding those laps of shame, but I tried to just smile and look like I was having fun. I was laying on the ground after with people around me b/c they were worried i had heat stroke. I felt like i was going to black out and barf during the race. It was the longest short track I ever stayed in. Brian had a GREAT day and got 15th!!

I was hoping I'd feel better the next day in the XC. It was another hot one. During the warm-up, I was debating whether I should even start the race. Usually you do hard efforts to warm up, but I couldn't even do that. I started off well, but then got stuck behind a crash. I started to make it up, but then again, my legs just quit. All I could do was finish. I would try to go fast, but my legs just felt like mush. Super rotten meat sticks. Tough girls don't quit. I gotta run. We are going to a winery for a tour. More later.

Cali.

If anyone has some draino that works for legs, I would love some. The vacation has been great, the racing has NOT. So I'll start with the good.

After packing my bike till almost 1 AM on Thursday night, the alarm at 5 AM was less than welcoming. I managed to pack up my stuff and get to the bus stop. I met Brian on the bus and it was about an hour ride to the airport. I checked my bike and actually felt pretty violated after that. United Airlines used to have vouchers so we could take our bikes for free. No more. They charged me 85 DOLLARS to take my bike on the plane. I slept for most of the plane ride to San Jose. We changed planes there. The airport only had four gates, and oddly enough, there was a kiosk selling laptops, digital cameras, and DVDs. We arrived at the Santa Barbara airport which seemed to be an outdoor airport. Pics from the airport:





Good old United lost one of my bags, and one of Brian's which they didn't deliver until almost 9 PM that night. That meant that we couldn't pre-ride the course on Friday. It was a bummer. Driving to the area where the race was at was really beautiful. Sorry for the quality of the pics, I took them while we were still moving. It was so weird to see the ocean just right there by the highway.










Ostrich farm on the side of the road. hmm... well, I like ostrich burgers.

We stayed in this town called Solvang. I had booked a hotel at a Danish Lodge. Brian and I rolled into Solvang and saw a place that looked like Svengaard's Danish Lodge. We tried to open the door, locked. There was a big "for lease" sign. We thought for a minute that our booked hotel was out of business. Turns out it was Schmargasboords Danish Inn. As we progressed through town, we realized the whole town is modelled after a Danish town. Our hotel was also very Danish looking, and was pretty nice.



When I was booking the reservation, the guy kept telling me I was going to love this place.




Cute pics in town. It was all old people and antique shops.



Brian and I went for a short spin the day of the XC. If you can see the trees, they had crazy branches.

Just to whine(or...wine) ...

Yes, it's 12:30 AM at the moment... I just thought I would complain for fun. I just finished packing all my stuff and I feel like I'm forgetting stuff. Now for the fun part. Guess what time I get to catch the bus to the airport in the morning? 5:30 AM. I have to pack my car and use bungee cords to hold the trunk down over my bike box, go to the park n ride and deal with carting my crap, meaning I have to leave my house at around 5:10 AM. YOu do the math on how much sleep I'm going to get. less than HALF what I am used to. sweet.

I did go to the chiropractor and Gerrie, my new massage therapist today. Hopefully they both did me good. I feel good. :) The chiropractor assessed that I was all messed up (of course, right?), but I feel much better after she cracked my neck, back, shoulders, elbows, and wrists. She claimed that bones were impinging slightly on my nerves. I guess I'll know tomorrow when I'm pre-riding the course wassup.

Tomorrow(well today really) I will be in Los Olivios...wine country. Yes! I hope all this prep and hard work pays off. :)

The scoop

So I went to TWO doctors yesterday after freaking out on Sunday night when I realized I may be walking the downhills. ahhh. First, I went to the walk in sports med clinic. The PT showed me some stretches to do and gave my these metal wrist braces to wear part of the day and at night. I have a wrist overuse problem from a combo of my recent sudden drastic increase in data analysis at the lab and riding. IT's the same thing from Nova in AZ a few weeks ago. I have ulnar nerve irritation in BOTH arms, so the stretching is supposed to maybe knock it loose. Next, I went to the med. doc to see if cortizone was an option. She said it is only an option if I don't do anything with impact since it can damage the tendons. No dice. It was recommended that I get a massage b/c possibly my muscles are compressing my nerve, go to the chiropractor (maybe the nerve prob is at the spinal level), and get PT.

Yes, in addition to my presentation due tomorrow, my exam on Thursday, my final paper project I'm supposed to be working on, my job, going to class, working on my bike, somehow packing, I have to go to all these appts before I leave. I have to do everything to get this figured out or I may not be able to race. Today I got a massage, and the guy was horrified with how tight my forearms, neck, and shoulder are. He really thinks this is the cause of it all. He put me in the hurt locker, but it felt good afterwards. I am going to try and get in with him Thursday so maybe the tissue will be loosened enough for my nerve to be free. I also have PT tomorrow and a chiropractor visit scheduled for Thursday night. I also have to go to Arvada b/c Lynn is going to help me install some new parts i got for my bike. She has the toolz. Then pack it up and head to CA. It's going to be a HUGE relief to be on that plane Friday. I can't wait. So that is the scoop. I"m doing all the voodoo I can to get my arms working. My legs are letting me ride like a pro, now if only my arms would work.

And just as a funny side note...I got a coffee in Golden the other day before my ride. IT was at a small shop that didn't look too legit, but I didn't want to support the starbucks machine. My jaw dropped as I watched her pour HERSHEY'S SYRUP into my coffee and barely steam the milk. It was NOT good. IT was like still milk (not foamy at all) with high fructorse corn syrup and fake chocolate dabbed with coffee. YUMMY.

Mountain Bicycling Practice

I have had a pretty spectacular weekend, so although I'm sad to see Monday inevitably arrive, I feel like I've had my fun. I worked my butt off, but I started off too hard and then I ended up detonating, just like in a bike race. I got burnt on school, so Thursday night I went to see the new bike racing movie- 24hoursolo. It's awesome. these guys make a movie a few years ago about the dramatic point chase to get to the olympics called Off Road to Athens. Check out the details at offroadtoathens.com. Bri and I borrowed it from a friend and watched it this weekend to get psyched.

Friday I worked in the lab, then went to pick up my bike at mob cyclery. mobcyclery.com. They are a really cool bike shop in north denver. So cool, that I will drive 35 minutes to have them work on my bike. It has the feeling of a small, local bike shop without the elite snobby attitude. It is also not a huge shop (in the showroom anyway), so it has a nice feeling to it. Then, I went and rode Chimney Gulch/Enchanted Forest/Apex in Golden. I love it! I haven't been able to find the cable to tranfer pics to my computer, so I didn't take any here. I have a tiny memory card that hold 8 pics (yeah, i spend all my money on bikes). I've been having issues with my brakes and it broke AGAIN. Mob fixed it right up me though. It is no fun going downhill without a front brake. You really just can't stop. Bri and I got some really good Italian food in North Denver at this almost totally outdoor cafe. I felt like I was actually in Italy from the outdoor seating and the best italian food I have ever had!! I did get a lot of work done this weekend too. I finished one o fmy final projects. :) yaaay. Now I just have to write a 20 page research paper, study for my exam on Thursday, and finish my paper/study for a final in CA. I leave on FRIDAY!!

I did find my camera cable this morning, so after doing a load of work, I headed out to Green Mountain with Brian to rip some singletrack. It was really beautiful today. I haven't really ridden any of these trails before. They are all in Jeffco (Jefferson County) which is the Golden/Lakewood area. Unlike Boulder County, most of the trails are open to mountain bikes. I am STILL trying to find a good position on my bike. My wrists hurt the worst when I reach for the brake levers. I got a handlebar with a 17 degree sweep. It was weird to ride because it's about as wide as my top tube. It seemed to fix my wrist angle (although I need to chop it down), but the brake reach has to be fixed still. I am actually pretty certain that it has to be carpal tunnel syndrome. My roommate has an ergo keyboard for me to use, thank you thank you. I"m going to physical therapy this week. I need to do everything possible to alleviate this before SUNDAY next week. :) So depressing. Hpefully it's not so severe that I can't handle it during the racing. :( nooooo. Right before 1/3 of the national series. Perfect. I'm hoping maybe I can get shots of cortizone? I don't want to wreck and crack my head again.

I'm going to cut the blogging down even more to reduce typing, so you will probably hear from me again next week after the first CA race. I promise to bring my camera, but it's really hard to get pics during the race.



Fuentes Design is open 24 hour a day, even on rides. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!








I know that downhill in the distance doesn't look like much, but this was the scariest downhill I have ever done! It was so steep that I couldn't stop if I wanted to. I actaully was not very happy about it.


Brian actually helped build this part of the trail when he was in high school. It was awesome.


I wonder why they call it Green Mountain....?

Busy little bee

Sorry for the lack of posts for the past 2 weeks. things have been crazy and will stay that way for 2 MORE weeks. Yes folks, the start of bike racing has begun, and combining that with school, work, and training is a lot. Fortunately, I'm done with school very shortly. AND I have just one class left until I have my master's in electrical engineering. yahoo!

What have I been doing besides healing? (Yes, the wounds are healed(well, almost), my head doesn't hurt, the whiplash is gone, and I got a new helmet). My arm was so bruised and cut up that people thought I got in a car wreck. They were in shock to know that it was almost self-induced. On the racing front, I'm headed to CA April 27 to stay out there a week. There are two Norba Nationals out there (www.norbanationals.com) that are back to back weekends. Norba Nationals are the national series for mountain biking. It pretty much doesn't get any bigger than that in the US. One is in wine country near Santa Barbara. A group of us are going to just hang out during the week since it doesn't really make sense to come back, and then fly back out a few days later. The next weekend is in Fontana. I hope to do some laying on the beach, wave-chasing, and of course, some great wine tasting. This sounds all so glamorous and fun, right?

What you don't know is the mass of work I have to get done BEFORE I leave and that i have to do while I'm out there. I'm missing the last week of classes, so I have to get my final research projects done early in addition to everything else normally associated with the school week. I have to also make up my hours in the lab for that week BEFORE I leave since the post-doc I work for is leaving when I get back and we need to get all the data processed before then. Did I mention I still have to make sure I'm training and recovering as well? I have to study for a final and finish a paper while I'm out there too. ahhhh. It's going to be great though. I can't wait! :)

I will be working at Xcel again this summer, but this time in Boulder. YES! I don't have to commute to Denver. I don't think I can handle that. That's going to put a damper on things when I'm looking for a p/t job after I graduate. Limit my options so to speak. So if you know anyone looking to hire in December part-time, let me know. I'll do whatever. It doesn't have to be EE! more like EEK! ;)

It's STILL snowing here in CO. It snows every Friday. They were forecasting a foot of snow yesterday which fortunately didn't happen. I wish spring would stay sprung.

Real quick...

Today was the XC. I'll tell more about it later. I was doing really well most of the race and should have finished in the low 30s, but I crashed out pretty bad the last lap with a head injury and had to soft pedal back. I am okay though other than my entire body being pretty banged up. I had some serious issues with my handlebars too. It got to the point where I couldn't feel my wrists and would just crash. It's my fault for messing around with my position right before the race. I'm really happy with where I was before I bit the dust, so everything's not lost.