Git 'er Done

This sign should have read, Full Thunderstorm in Tellurain

This past weekend was Mountain States Cup, stop number 5. Telluride, CO. I was very skeptical about this race due to the lingering sinus infection I had been fighting, the way my legs had felt at the short track just days before, and my lack of preparation. I rode down with Comotion pro, Steve Iles in his sweet grocery getter. He took the hubcaps off to make it look more ghetto, less soccer mom. He claimed that the van was invisible to cops, and it picks up MILFs in the whole foods parking lot. Hmm. Neither one of us had gotten much sleep the night before, so we departed a little later than planned (830 instead of 7 am). After the 7 hour drive, we arrived in Telluride. It was pouring rain. It had been pouring rain for an hour before we got there and the rain continued through the night. That meant NO PRERIDE. I had never even done the course before, so I was not too happy about it. Instead we pimped it in our sweet condo and watched the Tour.


Pretty glum weather, but it was still beautiful and GREAT to get out of the scorching heat.

The morning of the XC was sunny (the rain had cleared out). However, the pros start was after 1 PM. I KNEW a storm was going to roll in during the race. The huge clouds building behind the mountain were an ominous giveaway. There was actually a decent sized field for the XC. I was expecting it to be thinned out due to the Norba, but there were very few people missing. About 15-20 started the race. The gun went off and I went for it. To my surprise (and horror) I was leading the field for a good 10 minutes. I was just waiting for Katie Compton to come by and actually felt relieved when she did. I stayed in 2nd for awhile, then another girl passed me. Then another, and we went back and forth for 3rd and 4th place, then she finally put the hurt on me. The rest of the race, I just tried to be smooth and not blow up. This is the steepest race I have done. the climbs are shorter, but they are straight up. Not to mention that the START was at 9500 ft. I was panting like a dog on a hot day with mucus coming out of my nose and just hanging there, and my eyes bugging out of their sockets from lack of oxygen. Coming into my second lap... I felt a raindrop. Then another. Then I heard the gentle pitter patter which was very nice. Then I heard the pitter patter starting to get faster, and faster... until it was a torrential downpour. Huge claps of thunder were eminating from the sky and the lightning was so close that you could almost feel the warmth. It got the trails totally mud bogged and all the roots and rocks were super slick. The rain stopped for a moment. Then on the third lap, another torrential storm came through. this time I was scared of the lightning. It was close and the thunder was making me scream (I don't like thunder) It did, however, give me motivation to go faster, especially at the steep, open field climb at the top of the mountain for fear of getting zapped. The downhill this time was super sketchy. It was a river. you couldn't see anything from the mud and water being flung in your face and eyes. I had my eyes open to tiny slits which mud still had no problem finding its way into. I got lapped by the top 3 pro men and asked one how far back the next girl was. They told me way back there, so I went really slow on the downhill and just tried not to wreck. I came across the line in 4th and was so happy that I FINALLY had a race where I felt decent and didn't have a mechanical. All those races that I was riding in podium spots until my bike died were behind me.


1st lap before the storm. I forgot my sunglasses and fortunately someone had another pair I could use. They look funny, almost in a solar shields type of way. Notice how clean I am.


After... not so clean, but damn happy and about to start freezing my butt off. Dave from Mafia Racing rushed me off to this pizza place so I wouldn't get hypothermia. I was washing off in their kitchen sink. Niiice.


Collin Becker making his re-appearance to the mtb scene. What an initiation race. He hung tough too.


XC Podium




Gondola ride. I have mermaid hair after races(from my hair being in a wet, salty braid), but it very quickly goes back to stick straight.

Sunday was the hill climb at 8 AM. I figured my prep. was bad already, so Sat night I endulged in a couple of Old Chubs, courtesy of Oskar Blues and Dale himself at the MSC races. Then I did hot and cold, switching between the hot tub and the river to try and eliminate some soreness. I hardly slept that night. I woke up every hour and it would take 10 min to go back to sleep. I was awake for 2 hours straight at one point. I guess I had a little too much caffeine before and during the race (1 gofast and 5 gus that had caffeine).

Warming up for the hill climb, I was NOT excited. I saw the course. It went up the technical downhill from the day before and I didn't get to pre-ride. The first half mile of it was literally straight up the ski slope on singletrack. They combined categories for pro and expert too, so I was really worried I was going to get beat by a bunch of the experts by the way my legs felt. AND my rear brake was toasted. I had no rear brake at all and there was a teeny bit of downhill. The gun went off and Katie Compton shot off the front immediately. I tried to hang on her wheel, but she was on this hybrid cross/mountain bike on the dirt road parade lap. No dice. I had put a gap on the field but lost a ton of time on the last downhill turn. Then Kelly Mattingly came by me as I was expecting. I let her go and was third to the singletrack. She and I rode together for awhile. I glanced over my shoulder and was happy I got a good spot. The steep, wet trail was too much for some people and they were getting off their bikes and plugging up traffic. Fortunately we had a huge gap on them and they wouldn't be gaining anytime soon. My legs did not feel good in the hill climb, but I wanted the podium bad. I gritted my teeth and suffered as much as I could bear. I'm glad there were no photographers because I was making some serious pain faces. I kept pushing myself, telling myself to be smooth, that everyone was in pain, and to hammer! The single track turned into dirt road at the top which seemed to never end. I kept looking past each switchback hoping to be at the top to no avail. Finally I crossed the line and was happy my extreme suffering paid off. Katie had a smokin time, beating me by 3.5 minutes and would have finished in the back of the pro MEN's field. 2nd was 1.5 minutes ahead of me, and I had a 3 minute gap on 4th.


Hill climb Podium


Neven and I in town. It's great to see your friends at the races. She ripped the DH and got 4th in the pros, a mere .2 seconds out of 3rd!

Non-cycling news

That's right, I have a life outside of cycling. This has to do with careers and stuff. As some of you know, I have been trying really hard to pursue a job in the solar power industry. One company I interviewed with made an offer, but has still been putting it off which I do not understand. I got tired of waiting and applied other places. I found a much better fit and they actually made me an offer! It's called Sunflower Solar-- http://www.cosunflower.com/ The guys that work there are great, fun, easy-going, and not creepy old men (like my current job). I'm really excited to do something that I'm inspired to do (designing solar systems), be challenged, and feel good about my work environment. It's part-time, which is why I'm so amazed they hired me. It's really hard to land a part-time engineering position. So yay for me :) Here's to new direction that I want to go in.

Another job related topic. I'm starting my own company. I have been racking my brain since the spring about how to make it unique and cool. I will divulge more details soon. Basically it's a company that will help people get healthy in many aspects of their life. It's not geared toward the seasoned athlete or nutrition/environmental saavy guru. It's more for people who are new to fitness and health. I have had a lot of great positive feedback this year helping my friends and family, so hey, why not make some cash moneeeeeey doing it? I am also working on getting my NSCA certification for personal training. The test is the hardest one and I have really been enjoying the reading and studying. I am going to try and get a website going in the next few weeks and be up and running. If you are interested or know anyone interested, please feel free to leave me a comment with your email.

Short Track woes

The course was really fun tonight. Unfortunately my legs were rotten meat sticks. Yes, they have returned and have been hiding since Crested Butte. I haven't recovered from being sick I guess. I felt heaps better than last week (I at least finished) but could not produce any power. It was very frustrating and I was debating going to Telluride this weekend. I have decided to take the chance that I might feel better by then. If not, I'll just slog it out and enjoy the scenery. :) I also got stung twice by a wasp while I was warming up. Once on my ankle/lower leg and TWICE (new update, just found this) on my butt cheek. Both are turning red and forming a large bump (much like the picture of the scary stings on my back a few months ago). They still hurt. Wah. I'm sitting on an ice pack. Try to send good leg vibes my way. I will need it.

Why my heart is bigger than my brain...

After being sick for a couple days, Wed night short track rolled around. I LOVE the short track and I even got some awesome new short track socks that I was dying to try. I was feeling energetic and almost normal, so I decided I would go try to race, and if I felt bad, I'd drop out. If I didn't go, I'd be mad and regretting not going. It seemed like a good idea.... Warming up for the race, I was feeling pretty tired and super weak, like someone was draining my wattage before I could produce it. Lining up, Megan Monroe asked me, "How do you feel?" I said, "Like a frail grandmother! (no offense, Grandma! ;) )" I had a great start and actually got the hole shot in front of Kerry B. I kept riding on the side of the trail so she could pass, but she wasn't. Suddenly the weak feeling kicked in and I started going backwards fast. At the start of the third lap, I was feeling like I was going to faint. So what did I do? Crossed the line with my arms in the air pretending I was running. That didn't really help my legs, but it boosted my morale to show I was at least having some form of fun. I ended up dropping out about 10 sec later. Everything got really white and I couldn't stand up for very long. That was followed by violent coughing almost resulting in hurling up the pb& honey sandwich I had earlier in the day. It took me about 10 minutes to regain my strength to ride home. Liz was the unfortunate spectator, watching me spit every 2 seconds. The next day I felt crappy too...but today I'm feeling good again. No Winter Park tomorrow though... no racing till Telluride next week. Tomorrow is my last day of antibiotics. Now Brian has a sinus infection. This is bad stuff!


The new short track socks. yeye

I think my germs were so bad that it killed my new assface goldfish. Poor little guy. (Actually, I swore it was sick when I got it two days ago, and hah, it was)

AWwww... poor dead assface. (yes, he is dead in this photo)

Wah

Wah, I'm sick today. Sinus infection. Fever, pressure, headaches, and NO riding for a week. Just wanted to whine. blah

Snowmass XC, Mountain States Cup

Snowmass is one of my favorite races of the year. I have had my ups and downs at that course. Mechanicals, bonking, flat tires, you name it... it's one of the hardest courses on the circuit. I love the climbing, the aspens, the stream crossings, and the competition. Josh, Brian, and I headed to Snowmass Friday afternoon.



I snapped a few photos in the car through Glenwood Canyon. It's pretty awesome.



Josh just got a new car last week (a stick shift) and was extremely ambitious to take his new rad ride since he had just learned days previous how to drive a stick. I was very amused watching him suffer through it, especially when he got stuck in traffic on a big hill in Snowmass Village. He did very very well and I remember my days of learning to drive a stick. It's scary at first. We got up to the venue and spent some time out on the course.

Josh's worst nightmare...the stick shift. ;)

Start/Finish. That hill is WAY steeper than it looks.

We stayed at a house in Carbondale which was pretty much my dream house. Simple, wood, and way out in the country with spectacular views. The rest of the posse stayed with us (Alders, Nick, Blake, Josh, Yuki). Brian and I were confined to a very small double bed that made my queen look like a palace. We both woke up tired and grumpy in the morning since neither of us got much sleep. I began to wonder how my legs were going to feel and was stressing I'd have a Crested Butte repeat. After Josh's special oatmeal concoction, we headed out to the venue. Warming up, I noticed I was feeling surprisingly good. I didn't know if it was the Go Fast or the massage I got on Thursday, but I was excited. Jamie Justice has been playing massage therapist for me this summer and every time I get a massage from her, I feel amazing on the bike. I blame her being out of town for my rough past couple of weeks. ;) Anyway, back to racing.

Ok, I found a TT helmet. And you all know me, the goofball. I had to have some fun with it. I want to race the short track with one of these!






It was CO State Championships so my field was pretty stacked. Jenny Smith showed up to show everyone how to ride a bike (and she won Saturday too). Snowmass has a LOT of climbing, especially at the start. You basically go up a wall, settle, then up another wall. I decided that instead of my normal strategy of going super hard at the start, I started out fairly slow. The field was passing me and I was frustrated that I wasn't going as fast as they were. Sure enough, my strategy paid off. One by one, I started picking them off and was in 5th place, less than 30 seconds off 4th place at the top of the fire road. I let it fly on the singletrack to put time into the people behind me. I remembered a sharp right into the woods with a short, steep jaunt and a rock garden so I started getting my gears ready. When I went to pedal, JERK! I couldn't turn my crank. I backpedaled a hair. JERK. The chain was totally jammed. I pulled off the side of the trail in disbelief. I have had so many mechanicals this year, it's ridiculous. Then I tried to get it out. It was stuck between my granny gear and frame. I pulled and hard as I could, still stuck. I didn't have a chain tool with me, so I was preparing myself that I may have to quit. I felt my insides fall with disappointment. Then, out of nowhere, a man showed up in the trees. Some spectator and he pulled it out for me. I knew it wasn't allowed, but I just wanted to finish the stupid race and I had already lost about 3-5 minutes. He told me, "don't worry, you'll get back up there. It's a long race." I wanted to grab him and hug him, but instead I thanked him profusely and then hopped back on my bike and hurried away. I managed to make up several spots by the top of the lap, but I was worried about the downhill. I am STILL having wrist problems and it is really hard to hold on. Jesse Swift figured out a possible solution, but I had to wait till after the race to amend that. I was loosing a LOT of time on the downhill. A few women who I put MINUTES into on the climb would pass me on the downhill. It was very frustrating. I finished in 8th or 9th after all that. I would have loved to have a top 5, but I was really excited. I was climbing stronger than I ever have, and girls in my field were actually complementing me after the race. Now I just have to get my position dialed on the downhill!!

After the race, trying to play the part of a "tough girl"



I figure Scott would like a photo of their gorgeous Contessa Spark with the mountains in the background.

Me and Caitlyn waiting around for awards.


I have already moved my stem/handlebars to where I think they should be, now I just have to try it out. My wrist hurts today from the downhill. My wrists were bent too far back and needed to be way forward and down. Next race up, Boulder short track!!

Josh finished an impressive 3rd, and Brian got 7th or 8th after a gnarly crash. Good job guys! :) Monique also won the expert category by a long shot. Wait to go, state champ!

Dylan's Performance

My good friend Dylan is an aspiring musician. He has released a CD which is available on I-tunes and CD Baby called Airport Weather. He has successfully been booking one man shows around Boulder. Last night he was at Burnt Toast. Here is a sample of his music. You should DEFINITELY check it out because he is very good. :) http://www.myspace.com/dylanjward. Hopefully I'll see some of you at his next show. Dylan's music is inspired by bands like Tom Petty and Son Volt. He has also been helping me along with guitar.

I played photographer/videographer/announcer with my sweet new camera. I will spare you the videos, but here are some pics. Burnt Toast is another hippie-like coffee shop/restaurant. No complaining here.

A fun post

Yes, I have been having fun lately. I'm not afraid to admit it!! I went to Southern Sun the other night and to enjoy some delicious microbrews (made by So. Sun). They make a delicious Java Porter and also many very satisfying stouts. We came home and had to watch Borat because we needed new quotes. We tried to be neighborly and invite our neighbor, but he was too intimidated. Sucka!

Hmmm. I picked the onions off my salad. I was required to do something interesting with them.

Me, Liz, Allison. We laugh a lot. My favorite kind of people.

brian came over and was subjected to our intoxication.

me and Liz. She was dressed appropriately for the Sun with the hippie hair thingie.

Boulder Short Track

This will be a short post. I felt a lot better this week and was definitely punishing my lungs and my legs. The course was super twisty and fun!! My professional unofficial photographer couldn't make it (Liz), so no photos. I also was asked to announce the men's race. It was pretty sweet. I played DJ too and took Sublime off the PA (who puts SUBLIME on during a bike race??) and loaded up some sweet techno to get things hotter. No photos from the men's race either, sorry. I think announcing is a good gig for me because I'm not afraid to say stupid things and be silly. I'm no Dave Tuel or Phil Ligget though!!!

Snowmass XC is tomorrow. I'm heading out in just a few minutes. I am banking on some good legs tomorrow. It's my favorite course, so we'll see how it goes down!!!

Extreme Tubing

Adam convinced me to take part of the day off work on Monday and go tubing. I have always wanted to try it, but was nervous that I was going to hurt myself for racing. I came out relatively unscathed...just a few cuts and bruises. He had just bought a new tube and apparently didn't know how big to inflate it! He sent me down the worst rapids on that thing (and I got sucked under both times) until I demanded a trade. It was then he realized that my tube needed more air. Ooops. We made 3 runs down the river. It was so cold because started in the morning. both of us were shivering and shaking in our tubes. More people came to tube later, but we didn't see many going down the big rapids at the start! It was pretty fun and adventurous. Can't wait to try it again. I think this day held the record of how much water has gone up nose. I went swimming with my roommate and her friends later...and somehow kept sucking in water. Not my favorite activity.


Waterfall 1. MY response was, "we are going down THAT???? Are you SERIOUS?!?!"

Waterfall 2. Scary too. The rest of the rapids seemed like nothing.

This woman was stuck between the push-pull of the current. When this happens, you either have to try and get the heck out of there, or you will probably get sucked under.

Me and Adam...complete with dirt in my teeth. It happens even when I'm NOT racing. huh.

Extreme Tubing and Boulder Short Track

coming up soon...

Nights out

That's right folks. Sonya Looney actually went out to the bars. I know it's a miracle, but it happens...about 4-5 times a year. Read it and weep! I have been trying to be really good about being as healthy and responsible as I can for bike racing. Alcohol usually does not imply either one of those, so you can see why I have been avoiding it.... which also means my already low tolerance has faded to basically nothing. Last summer I had bloodwork done and the doc commented on how low my liver enzyme count was and that I must never drink. haha, that explains it all.


Friday night:

Pool party with BOTH roomies and their friends, and then off to the bars to drink some much needed margaritas. mmmm. Then I met up with Thurein (and various other engineering pals from when I worked int he Power Electronics Lab).

Liz's normal reaction to Brent.

Me and Thurein eating sushi (and Montu in the background). We went and played darts later. The boys were very alarmed with the force that I use when I throw the darts. I know you're supposed to just use your forearm. But I am an endurance athlete. I like to go hard. So I use my whole body complete with the shoulder turn. C'mon, I used to be a tennis player after all, you gotta use the core and shoulders. :)



The roommates and Sonya after 2 margs. Looks like my alter-ego was coming out. The Looney (and sometimes Son-yat) When riding home, I was saying to strangers, "Very nice! How much?"



Bri. Blah blah blah. :) This pic is fun

Saturday:
Monique's bday. I wasn't even sure I wanted to go out, but Brian and I peeled ourselves off the couch after being in a cookie coma to hit the town.



Monique and I...double trouble.

AHH, it's the cookie monster!

Some of my favorite things. My Powerbook, my SCOTT BIKES (hot hot hot!!!) and my world-famous cookies. Ask anyone, they are the best!! Come over if you want one!

Me and my sweetie. That's niiice!

Brent Milla practicing his self-photography skills. Ranno and Josh look like they are having fun in the background!

More pics of my fav. boys. They are the best too.

Brown ale, straight up. I missed my dark beer.

Ok, after FRS and ibuprofen, time to go ride off this hangover!!!

Boulder Short Track 4th o July

Wed. Short Track #4. My first thought was, "Where IS everyone?" Drinking, bbqing, or firecracker 50-ing. There's not much to say about my race. I'm still feeling super tired. I was going as hard as my legs would go. Unfortunately, that speed was a speed where I was NOT breathing hard. I looked like I was doing a recovery ride and was chatting with Brian and Collin as I went by. I wanted to go harder and be tasting iron from my lungs, but my body took charge saying, "no, no no!!" I still got 2nd with not a lot of effort which makes me happy, but dangit, I shoulda won it.

I used my new camera to take photos of Brian (and the pro men's) STXC. Brian has a broken rib right now. As I was walking up the hill to watch the race, I heard four guys say, "OOOOO." That meant a crash. I looked at the field. No Brian, no Josh. I guess Josh went down right in front of Brian. Brian flew through the air and WWF styled kneed Josh in the back by accident. Both of them were okay, just minutes back by the time they got going again. They amazingly got back up there and Brian got FOURTH after all that. I am sure he would have won it had he not gone down. He's riding really strong right now and will be heading to the NC Norba soon. I will be heading to Telluride that weekend to rip my own legs off.

La photographia:



Flat irons and racing. yeye

Me and Monique. She just moved to boulder

Josh asking for MORE laps as he went by. What a sick, sick man. ;)

My OTHER boyz. :) ryan lynch and the one and only chris jung

Brian laying the smack down, the gnashing of the teeth. That is a suffer face if I do say so myself!

suh suh suh singletrack!!!!!

Sweet music

I just wanted to share this with you. It's really awesome and I always listen to it before I race or do a big ride. I need to download it so I can get it on my ipod. Enjoy!!!

Happy 4th!

4th o' July means I get a whole day off just to do what I want to do! :) And what do I want to do, you may ponder (or maybe you already know). I headed to Evergreen, home of sweet trails and hilly road rides. I met Steve Ruckhaus, the Cannondale rep, and we headed out to 3 Sisters so he could show me what Evergreen has to offer. Don't tell anyone, but the trails are really fun and the scenery is beeeautiiful. The trails were pretty crowded and I was happy to see that mountain biking is not dead. In fact, it's very alive. So alive, that my roommate, Liz, when mountain biking for her first time last Sunday and LOVED it! I told her it's like hiking, except you get to go faster. :) Anyway, coming back into town, Steve and I heard a marching band with bagpipes that took me back almost a decade (ugh, getting old) to my freshman/sophomore years of high school where we had pipes in our marching band show. I had a great time and Steve was absolutely hilarious. Then I came home and tinkered with my guitar for awhile...and now I'm about to hop back on the bike to show the suffer face at the short track. I'm very distraught because I lost one of my short track socks...maybe I'll just wear one. I will be sorry later for sipping on this GoFast at 5 PM. I have just been so dang tired lately.
Me and Steve on our Scott and Cannondale, my two favorite bike brands. :)



As Borat would say, "Very nice!"



Dang it, why does every single place I go this summer have orange barrels, cones, and flaggers. NO MORE CONSTRUCTION!

In other news, my digital camera finally died (why my blog has been lacking photos that I took). I got a new one last night that is really cool. I can even take videos with this one, AND I have a 2 gig card on the way. Fun for you, fun for me. :) Last night I had to take photos with my new toy...

Me and Bri. I think this pic is funny. Don't worry, brian doesn't always rock the "mexi-stash" as he calls it. haha


Brian, Liz, and Allison. We were going to hit up the pool, but it actually rained pretty hard here. It's been super hot (100!!! with NO AC...)

Me and Lizzle sipping on crys. oh wait, sangria.

Uhh... Sangria... it just put me in a cataonic state where all I could do is laugh hysterically at Zoolander. Good times!