Hello! Sorry it's been so long... I guess I better start at the beginning by writing up a *SHORT* race report from High Altitude since I haven't told you about it yet. So here goes....
We left last Saturday for Cloudcroft with Chris Casey and got down there while it was still light out!! Amazing, amazing. After setting up the tent(in the light!), we sat down to relax and drink a beer. We went to bed pretty early that night and were nervous because the weather was supposed to be bad the next day. I can't get away from bad weather. The weekend before, remember, was the hail storm on the crest. After about 20 minutes, I was STILL awake and heard this growling. I listened a little longer only to realize that it was a rythmic sound... the sound of a man at rest... it was the infamous snore of Chris Casey. I had heard many stories about this phenomena, but never experienced it first hand. I woke up a lot during the night; in particular, at 4:30 AM I woke up to rain. I was upset and really had a hard time sleeping after that. We headed to registration, bright and early, and I hesistantly handed over the 35 dollar registration fee. When it started snowing and the doppler predicted the weather to only get worse (at 9000+ feet), I tried to get my entry fee back. They wouldn't give it to me!! In all honesty, I think they should have called the race because the trails were destroyed. I didn't want to start, but the only thing that made me do it was Damian, my coach. He was in his van getting suited up for the race, big white teeth gleaming, pumped up and ready to go. "C'mon guys, this is mountain biking!!!" he said enthusiastically with a grin on his face. Chris, Adam, and I all looked bleakly at each other and decided to give it a whirl. I gave Adam my ski gloves to wear because he has poor circulation in his hands and feet. My other gloves were made for 50 degrees and my hands were cold before we even started. I only could hope they would get warmer. My warm up was up the road and back in the snow. We were all sitting at the start, soaking wet, and shaking. The race started off very fast and I got dropped on the pavement hill up to the singletrack. My legs would not go. Not in the cold. Not without a warm up. About 20 ft onto the mud bog of a singletrack, I couldn't even feel my hands to shift. I heard my moms voice in my head, "If the weather is bad, don't do it. What for?" This time her advice actually got through my normally thick skull and I decided to quit. Riding back down the pavement hill was painful in itself. My hands hurt SO bad, and when they started to dethaw they really hurt! This lady(who also quit) and I had coffee and an egg sandwich in a coffee shop while everyone else was suffering. I felt so bad for Adam. I went to the finish to watch for him. I saw a muddy, wet, almost unidentifiable figure coming across the line and it was him. I am so proud of him for riding in those conditions and for getting SECOND PLACE!!!! He is much tougher than me. Adam, you are truly badass and I always want to be like you!!! I do not regret quitting though because right now, I am at the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, NM. I made the mistake of going for a run Sunday night(after not running at all for 3 months) and am still sore today(Friday) from it. Stupid! Stupid!! I am kind of discouraged with my early season so far. At the Nova Norba National, I was winning the x-country only to get directed off the course by a sign pointing the wrong way for TWENTY MINUTES. I wrecked at Coyote Classic in the beginning and STILL have cactus in my leg (and it still hurts too). And now I quit High Altitude. Some great rider I'm turning out to be. It's okay...it can only get better!!! :)
So now you are probably wondering how the Gila is going. This is the biggest road race in NM and is known for its wind and brutal climbs. This is my third road race ever, so I have been pretty nervous going into it. The descents are steep with lots of sharp, 180 degree turns. I have heard horror stories of people wrecking and breaking a collarbone or femur, and going to the hopsital. Being a Cat 3, I had the option to pick between the 5 day pro race (Cat 1,2,3) or the 3 day race (Cat 3,4). I took the advice given by many to start with the three day. Today was the first stage which was a 64.8 mile race. I could not find the start and arrived 15 minutes prior to it. Between trying to get my spare wheels(which both had flat tires) to the sag vehicle, forgetting my number and having to make a new one, and getting my bike ready, I had less than 3 minutes for warm up. There are 15 women in my field (a little smaller than I was hoping, but oh well). Among them were women I have heard about because they are fast so I was a little intimidated. The race started with a curvy descent. I let a lot of women in front of me because I was feeling timid. Ten minutes into the race, I heard this horrible sound of metal scraping asphalt. I looked back and saw the girl who was a mere 3 ft behind me on the ground. She had gone into the corner too fast. Truth be told, I almost took the corner too fast. After the descent, we began to climb...up, up, up. The pack began to break up, but I managed to stay with the lead group of 7 other women. Let me tell you, warm up is important. By the top of the climb, my legs were filled with lactic acid and I got dropped from the group. Fortunately another woman got dropped at the same time as me. I got by her and was very happy to do the next descent alone. This was the one where everyone wrecks and as KY said, "There is an ambulance on every corner Sapillo(the descent)." I was a weeny going down, but made it through without wrecking. At this point, I was very discouraged because I was by myself on a flat road and knew I had a 50 some mile ride to do alone. I put my head down and started to time trial, hoping to run into someone. After about 15 min, I ran into a woman named Jane Gagne who used to ride pro in the 80s and had actually won the pro race. Later, we ran into her teammate Diane. We all rode together through the valley, taking turns pulling. Eventually we started climbing again. My legs felt TERRIBLE. I consider myself a decent climber, but I was still trying to pull and eventually I couldn't go anymore. I kept getting dropped by the two women and was fighting myself to catch back on. With about 17 miles to go, I heard a hissing sound and saw a tube on my tire. I stopped to check it out, thinking I had a flat. I don't know what happened, but it wasn't a flat. By that time, the two NMVS women were 30-40 feet up the road and I was flailing to catch up. We were 5th, 6th, and 7th position. My goal was to get a top 5 in a stage at this race, so I fought so hard to catch back on only to get dropped again. Evenutally it flattened out a little so I was able to stay with them and help pull again. There were a few more climbs and by the last one, I had drinken half a water bottle and started to feel suprisingly good in comparison to 45 minutes before. I decided to attack mid way through the last climb. It was super windy and I was worried that I would detonate, they would catch me, and I would end up in 7th. I kept saying, "go! go! go!" to myself and kept a decent gap on them. Then something wonderful happened. I looked up the road and there was another woman. "A chance for 4th!!!" I thought. I caught up with her and was cheering her on so we could work together and she would stay with me. I was taking longer pulls than her because I was feeling stronger, and was worried that this would be bad in the end. "Great, she's going to come around me in the end," I thought. I think the small amount of time I spent on her wheel helped because at 500 m to go, she said, "I can't go any faster!" So I came around her and pushed it to the end. At 250 m to go, my legs started to cramp and I fought it the best I could, hoping she wouldn't catch me. I was ecstatic to get 4th!! The only problem is that I have some knee pain right now and I'm worried about the rest of the race. Tomorrow is the crit... 13 laps. Should be a good time. At least I have experience with crits! I really want to get top 5 in the overall GC. I would be excited to get that!!! :) See you later.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Chode a la mode
GRRRR. I HATE chodes. Today I did a ride up Tramway and La Luz. La Luz...that means the light. They should name it El Dolor...the pain. So I got out at 9 AM today, it was a beautiful day. I went out via the upper bike path and was really enjoying the fact that there was no wind. I rode up Tramway at a decent pace and was horrified at the sight of all the dead/half alive moths on the side of the road. These things were BIG and the sight of them made me queasy. One of them actually made me scream because he started to fly again. I should have smashed the bastard. GROSS! Then, I continued onto La Luz. That road is the most painful experience..and yet I feel the need to ride it once a week! I am always trying to beat my time for some sick reason, system wheels and all. So 2 weeks ago, I did 18:30, last week was 18:12, and this week I got an 18:03. I just want to break 18!! Trust me, that is 18 minutes of sheer agony. I tried to sprint at the end to break 18 and it nearly killed me. I got SO CLOSE! I was in the parking lot, hunched over my bike breathing like there was no oxygen in the air. There were two park rangers who saw me and were probably highly alarmed. I almost barfed in a bush! Then, for some reason, I was getting lightheaded. No wonder they call it the light! ;) Yes, I know... I am a freak. On the way down, I saw a hawk eating its most recent killing. Hawks are so cool!
Riding down from Tramway, I ran into Marty Moriarity, the lizard, and this other guy. I rode back up Tramway with them and then back down to the bike path. Poor Marty, the guy works night shift at Intel and a "good" day for him is THREE hours of sleep. :( :( I complain when I get 6! So far, my ride had been great, until the attack of the irritating, lame chodes. I HATE chodes. I was riding along and first, ZOOM. This lame ass in his aerobars goes by, butt shaking up and down. Ten seconds later... whoosh! This women goes by me. I tried to tell myself, "it's okay Sonya, this is your rest week. Let them go." I managed to calm down until we all got caught at a red light. And then...problems started. We were all together. It was annoying me so I went to pass them. The woman starts hammering because she didn't want me to get by. I was pissed, but I decided to let her go. At least that biatch wouldn't be bothering me once she got ahead. But then she started to look back every five seconds. Now this, my friends, is something that I cannot stand. It strikes a nerve and I get the rage. So I have chodie in his aerobars and this damn woman trying to hammer and look back to see if she is beating me. I lost it. I laid the smack down... in the 20 mph headwind. Yes..the wind picked up. I knew it was stupid to go that hard, especially during my rest week, but these f*#$ers had to come and ruin my ride. I happened to look back at one point and it was quite obvious that they also had sped up a bit. So I had a decent gap on both of them...until I got stuck trying to cross a street. There was so much traffic and I was waiting for what felt like an eternity. The pesky leech of a chodeman caught me and was acting all ancy to get in front of me when I was trying to cross the street. As Napoleon Dynamite would say, "UHHH!! GOSH! IDIOT!!!" I would not have it. Instead, I blasted off and left him to be his imbicile self. Goodbye chodes. So that was my 3 hour, very eventful ride of the day. Then I came to work to sit at a desk.
High Altitude is on Sunday...it should be fun. There is this woman who lives in El Paso who races Expert. She like 4'11'' and probably less than 100 lbs. This woman can climb so I will definitely have my work cut out for me this weekend. At least there is no cactus to crash in. Yes, my foot/ankle STILL hurt from 3 weeks ago when I wrecked and had to take an DNF. UGH. See you next time!
Riding down from Tramway, I ran into Marty Moriarity, the lizard, and this other guy. I rode back up Tramway with them and then back down to the bike path. Poor Marty, the guy works night shift at Intel and a "good" day for him is THREE hours of sleep. :( :( I complain when I get 6! So far, my ride had been great, until the attack of the irritating, lame chodes. I HATE chodes. I was riding along and first, ZOOM. This lame ass in his aerobars goes by, butt shaking up and down. Ten seconds later... whoosh! This women goes by me. I tried to tell myself, "it's okay Sonya, this is your rest week. Let them go." I managed to calm down until we all got caught at a red light. And then...problems started. We were all together. It was annoying me so I went to pass them. The woman starts hammering because she didn't want me to get by. I was pissed, but I decided to let her go. At least that biatch wouldn't be bothering me once she got ahead. But then she started to look back every five seconds. Now this, my friends, is something that I cannot stand. It strikes a nerve and I get the rage. So I have chodie in his aerobars and this damn woman trying to hammer and look back to see if she is beating me. I lost it. I laid the smack down... in the 20 mph headwind. Yes..the wind picked up. I knew it was stupid to go that hard, especially during my rest week, but these f*#$ers had to come and ruin my ride. I happened to look back at one point and it was quite obvious that they also had sped up a bit. So I had a decent gap on both of them...until I got stuck trying to cross a street. There was so much traffic and I was waiting for what felt like an eternity. The pesky leech of a chodeman caught me and was acting all ancy to get in front of me when I was trying to cross the street. As Napoleon Dynamite would say, "UHHH!! GOSH! IDIOT!!!" I would not have it. Instead, I blasted off and left him to be his imbicile self. Goodbye chodes. So that was my 3 hour, very eventful ride of the day. Then I came to work to sit at a desk.
High Altitude is on Sunday...it should be fun. There is this woman who lives in El Paso who races Expert. She like 4'11'' and probably less than 100 lbs. This woman can climb so I will definitely have my work cut out for me this weekend. At least there is no cactus to crash in. Yes, my foot/ankle STILL hurt from 3 weeks ago when I wrecked and had to take an DNF. UGH. See you next time!
Monday, April 18, 2005
Decisions, decisions
I have been completely torn for the last week and that is why you haven't heard from me! I got an offer from CU on Thursday that isn't quite as sweet as my UNC offer, but it is the highest fellowship they offer. It is for 22,000 the first year and then a little less after that. I told UNC about this, and they offered me *ANOTHER* $2000. I have to admit, money does talk, and makes decisions HARD! I have been tossing and turning every night and have been completely pre-occupied trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. UNC provides biomedical engineering. That is what the degree is called. CU is the called EE, I'd be learning how to design analog circuits. However, this would be for biomedical applications. After hmming, and hawwwing, I decided it would be in my best interest to have the EE so I have more job options... I can do EE and I can also do biomedical if I want. It will also give me the opportunity to have more choices on places to live. I do NOT see myself living in a big city. I won't be interested in all the classes like I would be at UNC, so this is something I had to give up. I will have regrets no matter what choice I make, and that is what makes this so hard. I would say that I have no regrets in my life so far. I have been careful to think through big decisions in order not to have regrets. I am picking CU. There is a possibility I could change my mind between now and Wed (my deadline), but my mind is pretty much made up. Regrets I will have about NC are that it may be the only chance I will have to live in Chapel Hill or out East, the money is not the same, and the program is totally different. Either way, it is taking a chance. I know I would be happier in Boulder as far as quality of life is concerned. I have wanted to live there my entire life and it has a schmorgasbord (sp?) of things that I love to do. It is also in the mountains, a dream come true! :) Now I just have to find a place to live. Unfortunately, I will have to have a roommate. NOOOO!!! Maybe it'll be someone cool. Maybe I'll run into Tyler Hamilton and see if he could hook me up with da juice! Just kidding. I failed to mention that Adam and I saw him riding when we were in Boulder.
My next race is this weekend in Cloudcroft, NM. High Altitude Classic. It should be fun...last year I had a horrible race. I borrowed someone's bike, and it didn't really work. I wrecked for most of the race, and had to walk all the hills b/c the bike wouldn't shift. This course is ALL hills. I threw the bike down at the end and went away to pout like a baby. Adam, bless his heart, followed me to make sure I was alright. All I wanted to do was hide! So this year will be much better. I have MY OWN bike to ride, and I'm hopefully faster overall! ;) Speaking of rides...what a crazy weekend. I got caught in a hailstorm and almost in a tornado. They were warning people to seek shelter. Grrreeaat. Just my luck! 2 weekends ago I was in the Blizzard of '05. This weekend I'm near a tornado and massive hail..we haven't had a tornado in Alb since the 80s! However, Sunday was a perfect day and I got to ride with my friend Jessica. She is going to Duke in the fall.
I have to confess... last night, Adam and I ate burgers(at least mine was grilled portabello), fries, beer, and ice cream. I cringe thinking about it, but it was DANG good! :) I don't think this really goes with my training. Ha! Guess I'll be eating salad all week. Next weekend is the Gila. Dang, I am way too fat to do that right now! I need to way like 110 lbs. That would be sweeeet.
3 weeks of school left.... can't wait! ;) Then I can go and suffer in another engineering department for another 4 years! ha!
My next race is this weekend in Cloudcroft, NM. High Altitude Classic. It should be fun...last year I had a horrible race. I borrowed someone's bike, and it didn't really work. I wrecked for most of the race, and had to walk all the hills b/c the bike wouldn't shift. This course is ALL hills. I threw the bike down at the end and went away to pout like a baby. Adam, bless his heart, followed me to make sure I was alright. All I wanted to do was hide! So this year will be much better. I have MY OWN bike to ride, and I'm hopefully faster overall! ;) Speaking of rides...what a crazy weekend. I got caught in a hailstorm and almost in a tornado. They were warning people to seek shelter. Grrreeaat. Just my luck! 2 weekends ago I was in the Blizzard of '05. This weekend I'm near a tornado and massive hail..we haven't had a tornado in Alb since the 80s! However, Sunday was a perfect day and I got to ride with my friend Jessica. She is going to Duke in the fall.
I have to confess... last night, Adam and I ate burgers(at least mine was grilled portabello), fries, beer, and ice cream. I cringe thinking about it, but it was DANG good! :) I don't think this really goes with my training. Ha! Guess I'll be eating salad all week. Next weekend is the Gila. Dang, I am way too fat to do that right now! I need to way like 110 lbs. That would be sweeeet.
3 weeks of school left.... can't wait! ;) Then I can go and suffer in another engineering department for another 4 years! ha!
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Whassup
Sweet! Now I won't really have to write anyone emails, they can just read it here. Well, for those of you who I have been a CRAPPY friend to, I do that at times, here's what's going on.
GRAD SCHOOL. Ahhhh, the anticipation and stress. My choices are narrowed down to 2 schools: UNC and CU. I have visited both and both are very nice! UNC has offered me a combination of fellowship and RA to total $26,500 for next year. The degree would be called biomedical engineering. I visited CU this past weekend. It was a great time, except that I got stuck in the blizzard of 2005. Nice! I liked the school and they are trying to get me funding. This degree would be called electrical engineering with biomedical focus. Okay...
The trip itself was really fun! Adam and I drove there and got everything paid for. I was allowed $30 perdium, so we were milking it for all we were worth. I have to say, the food in Boulder is GREAT!!!! We had a variety from crepes to burritos. MMMMM That alone is a reason to go there! HA! Poor Adam was stuffed every day. haha Breakfast at the hotel was FREE...they had granola and such. However, the last day, they didn't have granola. We looked over at the breakfast bar to see three jaba the huts standing in a line and thought, "If there IS any granola left, we ain't gettin any!" Friday was spent inteviewing with professors with no break! I was exhausted by the time I got to go back to the hotel, but hopefully I put on a good act. Really, it is EXHAUSTING to act all day long! Sheesh!
Boulder has a LOT of cool outdoor stores. We went in The North Face and there was this chode girl...daddy's little princess. She said on her cell phone, "I am going to Vail so I need a new jacket." A new jacket?? She either went the whole winter without a good jacket or needed to make a new fashion statement with daddy's money. As we were leaving, we saw her getting into her cliche Jeep Liberty. We also went into this store called Neptune. It was established by some crazy mountaineer guy who had his frostbitten toe in formaldehyde for everyone else to see. The rest of the trip was spent making references to "the toe."
Saturday, I got a 4 hour ride in with some fast people and got my ass hammered. That'll bring your ego down a notch or two! We were supposed to leave Sunday but woke up to a blizzard, and all the highways were closed. I thought I was in Albuquerque for a minute...such a sudden change in weather. Monday was nice, we got a ride in before we left.
The drive back was actually rather eventful. The roads seemed to be cleared, but Adam all of a sudden started yelling, "LOOK !!!" Behind us, a car had hydroplaned across the highway. Fortunately no one was hurt. I guess that person didn't know how to drive. Out by San Felipe Casino, there was this freak behind us, just riding our tail. Adam got the angst...he gets the rage in the car. He started slowing down to 50 mph, and the guy slowed down. Then, Adam sped up to 90 and the guy sped up. He was SO annoying...we saw some other cars and passed them hoping to be rid of the leech. All of a sudden, he was behind us again. Fortunately, he passed us and was onto another poor soul. It was crazy to watch-- the car would change lanes back and forth and the leech was right on him. The car passed a semi pretty close and the leech almost cut off the semi to the point where he could've been hit. Serves him right. What is WRONG with people like that?? In the leech car, I saw a guy with a bandanna tied around his head and two other freaks.
Well, that's all I want to say for now. Looking forward to my mountain bike ride later. GIT IT.
GRAD SCHOOL. Ahhhh, the anticipation and stress. My choices are narrowed down to 2 schools: UNC and CU. I have visited both and both are very nice! UNC has offered me a combination of fellowship and RA to total $26,500 for next year. The degree would be called biomedical engineering. I visited CU this past weekend. It was a great time, except that I got stuck in the blizzard of 2005. Nice! I liked the school and they are trying to get me funding. This degree would be called electrical engineering with biomedical focus. Okay...
The trip itself was really fun! Adam and I drove there and got everything paid for. I was allowed $30 perdium, so we were milking it for all we were worth. I have to say, the food in Boulder is GREAT!!!! We had a variety from crepes to burritos. MMMMM That alone is a reason to go there! HA! Poor Adam was stuffed every day. haha Breakfast at the hotel was FREE...they had granola and such. However, the last day, they didn't have granola. We looked over at the breakfast bar to see three jaba the huts standing in a line and thought, "If there IS any granola left, we ain't gettin any!" Friday was spent inteviewing with professors with no break! I was exhausted by the time I got to go back to the hotel, but hopefully I put on a good act. Really, it is EXHAUSTING to act all day long! Sheesh!
Boulder has a LOT of cool outdoor stores. We went in The North Face and there was this chode girl...daddy's little princess. She said on her cell phone, "I am going to Vail so I need a new jacket." A new jacket?? She either went the whole winter without a good jacket or needed to make a new fashion statement with daddy's money. As we were leaving, we saw her getting into her cliche Jeep Liberty. We also went into this store called Neptune. It was established by some crazy mountaineer guy who had his frostbitten toe in formaldehyde for everyone else to see. The rest of the trip was spent making references to "the toe."
Saturday, I got a 4 hour ride in with some fast people and got my ass hammered. That'll bring your ego down a notch or two! We were supposed to leave Sunday but woke up to a blizzard, and all the highways were closed. I thought I was in Albuquerque for a minute...such a sudden change in weather. Monday was nice, we got a ride in before we left.
The drive back was actually rather eventful. The roads seemed to be cleared, but Adam all of a sudden started yelling, "LOOK !!!" Behind us, a car had hydroplaned across the highway. Fortunately no one was hurt. I guess that person didn't know how to drive. Out by San Felipe Casino, there was this freak behind us, just riding our tail. Adam got the angst...he gets the rage in the car. He started slowing down to 50 mph, and the guy slowed down. Then, Adam sped up to 90 and the guy sped up. He was SO annoying...we saw some other cars and passed them hoping to be rid of the leech. All of a sudden, he was behind us again. Fortunately, he passed us and was onto another poor soul. It was crazy to watch-- the car would change lanes back and forth and the leech was right on him. The car passed a semi pretty close and the leech almost cut off the semi to the point where he could've been hit. Serves him right. What is WRONG with people like that?? In the leech car, I saw a guy with a bandanna tied around his head and two other freaks.
Well, that's all I want to say for now. Looking forward to my mountain bike ride later. GIT IT.
4/12
Here is entry #1 in da blog!! When I first heard of it, I thought, "What kind of DORK makes their own profile on the web. LAME!" And here I am, doing it. My blog will have info about decisions I am making, RACING, and travelling! HAVE FUN!
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