New Year, New Bike, New Look

Howdy! I'm moving my blog over to a new site...not deleting this site, but all my new posts will be at http://www.sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com/. Missingsaddle.com is a site that clumps together a lot of the pros blogs. Thanks to Curtis Zimmerman for designing my site! :)

http://www.sonyalooney.missingsaddle.com/

Beer's last stand...

My cousin, quasi-sister, and best friend (all the same person!) Sierra came to visit with her soon to be hubbie, Scott this past weekend. It was an amazingly fabulous time which is always had with Sierra. I will be posting stories and pics in the next couple of days. There are A LOT! :)

My Cannondale is on its way too- the Scalpel Team mountain bike. I can hardly wait!!!

Back to the Future tribute - The Power of Love

YES!

Dirt and tan lines

After a fabulous week of riding in Boulder, I decided to hit the road to Albuquerque for the weekend. I have some photos, but of course, I forgot my cable to transfer the pictures so you will have to check back on Monday or Tuesday for illustrations. The weather all this week was so perfect for riding and a great way to finish up my training block. The dirt roads progressed from snowy, windy and cold to a true mud-fest minus the 0 degree wind chill. I think it's fun to get all muddy, so no complaining from me.

Slushy roads in town. No fun....

Views from my typical ride. That town at the base of the mountains is Boulder.

Dirt roads in the mountains are snow packed, but not slushy!

Continental Divide. There is usually a cloud around there in the winter and boy, the wind and snow that blow off that mountain is FREEZING and the bane of my existence.

I highly appreciated the break in the weather. The vast majority of my rides have been really long climbs for the winter. I decided that riding flat roads for hours on end is probably not going to be that useful to me since none of the races I do are flat. Plus, I hate riding the flats. It's so dull. Call me a a glutton for punishment, but going uphill (my friend Liz would laugh at me and say mountains are not "hills") is my favorite thing to do. I can't tell you how many times this winter I have frozen my limbs off. Climbing up to 8 or 9000 ft in the winter is beautiful and lots of fun, but there is a price to pay- the descent. It's already somewhere between 15 and 35 on a typical day. Couple that with zero degree wind blowing in your face as you descend on a bike at about 20 to 30 mph with wet hair (from sweating on the way up). If you dress too warm, you are guaranteed to be soaking wet with sweat on the downhill. Don't dress warm enough, and you'll still freeze on the downhill. There really is limited space in your pockets to bring extra warm clothes...so you're stuck. The Catch 22 of frostbite. That would be my biggest complaint about winter riding. In fact, I have gotten home and taken out my braid where literally thin sheets of ice fell out. Sometimes I worry that I am actually going to get "frostbike" and am erratically pulling off the road, ripping off my gloves and trying to put my hands on my back to warm up...or if my feet get cold, it's bad because there's nothing I can do. I just finished reading a book on pain medicine, and one story was how putting your hands in ice water is a great way to determine someone's pain tolerance. I would say the way my hands get coming down is analogous to putting them in a bucket of ice water...nevermind the ice baths I take during race season. :) Next to being freezing, the hunger strikes you like a bunch to the stomach. Your body is rapidly burning calories trying to stay warm. So this is how it happens when I get home...my roommates can attest and probably secretly make fun of that crazy Looney they live with. My bike is left sitting outside as I am trying to open the door with numb hands. I may utter a curse word or two, but no worry, you can't discern what I'm saying because my face and lips are frozen. Usually the first thing I do is come in from my ride, make a recovery drink, and jump in the shower. In winter, I go straight to the kitchen, make food, and sit in a hunched over with red cheeks and gnarled, frozen hair trying to chew my food. My eyes are slightly glazed over until the nutrients bring me back to life. By then, still in my wet chami, My teeth are chattering from sitting around in wet clothes and I retire to take a long shower.

Now you can see my appreciation for when we get a 66 degree day in Boulder like last Wed. I was grossly overdressed, and ended up removing arm warmers and leg warmers. I could feel the sun warming my skin and cheeks in contrast to the frozen catatonic state I'm usually in. The descent is pleasant and I don't even need a jacket. I am not screaming from pain at the cold. I laugh gleefully like a child at my good fortune and good time. When I get home, I take off my jersey to reveal a slight golden brown hue from the sun instead of red, raw, goosebumped skin.

After a ride in ABQ.


Thursday it snowed 4 inches, but I was glad to take a rest day. I was off to ABQ that night anyway and was looking forward to nice weather. Then I checked the forecast. 100% chance of snow on Friday. I was majorly bummed. Friday rolled around. not a cloud or snowflake in sight. I actually got to go real MOUNTAIN BIKING and was reminded of how much I love that sport. I was also riding in shorts in a jersey. We'll see how long my luck holds out! :) It snowed here this morning, but it's all melted off and the sun is shining.

March is rapidly approaching meaning springtime and breaking the ground of a new racing season. I can't wait to see what the future holds!

I also finally got some guts and cut about 12 inches off my hair. I have never had short hair before and when I found out you could donate it for Locks of Love, I wanted to be able to face my fear and do it. Nevermind that it took me about 6 months to muster up the courage, but at least some kids with cancer with have a little bit nicer of a wig!

The look


The damage

and the fun you can have with a cut off pony tail. Jeff came up to visit and we took many pictures mutilating the poor hair. Quite entertaining.

ELATED!!

Ok, so yes, my adrenal glands are hyperactive from the latte I'm downing before heading outside to freeze my butt off on my ride...but they are pumping extra because I know I have TWO sweet Cannondales coming in the next month. --> a mountain bike and a road bike. I haven't had a road bike in a year and a half, so it'll be fun to rage even faster on the roads (compared to my Scott HT mtb I've been riding all winter...!)

I got the Team Scalpel which is shown at the bottom of my blog and the SuperSix 3 for my road bike. Click here to check out Cannondale's line up and get one for youself! :) It's always exciting to get a new love of your life, and now I'm getting two new ones in addition to my other new love of my life- my roommate's juicer. Fresh OJ and carrot juice, amen. Yes, I'm in love with inanimate objects... such is the life of a bike racer.

Aw politics....

Well, I guess democrat is where it's at for me. Crazy liberals. ;)

78% Bill Richardson
74% John Edwards
73% Barack Obama
73% Mike Gravel
72% Hillary Clinton
71% Chris Dodd
71% Dennis Kucinich
69% Joe Biden
48% Rudy Giuliani
45% John McCain
40% Mike Huckabee
36% Mitt Romney
31% Ron Paul
29% Tom Tancredo
29% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Funny that I got Bill R as my number 1 since he is the governor of my homeland, New Mexico.

Site

In case you are wondering what the stance on the pres. candidates are for the election (and you probably should care), check out this site:

Grist

Sorry folks, gotta spread my environmentalist propaganda every so often. Global warming and humans mindlessly destroying the environment is actually happening. If you haven't noticed, it's been in the news and around a lot more with information as to how you can be more green. Here is a post from my other blog from October in case you're interested in simple and easy ways to go green. Make your life more green

Another quick note. Ok yes, I work 25-30 hours a week, which some people laugh at because they work double. It's very busy to train like a full time professional (especially in the winter when you have to put on big miles) athlete and to work part-time. I'm enjoying a lazy Saturday morning- sleeping in, catching up on my other peoples' blogs, reading a magazine, drinking chai. It's good to slow down and relax sometimes. I'm excited to go ride in a little bit too! ;) So this is what it'd feel like if I actually got paid to ride (minus the very large pressure of winning)! However, at this time last year, I was [trying] to train like a full time pro, going to school, had a boyfriend/relationship being upheld, and working two jobs! Amazing how we can always somehow manage time. I was able to do it, but my riding suffered from the high stress level. Turns out cortisol isn't so great when it comes to recovery. We'll see how it goes this spring with much lower stress levels and more time to actually recover!!

This actually came out of a fortune cookie...

I went to a Korean restaurant in ABQ and in my fortune cookie, it said,

"Here we go. 'Moo Shu Cereal' for breakfast with duck sauce." ...in bed(b/c you had to add that to your fortune if you don't already know). WTF??

What I've been up to

Albuquerque and the Sandias

I'm back to blogging after a little break. Okay, so last update was that I was really sick. I left to ABQ a few days after that for the holidays on a Wed. The antibiotics were finally working and I was feeling good. A week later I went for an easy ride. It was great to be home- dry, cold, and sunny which is great for winter riding (although I prefer warmer weather!) It was so great to spend a lot of time with my family and friends. Christmas day rolled around, a mere 2 days after I finished my 10 days of antibiotics and my throat started hurting again. I knew what was happening. I had a fever all night and a 102 fever the next day AND a sinus cold which I am just now getting over. I was feeling bad, but not even close to what I had experienced before. The CU Health Center was closed, but fortunately I had the number of the specialist I had seen at the hospital. He told me that the RNP at CU didn't give me a strong enough dose of antibiotics, and he was going to double the dosage and put me on more penicillin for 14 days. In a few days I was feeling back to normal again. I rode the entire last week I was home and put in a good 17 hour training week. It was great to do all my favorite road rides around Albuquerque since last year it was way too snowy and icy to ride anywhere! I don't have a road bike yet, so I've been riding my mountain bike on the road- slow going, but still nice. Even though I was on antibiotics for 24 days, I still had a very enjoyable December and felt really close to my friends and family.

While I was home, some fun things I did:

-worked on my car...yeah, I drove all the way to ABQ from Denver and it died in the next day in the street in front of my parents' house. Fortunately my dad is a genius at everything and helped me fix the tough old bastard.

My stupid starter was way down at the bottom of the engine meaning lots of taking it apart.

-had the best new year's ever. Some friends had a party complete with a bagpipe and guitar band...followed by lots of fireworks in the street, Mason playing Auld Lang Syne on the pipes, people belligerent and drinking champagne out of pint glasses, and some very nice New Year's kisses. ;)

First I went to a party with all our family friends with my parents





My doting parents

and then my kind of party!!


Some very fun people!

me and Jeff. No alcohol was consumed for any of these photos! ;)

More fun people

-lots of eating and quality time with the fam.


The Looneys can never seem to keep their mouths shut.

My sweet and innocent mom
and her crazy children

Christmas

My awesome, happy go lucky, fun grandma. and she's so cute too!!


Grandpa and Brian. The coolest Grandpa ever.

presents... after champagne.

ladies in red

political debate at the dinner table followed by arm wrestling. yes, I got dominated by both my dad and brother.

-lots of nice times with friends enjoying dark beer...particularly at Chama River Brewing company.


Jeff can give his medical expertise, even in a bar. :)

Cody and Brian. See, I told you the Looneys always have their mouth open.



I got back to Boulder this past Monday. It was cold and gloomy that day, but it's gotten better. I had to ride in a stupid snow-storm yesterday, but today was nice. It's a little chilly here, but I'm still able to get out and ride. No trainer-prison yet. Right now I'm doing long hours at a medium to low intensity to build up my base. I'm looking forward to getting my Cannondale road bike (not to mention my mountain bike). The bikes are so nice! I also planned my first mountain bike appearance of the year-- Nova Norba National is going to bit! I booked my plane ticket tonight! I can't wait!

It's weird to think that I'm done with my master's degree. No more engineering school for me! :) yes! It's also sinking in that I'm actually riding for Cannondale next year. Other than that, I'm working about 28 hours/week at Sunflower Solar, riding, and sleeping. Good times! Things are going very well and I'm very happy. :

Yeah...time to blog

I know I'm way behind... post coming in the next few days. Check back soon!!!! :)

Worth the watch

Just a little insight about where your cheap stuff comes from...

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Where have I been?

Well... I have some good news and some bad news. Good first! Thursday I finished my Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering. I was elated to be done and relieved! I went out to lunch for sushi with my friend that afternoon, ignoring the sore throat I had gotten the night before. It was all downhill from there. I started getting a fever and could barely eat. On the way back to my car, I started shivering so hard I was convulsing and people were stopping in the street to see if I was ok. I managed to grab some Theraflu at the store and went home to check my temp. It was 100.6. I started feeling worse so I checked again. 101.5. I checked again 10 min later. 102.6. I checked in another 15 min. 103.5!!! I was delirious with fever, bawling, and really scared. The tylenol finally kicked in and kept my fever at a steady 101. I was doing everything I could to bring the fever down. As soon my medicine began to wear off, it'd come back in full force. I went to the doc the next morning and they said I didn't have StrepA, but some other type of bacterial throat infection. I was already spitting in a bowl b/c I couldn't really swallow, but I kept getting worse. I had to go back later to get something for the pain so I could take in fluids. A couple hours later, I noticed my throat was almost swollen shut. I hadn't been able to really speak since Thurs night. I went back to urgent care because I had difficulty breathing. They sent me to the hospital because I had an abscess on my right tonsil. My eyes popped out of my head when I saw the needle the doc was going to stick down my throat. Then he got out the scalpel and made a 1/2 inch incision and held it open with hemostats to drain out all the puss. It was pretty intense and I almost fainted.

so that's where I have been. Bedridden since Thursday, but finally showing some signs of improvement. It's going to take a few more days, but I'm getting there. I have never been this sick in my life. I wanted to thank all of my friends for taking care of me and checking on me. You guys are the best! And hey, I have my Master's Degree!! woooohoooo

We were celebrating Leslie's bday all last weekend, so I'll have to do a post on that when I have more energy. I'm going home in a couple days too. Can't wait! :)

Good quote

...from my friend Nick Martin. I could not have put it better myself.

"Bike racers are simple creatures, especially mountain bikers. In an effort to prolong the real world for as long as possible, we will literally work for next to nothing for the chance to wake up in the morning and simply ride. If wealth was measured by the amount of free time one has, then as a cyclist, I was one of the richest men alive."

A lot of my friends and family cannot understand my obsession. They especially can't understand why in 1 week, I will hold a Master's Degree of Science in Electrical Engineering, why I won't go get a full time job and make a boatload of money. I can't blame 'em for the confusion...but Nick has put it ever so succinctly. My wealth is measured by my free time to ride and to travel to ride. Call me crazy, or just call me Looney. :) My ability and time to train and be a professional mountain biker tops just about anything right now.

My dream bike

...that I will be riding next year. This is pretty much the sweetest bike you can get in my humble opinion. Some people have a dream car (and I do too..), but some people have dream bikes. I'd rather have my dream bike.




Gaze upon the Cannondale Team Scalpel. Cannondale Team Scalpel. http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/08/cusa/model-8VP0.html You gotta get it.

Electric Eel... ok or not?

http://www.metaefficient.com/renewable-power/electric-eel-used-to-power-christmas-tree.html

It's December...

That means it's time to start training for the 2008 race season. I'm really excited for next year. It's going to be my best one yet, I can feel it!! :) I'm going to keep my running regimen up for another month or two. Women build most of their bone density before the age of 26 or 27. Cycling isn't exactly the best sport for doing that, so I am trying to get as much going as I can. :) There is also a great crossover from running to cycling as far as strength. It doesn't work quite as well the other way, although overall fitness plays a huge part once you get over all the pounding. My next running race is a 10K on December 15. My goal is to break 40 min. I think I can do it as long as the course isn't super hilly.

Yesterday was the first ride I counted as new training. Dec-Jan means I have to go for long rides and go slow (meaning keeping my perceived exertion pretty low). It's important to let your body come back down after pushing it at high intensity for so long. Let the jets cool down so to speak. This phase of training is always the most challenging for me. I like to go hard. Specifically, I love going hard up hills and mountains on my mountain bike. Winter means training on flat roads at low intensity. Mentally, it's harder for me. Call me crazy! ;) Yesterday's ride was SUPER windy. I thought it was the apocalypse. ;) 40mph constant wind speed with gusts much greater than that. I almost got blown off the road a few times.

Today was the first day back in the weight room. I do weights for a couple months over the winter for general muscle strength, bone density, and also because it may help with power on the bike. I haven't determined if it actually helps, but I do it anyway. It actually felt pretty good to get back in there and avoid making eye contact with all the meatheads. :)

I have been spending some quality time with my friends. I am now cutting way way back on the drinking/partying. I'm going to keep it pretty dry for the next 2 weeks and then keep it pretty limited. In March, I'll eliminate it completely except for maybe 1-2 drinks a week (like red vino or a dark beer....!)

Jeff came up from ABQ to visit. I tried to show him Boulder a little bit-- we went hiking at Chautauqua, visited a couple of the Boulder breweries (hell yeah!), drove around in the mountains a little bit. I was bummed we didn't have time to ride so I could show him how cool the road riding is around here, and also make fun of the boulder coffee shop trustafarians. :) (I wish I was one!)


Several of my friends have said that Anne is the blonde version of me. :) We are two peas in a pod. I went down to Denver to cook dinner with her...good times.


She actually cut her tongue licking the cuisinart. You can see a drop of blood on her tongue... thats totally something I have done.

I love trail running. I like my sweet smartwool socks with capri length pants even more. :)

Albuquerque

YOWZA! I'm so behind on blog posts. I'll start with the Querque. It's always great going home. Jack and I rode down together and he always makes me laugh really hard. Sometimes it feels like I never left, and a lot of times I get deja vu. This time was particularly interesting because my brother has left the nest since the last time I was there. I got to my parents' house, and everyone was there to greet me except my brother. Awww.

haha. No, my brother is not retarded. But this picture is pretty funny. ;)

Now a real photo of me and my little brother. He just turned 22 on Sunday.

My parents always hooks me up with top notch meals. My mom cooks tons of good stuff and my dad looks forward to having someone to enjoy a big, fat juicy steak with.

and then he wanted to arm wrestle. I lost very badly. On Thanksgiving, my grandpa wanted to arm wrestle. I felt bad arm wrestling a 77 year old man, and he's so cool...but I couldn't let him win. ;)



In short, my photos will let you see what I was up to. I did some work for Sunflower in the mornings leading up to Thanksgiving. We are super busy. We have revamped our website a little- www.sunflowersolar.com.

I went mountain biking a lot, and I got to ride with my shero, Nina. I'm so excited that we are teammates this year!! I finally remembered to take my camera the last day I rode. I got lucky b/c the sun was setting with a killer view!

These are the wonderful Sandia mountains. Who said the desert is ugly? And for those of you out there who are a little "confused.." Albuquerque is a mile high. It is not low elevation. This is high desert. I can't tell you how many people here in Colorado think it's low.



tough girls gone wild? Not!



This photos was taken WHILE I was riding with my camera upside down. I was having fun with photography and taking shots while moving and not looking what I was shooting at. I was pretty damn happy about this one! :)




I got to spend a lot of time with the fam. We went to my grandma's house for Thanksgiving. This year, my aunt, uncle, cousin, and her husband came from Arizona. I don't get to see them much, so it was a great time! The Looneys know how to party. I'm really lucky to have such a fun family.

Me and my beautiful mommy who is a GREAT cook.


This is the dessert she made for Thanksgiving. Death by Chocolate... no wonder I can't shed my post-race 10 lbs. grrr.


My grandparents...the coolest ones ever. They sooo fun and lively!


Me behind the wheel of 500 HP and a 7 L engine. That's niiice!

Me and my cousin, Erica.

My dad, grandpa, and his brother. They look like twins. It completely freaks me out when they are both in the same room.

Jeff and I ran a 10K on Thanksgiving. I wanted to break 40 min, but all the partying and lack of resting my legs had them ridden with lactic acid from the gun. It was also a super hilly course. There was a huge mishap in my race, but I won the women's category and got 4th in the men. Not too shabby. :)

Jeff being all roadie excited about his number. ;) haha. He won his age group in the 10K.

I finally got to see my friend Jason. His ex-gf had him under house arrest (haaa) every time I came to town. He is one of the funniest people I know.


This is Jason...

I love to go to Chama Brewing. I love that place. My brother is in the "Mug club" Jeff is sad that his mug is inferior to my brothers. haha. And notice the guy in the background with his mouth agape.


And lastly, if you make out ridiculously in a bar. I will comment loudly if I have had beer. I have had multiple beers, I WILL take your picture.



This is just a random sweeeeet wagon I saw in the parking lot. I want one!!! hehe