Santa Barbara (with all pics)

Ok, just an FYI, check back tomorrow for more photos in this section. blogger is not letting my upload pics from my ride yesterday. I'll add them later because they are COOL!

Well, my last post didn't make it so I have to redo it. :( Oh well.

It's been a bit of a struggle to get wifi here. A lot of hotels don't have it and it's super slow in the coffee shops. The hotel next to us has wifi as Ryan figured out. Check him out.



We have been chilling in SB for the last couple of days. It hasn't been as relaxing as I had hoped since I have all this school crap to do, but it's been nice to be away from it all! :) I'm almost done with my final paper...I have about a days worth of work and I'll be done. As of Wed, I'll be done for the semester and have my nights and weekends free again. YES!

It has been actually really cold here. low 60s and the ocean water is in the low 50s. It's no fair that we were dying of heat stroke during the race, practically blacking out, and now we are cold!! It should be the opposite. I'm a little disappointed that I can't sit on the beach in my swimsuit and play in the waves, but what are you gonna do? I was debating going in, but I don't want hyperthermia. I have been a camera nazi, so here are some pics.



COLD water!



Palm trees means vacation. Too bad I have my paper to finish and a final to study for. boooooooo





Pretty flowers.


Sorry boys, no bikini shots this time. it was just too damn cold. You'll have to wait till I got to Hawaii in August! ;)


SB Mountain Bike Adventure #1




After rading Trader Joe's, the boys and I headed to a local bike shop to find out where we could shred some sweet singletrack. SB is awesome because you look to the west and you have the Pacific ocean. You look to the right and you see big mountains. Those mountains are actually only a 20 min ride away. It is so lush and green around here. The houses are all really cool too because they don't all look the same. There is tons of herbage around the houses too.




Our adventure turrned out to be not so cool because we never could really find some sweet trails. We rode up a super steep fire road only to see a dead end. We thought we had found some singletrack, but it was SUPER steep and rocky. We ended up hiking up a fair bit of it, and then rode down. That's part of the adventure I guess. The views were nice at least. I decided it's better for me to get out and move around instead of be lame. I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to proceed with how my legs have been, but I'm guessing that spinning them out is a good idea.







yeah, pretty rocky.



ryan kills the dowhnhills

Rolling out to Santa Barbara

Monday was a very chill day. Brian and I hung out at the hotel in the morning and then went to add our third party to the group- the Grinch. (Ryan). This is how it should be when you have an SUV:


Loaded down...



We went to Rudy's for the fourth day in a row for lunch. We went here EVERY day. It was good, but now I'm totally burnt out on mexican food and burritos. ughhh.

They had this amazing tiger shrimp fajita burrito, but no...more... burritos....

Judy had a friend who was a winemaker so we go the sweet hook-up. We went to his winery called Kalyra and go to taste all kinds of different wines. I'm actually shocked that making wine is not a more involved, detail-oriented process.


There were barrels of wine everywhere and the guy would just open a spicket, pour it into a glass and drink it. Must be nice to be a winemaker, play outside and drink wine all day!!



Sampling a lot of different types of wine and learning about grapes.









Vineyards, everywhere!!! We actually raced through a vineyard the last week. I was going slow enough to be able to enjoy it! ;)



And finally we rolled into home sweet home. Motel 6. This was actually the first one ever made. The room is soooo small. There are three of us with bikes and all our stuff. There is really only room for one person to be up moving around at a time. 80 bucks a night. At least we are across the street from the beach. However, it is COLD here! low 60s and the ocean temp is in the low 50s. I should take my ice baths in the ocean!

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.

Super-D and Short Track

2 events, 1 good, 1 not so good. The Super-D wasn't until 3 PM today, so we just chilled out and watched TV all morning. I was excited that women's tennis was on so I could watch Serena Williams and Justine Henin duke it out. I used to be a pretty serious tennis player in high school, so these ladies are my former heroes. For those of you who don't know, a Super-D is supposed to be the downhill portion of a cross country race, ridden on XC bikes. The Super-D course here at Nova was less than traditional, being all smooth and flat with a couple short, punchy climbs. Needless to say, it was like racing ANOTHER time trial. My Scott Contessa Scale was a great bike for this course and I have been really happy with it. I have never felt so great riding a bike. The super-d was a sufferfest. I probably went harder in that than the TT yesterday because there was absolutely no place to recover. You had to be on the gas the entire time. I had a great time, but I should have pre-ridden it a few more times. When you are doing four events, you really have to pick and choose what you pre-ride or you can tire yourself out fast. I got 6th, just 10 seconds off the pro podium. I was frustrated, but I did the absolute best I could. Next time! :) Oh yeah, numbers for you. Avg HR: 201. Max: 211. Git it. The times for the Super-D ranged from 19-23 minutes.

Trying to keep the legs happy in between events. I know I'm an enginerd, but I can't get this rotated right.

Short track start. I stole this pic from cyclingnews.com

Cycling news story: http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2007/mar07/NORBA_1_07/NORBA_1_073

The short track was also very non-traditional. My short track was at 7:30 PM(it is usually during the day) in downtown Fountain Hills. Part of it was on the road and part of it was on a flat, old construction site with tons of loose rocks and some bumps that were short and tall. I got back from the Super-D at about 4, and tried to recover the best I could. Judy and I rode up to the course about 2 hours later, and I was hurting pretty bad from my 2 anaerobic efforts over the past two days. I guess it's time to start training. I felt my Go Fast kick in and was ready to roll. That stuff really gets me fired up and is a great pre-race energy drink. It tastes great too, much better than Red Bull. I always love the short track, but I have a lot to learn. The announcers called us up based on our overall natioanl short track results from last year. I'll set the scene because I know a lot of my readers have never actually been to a national before. 70 girls. Spectators lined up on either side of the start chute. Loud techno or classic rock and a guy screaming on a microphone. The announcer calls us up one by one and we get to roll up to the start individually. I was suprised to get called up in the top 30 and got to line up in the second row. I felt really intimidated because I was right behind Shonny Van Landingham's wheel(national champion). the first row are all the fastest women in the country and the world. All I could do was smile like an idiot. The speaker announced 2 minutes to go, 1.5, 1, 30 sec, and then counts down 10. The spectators are banging on the sides of the start chute and cheering so loud that you can't even hear the announcer so you just listen for the whistle. Anyway, the race was fast. Brian said that I was in the third chase group which is super exciting! I was unfortunately not aggressive enough and was letting people by, thinking I would pass them on the next lap. I was sitting in and not really putting out a maximal effort. Before I knew it I got pulled(if you are about to get lapped, they pull you out. Pretty much everyone but the top 10 get pulled) I'm not sure what place I got, but I learned that next time I need to be hungrier for it. I'm not happy with being so lame, but I learned my lesson. I don't know what place I got yet. Brian did AWESOME. He was in the top 15 and pretty much with the lead group consisting of all the top guys in the world for awhile...until he crashed out really hard, but he pulled it together. I would put the photo of his mangled knee, but I know you all probably dont' want to see it. I think he still got top 25. Good job!

Tomorrow is the XC at 1 PM. I'm still buzzing hard off the Go Fast, so I am FIRED UP and ready to go hard tomorrow. I actually feel like I deserve to be racing with the pros last year. Last year as my first time as a pro was rough and I was doubting myself a lot. Now if I only I could get more confidence for the short tracks....

Sorry for the lack of photos. All my friends race pro so there is no one to take sweet actions. Anyone want to start coming along as our personal photographer? I hear the ice bath calling my name. wahhh.

Time Trial

Today was the TT and it was a great time. We rolled up to the venue this morning to get our numbers and whatnot. I still hadn't received my 2007 license in the mail by the time that we left for AZ, so I was hoping there wouldn't be any trouble. When I told the woman at the reg. table that I didn't have my license, the officials told me that I needed to print something out proving I had one. Fortunately the hotel had a computer and a printer I could use. thank you comfort inn.

We got all our stuff and went back to the course, and prerode the TT one more time. The men's field was pretty big(all of them had to go off before staging pro women), so I ended up getting a super warm-up-- like TWO hours! I need a long warm-up and usually the Looney style is barely having 20 minutes to get ready. I was worried I'd have the leg funk at the start, but was getting stoked. I was really excited in the start chute. Last year I was always scared out of my mind at the start. I'm sure I'll be like that at the XC, but for today, I was feeling happy. :) I felt really good at the TT. It felt so great to go as hard as I could and challenge myself. Of course I made a few mistakes and didn't attack a rocky downhill as fast as I wanted, but overall I'm happy with how I felt! It was the best I have felt all year and I was having such a great time. I was making the suffer face, but was smiling on the inside! Now I remember why I love racing. It's also great to be around other people who race from around the country because it reminds you that you are not alone in your quest. And now a tidbit I know some people will find funny or interesting. My average HR was 200 for 25 something minutes. Sweeet. If I die, at least I'll die having fun. :) I ended up getting 20th which I'm stoked about. The guys had some rock star performances too. Brian especially getting 18th AFTER having a self-claimed mediocre performance. Not bad! After that I spun around and then prerode the Super-D. After all was said and I done, I spent like 4 hours on the bike today. I may be really paying for it later in the weekend. I did a couple of 7 minute ice bath intervals tonight to try and help the legs out a little.








Brrrr... the secret to ice baths is wearing a wool hat and a jacket to keep your core warm. However, it makes a big difference if your legs are destroyed.

I also wanted to mention "the stick." google it. It's a self massage stick that is really awesome. Tomorrow we have the Super D and the short track in the evening. I'm looking forward to chilling out in the morning tomorrow. Wahoo. Check back Sunday morning for a new post.

Nova Norba National, pre-race day

After facing crazy winds coming down I25 to Albuquerque with 4 bikes on the roof, we finished day 1 of the trek to AZ. What should have been a 5.5 hour drive slowly turned into 8 hours. Brian and Ryan stayed in Santa Fe with a friend. My dad showed up in style in his Z06 Corvette to take me to ABQ where my mom made a delish lasagna. My dad and I killed a bottle of this really awesome wine. It was called "Red," made in Sonoma, 2003. It was a mix of three different berries. Speaking of wine, I'm sipping on a very flavorful merlot out of a hotel plastic cup.

anyway, the boyz picked me up in the morning and the drive to Phoenix went really smoothly. That is, after they fixed a flat tire before they picked me up. We zoomed along the highway happily at 80 mph versus our heinous 60 the night before. We even gained an hour of time because AZ doesn't have the lame daylight savings. The little Honda was totally loaded down and there was barely room for me to even sit in the back seat. the 29'er wheels were huge and we didn't have room for 2 of them, so we TIED with clothesline and bungee corded the wheels to the bikes on the roof.

We rolled into the Comfort Inn in Fountain Hills, AZ, but not without difficulty. Yuki (the other guy staying with us) flew to the race and got there early. The man couldn't find our reservation so I had to talk to him in the car. I said, "YOU were the one I talked to when I made the reservation." He finally found it. The guy spelled my name wrong. Okay, I know Looney is kind of a crazy last name. :) However, people always mispell it AFTER I spell it for them because they are just in disbelief.


Let's go ride dudes.

We went to the race site and prerode the TT course twice. It's a 6 mile loop that makes you dizzy there are so many turns with a couple gnarly downhill sections, and a few short climbs. It is going to be a fast sufferfest. I have done this race twice, but the beautiful landscape never ceases to impress me. It is like racing in a botanical garden. After tearing up some singletrack, we went to good 'ol Safeweizer(Safeway) and tried to find organic food. We did pretty good and made some awesome dinner in the room. Brian got some wine from Trader Joe's the night before, but we were sans wine opener. Ryan was genious enough to open the bottle by pushing the cork in with an 8 mm allen. yeah boy.

So yeah, tomorrow is the TT. The weather is pleasant. Did you know it snowed like 10 inches in boulder today? SUCKAS! It's very nice to be on vacation. I couldn't be happier-- nice weather, bike racing, good friends, food. yeah baby. I'm stoked to race tomorrow. The legs are feeling better although I am outta shape! ;) It's going to be sweeeeet. I can't wait!!!! I love bike races.



This the side of a porta-potty. Bizarre. A little gorilla...


Photos of/around the TT course

















Making some yummy dinner in the room. The special









Ryan getting the Vino situated.

Off to Arizona

It's been a nice week in Boulder and all, working in the lab, enjoying the sun (well some of the time, we've been getting clouds and rain on and off), but it's time to go tomorrow.

I'm still a little weary about going to the race because my legs feel like rotten meat sticks. I did a hot lap at Betasso today and went super hard on the connector almost losing my breakfast. That is really nothing compared to the anaerobic hell I'll have to endure this weekend. Nervous... I shouldn't be nervous though. I don't really have any expectiations for myself this early in the season. I have hardly done any intensity, so Nova will be a good starting point! :) My goal is to have a good time, enjoy the heat and sun, see all my pals, and rip it up the best I can! However, come end of May, I wanna be killing it. I have almost 2 months to get there. Send good leg karma my way, I'm gonna need it!!!

If our hotel has free wifi, I'll have pics and updates during the weekend.