Story of the day

Once upon a time there was a below average wanna-be enginerd doing her impossible homework at a coffee shop. She had been depressed and gloomy for several days due to her below average performances, but decided to sit in the sun and hope that the rays would cheer her up. Sure enough, with the mountain views and fresh air, she started to feel better. Unfortunately her homework would take many hours to complete, and alas, it grew dark. She moved inside by the window. There were many different breeds of homo sapiens at the coffee shop... fratties with huge necks and backwards hats, foreign exchange students, persons with various laptops, the couple on their first date, the group of girls analyzing their relationships..... These were her companions for the baffling journey of the day...completing her power homework without going insane. Over the course of the semester, she had fallen down the rabbit hole. Instead of down Dante's Inferno, she went deeper down the rings of angst and mania.

The heavy-hearted run of the mill girl looked up and saw the most herendous coffee shop companion of all. He was very round with about 100 keys connected to his belt, walking to the counter with a cup of steaming joe in his sweaty, pudgy hand. Then her attention focused to his head. She was temporarily blinded by an appalling, grisly haircut. The hobbit had his head shaved all around to the skin except for a curvy mushroom top hair cut. The thick blonde tufts of hair fell on his fat head only along the top portion of his skull. In the center of the golden lilypad atop his head was a bald spot. Maybe if he grew it out thick all around the bald spot and shaved around the sides of his head, the ladies wouldn't notice he was balding. Or maybe his collection of keys were his pimptastic tool to attract the ladies. Or maybe it was the fact that his head looked like a large fallus. The engineer girl found this harder to conceive than her torturous homework. He exited the coffee shop and out into the darkness.

I'm a below average nerd

My fanclub party of one has requested I update my Looney days more frequently, so here we go. I am a below average geek. Yes friends, below average. In my UNM undergraduate days, I was considered to be the curve wrecker and people would yell at me when we got our tests back. I believe the Colorado air has been killing off my brain cells(or maybe it's all the chocolate I've been eating), because nowadays, I can't get above average... maybe because this is graduate school and everyone is a lot smarter than me. Why do people have to take school so seriously? I need better grades, so maybe I should make friends with all the enginerds and use their brain power for homework, and take them out partying the night before an exam...or maybe I could simply place a laxative in their water bottle before the test...or make them some "special" brownies so they are paranoid during the exams. All are ploys that I am considering to help me get through grad school. If any one of you would like to assassinate all the smart people at school, please do so, but leave me someone to help me with my homework. Homework that totures my soul and makes me dream about pages of textbooks with equations. Enough about the hell of my own making... on the better things.

NATIONALS. Yes, one week from today, I am off to PA. Some would call this a training race in Pennsyltucky where amateurs race their bikes(Josh Bezeckny...but he's only joking). I call it mud and rain. Last year was a very wet, painful race which will be repeated this year. Except this year, I hope there is a spot on the podium for me. I had conference finals in durango this past weekend and was troubled because my legs would not work at all. I could barely pedal...so I am spending the week getting 9 hrs of sleep every night and trying to stay off the bike. Keep your fingers crossed for me... there will most certainly be a race report and photos from the race. And after that, I can party and go running a lot. yeeahhoooo.

For fall break, I went to da Querque and was reminded of just how ghetto it can be. There were low rider trucks with dubs and chrome rims as far as the eye could see! It was good to see my family and Adam. Adam even took me to Durango despite having a nasty virus. He rode behind me in the XC when my legs were pieces of lead. What a grrreeeatttt boyfriend! :)

Bel-Air has been treating me well...the beautiful surroundings and great riding are the only things keeping me from dragging a sharp object across my neck. :) Ski season is right among us and all the native Coloradoidians are buzzing about it. If anyone would like to donate some $$$$ or some chronic for me to sell so I can get a pass, please feel free to send it my way.

Next post...nats.

I'm a below average nerd

My fanclub party of one has requested I update my Looney days more frequently, so here we go. I am a below average geek. Yes friends, below average. In my UNM undergraduate days, I was considered to be the curve wrecker and people would yell at me when we got our tests back. I believe the Colorado air has been killing off my brain cells(or maybe it's all the chocolate I've been eating), because nowadays, I can't get above average... maybe because this is graduate school and everyone is a lot smarter than me. Why do people have to take school so seriously? I need better grades, so maybe I should make friends with all the enginerds and use their brain power for homework, and take them out partying the night before an exam...or maybe I could simply place a laxative in their water bottle before the test...or make them some "special" brownies so they are paranoid during the exams. All are ploys that I am considering to help me get through grad school. If any one of you would like to assassinate all the smart people at school, please do so, but leave me someone to help me with my homework. Homework that totures my soul and makes me dream about pages of textbooks with equations. Enough about the hell of my own making... on the better things.

NATIONALS. Yes, one week from today, I am off to PA. Some would call this a training race in Pennsyltucky where amateurs race their bikes(Josh Bezeckny...but he's only joking). I call it mud and rain. Last year was a very wet, painful race which will be repeated this year. Except this year, I hope there is a spot on the podium for me. I had conference finals in durango this past weekend and was troubled because my legs would not work at all. I could barely pedal...so I am spending the week getting 9 hrs of sleep every night and trying to stay off the bike. Keep your fingers crossed for me... there will most certainly be a race report and photos from the race. And after that, I can party and go running a lot. yeeahhoooo.

For fall break, I went to da Querque and was reminded of just how ghetto it can be. There were low rider trucks with dubs and chrome rims as far as the eye could see! It was good to see my family and Adam. Adam even took me to Durango despite having a nasty virus. He rode behind me in the XC when my legs were pieces of lead. What a grrreeeatttt boyfriend! :)

Bel-Air has been treating me well...the beautiful surroundings and great riding are the only things keeping me from dragging a sharp object across my neck. :) Ski season is right among us and all the native Coloradoidians are buzzing about it. If anyone would like to donate some $$$$ or some chronic for me to sell so I can get a pass, please feel free to send it my way.

Next post...nats.

Bad bad blogger!

I have been a bad blogger. :( Colorado has been great! The weather is nice and I get to ride my bike and do stuff outside. I'm also learning how to rock climb. School takes a lot of freaking time and is really hard! I have three exams this week and am trying to stay sane. I've been racing collegiate and it's fun! I am heading to PA in a few weeks for Nats and am hoping to bring home the gold, but we'll see. Wish me luck!

The road riding here is phenomenal...tons of gorgeous climbs in the mountains with streams right next to the road. Tons of climbing rides too. I love it! The mountain biking is about 20 miles away, but that's do-able. I have a race in Golden this weekend and it's super technical. I broke my derailleur hanger just riding the course. ahhh. Right now it's pretty nice because all the aspens are changing. It's also that time of year where you have to send out your resume for sponsorship. Titus has been great to me, but I'm also applying to other teams to see what I can get. I can't wait to get my pro upgrade for next year..wooo hooo. The big time. haha

I've met some cool friends.... I mostly hang out with my neighbors, Dan, Gabe, and Matt, but I've also met some cool girls! My neighbors do lots of cool, fun things so I'm glad they are conveniently close by! I have friends through school too, but I miss all of you back in da Querque! I promise I'll have more interesting and frequent blogs again. I'm still trying to get used to this!

I'm coming home next week for Fall Break. Adam is going to take me Durango for the actual weekend b/c we have conference finals. I can't wait! I can't wait to see Adam too...it's been so long. Long distance relationships work, but you have to want them to work. That's a note for those of you who think they do not ever work. There ARE some cute CO boyz though. muhahahahaha ;) I won't deny it!

Anyway, I gots to go to bed, just wanted to let you all know I'm still alive! I don't really miss Albuquerque too much...just the people. That's YOU! More another day.

I'm in Colorado

I know, I know! i've been crappy about updating my blog. So I've been in Boulder(Bel-air) for a week now and I love this place! There are bike paths everywhere and lots of beautiful surroudings. It almost reminds me of a European town in that a lot of people walk, take the bus, or ride their bike, there is a lot of outdoor cafes, and most people here aren't really fat. I think Boulder is rated one of the top 10 more fittest towns. Sweet. :) School is ok... I will start work and getting homework next week. I'll let you know how it is then! There are so many great places to ride around here! I'm sure I'm overtraining myself. haha I have met some interesting little enginerds. This one kid has been emailing me all summer because he remembered my name from a result 2 years ago and saw I was coming to CU. I finally met up with stalker boy and he was your typical enginerd. Short black jean shorts, a tshirt too small that says engineering on it, and a nasal voice. nice. I want to hit that! ;) haha I'm sure he's very nice, just not my style. He even invited me over for homemade brownies. awwwww. Poor guy. I have met a couple of cool people too... I'm going to a party tomorrow night put on by some guys that work at the bike shop, so maybe I can make some cyclist GIRL friends there. I swear, the engineering dept here has no girls. I have one other girl in my 30 person medical devices class. She's all goth too, I'm even afraid of her!

So now I'm just lonely on a Friday night. :( I miss my family, friends, and Adam. You guys are the best!!!! Well, that's all for now. Sorry it's so boring!

Moving trucks can race too

I went to pick up the moving truck last night with Adam. I decided to be brave and drive that beast of a vehicle back home. At a stop light, this eclipse pulled up next to me. He was acting all cool, so I decided to race him when the light turned green. I floored that big boy and it went baby. I took down that eclipse! Adam was driving behind me and said he saw black puffs of smoke coming out of the exhaust every time he shifted. Take that bitch... a moving truck beat your lame ass!

Today is my last day at Sandia. I'm outta here. Peace out Bushies. That's right...the majority here loves Bush. I'm going to the land of the anti-bush. Sweet.

Moving this week!

Well...the countdown is almost over. Thursday is the big day! I'm trying to get all my crap packed and my very dirty apartment clean. Tomorrow is my last day at Sandia. YEEEAHHHOOOO after 3 years. today I did a ride to the crest in the very thick mist. It was pretty interesting b/c you got wet just being outside. Towards the top of the mountain, there was all this thick fog and you could barely see in front of you. Gotta get my last rides in da Querque!!! It's funny... all you have to do is move and EVERYONE wants to hang out with you! I should move more often. Next race isn't for awhile... next weekend. I'm missing Blast the Mass this weekend. It sucks, but I guess I should get settled in since I start school on Monday. NOOOO!!!! I'm pissed! I was going to do a race in los Alamos this weekend, but the weather was supposed to be bad. I didn't go and I would have won 200 bucks and the weather was nice. @#$)@#$(#$%@$#&%&@!!!

Utah Norba National

Oxygen... or lack thereof! This was the theme at Brianhead Norba National in southwest Utah. We left Thursday night and pimped it in Tina's red Jeep Liberty on the drive to Flagstaff where we camped for the night. We finished the remainder of the 10 hour drive on Friday after a little pre-race ride to open up the legs. We had lots of rain on the way to Utah... it was ominous and we kept praying that it wouldn't rain at the race. Adam and I pitched our tent in the camping area by the race venue. It was pretty wet when we arrived, but we went in the trees and had this amazing view of the mountains.... sleeping at 10,000 ft. Now THAT is good for recovery!! Not all of us can live the Kabush lifestyle of staying in nice condos and getting leg massages every night!! We ate some *gourmet* pasta for dinner and realized we didn't have a car to put our food in since Tina was staying in a hotel. We looked around the campsite and saw very large turds... it was either from a very unhappy human who gave birth to a very large baby brown boy or a bear. We decided to make friends with someone so we could keep our food in their car. The guy we made friends with had just gotten back from Iraq! He was on the front line and told us about it a little. Quite a culture shock to go to the quiet mountains in Utah.

The cross country was on Saturday at 3:30 PM. I was stoked not to have to wake up at 5 AM to race, but was a little concerned with the time since it was raining every afternoon. I was looking at my bike and my rear tire didn't offer any clearance for mud. I kept bugging Adam to go with me down to the race venue so I could get a tire for my bike. Titus was not at the race, so I went to the Kenda tent since we are sponsored by them. I told the guy about my situation and that Titus wasn't there. He said rudely, "I don't even know who YOU are!!" Damn!!!! One day you will, bitch...and you'll be sorry. I got a tire for pro deal and had to hunt down some Stanz, but it turned out aiight. Around 1, the skies grew dark, and it was raining on the mountains in the distance. Now some of you know this, but for those of you who don't...it gets freaking cold when you are racing at 10-11,000 ft and a storm moves in. It gets dark. the temperature falls dramatically. The trails become treacherous with slippery rocks and your bike stops working. It's not fun. And on top of that, me and all my New Mexico buddies were not prepared for the worst. It had been 100 degrees at home the week before, so we did not bring extra warm clothes for the bike. I kept saying, "I know it's going to rain. I just know it." To my surprise and delight, the weather seemed to clear up. There were actually a lot of expert women in the start chute and I was feeling a little intimidated. It's scary when everyone has been training and racing, looking fit, and YOU have only trained 2 weeks out of the summer and the last big race you did was in May. The start went up a steep pavement road for about 2 miles. I was feeling pretty good and was passing a bunch of people. It turned off onto a pretty steep dirt road for another 3 miles and then single track. The actual singletrack at the race was very nice, but before I knew it, I was turning off onto yet another dirt road to climb up to 11,082 ft!! I was in 3rd at the moment, but saw my competitor up the road and red lined it to catch her. To my dismay, the climbing was not over at the road. We turned off onto a steep singletrack hill. My eyes were starting to bug out of my head from lack of oxygen and my legs were totally blown. We were only half way through the course... mile 13. I had to keep going, but at that elevation, I was being slapped senseless in the hurt locker and on my way to the land of Crackatoa(Adam's new word!). Fortunately, there was a lot of downhilling after that. It was kind of sketchy because it was steep, muddy, and wet from the day before, but I managed with my Titus Racer-X! I tell you!! That is one sweet bike. With 5 miles to go, I glanced over my shoulder and saw a girl in my field 20-30 yards back...the same girl I had passed on the fireroad. I did not want to lose 2nd place at a national. I did not want a repeat of the last weekend losing by 5 seconds. No way. So the last 4 miles I pushed myself to the limit. I felt like puking several times because I was downing too much water at once. I thought I was so close to the end...but those last 4 miles had what seemed to be an endless amount of climbing. Just when I thought I was done with one hill, there would be another and I was just trying to mash it out in my granny gear. I just had to keep my legs moving. I finished the 26 mile race that went between 9500-11,100 ft, thrilled with my placing considering I hadn't been training or racing. I compared my times to the pros and at least I know I won't be getting last next year! That night we got to hang out with Olympian Mary McConneloug and Mike Broderick! It was so cool being in the presence and talking with someone who is the best in the country and has raced all around the world. She was also a very nice person!

The next morning was the short track at 7:30 AM. My nightmare began around 12 AM... I had been lying awake for 2 hours and sleep was nowhere in site. There was a redneck convention going on down the road. We saw it... trucks, four wheelers, and mullets as far as the eye could see. "Go to sleep!!" I kept telling myself. 1 AM...almost went to sleep but redneck man keeps yelling, can't get comfortable. I have to wake up in 5 hours to get ready to race. 2 AM... pllleasse. I need to sleep! 2:30 AM... finally! I slept. I woke up at 5 AM and was worried I wouldn't wake up to my alarm in an hour. 6 AM...alarm is going off, I feel the exquisite pain of waking up at the crack of dawn with about 3 hours of sleep under my belt, a cross country race still fatiguing my legs, darkness, and cold. I managed to get ready, but not without whining. I managed to get in a good warm up and was pleased to see that the short track was actually a little technical. The race started on time and there were 15 women in my field. We were doing 17 minutes plus three laps. I never have a good start in these things, so was at the back on the first lap. On the first technical section, a girl in front of me STOPS suddenly and gets off her bike. I am forced to do the same. Because of this fact, I spent the rest of the race playing catch-up. The 3 girls at the front were working together, not nearly as hard as me. I worked my way up to 4th and was desperately trying to get up there. I couldn't quite get around them and ended up with 4th in the short track. If only that stupid girl had not STOPPED in front of me. Then I would have laid the SMACK down! ;) That's bad news in a 20 minute race. Oh well! It was still fun. Tina drank a Budweiser at 8 AM immediately following the short track. You go girl! She proudly put the empty can in her bottle cage and rode around. The 10 hour drive back wasn't much fun, but the memory of the trip was GREAT!

Duathlon

The boredom is palpable. Me, at work for a whole 2 hours and already bored out of my freaking mind. So now I will entertain you with a brief race report from Saturday.

6:45 AM: my alarm is waking me up from a comfortable, relaxing sleep. I wake up feeling tired and all I want to do is sleep...but I get up. After eating my common race day breakfast of oatmeal with fruit, honey, and almonds ( and a VIVRAN), I got my stuff together and loaded my car. Since Adam and I are the last minute couple, I decided I would be an hour early to this race and get a real warm-up unlike my usual drill of barely getting to the race in time for a half ass warm up. I handed my duathlon bag with my running shoes and water bottle to a race volunteer and double-checked my start time. My watch said the time was 8:21 AM. His response: "oh... about 8:40. They moved it from 9:15 you know." That gave me about 10 minutes to warm up. I was in street clothes, my bike still in pieces in my car. I tossed the bag at him and ran down to my car, chami-ed up lickety-split and hopped on my bike for a lightning speed warm up. I rode down the road at ski area and started to ride back up. My legs were in pain: aching and sore. "Oh great, now I won't even make it and the chodes will be in front of me" I thought. I went back to the area of the start feeling very apprehensive and looking unpoised. Originally, the mountain bike race was supposed to start at 8:30, but I saw Damian still riding around. I asked him about the start and he told me they moved it AGAIN and everyone was starting together at 9. I was relieved that I would have more time to warm up and that these pained pieces of lead called my legs would open up a little.

The start was a mass start...very unlike what I'm used to. Normally they have the starts with men and women separated, and then even more separation of race classes. So here we all were together, chode and pro alike, getting ready to attack the narrow singletrack of a start. I also caught a glimpse of my competition... 5 women in all. One of who was Jessica Kiesel. She is a pro who was invited to marathon worlds last year. "There goes winning," I thought. I decided to get on the front line and was happy to get a good position on the singletrack in the start. Of course, there were two guys in front of me holding me up, but the trail was so narrow that there was no place to pass. I finally came to a part where I could squeeze by the first guy, but the other guy tried to stop and let me by. The poor guy didn't move off the trail and almost caused me and some other man trying to pass to wreck. I pushed myself. To my surprise, I was ahead of all the women including Jessica. I checked my watch at the pond... my time was 3 min faster than normal. When I had to run extra technical sections, I felt a pain in my diaphram and wave of nausea would hit me. I kept going... I wanted so bad to be the first woman up the mountain. Compared to my heinous warm-up, I felt suprisingly good during the race. I checked my watch at the top. 1:11. I was delighted to set a new record for myself and hurried over to the transition area where I slipped on my running shoes and tried to tie them quickly. About a minute had passed and I saw Jessica hop off her bike. I started to run, but my legs were so tired, I could barely move them and had to walk. The run was very very bad. No one would ever guess I used to run marathons... my stride was uneven, I couldn't get a rythym. I think Jessica must have put some time on me for the run because my legs would NOT move! I changed shoes and got back on the bike, knowing she would be right behind me. Since I hurt my wrist, my descending skills have gotten relatively bad. I knew that my timidity would cost me. I managed to hold her off despite the fact that on the small climbs, my bike was shifting by itself to harder gears. I could hear her shifting up the trail aways. With 3 miles to go, I was riding a loose climb when my bike seized up and I fell over. Thank goodness I was wearing my wrist brace. I kept trying to get started again, but the trail was too loose and steep, and my bike was in the wrong gear. I started running with it, but Jessica passed me. I chased her down the remainder of the switchbacked, narrow trail, but couldn't quite get there and she beat me by FIVE seconds in a 2:20 race! I didn't mind...we are friends and she earned it! Good job Jessica! :)

On another note, a very horrible creature was on my balcony this weekend. A huge moth was attached to the wall of my balcony. I looked outside and saw the beast. Immediately my knees went weak and my stomach started to turn. I closed the blinds so I wouldn't have to look at it. When Adam came over, I sent him out to scare it away since he is too nice and wouldn't kill the bastard. I ran through the apartment and out the front door in case the moth came inside. Adam told me he pet the thing b/c it was so hairy. He said it was all squishy, and when it flew away, the moth was a little startling. Moths do not flutter. They are kamikaze machines aimed at my head to send me running... and about 6 years ago a moth sent me running toward my parent's house, hitting my foot into the door, slicing a big whole and getting stitches. I know they have teeth just for me! AHHH

This weekend is the National in Brianhead. I'm still debating going, but will probably end up there. I need some results. wish me luck!

Honk if you hate SUVs

Bikin' in the Florence countryside... no big, stupid SUVs here! Actually, the bikes Jess and I rented were total beaters.. they even creaked when riding over the cobblestones and weighed 35-40 lbs. We even got lost and rained on! Good times!

Garden at Versailles in France... no wonder the
French people were pissed during Louis XIV. They're starving
and living in poverty while good 'ol Louie Louie is living
high off the hog spending tons of money just to cut
all the trees in a square shape!!!

Now for today's entry....

Ahhhh...the wonderful pasttime of driving in da Querque. I'll set the scene... a crowded, slow-moving freeway littered with HUGE suburbans, Sequoias, Hummers, Escalades, Ford F350s... oversized gas guzzlers with their fat, bloated counterparts driving solo to work at a whooping 8 miles to the gallon. And don't forget the W04 sticker stuck to the back window. But wait! They can't leave the house or back their beast of a vehicle out of their driveway without getting on their cell phone. On the way to work, the walrus drivers must stop by a gas station to get their FIRST 44 oz Big Gulp of high fructose corn syrup ridden Coke of the day. Don't worry, Mr. Walrus will get a refill at lunch and yet another on his way home when he has to refill his gas tank since he used 15 gallons just driving to work. And yes, the car companies now make over-sized cup holders to accomodate the gallons of soda these over-sized people guzzle every day. Soda and gas seem to be the staples of the gluttons-- driver and SUV. After he gets home, fattie will sit down on his couch resting a beer and a huge bag of pork rinds on his big belly to watch reality TV. Back to the road!! This hippo of a driver owns the road, or so he thinks...blatantly changing lanes without regard for any of us environmentally conscious people with small cars. He blocks your view and his other SUV buddies block your peripheral view and all drive 10 mph below the speed limit. Dammit... and don't worry, I won't fail to mention that Mr. Walrus waits till the last minute to change lanes before his exit, cutting off the person in the lane next to him, causing a whole slowdown and a series of braking red lights to send me into a raging frenzy. I don't want to leave out the trucks with the viper engines and spoilers. Now THOSE are cool.

There is also a whole other breed of drivers out there. Oh yes, let's not leave out homeboy in his low-rider cadillac with the bumping stereo. My favorite is when they have the hydraulics in the back so the rear end of the car will bounce up and down. THAT is sexy. To complete the picture, I will add orange barrels... everywhere. The freeway and every road you would take to avoid the bad traffic on the freeway is under construction. One lane. There are lines of cars with their blinkers on as far as the eye can see. The roads you'd take to even get on the freeway have the on-ramps blocked off. You try and go to another road to get on the freeway only to find there is a no left-hand turn sign so you can't get to that on-ramp either. Even the parking lots are under construction. Apparently our city planners aren't too bright. Maybe those Big Gulps are going to their head.

With all that said, it's okay to have an SUV if you are not using it to commute 40 mi to round trip alone in your car to work every day. If you actually USE it to carry sports equipment or even your whole litter of children on the way to soccer practice, it's forgiveable. However, if you have a large vehicle with just yourself inside and a bike rack ON THE BACK or ON TOP, you are a chode. "Hey everyone! Look at me! Look at my bike! I drive an SUV and don't put stuff in it! I'm so cool!"

Anyway, I will quit here. There is only so much angst one person can take in a day. Tomorrow is the duathlon where I will be in the hurt locker for a good while. You'll hear about that in my next entry.

Mean post...

This was our super ghetto hostel in Paris. Coed, 8 people in one
room, ONE shower with no curtain, 2 toilets for the whole floor(that
didn't always work), dirty noisy, curfew...it was big pimpin.


My work environment has changed in the past few days. Instead of hiding in my computer lab/conference room office, I am now supposed to drive way out into the middle of the base away from human civilization and mingle with lifeforms only known to the bizarre and twisted. Who knows what they do out there in that small, hot, dark building.. I worry that they will try and inject me with some nerd juice. I already have enough of that in my veins! Yesterday I went out there and was stuck all alone with creepy guy. Yes... we all know him. The 40 year old guy who likes to hit on women half his age... his act was carried out by asking me my plans for the weekend, how serious I was with my boyfriend, trying to make body contact, counting off on his fingers all the qualities about me he finds perfect. Nice... maybe me and his 5 year old daughter will hit it off. You know, because the age difference between us is less than me and her father. It's quite disturbing that I am required to work with this person...every day. Today I had to meet some people in the boonies at 8 AM. I waited around forever until the first alien showed up. He was 15 minutes late in a mini-van and I believe he was the distant cousin to Jaba the hut... wearing a Nascar shirt. Nice. I followed the hobbling figure to the room I was in yesterday, only this time, we were not alone. I felt beady eyes upon me when I walked in only to find nerds of every size and shape. Their eyes squinted as the light of day shown briefly in the room. Then the door closed and I was isolated. No phone, no internet...just me, some pocket PCs, and the creatures with pocket protectors. My job today consisted of helping Jaba's cousin take measurements on a container and hearing him breath hard after he bent down to check readings on the machine he picked up in his meaty hands. He told me that he used to race mountain bikes and be a running back for football. Hmm... I don't know about that. I don't think he could run if there were 2 dozen krispy kremes in the next room. I managed to escape for lunch and was not happy to come back. The creepy guy from yesterday was there performing full throttle. For some reason, he felt that he needed to pull my hair, bump into me, and grab my wrist. I was just hoping that the contact would not turn me into one of them... and that he wouldn't be grabbing at anything else. Who knows out there, maybe they were planning an engineering gang bang. After lunch, I told them I wasn't doing anything there to help and I was leaving to go to my office. I have to go back to the cave in BFE tomorrow. Wish me luck. If you never hear from me again, they took me to their home planet where resistors grow on trees and there are engineering glasses sold in every corner store.

On another note, it has been windy as shiznat here. I attempted to ride the south foothills last night on my mountain bike and had to fight a 30 mph head wind up EVERY climb. I use the wind as my excuse that I could only finish ONE lap and am grossly out of shape. I'll be lucky to survive the duathlon this weekend. Today Ehasz, Adam, and I are going to ride Sandia. Since the duathlon comes down King of the Mountain, I have to pre-ride it coming DOWN. Hopefully I don't break my leg or knock out some teeth. Hmm, maybe that would be a good thing... maybe the enginerds would no longer stare.... or maybe they would like the appeal of no teeth. Hmmm...

Rubber side down... check!

Europe tidbit #1: Budapest.... very nice!



Europe tidbit #2: This is our gondola driver in Venice. What sad times are these when gondola drivers in historic, beautiful
Venice talk on the CELL PHONE while driving.





Sandia ski area this weekend. Me, my mountain bike, and the trail all together. Finally! It had been a month and a half since our last rendezvous when I wrecked and sprained what seemed like every tendon and ligament in my wrist. A month before that was my last wreck-free ride, right before the day my knee was split open. Two months without mountain biking or racing had me feeling pretty timid, especially when I was strapping the brace on my wrist right before my ride..still not fully healed. I rode up the mountain at a leisurely pace, trying to enjoy it. My technical skills seemed to be there until a steep rocky descent I have ridden a million times. I got off my bike, shaking my head, and walked down. This seemed to be a recurring theme today. I was getting closer to the top and remembered that it takes about 2 weeks to reacclimate. I had been at sea level for almost a month and a half, so by the time I finished, I was leaning over my bike. Everything was getting very bright and started to spin. I just leaned on my handlebars and it passed. I felt horrible... it was a very discouraging day. How in the world would I race my last Norba National as an expert in just 2 short weeks? That meant that I must come back the next day and have a better ride. Sunday morning, same place. I decided to push myself today and prove that I am still a mountain biker. I was pretty happy with my performance. I felt great and was tearing it up! I was still feeling timid and begrudgingly walked my bike down a few descents and felt incredibley sheepish. Next time I'll do it... it's just that when you feel like you are going to crash, you probably will. I only had one small spill going up and around a sandy switchback, but it didn't hurt. At 1.5 miles to go, I started feeling the altitude once again and my legs started complaining about the lack of oxygen. "Next weekend you will be acclimated!" I told them. I rode the trail 10 minutes faster on Sunday and felt much better about myself. Once my blood cells are back to a mile high and I just let loose on the descents, I'll be riding great! 2 weeks? No problem! :)

Next weekend is the off-road duathlon at Sandia Peak. I have never done a duathlon before, so hopefully it will be fun! I haven't been running much since my marathon days, but I just hope I have enough to sustain me through the run and enough snap in my legs to make up the time difference. I will ride up King of the Mountain to 10,000 ft, run 5k way up high, and then ride down. Sunday is the Sante Fe Prison Loop road race... not sure I'll do that. Maybe I'll ride the Winzor trail on the mountain bike. I just want to go to Santa Fe to hit up Trader Joe's!

I can't wait to slide back into the tail end of the race season. This summer has not been the best for my cycling resume!

I got my new apple computer in this weekend. It's sweet! I turned it on and had a big question mark dwelling over me, but the OS is pretty easy to use. There's my claim to nerdom.

I met the most annoying man I have ever seen last week. I was in a meeting at work and this man had to correct EVERYTHING. He was trying to correct the presentation. When the presenter finished, the lame chode said, "Shouldn't you defrag the disk?" Later in the government van, the super engineering nerd said, "Umm.. maybe you should get some gas soon? Why are there hail dents on the car? Are you going to get that fixed!?!" Now my friends, if you know me, you know that I laugh... a lot. It took everything in me not to laugh at this guy... it also took everything in me not to backhand him!

More Euro stuff tomorrow!

Champs Elysees... the tour will be coming through here soon! All the trees in Paris are square... that should give you some intution about Parisiennes! 

Europe photo #1! Pimpin that beer in Hungary with the porn star glasses. OHHH YEAAHHH, who wants some?? Those Hungarian do know how to party! 

J'aime Le Tour!!!

Well I got home just in time. The Tour was very thrilling to watch this weekend. Thanks to Cameron and Tiffany, bums like me can go over to their house and watch OLN on their big TV...I'm not the only bum over there! ;) Seems like Ullrich, Basso, and Armstrong are always at it. I won't complain! I think it's sooo great that Hincapie took the win yesterday. That guy definitely deserves it.

Nothing too eventful has been happening. It was nice to be home on the weekend. I got to see my parents for awhile and also chill with Adam... we even got to pimp it by the pool yesterday! I had to go to my aunt's house yesterday for my little cousin's bday party. The things you do for your family...it's not my favorite thing in the world to go somewhere where there are tons of children all under the age of 6 running around and screaming. It's the best birth control there is! My biological clock is NOT ticking (see Adam? No worries!) But hey, at least I got free cake. Everyone ate the cake for the children because my aunt decided to make chocolate and chili cake. Hmmm, what's wrong with this picture?

I booked a moving truck for the big day next month. Money, money, money... why don't I have any? Oh wait, I know the answer to that one! ;) I need a page like Matt Shriver... donations. http://www.mattshriver.com/ I'm not nearly as badass as him though. I could even make them tax deductible. Any takers? ;)

YE, I'm alive

Well, I'm back from the land of the stinky and hairy! :) Europe was a great time.. maybe if you're lucky I will write about it sometime and show some pics! Overall it was such a great experience although I am very happy to be back in da Querque where there are mountains, open space, my very own BATHROOM, and big grocery stores!! Being out of the country actually made me thankful to be American despite all the hangups I have with our country including the fact that we have an ignorant stinky monkey sitting in the white house. I have to say, I was going through some definite cycling withdrawals and getting the angst because everyone was racing BUT me! Unfortunately, my wrist is still not up to snuff so I can't mountain bike for awhile. I am going to go to Brianhead, wrist healed or not. I need another Norba Nat on my resume or Titus is going to disown me. Next year it's on! I can't wait for the race season. Hopefully I can do some damage for collegiate racing.

I move in just a MONTH. It's crazy. I'm poor, I'm moving. That's what I think about. It sucks to be back at work rotting away, but it's nice to sit on my ass since I was walking like 10 hours a day! I didn't get to hear much about the Tour when I was in Europe. I guess a lot of those chodes are above it. I can't wait to watch some of it. Hell yeah! Maybe there will be a shot of Jan Ulrich's butt. MMM MMM OH JANNY! ;) ha

I am about to buy a laptop for grad school...see, told ya I'm poor! I'm going to get a Powerbook. I've always used PCs, but it's time to move on to something else. No more Bill Gates! I am stoked it's FRIDAY and I get to leave work in ONE hour. I am really looking forward to riding this weekend, seeing the fam, and of course ADAM!

Hopefully Monday I'll have some digital pics and maybe a few stories for yous. LATA!

This is the MASSIVE cruise ship. It's the second biggest in the world. 138,000 tons; 1020 ft long; 158 feet across, holds 3400 passengers and has an ice skating rink, mall like area, rock climbing wall, basketball court, everything....... Navigator of the Seas, Royal Caribbean. Too big for me. 

a little more about the cruise...

Ok, so I am tired of telling people about the cruise so chances are that if you are important to me, you've heard something about it!! ;) I'll briefly tell you about the other two places.

St. Marteen: This island is half French and half Dutch and it looks like Northern New Mexico(oddly enough!) My dad and I did an excursion here together. It was called the "Loterie Farm Treetop Adventure." We got to swing from the trees and down zip lines in the rain forest. It actually was fun, but not worth the money. The best part was that the workers were begging for tips at the end. They were totally laying on the guilt trip, saying this guy dropped out of school and to do everything you can to help him, blah blah blah. And ultimately, we got back on the bus and we saw the same guy getting into a brand new red Mercedes. The people in general on this island were pretty rude!!!

Bahamas: The Bahamas... ah yes. We got off the ship into pure chaos of herds of cattle, er, people, blindly wandering around looking for their excursion guide. There were these huge men screaming in burly voices the name of the excursions until everyone got organized. We took a ferry to a coral reef and went snorkeling. Well, before the ferry left, there was this big, fat, pink redneck guy who was having a fit b/c his family wasn't there yet. They finally showed up and he started freaking out and yelling at his family at the top of his lungs in front of everyone. Of course, I had to be the one sitting next to him. He was acting like such a baby and his daughters fiancee and him almost got into a huge fight. they had their fists up and the fiancee was yelling, "I have NO respect for you!" It was exciting!! It's funny to watch rednecks fight. YEAH! Maybe they'll kill each other and there will be two less Bush supporters in the world!!!! :) The whole way to the reef, fat redneck man had his arms crossed like a 2 yr old. The reef was cool, lots of neat fish. The water was choppy from the tropical storm and someone saw a 4 ft shark. I wish I saw it! On the way back to the ship, this guy all of a sudden started walking next to me, trying to git it.. I was NOT wearing any revealing clothes, just a tee shirt walking along. This guy starts striding beside me yelling, "your breasts are beautiful! Wow! Look at them! Are they real?" and repeating himself over and over. "You come back at 9 o'clock. I will buy you a drink and you will not refuse," insisted sthe extremely annoying creature . I sped up and was walking pretty fast, but he would not go away. After a few minutes, i finally looked at him and started waving in his face and saying, "buh bye....... buh bye......" until his nasty ass retreated. Damn! I went into a shop moments later and this other guy looked me up and down and said, "Wooooowwww." GOD! Have some freaking tact! At this point in the cruise, I had had it with idiotic guys. what does he think? I'm going to rip off my clothes and do him right there? JEEEZ!!! After that, I hightailed it back to the ship. I was so sick of that shite!

I may write more about the cruise in a month or so when I get back from Europe! YEAH! I actually have a notebook with the funnier highlights from just chilling on the ship, and there are quite a few good stories. I leave for Europe tomorrow for 3 weeks. I'm going to Paris, Hungary, and Italy. It should be a GREAT time! It'll be nice to get away from doing nothing at work! ;) ha My wrist is getting better... I actually rode this morning. Yep, got up at 5:30 AM. It was actually nice since it wasn't a million degrees out. And yes, if you are wondering, chode man was out at 6 AM. I was chilling, enjoying the morning and this guy has to try and pass me in his freakin' aerobars. He went by, bobbing up and down, glancing back occasionally. Whatever. Gimme a break...I can't get away from these guys...not even at 6 in the morning. I am looking forward to my trip, but also looking forward to getting back and TRAINING and RACING again. Seriously, this season has been a total crap shoot with me busting my knee, traveling, fracturing my wrist, and then traveling again. Next year it's on. those bitches better enjoy their time now b/c it's all over for them!!!!

I found a place in Boulder. That place really is freaking ridiculous. Standard price for a 1 bedroom is 600-800/ mo...and that is for a hole in the wall. I saw a ton of 470 sq ft apartments for 600!!!! DAMN. I found one that is a little older, but it's 560 sq ft for 550/mo. The big move is Aug 17. Should be cool,but a HUGE change. Change is good, right? I am looking forward to living in a community that is all about cycling. SWEET.

I'll see you guys in 3 weeks. Hopefully I will be a little more cultured when I get back instead of a guarded American. ha!

This is in the rain forest in Puerto Rico. 

Too many glasses of champagne..... (on the cruise)