Talking Smack

I've got a lot to say on the subject, but have decided it would be best just to shut up.

Gonna say only one thing: if you didn't do as well as you would have liked in a race, it's nobody's fault but YOUR OWN!

Bear Lake Road Race

I had so much fun racing 52 miles around Bear Lake!

I loved all the strategy, watching for moves, waiting for attacks, and the excitement of it all. The attacks started early, but no one really seemed able to get away for very long.



At about eight miles into the race, Shanna started leaning hard into me. She was shouting at someone on her right to back off, and she was telling me to hold on. I could feel my bike slipping out from under me, and I was sure I was going down. I focused on holding my line because I didn't want to get pushed over into the girl on my left. We rode like that for at least 10 seconds. I was strangely okay with it. I remember thinking that it was a good experience for me and I would learn from it. (By the way, this is the second time this year that someone has come so close as to touch me. Both times this has happened that person has won that race! Now, don't get any ideas about me being a good luck charm. I don't like getting bumped in a race!)

After about 12 miles, the attacks stopped, and I settled in mid-pack and just sat in, going easy. Around mile 17, I got impatient and signaled to my teammate, KH, that it was our turn to attack. I sprinted around with KH following. I knew that we had four teammates sitting on the front and thought maybe they would let us go, but I really thought the group would chase. They didn't. We looked back and they were so far back there, I couldn't believe it. Later, I heard that my teammates on the front were holding the pack back, telling them not to chase...and everyone listened! KH and I were in the breakaway for about the next seven miles. I had known better than to break away by myself, and I was glad I had someone to work with me.

We were caught just before the rollers. My team counter-attacked when they caught us, and totally blew the pack to pieces. KH and I were pretty tired from working so hard to stay away, and we weren't expecting the counter-attack, so we missed catching on. But we were able to keep working together to catch and drop several others who were dropped off the back of the pack in front of us. KH started fading on me toward the end of the rollers. I found out that she had forgotten to bring any food, so I was handing stuff off to her, and we were taking it pretty easy for awhile. Pretty soon, we were caught by two other ladies: one teammate and an orange jersey girl. The four of us worked together for several miles before we lost my teammate. We picked up one of Orange Jersey's teammates for a while, but lost her soon after. The three of us worked together for most the rest of the race.

As we got about two miles to the finish, I let Orange Jersey pull. She wasn't about ready to let me back in front of her, and she really started pushing the pace. I looked back and found that we had dropped KH. I focused on holding Orange Jersey's wheel, and focused on nothing else -- no attention-deficit-disorder racing today. As we made the corner to the finish, she was really trying to drop me, but I hung on. I was just about to concede the race to her when I decided that I needed to try to beat her. At the 200m sign, I shifted and pushed hard to try to pass her. Orange Jersey was fighting hard not to let me past, but I managed to barely pull ahead of her at the line! I ended up coming in 11th. It was so much fun!

Congratulations to my teammates, Shanna (1st place), Breanne (2nd), and Jamie (3rd)!

Giving it Another Shot

So, I hustled my buns to RMR tonight so I could give this racing thing another shot. The way I see it, the more I race the better I'll get. At least I hope that holds true for me.

For some reason, as the race started I panicked. I think maybe the fact that a couple of girls in front of me couldn't get clipped in and started swerving a bit had something to do with it. Then the sun in my eyes started bugging me and my bike started to feel like something was wrong. I'm sure it was all in my head. At any rate, I just wanted to get away from everybody. I went to the back of the pack and tucked in behind another girl. Pretty soon, we were dropped.

Then the anger set in. Why do I always have to be off the back? I jumped and sprinted around her. But to no avail...I couldn't catch back on to the pack. Shanna came around and we worked together for about three laps before she took off and left me. It was nice to have a draft and some company for that little while. But for the most part this was another time trial effort for me.

I'm going to get stomped on this weekend at the Downtown Crit.

Decisions

So, after the race today I came home and harvested a ton of Orem potatoes, a.k.a. rocks. I'm getting the garden area ready for planting. It's been neglected for the past couple of years due to having a dog and my having little time to work on a garden. I even went to the garden shop and bought a bunch of vegetables to go in the garden: tomatoes, peppers (hot and sweet), pumpkin, spaghetti squash, zucchini, cucumber, carrots, marigolds. Darn! I forgot the onions. I guess another trip is in order.

I also went over to my brother in laws house and sat in the drag racer. I think drag racing will become my new sport. I will rock at drag racing!

Oh, do you get the idea that I'm avoiding blogging about the race today? Hmmm....I wonder why?

I stink at this bike racing thing. My first mistake today, and this is no excuse, was that I didn't warm up. I knew I needed a good, long warm up, but time was up before I knew it. I had high hopes for this race. After all, it was only 30 minutes long. I knew I could suffer for 30 minutes. But I was off the back by lap three. I thought I could catch back on, but it wasn't happening. Next time, I will warm up!

While I was out there racing I said to myself, "There comes a time when you've just got to say to yourself that you're not cut out for this racing thing. That time is today."

So, I guess I have a decision to make. I can continue to race and see if improvements happen. Continuing racing means suffering for, at times, nothing but disappointment with an occasional thrill of betterment.

Or, I can become a recreational rider. I've really wanted to participate at Little Red Riding Hood this year, but haven't planned on it since it's on a race day. The problem with my becoming a recreational rider is that I don't know that I would really ever find time to go out and ride. I have to be training for something to be motivated.

Anyhow, for now my decision is that I'm going to give another couple of races a try and see what happens before I make a final decision. How decisive is that?

The Mystery

The strangest thing just happened to me. But before I get to that, let me give you a little background. Yesterday, JE blogged about his cheescake indulgence. The picture of the cheesecake was about driving me insane -- I love cheesecake! And I love key lime pie. So the thought of the two flavors together was torturing me. So I asked JE to please blog something new so the picture would move down and I wouldn't have to see it anymore.

Well, I came home tonight and opened the fridge. To my great surprise I found: a half a Costco Key Lime Cheesecake with a note attached, "THANK ME."



I started shouting and running around the house wondering how and when this magical cheesecake came to be in my fridge. Slingshot looked at me and asked, "Does he know where you live?" I don't think so.

I'm still unsure who to thank.

But I am eating it for breakfast tomorrow...if there's any left.

Edit: Mystery solved! Apparently some Chinese neighbors didn't like the cheesecake they had bought, so they gave it to me. Lucky me!

The "Ultra" Experience

Whimper!

Yesterday I went into the tanning salon to see about pricing and what not. The lady behind the desk told me I could try a free Ultra tan.

"What's that?"

"It's like three regular tans put into one"

That should have been the first red flag. But it was going to be free after all, and I wanted to even out the biker tan lines before they really had a chance to take hold. So I took it.

The lady then proceeded to explain that this bed didn't block the "bad" rays, the ones that burn you.

"Pshaw! I don't burn!"

Then she asked if I wanted the full time of 10 minutes. That should have been the next red flag. A tan bed that can burn you in under ten minutes. "Only ten minutes? Oh sure, I'll be fine."

Then she told me to be careful about the parts that might not have seen the sun. Well, I didn't listen. When you have a room to yourself, you think you don't burn, and you don't want any tan lines, what are you going to do? Yep, that's what I did.

I do burn. And it hurts. Especially on those places that usually don't see the sun.

Be careful of freebies. They're not really free.

Whimper.

Experimenting

I had a good ride today. Put in about 20 miles down by Utah Lake. It sure was a beautiful day.

Anyone who's ridden with me knows that I watch birds while I ride. There were a lot of birds out to watch today: tons of pelicans,
lots of ibis,plenty of ducks, what had to have been a golden eagle (I was trying to watch the road), and another smaller hawk (once again, it's hard to bird watch and ride at the same time), plus the usual sparrows, finches, killdeer, starlings, and quail. This bird watching habit drives several of my riding buddies crazy, but it's what you get when you ride with the daughter of a wildlife officer. One of these days, I'm going to plan a ride where I tuck a copy of a birding field guide in my jersey pocket and take the time to stop and really watch the birds. I'd like that.

I took along the same foods that I had raced with on Saturday in an attempt to figure out what made me so sick after the race. So far what I've figured out is that it wasn't the stuff I ate while I raced, so it was either food poisoning or the flu. I'm just starting to feel back to normal today...an occasional, quick stomach cramp is all. At least I know that I can continue to use the foods I want to use during races without worrying about catching the evil gaumboo.

Tax Day Circuit Race

Something went horribly wrong today.

But, before I get into that, here I am at the start line with BG. I was feeling really good, calm, and ready to race at this point.




The race started with BG and I leading out. The first mile and a half-ish of the race was neutral roll out. We were following Sam Kreig's car at 13 mph to the end of the neutral roll out. Sam had his music turned up loud, and I was quite enjoying myself. Once Sam pulled off the course BG and I picked the speed up to 22.5 mph. I decided I was done pulling and tried to pull off, but nobody would take the pull. Finally, Jamie and Jillian came around, but only for a little while. I was up front again. I tried to pull off again, but once again, nobody would come up. Next thing I knew, Jillian was off the front, driving the pace, Jamie was chasing her down, and everyone was passing me. I thought, "finally, I'm going to get a draft!" But for some reason, I couldn't hang on to the group, and I was dropped. I soloed it to the top of the climb, but I could feel that something was terribly wrong. I did not have any strength. I never use my granny gear, but I did today, and it felt especially difficult. As I got to the top of the climb, Clint was in the road taking my picture. He looked really surprised when I stopped my bike. Everyone starred at me.

This is BG, who made it to the top of the climb ahead of me.


Here I am ready to quit.


I told Sling I was done. I took off all my gear and threw it in the trunk. Then I started getting mad at myself and pitched a little tantrum. I wasted about 5+ minutes fighting with myself. I finally decided I would rather finish last than not finish at all. I remembered that BG once told me what one of the guys (sorry, I don't remember which) says, "Pain is temporary, quitting is forever." I put my stuff back on and finished the race.



The climb was horrible, all three times. I'd forgotten how bad it was. I wanted so bad to get off and walk. But, I didn't. And I wanted to puke. I didn't do that either. But, I've felt sick, weak, and shaky all day since. Weird.

I am glad I finished the race. I hope I can figure out what's up with my body. Yes, I know what you're thinking, and, no, I am not pregnant! (Although, I do look rather fat in these pictures.)

Three cheers to my awesome teammates, Jamie and Breanne, for taking 1st and 2nd place! You ladies ROCK!

I danced with a phone because I'm NOT a nerd.

What's yours?

Pick the month you were born:

January------I kicked
February-----I loved
March---------I smoked
April------------I sat on
May-----------I choked on
June----------I raced
July-----------I did the Macarena with
August-------I had lunch with
September---I danced with
October------I sang to
November----I yelled at
December----I helped out

Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1-------a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a Mexican
6-------a gangster
7-------my cell phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11-------my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffed animal
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------your mom
18-------a spoon
19-------myself
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an iPod
29-------a permanent marker
30-------a llama
31-------A homeless guy

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White--------because I'm cool like that.
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink----------because I'm NOT a nerd.
Red----------because the voices told me to.
Blue----------because I'm weird and I do what I want
green---------because I hate myself.
Purple--------because I'm cool.
Gray----------because I was drunk.
Yellow--------because someone offered me $1,000,000
Orange -------because I hate my family.
Brown--------because I was dizzy.
Other---------because I'm a ninja.

Spinning

A lot of times when I tell someone that I am a Spinning instructor, I get this response:

"Spinning? Does that have something to do with knitting and yarn?"

I should just start telling them that "Yes, yes, it does. My name is Rumpelstiltskin, and not only can I make yarn, but in my spare time I spin straw into gold."

For for those of you who don't know what Spinning really is, I have a photo for you.

Some guy in my Spinning class brought a camera to class on Wednesday. He said that he needed to prove to his son that he has been exercising and has lost a lot of weight because of it. I took his picture, and he took a whole bunch of pictures of everyone in the class, including me. So here I am, teaching Spinning. As you can see, it has nothing to do with yarn. It is a lot of fun! I love it!

Pictures of Hell

Here is my photographic proof that I went to Hell. Thanks to KanyonKris for inadvertently directing me to the Zazoosh site to find my photos.

Lap 1. Nancy, Shanna, Me , and another Cat4 woman.Lap 2.

Lap 3. I was getting tired and was beginning to wonder if I could hang on to the group for much longer. That's me way in the back. Don't worry. I caught up again.


Lap 4.
The photographer must have been taking a potty break when we came around for the last lap. He took shots of the girls ahead of us and the ones behind us, but not us.

So there you have it. Thanks to Zazoosh for spending their day in the cold taking pictures of all of us out there.

Hell was Heaven

Dude. Hell of the North was a fun race! It could have been a little warmer, and there could have been less wind, but who's complaining? I had a blast!

The reason I had such fun: AWESOME TEAMMATES! Ski Utah Cycling was well represented today.

There were nine Cat 4 women racing today. Of the nine, six (five? maybe I'm counting a Masters racer?) were from the Ski Utah team. Since there were only two Masters women and a handful of Juniors, we all started the race together. Most of the group went into the gravel section together, but pretty soon the group was split up. The Cat4 women were divided between a lead group, my group, and some stragglers. At first my group had me, Shanna (Ski Utah), Nancy (Ski Utah, racing Masters), and another girl. Pretty soon I noticed that it was just Shanna, Nancy and myself. Another lap or two and Kara (also from Ski Utah) caught on with us. The four of us decided that since we were all teammates we would work together and practice some essential racing skills. We worked on pulling/drafting and working a rotating echelon (since the wind was strong from the north/northwest). As we rounded the last corner and started toward the finish line the pace picked up. We started joking about how we were all going to start sprinting and how we would get to see who the sprinters of the group were. Kara decided to take off first. Shanna and Nancy soon followed. At this time I was thinking that they were going too soon and I wasn't going to go with them yet. Good choice. Kara soon lost momentum, and I was able to push hard and pass her just before the finish line. I finished in 5th place.

I'm really proud of myself for hanging with my little pack. It made the race so enjoyable for me. What a great group of ladies!

I wish I had pictures of the race to share, but my usual photographer, Sling, was racing at the same time. I'll have to find some online photos later, I guess. Does anyone know who the race photographer was?

Happy April Fool's Day!

I'm not feeling super creative with the April Fool's jokes this year. Usually, you'd better watch out!

The only joke I've played (so far) is that last night, after all the Spinning classes were done for the day, I went in and put a GIANT comfort saddle, complete with a gel seat cover, on the instructor's bike. I put it on so that the nose stuck up way too far. The first thing Coach Girl saw when she walked in to teach the 5:30 a.m class this morning was this huge saddle. Her first thoughts were that the new instructor (who taught last night and is pregnant) must have put it there. Well, Coach Girl was pissed! How dare this new instructor switch out saddles! Coach Girl proceeds to write a nasty note telling the other instructors not to mess with the equipment and then she goes to take off the gel cover. That's when she notices the note I left hiding under the saddle. Haha! Joke's on her. (The original plan had been to put some old broken stationary bike up on the instructor's stage, but that didn't work out.)

Well, I guess it's pay back time. I just walked out front and found this:



Apparently, I'm having a luau at my house at 7. You're welcome to come. I'm unsure as to who is providing the party.