sunny pics

Born Famous

Its just about official. Spring and I are doing the women's duo class at the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo. I've done the race before and its really fun. EpicRides.com has a good race course and usually has some wild things like belly dancers or fire jumpers. But Spring and I won't have much time or energy for such things. I've never done the duo class at a 24 race so its a first for me. I've heard it is harder than solo. Anyway our team name is Born Famous. We don't need our 15 minutes...because we were born famous.

Spring and I climbed Lemmon to the 9 mile mark. Our legs were pretty crunchy from all the great riding and it was a bit cold. It was very beautiful with all the Saguaro Cactus and water running down the mountain. Spring got a flat on the way home even with Armadillo tires on. The roads here are dirty and pretty rough. Spring and Kevin's Eurovan is for sale. Its cherry. I think it will be on ebay soon.

I did the wednesday group ride yesterday. Its changed since I've done it in the past. Most folks turned off at Saguaro East Park. Then only four of us went on to Vail and Suhaurita and only two of us went around Helmet Peak and down Mission. Brian from team Waste Management was good company. Its a long ride to do alone. It seems the group rides have changed since the days of Gord Fraser and Mikey Sayers being the captains keeping things organized.

I'm going out tonight for Thai food, even though I have amazing food in the fridge from Trader Joe's. Its a craving for curry.

If you ever get the chance to check out Tucson's community radio station KXCI... do it. My favorite show is Matt Moon's Global Rhythm radio on Thursdays at 6pm.

Some pics

I miss Ruby and Tim. But like I told Tim on the phone...I'm getting work done and being a boring pro rider. (the best racers are bored because they ride, sleep , eat)

I like the Tuesday group ride. It consists of mostly locals, not the out of towners like myself. Its a short ride, but its good for doing a double workout day. The pace is pretty fast with lots of chances to do some efforts. Going up Kinney after McCain loop crushed me pretty good. After the two group rides that I've done here, I can tell what I need to work on. I like what Jake said to Spring when she asked him about what she should do for training. He said do the shootout and try to keep up. Spring is killing it! She is the fastest I've ever seen her on the bike.

I got my mountainbike finally. In the war between FedEx and Ups, I'm voting for UPS. I'm heading out to do some spin ups on the mtb and check out my new sweet shimano shoes. The good folks at Fairwheel Bikes baked and molded them for me yesterday. Team Fairwheel was killing it on the ride this morning.

Overheard on the shootout was one of the bigger name pros telling one of the fast girls how he doesn't usually see many girls hanging on the shootout ride and if she has a flat that no one will wait for her especially because girls can't change flats. Did he think that was a pick-up line? Or didn't he realize that girls can change flats because they don't have their team cars or teammates to do it for them? That said I have asked Tim countless times to help me get my stansed bontis on. Its just really hard to do.

As requested, I got some pics finally.

Shootout

The unofficial world championships of Tucson is the "Shootout". It is the Saturday group ride that starts at 7:30 a.m. at the University of Arizona. I love the shootout. When you go from the wingnut ride in Harrisonburg that the last one had just two of us, to the Shootout with over 200 people its mind blowing. I get to see all of my Tucson friends from over the years and always make one or two more on the ride.

Its so cool rolling down the road with that many other cyclists all trying to get in there workout or mainly just trying to hang with the group to the bridge. I remember the first time I made it past the bridge with the group. It gave me a lot of confidence and showed that I was on the right track with my training. Of course I also realized it doesn't get easier once you make it past the bridge. To me that is the crux...the minutes after the bridge.

Today's shootout was by my standards fairly easy especially considering the shape that I am in. The pack was so huge that is was like a good motorpace session. No matter how many times I do the shootout, it still seems like I never know if I'll be able to hang or not. And certainly taking a pull is not much of a possibility.

The really shocking thing was how many people rolled out to Maderia Canyon. The couple times that I have done Maderia it has been a very small group. This time it was about 40 people. It made it pretty nice for doing the long, long false flat towards the base of the climb. I thought I was having it pretty easy until the pace ever so slightly ramped up and I noticed I was hurting. My old nemesis, my left leg, was rearing its weak ugly head, as well. I dropped back and took it easy up the climb, stopping for a coke at the little store on the way up. It just made me realize all the work that I need to do and that is the reason why I am out here in Tucson training.

It was about 96 miles in less than 5 hours. It would be hard to do that alone and that includes a ton of stoplights.

I haven't heard from Tim to know if the floors are done at home yet. I hope so! Dogwood could use getting back to some normalcy. And looking at White Grass's site I see the WV is finally in Nordic Heaven with great conditions.

I'll get some pics up soon of AZ.

Tucson

I arrived in Tucson after an epic travel day. I had to drive all the way to Cleveland, OH which is a 6 1/2 hour drive from the Burg. I did that because on my flight back I will be doing a women's weekend at Rays Indoor MTB Park and didn't want to drive to Cleveland again. Its a different part of the world up there with the mighty great lakes dominating the region. Good, good people though.

I got to Todd M's house pretty late and then he caught me up on his life and all the going ons in Tucson. His new house is really great and I know I will spend a very comfortable month here.

Spring was going to suprise me at the airport but I told her the wrong time. She had a lei of Gu s for me...hawaiian bike geek style. I'm looking forward to hanging with her and getting strong on the bike.

Anyway, I have to build my bike and get spinning the long travel day out of my legs.

Snow is good

I love snow. I love cross country skiing. Especially when its with my friends over at White Grass. I hit the Thursday(Thirsty) Staff Ski at 4:30 and we skied into the night. It was some interesting conditions...what I would call variable. It was a mix of powder, manky, mashed potatoes, and mirco crust. I was very happy to have had my Snowfields and S Bounds on for a change. I'm usually all about the skiinies and light is right, but I have been getting jealous of the folks with the bigger gear making effortless turns. And I gotta tell you bigger is better for making easier turns. But I'm still a big proponent of being able to make turns on any gear. You can only hide so long behind the big sidecut and plastic boot.

Then I ate at White Grass Cafe for the Local's Night. Righteous food and phenomenal company. Then Kyle and Andy stayed over at the Icebox and we watched Deliverance. Most people forget the fact that the movie has strong environmental and adventure leanings. But it also really depicts southerners as inbred and dumb which is a shame. "that" scene is really disturbing, though.

Friday, I woke up early and skied with the famous Charlie Waters and wool wearing Kyle. I love waking up to ski. Its about the only thing that I don't complain about waking up early for. We skied quickly up to Roundtop and flew down Weiss and over the Sawmill. I went back to the Icebox and cleaned up and shut her down, then went back out for a fast, fun ski with Curtis. I love skiing with Curtis because he loves all types of skiing. So we hit Lester's fresh groom and were glowing after racing down Barton's Bend.

I was very suprised that only two of us showed up for the wingnut ride on Saturday morning. It was very, very cold and some ice as well. But, it worked out because it was me and engine Julie. We stayed warm jabbering the whole time. We didn't ride fast, but got some time in. Company is always nice in the winter.

And today, was so fun. Me and Ruby dog met the boys over at Hillendale Park. It was the fixed gear gang snowriding in 20 degrees temps. Ruby was in a biking mood and I didn't even get cold. Riding fixes in the snow is my new favorite thing!

Okay, that is enough about me....I'm trying to make up for not blogging the last month.

Lame Blogger

Sorry World Wide Web readers...I am a lame blogger. So Sorry. Its weird my life still goes on even when I don't blog.

Lots has happened since my last post. I got to go skiing for the New Year's with my sister, Beth and my neice Lindsay and nephew Dylan. Then some friends celebrated New Year's Eve with me at the Icebox(house in West Virginia). We had drinks, a bonfire and of course our favorite party activity...wrestling! I'm not that good at it and sometimes resort to some head slaps. I'm trying to learn to be good, like Tim. He has all the moves, even with his torn MCL.

Another big thing has been the new floor at Tim's house. Much of the excitement and anticipation has been squelched due to small catastophes and delays. The three day project by the pros has turned into ove a week. It has tested my nerves and made some serious dust. But Tim knows construction projects are always complicated and take more time than you think. This is the first time Tim has paid anyone to do anything at his house. I think the verdict is still out whether its going to be worth it in the end. I think it is going to be beautiful. Its basically a very thin flexible concrete floor with acid etched color.

I dropped my camera off of Pace Point in Blackwater Falls State Park. Tim and Harlan bushwacked through the Rhododendrons to find it. It still works, but the screen is cracked. I'm considering a new one now.

Also, My G4 laptop screen is on the last leg. It is locked up in blue most days. I considering if I want a new laptop. I really don't. I would rather have a nice desktop.

Lastly, and most importantly, I've starting riding my bike again with more consistencey and intent. It feels great. I even won a sprint on the Wingnut Ride.
Of course, I was sprinting against guys on their mountainbikes while I'm on my roadbike, but I gotta start somewhere.

Anyway, many exciting things are happening that I will tell you all about over the next weeks.

Big Hug to all you patient readers.