Itching madness

Damn my head has started itching like crazy today. I'm guessing the extensions have caused my scalp to get a bit dry, so I'm praying the shea butter creme I got remedies the situation. If it doesn't, I might have a pretty short stint with extensions. I'd feel a little bad to make the lady take them out after she spent 9 hours on them. Ah well, it's already been 5 days...I'm ready for a new style again!

Aero bars rock

Believe it or not, I've put a whole year of racing under my belt and NEVER used aero bars. So...I finally was convinced to get a pair set up on my Ruby for the IceBreaker on Sunday. I figured giving them a try before the race would be a good thing so I cruised to work this morning on 'em and wow...what a difference they make! I guess all that 'aero position' hype is really true ;) Maybe this will make time trialing somewhat more enjoyable!

I had to smooth out my pedal stroke a tad or risk being a bit bobbly. The position feels great though and I definitely cruise along faster. Now unfortunately it's raining and I still have to ride home. I don't mind the rain but I'd rather not get my Ruby all dirty. Sad isn't it?

Chilly Hilly 2007

This past week I was on a recovery week in my training. I was supposed to log easy miles but this is the first week in about 2 months I logged nearly 0. I wish I could say I didn't feel guilty! Ah well. Racing starts next weekend (!) so I'm trying to convince myself I was enjoying my last break for a while.

Marcus helped me get Polar Power installed on my Giant yesterday so it was all set up and ready for Chilly Hilly today. I love new toys! This is the first time in the four years I've done Chilly Hilly that it rained a bit, but the ride was fun. Marcus and I actually rode together most of the way this year. He still finished before I did, but not by much. If I wasn't riding that 30-lb Giant monster he would have surely been in trouble.

I love doing Chilly Hilly just to see all the fun people out riding. I saw a boy who couldn't have been more than 12 riding a unicycle, an incredibly fit guy motoring up the hills on a recumbent, and a bike messenger bitching out his buddy for convincing him to ride on a fixed gear - that was funny! As always, the residents were accomodating, the riders were friendly and nice, and the whole ride was a great time.

The power data I got back seemed fairly reasonable so now I'll have to get to training with all the new info! I should be back to riding this week and getting ready for IceBreaker on Sunday. Ah, nothing like kicking off the race season with a good 'ole time trial. Damn I hate those.

New hair!!

I spent an unbelievable 9 hours yesterday getting my hair extensions. I apparently set a record for the poor lady! I had just way too much thick short hair I guess. I have to say that the extensions look absolutely phenomenal. You can't even tell my hair isn't real!

My scalp is a bit sore today but I think it will go away once everything settles in. After all, I went from 3" of hair to about 2 feet of hair overnight! Here's the best pictures I could get right now, but I'll do some better ones tonight. I had her add a maroon color throughout for a funky highlight. It's slightly visible in the photo.

Bad dog

I usually take Jake out in the morning before work and exercise him for a bit. If I don't he gets mischevious and finds things to destroy around the house. Luckily we're remodeling so he can't get into too much that concerns us. Yeah, you know where this story is going.

I went to Performance over the weekend and stocked up on bicycle tubes, Luna bars, water bottles, and got some new racing tires. The first thing I saw today when I got home from work was a big black Lab cowering in the corner and shredded Performance Bicycle bags on the floor. As soon as I yelled, "Jake! What did you do?", he immediately rolled over with that "have mercy on me" look. I knew I shouldn't have left that stuff in the living room.

Scattered in the debris were TONS of Luna bar wrappers. Somehow he managed to woof down boxes of S'mores bars and not eat the wrappers. There goes $30 and my race season supply of nutrition. I think the bicycle tubes managed to survive and he only seemed interested in shredding the cardboard boxes they were in. I guess I have to blow them all up now and submerge them in water to be sure. One of my nice new $50 racing tires bit the dust. One is still ok I think. I'd rather not find out when I'm going 40mph downhill. I'm glad I took out the 6 new water bottles I bought and put them in the cupboard last night. He would have had a field day with those. What a little shit.

And unfortunately since the Luna bars were chocolate, a little shit is not what I have. He's leaving Luna bars all over the neighborhood. It's disgusting. Bad dog.

Blobs that feed on pollution

I find it more than disturbing to think about how polluted we've made our environment. Just think of all the times you've seen news articles about sewage overruns in the Puget Sound. Ick. I can't fathom how people as a species continue to dessimate our planet.

Now here comes along some blobby creatures that LOVE pollution and feed it on. Boy are we in trouble.

No gym today :(

Looks like I'm doing a last minute performance test up at CycleU this afternoon. I'm excited to see if I've progressed at all. I still suck at time trialing but maybe I suck less now. Hopefully I can get most of the performance test in by 6:30 since I have to bowl at 7. Man...I'm going to be dead.

I just did a Performance shopping spree and picked up some clip-on aero bars for IceBreaker. I figured it would help this year to at least get into an aero position. I think I'm going to get the Ruby setup this weekend and get out on it, maybe even for the team ride tomorrow. It's been about 4 months since I last rode it so I can't wait!!!

Fake hair!

I'm so stoked!!! I just had my hair consultation today and set up an appointment for next Thursday to get my new hair. I've been bored with growing out the short hair and finally decided to do more than just entertain the idea of getting some funky hair extensions. So.....I took a personal day next Thursday to spend 6 hours getting my hair done. I can't wait! Super exciting stuff!

Remember that bike ride I took Tuesday after work? Yeah...I think it falls on the list of "Christine's Dumb Ideas". I set a record for S-L-O-W heading up to Greenlake and back home and my hamstrings very nearly didn't forgive me the next day. I limped into the gym Wednesday and my trainer laughed at me. Thank goodness the hammies are finally relaxing and today I'm fairly recovered. I might actually do my time trial effort that's on the schedule for tonight...

Did I mention I get my hair done next Thursday?

Spin cycle

Off I go, hopefully biking to Performance and then to Greenlake before heading home. My hamstrings are like guitar strings so hopefully I can hop on the bike and spin them out a tad. Something tells me I'll be going nice and easy tonight...

Owie

I woke up this morning and didn't think I'd ever get my legs straightened out. My hamstrings and lower back are friekin' sore from the gym yesterday. I usually ride to work but figured I'd bring the bike, stretch out during the day, and hopefully ride home this evening. To add further insult to injury our massage therapist at work is out sick - bummer!

I just printed out the race calendar and I can't believe racing starts in about two weeks! Dude, I'm stoked!!!!

It's just one of those days...

...man I'm beat. I had failure after failure today in pretty much everything! All day I spent trying to get a stupid video uploaded to my podcast site but it kept timing out JUST before the file was finished. Strike 1.

I'm playing around with Maven at work and try as I might I could not get this stupid Spring archetype to work. I followed their f*** instructions. It doesn't work. Strike 2.

And of course, all I could think about is all the mess at home and all the work we have to do on the house. Living in a construction zone really sucks sometimes. I think the best solution Marcus and I have come up with is to burn it all down. Strike 3.

I feel better now. As cheesy as it sounds, thank goodness tomorrow is a new day and I get to feel the results of my ass-kicking at the gym today.

I missed my mark with bike mileage this week, but hey, it happens. My alarm went off Saturday morning and I didn't think twice about shutting it off, skipping the team ride, and sleeping in. I didn't sleep well Thursday or Friday night so I was happy to get the extra rest. I ended up doing pretty much nothing Saturday, which was rather nice for a change!

Today I got back on the bike and rode the Magnolia loop. It's been ages since I've done that ride and I forgot how great it is! There's a few decent hills and rollers and the weather today was spectacular! I didn't expect the temperature to be near 60 and a few blocks from home I was already overheating in my winter gear.

On the way back home I saw some crazy shit on the corner of Fremont & Stone. I have no idea what set off the situation but a biker turning left on Fremont from Stone enraged some guy in a white car, who nearly spun a 180 in the intersection, squealing his tires, just to change direction and chase the biker down. Gravel flew everywhere! I was waiting at the corner with a few other cyclists and we were all looking on in disbelief. The driver then chased down the cyclist and for a few seconds we were very worried he was trying to run the guy down. The cyclist turned into the parking lot of a pub, probably to get away from the driver, who followed him, got out of his car, and started physically confronting the guy. What the hell!?? Scores of people were just stopped, watching the hold thing unfold, calling 911 and shaking their heads in disbelief. Luckily everything finally disbanded but man, there are some people out there who really shouldn't have a driver's license. If you get that angry behind the wheel, do you think you deserve to drive? It's amazing what people do when they're behind the wheel of a few-thousand-pound steel machine.

Crazy. Everyone stay safe out there!

Bees are bad

Unfortunately I've been so busy at work this week I had to skip the gym both Wednesday and today. That sucks. My schedule should be back to normal next week and the pain can resume! I did manage to get all my rides in this week and put in a great time trial effort on the trainer last night.

I didn't fell well at all this morning so I stayed in bed for a while and got some extra sleep. Marcus had to work late for a post and didn't get in until 3 so I figured between him waking me up and me going to bed at 1:30 I was just tired. Shortly after Marcus left for work I got up, noticed I was itchy, and realized why I was feeling so bad. Hives! Sadly, I have lots of experience with these damn things but I usually have them after taking some type of medication that's not on my known list of 20 things I'm allergic to. Since I'm not taking any meds I was a bit perplexed.

The only thing I could remotely think of was the protein powder I took last night. I deviated from my normal powder and decided to try a little sample of some stuff I got from PCC. As soon as I checked the label and saw "bee pollen" I got a little suspicious. I've survived an unbelievable 31 years without ever having been stung by a bee, so I guess I need to keep that streak going. I took some Benadryl, went back to bed, and now I'm back at work feeling mildly hungover. Guess I won't be taking the PCC powder anymore. Good times!

How to survive a bicycle crash like a pro

Awesome article about surviving a bike crash.

I decided I should bring my rollers to work for live entertainment. I just convinced a fellow bicycling co-worker to give 'em a try. I can't wait!

I was planning on leaving work around 5 and biking home but alas, here it is 6:15. I think I'll drive home instead and hop on the trainer in front of a good movie. It's time trial effort night!!

The amazing Pooh

My little Siamese, Pooh Bear, is successfully recovering from her "dental surgery" last Thursday. She had a few teeth removed due to periodontal disease and cavities. The vet assured me she would feel much better and happier once the teeth were gone. I picked her up last Friday expecting a doped-up sedated cat but she didn't even act like she had been through any kind of traumatic ordeal. I had four teeth removed a few years ago before I had braces and it took me nearly two weeks to function normally again. The kittie is fine after 24 hours. Animals are amazing. The only challenging part now is getting her to take her meds. Cats just love having a syringe full of medication jammed down their throat.

My co-worker showed me this picture of his Alaska buddy's bike. I swear I'm going to get one of these suckers for next winter. Next time we have a horrible blizzard that blankets the city in a whole half-inch of snow I'll be ready....

Weekend of riding

I logged 80 miles this weekend, which is a new record. I'm still a bit short of where I want to be, but I'm taking care not to increase my mileage too much. 98 miles last week! This week I should finally top the century mark.

Saturday I did a team ride around the south end of the lake and out to May Valley. We did a decent climb around Exit 7 near 405. This was definitely one of the harder team rides I've done in a while and everyone was moving at a pretty brisk pace. I still have some trouble hanging onto the pack on Newport, which is right after a decent climb and slightly uphill enough to be a pain in the ass. I'm riding much stronger than I was last year though, so I'm stoked!!

Sunday I headed up Lake Washington Blvd towards the U-District and did some hill climbing. Marcus suggested climbing up 41st in Laurelhurst and boy was that fun. Any hill he suggests is sure to be a butt-buster. I then climbed 65th over to 35th, then headed back south to do Madrona and Seward Park. Good times!

I just bought the best t-shirt ever and wore it to work Friday. I'm such a nerd. It was much appreciated :)