The condo circus

"Entertaining" doesn't even begin to explain this week. My mom finally decided to move to Seattle and flew in Monday afternoon with her two cats. Until she finds an apartment, which is hopefully this weekend, I've got her, me, three cats and a dog all living in my 670 square foot condo. Circus! Jake is doing pretty well with the fuzzy new additions and has only chased them a few times. Since mom's cats have never even seen a dog, it's been funny to watch. I can't figure out if they're too terrified to do anything, or if they just don't know what to do.

Surprisingly, the biggest pill in the mix has been my little Siamese cat. She's the sweetest, most loving, laid-back cat in the world, but she hates other cats. Mom's cats are having a harder time getting along with her than the dog. I think Jake can relate :)

I think the gym will be falling to the wayside this week while chaos ensues, but I'm keeping up on the bike by commuting to work. I might even show my face at Seward tomorrow. At least if I crash, mom is a nurse and will be handy.

This weekend I'm signed up for Longbranch, which will be the first road race of the season for me. I feel like I'm in better shape than I was a month ago, but still have a long ways to go. It will be nice to get out there and get in a good, hard effort. In the meantime, wish me luck with the circus!

Name this creature!

Once upon a time...

...there was a girl who thought she had found her Prince Charming. Every time they were together it was incredible. They competed day and night to out-run each other or out-bike each other, and enjoyed camping, hiking, and cooking. He was amazing, smart, caring, and so much fun. Much time went by and one day Prince Charming said, "This will never work." The girl was taken aback and couldn't understand. Things were perfect.

The next week Prince Charming told her how much he loved being with her and that he couldn't picture himself with anyone else. The girl was happy again, but this had started an endless cycle. One week the Prince would tell her how much he loved being with her and the next he would tell her to move out. Finally, exhausted, she moved out and was sad.

Months went by until they saw each other again and they couldn't deny the attraction, but the girl realized that trying to mend something so broken was futile, and continued on her merry way. A few weeks ago, the girl and Prince met again and still, there was an attraction. He told her again how he could never picture himself with anyone else and she realized how much she still cared for him. Much discussion ensued and one day, the Prince showed up at her doorstep. She was swept away and renewed her faith in him.

A few days later, the Prince told her again that it could never work and in fact, he was still with another. The girl was crushed and couldn't believe her stupidity. After the initial sadness waned, she could only think of ways to hire a dragon to rip the evil Prince to shreds, but alas, no dragons could be found.

The moral of the story is: Always keep a dragon handy. You never know when you could use one.

Thought of the day.

Faith gets you nowhere. That little voice inside your head sure does though.

Kick ass f***ing weekend!

Friday evening I braved the Seattle snow and drove to BC with my friend JoAnne for a weekend long mountain biking clinic. I've been looking forward to this Dirt Series clinic for a while, and it turned out to be even better than I could have imagined. It was cold, but we had sunny skies the entire weekend and awesome riding.

Saturday
My beginner's group started the day with a straight-line riding session. We progressed from a fire hose, to a flat wooden plank, to elevated planks, to teeter totters. Once we got some elevation (and I mean only a few inches) our coaches became spotters to put everyone at ease. When we got to the teeter totter, I was really excited but also scared to death! I've always wanted to try one but have never had the confidence. I looked ahead, did everything the instructors said, and amazed myself by cruising right over it. Awesome! After a few more nervous tries I gained some confidence and had a blast riding over that thing again and again. Woo!

Next I learned pedaling front-wheel lifts. It took me a while to get it but by the end of the hour, sure enough, I could pedal with my front wheel in the air for a second or two. We finished with a braking and descending clinic and got to roll off the end of some boxes that simulated drop offs. After a lunch break, we headed out for our afternoon trail session.

My group rode at Seymour for the weekend and the trails were unbelievably tough with tons of wet roots, rocks, drop offs, and even snow. I couldn't believe how much more confidently I rode and how many more things I was riding over than ever before. Every time we would get to an obstacle, we would stop, check it out, then one by one get spotted by the instructors so we could try it. I definitely have a new found respect for North Shore riders. These trails are tough!

At the end of the afternoon ride, we headed back to the host bike shop for beer and snacks and several bike maintenance clinics. Afterwards, JoAnne and I hit a local Italian restaurant and then crashed hard Saturday night. What a long day!

Sunday
Sunday morning we woke up sore and a bit tired, so the Yoga session that started the Sunday clinics was awesome! We got to pick our morning clinics, and I chose to do more straight-line riding, cornering, and climbing. I really wanted to learn how to do manuals, but I decided I should focus on some basic skills first, then take another clinic to learn more advanced stuff.

After another half dozen shots at the teeter, I think I have a new favorite mountain biking trick! The icing on the cake was nailing an elevated corner twice in a row and finally gaining the confidence I needed to climb uphill over obstacles in the climbing clinic. Awesome stuff!

The Sunday afternoon ride was back at Seymour and the trails were a bit more technical than Saturday. We had some rocky downhill sections and every time we would get to them, I couldn't wait to try it! I love going downhill! I think I may have to try some downhill clinics at Whistler or something - ha! I truly amazed myself by riding parts of the trail that I never would have been able to do before the clinic.

I had an absolutely wonderful time and the coaches and sponsors that put together this clinic deserve huge props. I can't even think of enough good things to say! I've always had fun mountain biking, but now I'm 100% more stoked to hit the trails. I can't wait to hit Tapeworm this week and see how much better I ride!

Thanks Dirt Series!

Headed to BC

I'm still at work....ah the fun of code release night! But tomorrow I head to BC with a friend for a weekend long women's only mountain biking clinic. I can't wait! I've heard awesome things about the Dirt Series so I can't wait to see how it goes. I'm a little nervous since I've heard they push you outside your comfort level pretty far, but I think I'm going to learn a lot, so I'm excited.

Only thing I'm not so stoked about is the weather. The North Shore forecast is barely above 40 and raining. Awesome.

Crazy bike commuters

Oh yeah, and I nearly got killed this morning getting onto the I-90 bike path. I never understand people who ride with their head down when they're coming around a blind corner. I was heading down to the bridge deck from the west side, and this guy was coming up the hill around the corner. He was totally head down, trying to shift his gears, veering all the way across the path. I started yelling, "Hey! Hey! Watch out!" He paid no attention and I squeezed as far as I could to the right, nearly going into the bushes while he just went right by. Once he passed me he nearly jumped right off his bike he was so startled. Idiot.

And I think stoked made an interesting comment on her blog a while back about using headlights during the day. What's up with that? This morning at 8am I passed four bike commuters with headlights blazing. It's the middle of the day folks! Save some energy for the rest of the world.

I'm done now.

The single speed anomaly

I've been commuting to work much more frequently now because it's really the best way for me to get my bike workouts in. About a month ago, I rode my single speed to work twice and figured I'd benchmark my time. My route from Leschi to Bellevue isn't very flat and has some steep hills, but I always seem to get to work faster on the single speed than on any other bike. Whah!? I don't get it. One gear and I go faster? Even with all the hills?

Last week I rode my light, carbon race bike and had my slowest commute yet. Today I rode my semi-heavy rain bike and split the difference. So basically, one speed = faster commute to work. Light, carbon bike = slowest commute to work.

Of course, when I ride the Ruby I'm usually trying to rest my legs, but I'm guessing the lighter and easier the bike becomes to ride, the more lazy I become. Interesting.

The VP smackdown

We couldn't have had a more beautiful day for the crit at Volunteer Park. As such, the turnout was huge and our Women's 4 field had over 50 riders! Awesome!

I knew this race would be rough. I've lost my endurance, my top end, and my climbing. To make it even worse, I hit the gym hard this week and totally killed my legs. My goal was to hang for a lap and then see how long it took to pop. After a few practice laps, I pulled off to the side with a teammate so we could get a good position at the start. Only problem is that we started talking and not paying attention. Suddenly I looked up and everyone was lined up. Shit - nice job! So we lined up in the back and all got crappy starts.

I went hard the first lap and then the second lap I started fading. That damn hill kicked my ass. Last year I launched right up it but this year I couldn't get my legs to spin and my heart rate was through the roof. 2 laps and poof - done! A handful of gals were off the back behind me and slowly they all started catching me. I made attempts to grab a wheel and stick but my legs felt like lead. I couldn't get up the hill, and pretty soon that stupid post-pneumonia cough hit.

At the halfway mark, barely 15 minutes, I called it a day and pulled out. I had my fun, got a good high intensity workout, and didn't need to annihilate myself quite yet. So overall, pretty much what I expected, though I did go out a bit stronger the first lap than I thought I would.

Tomorrow I'm off to Seatac for the morning mountain bike race, then I'll head over to Boat St to watch the crits. The mountain bike race is early enough that I had contemplated doing a double-header, but I think I need to keep the intensity in check and chill.

Indie Series Seatac Shuffle pics

Here's a few good action shots from the Seatac Shuffle last Sunday. Did I mention how much I love my new Kona?

Today I got shelled and annihilated at Volunteer Park. Yep, knew that one was coming and my only expectation was to hang for at least a lap, which I did. Yippee. Funny thing is that I died today after only 3 minutes in Zone 5. Most of VP was Zone 4. I spent nearly an hour in Zone 5 for the Seatac race and faired way better. Guess hammering my legs at the gym this week wasn't such a good idea. The VP race report to follow....

This is going to get expensive...

Premature gray runs in my family so I've been dying my hair all sorts of funky colors for a while now. Usually I go with bright red highlighting, which eventually turns my naturally black auburn hair to a very blondish brown. My gray streaks tend to turn pinkish, so between those, the brown, and the red, I had a disaster of rainbow colors going on.

Tonight was my much anticipated appointment at Vain. I've never had my hair professionally colored, so I was really looking forward to this. Carissa did an absolutely awesome job with my color, considering how horrible it looked when I went in. Then I had it topped off with a kickass cut.

The red highlighting she did looks so bright and awesome! But what's really shocking me about the whole thing isn't the red, it's that the rest of my hair looks so close to my real natural color. It's been years since my hair has been this dark! The red: not shocking. The black: shocking! Go figure. I love it, which means more expensive hair maintenance in my future.

The Indie Series crit at Seatac

I just woke up from my post-race nap after the opening Indie Series MTB race today at Seatac. Yep, it was so good it required a nap. Awesome!

To be honest, after suffering at Budu's technical Black Diamond race in February, I lost some excitement for this new mountain bike racing thing. I'm really glad I raced today though, because it was fun as hell. I fully expected it to be pouring, but there were blue skies and the sun was even out for a bit this morning. I lined up at 9am with a good turnout of 11 gals in the beginner field.

The course wasn't technical and was really fast, which was a fun change. It had some nice climbs that taxed the legs, a few mud puddles to make you dirty, and some short, fast descents. The corners were a bit slick, but by the second lap I was fully comfortable with fish-tailing around them. I got a good start and hung with the lead gals for a bit, but finally started loosing them mostly due to lack of fitness. I fully expected to be bringing up the rear, but instead I was near mid-pack, which motivated me to keep riding as hard as I could to get some distance.

By the second lap they were a ways behind me and I eventually started catching the 6th place lady. Every time the trail turned uphill, I would catch her, but had nowhere to pass. Then once it pointed back down she was off ahead of me. We played this little game for a while and close to the finish, I got jammed going up a hill and had to get off my bike. For the life of me I could not get clipped back in (damn SPDs) and lost too much time to pass her at the end. Oh well.

I knew I was hauling ass the whole race and when I downloaded my Garmin data I found I was in Zone 5 for pretty much the entire hour! Whoa. No wonder I felt wiped. This wasn't a mountain bike race, this was a crit! That's the most time I've spent over Zone 3 since last October! :)

I finished up 7 out of 11. My teammate Josee got 3rd - woo! I'm sure they'll be some good pics shortly, so I'll post some when they're up. I'm off to hunt down some food....

Owe.

As if I didn't hammer my legs enough last night, I had power builders on the menu for today, so I substituted them with a cruise to work on the single speed. I barely made it up the hills this morning. Ouch.

Next up is the opening race in the Indie Series at South Seatac on Sunday. Woo!

My mojo is gone.

I found out tonight just how badly 3 solid months off the bike wrecks your race fitness. Yikes. And that month-long bout with walking pneumonia certainly hasn't helped my cardio at all, that's for sure.

I lined up with the Masters field at PR tonight and as soon as we took off I was thinking, "Whoah. Can we go a bit slower?" I think I was Zone 4 in no time. I'm not supposed to be close to Zone 5 for a few weeks, so when one of my teammates had a wicked front wheel shimmy going down the escape route, I took it as an opportunity to make sure he was ok and soft pedal a lap.

I caught back on to the Masters field for another lap and then got promptly shelled on the climb. This was a bit of a surprise, though I guess it shouldn't have been. I've always been a strong climber, and usually I pass guys on this climb, but not tonight. Every time I was off the back, pulling bricks, bitching and yelling swear words all the way to the top. I had to be entertaining the spectators for sure.

I rode with a HUGE Cat 4/5 men's field for a lap or two, then called it a night. Deanna said they turned out just under 180 people tonight, which is crazy. The Cat 4/5 field alone was near 90. Even with all of those bodies to draft behind, I still couldn't hang. I guess I'm not surprised given my lack of training, but somehow I thought 3 months off the bike would translate to amazing fitness.

The next two months will be brutal. I definitely have my work cut out for me. Not only do I need to get back into race shape, but I have to deal with getting pummeled out there for a while. Burning myself out so badly that I need 3-4 months off the bike is not a good strategy, so I'll definitely be keeping close track of things this year.

Tonight will hurt

I'm headed to PR tonight to finally kick off some training and race with the boys. Given my ambitious winter (yeah, right) this is going to hurt. I'll be lucky to hang half a lap, and that might be optimistic. I just pray that I start out my PR season this year better than last. Last year at my first race, I had an awesome crash on the wet track compound that left me with a cracked rib and severe whiplash. Good times!