Two Weeks in Silver City, NM

Day two and we already saw a road runner

March 2012

We were together for three years.Three beautiful, picturesque years.

I guess it's good to remember the good times. All those lazy mornings drinking an entire french press, or 6. All those minutes spent downloading music. Those winter nights spent watching Titanic for the 5th time that week; I was never judged.
But just as quickly as the random luck (read: student loans) that brought him into my life, my Mac Book Pro has died. I don't know what happened (and if you do, please share). One day the screen froze and after restarting, turned gray and had a folder icon with a question mark. Couldn't be a good sign.
I like to think he's in a better place now, frolicking with all the other obscure technology like AOL disks and every Sony product ever made.
I say this all not only to get your sympathy (although chocolate donations are graciously accepted. I've been told it helps with the healing process) but also to explain the total lack of regard for di's brogger.
In all seriousness, it's been an incredible last month. Since my last post, we traveled from Holland to Italy to train for a week then race. Italy was beautiful. I'd post pictures, but, ya know, they were on my computer.
Carmen Small won the race after attacking the break. So sweet. Here's a great video of the race- the race footage in the second half of the vid is real sweet.


















After Italy, I flew into Redlands, CA to join my teammates for my first race of the year with No Opportunity Wasted. The girls had been in CA for a couple weeks for training camp and San Dimas, so I was late to join to party, but it was well worth the wait. In my laziness, I was going to do a blog post where I post a bunch of pictures and then made up a story to go with, but I can't invent a story as good as real life. In short, Alison Powers finished third in the prolouge TT, then continued to pick up time bonus sprints on her way to winning the last stage and finishing second overall. We also grabbed the team GC overall. It was incredible, and made me even more proud to get to wear the NOW jersey this year, and see what the rest of 2012 has in store!
Onward to Alabama this weekend for Sunny King, then to New Mexico for a week of training followed by Tour of the Gila.

eee, bruh!

Drentse 8

So there I was. Sitting in a holland hotel, watching Toddlers and Tiaras, eating speculoos with a spoon. After just painting each nail a different color Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself.

Or wonder what you’re doing with your life.

Or blog.

I choose the latter.

It’s Holland that’s doing this to me. So far, I really like Holland. Everything about it is just so cute. The towns are seamlessly old and modern, clean and dusty. The people have been so friendly. The food is good. And for the first time ever, I wish I could steal our hotel furniture. Everything is cute. Expect for the, ya know, world cup racing I was about to get into.

eeeek.

The forecast for Thursdays race wasn’t the tulips and sunshine I imagined Holland to be. And instead of getting wooden clogs, I think Holland was trying to turn our legs into blocks of wood. The weather was predicted at around 40 degrees and a 70% chance of rain.

Less than ideal conditions didn’t help my nerves, but then again, I didn’t travel all the way to Europe to race wide, smooth roads beneath sunshine. There’s a lot to learn racing here and most of it seems to involve HTFU.

I was excited for my first race of the season and to experience true Euro spring classic weather. My race goals felt both lofty and incredibly lame: Stay by my teammates (they are all badasses and would be at the front), and to be ready each lap for the cobbles and wind.

I pinned my first number of the year. The race atmosphere was already engulfing- Euro-pop-trash-techno stretched over crackled speakers, hundreds of girls rolled around in foreign kits (big girls, small girls, girls with ripped legs, girls that might not be girls) a man shouted in dutch over a loud speaker. The nerves set in early, but nerves can be a good thing, right?

sweet baby jeebus!

My teammates are superstars- Olympic long listers, previous & current national champions. The race was filled with badasses. (baddassi?) And then there was me. A girl from Wisconsin with admittedly big dream, but permanently inked with chain grease everywhere but on my actual chain. I love races with descents, switchbacks, and although I’m no Shleck, I enjoy climbing. But these races were a style of their own. The narrow, flat, twisty, bricked, cobbled and wind streaked roads of Holland required tons of confidence and skill to navigate in a field of nearly 200 women. And race confidence is something I’m still working on. But fake it till you make it, right? And I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that there was a whole bunch of excitement, exhilaration, mixed in with those nerves.

And so, at 1:00 I began my first Euro race adventure of the year. On the start line it was great to see a few friendly face- Amanda, Sam who had raced usac last week and a few others who were all racing with their UCI team today.

The gun went off. I was already getting pushed around, moving backwards ridiculously fast.

“Oh yeah, this is what it’s like racing here” I was terrified. Breaks screeched, medians split, girls screamed. On a side note, I never can understand why girls scream in races. It’s scary, and doesn’t seem like a good response. (I think there’s a word for it- Darwinism)

But anyways, there I found myself. On a bumpy, slick brick road in Holland, riding in a world class field. Scared.

Common...

Then we went around a corner in town. I took the inside and was able to move up a couple spots. And... it was fun. I felt solid. What I learned last year about moving up through the middle of the field started to come back. Finally.

At this point I glanced down at my bike computer. 5k. I had felt like crying, terrified, reevaluated, and finally, felt like a bike racer again- in just over 3 miles. Sometimes I am an emotional wreck. Sometimes, I forget to leave the tiaras on television.

Get a grip on yourself girl. Seriously.

The next 50k or so were much less dramatic.

It rained a bit, even hailed for a bit, then cleared up. The weather wasn't bad at all- just a bit chilly. It was pretty windy, which made positioning (or at least not being at the very back) more crucial.

The cobbles were really cool. There were a good amount of spectators there and we hit them pretty fast each lap. I hope every girl in that race felt as much of a badass as I did- getting to ride real cobbles- in Holland- after hail! If that’s not getting a sweet taste of Euro spring races, I don’t know what is (although I’m cool not racing in constant rain!)

At one point in the race, I saw Robin. I was so excited to finally see someone I knew- a teammate!

“Hey Robin!” I shouted at her. She was, understandably, in race mode.

“What” I realized then that I had nothing to say.

“ummm.... Hi”

File that one under #shitIdoinraces

But anyways, I felt alright during the race. It really is so different racing here than in the states. There were times I felt comfortable trying to move around the pack, but still, there were a lot of times it felt like I was missing my training wheels.

I'm learning so much being here- both in the races and by being around my teammates. All joking aside, It's really been such an awesome experience. I'm so grateful and despite the challenges, there's no place I'd rather be than here, learning how to bike race.

My day ended in a cross wind. Some old story: Guttered, gaps opened, splits formed. It’s frustrating- my fault for being back. Should’ve known better.

Should’ve would’ve could’ve.

le sigh.

If it were easy, they’d call it football.

And I’m still excited for Saturday.

Some sweet pictures of the race @ WomensCycling.Net

:)

New adventures

It's already 2012. And it's already March in 2012. When did that happen? left NC last Sunday, landed in Belgium Monday morning, and now I'm in Holland about to go recon tomorrows race.

I'm terrified and excited to begin this adventure, but blessed for the opportunity to go chase my dreams.

Info on the Drenthe races:

http://www.rondevandrenthe.nl/

Apocalypse training part 2: Tyvek bags

Let me tell you my life story:

It was an spring day in Belgium. A chilly day- the kind where clouds pressed out the sun and wind squeezed through the window. Although it wasn’t raining, the roads were already wet. Everything seemed to be covered in a misty chill. Yep, an average spring day in Belgium. We were heading out to ride in a hour, so naturally, we all sat around on our computer until fifteen minutes to go.

On time, I ran upstairs to assemble a mass of clothing. If you know me at all, you know this means usin

g my foot as a shovel to kick around clothes until something relevant surfaces. Not kidding.

Well, it all started out alright, as it has for 21 years. Found a big jacket immediately... then two base layers, ls jersey, jacket, shorts, socks, gloves, hat, right leg warmer....left.... My left one wasn’t anywhere. I looked around the pile again. Nothing. Heart rate started rising. Maybe in my shower bag? Nope. Beneath the bed? Nada.

My fleece lined left leg warmer wasn’t anywhere. And so I was faced with a rough decision: Make the group late and be the last one ready for the ride, or head out into the chilly morning underdressed.

It was a Belgian spring ride with bare legs. I guess you have to hit rock bottom before a self committed intervention.

I was finally ready to admit it. I, like many travelers out there, suffered from bag-explosion-itis.

It was time for change.

For a while, I had wanted to learn to sew as a part of my pre-apocalypse survival skill training (only half kidding) and Clayton suggested stuff sacks. If you’re wondering, stuff sacks are fabric sacks with a cord lock that are great to fill with socks, gloves, ect. and really do a lot to help stay organized traveling. It turned out to be the perfect project to cure my bag-explosion-itis, and was sooo easy to make!

Step 1. Grab a couple tyvek mail bags. They’re strong, kinda water repellant, and look really cool. Recycle some, don’t take them directly from the post office because, apparently, that’s a federal crime.

2. Grab a string for the top. I got all Girl Scout camp on mine and made friendship bracelet out of it it.

3. Grab some cord locks. They’re found at a camping store for around 10 cents each.

To make them, consider how

large you want your stuff sack to be. Add an inch. Make an inch cut down a seam. Fold over to make a flap. Sew flap into place. Clayton’s advice- larger stitches work best. The bag is more likely to rip than the stitching is to fall out.

Pull a string through. Cord lock it on the end, and tada! Stuff sack.

Good bye packing nightmares, hello organization!

Oh, and, on a

impractical note, I also made a dress!

(Sorry for the wonky formatting on this post)

The future...

It makes me sad to read an article on women's cycling- and realize the word "woman" brings up “related” advertisements to unrelated sites about Chole Kardashians’s shocking confession and another generic blonde discussing having babies.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE IN THIS WORLD