417BikerGirl

Dang!

2010-07-02T13:39:00.001-06:00

I've just been busy riding my bike!! No time for blogging. Seriously.

Wow!

2009-09-04T10:44:00.003-06:00

It's been a coupla months already! Fall is here, I can feel it, even though it's still unofficial.

My oldest daughter is a senior in high school. This is both exciting and bittersweet. She thinks she'll be moving out when she goes to college (12 miles from our house) next year, but I pretty much know better. Anyone who says they don't like "camping" (in a fully furnished condo with more amenities than we have at home) will not be successful at living on her own for some time. She doesn't read my blog, so it's ok for me to mention how happy this makes me. I just want her to stay home for a little while longer.

My youngest started 8th grade this year and is finally liking school! This also makes me incredibly happy. AND I have no worries about her moving out...EVER. She's made that abundantly clear.

I went to Leadville last month and rode over 3 mountains in some really horrible weather. I rode those mountains outbound. The nice race officials at Twin Lakes had some words to say to me while I was inbound...specifically "Stop, you can't continue. You missed the cut-off." By about 6 minutes. Whatever. I'll be back next year and I'll show you people that I can ride those mountains in reverse.

I'm racing tomorrow for 6 hours or more. I think it will probably be the "more." The Tall Oak Challenge at Binder Lake in Jefferson City, Missouri. Part of the Midwest Fat Tire Series. If my bike cooperates like it should and I remember to fuel properly, I'll do nicely. My family is staying home for this one, so I'll be left to ring my own cowbell when I finish a lap :(

Is it really almost the 4th of July????

2009-07-01T12:00:00.002-06:00

I'm starting to have Leadville nightmares and anxiety attacks on a daily basis. We're leaving for Colorado in approximately 1 month and I can't believe how fast the last 8 months have just flown by!

This spring has been very wet and made riding off-road virtually impossible in my neck of the woods, so I spent alot of time on the trainer and much more recently on my road bike. The past month has seen consistent 200+ mile weeks and that makes me feel pretty good about life. Of course, my family has practically forgotten who I am, but it will all come together when we're on vacation.

I've decided to punt the Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival this year, where I had high hopes of winning the women's downhill, to instead race in Breckenridge. Thank goodness the Breck 100 has a sister-68-mile race! So we're headed to Breckenridge on July 16th to race on the 18th and return home on the 19th. That will be a fast, exhausting trip, but will give me some idea what to expect out of riding at altitude. The 800 feet I ride at currently just isn't cutting the mustard for altitude training.

So that being said, my wish is for everyone to have a safe and happy 4th of July. Just think, Christmas is less than 6 months away!

9 Weeks and Counting!

2009-06-05T15:10:00.002-06:00

My blog has all but died and I've been busy training for Leadville (and stalking Facebook).

Vacation plans have been made, confirmed, paid for and we're ready to roll. I have 9 good weeks left for training. I feel like I have a pretty good base already... a couple of "almost centuries" and a century on the road bike and quite a few good enduro rides on the mountain bike (though not near enough). I'm struggling with the weight not coming off like I thought it would and that's fairly depressing. Hopefully, over the next 9 weeks, the rides will intensify and the weight will take care of itself.

With that being said, I'm going to the grocery store...

Facebook has killed my blog!

2009-04-17T07:03:00.002-06:00

That's definitely an understatement. Most of my activities are posted (frequently) on Facebook. It's just so much easier. Although, I do tweet on occasion and it will update here also on the sidebar, but it's not the same :(

I've been busy upgrading things on my bike...new brakes, shifters, cassette. She rides like new. The plan was to have an entirely NEW bike (frame and all)...and it is still a definite possibility (see "Bike Porn" post), but right now at this very moment I have to really put my priorities into perspective. I have 2 teenage daughters and we are a decidedly middle-class family. That $5,000 could go along way towards college tuition, drum lessons, band stuff, FOOD, a roof over our heads...blah blah blah. So for the time being, the Siren is on the back burner :( BUT, the Salsa is shaping up rather spicely! (yes, I know spicely is not a real word...but it is now because I say so and it goes well with "Salsa").

The kids are gearing up for school's year end and I can't wait for the easy laid back days of summer when they have time to clean the house while I ride my bike!

Vote Earth!

2009-03-25T07:22:00.004-06:00

Update: I did not do the Spa City 6 Hour, which by now, anyone who is on FB knows. I was bummed, but was ~~forced~~ chose, instead to buy my daughter's boyfriend a new windshield. Fun times.

Anyway...

Do this!

I'm doing a 6 hour MTB race...seriously???

2009-02-26T16:14:00.002-06:00

NO! Not seriously, but I am doing it. I'm actually more excited about the fact that there are going to be a couple of very inspiring pro female racers competing. It would not be totally unlike me to say f*!@-it and pull over to watch them race. I'm going to try to have some self-control and not do that though. I'm taking Friday, March 6 off work (it's my 43rd birthday) and at least four of us are going to drive down and set up camp, hopefully before dark-thirty. The extended forecast by the all-knowing weather professionals looks like it could be in the upper 60's to lower 70's...not bad camping weather. I'm going to ignore the little blurb about strong thunderstorms, because they never know what they're talking about when it comes to t-storms.

So it was 70 yesterday and I got to ride for an hour...which sucks when you're trying to train for a 6 hour race. I'm going to a spin class tonight because the sky is seriously foreboding, strong t-storms are predicted, and wind gusts are upwards of 3,972 mph! Bleh! And riding a stationary bike indoors is definitely my preferred method of training...

This weekend a group ride is planned for the Bicentennial Park trails in Neosho. They have a jazzy little 6.2 mile loop with some feeder trails that make for a nice day (ok, 3-5 hours worth, anyway) of riding. We are planning to ride despite the fact that the same weather "professional" who predicted strong t-storms for today has indicated that its going to be 33 and snowing. I've said this before, but I really wish I had a job that wasn't put into jeopardy every time I was wrong! (Though really, I'm hardly ever wrong).

My 13 year old daughter just confirmed on Facebook that she will not only be attending the Tour de Tick MTB race in April, but she will be attending it on her bike in the "juniors" category. This makes me very, very happy.

WARNING...Bike Porn!

2009-02-20T08:06:00.003-06:00

Damn! Does Brendan build some beautiful bikes or what??? Mine will look very similar, maybe with some lovely pink components. High drool factor, whatever the finished product.

Because I'm not a gazillionaire, I've decided to start accepting donations to my bike/race fund (see sidebar). I figure most people would rather donate to me, a somewhat rather entertaining person who is reasonably knowledgeable about bikes and extremely loyal to her friends and lives responsibly (for the most part) within her family's means, as opposed to bailing out their loser neighbor who decided they needed a 25 bedroom/15 bath home and now can't pay for it because they could realistically only afford a cardboard box. So, whatever you, my 1 or 3 or 5 followers, can do to help me out in this harshest of economic times would be greatly appreciated. You will be at the top of my list when I thank my benefactors from high atop a podium somewhere. AND, as if that were not enough, I will send you a personally autographed picture of me AND my bike so you can put it on your fridge and always know that you helped a married, middle-aged mother of 2 teenage daughters, realize her dreams of owning the perfect bike while still allowing her daughters to attend college.

I heart you all!

Fit Class and small jeans...

2009-02-18T08:44:00.003-06:00

I went to a loosely copied version of a Cross Fit workout this morning at 5:30. I think 5:30 a.m. is too early to be up and out of the house, but because my a** is huge and my jeans are getting smaller by the day(which has really put me in the foulest of moods today), I thought I needed to add another early morning workout.

Today's workout consisted of:

25 squats (unweighted)
25 pushups (non-girly)
25 box jumps/step-ups
25 bosu ball line push ups (for these you were on and off the bosu ball as you worked your way down and back up a line of bosu balls - each "up" counted as 1)

x 4 sets.

We followed this with some core exercises and then I spent 20 minutes on the stair climber.

All in all it was a pretty good workout. I would have like to have added some weights to the squats, just to burn my quads out. They were definitely fatigued while I was on the climber, though.

So, if I do all of these workouts, Monday's and Thursday's strength class and run, Tuesday's and Thursday's a.m. Spinning classes, plus longs rides on Saturday and Sunday...why are my jeans getting smaller???? I don't keep a food log, but my meals are small, frequent and consist of a decent balance of carbs/protein/fat. I can't just stop eating because then I would have absolutely zero engergy for my workouts.

Leadville, and every race in between now and then is going to kick my ass if I can't get this stupid weight thing under control!

Gear for Endurance Junkies

2009-02-17T13:15:00.003-06:00

I bought one of these because I am a sucker for a good gear review and because pro mountain biker Sonya Looney said it was pretty cool. And of course, I am forever striving to be one of the cool people. If the Mountain Feed Bag will make me look cool, well then it's a pittance to pay $34.75 to look as cool as one of the pros.

Now that I'm going to look all cool and everything, its probably imperative that I get on my bike and actually ride it, so I don't perform like an idiot.

Obviously, our weather here in the midwest during the winter is questionable at best. The trails are mostly mud pits, unless they're frozen, which happens part of the time, but makes it really hard to plan. Never is it consistently warm enough to get a really great long road ride in that isn't spur of the moment because the weather has taken a surprising turn for the better, and a 2-3 hour ride on the trainer is NOT my idea of fun.

I have a 6 hour race coming up 2 weeks from Saturday and I haven't been on my mountain bike since December.

On second thought, I don't think even a Mountain Feed Bag will make me look cool.

Training

2009-02-17T08:56:00.003-06:00

This could definitely be a post about MY training and how the weather is affecting it, or the lack of sufficient training thereof, I guess I should say. But this is a post about Chuck the Ginormous Puppy and HIS lack of training and MY absolute and utter frustration at the fact that he thinks its fun to go outside and either sit in the rain wondering what that odd sensation is, or chase leaves around the yard in sub-freezing temps and a biting 40 mph wind...anything but doing the deeds that need to be taken care of outside! No, Chuck would rather play outside, despite any inclement weather and then come inside and pee under the kitchen table and poop on the living room rug. Those are his two favorite places. Nevermind that every single time he does it, he gets the crap beat out of him with a rolled up newspaper and is forced to sit in his crate and think about what moral crime it was that he just committed and how that equates to no treat for awhile.

Despite how I feel about my training, it's definitely going better than Chuck's...

Leadville

2009-02-13T12:56:00.002-06:00

It has just sank in how much this is going to hurt. Not only the race, but the training as well. I'd like to think that I could keep a sense of humor about the whole thing, but the truth is...this is some serious shit! Watts per kg of weight, splits, intervals, sodium and potassium intake levels, nutrition...blah, blah, blah.

The reason it is so serious for me and my group of 6 is that we owe a significant amount of gratitude to someone else for making sure this race was something we could do this year. We owe it to them to do our absolute best out there...this is not just a race to finish for the sake of finishing. It has to be our absolute best, all out effort.

I recall last year when I had some very good friends training for IM Couer d'Alene. Every ride and run was for training. They wouldn't do any race that might present the potential for an injury. They were very specific in their training and intensity and not much fun for the rest of us to be around. I longed for the days when we we could go out for the day long rides and chat it up and then hang out after eating Lofthouse cookies, instead of having to fuel properly and rest for recovery. When we all rode together and didn't worry about adding miles to the weekly group rides. I have a feeling the tables have just turned.

Leadville is my Ironman. So it begins...

Dear Mr. Postman...

2009-02-12T08:29:00.002-06:00

I just want to apologize for my rant on FB this past Monday about how I was going to beat the sh*t out of you if you did not deliver my Leadville confirmation. I also want to apologize for calling my local post office and ranting to your co-workers about how I thought, not only were you doing a sh*tty job delivering the mail, I had come to the conclusion that you weren't delivering MY mail AT ALL and were, in fact, hoarding it to play some sort of cruel trick on me in my time of angst and anxiousness.

I hereby acknowledge that you DID deliver my mail on Monday, all of it, including my Leadville confirmation card. My kids decided to punk me and hide it.

So, on behalf of me and my family, Mr. Postman, I apologize.

But if you could please deliver my bills to someone else, that would be much appreciated.

Still waiting...

2009-02-07T07:35:00.002-06:00

The anticipation is unbearable. Leadville yippee card, where are you???

It is ridiculously windy here in 417-Land. There was mtb ride planned for today leaving from HQ of the Bonk Hard Chill.
A nice long ride, planned particularly to avoid the gusting wind, followed by watching our friends win the race (yeah, we have very high expectations of our friends-after all, second place is first loser). Pre-ride reports listed the trails as "sloppy." Now, I don't mind riding in some mud, but when the mud is sloppy enough to destroy parts on your bike (being as how I don't have a sponsor willing to just replace ridiculously expensive parts on my bike for free), I don't much care for trashing my bike on a training ride. So I'm stuck with a windy road ride today. Maybe the 40 mph gusts will subside enough for me to get in a 4 hour ride, maybe some hill repeats.

Bryan is off to his mother's to clean up the damage from last week's ice storm. They lost power for quite some time and the damage to trees is somewhat like what we saw the past 2 years. The girls and I are having some mother/daughter time. They'd prefer to be with their friends, or boyfriend, or really anyone but me. I believe it is a stage and it will pass. We definitely need some together time now, because when that Leadville confirmation DOES arrive, they're going to miss me.

Waiting Not So Patiently...

2009-02-04T15:01:00.002-06:00

I'm waiting and I'm not at all happy about it. Leadville entry selections were supposedly made last Saturday, January 31, and we should be hearing yea or nay at any moment. I check my online bank account obsessively about every 45 minutes. Like the Leadville operation has time to electronically process my check...or maybe they do. I have never wished for someone to take $250 OUT of my checking account any more than I have wished for them to take it like, yesterday!

Training has begun and, at this point, its more maintaining my base than anything. I've been focusing on HR and watts on the trainer and can say that when I use the HR monitor only, I feel like I'm in pretty darn good shape. Watts...they're another story and I don't really like them right now.

Because the weather took a turn for the better last weekend (after yet another ice storm), we were able to get in some good road rides both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a nice easy 2 hour ride on some gentle rollers. Sunday was our club Super Bowl ride and several of us decided to pre-ride the loop, turning it into a nice and much needed 3 hour ride. Most of our time was spent traveling into a headwind or cross wind, but we still managed to average 16.2 mph...hills and all. I was pleased, particularly with it being February 1!

Big plans in the works for the upcoming weekend and a trip to the lake to get in some really good trail riding on Saturday and, hopefully, watch our friends win a race.

Chuck the Incredible Pooping Machine...

2009-01-27T13:06:00.005-06:00

Is it safe to give puppies Imodium???

We are "iced" in today with this incredible pooping machine. He loves to go outside because he knows he'll get a treat as soon as he does his business outside, but he must save some up as an extra special treat for when he gets back inside, because he'll poop again in 3 or 4 different spots, and generally never in the same place twice.

Yes, we are stuck at home because of some ridiculous ice storm. This one is not nearly as bad as the previous 2 years, but it's wreaking havoc nonetheless.

It's also throwing a major wrench in my training plan. I have my first 6 hour race coming up in just over a month, March 8 to be exact. That's 6 hours on a mountain bike riding a loop of singletrack as fast as I can...pretty much near my V02 max the entire time. Right now, I feel as though that will never happen. I will be laughed right out of the park, I'm sure.

Of course being stuck at home with 2 teenage girls and nothing to do but bake muffins and cookies isn't too good for the ole training plan either.

Trainer time...

New Year....New Look

2009-01-02T09:40:00.002-06:00

Time for some changes all around. Since I'm not an HTML wiz, I'll be using a standard pre-determine Blogger template. Awhile back I tried messing with the HTML and changing things around and ended up pretty much deleting most of everything in my blog that I considered important and relevant...so I just stick with the basics.

I've started out the new year on a pretty darn good foot. Yesterday was a 2 hour ride and though I could definitely feel the difference between January 2009 and July 2008, I felt like I had maintained much more than just my base. I feel like I'm in a pretty good spot right now. Today is supposed to be almost 60 degrees, which means a nice 3-4 hour road ride!

My running on the other hand, is...well, I don't even know if you could call it running. When I run on anything other than trails, my dog tows me and then its never more than 6 miles. I can eek out a 2 to a 2 1/2 hour trail run, but the hills are killing my right knee at present and recovery time is 2 days. We're going to Memphis, TN on the 18th for the Swampstomper 25k trail run and there are some bits of elevation gain, but for the most part the trail is flat (I'm praying, anyway). I am currently debating doing the Sylamore 25K in February or the Bonk Hard Chill adventure race...weather could be a determining factor, because I'm not sure about doing an adventure race in sub-freezing temps, and that's a definite possibility!

My daughter's 17th birthday is next Thursday. Her wish list is longer than her Christmas list and she got EVERYTHING on her Christmas list. I have set that bar too high and I'm going to fail, I can already tell. But can a parent ever do anything right in the eyes of a 17-year old?

Chuck the Puppy, we have determined, is going to be huge! He's 8 weeks old, and though he looks to be the cutest thing on the face of the earth right now, he is a MONSTER. I just found out his father was 125lbs and his mother was 70lbs. That could make a potentially ginormous eating and shitting machine! I'm scared just thinking about it. Scarey stuff...I should go ride my bike now.

Goodbye 2008!

2008-12-31T08:25:00.006-06:00

I think Facebook has almost killed my blog. I find it extremely difficult to keep up with both, particularly since Facebook seems to get in the way of EVERYTHING!

I'm have been busy thinking about making some resolutions though, none of which have materialized on paper yet thus far, so here goes.

First, I'm resolving to not be a bitch. That encompasses alot of various personality traits that could be considered very bitchy in a very bad way. My family will be so very happy. I'm not talking about getting rid of the good bitchiness, I resolve to keep that in tact. This resolution includes not being so selfish, which is the epitome of bitchiness in my book. I will listen to my family's wants and needs and do my best to balance them with my own instead of tipping the scales in my favor.

Second, I am NOT resolving to lose any weight this year. I NEED to lose a few pounds, but I'm leaving that up to my Leadville training. If I stick to any sort of training plan, the pounds should dissolve without me even being aware of it, that's the best kind of resolution.

Third, I am resolving to increase my level of intensity and specificity in my training and racing. In hindsight, this past year I enjoyed being able to race at a level probably somewhere between sport and expert with very little thought given to my training. I managed to even go home with a few podium spots during the year, but if I actually stuck to some sort of training plan and got serious about it, my performances would be so much more impressive for my age group. This is going to sound "bitchy", and in no way negates any part of resolution #1, but I resolve to NOT stop and help every person that needs help during a race, giving away all of my tools, supplies and food (yes, I do this...probably to make up for the guilt of being such a bitch in other areas of my life). I will not stand around for 10 minutes while someone uses my multi-tool to repair their bike (yeah, I really did). I will just kindly ring my bell and wish them luck, nothing personal.

Fourth, I resolve to eat better. Period.

Fifth, I resolve to dress better at work. I don't actually wear anything offensive, but since I spend so much money on "gear," I typically consider the purchasing of work clothes to be a waste of money. Now, if I didn't have this job, I would not be able to spend the ridiculous amounts of money that I do on bikes, gear, races fees, and travel. I should probably treat my wonderful job with a bit more respect, and I resolve to do just that.

Sixth, I'm going to be more vigilant in performing routine maintenance on my car. My car hauls me (and my bikes) to wherever it is that I need to go...I have generally taken better care of my bikes, but that was when my bikes were worth more than my car.

Seventh, I WILL take a multivitamin every day! Starting tomorrow...

Happy New Year! Be safe!

This morning...

2008-10-01T13:15:00.003-06:00

I was driving to work and got behind an older purple Ford extended cab pickup truck with Tennessee plates and a mural on the tailgate with "Guadulajara" running across the top in big swirly letters. As I pulled up alongside the truck, I noticed it was jam-packed full of Mexicans. As I pulled away, I counted them in my rear-view mirror...there were ten of them in the cab of that truck! I'm pretty sure they were in violation of the seat belt laws of the good old State of Missouri.

It Ain't a Party Until Somebody Gets Hurt

2008-09-25T15:46:00.002-06:00

Isn't that freakin' awesome? I'm so proud of it. Particularly since I can still race on Saturday. It's made me more snarky (that's for you Mallie) than ever. I'm hoping I'll look intimidating with my injuries and bandages and everything all taped up. I may not bathe either.

I've been married 17 years today! To the same guy. I got him a nice card and a new Kenda tubeless tire setup for my Salsa. We're grilling burgers tonight and then for a romantic weekend, I volunteered him to volunteer at the Berryman Adventure Race, while I'm racing. Am I really lucky or what?

Facebook

2008-09-17T09:59:00.003-06:00

For anyone who doesn't already know this, Facebook is really, really, really addictive. In a bad way. Unlike biking, which is addictive in a good way.

I've been spending way too much time on Facebook, but it's just so much easier.

My last post was over 2 weeks ago! Since that time, I completed the Death Ride, which wasn't so much of a death ride because I'm still alive, AND raced with a team at the Sac River 12 Hour, where our co-ed team took 2nd.

I'm now looking for a fourth person to race the 12 hour Berryman Adventure Race in a little more than a week and am getting ready to boost the ole' training jets to get ready for the Berryman Epic mountain bike race at the end of October.

I'm loving Fall right now, even though it's still officially Summer. But the temps have dropped, there is relatively little humidity, the sun is shining almost every day and the trails are drying up! My kids are doing great in school this year and are loving it. I really can't complain about anything.

So, it's all been good...

5 Ugly Step Sisters Death Ride

2008-08-28T13:21:00.002-06:00

I christened the ride we're doing on Labor Day "The 5 Ugly Step Sisters Death Ride."

It's a road ride starting from Hollister, Missouri, through and around Branson, Missouri and the Ozark Mountain High Road. Approximately 60-80 miles. And then some. I don't have the exact elevations and, quite frankly, I don't think I want to know.

Apparently there are 5 ugly "hills" that have been described to me as "gut wrenching."

This is something that I am going to participate in willingly and enjoy. At least for the first 2 minutes.

This is a crazy busy month, because the following Saturday, Sept. 6, is Sac River 12 Hour which I'm competing in as part of a 3-person team. That should be just loads of fun and the first time I've done any night riding all year!

The following week the Tour of Missouri hits the roads here and I'll be following them at least in Springfield and Branson. This year, they've opened up the Branson time trial course to anyone who wants to ride it before the professional time trial on Wednesday. There will be timing so you can compare yourself to the pros.

Yeah, like I want to do that.

While the TOM is wrapping up in St. Louis, I'm hoping to be at Devil's Den on the 13th competing in the N.W. Arkansas Mountain Bike Championship series downhill and possibly the cross-country races.

Then, hopefully, after a week of rest (and my 17th wedding anniversary), we head to Van Buren, Missouri for another go at the ass-kickin' Berryman Adventure Race on the 27th. This is probably my favorite adventure race of the year. Race HQ is located at Big Spring and it is just an absolutely beautiful area. I enjoy every moment.

Things are also getting back into a "fall" routine with the girls being back in school. Even though we're busier, life seems less chaotic because were on a schedule.

New Bike???

2008-08-26T08:17:00.002-06:00

Mia's Bike
Originally uploaded by Running Amuck

Everyone should have a bike with their name on it! The Giant demo boys were nice enough to have one ready and waiting for me. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me take it with me... They're not available until next month either. Patience is not one of my stronger characteristics, either. I'll be visiting my LBS today to discuss the personalization option. I think it looks cool.

So, HHH, what can I say? I went down to Texas with a specific goal in mind. A sub-5 hour century. Pardon me, century+2 miles. It was certainly a push, but in the end, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I felt so good the entire time, I'm thinking I left something out there. I kept waiting for the fatigue of our 25 mile ride on Friday to start rearing it's ugly head, but it never did. I never felt like my legs were going to give out at all.

The funny thing is, riding with flatlanders makes you feel almost super human. The "hills" on the course were nothing compared to what we're used to here in 417-land and we ended up flying by practically everyone at those points on the course. They'd slow down to a crawl and we were still hammering away at 22-24 mph. It felt really empowering to pass a guy on $11,000 Pinnarello. I wanted to tell him he had a nice bike, but if the shoe was on the other foot, that would have just pissed me off.

I remembered almost every point on the course from last year's ride, which means I was definitely riding too slow last year. We didn't stop this year until Hell's Gate, 60 miles in. We made it there in 2:44 and by that time, I needed a break to stretch my legs and fill a bottle. We spent a whopping 3 minutes at that stop where I was able to grab 1/2 a banana and a pickle before heading back out onto the course. That was my only "solid" food on the ride and the only time we stopped.

By the time we hit the city streets it was almost noon and I knew I was barely going to make the 5 hours so I couldn't let up. Thankfully, that final surge of adrenalin kicked in and I was able to keep it steady through the finish line where I crossed in 4:57!

I immediately grabbed a Coke at the finish line, which I never do, and found that Coke is probably the best race and post-race drink ever invented! Am I like the last person on earth to figure that out???

The next best post race drink would have to be Coronas and margaritas, because I had quite a few of those, also.

We had a great trip overall. Our hostess, Carol, is definitely the hostess with the mostest. She feeds us well, likes to hang out with us and doesn't care when one of us clogs up her toilet because he decided to drink Epsom salt the night before a ride and she has to call a plumber to snake it. Well, maybe she did mind, but she and her friends certainly got a good laugh out of it. She invited us back next year, so it couldn't have been the worst thing ever.

The drive home was probably the hardest part of the trip. We kept stopping to eat along the way and stretch our legs, but it was still probably never enough stretching because my hamstrings were tight and I was still hungry on Monday.

We're already talking about a 4:30 finish next year. Provided were at the front to start and hang on to the wheel of a tandem the entire time, it can be done.

And I'm absolutely sure I can do it on a personalized bike that is certain to make me go faster!

Hotter Than Hell!

2008-08-25T14:15:00.002-06:00

It really WAS hotter than hell this year!

But I hit my goal of a sub-5 hour century, so I was done by noon before the temp peaked at 98! THAT is an amazing feeling.

Riding an average of 21.8 over 102 miles in the saddle is not something I care to do often. We were definitely missing the diversity of our Ozark Mountains!

It was a great weekend though. Ride report and pics forthcoming.

First Day of School!

2008-08-21T08:39:00.002-06:00

My girls went back to school yesterday. Hilary started 11th grade and this is Hallie's first year in middle school, 7th grade. They are so different...

DSC01565
Originally uploaded by Running Amuck

I'm leaving today for HHH. It's my understanding that it's NOT hotter than hell in Wichita Falls, Texas right now. But it does appear that it will be very hot down there. It is not, however, hot here in southwest Missouri. It's very cool. Yesterday it got up to a sweltering 67. Very weird. This is mountain biking weather!

I'm extremely excited about HHH this year. We have a group of about 50-60 people from Springfield doing the ride. We will have a HUUUUUUGGGE paceline and my hopes of a sub-5 hour century are starting to fall into place. I just hope I can handle both types of heat.

I'm more excited about the expo though. They have the best expo ever! As much as I HATE shopping, this is different. It's bike stuff shopping, not the same as regular "mall shopping." You can drink beer while you shop, if that's something you chose to do the day before a big century ride. Usually, that's the option I choose. It makes spending large amounts of money less frightening.

Beer Thursday

2008-08-14T07:12:00.003-06:00

I love Thursday group rides. Crowds are getting bigger at Beer Thursdays with the weather being cooler. The service still sucks on the patio, though. I love it when we sit down in our sweaty bike jerseys, looking really thirsty like we could drink 10 or 20 pitchers of beer and people are staring at us like they've never seen people in bike jerseys use water glasses from the previous patrons to take a bath. Maybe that's why the servers work so hard to avoid us. You would think they would realize that people who spend thousands of dollars on a bike might have a few extra dollars to throw in as a tip...but they just don't get it. Yet we keep going back. The worse the service gets, the harder I work at being as offensive as possible.

School starts next Wednesday. I can't believe Hallie is in 7th grade and Hilary is a junior in high school. Freaks me out! Hallie had orientation yesterday and picked up her schedule, met her counselor, found her locker and all of her classes. Hilary walked her around the building and made sure Hallie knew where everything was at. Then she took her to McDonald's for lunch. She's such a great big sister. I'm so fortunate to have such great kids!

I'm taking them to Branson school shopping this weekend and then to Celebration City. We're going to make a day of it since they decided they didn't want to go on vacation. They'll be excited to know that they're getting most of the vacation money for school clothes.

As if I don't have enough on my plate for this weekend, we're trail running at Busiek Saturday morning!!! TRAIL RUNNING...I don't think I've been this excited to run since I did my last marathon. It's going to hurt, I just know it.

Lurkers

2008-08-13T08:11:00.003-06:00

I thought I was getting away with just deleting my uber-long post of yesterday, but a friend of mine, Dennis (he's a lurker), said he likes to read my blog on Mondays just to find out how my weekend was. So, he caught my rant about stupid people on bikes.

My weekend was actually pretty great. As Bryan was in the southeastern part of the state retrieving Hallie from camp, I rode 75.68 hilly miles at a 17 mph average. That made me happy because there were some monster climbs and, at times, I thought my legs were going to totally give out. Plus, we were riding with a couple of masochists who like to push the pace UP the hills and create large gaps in the paceline so as to make those of us who are weaker work a bit harder. I know they're only thinking of me and how hard I like to train. Love them for that.

Then, because I looooooooooove running so much, I ran 6 hilly miles on Sunday. Most of them trail, which makes a whole entire world of difference. I realized I don't really hate running, I just hate running on the road. I'm going to try to avoid the asphalt from now on. I think.

Monday was a nice core workout followed by a 3 mile tempo run...on the f*@#ing asphalt. But it wasn't bad and it felt kind of good to run fast(er).

Tuesday night was group ride night and we normally add miles to the route, but we decided to add miles to our already added miles to get a good midweek ride of 50 miles. It was almost dark by the time we made it back to the parking lot, but I felt great knowing that I would have over 200 miles for the week. A great precursor week to the Hotter-n-Hell Hundred on the 23rd!

I got this yesterday. It's pretty cool and has XM Radio. It's not an iPhone, but I hate AT&T and won't go back, not even for an iPhone.

Freak Parade

2008-08-08T12:57:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow my baby comes home from camp!!! Her dad and sister are leaving in the morning to pick her up. The week has flown by. I'm sure she's grown another 2 inches!

While they are making the 2 hour drive to pick Hallie up, I will be riding a fast metric century.

I say "fast" but I don't know for a fact that it will be fast. In order to ride 62 miles in 3 hours it will have to be at a 20 mph average. And, to me, that's fast. I will at least be going that fast for the first hour. After that, it's anybody's guess what my legs will decide to do.

However fast I'm going, it's certain to NOT be as fast or as painful as this ride. Tomorrow morning, 6:30 a.m. MST. It's on my calendar for next year. Provided they pick me. Please, God, let them pick me.

Last night was Beer Thursday. There was also a Parrothead meeting and Johnny Cash Karaoke night...all at the same pub. Seriously, it looked like a freak parade.

I'm in the process of building up a singlespeed. It's an older Cannondale and right now it's baby blue. I'm leaning towards painting the entire thing pink. I have absolutely NO idea what kind of gear ratio to use. Someone told me 40/16.

I'll surely look like a freak in my own parade.

Four miles and some change

2008-08-06T11:51:00.002-06:00

I ran at noon today and it was only 79 degrees outside. Weirdness, considering yesterday it felt like 140 outside.

Anyway, I thought 79 was a clear indicator that I needed to be outside running, not inside on a treadmill slacking off. So I ran at 11:00 a.m. when it was 79 degrees and I went 4 or so miles and it sort of hurt, but it sort of wasn't even half as bad as I expected. I had to keep repeating my mantra "Berryman - 6 weeks" over and over again.

Berryman will only have 7-15 miles of running. But WHERE we will be running is more important than HOW FAR we will be running. It will be f*#@ing unbearable to run even a mile on those hills if I don't start increasing my mileage NOW! We're doing the short course as opposed to the long 36-hour course, but in any event, running even 7 miles after, in between, or before biking somewhere around 50 miles is going to hurt, regardless of my training.

So I'm going to start running more. I'm almost certain. I think.

But I'm still going to ride my bike more. Because I like it better.

Though, deep deep down, in places that multi-sport athletes don't go, I secretly hate running.

Triple Digits

2008-08-05T12:09:00.004-06:00

The temps have not "officially" been triple-digit, but the heat indices have been hovering around 107-108 degrees for the past 5-6 days.

We attempted last Friday night to go to the fair and eat as much fried food as possible on $100. Two corn dogs, 4 roasted ears of corn, a funnel cake split 4 ways, 2 lemonades, 2 little brown jugs (root beer), 1 deep fried Snickers, and $45 later, we made our way to the car with 4 upset stomachs and 14 unused ride tickets. No Rudy's BBQ. No Tornado Taters. No Indian Taco. No cinnamon roll as big as my head. At least we weren't going to "pay for it" on Saturday.

There was an organized MS 150 training ride (which I never do each year, the MS 150) early Saturday morning of 50 miles. Several of us had decided there was no need to try to figure out a route that has convenience stores/rest stops strategically placed when somebody has already done the work for us. Personally, I thought it was a great route. Rest stops were plenty close enough to each other, but apparently the blazing heat practically sucked the life out quite a few people. Five or six of whom we encoutered on our reverse trip. A few were sitting in front of a house under a tree. The homeowner had graciously allowed them to use her garden hose to refill water bottles and cool themselves off. One other gentleman was about 1/2 mile away and couldn't even make it to the house. He was staggering around and appeared to be somewhat disoriented. We forced him to sit down and pour a bottle of water over his head and drink whatever electrolyte drink he had left in his bottle.

At this point, I started handing out spare Endurolytes and gel packs that I had in my pockets to people who all appeared to be in significant danger. I can only say, I don't understand.

We finished our ride and ended up with 68 miles overall. I felt really good, despite the fact that I looked like I had been dipped in pond scum and probably smelled like a water treatment facility.

Sunday we delivered Hallie to camp. We got up early so we could finish packing. Unbelievable how a 12 year old thinks they can make it through a week of camp without any underwear or a comb, but I can remember spending what seems like the entire week in my swimsuit and never even washing my hair. Although, I don't think that was really the case. I'm pretty sure I took at least one shower.

Bryan will be picking her up on Saturday morning by himself because I will be doing another local "training" ride. The Tour de Cox. 62 miles. With Fuddruckers at the finish!! Who doesn't want a greasy cheeseburger after hammering 62 miles in the blazing heat? Well, I do and I'll probably eat 2 or 4.

So today it's still 98 degrees outside. I don't care to know what the heat index says. Hot is hot. It will be good practice for the Hotter-n-Hell 100 where they've been having triple digit temps for the past 20+ days.

This will be my second attempt at a sub-5 hour century. Originally, we had family plans to be in Florida on vacay, but my kids don't want to go because 1) it's too hot; 2) they don't want to miss the first 3 days of school; and 3) my 16-year old wants to work.

Do I have great kids or are they just weird?

Fair Friday

2008-08-01T12:55:00.003-06:00

How appropriate that it follows Beer Thursday. Thank God it only happens once a year!

I've had an apple today. I'm saving up all my daily allotted calories (which I track so carefully) so that I can splurge on anything and everything fried and on a stick, or in a bowl, with frosting or butter or ketchup.

But first, I must vent. There was a guy at our group ride last night who so very obviously do NOT have any flippin’ clue of how to ride in a paceline, or a pack, or peloton or whatever you want to call it. I have found my riding niche and it is tucked firmly inside the mostly-faster-than-everyone-else group. They ride fast, but they also ride safe and for the most part, will not tolerate inconsiderate or unsafe riders. There is a faster-than-everyone-else group, but those guys are crazy fast and will generally drop anyone they deem not worthy or who looks stupid. Anyway, last night, some uber-dumbass on a tri-bike (uh, that was dumbass move #1) who we’ve never really seen before, somehow managed to cut into our paceline (dumbass move #2). But wait, he didn’t cut all the way in, just enough to leave a big enough gap between me and the person ahead of him that it created less of a draft (dumbass move #3), making me work harder than I ever should have had to. Every time I tried to bridge the gap, he moved back over in front of me (dumbass move #4). So not only did he cut into my paceline, and create a gap, but he was also boxing us in (dumbass move #5), with his in the line, out of the line, can’t make up my mind bullshit. Then he’d go to the front and slow us all down because he’d wasted all of his energy sprinting to the front (dumbass move #6). I wanted to unclip a foot and kick the shit out of him! When he finally moved out of the way, I did manage to blurt out how much he was pissing me off, so I got my 2 cents in, and then we dropped him. This is why it was necessary to institute Beer Thursday.

All of that and we still managed a 20.4 mph average over 23 miles. Sweet!

The race downhill back to the pub was fun and then we had a nice frosty pitcher of beer and some nachos.

Beer Thursday!

2008-07-31T14:20:00.005-06:00

I love Beer Thursday. We ride from a local pub situated along the Greenways trail so we can sit in the beer garden after our ride and have a frosty pitcher of our favorite beverage.

Beer Thursday is also Fast Thursday. We ride fast so we can be done and get to the beer part. It's usually packed. But I'm one of the cool kids that is fast enough to get there in time to get a great table.

Beer Thursday makes me feel better about not looking like Dara Torres.

I lost my widgets!

2008-07-30T15:40:00.004-06:00

My desire for a new blog look caused me to lose my widgets! I sort of hate it when that happens.

A new bike would probably make me feel better.

That is a pretty Giant TCR Advanced. They don't have any in the shop right now. They were talking about ordering one for me. Aren't they nice?

Gas is $3.38 a gallon and I'm excited about it????

2008-07-30T09:09:00.003-06:00

I feel like I'm gambling. Do I fill up now while it's $3.38, which seems like a bargain compared to $4.00, and then feel like I've lost money if it goes down yet again tomorrow, or risk not filling up and feeling as though I've also lost if it goes up tomorrow??? It's not like I'm betting my daughter's college fund or anything, but seriously, it stresses me out.

I just found out yesterday that the 24 Hours of Landahl near Kansas City has been cancelled for lack of early registration. Guess the local 12 hour on September 6, will have to do. I can't say that I'm terribly disappointed because the sheer expense of a 24 hour race would have me stressed beyond belief. But I'm thinking about taking a chance on the NW Arkansas Championships in the women's downhill at Devil's Den on September 13. Given my stellar performance (self-pat on the back here) in the downhill at Fat Tire Festival, I'm thinking I could do pretty well. Plus, it's close and registration is nominal.

Berryman is also now less than a month away. They tout is as a real ass kicker.And it usually is. I'm more anxious about this race this year than I have been in years past. I think it's the running, of which there will be alot of. Particularly the running hills. Van Buren, Missouri sits mostly in the middle of the Mark Twain National Forest and the hills, while certainly not considered mountains by any standard, are not just "hills." Nobody who has walked away after completing this race has commented on the little hills. It usually more like, "Oh, those mountains f*!@#ing sucked!" They may have been hills before the race. But after the race, they feel like anything but...

Unfortunately, I'm still having great difficulty forcing myself to run. Every mile hurts. Which means Berryman is going to hurt doubly bad.

Speaking of hurt... Ever done one of these??? I did. Monday's Cross-Fit WOD. And today, every square inch of my body is in pain. I seriously could not stand on my bike last night and purposefully avoided a 2 mile stretch of 3 nasty hills because it hurt so bad. I was very specific with the trainer in that I wanted to "enhance" my cycling. In no way did I ever imply that I wanted to work out so hard that even breathing would bring forth intense pain. I've decided to not go back. My nice comfy fitness center with the full service Subway shop in the lobby is perfect. And I can talk back to my trainer. Sort of. Because sometimes I can actually drop him on rides.

I am so excited about this.

George is coming back to defend his title, along with Team Columbia. I've volunteered for the Clinton to Springfield stage and the Branson time trials. I will most likely take my girls out of school because, after all, this is the closest we're going to get to THE Tour. Offical participating teams have not yet been announced, but I'm hoping Garmin-Chipotle comes back, and would love to see Jelly-Belly (powered by local celeb-cyclist Brad Huff).

Running...Not...Part II

2008-07-28T10:13:00.002-06:00

I did not run this past weekend. I did, however, buy new running shoes. Does that count?

I didn’t ride either. Unless you count the 2 miles round trip from the parking lot to the trailhead where we were performing some trail maintenance. The trails are in pretty bad shape and continue to be torn up by the horseback riders who insist on riding when the trails are wet. We actually had a meeting and a cookout with the Backcountry Horsemen and the area manager for the Missouri Conservation Dept.. We were able to come to some agreements and understandings thankfully, instead of it being a heated blame-game. As it stands, the mountain bikers are going to raise some funds to hire a professional trail design company, and hopefully bring in IMBA, to build some new properly designed singletrack. The Conservation Dept. has said that they will step in immediately and match any funds we raise. I actually had to ask them if I had heard them correctly when they said that. “Immediately” and “match funds.” Those are some pretty sweet words when you’re looking to build some new trails. The horse people agreed to make a concerted effort to help maintain the new trails, but primarily to use the existing trails and not the new singletrack. Of course there will always be rougue horseback riders, just like there are rogue mountain bikers, unfortunately, and there is nothing that either group can do about that.

I told my youngest, Hallie, that if she would help with the trail maintenance, I’d buy her a new DS game. She would have done it without the bribe, but she’s been really good lately and that’s a pretty big deal for a kid to get out in 100 degree temps and hike around the side of a mountain digging in the dirt. She ended up playing in the river for over an hour after lunch. I think she had fun, actually.

Sunday, I took her to the crit races. There were approximately 150-200 cyclists from all over the state competing and I always have a great time watching. It was hot again, but sitting in the shade with the breeze definitely helped. There were a couple of really good wrecks, one stemming from a blowout around a corner that took out about 8 riders and a female spectator. The bikes were trashed.

Just when I think I’d like to try a crit, I witness a nasty accident and I’m jerked back to reality and the fact that should I destroy my bike, I wouldn’t be able to immediately replace it. No crits for me, thank you!

Hilary started band camp this morning. From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day for two weeks. Next week Hallie heads off to camp for a week and then we have a week in between before we head to Florida on vacation.

Please God, let gas prices continue to fall.

Running...Not!

2008-07-24T08:43:00.002-06:00

Actually, I did run last night. If you can call it "running." At an air conditioned gym, next to a big fan, on a treadmill with a big red "STOP" button that I could push anytime I wanted. I always hit the "off" button for all of the readouts because I don't particularly care to see how much farther I have to go before I reach my goal distance, nor the speed or pace at which I'm running. That seems to somehow make it less painful. It didn't really matter though, because I freakin' hated every damn second! I seriously don't know what my problem is. Everything was f@*!-this and f@*!-that. I'm surprised they didn't kick me out. The only time I found it the least bit enjoyable was when I increased the incline to 12 and slowed down to more of a hike/jog for the last mile...it mimicked being outside on a trail. Maybe I should just do that every time.

In any event, I HAVE to start running. I anticipate the Berryman will have somewhere between 15-20 miles of running/trekking, and that distance is damn near impossible on a mere 8 miles per week training, regardless of how much time I spend on my bike.

Time for an attitude adjustment.

The fair is here. The "county" fair. The Ozarks Empire Fair. I starve myself for a day and 1/2 just so I can eat fair food - everything fried and on a stick! That thar is some good eatins!

Fatty Fat Fest!

2008-07-21T15:01:00.006-06:00

Eureka Springs and all her colorful glory was out in full force for the Fat Tire Festival this past weekend.

We enjoyed our stay at the never renovated, but always kitschy and uber-bike and pet friendly Joy Motel. We were able to check in early Friday so the girls could swim while I got in some much needed downhill pre-rides.

Pre-rides started at 2:00 with the shuttle meeting us at the Leatherwood ball fields, which was also race HQ. There were a few guys doing the Omni Challenge (all four events) who had shorter travel XC bikes, but my Giant Trance X1 was exactly what I needed with 5" of travel front and back, which was more than what they had. The course was .9 miles and started off a ramp into some really tight switchbacks before hitting a little drop over into a steeper drop and into more switchbacks before mellowing out into some nice singletrack before the rock garden. I chose the Sally line through the rock garden, as my other option was an approximate 4-6 foot drop off a big rock wall (I was racing for fun, not trying to kill myself). That immediately flowed into a jump, which I was told I could roll over, but the 3-4 feet of air was way more fun, so I hit it as hard as I could. The course then dropped onto a steep doubletrack where you could really pedal hard and gather some speed for the last jump before the double drops and gap jump to the finish. I have never had such an adrenaline rush on a bike before. Seriously, the most fun you can have on 2 wheels. AND THEY GIVE YOU A RIDE BACK TO THE TOP SO YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN!!! I got in 4 pre-rides before it was time to head back to the motel, clean up for dinner and head out to watch the short track races.

Harmon Park sits just below the majestic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs. Since we parked in their parking lot and walked to Harmon Park, after the race the girls wanted to check out the Crescent and see what was up with the Ghost Tours. The price is what was up... $17.50 per person, and they don't even guarantee you'll see a ghost! The grounds and the hotel are certainly worth a visit though, even if you're not staying there.

I was up early for the downhill race on Saturday. I got there in time to get in a couple of pre-race runs, which suited me just fine. They had the juniors go first, then women, limited travel, and so on and so forth up to experts. My first run felt a little slow and I had a bit of the jitters...standard for any race. It was fun being able to watch some of the other classes come down and hit the big gap jump at the finish. Bryan and the girls set up their chairs just a few feet from the big jump and Hilary was able to get some really good pictures. Hallie decided that she now wants to do downhill! A few of the BMX racers wowed us with some tricks and a few crashes. By the time I got back up to the top for my second run, I was ready to race. I was third in the line up and was unaware that I actually had a pretty good time for my first run and was in third place! I rallied out of the start gate and hit the turns a little faster, flew through the rock garden, landed my jumps a little farther out and put on the hammer on the doubletrack to the drops at the finish. Final time, 2:51.7. Fastest overall on the second run, but I missed a girl's first run by 1/2 second. Although, I later found out she could have potentially taken a shortcut that wasn't part of the course, saving her time. Had I protested, I could have had first.

I went back to the motel and spent the afternoon swimming with the girls. Saturday night we decided we'd grill steaks with some friends from Springfield also in Eureka to race. We had a great dinner, a couple of drinks and then crashed early. Only to be awakened around 2:30 a.m. by the sound of the drunken shamans staying at the motel, banging on their bongo drums and belly dancing. One of the nice bikers was kind enough to let them know they weren't at a bar and to they needed to shut it down before he kicked their asses. They apologized to everyone the following day.

Saturday, I had the usual pre-race jitters. We rode downtown from the motel for a short warmup and then just stood around checking out all the bikes. A couple 69'ers, which look totally weird, lots of 29'ers, lots of trail bikes, single speeds, they were all there. I chose to ride my Salsa Moto Rapido, which I had rode on the same trails the week before. It's an '08 frame and it's really pretty, so I was getting lots of compliments, which is always nice. They started us in waves...Expert/Pro, Expert Master, then Sport down through the classes, etc. The first 2 miles are straight up hill, I would guess at about a 17% grade at some points, then it levels off into Harmon Park, across some private property into Lake Leatherwood Park, where the real singletrack begins.

I was out front for the first 5-6 miles, stopped to take a gel and was passed by 2 women, one of which was a good friend. I made up some time and passed one of them for good and continued on with the primarily sport-class guys, many of whom I continued to pass on the uphills. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, with the exception of the pure beauty of the trail itself. It is by far my favorite singletrack trail system in this area. The downhill event the day prior gave me some added confidence to tackle some of the gnarly downhill sections around Lake Leatherwood. Before I knew it, I had reached the ball fields and could see the finish! As I hit the asphalt trail that brings you around to the finish tent, I sped up and could see my husband with the camera. I turn to wave and at that very second, some Rastafarian biker guy walks right in front of me with his bike. In the nanosecond I had to respond, I locked up my brakes and performed a nearly perfect endo onto the asphalt. I don't think anybody cares to read what kind words I had to say to him, suffice it to say, some of the guys watching commented that they had no idea I could cuss like that.

I hopped up, dusted myself off, grabbed my bike and walked the remaining 5 feet to the finish tent, where my finish time was recorded as 2:37.00. Not too shabby, considering last year's finish time was 3:40.00. I was pretty happy with the 3rd place finish!

The remainder of the day was spent at awards. Hilary had come down with a virus, possibly strep, the night before and she wasn't feeling well, so as soon as I got my award, we headed home.

In all, it was a fabulous weekend. We had a great showing from 417-land, almost everyone who went placed in the top 3. We had a local win the Omni Challenge (all 4 events). I'll be back next year with my sights set on winning the women's downhill.

I did the group ride last night. We managed to squeeze in almost 40 miles. I didn't have it in my to push hard, so I dropped back after about 14 miles and rode a moderate pace with my friend Cynthia. That felt good.

I'm going to run tonight, unfortunately. Time to start training for Berryman.

Thursday is the new Friday!

2008-07-17T15:31:00.002-06:00

I'm outta here. Traveling to Eureka Springs in the a.m. for check-in and registration. Tomorrow is full of pre-rides. Downhill first, then XC in the late afternoon. I'm pretty stoked. I hope they've removed the 5 ft long timber rattlesnake we saw on the race course last Saturday. He was not happy at all when we moved him with that ginormous stick and I don't care much to run into him again! Friday night is the short track race, followed by an after party at the local pub.

I'm looking to place well in the Downhill on Saturday. I took my bike in for adjustments today, so we'll just see how a 5" travel trail bike conquers the downhill. Then the DH race is followed by yet another XC pre-ride (I'm opting for the partial course and then a beer or two), followed by watching the observed trials.

I'll be racing XC Sunday on the Salsa. Thank goodness its a short race, because I'm still not completely accustomed to being back on a hardtail race bike. It climbs like a goat, but the downhills are still somewhat uncomfortable as I tend to forget to get my ass off the saddle. Squishy is much more comfortable. Ah, the sacrifices one makes for speed.

Our motel has bike wash stations, is pet friendly and serves pancakes and Tang as their complimentary breakfast. I think I'm more excited about that than anything else!

Will they EVER learn???

2008-07-17T11:18:00.002-06:00

Stupid little shithead Ricardo Ricco surrounded by police and reporters.

Drugs hit the Tour de France again, the third doping bust in this race and netting the biggest name yet: Italy's Riccardo Ricco, a winner of two stages.

Ricco was detained by police and booed by spectators before the stage. He is the third rider in this race to test positive for the performance enhancer EPO, cycling's drug of choice. His Saunier-Duval team withdrew from the Tour and suspended all activities.

Ricco, a 24-year-old rider who won two Tour stages this year, tested positive after the fourth stage, a time trial in Cholet.

What a dumbass...

I thought this was the year to take the Tour back???

Running

2008-07-16T07:56:00.003-06:00

I hadn't ran in 3 weeks. Until last night.

Now I remember why. Running on the road hurts. Duh.

That was the longest 4 miles ever! And I hated all 39 minutes of it. Yeah, I said 39 minutes. Does that ever suck.

I was planning on doing the 28th annual Concreteman triathlon next week. I see that as being a big fat waste of a $65 entry fee if I'm just going to crawl along on the run. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do anything to "just finish" or "just for fun." My races are only fun in hindsight and only if I did as well as I wanted to.

Kind of an eye opener as to where I'm at and what I need to do in the next few months if I want to finish that 50k trail run. My friend John ran his first 50K with no more than a 10 mile run under his belt. He said it hurt alot and would definitely recommend going the training route, as opposed to the no training route. I'm going to have to agree with that wisdom.

I did run a 25k trail run in February. It was fun and seemed almost effortless and I did fairly well overall. That seems ages ago.

The 50K will come on the heels (like, the day after) of the Berryman Epic mountain bike race. Am I biting off more than I can chew? Probably. Can I do it? Highly likely. Will it hurt? Without a doubt.

My cycling is on right now. I'm way ahead of where I thought I would be. I rode the other night with the local boys who race. They're fast. I hung on when I thought I couldn't. My average over 23 miles was over 20 mph. That hurt. The pitcher of Leinenkugal Sunshine Wheat after the ride helped. Thursdays are beer nights 'round here.

I'm leaving with the family for the Fat Tire Festival in Eureka Springs, AR this Friday. Downhill practice starts at 2 p.m. and there is a XC pre-ride at 5 p.m. Saturday's DH race begins at 9 a.m. and I'll probably have 2 runs of .9 miles each. Then another XC pre-ride at 5 p.m., followed by the DH awards and after-party. The after party will have to be cut short if I expect to do well in the XC race at 9 a.m. on Sunday. I'm racing Sport, so I'm only doing 18 miles, but the trail around the lake is slick and littered with rocks and will cost me some time, because it is what it is and I hesitate on slabs of wet moss and algae covered rock. My upper body will be screaming by the end of the race.

Looking forward to the results of the TDF Stage 11 today! And beer-Thursday tomorrow!

Yes, Garmin Chipotle. Again!

2008-07-15T08:31:00.004-06:00

Makes me want to run the scenic route to the restaurant for a burrito!

Christian Vandevelde is in 3rd place overall in the TDF. The climb to Hautacam yesterday was phenomenal. I hurt just watching.

And Cadel Evans...is he cute or what?

I find myself wanting a new road bike. Again. I should probably stop obsessing over the Tour for that very reason.

My daughter informed me last night that she WANTS a Mustang. She has a Volvo. She doesn't fully understand about the insurance/money thing and how that relates to a high-powered sports car, with a V-8 and an "inexperienced driver." I told her that as long as she's under my roof, my toys will always be nicer than hers.

Garmin-Chipotle Rocks!

2008-07-08T14:17:00.004-06:00

Yeah, baby! Did you see Will Frischkorn break away yesterday? That was so freakin' amazing, I watched the coverage twice!

My Kenda Fantasy Team is in place. I'm going to France next year! Or, I'll be riding George Hincapie's bike. I'd actually settle for one of those KOM jerseys.

Are you watching?

The Tour is back...

Centuries

2008-07-07T15:13:00.003-06:00

They have eluded me this year. How hard is it to actually get in 100 miles??? Two weeks ago we were hit with a monsoon during what was supposed to be our record-attendance, club-organized century that we worked so hard on. Five inches of rain in only a few hours. For safety's sake, the ride was cancelled. So the next day we rode 90 miles. Not 100, but 90. This past Saturday was another fun, fully supported, organized ride by another local club. This was the first year they've offered a century distance though. Unfortunately, the course was marked wrong and, because we were running late, missed the part of the pre-ride announcements where they told us we had to ride to the finish of the 67 mile route BEFORE being redirected to the 100 mile route. So our century turned into 87 miles. Ok, so neither 87 nor 90 miles are minor distances, it's just that I have yet to say that I've completed a century this year. Not that I couldn't finish that distance, because the 87 mile ride was at an 18 mph average! I know this because I finally got a new bike computer (after driving off and leaving my Garmin on the top of my car last year).

Anyway, eventually this year I'm sure I'll reach the century mark.

We had a great holiday weekend. Bryan's birthday was on Thursday...read: too much cake and wine. A BBQ on Friday followed by massive amounts of fireworks and dog anxiety attacks; Lulu pooped on the bed she was so scared. A nice long road ride on Saturday was followed by another BBQ and more fireworks. Yesterday was a trip to Silver Dollar City in Branson with the fam and Hilary's boyfriend. It was hot. Very hot.

I wanted to commute today but it was muggy this morning, so Bryan dropped me and my bike off at work and I'm riding home. In the hotness. Because it's very hot.

I'm waiting on my mountain bike shoes to arrive by Fed Ex tomorrow so I can get them broke in for the Fat Tire Festival July 18-20. I'm going to break them in on the overgrown-with-massive-amounts-of-poison-ivy trails that I haven't ridden in over a month. That should be tons of fun!

Happy 50th Birthday to My Husband!

2008-07-03T12:05:00.003-06:00

He's 50 today and is mostly not happy about it. They decorated his office at work, got him a cake and a bunch of really-bad-for-you-food, and a nice gift certificate. Our girls are home decorating the house in black. I'm picking up the cake at 3:00. A birthday cake remix ice cream cake from Coldstone Creamery. Nothing but the best when it comes to ice cream. Oh, and my husband.

We're not really having a big party. Most of our friends have taken off for the lake since the holiday weekend is long this year. We'll probably just do some grilling, drink some wine and try to avoid the cops while shooting off fireworks. At least he gets fireworks for his birthday. I usually get an ice storm for mine.

More nuckin' futs... I'm racing downhill in 2 weeks! I've never done a downhill race before, so it should definitely be something to watch. They have a limited travel class for 5" travel and less or I could race the Women's class. I'll check out the registrations when I get there. Last year, there were like 4 women that did the downhill. If that's the case again this year, I'm thinking I'll have a pretty good chance of being in the top 5. The Trance has 5 full inches of travel front and back, it's lightweight for an all mountain bike and should perform well. I think the biggest drop is 8 feet, but possibly less for the women. Pre-rides will tell. I just need to figure out what "kickers" are. That's new downhill lingo and I'm not sure what it means. Could be bad.

Everyone have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Bonus

2008-07-02T14:58:00.003-06:00

I got one. I'd love to spend it on that amazing Seven Axiom SG, but that would be incredibly selfish of me.

My husband is 50 tomorrow. He might actually get a nice present this year, and I promised my girls I would take them shopping.

Maybe I'll be just a little selfish and take another look at those new road wheels I've been salivating over.

Nuckin' Futs!

2008-07-01T14:48:00.002-06:00

I agreed to do Ironman Wisconsin in 2009 with my friends who finished Ironman CdA just less than 2 weeks ago. They had previously said (before IMCDA) that they were never doing another Ironman. They're at it again, and dragging me along for the ride this time. Registration opens on September 8 at 9:00 a.m. It's going to cost a bazillion dollars.

Why am I even considering this?

Sightings...

2008-06-27T15:13:00.003-06:00

I'm going home after work today and I might catch a rare glimpse of my eldest daughter for the first time in 3 days! I'm going to force her to do something family-oriented with us tonight, which she will probably complain about, until we bribe her with money and then everything should be good.

I'm riding 100 miles tomorrow. I couldn't be more excited.

I also caught sight of one of these...

Is THAT super-sick or what?

Workplace Shootings...

2008-06-25T10:35:00.003-06:00

I completely understand this. There are many times I want to shoot my co-workers.

All joking aside, that's horrible. Freakin' idiots!

This just goes to show that all workplace nay-sayers, butt-kissers, back-stabbers, one-uppers, gossips and drunks need to be very careful.

But I ride my bike. Riding a bike releases endorphins. Endorphins make people happy. Happy people don't shoot others. Everyone should ride a bike then everyone would be happy and nobody would get shot.

I got a new washer and dryer for my husband's 50th birthday. How about that? That also makes me happy. Now I like doing laundry. MY KIDS LIKE DOING LAUNDRY! I am happy on so many fronts it's ridiculous.

I also rode my bike last night. Fast. That makes me ecstatic. As long as I keep riding my bike fast and doing laundry I will never be upset enough to shoot anybody.

I think we're also finally taking a vacation this year after a 5 year hiatus from vacations. BONUS!

A Long Ride at Last!

2008-06-23T06:59:00.003-06:00

I managed to squeeze one in yesterday between storms. Uh, yeah. It's raining here. AGAIN! We had a tornado last Thursday. Will it ever end???

I have to post a big ginormous kudos to my friends Cynthia Petty, John Bradley and Dennis Rathke who competed in their first ever Ironman at CdA yesterday. Cynthia finished in an awesome and enviable time of 14:26, John and Dennis in an amazing 11:31 and 11:41 respectively. Congrats!!!

The selfish me is glad that their training and race is finally over so we can get back to riding for fun.

Since they took my regular bike-husband to CdA with them as their gear-hauler, I was without riding partners for an entire week! Not that the weather was decent enough to ride last week anyway, and I only got one 40 miler in last Tuesday. The rest of the week was spent running. Which we all know I don't much care for. Saturday I took Lucky for a run. He's getting old, but he still loves to run. There's just alot more stopping along the way. Three stops total. All of them involved lying down in the water because it was hot and humid. But he made it all 7 miles.

Sunday we got up early to take a car to my niece. She turned 18 and graduated in May. Bryan and his brothers bought her a car for a gift. They met us half-way and bought us breakfast. AND, Bryan's mom had loaded up a cooler with six slabs of Hickory Log ribs. Only the bestest ribs ever in the entire United States. (Can't wait to dig into those.)

When we got home, I decided that if my friends could ride 112 miles on their bikes (after swimming 2.4 and then following it with a marathon), I could get my butt out the door and do a long ride by myself. I perservered through 70 miles alone. Mentally, it was tough going that far by myself. Physically, I feel good enough to do it again. Thank goodness, because the century this Saturday is nothing but hills.

Working on that...

2008-06-18T07:49:00.004-06:00

Since I posted for the world to see (or at least the 1 person that even reads my blog) that I am a horrible listener, I've been catching myself not listening or not paying attention, and I must say, it happens a lot. I'm even more ashamed of the fact that I don't listen now that I'm paying attention to myself not listening as I was before I started noticing that I wasn't paying attention or not listening.

It's terribly difficult to admit any character flaw. I can admit that maybe I'm not as good at some things as others are (in which case I will work harder to correct that), but to admit that I have a big flaw in my character...ouch. That hurts. I've always prided myself on being a good friend, supportive, caring, honest to a fault, trustworthy. Those are all good traits. Right? But this other thing. This not listening thing sucks. My kids have even noticed. I can't believe that I do it to my kids.

My third grade teacher wrote on my grade card, "Talks entirely too much. Listens entirely too little." I laughed at that a few years back when I stumbled upon that grade card in a box of memento's.

I'm not laughing so hard now. And I'm working on that. I mean really working on it.

I even worked on it last night as I rode my bike. I let the others talk while I listened. I learned a few things and even met some new people. They had no idea I had a problem with listening, and maybe they never will.

And when my daughter got home at midnight with a stray dog in her car, she didn't even have to talk for me to hear what she was saying. Hopefully she can forgive me for all the times that I apparently didn't listen. And quite possibly, after awhile, she might even forget.

Forgetting Things

2008-06-17T09:19:00.003-06:00

I'm finding that my perfect memory is not so perfect after all. That's a hard thing for a perfectionist to admit. Some of it is just plain forgetfulness. The remainder is due to the fact that I tend to not pay attention in the first place. And frankly (seriously, I'm being frank here) its because I'm just not that into what anybody has to say. About anything. Unless they write it down in an email or post it on their blog or Facebook. And then I'll likely forget that too. And I hate that about myself. I am a horrible listener. I admit it. I do not like to listen to other people talk for lengthy periods of time. I will give anybody 10 minutes, but after that, my focus is gone.

I'm working on that.

My imperfect memory caused me to forget my bike this morning. I packed my gym bag with everything I needed to ride 40 or so miles, EXCEPT my bike. Seriously, how could I be so excited about riding tonight AND forget my bike? WTF?

Bryan is leaving work early to go to the dentist. He offered to go home and get my bike and bring it back to me. Is that a great husband or what?

The girls are at home today. I left money on the table so they could go to the pool. They've been once so far this year. I spent every day of every summer at the pool when I was growing up. Every freakin' day from the time it opened until they locked the doors, I was at the pool. In the water. All day. But they don't want to go.

I told them this morning they were going to the pool whether they liked it or not, because I'm their mother and I said so.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-16T06:51:00.005-06:00

I'm a day late, but I was busy spending it with my husband, who is a father. The girls and I took him to White Water in Branson for Father's day. He napped in the shade most of the day, the girls and I played in the water and got fabulous sunburns despite the fact that we really were wearing sunscreen. But it was alot of fun and generally our burns last only hours before turning brown. We stayed all day and by the time we left at 4:30, the skies were turning dark and more rain was moving in. Not exactly what we needed after the 5 inches of rain we got on Friday.

After spending the day in a swimsuit, I realized that for all my running and biking and swimming, I need to get back to lifting weights because, though my cardiovascular engine is fairly fine tuned, my muscles are hidden under a protective layer of fat. Nothing like walking around in front of 50 bazillion people in a swimsuit to realize that you should have never stopped going to the gym huh?. Not only that, but my diet really really really sucks in a big way. Starting this morning, most carbs are going bye bye. I say most because there are some really good carbs out there that I love and I'm refusing to give them up, but generally the white stuff (i.e. my beloved bagels and mashed potatoes).

I rode on Saturday after waking up late and missing the 7 a.m. start. But I made it in time to ride with a friend who also missed the 7 a.m. start, so we tooled along briskly and managed to get in 40 miles and get back while there was still some food left. There was a group going out for an additional 20 and I should have tagged along, but I really didn't want to. I'm planning on doing a century on the 28th of this month and 60 miles would have done me a lot of good, but I have raced hard the past couple of weekends and though I've taken some down time in the weeks that followed each race, I felt like I needed a bigger break. So I did 40 miles this weekend and that was it. This week, however, is a whole new deal. I really want to finish the Queen City Century feeling good and that's going to require some long rides this week, followed by a longer ride this weekend. Unfortunately, all of my riding peeps have departed for Idaho and Ironman CdA, so this weekend I may have to self-motivate (something I'm not real good at).

I also made the step of reconnecting with my biological father, Bill, last Friday after a self-induced silence of about 6 or so years. I can't explain my reasons for the disconnect, it just happened. My girls were happy and of course can't wait to make the trip to Iowa to visit Grandpa Bill again. Unfortunately, he lives in Cedar Rapids, which the majority of that city was underwater on Friday and now approximately 36,000 people have been left homeless. Fortunately, not Bill, but it doesn't appear that Cedar Rapids, Iowa is any type of vacay destination right now.

How ironic is it that my bio dad rides bikes? Alot.

We're looking at more rain today, which means the commute thing didn't work this morning either. Will we ever get a break?

Mother Nature is a Bitch

2008-06-13T09:51:00.003-06:00

I have nothing to say. I'm just going to mention how shitty the weather is. It's raining here. There is a lake in our parking lot. I think I'm trapped at work. WHAT is mother nature so pissed off about???

I'm supposed to ride 50 miles tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. It's a charity ride. I think the roads will be flooded. I should probably plan on swimming instead.

OGAR, XTERRA and MWFTS

2008-06-12T12:45:00.004-06:00

Ozark Greenways Adventure Race, Eureka Springs Xterra Triathlon, and Midwest Fat Tire Series. Geez, it's been awhile since I've been here.

First and foremost, OGAR. Briefly, I went into this race on May 30, 2008 totally unprepared to run any distance. Starting with the 8 mile run at the gun and the brief technical trail run after a tromp in the woods for the O-section. Approximately 13 miles of running and every step hurt like hell in the heat and humidity.

The bike legs of the race were great and my new Salsa "Go Fast" performed amazingly well, even when I decided to ramrod it down a technical portion of washed out trail WITHOUT the benefit of my front squishy being unlocked because I was pissed that people were actually getting off to walk their bikes downhill. That was nice and people are stoopid. My ramrodding put me somewhat in front of my teammates, one of whom was bonking badly and ended up bailing on us at the O-section, so I had to wait on them for a couple of minutes. By the time we gathered ourselves together to go into the O-section, our bonking teammate had pushed us from 17th place to something like 45th. We were wondering how in the world you redeem yourself from something like a 45th place finish??? He called it quits and the remaining three of us were now racing out of fear of losing our sponsors!

But, orienteering is where we excel. If the course were entirely orienteered, we would have been out front the entire time, no matter how much our bonkee was holding us back. We checked in, got our maps and instructions and quickly evaluated the terrain. We literally went into the woods in 45th place, kicked some ass, and came out in 7th place. After a short trail run (during which I was towed by a friend from another team - perfectly legal in adventure racing), we jumped on the bikes for an 8 mile tech ride, followed by another 8 mile road ride back to the finish. Since we're also pretty good on the technical stuff, we were able to knock off three more teams on the final bike legs to finish in 7:39 for a 4th place overall finish! Unfortunately, partial team finishes don't qualify for overall prizes, but we were at least recognized for finishing 4th overall out of 77 teams! Not too shabby and our sponsors didn't hold the PTF against us.

June 7, brought the Eureka Springs Xterra Triathlon at Lake Leatherwood. Probably my very favorite race of the year. This has certainly not been my year for training on anything but the bike and the half miles swim was beginning to sound more daunting as the start time drew closer. I hadn't been in the water since March and I was hoping that I wouldn't embarrass myself by taking more than 25:00 to complete the swim. The women start 10 minutes behind the men, so when the horn sounded, I just wanted to be out front so as to not get kicked in the face. I actually felt pretty good during the swim. After I rounded the first buoy and passed my first guy, I knew I was doing ok. I came out of the water in 21:20 and ran a short 200 yards to T1, where I threw on my bike gear and took off. I love, love, love the trails in Eureka Springs. Lots of climbing. LOTS.OF.CLIMBING! I was passing, passing, passing (because that's how I roll) until I fell into some soft loose gravel and the sole of my cheap-cheap-cheap ass shoes came off about 6 miles into a 13 mile ride. Unable to clip in, my left foot kept sliding off the pedal at the most inopportune moments. I also had a flat at about mile 10. My mini C02 cartridge was busted, so I had to wait for someone willing to stop and let me air up my tire. I never got passed, but it wasn't my best ride. Apparently, even though I was feeling ok on the 5.29 mile run, it wasn't my best performance either. The fact that I was never passed once, gave me hope that I was still doing ok.

I crossed the finish line in 3:40. Not any better than the previous year, but not any worse. Good enough for 6th place overall and 2nd in my "old-lady" age group.

The rest of the weekend was spent in Eurkea Springs with my family swimming, grilling, and shopping. My eldest, who didn't want to make the trip in the first place and swore she wasn't going to have any fun, had a persistent smile on her face practically the entire weekend.

We're going back in July for the Fat Tire Festival.

Midwest Fat Tire Series wants to bring a race to 417-Land and they want me to organize it and promote it, 'cause I'm cool like that.

Pre-Race Jitters

2008-05-30T07:16:00.002-06:00

Ozark Greenways Adventure Race is less than 24 hours away. This is probably one of the easiest adventure races I do, mainly because there is only an orienteering "section" as opposed to having to orienteer the entire race. Not that the distance is easy because even at 8-14 hours, it's considered a sprint race and you're going all out for the entire race, but the course is pretty much layed out for you and you just have to be non-geographically-challenged to get through it. There will be the issue of heat and humidity again this year, which will weed out alot of people who aren't prepared. I've been riding my bike. Alot. I've been running. Notsomuch, but probably enough for the distance. My guys already know they'll be towing me on the run. And pushups, pullups and weights will just have to suffice for any paddling that I should have been doing.

We finished 5th last year. I'll be happy with a top 5 finish again, but there are some top teams competing again this year and with the race in a new location, we'll have to be on our game and just hope that some of them screw up on orienteering.

I have the jitters because it will be a fast start. But I have a new Go Fast Salsa Moto Rapido to take care of that. She's pretty and sweet and hopefully her light weight will make up for that 8 lbs that I have again failed to lose!

Race update on Monday!

Ozarks Red Ribbon Ride

2008-05-16T12:35:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow is the Ozarks Red Ribbon Ride benefitting the AIDS Project of the Ozarks. I was totally shocked to hear some people say that they weren't doing the ride because they didn't want to be associated with "that kind" of charity. I know there are alot of ignorant people out there like that, but I didn't think I actually rode along side any of them. Ignorance makes me want to kick people's asses. I don't tolerate ignorance very well.

On a more positive note, the weather is supposed to be gorgeous tomorrow and for the next 7 days! Not a drop of rain predicted. Maybe I will actually get a good full week of riding in. The trails are still messed up unfortunately and we got over an inch of rain only yesterday. That's frustrating, considering the adventure race in 2 weeks. I do however, feel as though I have a headstart considering the fact that I've already done Ouachita and Syllamo's Revenge. Hopefully, the lack of training for the other teams will benefit us.

I was also able to commute today. I love the whole commuting thing. Nothing could be easier and I get to work feeling as though I've had a nice workout. I can hammer home in the evenings for a little more intense workout. It's 16 miles one way, so roundtrip it's pretty decent mileage on a daily basis. I'm getting a whopping 17.7 mile per gallon in my car...yeah, Volvos are safe, they're just not very efficient, so the savings can add up pretty quickly. And on days like today, riding a bike just doesn't get any better. The plan is commute Mon/Wed/Fri and do our weekly club group rides on Tues/Thurs. That puts my weekly road mileage at about 170, plus maybe a 50-80 mile ride on the weekend or a 4-hour mountain bike ride. Looks really good in print, huh? So why am I not losing that 8 lbs. from about 4 years ago?

I'm feeling that this post is not going anywhere and yet, going all over the place at the same time, so I'm going to stop now before I say something really stupid and regret this post.

Yikes!

2008-05-15T08:41:00.003-06:00

It's May 15! I haven't posted a thing in 15 days and so much has happened.

My eldest daughter started her new job at McDonald's, worked her butt off and got her first paycheck, which she was terribly excited about and promptly wanted to spend it all on clothes.

My youngest is spending the final few weeks of school not learning a darn thing because they're going on field trips, having field days, and sports days and picnic days...I hope they're getting graded on those, because those are all things that she's good at!

I am getting a new bike! Yes! I really just said that and it really is happening! I ordered it yesterday and will have it next Wednesday. It was all brought about by my youngest, Hallie, deciding that she would like to race mountain bikes a little AND the fact that Syllamo's Revenge required me to be in total lockout mode almost the entire ride. That's another story in itself, which I will get to in a bit. But I thought hey, I have this mushy full suspension bike (which is awesome)but a bit heavy, and I can ride rather comfortably without suspension (even over some ridiculously rough terrain), so why not have a bike that is uber-light, offers a little bit of give in the back, and allows me to climb, climb, climb?? The only thing that would make it any better was if it were a single speed (which I am not ready for, yet). Thus, the ultra-cool Salsa Moto Rapido will be joining my meager fleet next week! I'm saying good-bye to the bulky Jamis Dakar XC Pro frame and stripping her of all of her still-super-sweet XTR components to dress up the new Salsa. I'll be slapping on a couple of new Kenda Nevegal 2.3's (provided they fit the frame...I've heard Kenda's tend to run big) and racing (to win or place) the Ozark Greenways Adventure Race on May 31st, followed by the Xterra Eureka Springs Triathlon on June 7. Both races I did last year on a shit-bike, so I'm feeling that this is my year. My team was 5th last year in the Greenways race and I placed 6th overall at Xterra, so I'm thinking with a bike that weighs almost 20lbs less than the one I raced on last year, I'll be in pretty good shape.

Now, Syllamo's Revenge. What can I say. I had an awesome time on an awesome bike with some awesome friends! The race is 50+ miles of pure singletrack. When the trails are in good shape the riding is amazing. When the trails are in poor condition, because of things like flooding, tornadoes, mother nature being a bitch in general, it's brutal. If it weren't for my friends and my bike, it would have been the worst day ever. Out of 350 racers, 288 showed up to start and about 140 finished. Pretty piss-poor results. Single-speeds did ok. Single-speed 29ers did a little better than ok. The rest either missed the cutoff or had mechanical issues, probably quite evenly divided. I wasn't having mechanical issues so I lollygagged along with a friend and we simply missed the cutoff time by 15 minutes. So many people on geared bikes were trashing parts left and right. The mud was ankle deep at some points and alot of people were laying their bikes down in the river crossings to clean them off. Brakes and derailleurs were blowing apart, tires were flatting. Conditions were bad and tested even the best of the best. I, on the other hand, even though I missed the cutoff and did a shortened course of 38 miles as opposed to the full 50, had an awesome day and was smiling as I pulled into the finish.

My friend Beth and I have decided that we'll have our "revenge" next year and not be so nice to stop for everyone that needs help and we will definitely not be lollygagging.

So my focus now is on Greenways A/R. The prizes for this race suck, but the bragging rights around these parts are priceless.

Working and Riding

2008-04-30T14:27:00.003-06:00

I wish I had time to post in detail about all of my great rides the past couple of weeks, but my schedule is so crunched right now, I can barely think. I've always made lists and lived by them, thrived on them actually, but my lists are now multiple pages of a legal pad instead of a couple of lines in my planner.

Last weekend I got in a couple of decent rides. Most of Saturday was spent mountain biking at Busiek State Park. There is only one particular section of single track that is worth riding and to get to it, you have to go through miles of trail completely torn up by the horses, not to mention the shit. But that single track is sweet. Unfortunately, the rain we've had brought the river up to a level that washed out many of the lower trails and one of the bridges. We found the bridge about 1/4 mile from it's home. It looks like it would make a good ramp for jumps. It's just sitting out in an opening, not belonging there at all. Mother Nature is weird.

I made it through most of the river crossings upright, until the very last one. I got my front tire up on the little ledge after crossing, but the current was swift and decided it wanted my bike, so it just pushed me over. I was still clipped in and the current was dragging me downstream. It was quite hilarious actually and I needed a good rinse off. I was covered from head to toe in mud.

Sunday was a nice road ride...in the rain. Thank goodness the temps never dropped below 50. We had a plan to get in 70 miles, but the severe thunderstorms that we were trying to outrun had us all over 3 different counties, sometimes on unfamiliar roads and lost. I'm glad everyone was a good sport about it. We ended up getting in just short of 50 miles.

Monday was a run. A not unpleasant run at that. I ran on my lunch hour, managed to get in 4 miles AND eat my lunch someplace other than in my office.

Last night was an awesome group ride with the bike club. I say awesome because we had more than 50 people show up and we hammered, hammered, hammered. Forty miles of hammering and I hung on! We were just shy of a 20mph average and for me, that's not just good, that's incredible. I felt like I had accomplished something truly amazing last night and that's an awesome feeling.

Today I'll run again...easy, because Saturday is Syllamo's Revenge!! I'm super anxious and excited about this race. There are a lot of locals signed up and the pressure is on. I feel prepared. I feel like I'm riding above average. My family is going to be there to cheer me on. It's going to be a good time!

My eldest daughter got a job at McDonald's. She thought she was going to hate it but she actually likes it. She's been there a week and they're going to make her a shift leader. I miss her alot.

My youngest wants to race mountain bikes. Probably somewhat because the boys at her school think it's cool. She's been riding my old bike. Actually, my old bike is only 2 years old and pretty tricked out, so it's not like she's trying to race on some old clunker. That's a pretty cool thing when you're a tomboy. Like mother, like daughter.

I hate spam and running...

2008-04-23T10:27:00.003-06:00

And I only got one spammer comment on my blog so far (that I know of), but I freakin' get them all the time on my Blackberry (which I'm currently having a love/hate relationship with). AND, I've started getting telemarketing calls on my cell phone. I thought cell numbers were immune to telemarketers????

I've decided that I'm going to start commuting to work on my bike if it ever stops raining. It's 12 miles one way and I can pretty much get around on side roads and our local Greenway trails. The only issue being, what am I going to smell like once I get to the office? Anyway, this morning I called my husband while I was driving to work to do nothing but bitch about the price of gas. Actually, Missouri has one of the more favorable gas tax rates, so our prices are a little lower than the rest of the country, but still...$3.39. Unfortunately, a full tank doesn't go far in a turbo powered, 5,000lb. wagon (of which we have 2).

So, I'm commuting on my bike. If nothing else it will be an adventure and a good example. I've challenged our local bike club (all 300+ members) to not only commute during May (Bike Month), but for the summer and to keep track of their "commuting" mileage. We'll see how that goes. Springfield, Missouri is a pretty place, but not the most bike or pedestrian friendly and people are rich and lazy and drive big SUVs everywhere. Even to cross the street.

I tried telling my daughter that she was going to have to commute to school on her bike. Totally not cool for a high school sophmore. She was mortified, as she is with most everything that I say.

No ride for me today. Just running, which I now hate. So why do do it? Because as an adventure racer, you sometimes have to run. Alot. And I have an adventure race coming up at the end of May, which I would like to win. I also have to start swimming again, which I don't hate, but it's just one more thing that I have to find time for in an already over-packed schedule, and is probably going to be difficult with the commuting thing.

My 12-year old wanted to know if we were all going to Syllamo's Revenge and camping. She's really getting excited about racing and that makes me very happy.

I'm baaaaacccckkkk...

2008-04-22T10:47:00.002-06:00

Even a week away is enough to forget a password!

I've been on my bike!!! But, of course, that was too good to last, as it's pouring rain right now.

This past weekend I managed to squeeze in a 65 mile road ride on Saturday and a nice little mountain bike race on Sunday. Yes, stupid is as stupid does, but I knew there would be very little competition at the race on Sunday, so I didn't think the ride on Saturday would hurt me too much.

Anyhoo... I not only loaded up my new bike for the race on Sunday, but my old bike also. My youngest daughter, Hallie, decided she wanted to race in the 12-under class even though she's barely been on her bike in the past YEAR!

The kiddos started with the Junior and the Marathon classes at 11:00, so I got to watch the whole kids race since the Sport class didn't take off until 12:30. Hallie started out in last place, I guess she was a little intimidated, but after the first loop she was in third! She came across the line with a huge smile on her face, which I would later learn was to deceive us that she was actually enjoying the race. Her second lap was a bit slower, but she managed to hang on to third and crossed in about 30+ minutes for third. I ran over to grab her bike for her and she was crying and practically hyperventilating. I sat her down, got her something cold to drink and removed her shoes. They presented awards almost immediately and you would have thought the bronze cowbell was a bazillion dollars. Not too shabby for a first timer up against all boys. Do girls rock or what????!!!!

As the Sport class prepared to start, I sized up my competition, which I generally have a difficult time doing. You can never judge ability on a person's appearance, I've learned. Anyway, one of the girls in my class was about 6 foot, slender, about 15 years younger, and looked like she knew what she was doing. She apparently won the class last year. I figured if I could keep a steady pace behind her, I could pass her on a hill near the end. Well, I guess maybe I've been riding my bike enough, because as soon as we started, I took off in front and after about 200 yards, I never saw her again. I ended up finishing almost 40 minutes ahead of her! There were only 4 women in the entire race, so competing against only one other woman in my class was a little disappointing, but a first place is a first place and mine was worth 24 points in the series...and a gold cowbell.

Next up is Syllamo's Revenge. A "not to be taken lightly" 50 mile race in Arkansas. The women are going to be tough and doubts of my ability to compete are many. One and 1/2 weeks and counting...oh geez. Know anyone that wants to buy an entry???

2 Weeks Post Ouachita

2008-04-15T09:45:00.001-06:00

After trying to post a dissertation-length comment on Mallie’s blog and then getting some cryptic error, I decided that instead of trying to recreate everything I said in a comment, some “down” time from work would be best used creating an entry on my own blog, since it would appear that I’ve gone off somewhere and died.

I just now remembered that I didn’t even post anything about my experience at Ouachita. I was so excited about it and now it’s over and I’m just a dork. I’m not really going to recap Ouachita in detail, other than to say that I finished a shortened Tour course of approximately 55 miles, feeling extremely good and happy, and also like I really held back because of my “nutrition” fears. I was so careful about taking in enough fluids and actual food calories that I think I spent way too much time stopping and eating and enjoying the scenery (wait…isn’t that what a “tour” is???) that instead of losing a pound or two, I likely gained 5. I’m sure the 5 beers after the ride didn’t help in the weight department either. I also finished thinking I needed a new bike. The Trance’s 5” of rear travel allowed me to finish without a bit of fatigue and I certainly appreciated the plush ride on the downhills, but there’s something to be said watching riders on 29er hardtails climbing like billygoats, and climbing fast. I certainly passed my fair share of guys walking their bikes up those hills (doesn’t that feel great), but I just think I could do better. So anyway, my bike shop is currently shopping around for a decent 29er frame (I’ve decided on either a Vassago or a Salsa…but I’m certainly open to any other options if they just want to give me a frame).

The Ouachita tour was an amazing ride on amazingly gorgeous day. I will certainly put it on my calendar next year.

Next up… Syllamo’s Revenge. It will help that I’m familiar with the trails. No holding back this time. And I’m getting something new to wear, because I totally looked like an uber dork doing the Ouachita, thus the lack of pictures.

On the home front, I’m painting my house and getting new carpet because I’ve decided not to move just because I don’t like the walls or the carpet. Those are really a couple of stupid reasons for moving anyway. Besides, if we don’t move, there are no moving expenses or other costs associated with buying and selling a home, which would leave a few hundred dollars for a new bike frame. That’s my reasoning anyway. My husband would say, “No, that means there’s more money for the girls’ college fund.” To which I would reply, “Geez, isn’t that what scholarships are for???”

We’ve got 2 more years before sending our first off to college. At this point, I think I’m just going to focus on Syllamo’s Revenge in two weeks…I think college fund discussions can wait another 2 weeks.

This is why I ride bikes...

2008-04-02T07:54:00.001-06:00

Thanks Lauren!

Life is good but the weather sucks...

2008-04-01T14:47:00.002-06:00

Seriously, could I really post about anything but the weather considering where I live????

I hate where I live. Not only have we had record flooding in the past month, but yesterday we were hit with more tornadoes. My kids were in lock down at the schools and I couldn't even get through by text messaging them. Talk about freaking out! But all was good, no tornado hits in our neighborhood this time.

My friend's house entire first floor was flooded last month. His well is contaminated, he has no hot water, no furnace and FEMA hasn't done a f*ing thing to help him yet. (Yet he's still going to do the Ouachita Challenge this weekend). I think I'd want to do nothing but ride my bike also if my house was in shambles. Poor guy.

Anyway, I'm doing the Ouachita Challenge TOUR despite the fact that I'm not even close to ready to ride that far. I rode 40 miles on my mountain bike this past Saturday on the Frisco Highline Trail. It's an old rail trail that's been converted. It's an all chat out and back, very soft from all the rain, and uphill into the wind both ways. It was cold and spitting rain the entire time we were out there. Since there were no downhills, there was no coasting, it was non-stop pedaling for 4+ hours. My quads were buuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrnnnnnning.... it was horrible and, though it was good training, someone will have to give me large amounts of narcotics to get me to do it again.

We're in for 3 more days of horrible, sucky weather. Probably more flooding. Probably more tornadoes, maybe even a small earthquake or two.

The trails are shit at this point. Just when I finally convince my kids that it will be really fun to ride together. No telling when the trails will be rideable.

I'd like to know what we're doing so wrong here in 417-land that Mother Nature hates us so f*ing much.

Work just gets in the way of everything!

2008-03-21T07:14:00.001-06:00

I came back from an amazing weekend of mountain biking at the Sylamore Ranger District (Syllamo) in Mtn. View, AR to a new job. New position, same firm, more work. The first 3 days were spent overloading my brain with procedures and bladah, bladah, blah. The first of those three days I was presented with a memo from one of the partners indicating that since he was retiring in a couple of years, he was doing away with our profit sharing plan with no restructuring. Just deleting it. Period. This is a profit sharing plan that dumps 20% of our salaries into a fund(s) without any contribution on the employee’s part. That’s a good chunk of change. It would appear to me that gesture indicates a 20% reduction in salary. I’m thinking that my response gesture should be a 20% reduction in my attendance. Am I angry? I think so, but I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to my “new” boss about it and give him a chance to make up for it. That will come about on Monday and it could be a potentially ugly situation.

On a more uplifting note, last weekend was so awesome! There was a group of about 17 that made the trip to Syllamo for a weekend of mountain biking. We departed Springfield at 6:00am Saturday morning and were at the campground by 9:30am. We set up camp and then headed out to the trailhead. We split up into 2 groups and one group rode the easier trail and we took off on the “yellow” trail. The yellow trail is about 13 miles of fabulous ups and downs and can be quite exhausting, particularly when you have to hike a bike over all the downed trees from the tornadoes they had last month. There was quite a bit of technical over a lot of rocks (I think they’re actually the babyheads that people talk about) and mud, which made the rocks slick and difficult to get traction on. Not enough mud though to muck up my gears thank goodness. It took us just about 3 hours to ride the entire trial (including hike time) which is damn good and, because my nutrition sucks at this point in the game, I was zapped. But, not to be outdone, I agreed to ride the “faster” red trail with the group, which is 12 miles of very fast, flowy and fun terrain. Not so many trees down on the red trail so we practically flew through the entire course.

Back at camp, we had our very own bike shop mechanic who had brought the shop trailer, extra bikes, all the tools…it was awesome. And since this particular bike shop is the shop that gave me my bike, not only did Josh work on it, but he washed it as well! How’s that for service? It was great having him there as he worked on pretty much everyone’s bike.

After cleaning up, some of us wandered across the highway to Angler’s for a mountain burger or some fried catfish. I was so hungry I could have eaten the crack out of a dead horse, but opted for the catfish, baked potato, ginormous salad and about 3 pitchers of water.

Most of us turned in by 10pm. Several left early Sunday morning because of prior commitments, but about 9 of us drove back up to the trail head for another loop around the red trail before heading home.

In all, I think I managed to get in almost 40 miles on singletrack over the two days, so I’m not complaining, but it certainly opened my eyes to the fact that I will be attempting practically twice the distance I rode on Saturday, on a single day in about 2 weeks. That kinds of freaks me out a little.

To top it off, I came home to a house that was clean from top to bottom (carpets and all) and all the laundry was folded and put away. Plus, my family was actually glad to see me!

Then I went to work on Monday and got the memo… Good thing I’m riding tomorrow.

Weekend and Weather

2008-03-11T08:51:00.003-06:00

I'm losing ground here. I didn't get to run or ride at all this past weekend. On the weather front, we had some chillin' temps on Saturday, but it was in the 60's on Sunday. I was working in the concession stand of a major soccer tournament with my oldest daughter aaaaaaalllllllllllll weekend. Standing on concrete for 11 hours a day does not do justice to the back. I did, however, make some extra coins with which to buy some new grips and get my Jamis out of the shop (with my Fox fork rebuilt - yeeeeessssssss). It really is all about the bike(s).

Today though, ah yes, major sunshine with temps in the mid to upper 60's. My gear bag is packed, the bike is on the car and we are going to ride. Probably not a long ride since it will be after work. But it will be a hard ride and I am so looking forward to it! Tomorrow temps are predicted to be in the 70's and I'm hoping to bolt from work early in order to get in a longer ride. Do I feel a sudden illness coming on or would that be too obvious?

Last night was our club meeting and local businessman and celeb Larry O'Reilly (of O'Reilly Auto Parts) spoke about his 4,400 mile ride across America. Great photos and pics can be found here. He did it to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks. To date, he has raised more than $225,000! I was sitting quite close to him and noticed that he had on a Leadville Trail 100 T-shirt. Obviously, since that is a goal ride of mine, I approached him about it. I saw a twinge of interest there, so maybe he'd like to do the ride again. He offered to "get me in" when I was ready. I'm making a promise to myself that I WILL be ready for next year. (Oh God, I just put that out there).

We also got to hear from local cycling celeb Brad Huff who raced with Slipstream Powered by Chipotle last year.

He is now racing with Jelly Belly. He'll be back to talk to our local multisport club at the end of the month. Very cycleicious (I seriously hope they put that word in the dictionary some day because it's become one of my favorites!).

Leaving Friday for Syllamo in Mt. View, AR.

Camping and riding all day Saturday, trail running Sunday. I can.not.wait.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2008-03-06T15:45:00.002-06:00

I'm officially a 42 year old badass.

The other day me and some of my friends (Rebecca and Clifford) were in the gym and we were going to ride the bikes inside because it was too crappy to ride outside (see previous post about our local weather). But, before we set out on such a crazy adventure, Rebecca and Cliff decided it would be a good idea to measure our quads to see whose were bigger. Before I became a cyclist, there was no way in HELL I would let anyone measure my thighs in front of anyone else, let alone the entire gym, to see who had the biggest quads… bigger obviously being better in the cycling-world. But there we were, standing on deck in the pool area getting our quads measured by Rebecca’s husband (trainer-Chris, uber-trainer to the stars), while pretty much everyone who passed by the doors to the pool stopped to watch, including all the lap swimmers, some of whom even dared ask what we were doing. Clifford, being a guy cyclist for well over 30 years, had the biggest quads, followed arguably close by Rebecca, who was followed not so arguably close by me. I couldn’t help but be happy about the fact that my “thighs” were smaller than skinny little Rebecca’s, but it would also explain why she can pass my ass on a 13% grade in her big chain.

Bye bye small thighs.

9 inches (This is not a pornographic post!)

2008-03-05T14:19:00.004-06:00

That's how much snow we got yesterday. It had all pretty much melted off the roads by the afternoon and today I could probably even get my car washed, that's how nice it is. Springfield, Missouri was ranked by Forbes Magazine as No. 9 in the nation of Wildest Weather Cities. See, I totally wasn't lying! Our weather just sucks.

I ran 5 miles yesterday on the dreadmill because the unpredictability of yesterday's weather didn't allow me to have the proper clothing for anything else. Who would have thought that by 2:00 yesterday afternoon, it would be nice enough to run outside.

The weather is hovering around 45-50 degrees today, so the plan is to run another 5 miles outside. The streets are still pretty wet from the runoff and the trails are in too bad of condition to ride, unfortunately.

I cannot wait until next week...daylight savings time...group rides start on Tuesday. I'm psyched and my bike is in top condition and ready to go. I need to ride because I think we're doing the Sunflower 24 Hour A/R. We did it last year and finished in exactly 24 hours. That's long for a 24 hour race, but we did the extra long course instead of just doing the long course. We had some mechanical issues. But sometimes we do really stupid stuff, like passing a checkpoint hanging from a tree limb right in front of our faces and then spending 2 hours looking for it because we're hallucinating and can't stay awake on our bikes. Very cool. Stories like that win brownie points at the office.

I'm looking at buying these to race in this season (and likely for the rest of my life)

... the Adistar XC Ultra. I hear nothing but good things about them. If anyone who reads my blog knows anything about them, I'd appreciate any feedback. They're supposed to be kind of badass and I like all things that are badass. I'm looking to be a badass myself someday. Maybe tomorrow.

Guess. Just try to guess what this post is about.

2008-03-03T16:03:00.003-06:00

Saturday it was 70 degrees outside. Sunny, 70 and slightly windy. We rode for 3 1/2 hours on the road. Not one complaint when we were headed uphill INTO the headwind, likely going backwards. Nobody said anything but "what a gorgeous day!"

My youngest called me after my ride and was absolutely ecstatic about the "happy weather." That's what she called it. While I had been riding, she had been outside all day playing in the dirt and having picnics. That's my girl.

[BREIF BREAK FROM THE WEATHER REPORT] Saturday one of the local bike shops had a party. It was catered with an open bar. It was fun and I had one wheat beer too many (i.e. 2 beers...I'm a lightweight) before talking to one of the bike reps about a job here locally. He said he really liked my enthusiasm and that's what they were looking for. I just wonder, was it actually enthusiasm or inebriation. I'm eager to see if I get a response to the email I sent him this morning. Maybe luck is on my side and he was drunk too. I'd give my firstborn for this dream job. Ok, maybe not really my firstborn, maybe just my dog. The one that I don't like the most.

Yesterday it was 74! Sunny, 74 and rrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaalllllyyy windy! I don't think I was upright at all during the 1 1/2 hour road ride. I even managed to get a sunburn simply because who thinks about their summer ritual of slathering on the sunscreen in March. Normally my routine is to wear a moisturizer with sunscreen, but I was in such a hurry to get out the door to ride, I even forgot that.

A lovely reminder of the beautiful weather this weekend, because right now it's EFFING SNOWING! WTF??? we're supposed to get 5-7 inches of who knows what kind of shit tonight. It could be just rain (doubtful), could be ice, could be snow, could be a mix. THEY DON'T HAVE A FUCKING CLUE!

I have to teach a spin class and I'm cranky. My class will definitely get a good workout tonight.

Again...everybody lies!

2008-02-28T16:48:00.002-06:00

Ok...maybe just the weather guy is a liar. But I specifically heard him say last night on the news, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one to hear it, that it was supposed to be warm today. Nice AND warm. It was overcast, dreary, cold and windy. Bastards!

My plan was to run on my lunch hour and I packed my bag according to last night's weather forecast. Usually I carry a spare set of just about everything in my car, but I took my gear box out of my car because the weather has been so fucked up lately. Anyway, I needed tights and gloves and a hat and someone to draft behind, none of which I had. I packed for 55 degrees, not 30!

This has got to stop. I feel like my head is going to explode with all this weather-hate rage.

I should probably go home and eat some ice cream...

Weather...what else?

2008-02-26T09:07:00.003-06:00

I hate, hate, hate living in 417-land right now at this very moment. The weather guy lies about the weather alot. Liar, liar...

I hate him too. I'm filled with weather-hate.

It was crappy all weekend, thus the 1 1/2 hour interval training ride on the trainer...which I hate. Much like the dreadmill.

I did however, not hate the Spinning classe I taught last night. I think this next session I will actually have a full class. People are stupid though...it's almost spring, a mere 4 weeks away from daylight savings time, when (weather permitting, of course) you can likely start riding outside...and what do people do - they sign up for an 8-week indoor cycling class????? Oh well, at least that one little class is a paycheck and pays for my gym membership. I'm trying to look on the bright side of things here.

Tonight, I'm Spinning again. I'll probably throw in a good dose of abs/core and maybe even a short run on the dreadmill...seeing as how the weather is, well, shitty for the lack of a better word.

Five weeks and counting until Ouachita. They actually added a re-route around Blowout Mountain, which I'll be taking if I don't get some miles in.

F@#%!!! (Keeping it clean)

2008-02-21T13:29:00.003-06:00

We're getting more freezing rain, ice, and sleet. Tomorrow we're supposed to get a lovely "Wintry Mix."

I have to ride 62 miles on a mountain bike in just over a month. I'm screwed.

I don't want to live here anymore.

Sylamore Trail Runs, Part II

2008-02-20T13:15:00.002-06:00

We spent the next 30 or so minutes jumping in and out of the car taking pics of friends crossing the finish of the 25K. We figured we had about 30 minutes more before we could anticipate the first finishers of the 50K. We had several friends who were trying to set new course records, so we definitely wanted to be there to see that.

In any event, we drove back to the cabin, cleaned up and headed back to the finish. Unfortunately, not in enough time to see the first "Springfieldian" finish. Our good friend Ben finished in a smokin' 4:29:00. Wicked fast for such a technical course. Though not good enough for first place, it put him at a respectable 4th overall. Our peeps continued to trickle in. One at 4:47:45 for 9th place overall, a 5:29:20, 5:37:58, 5:38:59, 5:47:43, 5:56:14...those were the fast ones. We had more come in throughout the remainder of the 9 hour time limit, all of them crossing the finish in a steady rain.

We grow fast ones (or maybe just competitive ones) here in 417-Land!

The Angler's Mountain burger and fries I had around 1:30 p.m. hit the spot, as did the 3 hour nap shortly thereafter.

We got up just in time to drive over to the "food cabin" where a Mexican fiesta was already in the works. A salty margarita never tasted soooooooooo... good! I promptly followed the first with a second, and then a nice Dos Equis to go with dinner. Oh, and we can't forget about the pineapple upside down cake, flan, bread pudding and Klondike Bars.

Trail running allows you to eat all that. Nice, huh?

We drank and ate and talked about what everyone had on their calendars for the upcoming year, laughed at a few jokes, took a bunch of pictures and then turned in for the night.

Monty fixed us a breakfast feast before we all hit the road to head home.

It was such an incredible weekend (despite the weather) and I enjoyed the run so much, I'm finding it difficult to wait until next year to put another ultra trail run on my schedule.

And the coveted sweatshirt...I wear it every day!

50K....errrr 25K (Part I)

2008-02-18T13:50:00.007-06:00

Yep, I was a wuss. At the last possible moment, minutes before the race start, I switched to the 25K.

Above is an unknown runner crossing the river...

I can call myself a wuss, but I’m not really a wuss and I kind of know that, because a 25K is almost 16 miles. Sixteen (16) miles on some wicked, hard-core trails in the Ozarks "mountains." Very, very technical terrain. Lots of elevation changes. It was certainly not a course for the meek or timid.

The trip started Friday afternoon. Me and Cynthia and John Bradley left Springfield at 3:30 p.m. for a tiny little town, Allison, Arkansas. I don’t even think it’s on a map. It was dark by the time we got to check in, but it was just a matter of giving them your name and picking up the coveted sweatshirt and your race number. After that, we found some familiar faces, chatted a bit and then headed to our cabins.

We had a great group, but were missing some regulars. This year, our group consisted of me, Cynthia and John Bradley, John Montgomery, Jamie Wynne, Scott Stricklin, Tom Lale, Ben Creehan, Lindy Bigelini and Monty Montgomery. Beth Weimer and Gary Fenton are also part of the “family,” but had opted for other cabin arrangements. Pretty much everyone in our group had arrived earlier in the day and already had a big pasta dinner going. We were able to sit down, put our feet up and relax for a bit before dinner. I was the only first timer in the bunch, so I managed to ask quite few questions, in between all of the stories from years past. Monty Montgomery, John R. Montgomery’s dad, makes the trip with the group every year, cooks the meals and drives to every aid station to make sure everyone is doing ok, take things that people want to drop, or drive in weary runners who are having a bad day. He used to do the run, but is content with being “support” these days. We appreciate him more than words can say. Dinner was incredible and one of the guys, Jamie, even brought homemade bread pudding!

The rest of the evening was spent “strategizing” and deciding what to wear…crazy trail runners.

The race started at 7:00 for the 50K and 7:15 for the 25K. There were approximately 220 people at the start, almost 50 from our local region which was fun. The moderate rain gave way to a light mist before the gun went off for the 50K and by the time the 25K runners had reached the river crossing approximately 2 miles out, even the mist had stopped. Temps were in the high 30’s to low 40’s, but under a thick forest cover, felt more like the 50’s.

As a first-timer, I was sufficiently forewarned about the river crossing and the fact that my feet would be wet the entire time. That was not an understatement. The river crossing had me a bit anxious, but once across, I all but forgot about it because the mud was my biggest concern. Many times you deliberately ran through the most water you could find to get the mud off your shoes. I lost sight of my friend Cynthia early after the knee-deep river crossing because of a fall on some rocks. I dropped behind about 8 people who wanted to walk some technical section. I knew I could never catch her, but after passing a few people, held a brisk pace all the way to the first aid station, managing to pass a few more people on the way. Others wanted to play leap frog and seems like we continued that game the entire way.

The scenery was unbelievable and I could only imagine what it’s like on a sunny day.

I got to the aid station in just a little less than an hour and a half, which was 6 miles in (if that tells you anything about the terrain). They were stocked for an army! Mountain Dew, cookies, M&M’s, pretzels, boiled potatoes with salt for dipping (my very favorite). I grabbed a cup of Mountain Dew and a cookie but before I could finish, saw a couple of people come in to the aid station that I did not want ahead of me for any reason, so I grabbed my water bottle and took off up the hill. Seemed like we were climbing forever. The hill was steep enough they had put railroad ties in to make the climb a little more manageable.

Two more miles to the turnaround had us running through dense pine filled forest, a small bamboo groove and some beachy sand. That was a little odd, but a nice distraction nonetheless. I started seeing familiar faces on the way back and was pleased to see that many who would be the top finishers were from Springfield! Most I knew by name and I was calling out to all of them. At one point, the guy behind me wondered aloud how I knew everyone. It was motivating to see so many familiar faces.

I made it to the turn around and saw my adventure racing partner (Cooter) on his way back. He was only ahead of me by maybe 50 yards and I knew the hill on climb out of the turnaround would slow him down, so I picked up the pace and managed to catch and pass him in minutes. Of course, he caught me on a downhill not long after and continued on to the aid station in front of me. I had lost sight of him, but needed some nutrition, so I stopped to grab a potato and a Powergel (mmmm…what a combo) and blew out of there as quickly as I could. I didn’t want to have to live with the fact that he had outrun me for 16 miles.

I had been running along with a group at a pretty good pace, but still couldn’t see his orange jacket, so decided I had it in me to pick it up a bit more. I dropped them and continued on for the last 4 miles pretty much on my own. Talking to myself, enjoying the scenery and wondering how in the hell Cooter had gotten so far ahead of me.

As I drew nearer to the river crossing, I started seeing all of the gear people had left behind. Jackets, vests, hats, gloves and I knew I was almost done! The climb down to the river was tricky as so many people had already been through and one misstep could cause you to slide straight down into the river.

I made it to the steps and heard a voice on the other side yelling at me to be careful. I couldn’t recognize her yet, but turns out it was Rosie (a friend from Springfield) who had won overall female (AND THEN RAN BACK ALMOST 2 MILES TO THE RIVER!). Anyway, I crossed and she said she’d run me back in to the finish. We had to cross a field then up a gravel road to the highway and then mostly downhill to the finish. It was nice that she was with me because there were a couple of girls right behind me who I had been playing leap frog with from the beginning and the extra push help bring me in ahead of them (and ahead of the rain).

My official time: 3:34:14. Pretty close to my goal.

Cynthia had gotten in ahead of me in 3:20:03, so she was in the car and had it nice and warm, where we sat watching and waiting for familiar faces to cross the finish line. A light rain had started. Which would quickly turn into a steady rain.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but Cooter! He had stopped at the aid station on the way back and I had passed him. The entire time I was running to catch him and he was behind me!

I was glad I had wisely made the decision that morning to only do the 25K.

Stay tuned for Part II...

I ran for three years, two months, fourteen days and sixteen hours. When I was hungry, I ate. When I was tired, I slept. When I had to go, you know...

2008-02-15T10:07:00.005-06:00

I'm running a 50k tomorrow and that's probably how long it's going to take me. Stupid is as stupid does.

I ran 3 1/2 miles last night, in shorts, because all of the ice melted and it was almost 60 degrees! The trails are actually closed because there are so many trees down from the weight of the ice. The ice is all gone though, and today it's cold.

I'd like to move to Ecuador...I'm so done with this weather.

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T14:59:00.002-06:00

I know I said I was going to stop cussing...but I didn't do this, so it doesn't count.

Cussing !@#$%*&

2008-02-14T11:20:00.001-06:00

I'm going to stop. I just wanted to put that out there.

Thawing, Part II

2008-02-14T10:29:00.002-06:00

Some people say our icy world looks pretty in the bright sunlight. Now, if a 50lb chunk of ice were to drop and hit them in the head or bust their windshield, I would say they would feel differently.

We are in the midst of a major thaw right now. The ice needs to all be gone so we can get down to the nitty gritty of seeing how much damage was done this year.

Who would have guessed this could even happen 2 years in a row????

The weather report for Arkansas is looking mighty grim right about now. My only consolation is the fact that weather guys can only guess as to what the weather is going to do, and I prefer to think that the crud is going to either stall out or miss us completely.

As of this morning, I'm still planning to run the 50k, provided I ease up on the Valentine chocolates (and provided it doesn't rain).

There will be no biking on any trail around here for weeks. That just sucks.

Thawing

2008-02-13T14:43:00.002-06:00

We're thawing! The sun is out today and I feel less depressed about the weather. But here in Missouri, one only needs to wait a matter of hours (sometimes only minutes) before the weather could take a turn in pretty much any direction. As a state, we are after all, #1 when it comes to unpredictability of weather.

I am contemplating splitting my 50k in half on Saturday.

This is the weather forecast for northern Arkansas for the weekend. We may even have issues getting there.

Friday, Feb 15
High: 36 °F RealFeel®: 25 °F
Ice mixing with, possibly changing to snow in the afternoon, accumulating a coating to an inch

Friday Night, Feb 15
Low: 19 °F RealFeel®: 9 °F
Mostly cloudy and very cold

Saturday, Feb 16
High: 44 °F RealFeel®: 47 °F
Mostly cloudy and chilly

Saturday Night, Feb 16
Low: 29 °F RealFeel®: 18 °F
Rather cloudy with periods of sleet and freezing rain late

I particularly like the "very cold" on Friday night. I'm sure that translates to a "very cold" Saturday morning for the 7:00 a.m. race start. I wonder how serious they are about it feeling 47 on Saturday, because 47 to me isn't exactly chilly, it's kind of middle-of-the-road temperature wise, at least when your running trails. It's a temp I could definitely live with. Maybe even run 31 miles and consider it a comfortable temp. But they're probably not serious. They probably really mean "sleet" and/or "freezing rain" but they don't want to freak everyone out just yet. That's probably what it is...

It was really bad yesterday and last night. I went to the gym and ran on the dreadmill. Three miles was all I could bear. I watched the Weather Channel the entire time, because I just wasn't quite depressed enough about the weather.

My daughter however, was enjoying the fact that the weather was bad and there was no school, because when school is cancelled, she has a standing babysitting job which = money. I was very proud of her when she told me that she now has a car and responsibilities and has to think about things like gas and insurance.

Uh...what????

THIS COMING FROM THE MOUTH OF A 16 YEAR OLD!!!

Damn right, that's my girl!

A couple of weeks ago, I had taken my Jamis XC bike into the bike shop (not my normal bike shop, but one of the guys at this particular bike shop is a pro with Fox forks) because the fork was all jacked up and feeling pretty rough when I rode it. This guy looked at it and said we'd need to send it to Fox and they might have to rebuild it. Then he gave me a receipt on which he wrote "$135."

I got a call yesterday from a different guy at the same shop saying that it was going to cost me $300 to rebuild it because all my seals were bad.

BUT...bike shop guy has a special order Fox fork in the shop that was never picked up and they're looking to unload it...cheap. He'd cut me a deal on it for "about $450." Cheap, right, for a $700 fork???

I know I'm a chick and all, and men think we're stupid when it comes to the mechanics of bikes, but I must have some kind of sign on me, somewhere that says "She shits $100 bills on bike parts" because this particular bike shop thinks it's always ok to try to f*ck me on my bikes. Will I ever learn?

I immediately head on over to my favorite bike shop (yes, I should have gone here in the first place) and tell them "the seals are blown on my fork, what can we do?"

LBS: "Oh, no problem. We'll just send it into Fox, they'll rebuild it and send it back. It shouldn't be any more than $130-150."

Me: "To rebuild it?"

LBS: "Yep."

Back at my office, I get on the phone call the other bike shop and tell them..."Just have Fox ship it back and call me when it comes in because I'm not doing anything to it right now. I'm not in any hurry..." because I have a brand new Giant Trance that the other LBS just GAVE to me.

Losers.

F*ing Weather...

2008-02-12T13:24:00.000-06:00

It's not pretty here. The ice covering everything is not magical or beautiful. It's creaking and cracking, splitting trees and tearing down power lines. Our beautiful Ozarks landscape is once again being destroyed by mother nature. It will no doubt, look like a war zone after everything melts. IF it melts. Thousands of people without power. AGAIN. That just totally has to f*ck with a person's mind.

And there is more of this shit coming on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There is no riding bikes...mountain, road or otherwise. There is no trail running. Hell, you're lucky to make it across the street in your car.

Classes are cancelled at the gym when public schools are closed...i.e. no Spinning classes so far this week.

I AM SICK, SICK, SICK OF THIS WEATHER!!! Can I make myself any clearer?

I guess the only think left to do is drink whiskey or bourbon or vodka. Whatever goes good with Diet Coke...gotta watch those calories.

Despite the bleak weather outlook, I am definitely going to Arkansas and I am definitely going to attempt to run the 50k this Saturday. Race headquarters in Allison, Arkansas just had the power restored yesterday because they were wiped out by last week's tornadoes. T-O-R-N-A-D-O-E-S. Plural. But the race is on! Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to look at it), FEMA has taken over race headquarters. I think that means conditions are pretty grim when they bring in FEMA.

I'm wondering also, can I even realistically expect to ride Ouachita in April with nothing behind me but minimal Spinning hours and some leg workouts???

I'm freakin' out man!

Seriously...I've had it with this weather

2008-02-11T09:14:00.000-06:00

I'm begging mother nature to stop the insanity! Apparently, according to my daughter, Missouri is the #1 state for having the most unpredictable weather. Gee, I wonder how they figured that one out. Those weather folks. Aren't they just the most smartest guys ever!!!

Today calls for sleet (we currently have about 2 inches of it on the ground), more sleet/freezing rain, snow, and thundersnow showers. What the hell is that???? All of this and more through midnight tonight, at least. Possibly for the rest of the week.

Possibly, but maybe not. There is a slight chance likely possibly maybe.

Maybe they'll change that forecast at 3:00 p.m. today and replace "possibly", with "probably" or "likely" and replace "week" with "day" or "days" or "hours".

Or maybe they'll forecast more tornadoes. Or a chance of possible tornadoes.

Or maybe they'll tell us it's going to be 70 on Wednesday.

Saturday was my last long run before my 50k next weekend. Three hours. I'm guessing we got in around 14-15 miles. The terrain at Busiek State Park is much more difficult than the Sylamore. So, 15 miles at Busiek is probably the equivalent of 20 miles on more "friendly" terrain. The weather was perfect. It was quite windy, which made me glad that I opted for a trail run as opposed to a rode ride, because I would have been cussing the headwinds the entire time. It got so warm during our run that the river crossings actually felt nice and the dogs took a few extra minutes just relaxing in the water.

I felt really good after the run. My feet also felt fine, despite running in wet shoes and socks the entire time. There are 2 river crossings at Sylamore, so it was good to "test" the waters before the actual run.

As we finished I thought, hey, if we were running Sylamore today (and guessing conservatively that we'd run only 13 miles), we'd only have 18 miles left to go."

That put a smile on my face.

I went home, showered, took some Motrin and crashed on the couch. I was so hungry, but too tired to eat.

Sunday, I had planned on getting some good miles in on the mountain bike. All of the trails around here are way too muddy and too washed out to ride, so I was hoping to hit the Frisco Trail. Nice packed chat with lots of resistance...nothing to do but grind it out the entire time. No coasting downhill. No coasting. Period. Unfortunately, the high temp was 25 and the wind made it seem much colder. It wouldn't have been so bad, if it weren't for the fact that the Frisco is completely out in the open. So, despite the fact that I felt pretty good after the 3 hour run, my heart wasn't into grinding gears in freezing temps.

On the family front...no word. Nothing from the Division of Family Services about the hotline call, nothing from the family. Nada.

They're crazy. All of them.

My daughter wanted to know where I was going to be doing the 50k this coming weekend. Everything I do freaks her out. Our conversation went a little like this...

She: "Where are you doing that big run next weekend?"
Me: "On the Sylamore Trails in Arkansas."
She: "Oh, so it's not a road marathon?"
Me: "Nope. It's in the woods on some beautiful trails."
She: "In the woods??? Isn't that dangerous?"
Me: "Not at all. There are going to be more than 300 people running it at the same time and aid stations every 5 or so miles. I will be perfectly fine."
She: (Crying) "What if you get lost? What if there's something out there? What if it's something bad?"

Me: "Is this because you watched The Blair Witch Project?"

I love me a good contest!

2008-02-08T13:33:00.000-06:00

Fat Cyclist is having a contest to help motivate him to lose weight for the Leadville 100 AND he's giving away free money. Free money, people! That's what I like to hear.

Wicked, Wicked Step-Monster

2008-02-08T08:41:00.000-06:00

I wish I were witty and funny when I put my words on cyber-paper, and you would think I would be, being that I was an English major and all (despite dropping out of college), but alas, I am only witty and funny and sarcastic when it comes to speaking. I can't figure out where the disconnect happened, but it did. So I write boring, plain old oatmeal kind of stuff...no brown sugar or blueberries to jazz it up.

So, the plain old boring truth is I ran last night. Not on the dreadmill, on the trails. Ankle deep in mud and continuously dodging a couple of well-meaning dogs, in the dark for about 6 miles, scaring unseen turkeys out of tree tops.

It was awesome.

And I felt so good afterwards, it made me wonder why anyone would ever want to run on the road. Really...ever. And it somewhat re-invigorated my love of running.

And I forgot about all the bad stuff that happened yesterday.

I have a day off today. I'm not doing anything because I'm trail running for 3 hours tomorrow. And today is sandwich day.

Or pizza day.

Or pasta day.

I haven't decided yet. But its going to be something with alot of calories and something bad and good at the same time, that's the real deal.

Yesterday, my husband tried calling my dad to arrange a time when we could bring the girls to meet him. His wife, the nasty-ass whore, a/k/a the Wicked Wicked Step-Monster, answered the phone and before my husband could get two words out, she said...

"Don't ever call here again!"

And hung up.

She must have been high the other day when she let my husband talk to my dad.

Anyhoo...after several phone calls to various other family members and long-time family friends, it has become apparent that she is not going to let all that money go without a fight. I don't doubt for a second that she will do whatever, in her mind, is necessary to protect "her interests" from falling into the hands of some well-deserving grandchildren, instead of going to her 8 illegitimate bastard children.

After the phone call gone bad, I honestly thought about just showing up on the doorstep. Just me, all by myself, and beating the shit out of her.

Seriously! Really, really, really KICKING HER ASS into next year. Like, December-of-next-year-hard.

But who beats up on a 76 year old woman????

This is the same evil woman who, when my mother was dying of lung cancer, called our house and when my mother answered the phone asked her...are you even ready for this...

Drumroll, please....

This is just sooooooooooooooooo very bad...

"I was just calling to see if you were dead yet?"

Now, do not even tell me THAT doesn't deserve a really good ass kicking, even after all these years.

Bitch, please. You are so about to get hot-lined, because I just don't have time for jail right now.

Freakish Freakiness

2008-02-07T10:31:00.000-06:00

No update on the dad front. I will not be the one calling to make arrangements, I'll leave that up to my husband. I'm terribly afraid of rejection and in Part II, I'll explain how I've just had enough of it. But for now, if anybody is going to be rejected by my dad, I'm going to let my husband be the one.

I ran 4 1/2 miles on the dreadmill last night. Not nearly enough. It was horrible and not so bad all at the same time. I ended up talking to the girl on the treadmill next to me for what turned out to be 3 1/2 miles, so the remaining mile on my own was a breeze. The following weight workout was awesome and I even ended up adding weight. No plyometric leg torture to speak of...I'll get to that soon enough.

I'm hoping to run outside tonight after work. I'll probably have to wear my headlamp because it will be dark-thirty before I get out of the office, but the thought of another mile on the dreadmill practically makes me sick all over again.

I was discussing my options for this weekend with a friend that I train with almost daily. She and her husband are headed to St. Louis this weekend to look at cars. I've practically forced them into buying a Volvo. That they are not going to be in town means I'm stuck with my adventure racing partner who runs entirely too fast. This is a good thing when he has to tow me on the run during a race, but not so much when he's not towing and it's not a race. I tend to get lost out in the woods because he runs off and leaves me and I'm never paying attention to where I'm going or where I've been.

Now, our plan is not exactly the best of plans, but it is a plan nonetheless.

We are trail running for 3 hours. And I've kinda decided that I'm not so much in love with running anymore.

Three flippin' hours on some nasty-ass trails with some vertical climbs so steep its practically mandatory that you crawl. There is a roll of toilet paper hanging on a tree near the top, because if you turn around to look back at what you just climbed, you will surely shit yourself.

Anyway, the plan is not the best because the following weekend is the 50k and I was told I should be tapering. But I don't like tapering so I never do it. I like to think of all my events as "training" for the next one. Which is why I probably never peak. So, I'll run for 3 hours, followed by a nice soaking of the legs in the icy cold river, likely followed by some beer and/or red wine, and that's the truth!

I have a friend who ran a 50k last weekend in a freakishly fast amount of time. She ran a 50k the weekend before that...also freakishly fast. This weekend she's doing an 18 hour adventure race, probably also as freakishly fast. Then next weekend, she's going for the freaky fast course record at the Sylamore 50k. We talk about her a lot because she's so freakin' fast. Last year I bought her cross-country race bike that she rode in Primal Quest '06 and then rode it to take 4th woman at Ouachita. I'm hoping that I absorb by osmosis some of her freaky fastness because the training ain't cutting it.

Strange Brew

2008-02-06T09:50:00.000-06:00

We had another round of weird severe storms in 417-Land yesterday. We went from a record-setting high of 76 on Monday to heavy rain, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flash flooding and freezing rain yesterday. More freezing rain and snow this morning. I love southwest Missouri and I hate it at the same time. I thrive on spontenaity and unpredictability, but need a certain amount of order and stability. How else could I keep it all together. Or at least fool everybody into believing that I'm keeping it all together. It would help alot if the weather around here would cooperate. But weather isn't the only strange thing brewing around here.

I went to the gym last night and my plan said I was supposed to run or swim. I did neither. I was feeling a little rebellious and decided to get on the stair climber. I set it on the highest level and cranked out almost 4 miles in 30 minutes. That was crazy fast and I thought I was going to fall off. By the time I was done, it looked like I had been swimming.

Then I got on a bike and spun my legs at high rpm's until it said I had burned 100 calories and then I figured I could be done. Because I really wasn't enjoying it. And I find that strange, because most of the time, I enjoy my workouts.

Besides, I'm lifting and running today and it will be good, not strange.

So, I get home last night and we're sitting at the table having dinner (how strange is that!) and my husband says "We should call your dad." (Even more strange...wait).

I haven't spoke to my dad in over 20 years. The last time I spoke to my dad was at a deposition I had subpoenaed him for because after my mom died when I was 17, he stole mine and my brother's trust funds. So I sued him.

And won.

So I've had this big, fat judgment worth a lot of money for the past 20 years instead of a dad.

He has cancer now and is dying.

So I told my husband, "Go ahead. Call him."

So he called him.

And my dad has a very nasty, mean wife who answered the phone. When my husband told her who he was, she asked if he wanted to speak to my dad. Twenty years ago, she would have been cussing out my husband and would have hung up on him before he could have said anything. But she handed my dad the phone.

My husband asked my dad how he was doing. We knew he had been ill and not getting any treatment for the cancer.

And then my husband asked my dad if he would like to meet his granddaughters.

I fully expected him to say no. I mean, "NO" in a very big, loud way. He has made no secret of the fact that he hates me. I figured that hatred would just trickle down to include my daughters.

He said "I think I would like that. I would like that alot."

And that made me cry.

The Plan - Phase I

2008-02-05T10:57:00.000-06:00

I met with uber-trainer Chris last night and he ran me through a nice little weight regimine focusing on my legs and core. Initial plan is for weights 2 x per week. Core work daily with one day off. To boost power fast, I'll be combining the weights with plyometric sessions 2 times per week with high-intensity on-bike intervals on the same day. The plyometrics involve "squat and jumps" 2 sets of 15-20jumps, and "box jumps." They are exactly as they sound. Nothing that I didn't already know, just someone needs to force me to do them.

The PowerIntervals on the bike are short, hard efforts with minimal recovery time between each interval. Start with a 15 minute warm up. then 4 x 1 minute at max effort with 1 minute recovery in between. Three sets total, with 8 minutes easy spinning at high cadence between each set.

Running 3 x per week. Two tempo runs, one long run on the weekend. That's pretty standard. As long as its on a trail, I'll be happy.

Swimming 2 x per week. I've always been a strong swimmer...must be because I'm a Pisces and practically grew up in the water. I find it's the easiest discipline to train for. I have a hard time understanding people who are afraid of the water...I've never been there.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get in a long ride on the weekends either on the road or on the trails. Either way, I'll be happy. That will be just to grind it out for mileage. Lots and lots of miles. And if I could ride both days, I'd be even happier!

Did I run out of days yet?

On the home front...my daughter is driving and she hasn't ran into anything yet. I'm thrilled but scared at the same time. I didn't think it would be this hard.

Brand New Race!

2008-02-04T12:35:00.000-06:00

Our friends at Springfield Bicycle Company are busy working on a new race and it's going to be exciting!!! The Berryman Trail Epic. Scott Davis, owner of Springfield Bicycle and mountain biker extraordinairre, and his fiance Leslie, are heading up the event and I just know they will have an amazing set up. There will be both a tour and a race to be held on October 25 and 26, 2008. Distances are yet to be determined as the trail is still being worked and will require the efforts of many volunteers over the next 8 months. I first rode (and ran) the Berryman Trail back in 2005 during an adventure race and was amazed at its beauty. It is considered an IMBA Epic and certainly one to be ridden whenever you get the chance. Springbike will be busy keeping everyone informed and posting details on their website also. So definitely stay tuned!

Now that my family and I are finally cured of whatever ailed us, I can get back to the business of training.

I had nightmares about it this past weekend. I'm scared, but I'm going.

I'm definitely going. I'm definitely running. I'm definitely getting that sweatshirt.

That I'm going to never take off.

I ran Saturday. Five miles. Late in the afternoon/early evening. But it felt good to stretch my legs and be outside, despite the horrrendous coughing fit I had when I finished. Then I went home and watched scary movies with my girls.

Sunday was a nice easy road ride before the Super Bowl. 25 miles more or less, but considering how sick I had been the week before, again I was glad to just be outside. And this time, no coughing fit afterwards (just doughnuts and hot apple cider!).

Today was another slow and easy 5 mile run. I'm feeling almost as good as new.

I'm headed to the gym after work to talk to one of the trainers about the really really big plan.

Sick, sick, sick...

2008-02-01T14:31:00.000-06:00

No, I'm not talking about Britney Spears. Even though hopefully now that girl is getting some help. Me, I am sick. Not like Britney. Mine's the viral kind that goes away with plenty of rest, some chicken noodle soup and orange juice. Wouldn't that be nice if you could treat mental illness with chicken noodle soup and orange juice?

I wish I could say I spent the last 3 days wandering around a private gated community in Beverly Hills, but I've spent the past 3 days in my bed, in Missouri, coughing and sneezing. The very hairs on my head hurt. I'm finally over the worst of it, but it has really screwed up my plans for the big plan. I was supposed to go out for a 2.5 to 3 hour trail run tomorrow and I still could, but I'm thinking it would be cut short to about 30 minutes because my lungs would explode. I'm still planning on running the 50k in 2 weeks. So it may be more like a run/hike. The course is open for 9 hours. I figure if I can run 10 miles in 2 hours, using my formula of adding approximately 30 minutes to each 10 miles thereafter and allowing for a 4 mph pace for the last 10 miles, I can possibly finish in the vicinity of 7 1/2 to 8 hours.

In the end, I'll probably end up dropping to the 25k. I shouldn't be ashamed of that because 15 miles on the Syllamo isn't exactly for wussies.

My daughter took her driver's license test on Tuesday the 29th. I took her despite being at the foot of my deathbed.

She passed.

Barely.

Then it snowed yesterday and she wanted to drive in it. I really must have "stupid" written on my forehead and only she and her sister can see it.

I'm sick

2008-01-30T10:49:00.000-06:00

That's not part of the really really big plan.

Do I even want to think about this?

2008-01-28T11:41:00.000-06:00

As a team, of course. But after yesterday, I'm not so sure...

Ouch!

2008-01-28T09:12:00.000-06:00

What started out as a perfect weekend, turned into the brutal realization that I am behind in my training...way far behind. Some of my pain may have had a little to do with over doing the lunges last Wednesday. That's what happens after you turn 40.

After my "Slimfast" Friday (which I'm thinking wasn't such a good idea after all), I got up early for our trail run Saturday morning, had a bagel with peanut butter and honey (which put me into carb-heaven) and left to met some folks out at Little Sac. It was still a bit overcast, chilly and somewhat windy, but we were going to be deep in the woods, so I knew we would warm up. My friend Cynthia brought her dog Zeke and I had Lucky.

Aren't they handsome!

The plan was for 6-7 miles, but I knew Cynthia would silently guilt me into running farther, seeing as how I'm going to attempt a 50k in only a couple of weeks. Our starting pace was nice and easy. The trails were still frozen and we needed to really watch our footing as there were ruts from the bikes. Most of the creek crossings were frozen so we didn't have to worry about getting wet feet. The dogs barreled over on top of the ice. Lucky fell through at one point, it wasn't very deep, but I think it cut the pads on his feet (which I didn't find out about until after I got him home). Poor guy is still having trouble walking. Anyway, there was great conversation to go along with the great pace...I could actually talk, that's how nice the pace was!

We finished the first 6 miles and met in the parking lot. Half of the group was finished, but several of us headed back out for another 4 mile loop. My legs were starting to feel really heavy, but I struggled through and had a good finish. Just a tad bit over 2 hours...I was ready for a nap. And more carbs.

Saturday night was also the Urban Orienteering Race from 7-9 p.m., for which I volunteered. Who can pass up free pizza just for helping??? More carbs! I could hardly wait. I dragged the entire family downtown, but we all had a good time and watched a movie while waiting for the teams to get in.

Sunday. The day I had been waiting for. I could eat lots of carbs because I knew I would need them for the ride at 1:00. I got some laundry done, put my new pedals on my bike, and dropped my daughter off at MSU at noon so she could work the concession stand for band credit. I had enough time to grab some lunch before we took off (mmmmm...more carbs!).

We had a good group of 9. All very strong riders. But when we took out of the parking lot at 23-24 mph, I knew I was in trouble. There was a slight amount of wind at our back on the way out, thus the reason they were putting down the hammer. I was able to fake it as long as I could hang in the middle of the pack. Once we turned into the wind though it was a different story. I was just hoping to keep them in my sight. Every mile felt like 5 miles. I was drinking and taking in enough calories, my legs just couldn't push the hills at a what felt like a 20 mph pace. One particlar hill is about 1 1/2 miles at a 10-11% grade and I can usually push up it at a decent pace and sort of enjoy the view, but despite the gorgeous warm weather, I was having a miserable ride. Several of the guys would fall back and try to pull me, but as soon as I caught up, I was worn out and couldn't hang on. Three miles out from our finish, I almost started to cry. I was hurting and there were more hills ahead. Three hours later after the start, I dragged my sorry ass into the parking lot minutes behind everyone else. I was done and I was beat. Whatever shape I thought I was in, just kicked me in the ass.

My realization this morning (as I'm fighting a sinus headache) is that if I'm going to race my mountain bike this year, I need a trainer. And a plan.

A big plan.

A REALLY REALLY BIG PLAN.

WTF???

2008-01-25T10:37:00.000-06:00

I tried Spinning my ass off last night. I HAD to be at 90-100% of my MHR for almost the entire 40 minutes. THEN, I went and ran a fast 3 miles. THEN I went home had some portion-controlled chicken and pasta and successfully managed to avoid the DQ Blizzard Ice Cream cake my neighbors had for their son's birthday party. I thought I was doing pretty good.

I got up this morning to put on my favorite pair of Lucky jeans, which I purposefully purchased just a tad too big because they are the boyfriend cut and they're supposed to look all slouchy and stuff, and they *effing fit!!!

So I went to the store at 7 a.m. this morning and bought 2 cases of Slimfast.

If I would have known THAT was going to happen, I would have eaten the whole damn cake!

Spinning

2008-01-24T09:12:00.000-06:00

It warmed up to 28 yesterday. This is what I wear when it's cold.

Too bad both tires were off my bike suffering from the dreaded flats, otherwise I would have gone for a ride. I put slime tubes in because I haven't gone tubeless yet and something is all jacked-up with my floor pump and I couldn't find my C02 thingamabobber, so they're still flat. It doesn't matter though, because its -8 today and I am NOT going outside for anything but to get in my car and go to the bike shop. I'm taking my bike in so they can make some adjustments, fix the tires and tell me what in the hell is wrong with my floor pump. Hanging out at a LBS is almost as good as riding...particularly if you get something new. Even if it's a sock or a C02 cartridge or a magnet. The day is just better for having been in a bike shop. So they're going to get me going again and maybe give me some new stuff. Maybe even some free new stuff.

Since I'm not riding outside, I'm Spinning. I like Spinning. I like Spinning and riding my bikes so much I became a Spinning instructor.

And then they cancelled my classes for lack of participation. They raised my quota from 5 to 8 per class and it's hard to get people in a small, rural, podunk community to understand the beauty of Spinning. They think it's too hard with resistance. They push the pedals without resistance and talk alot to each other. So instead of Spinning for others, I'm Spinning for myself. They say your class is NOT supposed to be considered a workout, but I always pushed it a little bit anyway. Maybe too much. Maybe that's why I had a lack of participation?

So I'm Spinning tonight after work. I almost throw up when I take the Thursday night Spinning class because there are always a bunch of tri-geeks in there and they like to compete. How can you compete on a stationary bike? Easy. More tension, at a higher cadence for a longer period of time. But you have to watch people, because they're sneaky and they'll decrease their tension when you're not looking and they'll be hammering at some ungodly cadence and you're trying to keep up the pace with all this bad-ass tension on your bike and you're like WTF! So I watch and play the game and sometimes I even win on Thursdays.

I was going to do a spin class last night but it was full, so I did weights. I focused on my shoulders, back, abs and legs. I'd do a set, then abs. Another set, then abs. So on and so forth, until I got to the lunges. Lunges are a stupid idea in general. Ok, not stupid, but I haven't done weights regularly for a few months. Maybe once or twice a week here and there, but not my usual Tues/Thurs or M/W/F like before. So it was stupid to think that I could do walking lunges with a 20lb dumbbell in each hand around the track, which is .1115 mile without some kind of build up. I was hurting before I completed my lap. I'm going to be really sore tomorrow. I can hardly wait.

Then, my training buds who are training for IM CDA in June and do abs just about every day for 30 minutes, suggest that I do abs with them even though I already did my abs. They are my pillars when it comes to doing abs...they give you that "you should really do abs and more abs because you'll just go home and eat cookies and ice cream and not do abs like your supposed to." So I did more abs. Not just abs, but super ab exercises...like the killer "V" and planks and some serious core exercises that hurt alot because of my lunging only minutes before.

I'm really glad I did lots of abs. Not so much the lunges. I'm regretting the overdoing it with the lunges.

So, then I hobble over to our local multisport club monthly meeting where we're discussing upcoming events and so on and so forth. And power meters. Our club president was so freakin' excited talking about these power meters I thought he was going to piss himself. I was thinking, my gosh, I should really just go out and get one of these power meters if they're that awesome. Then he explained the cost of the various power meters and I thought, out loud actually, I am off-road, I drink beer and eat pizza after I race. Why in the sam-hell do I need a power meter? Tri-geeks are tweaked way too tight.

Then I hobble on home.

My 16 year old, Hilary, who doesn't like to drive, explains to me in a serious voice that she needs to drive over to her friend's house so her friend can get her stuff to spend the night. Here's the thing though, she doesn't care for driving in the daylight. She doesn't mind a bit to drive at night. I think it's the whole idea of what you can't see can't hurt you???? Kind of like when you're out riding some rock garden on a fast downhill and it's all covered with leaves and you can't actually see the rocks, you just know they're there and they're big and they could possibly hurt you, but because you can't see them, you loosen your grip and your shoulders and sit back and let it rip because you're not afraid. Like that.

Tip of the Day

2008-01-23T10:35:00.001-06:00

This seems appropriate.

IMBA Needs Marketing Coordinator

2008-01-23T08:48:00.001-06:00

I would love love love to have this job! You don't even know how much I would love to have this job. Unfortunately, I'm a paralegal and live nowhere near Boulder, Colorado. This creates a couple of major obstacles. The job doesn't actually pay a whole lot, but to be able to walk out the back door of your office with your bike and ride trails on your lunch hour would totally (in my book) be worth it! I can't even imagine that kind of Nirvana. Nothing like that exists in my world.

My world involves a teenager who is chomping at the bit to get her driver's license, without the requisite 40 hours of "practice" driving because she doesn't like to drive, a 12 year old who refuses to wear a coat in sub-zero temps and is showing cautionary signs of being a sk8er-girl, a ginormous stubborn Labrador Retriever that thinks he's human, a little mutt dog that suffers from ADD, a sugar glider that barks at night, a lizard that requires massive amounts of heat (which is why my electric bills are out of this universe) and a husband who thinks he tells you things when he only imagines he tells you things and then gets angry when you don't remember the imaginary things he told you.

All of these things in my world are minor and rarely cause irritation on days that I am able to ride one of my bikes...today, yesterday, the day before yesterday and the 7 days before that were not those days. Things have been getting a little irritating so I've been running on the treadmill, which is not even close to riding my bike. The weather guy did predict a high of 59 on Sunday. Dare I get hopeful that I might be able to ride?

Frozen

2008-01-22T10:10:00.001-06:00

The trails are frozen. The roads are frozen. The trees are frozen. The schools are frozen. My bike is frozen. My shoes are frozen. Our grill is frozen. Everything is frozen. It's been below freezing every day for the last week. It just moved in and took over causing my electric and gas bills to skyrocket. I like how when the economy is bad, prices for everything go up. I went to the grocery store last night for a few things, and because of the weather forecast people were again freaking out. I couldn't even buy a gallon of milk. But the real kicker was the lunchmeat. I'll buy the prepackaged stuff occasionally, but even those prices have increased. So I'm standing at the deli counter looking at my lunchmeat choices and noticed that turkey and ham which, depending on the brand, range in price from $1.98/lb. to $4.98/lb. They were all $3.98/lb to $6-effing.98 a pound!! Quite frankly I was pissed and told them they could keep their prized-lunchmeat, while also muttering that they could stick it up their ass (under my breath of course).

Why can't they freeze the goddamn prices?

I guess it's good that gasoline prices are going down concurrently with most stock values. That's always nice.

Minus 2 Degrees

2008-01-21T10:56:00.000-06:00

Saturday was supposed to be my long run day and I was supposed to do 15 on the trail. I woke to my alarm at 6:30 a.m. and The Weather Channel telling me it was -2. The high for the day was supposed to get to a mind numbing 12. One of the guys I was supposed to run with called and asked if I was serious about running outside...of course, I said no. How can one be serious about running outside when it's -2? He didn't argue with me at all. So I went to the gym and ran 4 miserable miles on the treadmill and did some core work. I hate the treadmill. Then I ran into a friend and she said she had ran at 8 a.m. on the trails...outside. And I felt like a total weinie.

So, Sunday morning, after a Saturday of shopping, eating KFC, and other laziness of sorts, I got a call from my adventure racing teammates saying they were going to run the trails for a couple of hours. I met them at 10:30 a.m., we ran for 2 hours and I felt good and strong and kind of fast, for trail running. So good in fact, that I sprinted UP the last hill. I didn't even get cold crossing the river, despite the fact that my shoelaces and exposed hair were frozen. It was 20 degrees...a heat wave in comparison to Saturday AND I had 4 layers on.

Then I went home and ate and rested and caught the last part of the NYG and Packers game on TV and saw the girls in their bikinis in sub-zero temps and I felt like a total weinie for wearing 4 layers.

Totally unrelated to anything bike, run or weather, I went with my daughter and her friends to one of their friend's Sweet 16 party last night. Her parents (who are separated) had rented out a local downtown nightclub (which, apparently you can do that on Sundays here in the bible-belt), complete with DJ and "beverage"-tenders. Of course my daughter was mortified that I was even there, but I was invited by the parents, who are actually good friends of ours. In any event, the mother of the birthday girl proceeded to get really, really drunk, dance provacatively with the boys and make a general fool of herself...doing shots with one of her other "friends" and whatnot. Here's where I get judgemental...I think she should definitely have NOT done that. Any of it. And I'm kind of upset that she did it in front of my daughter, her friends, and all of the other guests. Other than being upset, I'm not too sure how I feel about that.

Cycling Words and Phrases

2008-01-11T16:44:00.001-06:00

When you struggle to find that special word or phrase...look here

My daughter, Hilary turned 16 on Tuesday. Tomorrow is her sweet 16 party. Nothing big, just a trip to the local piercing salon for a quick navel piercing then off to dinner with her and several of her friends.

Before I'm chastised for letting my daughter get her navel pierced, I say this...at least I waited until she was 16, unlike some mothers trying to live vicariously through their daughters while allowing them to leave the house dressed like tramps when they're 13. I have a smart child with a near perfect GPA, she likes hanging out with her parents and intends on attending an ivy-league school. A piercing is the least of my worries.

Now, I only wish she would get on a bike!

Tattoo You

2008-01-10T09:25:00.000-06:00

I have one tattoo. I don't much care for it and would like to have some work done to it so that it resembles something meaningful, because right now it just looks like they let some preschooler loose with a gyrating needle and some ink. No regret in getting it. I just wish I would have put a little more thought into it. I think the IM tattoos are really cool, but I'm not willing to go 140.6 just to get one. At one point I had picked out a salamander and I was going to have it tattoo'd on my lower back so that it looked like it was crawling out of the crack of my ass. Then I wanted the salamander on the top of my foot. THEN I wanted the Road Runner on my shoulder. Last year I wanted the bicycle chain around my ankle, but every cyclist has one of those. Then I saw this...

Not very "girly," but way cool. It could also probably get me fired.

My kids went back to school today after a 2-day vacation because of the tornadoes on Monday. Because there was damage to Hallie's elementary school, they decided to hold school at the biggest Baptist church in town. Now, I find it ironic that people will bitch about there being religion in schools and how the government must must separate all that shit, and then all of a sudden the government needs the church for the school and it's ok. My God, what if the kids see some of the religious symbols and Bibles and pictures of Jesus...won't it corrupt them and blah blah blah...

I went to the bike shop yesterday because I haven't been able to ride in the last few days and what else do you do when you can't ride, but go hang out at your LBS. Anyway, I've been contemplating going tubeless on my mountain bike because everybody says "tubeless is king" whatever that means. Anyway, apparently my wheels aren't UST tubeless, even though I thought they are, and I was told I would need new tires and a converter kit that runs around $80. Then there's labor involved because I don't know how to convert my own tires. They told me the total cost would be around $250 to convert to tubeless. Am I getting f***ed here??? It really sounds like I'm getting f***ed!

My greasy lover?

2008-01-09T12:39:00.000-06:00

Jim Gaffigan is just too hilarious for words. He has nothing to say about bicycles though.

(thanks, Dooce)

He also does a mean "Hot Pocket" routine. Check him out.

60 Tornado Warnings!

2008-01-08T14:52:00.000-06:00

Starting yesterday around 4-something in the afternoon, ominous clouds starting rolling in. It was eery quiet and looked like the sky could just open up any second and drop all kinds of weather-hell. I made it home just in time to close my garage door before the storm sirens started. Since we live in a corridor inundated with storms (I swear some storm chaser/city design engineer followed directly behind a tornado when planning our community), my kids weren't too alarmed at the initial sounding of the sirens, nor was I. I figured I had time to change into my regular comfy lounging-around-in-the-storm-shelter-area-of-the-house clothes before anything major happened. Duh...not so much. The TV broadcasts its severe weather alert, says to take cover immediately and shows the storm tracking directly over our heads. So I flip out because I can't find my cell phone and I'm f-ing this and f-ing that because my husband is not home yet and I still can't find my cell phone and I need to call the fitness center to tell them that I just won't be there to teach my 6 p.m. spin class because there is a tornado headed our way. But they don't answer, so I cuss some more and my kids are crying and the sirens are still going off and my husband walks in the door and I leave a message telling them that I don't care if they write me up for not showing up, I'm won't be there to teach my class. And then the power goes out. The entire town is blacked out. But we have a generator that we bought in the event we should have an ice storm such as the one we had last year, and it's already hooked up to our breaker box, so Bryan goes out and starts the generator and we have power. We were like the only ones in our neighborhood that had power and we're watching TV and the weather guys talk about the storm headed our way, while at the same time standing on our back deck watching the tornado about 1/4 mile away tear the roof off the elementary schools and demolish 8 homes. It was totally weird and then it started hailing and I told the girls to get back into the storm-shelter hallway. So they grabbed the dogs, the sugar glider, the Chinese water dragon, some blankets, pillows, a flashlight, a camera and their cell phones and settled in for what would be a really long night. After the kids were safe, I thought OHMIGOD...what about my bikes????? And I'm freaking out that my bikes are in the garage and they might get blown away. But only for a second, then I go grab the box of chocolates that Bryan brought home and sit down in the hallway with the girls and eat 4 chocolates. Then I hear the weather guy say that the first storm has passed and it stops raining and hailing and power is still off in the town, but then we see the fire trucks and police cars headed toward the elementary schools and I figure something bad happened. THEN, the weather guys say there is ANOTHER storm right behind the first storm and they're all moving something like a crazy fast 70mph and we need to prepare to take cover again and then the storm sirens start again. But we're hungry and we have power, so we start warming up leftovers because you don't want to start a meal when you don't know if your house will still be standing in 20 minutes, so we have some rosemary chicken and sushi rice and watch more weather and do some more standing outside watching the sky like they tell you never to do, and then I watch some more TV out in the garage so I can keep an eye on my bikes. Then I decide I should go inside and do some crunches because I ate 4 chocolates and my youngest daughter tells me I'm crazy, how could I think about doing crunches at a time like this and she gets mad at me for worrying about my bikes! Then I'm thinking, what if my daughter's birthday presents get destroyed because of some stupid tornado and, even though her birthday wasn't until today, I asked her if she wanted her birthday presents early. At first she said no and then started crying because she thought that we thought that we might die in a tornado and that's why we wanted her to have her birthday presents early. So she refused to open them, but just having them in the hallway-storm-shelter started bugging her and she asked if she could open them, to which I of course said yes. And then she was happy and not crying and the second storm passes and we're still all ok...and so are my bikes.

Shortly thereafter, the power comes back on and we all go back outside to look at the sky again and all kinds of people are outside milling about, assessing the damage and wondering what's going to happen next. Unfortunately, we really don't have to wait that long, because according to the weather guy, there is a third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh storm all in succession of the second and all moving around 70mph.

Anyway, these storms continue on through the night until the storm sirens wake us again at 2:45a.m. with what appears to be the mother of all storms on our back porch. We immediately turn on the TV to the same weather guys who were there at 4:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon and they're informing us to again take immediate cover because the storm has rotation and is packing winds in excess of 80-100 mph (which are apparently Category II hurricane force winds). I wake the girls, we gather the animals and blankets and other stuff and head to the hallway and, not that I wasn't concerned with the previous 6 storms, but it literally sounds like there is a tornado on top of us. It feels like the walls are going to cave in and the roof will be ripped away. The windows are shaking and the entire house feels like it is moving. This time I was really scared. Scared enough to not even think about my bikes once. We sit in the hallway for about an hour until it looks like the storm has completely passed and the wind dies down before going back to bed.

I'm not sure why all these storms seem to travel directly along the highway that goes right through the middle of our town, but it happens every spring, and every year the storms take the same exact path. We have weather like no other region that I've ever heard of. Saturday and Sunday's temps set record highs. We were running and biking all weekend in shorts and short sleeves and sweating like it was summer. The storms didn't even bother to bring cooler weather.

I get up this morning when my alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. to hear on the news that at least 3 people died. That's three people too many, but certainly a lot less than it could have been. Lots of destruction in surrounding communities. Two confirmed tornadoes that hit our community. All told, they issued more than 60 tornado warnings last night. No school today or tomorrow because of the roof and water damage to the schools. It was certainly a rough night.

My daughter turned 16 today. That, in itself, is a gift.