Where is Spring?

I have no idea who's ass this is but all I can say is "ow," and "wow..."

All joking aside, seems a bunch of male readers/browsers/phantom blog lurkers had a lot of funny comments about the "big cock" picture on my previous post. It's a chicken, boys. Friggin' gutterbrains :).

What have I been listening to lately? Here's a brief smattering....so much music, so little time...

Life on a Chain - Peter Yorn
Drop Dead Legs - Van Halen
Punkrocker - The Teddybears (feat. Iggy Pop) - thanks to Kristin for that one...
This is a Call - Foo Fighters
Don't Change - INXS
Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer - Morphine
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is - Jet
Where are We Runnin'? - Lenny Kravitz
Mrs. Robinson - The Lemonheads
Jerk it Out - Caesars
Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
Cult of Personality - Living Color
Fire Woman - The Cult
The Only One I Know - Charlatans UK
London Calling - The Clash
The Healer - John Lee Hooker
They're Blind - The Replacements
It Can Happen - Yes
Take Me to the River - Talking Heads
Out in the Cold - Tom Petty
Given to Fly - PJ
Set Me Free - Velvet Revolver
Found Out About You - Gin Blossoms
Rush - Big Audio Dynamite
Last Night - The Strokes
Highwire Days - Psychedelic Furs
Someone's Calling - Modern English
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
MFC - PJ
The Rascal King - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
....finished with Warning Sign by Coldplay. Another one of those I love but can't explain.


I'm racing this weekend - will it ever stop raining?? I was hoping to avoid having to apply embrocation - I don't like getting it all over my hands and stuff. Is anyone out there game to come along and do the application for me? Gutterbrains, you gettin' this? It's definitely a guy's job. Let me know.

Pictures!!

Mary, me and the Robbinsville Chicken

You can find Jessi's spring break pictures by clicking here

Spring Break Observations and Other Things

Winter unicycle training...the new way to develop a monstrous sprint

Now that I've re-entered my pre-spring break life and routine I've had a chance to sort of review my experiences and come up with a list of observations made with regard to the trip, coming home and various other things. Some are funny, some not so much but they're all things that have occurred to me, just the same.

* Drivers in Chicago are still malicious assholes. I was so hoping that wouldn't be the case but I've been disappointed yet again!
* It's still not spring in the Midwest. It might never be.
* My nearly 10 year old Jeep Wrangler can still go above 90mph without incident though I will say that's not something I care to investigate on a regular basis.
* Elite male bike racers can eat ASTOUNDING quantities of food.
* Southwestern North Carolina is an amazing place that demands a return visit at some point.
* Competitive kayakers are freakishly strong and skilled.
* You should try to finish an entire GU before returning the wrapper to your jersey pocket unless you enjoy having annoying stickiness all over your stuff.
* It appears that adult bookstores and ultra-mega super born-again Christian churches can peaceably co-exist as neighbors.
* Fierce melon Gatorade needs to be introduced to southwestern North Carolina.
* There remains a place in this day and age where radio stations are devoted entirely to the broadcast of bluegrass music. I am indeed a music junkie but I can't handle that.
* Descending a mountainside at nearly 50mph provides an intoxicating rush that I cannot duplicate at home. That might be a cool thing to try on a tandem or fixed gear sometime.
* There are still enormous potholes all over the place in Chicago.
* "Oil" by Upton Sinclair is a really fantastic read (yes, I know the title of a book should be underlined but blogger doesn't provide that option).
* If I ingest a massive quantity of Bonine (meclizine) beforehand I can conquer the Tail of the Dragon without feeling like I'm gonna hurl.
* My teammate Kat Clark missed her calling and should be a comedian. She's hysterical.
* A confederate flag can be an appropriate house/trailer warming gift in some instances (like, in North Carolina).
* Did I mention that Chicago drivers are still malicious assholes? They are, just in case you missed that one.

Not much more to share at the moment. I'm taking it easy on the bike for a few days then it's back to work preparing to race. Thanks for reading - it's good to be home even though the weather still sucks.

Last Day, Best Day

Check out the Flag over my bike...oh yeah....
(thanks to Kristin for the photo)

This was our last day of riding here in southwestern North Carolina before heading back to the cold, snowy Midwest. After a long, slow get-up we loaded up the bikes and drove over to Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) to spectate at the kayak races before rolling out on a 4+hr ride through the mountains. It was sort of cold in the morning but things warmed up nicely by ride time - enough in fact that I was able to go out with only armwarmers and removed them within 10min. I do indeed have tan lines, thank you very much.

Jessi, Kristin, Kat, Rachel and I rode along the river for a while before heading inland to do the 45ish minute Junaluska climb then back toward NOC on Wayah, up Winding Stairs and back down on 19 to our departure point. Everyone pretty much agreed that this was a most excellent ride - weather was perfect, scenery was fantastic and our route was just long enough. I didn't hit anything close to 50mph but that's okay - I had a good day on the bike and felt like I climbed pretty well, for a 'sprinter,' or whatever I am.

We stopped for an early dinner (I won't divulge what I ate because it was just plain bad and wrong in every way) and headed back to the cabin for showers, a final load of laundry and some relaxation before we leave early tomorrow morning.

Day 6 - Tail of the Dragon

We rolled out a little later this morning to allow time for the air temp to rise. Jessi, Kristin, Kat, Justin and I headed out on a 70mi loop that took us into Fontana Village then down along the Cheoa and Little Tennessee rivers before heading back up into Robbinsville and over Stecoah Gap. It was an amazing route today - we spent a lot of time riding along the river bank just taking in some pretty incredible scenery and enjoying the warm sun on our backs. Not quite a perfect ride but it sure was good.

At one point we rolled into a service station at the base of the Tail of the Dragon, a super tight curvy stretch of Highway 129 that has 318 curves in 11mi. We didn't actually ride on it - that probably would've ranked right up there with the morning commute on Milwaukee Avenue in terms of carnage potential. Given my proclivity for motion sickness it was a wise choice to forego the dragon today, or for that matter, any day.

Tomorrow we'll be heading out to ride after checking out the kayak races on the Nantahala River in the morning. Only one more day of riding to go before we head back to the snowy Midwest on Sunday morning. I hear it's pretty nasty back home - looks to be a week for riding the Frankenbike.

No Sleep = No Legs

After a night of epic insomnia I was feeling puny - we rolled out into (literally) freezing temps with the UW guys who were drilling it from the gun. When I realized what was going on I rolled off the back, content to head over to Cherohala Skyway and up the 10+mi climb to the top by myself. I wasn't feeling the love and it was probably better for me to be alone anyway.

Not too much later I picked up Kristin and Jessi - they'd seen the writing on the wall and knew it was best to take things down a notch and do our own ride. We headed into Robbinsville with a bitter cross/head wind to go along with the cold temps. Had the sun not been shining things would've been just like home!!

We covered a significant amount (10+mi) of rolling terrain before starting the sustained climb up the Cherohala Skyway. Somewhere around 3500ft all the trees began to display a sparkling coat of frost. The wind was vicious around some of the switchbacks and the temps were definitely below freezing. I'd been experiencing some problems with regulating my body temp and was alternately too warm then too cold - just not comfortable. I wasn't able to feel my hands or feet but for the burning sensation of frozen-ness. I looked down at my top tube and noticed something frozen on it then realized it was my own snot and spit. Nasty.

I had a lot of interesting conversations with myself (and the lizard) on that climb and had a good amount of time to think about lots of stuff. Though I did suffer a bit on the way, I certainly paused to look around at the amazing Smoky Mountain landscape that surrounded me. We didn't stay long at the summit - it was really cold up there at approximately 5600ft (give or take 1000ft). I put on another baselayer and headed back down the mountainside. The descent got a little tricky a couple of times with gravel and surface changes but I didn't need to touch the brakes much - the wind made things difficult and I was only able to get up to 46mph for any length of time. At one point we were chased by a dog which made things interesting for a brief moment.

By the time we reached the ranger station just outside Robbinsville I'd been on the bike for about 4.5hr. I'd had quite enough at that point so I put my bike in the ISCorp car and got a ride back to the cabin. We still have 2 more days of riding and I really didn't want to be totally smoked for it.

While I didn't feel super today, it wasn't an entirely bad day on the bike. I've decided that I might dislike climbing as much as I dislike cooking. Dunno - that's a close call. In a sense they're both necessary evils and really - doing stuff that pushes you to explore the limits of your comfort zone is a good thing, right?

Day 4 - Embrocation Anyone?

The plan for today was an easy recovery ride of about 2 hours. The forecast was calling for rain starting at mid-day so we rolled a little early in order to escape the impending precip. Temps were decent - low 60s at ride time but I rode out wearing warmers as I was confident that even a small amount of descending would leave me shivering.

We headed toward Stecoah under cloudy skies and after about 15min of riding it was clear that most of us were overdressed. I started unzipping and peeling off warmers in effort to regulate my body temp to no avail. We got to the base of Stecoah Gap and the rain starting coming DOWN. My gloves, arm and legwarmers were soaked and already in my pockets so I pulled on the rain jacket and we headed back. I would've given anything to have some minty warm embrocation on my legs for the ride back!

So it's more bike cleaning and laundry for today. We've entertained the idea heading into Bryson City later on for some coffee and relaxation but the rain keeps falling and the likelihood of that keeps diminishing. The plan for tomorrow is about 100mi - my legs feel good and I've been climbing well all week so I'm definitely looking forward to it. We'll have a bigger group tomorrow as the Cincinnati contingent will be joining us for at least some of the ride, the UW Madison team will be along, Mary's husband Jay is arriving tonight from Loveland and Kat Clark is coming in for the rest of the week.

Thanks for reading - I think I'll just go put my feet up, read and relax for a while...

Day 3 - Front Side of Wayah Bald

Jessi, Me, Mary and Kristin at the top - before the freezing descent.
Thanks for taking the pic, John.

I could've used my bike cleaning dude after today's ride....We rolled out from Nantahala Outdoor Center under cloudy skies with temps in the upper 40s planning to climb the more gradual side of Wayah Bald. I was feeling good and the ascent went well - I got to the top with Kristin and Mary, two very strong climbers. We waited at the top for the rest of our group and by that point we'd been getting rained on for a good 20min or so. We were soaked, underdressed and getting colder the longer we waited.

We regrouped and started what proved to be a pretty dicey descent. I headed down first and had a few nervous moments through some slick, gravel-filled hairpin turns but got down in one piece and waited at the bottom for everyone. Fortunately there wasn't a lot of traffic on the mountain today - only a few cars and trucks passed me on the way down. This was certainly not a day to attempt a 50mph descent - getting to the bottom without incident was definitely the priority.

We ducked into a gas station at the corner of Wayah and Old Murphy Roads to warm up and made the decision to call for a ride back to Nantahala. Everyone was thoroughly soaked, shivering and really not prepared to ride the remaining 35mi back to our starting point - we didn't bring dry gloves or rain jackets along as the forecast said the rain would hold off until much later in the afternoon. We were retrieved about an hour later at which time I was still wet, shivering and numb - it was actually painful and I was extremely uncomfortable.

It wasn't a bad day on the bike - rather quite a good one for me while we were actually riding. Tomorrow looks to be an easy day and we hope to get out before the rain starts around mid-day. I have photos to post from today's ride but Blogger is still moving slow on photo uploads so I'll get them up at some point later on.

As always, thanks for reading. Now I have to go clean my very dirty bike....

Day 2 - Stecoah Gap

Kristin and I before rolling out

After a long, slow get up this morning, we rolled out from our secluded mountain retreat for an approximately 50mi loop that took us to the top of Stecoah Gap which stands at about 3200ft of elevation. Weather was nearly perfect - upper 50s and sunny with a little wind but nothing too bad. Mary, Kristin, Jessi, Rachel and I shared the work and had a really good day in the saddle. We were sort of tired from yesterday so things stayed pretty mellow except for the descending....I just missed hitting 50mph on the ride down to Robbinsville.

I got sucked into cooking duty this evening so I downed a bottle of Guinness not just to celebrate St. Patrick's Day but also to help me tolerate the abuse that was thrown at me by my teammates. I don't like to cook - I do it rarely and only under duress. Jessi was kind enough to photograph me hard at work in the kitchen, half intoxicated. I am a serious lightweight when it comes to alcohol consumption - so much in fact that I truly am a non-drinker but for the occasional hit. I'll post the pic once Jessi sends it over.

The plan for tomorrow is to climb the front side of Wayah Bald. Mary informed me that we'll have some company on the ride tomorrow - John and Scott from Cincinnati are here!! This is both good and bad - the opportunity to watch man-butt on the ride is always good. The fact that the last time I saw John (back in September) he kept feeding me shots isn't necessarily good...

Thanks for reading - I have to post pictures from today's ride retrospectively as blogger's upload function is painfully slow at the moment.

Day 1 - Wayah Bald - The Steep Way

Heading back to Nantahala Outdoor Center at the end of today's ride

Our loop today departed from the Nantahala Outdoor Center and took us up and down the mountains for a total of 70 miles. When Kristin, Jessi, Rachel, Yvonne and I rolled out a little after 10:30 this morning the sun was shining and the temp was in the mid-50s. I have to admit that I was a little nervous - as we all well know, climbing is not my forte so suffering up the mountains isn't always my favorite thing to do. We ended up spending about 4hr in the saddle and had a really fabulous ride - the scenery isn't breathtaking at this time of year but it's certainly cool to descend at speed on mountain roads that run parallel to rolling rapids and through secluded valleys. I don't miss the buses, cabs and potholes of Chicago at the moment.

I have to extend congrats to Ansgar and Mike for representing in Kenosha today - Ansgar won and Mike finished 5th in the 40+ race. I don't recall how they finished in the 30+ race at the moment but I'll update this post when I get that info. Nice job guys!!

Spring Break - I am SO Outta Here

It's a good thing racing season is right around the corner - these photo-less blog posts are boring!! The temp around here finally broke 50 yesterday, just in time for me to leave town for some training in the Asheville, NC area. I've not ever been to Asheville so I'm excited at the opportunity to get in some good miles, chill with my teammates and (ugh) do some climbing. Climbing - not my forte. I have a complex relationship with climbing - I don't dislike it, but I'm not very good at it so it pains and annoys me. Longer, sustained climbing isn't all that bad - I just hang there at functional threshold power and grind. It's the short, steep stuff that kills me - Chicago is flatter than flat so finding places to work on kicker hills is challenging, to understate the obvious.

I'm always amused by my teammates gear selection for climbing:

Debbie: "So Jessi, what are you running for the hills today?"
Jessi: "Oh, I have an 11/23. I really only need an 11/21 but the 23 was all I had laying around."
Debbie (feeling ill): "Yeah, I have the 12/27 just in case I need the bail-out gear."
Jessi: "Really? I was thinking we could just big-ring the whole thing."
Debbie: "God - I wish this bike had the compact crank on it."
Jessi: "Aw, you'll be fine. It'll just hurt a lot and at some point you'll wish you were dead. Don't worry - we'll wait for you at the top, maybe."

Ah yes - lots of love right there.

I have to actually drive to the thriving central Illinois metropolis of Champaign-Urbana so I made a special playlist to make the Jeep time tolerable. I do not particularly enjoy driving (at all) so having decent music is about the only thing that makes it survivable. You'll notice that this one is decidedly dominated by classic rock - definitely my favorite genre.

Fortune Teller - Robert Plant
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
Hang Fire - Rolling Stones
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
Four Sticks - Led Zeppelin
Stranglehold - Ted Nugent
Cold Shot - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
Crosstown Traffic - Jimi Hendrix
Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Invisible Sun - The Police
Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty
Do You Feel Like We Do - Peter Frampton (live, of course)
I Feel Free - Cream
Blues Before and After - The Smithereens
Black Dog - Led Zeppelin
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Eminence Front - The Who
No Quarter - Led Zeppelin
Should I Stay or Should I Go? - The Clash
Jeremy - PJ
Run for the Hills - Iron Maiden
It Can Happen - Yes
Working Man - Rush
Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Don't Look Back - Boston
Riders on the Storm - The Doors
Pump it Up -Elvis Costello
Cocaine - Eric Clapton
Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh
Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townshend

There's more but I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I'll try to check in from Asheville and post pictures and commentary as I am able. It's my understanding that while we do have wi-fi in our mountain retreat the signal isn't consistently good.

Thanks for reading - try to get outside and do something illegal while the weather is nice at home (it can be very liberating to blow a stop sign and not be caught or crashed...). I'll see you in a week or so.

And So It Begins.....

The 2008 season 'officially' began for me this morning in Kenosha, WI - I did the Masters 40/49 (yes, with the men) criterium held courtesy of Kenosha Velosport in an industrial park off Hwy 158. I'd have to say that air temp at race time (10am) was maybe 20 degrees. Maybe. But that's just a sidenote to an otherwise truly Midwest too-early season race. There wasn't much wind, just a little bit coming off the lake and right in your face between turns 3 and 4 which made for a nice cross/head wind on the back stretch. It wasn't a hateful wind but I made sure to keep my nose out of it.

Let me tell you a little about the course....pretty much flat 1 mile loop with various "hazards" to negotiate - I have to give credit to the American Bicycle Racing crew and Kenosha Velosport for doing what they could to make the course race-able. Some of the snow had melted so what water had found it's way to the pavement was frozen in a few areas that were nicely marked with some orange traffic cones. Then there were a few other icy patches that were large enough that there was just no need for traffic cones... There were lots of bumpy stretches with dicey pavment seams and most of the smaller potholes had been filled. Gravel and debris were out in force in all the corners and the larger potholes were covered with cut-to-fit pieces of plywood and held in place with duct tape. I'm not kidding. You better believe there were guys running those things over every lap.

Things got off to a reasonable start and after a few laps some hard attacks starting happening, though nothing that really hurt me much. Right after closing down a gap on the right side of the road a hard attack went up the left side. I saw that MetLifeGuy was on it so I sat in and let it go. With a hard effort I probably could've gotten over too but staying with those guys would've been supremely difficult - they're a bunch of friggin' beasts and I'd have likely gotten spit out sooner or later. Turned out the break held and MetLifeGuy ended up 3rd in the 40+. Ansgar took the field sprint for 4th and I was close behind taking 5th. In retrospect I should have registered and also done the 30+ race that followed. In that race the guys did a fine job of representing again with MetLifeGuy getting into a late break good enough for 4th and Ansgar again taking the field sprint.

It ultimately turned out to be a good day, even with the freezing coldness and course "features." Next time I'll be sure to do two races - I'm not remotely tired today and I can surely use the work.

Thanks for reading. 4 more days to NC....

Could it Be??

I leave for NC in 7 days and yep - the weather here still sucks something terrible so my departure can't arrive soon enough. It's a downright balmy 15 degrees at post time and the wind chill has got to be in the single digits. So it's another day for the rollers - could it be the last day of dedicated indoor training for the winter of 2007-08? I sure hope so - based on some of the long term weather forecasts (abc7chicago.com) it appears that things might be turning the corner and I daresay that spring may actually arrive sometime before June. Then again, this is Chicago....

Today's indoor session ended up to be in the 2-2.5 hour range and involved a fair amount of time spent at threshold. "What's threshold?" you ask...well, it's that place where the work is hard enough that you feel somewhat nauseous (so very pleasant) and you suffer a great deal but not so horribly that you'd rather be dead. I like to think of it as "uncomfortably difficult, but not un-doably so." Pre and post ride doppio - a given. Fortunately I had some fierce melon Gatorade on hand today so at least that critical part was covered. I needed some good, hard, angst-driven tunes broken up with more mellow stuff....here's a random sample - I was in an odd mood this morning so if it seems like a weird combination well, it is.

Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

Paint It, Black - Rolling Stones

Walk All Over You - AC/DC

Once - PJ

Hey Man Nice Shot - Filter

Welcome to Paradise - Green Day

You Could Be Mine - Guns 'n Roses

Stop - Jane's Addiction

Pain - Jimmy Eat World

Little Things - Bush

Watch the Tapes - LCD Soundsystem

WMA - PJ

Wrong Way - Sublime

She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult

What Matters - Matthew Sweet

All I Want is You - U2

Fade - Staind

Natural One - Folk Implosion

All Day and All of the Night (Live version) - The Kinks

Breakerfall - PJ

Fall to Pieces - Velvet Revolver

Best of Both Worlds - Van Halen

MIA - Foo Fighters

Wherever I May Roam - Metallica

PDA - Interpol

Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet

Tall Cool One - Robert Plant

Time Bomb - Rancid

Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins

Better Man - PJ

Fool in the Rain - Led Zeppelin

Stay (Far Away So Close) - U2

Truly a weird assortment but it did the job for me this morning. I was feeling mellow so the low key stuff was perfect. What? Me - mellow? Yep. Probably more often than you might think. So begins the mental preparation for tomorrow's training criterium in Kenosha, WI...it's gonna be COLD.

The Morning SpinHeads...A Highly Cerebral Group

Keith, Me, Lindsey, Chad and Marianne - after 30min @ Threshold.

See? I really do teach Spinning on the rollers.

The south end of the room - mind over matter...
Lookin' good McMahon!!

The north end of the room - the legs follow what the mind tells them to do...

Above are a few pics from this morning's 6:30am Spinning class at the Loop gym where I teach and maintain a personal training clientele. The morning group is full of super strong, fit, focused athletes who always work very hard in class - no small task at that hour of the day. I've threatened for a while that that one day I would bring my camera to class - it happened today and I'm sorry to say that poor Bill missed his chance to be a star. Bummer. On the playlist:

Piss it all Away - Puddle of Mudd

Shine it all Around - Robert Plant and the New Sensations

Demolition Man - The Police

Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Walk Idiot Walk - The Hives

Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down

World Wide Suicide - PJ

Teen Angst - Cracker

Panama - Van Halen

Blow Up the Outside World - Soundgarden

My intervals will be completed later - I'm not a morning person. I like to say that I can function in the morning but I can't perform. Not sure if it'll be indoors or out - the temp will be agreeable (woo-hoo!! almost 35 degrees!!) but logistics might be difficult given the type of work I need to do today - longer intervals are very difficult to do when you're constantly stopping for traffic signals and other related hazards.

Ugly Bike Love

The Winter Beater - Sporting the Fenders, 28-hole 404s and a Power Meter. Fat.

So I've decided to post a blog entry dedicated entirely to the beast we call the winter beater - but I need your help to make the post a reality. I know that lots of you have a frankenbike - the bike with a mix of mismatched parts that you vaguely remember was pretty high-end back in the day which now sits in storage wishing that you'd ride it (Bill, the LeMond, need I say more?). Is your winter beater a carbon Colnago cross bike with reflective tires, full chrome fenders, 15 lights and an SRM? Or, do you maybe reserve a bike specifically for winter commuting with studded tires that weighs about 40 pounds? Or a single speed Surly Steamroller wrapped with electrical tape and bling'd with a carbon fork? I'm looking for photos to include in the post (to start with anyway) so if you have something cool to share, please send it along.

Let the Countdown Begin - Again

That's right - I'm leaving town again for some training because the weather here in Chicago just plain, well SUCKS. We're caught in this cycle of snow/rain/melt/freeze/snow again/rain again/melt again/freeze again which alternately inititates a cycle of ride, fix punctures, get nearly run over by buses, cabs and other assorted a**hole drivers, clean the bike, etc. It's just wrong to remark on a long ride that it's a "nice day" when the temp barely reaches 20 degrees. I am just horribly sick of it and maybe even moderately depressed because of it. I knew things were getting bad when just getting stuck at traffic signals on the bike was beginning to seriously annoy me, along with other things that I normally just ignore. This morning's commute to and from the loop (about 8mi each way, depending on the route I take) was the final nail in the coffin - I've freakin' had it!! I have to get out of town so I'll be heading down to North Carolina for a long stretch with some teammates for some fair-weather training and hill work - some of my 'favorite' stuff.

Today's training session was completed yet again on the rollers and the soundtrack was a little bit more, um, aggressive in some ways... Pre and post ride doppio - that goes without saying. Good thing my upstairs neighbor wasn't home - the music was very loud and so were my rollers. I didn't have any fierce melon Gatorade so I had to make do with some lemon lime. To me, lemon lime to Gatorade is sort of like what vanilla is to ice cream - not amazing, but always does the job just the same.

Closer - Nine Inch Nails

How Many More Times - Led Zeppelin

Deep - PJ

I'm Shipping Up to Boston - Dropkick Murphys

Temptation - The Tea Party

3 Libras - A Perfect Circle

Cochise - Audioslave

Story of My Life - Social Distortion

I Will Follow - U2

Drift and Die - Puddle of Mudd

The Perfect Drug - Trent Reznor

Smack My Bitch Up - The Prodigy

Firestarter - The Prodigy

The Pretender - Foo Fighters

Serenity - Godsmack

American Idiot - Green Day

Flagpole Sitter - Harvey Danger

Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives

In the End - Linkin Park

Blow Up the Outside World - Soundgarden

Battleflag - Lo Fidelity Allstars

Jesus Built My Hot Rod - Ministry

Aneurysm - Nirvana (the live version is best)

Thin Air - PJ (again, the live version is best)

I Wanna Be Sedated - Ramones

Armageddon Days are Here Again - The The

Shudder/King of Snake - Underworld

Ca plane pour moi - Plastic Bertrand

I finished things off with Trouble by Coldplay - I love it for reasons I can't explain. I think there were a few more "uplifting" tracks but I don't recall them at the moment. Anyway, thanks for reading. Can't wait to get out of here, even if it means having to climb hills - 17 days and counting....

(Enter) The Rain Bike

The Rain Bike - Sans Fenders, at the moment

Yep, you read that right - the rain bike. Actually, it's more like the rain/slush/snow/hail bike but you get the idea. I was feeling guilty about always riding my nice bikes in the sloppy weather so I looked through my graveyard of parts and basically saw that I had enough stuff to build a pretty darn good Frankenbike - all I needed was a frameset. Lou at the Pony Shop hooked me up with a super sweet Cannondale CAAD9 frameset and then built (on the cheap) the beast I call the rain bike.

Per the latest weather forecast, there's no forseeable change in this pattern of lousy weather we've been stuck in so I'm pretty sure I'll be spending a fair amount of time on this bike in the coming weeks. I imagine the fenders will need to be installed after this weekend as it appears that we're going to get hit with some more snow starting on Monday. At the moment it's decent out there albeit cloudy - upper 20s for a temp with a fair amount of wind, but at least it's dry - so I'm heading out to ride soon.

Oh yeah - I changed the blog template because I was getting tired of the same old blue/green color scheme. I liked the black right away on the preview so I went with it. I think you'll agree with me when I say it's more "me" than the old scheme was. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading - hopefully I'll have something more interesting to say next time I post!

Sunny Blue Skies, Minus 20 Windchills and Fierce Melon Gatorade

Sure, it looks pretty out there but it's just too damn cold to go outside - for anything. Yesterday, after watching the forecast for today, I decided that I would not be leaving the house for the entire day. I'd be happy to accept visitors, but I'm staying home - no small task for a spaz like me. That means but one thing: the day's training ride would have to be completed on the rollers. That's a problem only because the set of rollers I have at home is tired - VERY tired. Like, many thousands of miles tired. One of the cylinders has a bad bearing so that means they are loud, which in turn means that if I want to watch tv while I ride, the tv will have to also be loud. I don't want to be labeled a bad neighbor so I listen to the ipod while I ride.

The real key to surviving a 2+ hour roller ride - aside from the obligatory pre- and post-ride doppio? First, the ride needs to have structure or else your brain turns to mush. I did lots of intervals today. That definitely makes the time pass. Second, drink copious amounts of fierce melon Gatorade to stave off dehydration (don't ask - it's just one of my many quirky proclivities). Third, and most importantly, the soundtrack has to kick ass. If you find yourself fast forwarding through the playlist at any point, it's not good. Because I teach Spinning I have a huge music library (tax deducted, thank you very much) so it's very easy for me to put together long playlists of all my favorite stuff and not really ever have to hear the same stuff terribly often.

A random smattering of today's lineup is below - and I do mean random. This is not the entire playlist, just the good stuff that lets me hurt but still love it. It's not all fast and hard - some of it is deliberate, slow, emotional, intense stuff (I know, so very unlike me, right?). No matter - it works for me, and that's the point.

The Hand that Feeds - Nine Inch Nails

Evermore - Foo Fighters

Whipping - Pearl Jam (from here on to be known simply as PJ)

Spin the Black Circle - PJ

There There - Radiohead

Set Me Free - Velvet Revolver

Rearview Mirror - PJ

Days Like These - R.E.M.

Fake It - Seether

In Control - Puddle of Mudd

Slow Hands - Interpol

Release - PJ

The Pretender - Foo Fighters

The Working Hour - Tears for Fears

Voodoo - Godsmack

Outside - Staind

Passive - A Perfect Circle

Only - Nine Inch Nails

Fire - Jimi Hendrix

Warning Sign - Coldplay

Everybody Wants Some - Van Halen

Emerge - Fischerspooner

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones

With or Without You - U2

Breed - Nirvana

Tick Tick Boom - The Hives

Thunderstruck - AC/DC

Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue

Gravitate to Me - The The

Shut Your Eyes - Snow Patrol

Once - PJ

You - Candlebox
No Quarter - Led Zeppelin
In Hiding - PJ

The list could go on and on, but you get the idea - a bunch of unrelated, unique and different stuff that when mixed together can keep your mind occupied while your body completes it's work. While my preference will always be to ride outdoors, music makes indoor sessions tolerable for me while each passing day gets us closer to spring and the start of race season - I'm getting excited! As always, thanks for reading and feel free to forward music recommendations, I need some more stuff to write off.

Fat Tuesday, Bike Building, Rain, Snow, Espresso

Paczki.

No, I did not actually eat this thing - it's a photo from last year. BUT - the source of this little crack bomb indeed asked me if I wanted one this year. I declined, then felt bad about it. Nothing like some fat and sugar to fuel the endurance engine.

Don't you envy me? The view - from my front door.

What a fine return to my life in Chi-town I've had. I think I'm ready to leave again for a while, until this snow thing clears up. Oh yeah, that would require that we have an open airport here - no such luck. Today is a good day to stay in, watch the snow fall, drink espresso in large quantities, do some work, build my bike that I've neglected for a week and a half and take a nap. Did I commute to work this morning on the bike? Well, no. But I did ride outside for 2.5hr yesterday in the wind, rain, sleet and slush. It was insane. I almost cried but then I thought that crying would make it hard to breathe so I told myself to HTFU and just get home.

The RC-7, I really like this bike

So Gandalf stopped in to check out the bike before I started to rebuild it (see him up in the right hand corner?). He's so nosy. Surprisingly it appears that the bike made it through TSA screeners in San Diego without being opened.

Time for another doppio, some R.E.M., Social Distortion, Mighty Mighty Bosstones and bike building...thanks for reading, join me in hoping that the snow melts by the weekend so I dodge the rollers yet another day.

Fender Schmender

Jackson Boulevard, as seen from the Spinning Studio Friday morning.
The Sears Tower - as seen from the Studio Friday morning. Normally we can see the whole thing.

The Kennedy expressway at 5:30am - everything actually pretty civil.

I've had a sudden, rude reintroduction to Chicago winter. Monday was a really nice day - temps near 50, some sun and lots of wind. Then the rain started and the wind changed - and I was out there riding, wet and shivering when it happened. The temp bottomed out at about minus 3 and the next day we didn't get out of the teens. Overnight the snow started and now I find myself getting slightly depressed as the inches keep piling up. I think there's about 3in out there now. BUT - if you think a little snow will keep me from riding you are so very wrong.

Take today for example. Definitely a day for the cross bike - very dirty, wet and slushy pavement on the main roads and hard packed slippery snow on the side streets. Oh, and light powdery snow on the sidewalk - but I wouldn't know about that because I never ride on the sidewalk...The sun was out so I decided to ride to work. It's only about 7mi each way - cake. I briefly pondered installing my very ugly, slow fender on the bike but opted not to, thinking it couldn't be that bad, now could it?

Hindsight is always 20/20. My chamois literally froze to my ass. I'm not kidding. That was kind of uncomfortable. Today's important work was completed indoors, on the rollers. Much as I despise it, the fender goes on tomorrow and it unfortunately will probably stay there for a few days, until I decide to risk freezing my ass again. At least I've gotten to February without letting winter get the best of me. That said, spring cannot get here soon enough. Now I'm off to shovel the snow - my landlord is vacationing in Hawaii and I volunteered to do it.

There's No Place Like Home

Where else but Cali can you see this sign?

So I'm back to the reality of life at home and it really isn't all that bad. Yeah, it's windy, cold and rainy but it's what I'm used to and it's what I rode my bike in for 3.5hr today. Not ideal but it can definitely be worse. It's going to drop back to zero in a day or two and I might be forced to ride the rollers....ick. But - as I said before, every day that passes is one day closer to spring.

While I totally loved the time I spent in California, it's not home. I could live there and it would still never be "home," if that makes any sense. The riding was great, most of the pavement was smooth, the sun felt amazing, the scenery was breathtaking at times - but I really would only ever want to visit.

So I guess what I'm saying is I'm happy to be home - to catch up with the important people and re-enter the routine of my life, doing what I really like to do. It's good for me to leave once in a while because I always return with some perspective. While I was in Cali I found some confidence, ate (a lot of very good) cookies, saw some cool stuff, laughed until my stomach ached, walked on the beach and watched an amazing sunset, got to ride my bike, learned a few things, read two books, got to chill with my teammates and missed things at home - now I'm back and everything's all good...but I will definitely need to go away again if this lousy weather continues. Soon.

It's All About Me Today. Oh, and Tiger Woods

Not much sleep last night so getting up while it was still dark this morning was not easy. The plan was to meet early at the Nytro bike shop then head out and catch up with some huge group ride. A lot of my teammates have caught bad colds and weren't all feeling great this morning so some of them cut the ride short and turned back at Del Mar after about 8mi or so. We'd ridden down the coast and then things turned inland at that point. I kept going straight toward La Jolla by myself. I decided after about 10min of riding on someone else's wheel that I wanted to do my own ride today - longer, do some hill work at my own pace and keep my route along Hwy 101.

There was a fair amount of up and down to be done on my route of choice and some fantastic scenery along the way so I just rode along in my own world. I passed through Torrey Pines while heading back up the coast and stopped to watch some of the golfers at the Buick Invitational on the practice tee. I rolled up to the fence and right in front of me was Tiger Woods - taking his practice swings along with Stewart Cink (god that guy is tall), Rory Sabbatini, Kevin Streelman and Aaron Baddeley. I think I could have just camped out there all day and watched/listened to them all. Amazing.

Following that stop I rolled on heading up 101 toward Oceanside, my turnaround point before heading back to the house today. Things started out a little cold early on this morning but by the time I hit Carlsbad the temp had to be in the low 60s with the sun shining in a cloudless sky. There were tons of surfers out and cyclists everywhere. My legs were really getting tired at that point - exactly what I wanted. I thought so many times to myself that there aren't many places I'd rather be today. It was great to ride along, take everything in and love being on the bike one last time before I have to put it back in the box and be on the way home.

My week at team camp has been very positive and productive in a lot of ways. The girls on the team are all very dedicated athletes who work extremely hard. We are all fit, strong and looking to make more of an impact on the national racing scene for 2008. I have no doubt that we will do well this season and earn the respect that our team deserves.

That's all for now - I have to go take apart my bike and get it ready for the trip home. Thanks for reading - I'll see you all soon!

Golf, Sun and FLOYD LANDIS!!

Amy, Lee, Kat, me, Jessi and Kristin at Torrey Pines

There are a few words in the English language that I use frequently - anyone who knows me is surely familiar with my favorites... Then there are words that I reserve for use only when the situation truly warrants it. Perfect is one of the words that I use infrequently and only when I truly mean it. Today's ride was, in almost every possible way, perfect. The plan was for a few hours of pretty steady riding down the Pacific coast to LaJolla then back up to Encinitas. There were a few sections of decent "up" to tackle (with corresponding "down") and some fantastic scenery to behold. We all headed out together (except for poor Molly who's sick in bed) and those of us who wanted more miles split and continued after a brief stop at Torrey Pines for some photos. The temp was probably in the mid 60s and the most amazing cloudless blue sky made for some excellent riding conditions today. Lori, Kristin, Lee, Kat and I stuck together and went longer.

The Buick Invitational is being played at this moment at Torrey Pines so we cruised by the golf course and actually saw Madison, WI native Jerry Kelly's group heading up the fairway toward the green - that was very cool. Talk about some GREEN grass! For those of you who are not aware, I LOVE golf. Don't play the game but it just fascinates me. Once summer hits I typically crash in front of the tv after the morning ride and just watch golf all afternoon.

Anyway, about 2mi from the house we were stopped at a traffic light and a group of guys wearing dark blue kits was stopped ahead of us, in front of a few cars. They looked like a bunch of super-fit masters racers (the best kind of racers, in my opinion). In the back of the group was a guy wearing all black with no helmet. It struck me, "that looks like Floyd,"and I thought, "no way - can't be." Then he turned around and yep - it was him!! They pulled off at the corner and we exchanged waves then we contemplated turning around. In the end we chose instead to continue back home or to the coffee shop.

The plan for tomorrow is a long group ride with some locals. I fear that it might just turn into a hammerfest but that's okay. It's my last chance to ride here before heading back home and I've been saving my best legs so I'm ready to hang in and suffer a bit.

Thanks for reading - I need to go eat a cookie and have a pedicure after a perfect day on the bike.

This is a Job for the 27-tooth Cog

Kat and me - on grill duty

Team camp is moving right along here in SoCal and inevitably, a few of my teammates and our manager have developed nasty colds. I've been fortunate to stay well so we split the squad today and did separate rides. I went the climbing (snowy, icy, hailing, wet, windy) route with Anne, Yukie, Kat, Carrie and Amy while Kristin, Jessi and Lori rode down to San Diego and stayed mostly in the sun (see their blogs, linked below to the right, for the lowdown). Molly and Lee headed to Irvine for a special ride with their coach today. Paul was kind enough to drive support on our ride.

After yet another night of wakefulness (ugh) and some breakfast, we rolled out in the vans and headed inland to Ramona, our starting point for the day. The plan was for approximately 43mi, the first half being up (hello, 27 tooth cog - damn right I used it!) and the second half being down. I think we all brought every piece of clothing we had which was a good thing, as we encountered an interesting mix of rain, sun, clouds, fog, snow, hail (which was painful) and strong winds along the way. Paul stopped several times for us to remove and then replace garments as the conditions changed (thank you Paul!). We climbed to Julian and by the time we got there the temp had dropped to near 30 degrees, we were all soaked, there was a lot of snow on the ground and the wind was pretty severe. All of us had been climbing well to that point - even me, the "criterium specialist." I did suffer a little bit on the very last step into Julian but I made it into town withe everyone else and put on some more clothing for the descent back to Ramona.

As we headed down, the wind made it difficult for me to handle my bike - deep section wheels - not a good choice for today. I was wet and cold so I decided to be safe and put my bike in the van for the descent. I was completely bummed - I had good legs today and so wanted to ride back down to Ramona with my teammates. Carrie joined me in the follow vehicle not long after - shivering, wet and cold.

The route we took today was fantastic and incredibly scenic -good pavement, not too much traffic. Some of the area that we rode through had been profoundly affected by the wildfires that were burning a few months back so we saw a tremendous amount of destruction in some places. It would be great to return sometime when the sun is shining and the air is warm.

It's raining here now as I finish this post. I'm hoping things clear up in time for tomorrow's ride and that things back home start to warm up - I've had lots of reports of freezing brains from everyone in Chicago.

Thanks for reading - I'll be sure to check in tomorrow. Until then, wish me luck in escaping my teammates as they attempt to make me eat more cookies.

Easy Miles - Amazing Day

The plan for today was a 3hr steady, low key cruise down the shore to Del Mar then inland for a while before heading back north and west to Encinitas. Interestingly enough, we encoutered a fair amount of wind - I didn't know there was wind anywhere else but at home! Because we were sharing the work and riding easy, my nose stayed out of the wind quite nicely today.

Chicago's wind tends to be somewhat ubiquitous - headwind on the way out, headwind along the way, headwind on the way home - you get it. I think I even have a headwind on the rollers, indoors. My plan at home is usually to find a good draft and stay protected while pulling through here and there. Typically no one complains about my wheelsucking. Well, at least they don't say anything about it anyway. For the record, I do feel guilty about it.

There was a fair amount of "up" today but not anything severe and since we kept things low-key my legs never felt tired. Of course I'd be remiss not to mention the good amount of descending we got to do - fast and fun - always a rush. It's another day of perfect blue skies and temps in the 60s - just can't beat it. I didn't whine a single time.

I keep checking in with everyone back home and really - I'm so sorry to hear it's so nasty there. The best way to look at it - each day that passes is one more day closer to spring. Then again, do we have spring in Chicago? Either way, it can only get better so hang in there. I'll be home soon enough to join the misery. But now, I have to take a nap....

Things Go Up and DOWN!

In Oceanside, early in the ride

Jessi brought her camera along today and snapped some cool shots of us on an 80 mile ride that took us up the coast to Oceanside, inland to the moutains, down to Escondido and then back out to Encinitas and the Pacific Ocean (with lots of nice "little" UP sections along the way). There was a fair amount of relatively severe climbing today but everyone was up to the challenge and we had one fantastic ride. Temps were in the 60s with blue skies and no clouds to be seen. Perfect.

The best part of going up is of course going down, one of my most favorite things. The road surfaces were excellent and the scenery was awesome. We had the opportunity to scream downhill at 45+mph through an amazing valley into Escondido with about 20mi left and I have to admit it was by far the best part of the ride. I wanted to do it again!! But that would have entailed a LONG climb back up so I opted to continue back home, since climbing is not my forte.

My legs were great today and I felt amazing - good for some winter confidence and my fragile athlete psyche. Tomorrow's plan is for some easy miles, maybe 3hr total followed by a manicure/pedicure and a lot of relaxing/team bonding. I'm going to try my best to get some sleep and just 'live the dream' a bit.

Thanks for reading - hope y'all are staying warm and dry back home - I miss you!

Palomar Mountain Ride - Priceless

Lee and Kat on Palomar - where we turned around

After another night of wakefulness I was hearing something outside that sounded oddly like (gasp) rain at five o'clock this morning. Sure enough, it was raining in Southern California, and cold too. We loaded the vans after a quick breakfast and headed out with full rain gear in tow, hoping that things would clear up by the time we arrived at Jilberto's Taco Stand, our departure and rendezvous point for the ride. We went into Jilberto's before the ride and for some reason, a couple teammates and I grabbed some small plastic bags to take along, just in case we needed to cover our toes or something. The plan for the day was to climb Palomar Mountain, supposedly one of Floyd Landis's favorite climbs. The ascent is supposedly 6100ft in about 12mi with something like 21 switchbacks (not counting turns or curves, switchbacks) to the summit.

The pavement was wet but the sky seemed to be clearing as we started on our way, clueless as to what the next two hours would hold. Have you ever seen those MasterCard "priceless" commercials on tv? You know which commercials I'm talking about - keep that in mind as the story unfolds here. As things went up our group got more and more stretched out along the side of the mountain and the temperature began to drop. I had a feeling that we were in trouble when I began to notice that the cars coming down the side of the mountain we were ascending were covered with snow.

I'd settled into a good rhythym and was actually climbing pretty well (thank you very much to the guys back home who regularly drag me around), feeling quite good. When we got to within about a mile of the summit, it became clear that going all the way to the top was a dangerous proposition today. There was a lot of snow and slush on the road, it was very foggy and the air was tremendously cold and damp. Most of us had rain gear but not really any thermal or windstopper clothing on so we were all pretty cold - we knew that the descent was going to be treacherous because of falling rocks and slippery conditions so we chose to turn around and carefully head back to our departure point. I'm pretty fearless when it comes to descending and cornering at speed so I dove down first and just let it rip all the way until I could no longer feel my hands - I was wearing long finger gloves that were completely wet so my hands were totally frozen. I still had a fair amount of descending to do at that point so I.....pulled out the plastic bags and put them on my hands!! I really had no choice - it was either that or just stop and hope to be retrieved by one of the vans after everyone else got back to the parking lot.

What can I say? My hands actually warmed up and I was the first to make it back. As the commercial goes....

Blue Precision Cycles RC-7 bicycle equipped with SRAM Force, Zipp 404s with wireless Power Tap and other ridiculous high-end stuff: $5000+

Fully custom Rocket7 carbon soled cycling shoes (embroidered with "velogoddess"): $550

Ultra-chic Assos rain jacket: $250

SRAM 12/27 cassette - a mountain climbing necessity: $100 (you are DAMN RIGHT I used that 27 tooth cog today!!)

Two stupid plastic sandwich bags swiped from Jilberto's Taco Stand: Priceless

Thanks for reading - I'll try to check in again soon!

Checking in From Camp....Day 1

Well, I guess it's really day 2 - we arrived in the late afternoon yesterday and spent a lot of time at the airport, waiting (much too long) for our rental car. Jessi and I camped out in the sun for quite literally at least 90min, just waiting for Paul to retrieve us from the arrivals area of the San Diego airport. I think the security guards were beginning to get nervous the longer we sat there...

We're staying in a large multi-room home in Leucadia (http://www.casaleucadia.com/), about 40min north of San Diego and just south of Carlsbad. There are (I think) 12 of us here along with Paul and Jim Flora who will be our wrench. While the accomodations are quite comfortable, I admit to a bout of severe insomnia last night, so I guess I'm not quite comfortable. Hopefully that will not be the case tonight.

We got in about 4 hours of good saddle time today that had us riding on Highway 101 along the Pacific shore. This was an especially cool ride for me because we covered the same route as the Carlsbad Marathon and Half Marathon (which I did a few years ago and was actually held today), so I was in familiar territory. There were a bunch of surfers out riding and I was surprised to see the MetLife blimp (Snoopy 1 anyone?) floating over Oceanside, CA, our turnaround point. Weird - the things you see on a ride...Temps were perfect - about 70ish for a high after a low in the upper 40s and no clouds to be seen. I admit that I even have the beginnings of some bad tan lines.

We are planning to head inland tomorrow to a 40mi loop that includes a 12mi climb that Jim is familiar with. I'm actually looking forward to it - climbing is a big challenge for me and tomorrow will be a good test for my legs and my usually fragile psyche when the road gets vertical. I'll be sure to check in with the lowdown tomorrow evening. I might even have some photos - we'll see.

I am SO Outta Here!!

Yep - heading out in the morning for 9 days in San Diego for team camp. It can't come at a better time since the Chicago weather forecast is calling for subzero temps with brutal wind chills this weekend that will continue into next week.

I'm excited not just to be riding in the sun (and re-establishing my bad tan lines) but also to meeting new teammates, catching up with returning teammates and spending time just doing the whole 'bonding' thing. we're planning to ride quite a bit but are also leaving some time to do a bit of fun stuff off the bike too.

I'll be checking in and hopefully posting a bit while I'm gone - I might even include some pictures.

Help Wanted

Wanted: Someone to Clean my Bikes

I'm not kidding. I will pay you to clean my bikes. Above is an example of just what type of ick you would be responsible to clean, scrub, degrease, polish, and lube in effort to restore my bikes to top working order. Previous bike mechanic experience a plus as it's possible that some repair work might be necessary from time to time. Work must be completed at my residence - sorry, no travel stipend. I will provide hot and cold water hose, buckets, soap, degreaser, brushes, towels, any necessary tools, your beverage of choice and pretty much whatever else you need. I might even stick around and provide comic relief if I'm not otherwise engaged. Oh yeah - male candidates are strongly urged to apply. Would that constitute gender discrimination?

Negativity and Resolutions - VG Gets Cerebral...

Some bad-ass spin-heads at Union Station...you guys inspire me!!

So I had a conversation with my Spinning class today. Or should I say that I had a conversation with myself in front of my Spinning class today... Either way, it was an interesting and thought provoking few minutes. I've been having lots of "what the hell am I doing here?" moments lately, both on the bike and off. It strikes me that there's a ton of bad energy and negativity circulating in the world lately and until recently, it sort of sucked me in and was making me unhappy at times. I mean really - how many times can I be cut off or nearly killed by a cab or bus while on the bike and not have some sort of antimosity brewing? But I digress.

Reviewing the content of some of my previous posts as part of the goal setting process for the 2008 racing season, it's clear to me that aside from succumbing to pressure and anxiety, I allowed a fair amount of negativity to permeate my thoughts and affect my entire existence - not just my racing. I'm sharing these thoughts because I doubt that I am alone in feeling this way, and it's not just about racing but every interaction I have, whether personal or professional.

So what - right? Well, I guess the bottom line is pretty simple. After having a lengthy discussion with my coach last week, it's clear that I need to quit focusing so much on the end result or desired outcome and think more about what happens along the way. The result I want will be there for me if I'm more focused on what needs to happen to get there - and I probably won't find myself thinking, "what the hell am I doing here?" That goes for everything - work, personal stuff, family stuff, racing stuff - everything. So next time you hear me being negative, slap me upside the head and tell me to stop and look around - getting where I want to be is happening everywhere around me, it's best that I be a part of it.

On the resolutions front....I actually resolved to curb my use of the "F-bomb," one of the most versatile words in the English language. After 3 days I'm happy to report that I have abandoned that effort. My thought? F* it. Sometimes it makes me happy to use it, so why deny myself the pleasure? God forbid - the Catholic guilt complex....

Down Time

I haven't posted in weeks - not much to say. Lou's been doing a super job as the blog's eye-candy, hasn't he (refer to previous post)? December has been an odd month. I haven't touched the bike except to teach spin class on the rollers at work. All I've been doing is eating pizza and watching my new TV. Oh, and occasionally I get up from the La-Z-Boy to check email. I vowed earlier in the fall to not ride the rollers for any training sessions forced indoors due to inclement weather and I'm happy to say that I've stuck to that. Rather than ride the rollers, I just don't ride at all! I'm liking this whole "down time" thing. I seem to have gotten used to it and it's working quite well for me.

Yeah. And if you believe a word of that you know absolutely nothing about me - and that's all I am saying.

20 days to SanDiego.....

Montrose - Brrrrrrrr....

Yeah so it was stupid cold and I decided to be a nancy and assume the role of start line jacket and gatorade wench for the day. It was an easy decision for me. My racing brain was tired and really had no desire to freeze, slip, slide, fall or otherwise have any part of racing for the remainder of the year. I was happy to stay in the heated team tent and cheer for everyone who decided to race the Illinois State Cyclocross Championship at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. We'd had snow, sleet, freezing rain and cold temperatures in the days leading up to the race so course conditions were interesting - snowy, slippery, icy, muddy - a little of everything.

I had the occasion to be there for the 30+ and 40+ men's races and the first half of the women's races before I could no longer feel my toes and decided to head home. Congrats to Lou Kuhn who won the 30+ title (that's Lou at the top of this post) and to my teammate Imelda who scored the silver medal in the Cat 4 women's race. Mike Trulson from the Pony Shop took the junior title. Kristin finished a strong 2nd in the 1/2/3 field and is on the way to Nationals - good luck!

My previous post has a bunch of great photos from the day so check it out.

37 days to San Diego....

Montrose - Photography

Chris Strout

'Cross - Chi-town style

Franco, Imelda's BikeHusband - look at the legs....

Lou - Taking the final sprint in front of Kevin for the state title
Mark maneuvering through the dicey slick stuff

MetrLifeGuy powers through

Imelda remounting on her way to a silver medal (on my old bike....)

Brian - on the way to a strong finish


I snagged a bunch of these photos from Luke Seemann (with his permission, of course).

Nine Above

That's the current temp (not the windchill) as I sit here and contemplate what remains of a long season of training and racing the bike after yet another night of epic insomnia. The Illinois cross championship is coming up this weekend and things are looking downright dicey at Montrose Harbor as of last evening - ice, snow, wind, frozen mud, etc. At left is me from 2 years ago doing what proved to be one of the most ridiculous races I've ever done at Montrose. The conditions were far better that day than they are currently so I'm hoping things improve. Below me is a shot of Kristin winning last week's Wisconsin state championships in Hales Corners - doesn't it look like she's having the time of her life?

I fully understand that part of the whole cyclocross experience is racing in bad conditions yet having fun doing it but I have to admit that my strong voices of reason are speaking to me... It may seem to some that I am notoriously fickle when it comes to racing cross in poor weather. To some extent I suppose that's true but after being over to the harbor I have to question the sanity of those who think racing in those conditions can possibly be considered fun (in the traditional sense) for the "prestigous honor" of state champion. Honestly, is it really "racing" to have to ride at 5mph just to avoid falling?

Maybe I just need to HTFU. 44 days 'til San Diego.....

Jingle Cross Rock #1 Photography

See the previous post for the race recap. Here are some fantastic photos - courtesy of Paul Forsythe - to check out...looks like great fun, doesn't it? No, that's not an "I love this!" smile.... oh, and here's another darn cool shot but i'm to cheap to pay for it, so follow this link. Fast, eh?