more than just another bike blog

please update your bookmarks

2008-01-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

yes, I'm still blogging......just moved over here -- http://velogirlscoaching.blogspot.com/

it's kinda lonely over there....I miss everybody.

so, please update your bookmarks and come visit sometime!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

For 2008, you're most likely to find my ramblings here -- http://velogirlscoaching.blogspot.com/

sigh of relief

2007-12-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

I have made 2,934,892 decisions in the past week. I'm not a good decision maker so this has given me a headache. I also have commitment issues.

what a relief I feel. I've finally finished up the coaching calendar for 2008. we've got some exciting new programs and there's virtually no white space available. now I'm just waiting for everything to be published to the website and for on-line registration to open. of course, this all should've happened weeks ago, but did I mention that I'm a really bad decision maker?

what more could a girl need?

2007-12-26T12:39:00.001-08:00

no, it's not a sex toy!

9th Annual Christmas Orphans' Tour of San Francisco

2007-12-25T14:49:00.001-08:00

how many things can you say you've done for 9 years? probably not many. but, for the past 9 Christmases, I've done the very same thing -- ridden my bike in SF.

in 1999, the Christmas Orphans' Tour began with 4 of us who were training for the AIDS Ride. we became fast friends, riding together for three days in a row, the highlight being our tour on Christmas morning. although we were from different circles of friends, we kept the tradition going for the next couple of years. In 2002, I started hosting the ride through Velo Girls, and we've continued ever since. some years the weather is warm. some years it's cold. it's rained a few times, but we've never cancelled the ride. we see all types of bikes and all types of riders. one year I did the loop on a 7-speed cruiser (I was delivering Christmas meals that morning and needed the basket). this morning, I almost brought my Rivendell so my dog could ride in the basket with us, but decided to wait until she'd actually done some descending before I subjected her to a group ride.

the Christmas Orphans' Tour is a co-ed ride. there are a handful of folks who've joined us for 5, 6, or 7 years. but most folks come out for a year or two and then move onto another aspect of their lives. the SF Bicycle Coalition always posts the ride, so we get some riders who might not otherwise be exposed to Velo Girls (or recreational riding).

so, for the 9th year in a row, I've headed up to SF on Christmas morning for a fabulous morning with friends (new and old).

highlights for this year?

riding with Jan Medina -- one of our fabulous sponsors who I don't see very often.

the amazing weather! the air was clear and crisp and I took about 50 photos (see the link below).

meeting Carol and Jerry from the ALC forum.

seeing Alana, a coaching client who only recently began riding, jamming on her bike!

meeting so many new people.

riding in SF on the most amazing day of the year.

Okay, off to do "normal" Christmas things now like eat and drink and be merry!
The rest of the photos are posted here .

Happy holidays, everyone!

Hello Montebello!

2007-12-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

that was just what I needed today. aaahhhh!

it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

2007-12-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

Betty J. makes me wet -- what about you?

2007-12-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

check this out -- KCCX

I'm not racing cyclocross for the first time in 5 years. I thought I might miss it. I really needed a break -- mental if not physical. Even though I'm not racing, I keep my finger on the pulse or some cliche like that.

I raced cyclocross nationals two years ago in Providence, RI. I spent a good part of the snowy, frigid weekend with Gary Noe and Betty Jordan. Betty is my hero. She won cyclocross nationals that year for the 55+ women. I think it was the first time USAC had offered that field. Betty was the only entrant. and she deserves those stars & bars.

now go click that link again!!! then click on the women 50-54 (I can't figure out how to give you the direct link). not only has USAC added fields for 60+ women, but did you check out the field size for 50+ women? 11 amazing women, all who can probably kick my butt and your butt and other random butt and then crack open a Belgium with the boys. and then, there's the 7 women in the 55+ field and the 2 in the 60+ field. wow, wow, wow!

it's interesting to me that many women stop road racing in their 50s and 60s because they perceive it to be too dangerous to their fragile bones. I guess the perception of cyclocross is that's it's a "safe" sport. or maybe the fun factor is just worth the risk.

so here's to those silver crossers -- women who won't let their age (or society) dictate what they should be doing on a Sunday morning.

and here's to Betty Jordan for leading the way!

OMG! I forgot how to brew coffee!!!

2007-12-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

How does that happen? I drank coffee for about 20 years. Lots of coffee. Hot coffee in the morning, iced coffee in the afternoons. A couple of years ago, I decaffienated. A year ago, I acquired a latte habit, but I only allow myself one a day and only on days I'm riding.

Well, this morning is gray and rainy and I just wanted to smell the coffee brewing. I keep some coffee in the freezer for guests, so I took it out and stared at the coffee-maker, and realized I didn't know how many scoops to put in the machine.

Hot damn! It might be strong, but it sure smells yummy.

Coach Lorri Does COS

2007-12-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Blatant self-promotion? Maybe?

"Coach Lorri Lee Lown was recently invited to be one of a handful of presenters at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in January 2008 for the three-day Enhancing Leadership in Womens’ Cycling conference presented by USA Cycling. Lorri jokes that this is a great honor since she’s only an MBA (and most USAC presenters are PhDs). However, she has successfully charmed Sam Callan (Sport Science and Coaching Education Manager) over the years during her many visits to the Olympic Training Center as a participant in other conferences. Lown, founder of Velo Girls, who also happens to have an MBA in Gender Relations, will be presenting on the topic of gender differences in cycling and how to develop a successful women’s cycling organization."

The conference is open to coaches and non-coaches alike. If you’d like more information about registration, contact Sam Callan at scallan@usacycling.org.

it's not like losing a finger

2007-11-19T15:57:00.000-08:00

on Friday, November 2nd at approximately 8:00am, the hard drive on my 10-month old macbook died. like an idiot, I hadn't backed it up since mid-September. and there were some things (like my calendar and my 9,000-song iTunes library) that I hadn't backed up at all.

for the past two weeks my hard drive has been at Lazarus Data Recovery in San Francisco, being cloned and analyzed in a clean room. the prognosis is bad. at this point, there's only a 40% chance that my data can be recovered (and only after I plunk down another $400, in addition to the $225 I've already given them).

so, I started thinking about just how bad is this? what have I really lost? is there anything that I can't re-create? I lost some photos from a recent bike tour and some other events. and I lost a month or so of my training journal. and some financial records. yeah, the calendar is a big one.

but I guess it's not really that bad. I mean, it's not like losing a finger or losing a loved one or losing your job or losing your hair, right?

life's really tough decisions.....

2007-11-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

.....which candy bar to purchase from the vending machine @ Lick Observatory.

yesterday I chose PayDay. the Dutchboy got a Snickers (my other choice so we shared). Emilie got a Nature Valley Granola Bar (boring). And Shawne got 3 or 4 different varieties (glutton).

I was honored to take three virgins up Mt. Hamilton yesterday for a beautiful, epic day -- and there were no sacrificial offerings!

it doesn't get much better than this.

running away from it all

2007-10-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

yeah, I'm running. a lot. consistently. and with purpose.

after our triathlon on September 30th, it took about a week to recover from my 3 mile run. but then I started running slowly and for short durations.

last week, we started trail running. I'll admit, I like running on the treadmill because I can force my pace faster, but my IT bands always get inflamed from the treadmill. so, the dutchboy, Julie, and I ran at Arastradero. it's one of the few "dirt" trails where you can run with a dog, and even though it's kinda up and down, it's a good steady workout. and it feels so good to run on the dirt that I could immediately run longer than I could on the treadmill -- WITH NO PAIN!

so, in the past week, I've run trails, a soccer field, and the high school track. and I've been able to bring my pace down each time I run. at this point, I'm really just focused on increasing duration, but at some point in the near future I'll start some speedwork, too!

so far I've been pretty injury-free. my calves/achilles tendons got tender from running circles on the soccer field and the track. but that's minor and my recovery was very fast. and I got a blister tonight from a poor sock choice (lesson learned: don't ignore hot spots!!!).

btw, running with the garmin is way cool! not only can I see my pace as I run, but I can analyze my training when I'm finished. I think I like it more for running than I do on the bike.

Saturday we're racing in the Salmon Duathlon in Knight's Ferry. I'm excited because I know I can run the distance now. My bike training has been pretty darn consistent this month, too, so I'm feeling pretty good for an off-season race. I've never done a duathlon, but I'll try a brick tomorrow to see how it feels.

next on tap, the Run to the Far Side post-Thanksgiving. then I need to find a 10k for December. and if all goes as planned, I'm hoping to run in the Cabo Wabo 1/2 marathon in mid-January. yeah, it's in Cabo San Lucas -- why not, right?

march 4th, 1930 -- october 22nd, 1997

2007-10-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

RIP Ron Lown.

I miss my father. he died 10 years ago today. he was only 67. that's way too young. he was a really good man -- not a perfect man, but a really damn good man!

he was the most powerful influence in my life and I credit him with helping me develop into who I am today. thank you, dad! I love you!

Poof!

2007-10-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

while I believe in freedom of expression, I also realize that a recent blog post of mine and the 40+ comments left by various members of the racing community, got just a little out of hand. feelings were hurt. reputations were questioned.

I've gone back and forth with how to react and I think it's time for me to pull the plug.

afterall, it's just a sport that we all love, right?

to those who were insulted, offended, felt slighted, lost the warm & fuzzies, I send you my sincerest apologies.

Lorri

girls (and boys) day in the dirt

2007-10-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

for the past 4 or 5 years, Velo Girls has volunteered to coach a special "girls day in the dirt" for Trips for Kids. the girls who participated are generally from inner-city programs like ROCK or Girls Inc. although there are probably more "troubled" children in SF and Oakland, many of these girls have never had the advantages you and I enjoyed as children. many have never left the city. many have never ridden a bike. or seen the ocean. or a snake.

Saturday, Team Velo Girls headed up to Tennessee Valley to coordinate our annual "girls day." we had arrived before the kids, and when the first van of kids arrived, I was a bit surprised to see high school girls and boys. boys? what happened to "girls day in the dirt?" oh well, we'll play it by ear.

the high school students were from a program called ROCK -- Real Options for City Kids. they were all pretty cool and respectful. as the second van of students arrived, middle school girls from Girls, Inc., one of the Rock boys reminded the others that these were middle school girls and they needed to be on their best behavior.

after furnishing the kids with bikes, helmets, and gloves (all 30 of them), we were off on our great adventure. we started with a short climb up to a campground, where Velo Girls provided about 30 minutes of bike skills. at the last minute, I changed our program and we did a little body/bike separation drill and then had a very competitive game of limbo. one of the two winners was a little tiny girl who barely could pedal her bike. but after a try or two, she mastered the lean technique required to win the game! just goes to show you can't judge a book by it's cover.

after limbo, we had a quick lunch, and then rode down to the beach. the kids were fascinated with the sea cucumbers, the high tide, and the caves. I think they enjoyed their beach time more than their riding time.

the ride back to the start included a super-steep hill (over 15%). all the kids were amazed that the adult volunteers (mostly middle age women) could ride up this hill while most of the kids were walking their bikes.

back to the start, a cookie circle (a TFK tradition) and we were finished for another year! the boys definitely changed the dynamic of the trip, but a good time was had by all just the same!

more girls day in the dirt photos here!

my sock drawer broke!

2007-10-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have an old chest of drawers from my grandmother. it's definitely seen better days. the bottom drawer is filled with cycling socks. and bathing suits. I'm not sure why I've got those two items together, but neither fills an entire drawer so it just happened that way. well, my drawer broke! it's a dovetail construction (if that means anything to you), so I was able to put it back together and use wood glue to fix it.

but the underlying question is, "when does a girl have too many pairs of cycling socks?"

most of my cycling socks are Velo Girls socks. but we've gone through 4 designs in our 6-year history. and I have to have enough of our current design to wear them everyday and only do laundry once a week (so that's 7 pairs).

and then there are socks "earned" at special events like centuries, interbike, or races.

and then there are the special pairs that were gifted to me by folks in the industry like my "slut" or "hottie" socks from Derek of Sock Guy.

and, of course, I have sponsor socks from GU and Ritchey and Rudy.

and socks from friends like Passion Trail Bikes and Pilarcitos.

somehow, when you become a cyclist, everyone you know suddenly decides you deserve socks for gifts.

because I had nothing better to do tonight, I counted. let's just say I have 3-digits of socks.

so, how many are too many?

just because

2007-10-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

when was the last time you did something for the first time?

2007-10-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

ARGH! I somehow lost my original post.....here's the short version, only a week and a half late!

******************************

I think I've finally realized why triathlon is so appealing to me -- it's new and different and challenging and fun! maybe I've just gotten bored with road racing. maybe I've hit my potential (sadly, not where I'd like it to be). or maybe triathlete bodies are sexy. all I know is that I really enjoy triathlon! it's fun. the people are nice. and when I'm challenging myself in new ways -- learning new things -- I feel like I'm continuing to grow as an individual. yeah, new is good!

last weekend the dutchboy and I raced in SLO at Scott Tinley's Adventures. we made a fun weekend of it and even took Julie on her first camping trip (yes, she had her own tent).

Saturday morning we spectated the road triathlons -- and watched Courtenay and her boyfriend win their respective races. since I'd never raced a tri, and I was nervous about the swim, I wanted to watch the races and maybe learn a little something.

we had planned to race the hillclimb on Saturday but a mechanical issue discovered during our course pre-ride prevented this and we spent a good part of the afternoon at Art's Cyclery in SLO. they fixed the dutchboy's bike and I was relieved to learn that the "problem" had nothing to do with the work I'd done on his bike earlier in the week.

Sunday morning we woke up and I was scared and didn't want to race. the dutchboy twisted my arm (and then held my hand at the start of the swim).

I survived the swim. it wasn't pretty. I did every stroke you can imagine (and probably invented a few, too). it was my first mass-start open water swim ever. I wasn't last and I didn't drown.

the bike was good but I was disappointed in my time. I was able to pass lots of riders, but my time was slower than it should have been. I'm not sure what happened there -- too much time off the mtn bike lately, I guess. interesting to note that the men were all very gracious as I passed them, giving me the line when I asked for it. on the second lap, however, the young boys (8-12 years old) were just starting their race and they didn't want to give up the line even though they didn't have the gears to ride the steep singletrack, so they would run with their bikes -- so tough. I saw the dutchboy during the out & back section on lap one and then again as I was finishing my bike leg and he was starting his run. that was totally cool!

the run leg shocked me -- I apparently ran just over 8-minute miles. I don't know how I did it, especially since I haven't run since February. I had to walk a bit of the really big (14%) hill but was able to run everything else, even though it was a pretty hilly course. just as I started walking, I saw the dutchboy approaching from the opposite direction on his bike. he had finished his race and came out to encourage me. after a bit, he rode back to the finish to cheer me on and take photos. a mile from the end I was passed by a girl in my age group. as I neared the finish I completely forgot about the extra little uphill loop (ouch). but I was able to push it to the finish.

as I crossed the line, the announcer announced my name and stated that it was my very first triathlon and something about Velo Girls. apparently the dutchboy had told her all about me and asked her to say that -- how thoughtful was that?

I finished in 3rd place! no way. and the dutchboy got 6th with a smokin' bike split -- one of the fastest of the day!

on the podium, the announcer called me Lorri Lay Down. apparently my middle name was truncated to Le (from Lee) and she read "Lown" as "Down." I cracked up (as did everyone else).

I've got some big goals for next season, including a half ironman in August. I've started my run training and will be racing the Salmon Duathlon in November and am looking for some other du's or running races. I'll start masters swimming in December. fun and new, new and fun. yeah!

how fun to do something new and different!

poison oak in the pool

2007-09-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

I had PO all spring. I finally got rid of it in July. then again, I didn't do much mountain bike riding/racing after June.....I see a connection there, no?

anyways, I've been helping out with our Monday night mountain bike ride. this week, we had a great group of 9 beginner women. I was sweeping up a steepish grind of singletrack when we came upon a dick on wheels. he wouldn't yield the right of way to the girls and the last two before me ended up off the trail. I was all cool & shit and was kinda track-standing, ratcheting up the trail behind them, thinking I could just take the right-hand line, when BOOM! down I go into what I assumed was PO (no leaves, but I just knew the branches).

lo and behold, yesterday I started getting the tell-tale rash. and now, it's spread up both legs. it's even on my foot! I think wiping down with a baby wipe actually helped spread the oil to the far regions of my body.

anyways, in the spring, people kept telling me the best way to rid yourself of PO was to swim in a pool -- the chlorine would dry it right out. I'm here to tell you that's a big, fat wives' tale.

excuse me while I go scratch for a while.

triathlon training day three -- ready or not here I come!

2007-09-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

swimming.....seems to be one of those love it or hate it activities. I've heard more stories in the past week from competitive swimmers turned bike racers and (on the other end of the spectrum) folks who failed PE because of swim class (oh yeah, that was me, but there were a few more, too).

thanks to many of you in blog-land, I had some great suggestions for this weekend and some goals for today's swim training:

1 -- try out new goggles (because "real" swimmers don't swim in Seals). I get bonus points because they're PINK!

2 -- swim in a straight line. somehow I had an epiphany today and remembered how swimming "feels" and was able to really propel myself with my hands/arms/shoulders. of course, if I could tape my hands together it would be much easier to do this and I wouldn't have to remember anything.

3 -- breathe!!! and don't hyperventilate. oh yeah, the rolling part really helps here. I forgot about that, too!

since this was my third training, I kinda felt pro. I decided to swim in my new tri shorts just to try them out. they're too big, but they didn't fall down or bunch up so I'm okay. and then I put on my little wetsuit to try that out too. at first it felt pretty tight, but I was able to move and the bouyancy is pretty awesome! and then I ran back to my condo, transitioned on the patio, and jumped on the bike, just to try that out too!

okay, I'm ready. I might be the last person out of the water, but at least I'll look good with my new goggles!!!

ps -- Katie, thanks for the suggestion to swim with a camelbak -- it made all the difference in the world!

triathlon training day two

2007-09-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

so, I swam again today. I bought a new kickboard, even though Holly confessed that she stole mine. Okay, I actually loaned it to her (several years ago). I think if someone borrows something for several years, it's now theirs (or they stole it).

******************************

swimming....such an interesting sport. doesn't it make you wonder who had the bright idea to see if humans could move their bodies through space/water? yeah! I can see it now:

caveman #1 -- look, there's a (insert name of prehistoric animal here) on the other side of that river.

caveman #2 -- grunt!

caveman #1 -- I'm hungry. let's go get that (prehistoric animal).

caveman #2 -- grunt!

caveman #1 (attempting to walk over river) -- glug, glub, glug!

caveman #2 -- grunt!

okay, that was silly.

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anyways, two days of swimming under my belt, I think it's time to taper for Sunday's tri. isn't that what triathletes do? taper? well, since I'm not really getting a ton of exercise swimming, maybe I don't need to taper. maybe it would be better just to keep swimming everyday to try to restore what little technique I used to have.

I think tomorrow I'll try swimming in the wetsuit Janet loaned me. If you swim in a wetsuit in a heated pool, will you get too hot and die?

******************************

one of the women who has been participating in our Monday night mountain bike ride created a DVD about Wildflower. she gave me a copy, so I watched it last night, thinking I might pick up a few tips. I noticed that everyone does the swim freestyle. I wonder if it's okay for your very first tri to do doggie paddle. or at least breast stroke. I'm not comfortable enough with freestyle to think I can swim in a straight line and not go off course during an open water swim.

******************************

random thought for today on swimming:

you can't chew gum! this just sucks. I had one of my major salivary glands surgically removed a couple of years ago (parotid, if you must know), so my mouth gets dry if I don't chew gum. trust me on this, don't try to chew gum while swimming -- the result could be fatal.

another random thought:

my mouth/throat feels dry and scratchy. it's felt that way since swimming yesterday. is this from swimming or am I getting sick?

getting my feet wet

2007-09-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

so, almost two months ago the Dutchboy and I decided to race in a triathlon. actually, we planned to compete in three separate events -- a mtn bike hill climb, a road tri, and a mtn bike tri -- all for an omnium-type title at the end of the weekend. I bought a pretty, new, red swim suit about a month ago. and today, for the first time in years, I went swimming. I kept thinking about it (going swimming) but just didn't get around to it. there was always something else going on.

I took swim lessons in 2001 and 2002. I did okay. I didn't drown but I wasn't really fast. but I was okay. I have lots of swim toys -- goggles, fins, flippers, one of those bouys you put between your legs, and a kick board. I wanted to find my kick board to do a nice warm-up today. of course, I found everything else but the kick board -- where they heck did I put it?

I don't know how long I swam. I didn't bring a watch. I lost count of my laps (and I don't know the distance of the pool anyways). I finally got a little side cramp and gave up and laid in the sun. Swimming is hard work! and it's boring -- there's no scenery.

I think I'll swim tomorrow and thursday, too, since the tri is on Sunday.

I have to swim a quarter mile on Sunday. I'll probably have the slowest swim time. that means I'll have to pass a lot of people on the bike. we won't even think about the run (no, I haven't been running).

why am I doing this? oh yeah, it'll be fun and something different to do with the boy.

I guess this will give me a good baseline to compare future races (when I might actually train).

somewhere in oregon

2007-09-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

cycle oregon day #5. we've ridden 389 miles with 22,122' of climbing. I'm tired. in five days, we didn't see a town again until today. no cell since monday. but somehow, camped at the Oakridge High School football field, I have free wireless internet access in my tent. go figure. crater lake was my favorite (so far).

the end of the world as we know it

2007-09-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

if you happened to look outside early this morning, you probably saw a big, glowing red orb in the sky. no, it's not the apocalypse......it's the sun. apparently the smoke from the Henry Coe fire caused the brilliant sunrise this morning.

and in response to a post from earlier this week, the Dutchboy said the rain was also caused by the smoke particles in the atmosphere (think cloud seeding). he's the earth science guy so I believe him.

I tried to snap an image of the sun this morning but my little digicam is lacking....this was the best I could do.

September is THYCA Awareness Month

2007-09-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Sabine's recent post reminded me about this. Check your necks, kids!

My doc first found lumps on my thyroid gland during an exam after a bike crash. She palpated my neck and sent me promptly for an ultrasound. What followed was more than a year of ultrasound, RIU, MRI, biopsy, bloodwork, two endrocrinologists, and an ENT. It shouldn't have taken so long to diagnose, but that's another story.

I remember my 2nd endocrinologist (I fired the 1st one) telling me thyca is the "good" cancer. Whoa! Good cancer? There is no such thing in my opinion. Oddly enough, three months later my ENT used the same term to describe the lump in my parotid gland (that big salivary gland in your cheek). As much as I liked these two docs, they just didn't get it -- how can you use a term like "good" to describe any type of cancer?

Anyways, the reason for this post is to inform and educate my friends about thyca. Did you know that thyca is one of the most common forms of cancer in the US? It's slow-progressing and rarely fatal. Treatment is usually easy (surgery and possibly radiation). And then life can return to "normal."

So, educate yourself, know the signs, and check your neck!

Checking your neck is easy! All you need is a hand mirror and a glass of water. First, take a healthy sip of water, but don't swallow it. Then, hold the mirror up to your neck, tip your head back, swallow, and see if you observe any bulges or protrusions (besides your adam's apple). If you see anything unusual, check in with your doc for further testing.

There you have it!

ummmm......

2007-09-04T08:49:00.001-07:00

......it's raining.

and the sun is shining.

on the peninsula.

in september.

should we be worried?

my legs are made of ice cream

2007-08-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

.....and I'm melting!

I love the sun and heat, but this has been a bit oppressive. I'm sweating just sitting at my desk. I've actually had a hard time dealing with the heat since my thyroid levels are corrected. Longer summer races just destroy me, but that's neither here nor there.

Wednesday is my weekend (sort of). I try not to schedule any appointments or big projects and just answer email and run errands. And I usually do a long ride.

My Wednesday riding partner for the past few years is my best friend, Kim. She's a super-skinny climber-girl and she's been pushing me to keep up with her (not easy when I was almost 200 pounds). Most weeks, I try to get in a good solid 4-5 hour ride with lots of climbing. We don't usually ride super-fast, and sometimes we even stop for coffee (even in the summer, Hutch).

Two weeks ago we climbed Page Mill. I was killin' it for the first 3rd of the 9-mile climb, but then the heat and my dehydration sucked the life out of me. Last week we couldn't ride together. So this week, we decided to climb a less-exposed climb -- Old La Honda.

Everyone knows their PB up OLH. I've watched mine drop (early in my cycling career), then rise (while I got fatter and fatter), and it's again been dropping. I haven't ridden OLH since May, and my weight and power have both improved so I assumed I'd be on track for a good time.

I jammed up the early parts of the climb. Because I was trying for a PB, I didn't wait for Kim and just rode my own ride. A couple of times I glanced back and didn't see her, so I thought I was doing great. I kept calculating my time and thought this would be the day.

Alas, about half way up the climb, I started waning. I could feel my breakfast in my belly and my heart in my throat. And even in the shade of the big trees, I was sweating buckets. But I kept pushing on.

As I passed the second sign for Upenuf Road, I glanced back to see Kim around the switchback. That was motivation enough to push to the point of recycling breakfast to the top.

But dammit, my time was 2 minutes slower than in May! Overanalyzing the ride, I realized that first of all, it was about 300 degrees out and secondly, I'm back on my weight-loss plan, so I'm not fueled as well as I should be to ride with high intensity. Oh well!

On a positive note, I kicked butt on my descents (Skyline and 84). 84 has always been my nemesis descent. I love to descend but there are certain points on that road I always touch my brakes. I did pretty darn good yesterday.

******************************************************************************

It was so hot yesterday that after climbing OLH and then climbing West OLH (because OLH just wasn't enough), Kim (the camel) actually needed to top off her bottles, so we stopped at the little store at the junction of 35/84 (across the street from Alice's). While there, we were approached by a man in his 30s or 40s who was very clearly drunk at 11:00 in the morning. I just hope he didn't drive there and then have to drive down the mountain, risking himself, other drivers, and cyclists alike. I mentioned him and the fact that I found him a threat to the store owners, but they didn't seem to care, even though they sold him a beer.

.....makes my ass look great!

2007-08-24T01:50:00.000-07:00

just for kicks,
what would YOU substitute for
"CYCLING?"

why women are bitches

2007-08-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

I teach women how to race bicycles. I've been doing it since 2002. I currently coach a six-week road racing development program. During this six-week period, the women in the program receive 30+ hours of on-bike instruction in both individual bike handling and also group riding skills. We also teach them basic tactics. When they've completed the program, they have the tools to be darn good bike racers and we've shortened the learning curve of bike racing for them.

Many of the women I've taught how to race have gone on to win lots of races and are now CAT 1 an CAT2 racers, competing at the national and international level. But it all starts with that first race.

Last week, one of the women in my current program participated in the Dunnigan Hills Road Race. She's a tiny little girl with a tiny little bike (with only one bottle cage capable of holding a short bottle). Since this is a longer race in a hot climate with a questionable feed zone, I suggested she race with a hydration pack. I warned her that some women might be judgemental about this.

Alas, judgemental was an understatement. Waiting at the line, one of the women from another team looked at her, noticed her Camelbak, and then loudly proclaimed "that's scary!" Her response, being a kind and sensitive girl, was tears.

Grow up ladies! If a racer, especially a new racer, utilizes tools that will help her race in a safe manner, why do we have to be such freaking critics! You should be thrilled that someone wants to learn to race and wants to be safe during races.

Get over yourselves, okay? We say we want to see more women racing bikes. If that's true, then we should try to be welcoming and friendly. We should mentor new riders, not ridicule them.

So, if you see someone at a race who dares march to a different drummer.....someone with a mirror or a camelbak or something traditionally frowned upon by the road racing crowd, don't give 'em shit -- give 'em a cheer for being a unique individual.

Snobs!

Don't be a hater!

what's temporary?

2007-08-21T16:12:00.001-07:00

in this fast-paced, instant-information world, how do you define temporary? my email has been down since 2:00am. apparently this is still considered temporary by AT&T. argh!

Sorry for the inconvenience.

You've stumbled upon a temporary problem we're having with Yahoo! Mail. Usually this problem gets resolved quickly, without you doing a thing. In fact it may be taken care of now.

* Try pressing the Reload or Refresh button on your browser, or logging out and then back into your Yahoo! account. Hopefully that will take care of things.

If that doesn't fix the problem, please be patient while we sort it out and try again shortly. The fact that you're reading this page means we've been automatically notified of the issue, and chances are we're working on it now.

* If you think you've been more than patient and tried the tricks above, feel free to contact Customer Care about Error Code 5.

Thanks,

The AT&T Yahoo! Mail Team

too busy relaxing

2007-08-20T10:19:00.001-07:00

we were so darn busy relaxing that we didn't take many photos. no clocks/watches, no agenda, just naps and trees and relaxing and eating and presents and fun.

third time's a charm (again)!

2007-08-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

earlier this year, my older sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. she had already retired, purchased a house in Fiji, was in the process of selling her home here, and was ready to escape the madness of the valley.

everything changed pretty quickly.

because of the form and size of her cancer, she was able to have a minimally-invasive surgical procedure to remove the cancerous cells. unfortunately, one surgery in April turned into a second in July and a third last week. we thought it would never end and that she'd need to have a masectomy.

today, I accompanied her to her post-surgical consult. in the car, she told me she didn't know what she would do if the result wasn't good.

as we sat in the examination room at the Stanford Cancer Center, the tension grew.

then, we heard a quick knock at the door and her doctor entered the room. the look on his face was dire (or is that dour?). and then, within seconds, he gave her a thumbs up. I screamed "YES!" and then realized I might have misinterpreted his body language.

the silence in the room was again thick with tension. Susan didn't say anything. I quickly looked at the doc, looked at her, and then at the doc again. and then I mumbled something minimally cohesive to the effect of "was the surgery successful?"

YES! finally, they were able to get all of the cancerous cells! no more surgery!

but Fiji will wait until she can complete six weeks of radiation.

Fiji will always be there. now my sister will, too!

uncle!

2007-08-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

progressive overload (along with recovery) -- the key to creating physiological adaptation in athletes. yeah, yeah, yeah, I know! it's been a big block of training for me the past couple of months and half way up our nine-mile Page Mill climb this morning the body screamed "uncle!" of course, we had to keep climbing, but it wasn't pretty. I guess that's what happens when I try to log too many 15-20 hour weeks in a row. ouch! good thing I've got a nice block of recovery coming up......fresh and fast legs for San Ardo -- can't wait!

off to the big trees

2007-08-15T00:24:00.000-07:00

the dutchboy and I are heading out for a short but hopefully fun and relaxing weekend. a bit too much driving for a two-day weekend, but we'll make the most of it!

we're driving north to the

we'll be

we won't be

but we will definitely be

we'll probably also

and we might even

we'll have some of this

and some of this, too!

and we might even do this (probably not)

and if that isn't enough fun, on Sunday we'll be doing this

oh, and I need a Julie-sitter. would you like to spend the weekend with her? she love you long time!

things that make you go buzzzzzz

2007-08-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

in all the years I've been riding bikes, I think I'd only been stung by a bee twice before (and once was during childhood). come to think of it, I think I'd only been stung once more besides that. 30-something years old and I'd only been stung by a bee three times!

all that changed this year! I think I've been stung six separate times while riding my bike this season. the latest was tonight! I was riding with a client and we were totally pumped on adrenaline from dropping these two parasites on foothill when suddenly, a bee hits me on the helmet, bounces to my optics, and then stings me on the forehead. try as he might, my client couldn't find a stinger, but I know it's still in there because my forehead is swollen and throbbing.

of course, this made me ponder why all the sudden stings. come to think of it, I don't even really remember bugs in CA until this season, except in the wettest areas. and then there's the poison oak! is our environment rebelling? are we being attacked by nature? is it time to run and hide?

sometimes we don't realize just how good we've got it!

2007-08-09T08:48:00.001-07:00

California is a hot-bed of cycling. we all know that. we have one of the largest cycling populations in the country. and yea, the racing world isn't perfect -- many women wish there were more opportunities to race against their peers in single-category races instead of combined fields.

but you know, we've really got it pretty good.

one of my former clients lives in Idaho now. we chatted recently about how she could help develop women's racing there. in our conversations, I didn't realize just how dire the women's racing scene was in Idaho (check out the license stats in the article). but she, and some other women (and men) are doing something about it and hoping to develop new women racers in the coming seasons.

extra, extra! read all about it in the Boise Weekly.

good job, Marti!

let's tri that one more time!

2007-08-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Wow! I just realized that I never posted my Wildflower report from May – it’s still in my blog draft folder. Oh well, I guess it's too late for that now. But anyways, after our victory in the Wildflower Olympic distance relay, my teammates (Janet and Kim) and I decided we had so much fun we just had to do it again. So, we registered for the Vineman Half Ironman relay in August. Ironically enough, this had been my very first race in 2002, so I had a little something to compare my aging self to. Kim was excited to run a half marathon (something she'd never done), I was committed to getting my TT bike out of storage (where it's been since Kern in 2006), and Janet just loves triathlon so she was game.

Long story short, Kim hired a running coach, upped her distance, but got injured and we had to find a replacement runner. I was a lazy-ass and never got my TT bike out of storage. And Janet, as always, was the rock -- organized and prepared to race.

Our "girls weekend" disintegrated and we headed up to the race for the day. Yeah, there's nothing better than getting up at 4:00am to drive to a race, but fortunately, Kim decided to accompany me to the race so I had great company and expert assistance with all my gear.

I had planned to do a trainer warm-up in the transition area, but once again, my lazy tendencies kicked in and I didn't feel like carrying the trainer to transition so my warm-up consisted of runs to the porta-potty line. There were a few relay guys on trainers, but I figured I'd just go easy the first 15-20 minutes and call it soup.

I decided to race on my carbon tubulars rather than my heavy powertap wheel, hoping that I wouldn't flat and let down my teammates. Besides my aero shoe covers, my skinsuit, and the tape over my front helmet vents, there was nothing particularly aero about my bike, but I felt pretty confident that over a 58-mile course with some climbs aerodynamics wouldn't matter too much but lightweight and cool would be more important. I kept the 13-29 on my rear more because of familiarity with the shifting patterns than a need for the 29, but I was glad to have it once we hit the 10% + grades of Chalk's Hill at mile 40-something.

I was really well pre-hydrated and took two bottles of GU2O on the bike, along with GU and Clif Bloks (in a Bento Box no less). I was pretty sure this would get me through the race and I wouldn't need to get additional nutrition or hydration at the aid stations.

Janet posted a super- solid time for the swim (35 minutes), but there were some uber-swimmers who posted times in the 20 minute range, so we already had some ground to make up on the bike and the run. Our transition was good, I ran down the "red carpet" to the timing mat, did a cyclocross mount, and climbed up the little stinker and out onto the road. It was still pretty cool in the morning and I started out pretty hard so I could feel my asthmatic lungs screaming, but I kept hammering. My mantra was "pedal harder -- don't rest" and I tried to keep this up the entire race.

One fun aspect of being part of a relay team is that the relays typically start in the last wave of a triathlon, so you're chasing other folks all day long. I like the chase. I got down into the drops immediately and held a threshold pace for most of the race. The only times I got out of the drops were on the steepest climbs.

Hour one rocked. There wasn't much wind, I felt super-strong, my legs were happy and I held an average pace that would put us in good position for the win (or so I thought). I just kept picking out rabbits up the road and passing them. There were a couple of traffic hiccups where I had to slow down a bit, but nothing that should impact our result too much.

Hour two I started feeling little twinges in my legs, probably because I didn't really train to TT for three hours, but I was still jamming. The course was hillier than the first hour and the wind had become more of a factor. I had moved up in the “ranks” to passing lots of guys (relay and full ironman competitors).

There was one particular guy in a Specialized jersey who I watched in the distance for a while. He drafted a car for a while and then drafted other racers. I passed him and he immediately jumped onto my wheel. I got sick of him (the word parasite kept crossing my mind), so I took a flyer out to the center line. He followed so I flew back to the shoulder. He was still there so I turned and scowled at him. I ramped it up a bit and dropped him, but suddenly he was back. So I turned back to him and told him if he didn’t get off my wheel I would piss on him. He picked up his pace and passed me (only to sit on some other guy’s wheel ahead). As we climbed the infamous Chalk Hill, I passed then dropped his ass, never to see him again.

Hour three I was ready to be done. The wind had really picked up and I had some severe pain in my right leg that seemed to originate from my sciatic nerve and run all the way down to my foot. I wanted to stay in the drops, but had to adjust my pelvic tilt to alleviate the discomfort. I assumed that since I don't typically ride in the drops AT INTENSITY for hours at a time, my body was simply rebelling. I was ready to be off the bike. I was counting the miles. I was on target for my goal time. I was happy.

Of course, my Garmin is set up for my mountain bike and I'm too lazy to figure out how to set up another bike, so my distance was off and the course didn't have very good distance markings. This meant I didn't really know how many miles I had left. As the 2:40 mark passed, I'd ask the course marshalls as I passed them, but most didn't have an accurate answer. Oh well, just keep pedalling, Lorri! You’ll be done when you’re done.

Finally, the course enters the town of Windsor. The end is near. But twice I got "stopped" at traffic lights -- during a race no less! I bit my tongue and kept riding even though I was pissed at the police officers for waving through the extra few cars that caused a delay for the bikes. It's just a race, right? The final “climb,” a highway overpass, felt like a 20% grade in the wind. But it was short and I kept spinning.

The last mile of the course was lined with spectators, and I found a last little reserve of energy to hammer to the finish. Last time I did this race (2002, remember) I didn’t know you had to dismount and cross the timing mat on foot so I sprinted to the line and almost killed myself with an emergency stop. This time I knew better. I dismounted, heard my teammates yell my name, and started running toward the transition area like a crazy-woman. I had never met our runner and didn’t know where she would be, so I yelled out “Velo Girl” repeatedly until she saw me and ran up to me. We ran together to the bike rack, racked my bike and attempted to remove the timing chip from my ankle and transfer it to her ankle. After a few fumbles, she was off and I “crashed” mentally and physically.

Pain rushed through my entire body, I fought not to puke, and I started to cry. Isn’t it funny how that sudden adrenaline rush, released at the end of an event, can make you cry? I laid down on the ground for what seemed like 10 minutes, heard my teammates from the spectator area, and attempted to walk over to the fence in the transition area. I couldn’t put weight on my right leg. Ouch! Finally, I was able to limp over to them.

I got a post-race massage (apparently I had a severely inflamed muscle in my ass caused by impact with the saddle), ate lunch, and we waited for our runner to finish. Once Jennifer finished the run, we checked the current results and learned we were in 3rd place. Not the win, but we were still happy. But that meant we had to wait around in the hot sun for the podium (almost 2 hours later).

My goal had been to ride the 58-mile course in 2:50. Of course, that goal was based on nothing other than the fact that I raced it in 3:16 in 2002 and I wanted a faster goal and 3:00 didn’t seem like an aggressive enough goal. Silly coach -- do as I say, not as I do, right? I finished in 2:56 (averaging 19.94mph), one of the fastest bike splits of the day, but not fast enough to beat the two uber-teams in our category. Oh well, third place was good, too!

During our wait for the podium, I had the pleasure of meeting Marco Fanelli. He's a SoCal bike racer and has a link from his blog to mine. He heard our names at the finish and came up to introduce himself to me. His lovely wife was racing (she won her age group), so he was waiting around for her.

When the podium presentations took place, we were a bit disappointed that the promoters didn’t really have a podium (no photo opportunity). AND they only awarded prizes two-deep for the relays! Hrmph! So, we spent two extra hours in the hot sun waiting for something that never happened. Oh well. But we all received a pretty pink “finishers” medal. And had fun. And raced hard. What more could a girl ask for?

I think I’ve been bitten by the tri bug. I’m ready for my next adventure. I think I’ll register for Scott Tinley's Dirty Adventure in September. It’s a 3-event mountain bike triathlon stage race. What the heck, it will be good motivation for me to begin running and swimming again and a nice change in my training routine. Afterall, in 2002 I had been training for tri. Why not go for it now, right?

you know it's August in California....

2007-08-01T15:52:00.001-07:00

......when you see the naked ladies.

the day after your birthday should be an official holiday

2007-07-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

because I got NOTHING done today. then again, most Mondays are wasted for me so why should this be any different?

I had a fabulous weekend of fun and friends and frolic and romance and indulgence that began on Friday with a shopping spree and a manicure/pedicure and finished Monday morning with (I can't tell you what). and in between were rides and romantic dinners and art openings and champagne and surprises and watching the tour in bed and 4-inch heels and more rides and dancing in the living room and smooshed cupcakes and laughing so hard my abs still hurt.

love for sale

2007-07-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

I've procrastinated about this long enough -- time to clean house. Bikes should not be gathering dust! I've got the following posted for sale on Craig's List. Ping me if you're interested or want more details:

Litespeed Pisgah Titanium Hardtail Mtn Bike --

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/bik/385651784.html

Bontrager Race X Lite 700c Road Wheels --

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/bik/385658947.html

Mavic Crossmax SL 26" Mtn Bike Wheels --

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/bik/385667145.html

by special request

2007-07-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I'm not blogging. no stalkers this time, I'm just not blog-inspired. life is too good right now. I don't feel sarcastic or bitter or funny or have tales of woe. everything's just right, Golidlocks! and I've been busier than a bee.

July has flown by before we even knew it.

I finished up the CCCX series in 2nd. finally had my bite back in the last race but a month of no intensity prevented me from pulling out the V needed to move back into 1st place in the series. but I'm okay with that. Keith and Rod put on a fabulous series and I had more fun than I've ever had racing. I'm not sure what my plans are for next year, but I'm certain they'll include some mtn bike racing.

immediately after the race I flew to Colorado for a week of riding, gardening, partying, meeting friends and family, and helping Hans prep one of his houses for sale. I did some awesome rides and for some odd reason, the elevation didn't seem to affect me much at all until I hit 9,000'. I rode Squaw Pass with Daniel, Jamestown with Vera, and climbed Dear Creek Canyon with Hans and Pieter. oh yea, and we went mtn biking on borrowed mtn bikes -- me with my speedplays and road shoes -- not the best ride of my life. and I rolled along the fabulous bike path network of Denver -- what a great system!!! Denver is definitely somewhere to consider for my future. I love the hot sunny days and HOT nights and being able to wear a skimpy little dress instead of a fleece or a leather jacket.

home again, a furious week of work and preparation for the Death Ride. my long-time readers might recall that I had some unfinished business from last year. this year, 25 pounds lighter with better fitness and some recent altitude under my legs, I hoped to complete all five passes. Hans agreed to ride it with me even though he's not really an endurance rider.

long story short, we started too late. don't ask why. the plan had been to start riding at 5:30am when most folks begin, but we didn't leave until 7:00am. we jammed on the first two passes (Monitor), felt okay on the third pass (Ebbetts), and then started our death march. seems we mis-interpreted the cut-off times and were making it into the rest stops with only moments to spare. and being at the back of the pack of 2,800 riders, we found that many of the rest stops had run out of food and water. by the time we finished the fourth pass (Ebbetts), we learned that we had only 35 minutes to make it to the stop in Woodfords before the cut-off time (and it was 14 miles away). a bit dehydrated and glycogen-deficient, we rode like crazy until the clock struck 4:00 (the cut-off time). we still had three miles to go to the rest stop, so we weren't going to make it. the 5% grade suddenly felt like 20% and my legs slowed to a stop. I dismounted, sat on the side of the road and cried. it was over. we failed. of course, we still did 4 mountain passes, 85 miles with almost 11,000' of climbing, so it really wasn't a failure, but we didn't get that darn pin!

after piling me into the car and driving back to Turtle Rock Park for the post-ride BBQ, Hans wasn't doing so good. he was certain he was going to die. I tried to calm him, explaining that the way he was feeling was normal for someone who just spent seven + hours on the bike. but he retreated to a nearby haybale, laid down, and curled up into a ball. I finally convinced him we should go back to the campsite and shower. he felt a bit better after that, but still didn't have that sparkle in his eyes. he asked me if I would keep his bikes at my house for a while -- maybe even sell them for him. he never planned to ride again. I felt terrible, thinking that I'd ruined cycling for him after he's loved riding for 15 years. he informed me that he never loved riding. in the back of my mind, I knew everything would be better the next day, but I still questioned what it would be like being in a relationship with someone who doesn't ride.

I finally persuaded him we should go get a little something to eat, so we headed down the hill to the Creekside Inn for spinach salad, greasy burgers and greasier fries. and cobbler for dessert. half way through dinner, he came back to life. whew! crisis averted. by Sunday morning, he was talking about how we would approach the ride differently next year (including leaving on time at 5:30am).

and here we are, at the end of another super-busy, whirlwind week. the new Tri-Flow program started on Monday so I'm busy-busy again. I've gotten some good rides in, including a short but sweet climbing epic with Kim yesterday in the Los Altos hills. Amazingly, I hit my peak 5-second, 1-minute, and 5-minute powers. my legs are just about fully recovered and I'm feeling great! and my strength is obviously coming back.

next week is my birthday. every year since I started riding I've either done a century or hosted a birthday ride. this year, we've got 6 or 7 birthdays on the team in the same week, and since there aren't any local races, I decided to host a ride. big fun, I promise, and I'd love to have lots of friends (boys and girls) join us. here's your invitation!

so that's that. are you happy now? I am!

forgive me, father, for I have sinned

2007-06-29T08:24:00.000-07:00

earlier this spring, the race director of one of the classic bicycle races in northern california eliminated the opportunity for CAT4 women to race at that event. women and men alike shared their displeasure with this decision in private emails and public forums. but alas, the CAT4 women weren't given the chance to experience this particular race this season.

this same club promotes a second race each year, a standard industrial park crit held in August. this race has been part of the bay area women's cycling series for many years, and there has traditionally been a combined W3/4 race (picked separately, of course). registration for this race just opened tonight, and I'm thrilled to see that for the first time in my memory (2002), Timpani Criterium is offering a separate CAT4 women's race.

the summer seems to have a dearth of W4 races. with the exception of the Fremont Crit this weekend, all the other crits currently posted are open women's fields (CATs 1 through 4) or combined W3/4. I've been pretty vocal in my opinion that combined fields aren't the best opportunity for many CAT4 women. so thank you to LGBRC for offering the CAT4 women a race of their own! perhaps this is their atonement for past sins.

it's not over til the fat lady sings

2007-06-28T00:46:00.000-07:00

so, the CCCX mtn bike series is winding down for 2007. the final race of the season is this Saturday. I can't say I'll miss it -- it's been a long, dramatic season and I'm ready to move onto something else for the summer. it's challenging to sustain a high level of performance for five months straight and I've had a number of personal health issues that screwed with my early-season fitness, so it's been a bit frustrating for me.

I had three personal goals this season:

#1 -- win a race -- I did that on March 3rd -- yay, me!!!

#2 -- win Sea Otter -- well, I blew that one, probably by switching to a new bike a few days before the race. I got 6th -- okay, but that wasn't my goal. oddly enough, I realized that my age group is filled with fast women! I would've been on the podium in any other age group except mine. I was very disappointed, but moved onto the next big event (Wildflower, for which I still haven't posted my race report).

#3 -- win the CCCX series overall -- I lead the series from race #2 through race #7 -- six races. but I blew it big-time on Saturday. I raced so poorly that women who I never see in the races, women who finish 20 minutes down from me, passed me in the first lap! I kept waiting to get lapped by the leaders. I felt like I was in a time warp -- racing at the level I raced last year. Combine this performance with a lost opportunity in the prior race, and I'm now 4 points down from the new series leader. 4 fricking points! only 4 points, but it will be challening for me to regain the series lead just the same. challenging, but not impossible. given what's going on with my health right now, I'm not holding my breath. but I'm happy to say that even 5 days off the spiro and I've got a bit of strength and spirit back. I guess we'll see on Saturday, won't we. at worst, I'll finish the series in 2nd place, which should make me happy. right.

I have great motivation to ride fast on Saturday. that afternoon I fly to Denver to join Hans for a week's vacation. he'll be working on his house so he can put it on the market. I plan to spend a week climbing Mt. Evans, Pike's Peak, and lots of other big climbs at altitude to try to salvage my fitness this summer. it's amazing that I went from being super-fit in early May to feeling slow and fat and tired. but, I digress. CO will be a blast, with dinners and parties planned almost every night with his family and friends. I can't wait, so if riding faster on Saturday will get me there sooner, I'll hammer my brains out!

excuse me, but could someone help me find my testosterone?

2007-06-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

a month ago, my dermatologist prescribed spironolactone for a skin condition. this is the drug that pre-op transgendered men take to reduce the amount of testosterone in their bodies during transition to becoming a woman. at the time my doc. recommended it, I asked her if the reduction in testosterone would affect my athletic performance. she replied that it wouldn't. well all I have to say is bullshit! in the past month, I've gotten soft, lost my edge, gained weight, lost muscle mass, and basically sucked on the bike -- at a time when my performance was critical. I'm sorry, but if someone doesn't really know the answer, they shouldn't lie about it. I've had two other docs and an exercise physiologist concur that the spiro should not be recommended for athletes, at least not if they don't want to lose performance.

does anyone know a dermatologist who understands athletes (preferably someone located on the peninsula)?

voting with your dollar

2007-06-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

This deserves a bump! C'mon ladies. Only 15 women registered for this race? It's a fabulous course and a CAT 4-only women's race. Pen Velo likely won't offer CAT4 women next year, so we won't get a chance again until 2009.

Pen Velo and Pilarcitos made good on their promise from last year -- they are running a women's CAT4 field at the Burlingame Crit in 2007. Registration is open, ladies! Let's show them how excited we are about this!

Many of the CAT4-only races have sold out this season. Maybe the promoters who insist on combining the CAT4 women with the CAT3s (or in open women's races) and then complain about low registration will figure this out. CAT4-only races are good for your bottom line. Combined races aren't. We'll show you some love if you show us some, too!

doing it all night long

2007-06-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

over a year ago, I raced my first 24-hour mountain bike race as part of a five-woman team. considering I'm a roadie through and through, this was a big accomplishment for me. my lap times were good and I had lots of fun.....until the night lap. I headed out for about a mile, scared myself to the point of being dangerous, turned around, woke up a teammate to take my place, and cried myself to sleep. after that weekend, I decided 24-hour racing just wasn't my thing. but since I love endurance events, I decided to do the 8-hour solo event this year.

best laid plans, I guess. somehow, I raised my hand and signed up to race a two-woman team with my teammie, Justine. Justine is an endurance racing guru -- that's pretty much all she does and she usually does it solo: 8 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours. what the hell -- it would be a good goal for me, right?

long story short (because I'm too busy these days to write a long story), we raced. it wasn't flawless. we were the only two-woman team in the 2-person category. we raced 14 laps (170 miles) and finished in 4th place (of 5 teams, so we "girled" one team of boys). of note, the 2nd and 3rd place teams finished only one lap up on us. I rode not one, but two night laps, the second lap missing one light (scary). I ate wrong and got a terrible belly ache in the middle of the night and missed my 4:30am lap but got back out there in the morning.

total for the weekend: 6 laps, 72.33 miles, 9+ hours on the mtn bike, 9,648' of climbing, aches and pains everywhere (even my eyeballs), oh, and that stupid le mans start run (blech!). considering my primary goals were to conquer the night riding and to complete as many laps as I could, I was pretty proud of myself.

my teammie is a total stud. she finished 8 laps (almost 100 miles). she and her boyfriend, John, make an incredible team. Justine really knows how to race endurance events and it was such a fabulous learning experience for me.

and we couldn't have done it without Hans and John, who took care of us, fed us, rubbed us, wrenched for us, dressed us, nudged us to keep going, and were just plain heros in my book. although these races are solo or team events, I truly believe you can't succeed without the support of your crew (especially if you race solo or two-person), and we had the best!

I learned a lot of good lessons this weekend (about racing endurance events and about life). if I ever do this again, I expect to put those lessons to good use and have that much more fun!

shyte! did I just say this was fun?

fore!

2007-06-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've got two HUGE golf balls in my throat. blech! yeah, technically they're called tonsils, but they feel like golf balls. and I can barely talk. I had to cancel clients and a speaking engagement and I can't really talk on the phone. double-blech!

a weekend in the country

2007-05-31T09:11:00.000-07:00

what does a bike coach do for vacation? I'm not one for sitting on the beach with an umbrella drink, so usually I go somewhere and get a big block of miles under the belt. this weekend was no exception. I joined a local triathlon coach's training camp in sonoma wine country, with the goal of riding 300 miles in 3 days.

one of my tri-flow racers had planned to join me, but at the last minute she cancelled, so with two days to spare I invited my friend Hans. although he's primarily a mtn biker, he's super-fit and does a fair amount of road riding, too, so I knew he'd do fine. and at 6'3" he's a hella-draft, which I would undoubtedly need if I planned to keep up with the boys.

the weekend was simply fabulous! the weather was perfect -- not too hot, foggy only in the early morning hours, and windy only on the last day. the training group was small and we ended up only riding with them (for one silly reason or another) for part of the first day.

we were based out of the Sebastopol Inn (in Sebastopol). Friday evening after the long, slow drive from San Mateo, we checked in and then headed over to Bodgea Bay for a sunset dinner at The Tides. it was one of the oddest sunsets I'd ever experienced. although the evening was clear, the sunset was almost devoid of color -- literally a black and white sunset.

day one took us into wine country. the entire group stayed together at a reasonable pace for the first hour or so. I rode up front with the coach, not wanting to sit on the wheel of some random triathlete on a TT bike (they don't shift very often and get way too surgey for my taste). the pace picked up after the first hour and I was happy to hang with the guys until the last climb when someone attacked and about half the group followed. unfortunately, I had to work to stay with the group and didn't get enough calories in (which would come back to haunt me later in the day). we had an organized rest stop @ 40 miles. most of the group planned to do the hilly 100+ mile route, but Hans and I opted to do the 70ish mile route through wine country. by mile 50, my lack of calories hit hard and by mile 60 I was bonked in a way I hadn't done in many, many years. Hans pulled my ass to Sebastopol but it sure wasn't pretty. we rolled around trying to find somewhere to eat an early dinner and finally found a thai restaurant with outdoor seating -- just what the doctor ordered. after an early dinner (or would that be a late lunch) a soak in the hot tub and a sit by the pool, we cleaned up all pretty to join the group for our second dinner at a local cafe.

day two we opted to ride to Occidental and then out to Cazadero. we got a late start so we didn't ride with the group at all on day two. rather than ride an out & back (which was the planned route), we put together a great loop based on the maps provided by the coach. we lingered for a bit in Occidental, drinking iced chai tea (yeah, it's vacation) and doing a bit of window shopping. then on to Cazadero for a quick stop at the bakery.

we had planned to take Old Cazadero Highway, but when we found it there was a sign saying the road was closed. but we decided to cross the bridge and make the climb anyways -- worst case scenario we would have to turn back, right? we climbed the first mile or so and it was a bear -- 15-25% grades the entire way. with my gearing, that meant standing, grunting, and trying not to cry (or swear at Hans). after the first mile, the road turned to dirt and appeared to be a bit less steep. I was game to try to ride it but Hans decided it would be best to turn around -- wimp! dinner was at the same restaurant as the night before, and we weren't excited about that so we opted out of the group dinner and headed out for a fabulous dinner at the local brewpub. besides, we kept smelling burgers grilling during our ride and where better to get a burger (and a spinach salad) than the local brewpub, right?

day three was a loop to Pt. Reyes Station with various options for shorter loops. at dinner the night before (which we missed), the group decided to depart an hour earlier in the morning. of course, we didn't know this, so as we're packing up and loading the car, we see the group rolling out -- WTF? the coach remained back to wait for one other rider (who never showed), so the three of us rolled together. we took Bohemian Highway to Occidental (a beautiful route) and then turned onto Coleman Valley Road. at this point the coach rode on ahead to try to catch the group and Hans and I enjoyed the verdent valleys, the cows, llamas, turkey vultures, goats, sheep, and wildflowers. I'd ridden this road a dozen or so times in the past and know how hilly it is (with many 15% and higher grades). however, in all these rides, I'd never done it on a clear, fogless day. wow! stunning views greeted us as we descended into Bodgea Bay.

we inadvertantly detoured (yes, we missed a turn) and took an alternate route into Tomales with killer climbs (25% on several occassions). the Tomales Bakery was closed but we were able to get sweets and ice cream and Gatorade at the deli. we sat in the sun enjoying the day, chatting with other cyclists, and discussing our route options. Hans even struck up a conversation with a dutch couple touring CA in their caravan (aka RV). Hans is from Holland and speaks fluent dutch so it was fun to listen in and guess what they were talking about. after enjoying our break, we decided to opt for the 70 mile route rather than the 110 mile route. given the wind and the fact that we would rather get back to Sebastopol feeling good (not dead), it was the right choice. we ended the ride with a stop at a fabulous mexican restaurant, another dip in the hot tub, and some time at the pool before driving back to San Mateo.

all in all a great weekend! we logged 193 miles in 3 days -- 13 hours on the bike, 12,000' of climbing, and about 6,000 calories burned!

happy birthday, mrs. fletcher!

2007-05-30T08:39:00.001-07:00

love is in the air

2007-05-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

every spring, a little finchy-bird and her boy-toy nest in the candle lanterns on my patio. this year was no exception. about a month ago momma and pops began gathering "stuff" to fill the glass lantern and make a comfy nest. given the height of the lantern, I couldn't really see what was happening in the nest, but the activity level of both momma and pops had increased last week so I knew the time was near.

I was away for the long weekend and this morning I noticed momma was "feeding" the nest. so I stood up on the patio chair and sneaked a peek -- four little fuzzy-headed baby finches were getting a feed from momma. and on the patio up a story (and next door), I keep hearing what seems to be some hungry birdies. thank goodness my little nest are sleepy and quiet!

another sprint finish

2007-05-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

this has been the season of sprint finishes for me at CCCX. I won the sprint in my last two races by only a bike length. unfortunately, neither of these sprints have been for the win. but yesterday's race provided the most exciting, tactical game of cat & mouse I've ever played. let's just say I'm quite the assertive cat.

and yes, that's snool covered in sandy dust on my face. H-O-T!!!

congratulations, as always, to all my fabulous teammates who represented at the race -- Erin (1st), Janet (7th), and Lauren (12th). and big congrats to my client, Stacy, for her first win this season -- she was a woman on fire!

spam? phishing? fan mail?

2007-05-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 07:06:57 +0200
From: piotr.h2@poczta.onet.pl
To: hello@velogirls.com
Subject: Please

Hello!

My name is Piotr Haase. I am 31 years old. I live in a little village in Poland, together with my wife Kate and two sons Albert and Adrian. We are happy and we lead quiet live. I have been Team Velo Girls fan .

I really admire you and I think you are very good in that what you do.

I was wandering if you could. Send me Velo Teams autograph.

I would be grateful.

Thank you in advance.

Your sincelery

Piotr Haase

MY ADRESS:
PIOTR HAASE
STOJESZYN I nr 12
23-310 MODLIBORZYCE
POLAND

like a virgin

2007-05-13T01:41:00.000-07:00

how often to you get to do something you've never done before?

I've been riding a bike a long time. there aren't a lot of things I haven't tried at least once. but yesterday during the race, I did something I'd never done.

I like to descend, especially on long, steep, straight descents where I can get a lot of speed. but because of my gearing (compact cranks with a 13-29 cassette), I spin out at a relatively low speed. so, I've become pretty good at a severe tuck and am able to descend a lot faster than other riders who are in a more upright position. I guess having a fast bike and a higher body weight than other riders helps, too. I'm not crazy enough to put my hands on the tops like a true hot-dog, but I'll dip into the drops, sit on the nose of my saddle, and really get as low as my big body allows.

yesterday's race was completely miserable for me, from the moment I got out of bed until the minute I finally got off the bike. so I wanted to make the misery as short as possible. my climbing sucked so I had to make up some time on my descents. in the midst of a tuck, I suddenly found my chin on the bar. yup! I've never done that before, and I realized that I didn't really like it. on the bumpy road, I just kept envisioning that I would hit a bump and bite my tongue off. silly me, but that's what was going through my head.

a little whine with dinner

2007-05-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

berkeley hills road race -- that just sucked. not much more to say except my legs hurt from the moment I got on the bike. am I not recovered? maybe not. after a demanding race last sunday I had a hard training week along with little sleep, poor nutrition, and too many hours on my feet because I scheduled 14 bike fits this week. was it the crash? I think I might've torn something in my left leg. it doesn't feel good. my hamstrings aren't engaging at all -- phooey -- and my quads just plain hurt! or was it just a bad day? or the curse of the three evil bears?

all I have to say is thank goodness there aren't very many days that my legs feel that bad. tired legs I understand. empty legs, no problem. but painful legs just plain suck.

the only redeeming aspect of the day was that even with crap legs I raced faster than the last time I did berkeley hills in 2004.

on another positive note, my girls did great!

and, I got to ride with Teddy for a bit and he gave me a packet of the new top-secret GU.

I'll post some photos soon.

when good legs go bad (and other friday afternoon ramblings)

2007-05-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

it's been a long, busy week. between clients, training, and life, I haven't had much time to breathe. yesterday I rode Skegg's Point with Sam and it was a beautiful, perfect day filled with sunshine and wildflowers. I'm still not recovered from Wildflower and I got almost no sleep the night before, so my focus was off. combine that with the fact that I'm not a very skilled mtn biker, and it's no surprise I had a pretty fantabulous crash. it was one of those low-speed affairs where you struggle to keep your balance. gravity won and I nailed myself bigtime with both legs on the top tube. in addition to some beautiful bruising I think I might've torn something. I'm bummed because I've got great legs right now but the pain on my ride this morning was pretty severe and my power is way down. Berkeley Hills should be a treat tomorrow! arnica, arnica, arnica. the bruises are lovely and should do wonders for my dating life!

I've been drinking too much coffee and also suffering insomnia. it's a viscious cycle -- I can't sleep so I'm tired and because I'm tired I drink coffee. you would think I could get a lot of work done being awake until 3:00am but my mind is foggy so I just read blogs and shop (trips, races, music, etc). last night I downloaded 200 songs from iTunes and I named the playlist the insomnia mix. good stuff: arctic monkeys, the bird and the bee, fallout boy, incubus, joseph arthur and the lonely astronauts, kaiser chiefs, muse, my chemical romance, peter bjorn & john, plain white t's, the raconteurs, system of a down, travis, and a pretty awesome album of goth remixes of depeche mode.

I need an IT person. my wireless internet was toast this week and I spent way too many hours trying to fix it myself. I was finally successful, but it would be great if I had someone I could call who knows mac and cycling software and parallels and wireless and whatever.

Julie needed dental work. not really dental work like braces or crowns or fillings, but just a good old fashioned cleaning. I used to try brushing her teeth with one of those little finger toothbrushes and toothpaste that tastes like chicken or peanut butter but she just licked it off. and I haven't been giving her chewy snacks (just carrots which are good for her eyes but do nothing for her teeth) because I don't want her to get fat. so yesterday she went for her cleaning and the doc extracted one of her baby teeth that never fell out. hundreds of dollars!!! yeah, they use anesthesia and everything. I told her last night that we'd be brushing her teeth every night from now on.

I lost my favorite barrette at Wildflower. I've looked at a bunch of shops and can't find one like it anywhere. I went to Peninsula Beauty Supply yesterday and picked up a couple of substandard replacements and some Dirty Girl Roll-on Body Glitter. they have a full selection of Kama Sutra products, too! good to know.

we each got a big-ass plaque for winning wildflower. and a yellow tech-t (like the malloit jeune). and a medal. I like the medal. I gave the t to my dog sitter. and I have no idea what to do with the plaque. it's butt-ugly. it's just a copy of the ad for the event with a litle brass plate on it that says we won. it won't work with all the other plaques on my wall. maybe I'll give it to our bike shop sponsor. is it wrong to give it away just because it's ugly? and how do you spell plaque?

it's difficult to type your blog while eating corn on the cob.

race report on the way (I promise)

2007-05-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

I started my race report on Monday but I'm T-I-R-E-D and sooooo busy this week. Hopefully I can finish it tonight.

Here's a little something to tide you over until then. Apparently there used to be a naked water stop on the long course (staffed by Cal Poly students). After that was eliminated, the students began a tradition of taking a Saturday evening "streak" through all the campsites. Like a moth to a flame, I tried not to look but couldn't help myself. There were boys and girls and things jiggling that shouldn't jiggle. The oddest was a young asian boy who was completely hairless, except a tropical pubic forest. Ewwww!

pretty in pink

2007-05-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

Speedgoat Bicycles in holding their annual pink bike raffle to benefit The Breast Cancer Fund. Cool bike.

Clickity-click for tix -- and help a great organization (located in the bay area).

I found out earlier this spring that my older sister, Susan, has breast cancer. I've added her to a growing list of women who have or are currently battling this disease.

I've decided that each of us will either have breast cancer or know someone close to us who does, so please do what you can to help. Schweet bike, great cause!

we won!

2007-05-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

that's cool. more tomorrow. I'm really tired now.

oh, I cut over 10 minutes from my bike split from Wednesday -- yay me. I rode hard and had just about a perfect race.

another oh, apparently we not only won the masters women relay, we also beat all the non-masters women by over 10 minutes!

more wildflower prep

2007-05-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

pick up clean bike from bike shop -- check!

sleeping bag -- check!

trainer -- check!

pinata -- check!

tortillas -- check!

salsa -- check!

since Kim and I are driving down tomorrow (and we both were pretty free today), Janet tasked us with bringing Saturday's dinner. we originally decided on a traditional pasta-kinda meal, but then creativity struck and I persuaded Kim that we should celebrate Cinco de Mayo, complete with pinata and mexican music on the ipod. so, tonight I'm chopping tomatos and cooking chicken and beef. maybe I'll pack later.

free speed (or how to make your bike light and aero)

2007-05-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

step #1 -- clean it. okay, I keep my bikes pretty clean, but digging a pound of gunk out of the pulley wheels will definitely make you go faster.

step #2 -- change from heavy powertap training wheels to carbon tubulars. while I'd love to pace with power on Sunday, I'd rather use my super-slick race wheels.

step #3 -- remove the saddle bag (small but heavy with one tube, 2 CO2 cartridges, 1 CO2 adaptor, 2 tire levers, a patch kit and a pair of tweezers).

step #4 -- remove two of three computers. yeah, I don't need a bike computer with cadence, a powertap, and the garmin. not only do they add weight, but the cables make the bike less aero (even though I've got them taped to the down tube). don't forget to remove spoke and crank magnets, too!

step #5 -- remove one bottle cage. yeah, I'd like to do this race on Sunday without a bottle, but the reality is that I don't deal with heat well and having a little caloric boost will just make me faster. and, there is evidence that having one bottle is more aero than having no bottles.

step #6 -- add wings!!!

so, my 18.5 pound bike (with all the excess crap) weighed in at just under 16 pounds -- not bad for a tall girl.

it sounded like such a great idea in january

2007-05-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

one of my teammates wanted to put together a relay team for the Wildflower Triathlon. I jumped at the chance! afterall, it would break up the monotony of mtn bike and road racing, and there are really hot guys who do tri and you get to see them half naked. and Wildflower is a big party -- a weekend of camping and racing and debauchery, right?

yeah, right! Wildflower is a big hoo-haw (no, not that hoo-haw, VB). it's expensive (all tri's are), it's a logistical challenge, it's a hard course. yeah, that's right! the course is friggin' hard! it's hilly and windy and bumpy.

so, today I decided to head down to lovely Lake San Antonio and pre-ride the course. I wanted to decide which bike to race (tt or road), gearing, pacing, etc. and it was going to rain in the bay area and be sunny there, so why not?

the course is definitely challenging. you begin with a one-mile 9% climb out of the transistion area and then lots of "rollers." the rollers aren't really rolling, but who's complaining. there are definitely some challenging grades but also some nice descents where you can easily hit 40+ mph. and the pavemnt's not that bad. and I saw 1,000s of turkey vultures and 100s of deer (most laying down -- I think they get fed well at good old Lake San Antonio). of course, there will be 1,000s of moving obstacles (ie other riders) on race day.

long story short, not recovered from last night's intervals, with no warm-up, with nothing aero or lightweight on my bike, in a big-ass swirly cross-wind, wearing a shimmel and my bibs blowing in the wind (oops), I beat last year's winning masters women's relay bike split by almost a minute and I was 4 minutes off the pace for the 2005 winner (in a year when there was no wind). can't wait to see what I can do with the carbon tubulars, skinsuit, booties, spaceballs helmet and fresh legs!

amazingly enough, this isn't my kind of course -- I logged almost 1,900' of climbing with many of the climbs settling in at 9-10%. or maybe it is my kind of course now.

when the esthetician said it wouldn't hurt.....

2007-05-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

......she was lying!!!

B-I-T-C-H!

And how was your Tuesday?

I'm not a climber. really, I'm not!

2007-04-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

I used to be a pretty good climber. then I got sick, gained 50+ pounds and struggled with anything but the shallowest grades. I still loved to climb, but I was slower than slow. I converted from a race double to a compact and eventually added a 29t cog! and still, I couldn't keep my cadence snappy on the steeper climbs. many of you witnessed my pathetic fat ass slogging up various courses in northern california -- wente, sea otter, berkeley hills, kern, you name it! if it was hilly, I probably raced it (although "raced" is a bt of an interesting verb in my case).

as I've regained fitness (and lost 55 pounds) one of my goals was to improve my climbing. yeah, I'll never be a true climber. I'll never be able to keep up with the skinny little girls who weigh less than my bike. but I want to climb well enough that I'm not the first to pop in hilly road races.

so I've been climbing a lot in the last year or so. and slowly but surely, I've gotten faster than many of my friends who always dropped me. but that still isn't fast enough for road racing.

mountain bike racing seems to be another story. somehow, I'm gaining time on the climbs. it seems to be one of my strengths now.

anyways, I decided to join a group today to ride mt. hamilton. it was a co-ed group of friends of friends and I knew a handful of the folks. I thought it might be fun and who knows, maybe there would be some cute single guys in the group!

we met at the ride organizer's house in San Jose and warmed up with a five mile ride to the base of the climb. the group was well-behaved but my legs were feeling a bit heavy from yesterday's climb up mt. diablo and I was worried that I'd get dropped by everyone as soon as we started climbing. I got gapped by the first three riders on the little 5% grade leading up to the climb and got even more worried.

we stopped at the base of the climb and waited for the stragglers to re-group. Stacy (one of my coaching clients) decided to get a head start along with Jolie from Velo Bella. I had hoped to pace with Stacy since she's a great climber, but I was busy taking a photo of a couple of lizards as she rode away. me = dork. I quickly packed up the camera and chased. I caught and passed Jolie but Stacy remained just out of reach. three of the guys caught and passed me and then caught Stacy, so I had four rabbits to chase up the mountain.

so I chased and chased. I kept waiting for others from the group to catch me, but they never did. I lost visual contact with Stacy, but I could see one of the guys just ahead. I had thought we had another group of riders meeting us at Grant Ranch, but in the distance it looked like the group continued on without stopping so I did as well.

I felt pretty good. I pegged my watts at 200 and hoped to maintain that for the entire ride. I haven't done a power test this season so I thought I could get my FTP today (or a close estimation). unfortunately, I was sweating like crazy (as usual) and even though I drank two full bottles I got a bit dehydrated and my power dropped a bit for the second part of the ride.

there were a bunch of organized rides on mt. hamilton today (the challenge, the ascent, and the devil mountain double), along with various and sundry teams and groups out for a ride. I passed a bunch of riders and a handful of men from Monte Vista Velo and a hot guy on a cross bike passed me. but I kept pushing. I couldn't remember my stats from the other two times I'd climbed mt. hamilton, so I wasn't sure where I was pace-wise, but I knew I was fast!

running on empty (with two empty bottles), I reached the top and rode over to the post office (where all the MVV studs were gathered). I couldn't find any of my friends, so I emptied and filled and then rolled around. I found Stacy, only to learn that she had stopped at Grant Ranch so I wasn't really chasing her at all and apparently the guy I saw pass Grant Ranch wasn't with our group -- doh!

we waited at the top for the rest of the group to finish, then got to enjoy that sweet, sweet descent!

looking at my training files, I'm excited that I beat my last time up Mt. Hamilton (thanksgiving 2006) by 32 minutes! 32 fricking minutes! and my FTP is almost as high as last year (when I weighed 25 pounds more than I do now) which means my power-to-weight ratio is looking good! happy days are here again!

I got a garmin a few weeks ago. I decided if I was going to focus on climbing I wanted to know my elevations. but I haven't figured out how to use the motionbased web agent on my mac yet (so if there are any garmin mac-users out there with tips, ping me).

oh, no scenic photos today as I was racing myself up the mountain, but these are a few random shots of some of the group.

click for more pix!

the devil made me do it

2007-04-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

In all the years I've been riding, I've only ridden Mt. Diablo once -- Thanksgiving Day 2005. That was the year I was recovering and returning to health and fitness. It was a very challenging ride for me.

Today I rode Mt. Diablo again, this time with one of my clients who is training for the Death Ride.

We had a fabulous ride!

The weather was perfect -- hot and sunny (but not too hot). The sky was very clear -- we could see San Francisco, the pacific ocean, my little condo in San Mateo (just kidding about that). We saw squirrels and bunnies and turkey vultures and a garter snake (the last photo's for you, Panda). You could hear the buzzing of the bees in the air (it reminded me of a really bad 70s movie I recall watching as a child). And we were swarmed by gnats for a few miles of our descent (they were crawling in my shimmel -- yuck).

As we neared the summit, I was really excited to climb the last digger. I had to walk the 19% grade last time. Today, I was out of the saddle, pumping, pushing, and not looking to the top. And I made it!

At the top, we met a bunch of tourists -- all who had driven up the mountain and were amazed that we could ride our bikes. We also met Karl, the Park Aide. He rides a motorcycle (he says it's like yoga) and gave me a snickers bar to celebrate my accomplishment (note to self: don't put half-eaten snickers bar in jersey pocket).

More photos here -- Lorri's Mt. D. Photos

Tomorrow I'm climbing Mt. Hamilton with a group of friends.

Life is good.

do all girls have buttons?

2007-04-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have a little sewing cabinet. It belonged to my grandmother. It's one of the few possessions of hers I took when she died. I used to sew and knit and do needlepoint and cross-stitch. I was kinda crafty at one point in my life.

I no longer have a sewing machine (and every once in a while I miss it).

My little sewing cabinet has four nifty drawers. The top three are quite shallow -- intended, I'm certain, for bobbins and spools of thread and thimbles and other sewing notions. The bottom cabinet is a bit larger.

I remember playing with my mothers buttons as a child. My mother had one tupperware-type container of black and white buttons and one tupperware-type container of colored buttons. I'd play all types of games with these buttons: they could be soldiers or dancers or chess pieces. I could make mosaics. And I really liked the way they felt in my hands. My favorites were the shiny brass ones (real brass, not plastic) and the sparkly crystal ones.

Over the years, I've accumulated quite the collection of buttons. Some of them were my grandmother's -- cards of plain and fancy buttons, six or eight to a card. Some of them came with clothing I purchased. And some of them probably fell off clothing I wore (and I never sewed them back on).

Also in this little sewing cabinet, I've amassed quite the collection of ribbons and glitter and glue and thread and lace and rick-rack and blanket binding (I have a fetish for satin binding) and computer cables and needles and bobby pins and what-not. Yeah, the little sewing cabinet has become a catch-all for junk. I've often thought I should organize and purge and put the cabinet to good use.

So, tonight, when I needed to store some ribbon (used to make streamers for my new mtn bike), I dug in and cleaned out the little sewing cabinet. And even though I know I will never use any of the buttons, I couldn't bring myself to dispose of them. There's just something, some little glimmer of my childhood, that I'm not ready to let go of. So I organized the drawers -- thimbles and bobbins and tape measures and bee's wax and scissors in the top drawer, thread and glitter in the second drawer, buttons in the third drawer, and ribbon and hot glue gun and glue sticks and sparkly pipe cleaners and felt in the bottom space. Yeah, I could store more useful stuff in my little sewing cabinet, but I'm happy with the way it is right now.

Okay, what do you have that you really don't need but you just can't get rid of it?

no, I'm not selling any oakleys

2007-04-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

but someone hacked into my ebay account and posted 54 pair of oakleys for sale. they also changed my financial information and relocated me to Texas. can I just tell you what a pain in the ass it's been to delete each listing? and then I have to wait for ebay to decide to reimburse $113 in fees for these false listings.

I almost ignored the 54 emails I got about the postings but there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that said something was up, so I logged into my account and there they were. WFT!!!

okay, IT types, how did someone hack into my account?

bike tragedy 101

2007-04-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

driving south on 101 from SF, I saw a sight that made me cringe. there was a crumpled white road bike sitting against the median barrier. I have to imagine it flew off someone's car and was crushed almost beyond identification.

but why did they leave it there?

maybe they don't know it's gone.

could you even imagine how you'd feel if you arrived at your destination and when going to remove your bike from the car.....it was gone!?!

the thought makes me shudder!

blame it on "the man"

2007-04-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

no one's blogging today. is it a sea otter hangover or has everyone procrastinated on their taxes?

who inspires me

2007-03-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

V is for Velo Girls.....and Victory!

2007-03-18T23:01:00.000-07:00

more photos here!

congratulations to Team Velo Girls and the members of the Tri-Flow Women's Development Racing Program on a stellar race (and another win)!

I may never be a great bike racer, but I sure can teach women how to race.

I love my job!

weird tan lines

2007-03-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

it's been years since I've put on a bikini. I used to be obsessed with the sun, laying at the pool slathered in baby oil for 8 hours a day -- brown as a nut my father used to say. but the past decade or so I've had this biker-tan thing going on. the first few years, I'd go to the pool to even it out. but then I quit trying. or maybe I just didn't want to put a bikini on my fat ass. either way, I prided myself on the sock lines, the shorts lines, the glove lines.

well, this week I'm doing a lot of desk work -- mostly results clean-up for the fricking race. I have a big, beautiful patio and I love sitting outside in the morning, working on my laptop, drinking tea or a latte, and getting out of my desk chair (cause sitting in my desk chair too long makes my back hurt).

now that the clocks have changed, it's kinda hot on my patio and I get several hours of good quality tanning time. and I'm a sweater. so the t-shirts quickly changed to tank tops to bikinis. yup! I'm working on a lovely front-only tan.

of course, the laptop makes an odd tan line, too, but I guess I can just go on a bike ride to even that one out.....or go sit at the pool!

life is good.....

play along at home week #6

2007-03-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

what if we threw a party and everyone came?

2007-03-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

that about sums up saturday's tri-flow menlo park grand prix. beyond all expectations, we tripled the size of last year's race. was it the change in categories? the date? the lure of t-shirts and kisses? who knows! but the bottom line is that we somehow pulled off a HUGE event!

when I got home Saturday night, all numb and tingly from being awake and on my feet for close to 48 hours, I wrote a lovely blog post. unfinished with the post, I fell asleep sitting at the computer and somehow lost my post (maybe it was my forehead on the spacebar?). so, in short.....

many thanks to our fabulous sponsors, especially Tri-Flow who has stepped up to underwrite this event for the past two seasons (along with lots of other Velo Girls programs).

thanks as well to Tom, Alec, Casey, and Jeff. they make me look good even though I have no clue what I'm doing.

to all the many volunteers from the team and the club, who dedicated countless hours in the weeks prior and on the day of the event, to make sure we put on a safe, fun, efficient event! especially of note, the racers who raced in the morning and then volunteered all afternoon -- thank you!!!

to all the beautiful racer boys and girls. thank you for your patience with registration, results, and wait lists.

to Brooke Kuhn, for choosing our race as part of the Bay Area Women's Cycling Association points series.

to all the upper-cat women for coming out and racing with the boys! I admire you.

to all my blog friends who always make me smile. it's especially fun to see all my road-racing friends who I haven't seen since August or September!

to Lauren, for the bestest race t-shirt ever!

to Kim, for taking over at registration so I could extract myself from the computer for a while during the afternoon.

to Anna and Erin, for taking over the prizes so I could deliver girl scout cookies and frosty beverages to the course marshalls.

to all my clients for being patient while I've been semi-absent the past week or so.

and to mother nature, for blessing us with beautiful blue skies and warm sunshine.

we hope to see you all again next year (especially mother nature)!

ps -- results and podium photos will post tomorrow.

trend analysis

2007-03-08T08:49:00.000-08:00

not wingeing, just commenting.

another one of the "great" local races has eliminated a category for CAT4 women this year.

how do we grow women's fields if we send a message that they're not important to us (especially when a club that touts itself as the best in the country does something like this)?

the growth of women's cycling starts at the bottom -- with new, beginner, and developing racers, and even non-racing recreational riders. that's why Velo Girls focuses in these areas.

oh well......another one bites the dust, I suppose.

play along at home week #5

2007-03-06T09:32:00.000-08:00

third time's a charm

2007-03-03T21:32:00.000-08:00

today was race #3 in the CCCX series. interestingly enough, I almost didn't go. you see, I just got back from ten days in Colorado last night, and I had about 1,000 excuses when the alarm went off at 4:30 this morning.

first, congrats to my beautiful teammates.

Elizabeth did her first race clipped in the entire time -- and she had more fun than I've ever seen her have during a race!

Justine raced her single speed and got 2nd in the sport women's race, beating a bunch of geared girls. Jenny raced sport as well -- and got 5th in a super-competitive field.

and Janet came to pre-ride with a friend and cheered and took some great photos!

so, I'll start my report with the punch line. why the punch line, you ask? because my race today should have been a joke. but I guess the joke was on my because I won! yes, I won my very first race (at least where there was more than one competitor in my category).

but now I'll digress. I went to CO to participate in the elite/level 1 coaching clinic for USA Cycling at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. during the clinic, my favorite speaker was Kristen Dieffenbach, PhD, who discussed sport psychology. this is one of my favorite topics. one of the more interesting parts of the lecture was her explanation of athletes with a fear of success. she also classified athletes with an aversion to failure (although not necessarily the same as a desire to win). this is an interesting group of athletes, and I bet everyone in the bike racing world can identify at least a handful of these types. you see, these are the athletes who have pre-qualifying excuses about why they won't do well in a given race (poor sleep, catching a cold, gained weight, etc) -- anything that they can cling to post-race to explain why they didn't succeed. but in having these pre-qualifiers, the athletes also didn't fail because they told you in advance that the pre-qualifier would affect their performance.

so, here are my pre-qualifiers for today:

I flew home yesterday without sufficient time to prep for the race last night, which meant that I had to unpack from my trip and pack for the race this morning.
I stepped on the scale this morning and weighed six pounds more than when I left 10 days earlier. tell me that doesn't affect a woman's mental game, even if it only is water retention!
I ate crap yesterday and this morning, including wheat, which I'm allergic to and which triggers my asthma.
I was chronically dehydrated in CO -- probably from too much coffee, the occassional beer and not enough water.
I kept re-setting my alarm this morning, finally getting out of bed 15 minutes after I'd planned to leave the house.
I got up so late that I grabbed a piece of banana bread at Starbuck's for breakfast instead of my usual oatmeal and strawberries.
I arrived at Ft. Ord so late that I only got 20 minutes to warm-up and pre-ride part of the course.
I forgot my tire pressure gauge and over-inflated my tires, causing me to slip & slide all over the course, especially in the sandy banks and turns.
my muscles all hurt from my non-cycling activities in CO. My core was blown, causing me to miss my line about 100 times during the race, riding off-course, into the grass, and basically just being sloppy. My hamstrings, abductors, and adductors were screaming at me when I walked, never mind when climbing on the bike.
the race was a bit intense, and I didn't GU at all (and only drank twice).
I snotted all over myself several times.
I kept trying to clear my throat, making a really loud, scary sound (which must've given my competitors a mental edge thinking I would die soon). When not clearing my throat, I was breathing like a horse.

but somehow, I put it all together and held off the competition. Ayshe and Jackie sat on my wheel for the entire race. I'd open up small gaps on the climbs and flats, but they'd catch me on the technical sections because I slowed so much due to my over-inflated tires and under-inflated core muscles. Ayshe passed me at one point in the first lap, but Jackie nudged me to close the gap and I passed her back and she was never able to pass me again.

with about a mile to go, I told myself that I wanted this more than the two of them, and there was no way I was going to lose another race in the final minutes. so I turned up the heat a bit and hammered to the finish.

as I approached the line, Rod announced me as the winner of the women's race. I started to cry. knowing that I was finally going to win my first race was an overwhelming feeling. the next second, I realized that my competitors could still nip me before the line, so I pushed it to the finish.

it wasn't a pretty race. but the gold medal is beautiful!

it's like riding a bike -- part 6

2007-02-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

it's like riding a bike -- part 5

2007-02-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

it's like riding a bike -- part 4

2007-02-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

it's like riding a bike -- part 3

2007-02-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

it's like riding a bike -- part 2

2007-02-23T15:16:00.000-08:00

it's like riding a bike

2007-02-22T21:48:00.000-08:00

play along at home week #4

2007-02-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

always the bridesmaid, never the bride

2007-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the second race in the central coast mountain bike series at Ft. Ord in Monterey.

My legs were worked on Saturday at our Tri-Flow training, probably due to standing on my feet (in heels) for many hours on Friday night. I was a super-model (bah!) at the Tour of California gala in Sausalito, and combined with all the standing, we didn't eat until about 10:30 that night, so I was tired, cranky, and my legs were killing me. Saturday morning we worked on race drills, and anytime I hit my high-end my legs would flush and burn. I was a bit concerned they wouldn't be recovered for Sunday's race.

I arrived at Ft. Ord with enough time to do one pre-ride lap as a warm-up and roll to the line without a minute to spare. The timing was actually great -- no waiting around and cooling down, although in the last ten minutes I was a bit worried I wouldn't make it to the line by the whistle. Knowing I wouldn't have time to make it to the porta-potty, I used the green door on the side of the trail, waiting for Jill and Al Painter to ride by -- they didn't. whew!

I was more nervous for the race this weeek than I was last week. I think it was because I suddenly felt pressure to do well again. What if last week's 2nd place finish was a fluke? what if I really did suck again like last year. what if a certain ex-Velo Girl who was rumored to be racing this week showed up and kicked my butt? What if? I tried to channel my nervousness into positive energy.

I got my usual good start and rolled up the hill. I didn't push myself as much as I usually do -- not sure why. And for the first time since I've been racing mtn bikes at Ft. Ord, no one passed me on the starting stretch. You see, I usually get a good gap in the first 45-60 seconds and then blow pretty badly and get passed by at least a few racers (sometimes a lot of racers). But this time no one passed me and I was first onto the single-track. As we hit the first early climb (aka "the hill"), I kept expecting women to pass me. I tried to make myself as big as possible, but since this climb is on double-track, there are other lines to pass. Again, no one passed me and I was shocked. I rolled through the finish in 1st and Rod called out my name as the leader.

During the first lap, I kept waiting for someone to pass me on the climbs. Unfortunately, most of the climbs are on wider terrain, so it's easy to pass. And since climbing is my weakness, this is a big disadvantage for me. Again, shock as no one passed me.

Being in the leader's position is unfamiliar territory for me. I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I wanted to keep going hard but not too hard so I blew or got sloppy. At one point, I missed my line and ended up off the trail into a big pile of mud. It took some time to right myself and get back on the trail. I expected Jody (last week's yellow-jacket girl who was in 2nd this week) to pass me at that point but she didn't. I would occassionally glance back to see her about 30 seconds or so behind me. Not far enough for me to become comfortable with my gap, which kept me super-motivated to keep going.

Heading into the finish area, I see Jody's family and hear them cheer for her behind me. As we approach "the hill," I again expect her to pass me but she doesn't. A guy who I'd passed earlier in the lap passes me, but I pass him back at the top. That's one of the interesting elements of mtn bike racing that I've had to learn to deal with. Because there are multiple fields on the course at the same time, you can sometimes hear someone behind (breathing, shifting, braking) but not know if that person is in your field or not.

Heading into the finish chute going into lap two, I'm still in 1st place, but Jody is just behind me. Rod says something about "this is where the battle is being waged" so I know I don't have much of a gap. Back up the hill and I again expect Jody to pass me. I push as hard as I can and somehow make it to the top still in first position.

Lap two was pretty sloppy. I decided that I could increase my gap if I increase my risks, so I'm riding like a crazy-woman. At one point, I completely miss the trail as it turns to the left and stay on the trail to the right. Of course, I then notice the tape and realize I've ridden right off the course. The tape is low there so I turn around and ride over the tape and back onto the trail. Thank goodness the tape doesn't catch in my cranks or derailleur and I'm back on the trail (and Jody hasn't passed me). A quick glance back and I don't see her so I'm feeling a little more confident about my gap.

Then back to "the hill." I've always hated this hill. But today I'm able to ride it in bigger gears than in the past. On the second lap (my 4th time up the hill including my warm-up lap), I bottom out to my 34. Not a good sign. I hear Jody's family cheering for her, but she doesn't pass me on the hill.

Lap three is more of the same. At this point I feel I know the course well enough to really jam on the technical elements and fly through the single-track. I don't see Jody when I glance back except on the long stretch of uphill pavement (and she's way back there). But, she sees me which is probably enough to motivate her to pick it up a notch. Somehow, I stay on the trail the entire lap even though I'm pushing it. As I round the bend before "the hill" I suddenly realize I could win the race.

Alas, as I'm climbing "the hill" Jody passes me. I look down at my bike computer -- one hour and 20 minutes -- I've been leading the entire race for one hour and 20 minutes (in what was to be a one hour and 23 minute race). Unbelievable. As she passes, I try to respond, but my legs just cramp up and I barely make it to the top without stopping. But the race isn't over yet. I know that anything can happen (Jody could flat or crash or miss a turn) and I don't give up. So I try my hardest to catch her before the finish. But it just wasn't good enough today and she beat me by 37 seconds.

Although I'm a bit disappointed, I'm still pretty happy. My results are better than last year, I've learned a lot about mtn bike tactics in the past two races, and I think I still have the potential to win a race. I'm sitting in 2nd place in the series (down by only two points) and my fitness is far from peak so there's hope yet. I seem to have solved the nutrition issue for this race and my energy was constant throughout. Actually, our last lap was faster than the first two so that's positive, unlike my complete loss of energy in the week prior. The only things I would've done differently would be to stay on the trail (which I blew twice) and reconsider a couple of gearing choices. Regarding the latter, there were a couple of climbs on the trail where I got stuck in my middle chain-ring, not wanting to risk dropping my chain by shifting mid-climb, so I had to grunt it out. I'm sure this burned my legs a bit and didn't help my climbing the last time up "the hill."

So, another shiny 2nd place medal. So close, and yet so far from that elusive win.

Congratulations to my teammates also racing yesterday! Elizabeth did great, in just her third mountain bike race, finishing top-ten in the beginner women's category. Jeanine gutted it out with the sport women even though she was having a cleat malfunction. And Jenny, who missed the start of the beginner women due to some time spent with CHP in the morning, decided to race with the sport women, knowing she didn't have time to finish the race before having to take her son to his sporting event. After two laps she was sitting fifth or sixth and just jamming!

you are cordially invited....

2007-02-13T23:14:00.000-08:00

......to race the Tri-Flow Menlo Park Grand Prix.

Hey everybody! Please come race our crit. I know, no races for the 1s and 2s. But we've got separate races for the women 3s and 4s (and a master's podium to boot). Lots of masters men's races -- 35+ 1/2/3, 35+ 3/4, 45+/55+. And some other categories, too! After two weekends in Merced, you'll be happy to hang on the peninsula with 100s of lovely Velo Girls.

Registration opened today so give it a clickity-click!

http://www.velogirls.com/team/menloparkcrit.php

if you have to lose to anyone, it had better be a teammate!

2007-02-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

what a day! what a race!

today was the first central coast mountain bike race of the season. Velo Girls plan to have a big presence at this series this year, and there were four of us racing today.

my goal was to win. that's always my goal, until something in my experience tells me that's an unreasonable goal. and since it's a new season and I feel good, I decided I would win today.

but it's been a crazy week and I haven't been on the bike and I can't remember the last time I was on the mountain bike and somehow I totally screwed up the schedule this morning and I arrived at ft. ord way too late and I didn't get a warm-up or a pre-ride and I don't have a lot of oomph in my legs because of my weight-loss nutrition and I can think of a hundred other excuses for poor performance. but instead, I just decided I would win!

at the line there are eight women and as many junior girls. the only familiar face I see is Ayshe Tuncer, who beat me in the series last year. I felt a little better racing beginner knowing that she had finished 2nd in the series and was racing beginner again too. heck, I've only done eight mtn bike races since July 2005, so I'm still a beginner. and I wanted to have a good season. after racing up a cat in cyclocross, I wanted the fulfillment that comes with placing well.

I've perfected the race start and I was off at the gun, first up the hill until the very top where my teammate Lesley rode up next to me and said "is it okay to pass the coach?" "of course, silly!" so Lesley takes off and Erin (my other teammate) follows her onto the single track. I think I was third wheel at this point, not completely deflated but not too happy either. at some point about mid-way through the first lap, another girl in a yellow jacket passes me so I'm now 4th wheel, but gapped from the other three. I decided it was now or never, so I hammered and caught up with the three racers riding in a line. Lesley is sitting on the leader's wheel when the girl attacks and passes some men. Lesley doesn't respond, so I say something to her but the gap gets bigger and bigger and there are three middle-aged beginner men between us and yellow-jacket girl. I decide this won't do, so I decide to make a move and pass Erin, then Lesley, and then sit on yellow-jacket girl's wheel. unbeknownst to me, I had pulled Lesley up too, but that's cool.

I sit quietly behind yellow-jacket girl, waiting to make my move. when the moment is right, I jump hard to the left, and just before I'm in her sight I hear "go, Lorri, good move!" from behind me. WTF? what happened to "speed, surprise, and separation?" as Lesley pulls up beside me, I tell her why we don't cheer when someone is attacking (she's a triathlete; they cheer). telling her this would have a crucial implication later in the race (of course, I didn't know that at the time).

we enter the last miles of the first lap with me in the lead. it's the first time in a race I've been able to yell "leader" as I was passing people -- cool! I led coming into the finish area and it was cool to hear my name announced as leader of the women's race. I hear Lesley (who weighs all of 90 pounds) pass me on the right on the big climb out of the finish area. I work hard to stay on her wheel but she gaps me a bit by the top. I'm able to catch her again but then she passes a couple of junior boys and they just sit in the middle of the track as I watch Lesley open her gap bigger and bigger. she remains in sight for most of the second lap, motivating me to push harder and harder. I sneak glances behind me and yellow jacket-girl is nowhere to be found, nor is any other woman racer.

beginning lap three, I'm still in 2nd, but feeling the effects of my low-calorie diet lately. my legs are starting to feel empty even though I've had a few hits of GU and been drinking as much as the course would allow. I catch myself slowing down and pick up the pace, but the motivation of chasing Lesley is gone. I remind myself that the rest of the field is still behind me and push as much as possible. I also remind myself that anything could happen to Lesley -- she could flat, crash, go off course, pull over to smoke a cigarette -- the race wasn't won until she crossed the line.

a mile from the finish, I glance at my computer and think to myself "I'm going to get second." half a mile from the finish, yellow-jacket girl comes flying by me on the left. I say "oh shit" and feel dejected for just an instant and then I hammer to get back on her wheel. I know that the only way to beat her is to pass her before the hairpins that will slow us both down. digging into my bag of tricks, I see a tight left turn, dive into it, and it slows her down just enough that I'm able to blow by her. I put my head down and motored for the last 200 meters, half expecting her to blow by me again before the finish line. I hear her family cheering for her and know she's not far behind. but as I approach the line, I don't see her and I know the battle for 2nd place has been won!

I wait at the finish for yellow-jacket girl and congratulate her on her race and her sly move passing me at the end. she says "I didn't realize how important the element of surprise is until I heard you tell your teammate." that's not the first time in my racing career that advice given to a teammate (within earshot of competitors) has come back to haunt me! I guess lessons are better left to the post-race discussion.

I sit down at the finish waiting for my teammate Erin to finish. Lesley is nowhere to be found. Erin comes in just a few minutes later in a solid 4th place -- in her first mountain bike race ever. Lesley then rides up and I congratulate her -- she didn't know she'd won!

It was a great day and I'm very happy with my fitness (especially since I'm primarily running and lifting right now). my technical skills were solid and my climbing is amazing! I think this was the hilliest CCCX course I've done, but my average speed was as fast as most of my flatter races last season. yeah, I still want to win one of these races, but if I have to lose to anyone, I'd rather it be a teammate!

I wore my shiny 2nd place medal home because medals are cool! I got home just in time to do a bike fit I had scheduled at 2:00 (stupid me). I was tempted to keep it on during the fit but decided that was a bit over the edge.

I don't care about prizes. but medals will remind you forever that you had a special day on the bike!

You can see the other photos of the race here -- velogirls.com photo gallery

olfactory surprise

2007-02-10T23:36:00.000-08:00

I'm racing the CCCX mtn bike race tomorrow. I can't remember the last time I was on my mtn bike. November? Sheesh! My mtn bike shoes were still muddy from something or other, so I brought them into the house to clean them off. After a good spray & brush, I stuffed them with towels and laid them out on a towel next to my bedroom heater. Yeah, it'll probably be wet at the race tomorrow, but no need to start out with wet feet.

Of course, I could've cleaned my shoes any day in the last two months. But it adds to my pre-race excitement to wait until the last possible minute!

As I'm sitting here, answering email, I hear Julie growling at something in the bedroom. Julie has a funny habit of growling at inanimate objects. She gets back on her haunches and just growls and stares. Usually at something like a drain pipe, a garbage can, or a big fallen branch. But, I've never heard her do this to anything in the house.

So, I go to see what she's growling at. As I appraoch the bedroom, I can smell a strange odor. What is it? I approach Julie and see that she's growling at my mtn bike shoes. And the stench gets stronger.

Yuck! That's watsonville fairgrounds mud (code word for horse shit). Now there's a race I'd hoped to forget. And I think my shoes are destined to smell like that race forever!

Time for new shoes.

139

2007-02-09T07:05:00.000-08:00

no fun to eat just one!

2007-02-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

criminy! at least they don't have 10,000 calories. what was I thinking? the entire tin was only 270 calories (whew). and they were darm good!

fun with photo booth

2007-02-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

I'm loving my new macbook. yeah, I dumped all my files once. and my outlook is still on my old pc. and I still can't run the computrainer. but my macbook has lots of cool applications.

take photo booth for instance. there's a little tiny camera on my macbook and when you open photo booth you can take photos. you need good light because there's no flash, but the photo quality is actually pretty good. I will admit that it weirds me out a little because there's a slight time delay between your movement and the movement on the computer. my friend says if I get Skype we can make video calls.....we'll see if that ever happens.

but, photo booth is very entertaining. there are 18 different "effects" that you can use when shooting your photos. half of them are colorizing effects (sepia, black & white, x-ray, etc). but the other half are fun-house mirror effects.

and since I have nothing better to do with my life, I had a little fun. of course, I haven't figured out where my photo editing software is yet, so I couldn't make a collage like I wanted to. oh well.

how not to endear yourself to your new coach

2007-02-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of bikes. many of them are hanging on racks in my living room. some of them are fancy. some of them are functional. all of them are nice bikes.

the other night, a new client walked in the door, focused her gaze on my Rivendell Atlantis and said "wow! that' a cool clunker!" hello?

I think her training program will include endless days of hill repeats and puke-er-vals. so there!

I got a favicon!

2007-02-01T03:35:00.000-08:00

And it makes me feel special!

What's a favicon, you ask? It's that little icon you see next to your bookmarks and in your browser bar.

All the big guys have em -- Google has the G block, Paypal has a big P, Yahoo has the red Y!, and Apple has a little apple with a bite missing. Well, now I have one too, thanks to my fabulous web designer, Alfie Estrada.

So, what's my favicon, you ask? Well just surf on over to velogirls.com and check it out for yourself.

ps -- does anyone use the term "surfing the net" anymore?

pps -- I've also got insomnia (Lauren, are you up?). Phyllis Diller is on the Tonight Show. She must be 100 years old. I remember having nightmares about her when I was a child. She was old then. She's really old now. She's doing a stand-up routine and stammering just a bit. She just mentioned that they gave her a drink backstage. She doesn't seem to be making a lot of sense and her timing is way off, but the audience is eating her up! Go, Phyllis (she just mentioned that she's 90 years old)!

poster child for women afflicted with being single

2007-01-31T10:08:00.000-08:00

That's a title I've always wanted attached to my name. Go figure!

I was interviewed by San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Chuck Nevius, recently. I get interviewed all the time, but this article has generated a bunch of attention from cycling friends, former Schwab co-workers, and some eligible bachelors, too!

The occassion was the recent release of a study that indicated that single women now comprise the majority (of women) in the United States for the first time in US history. Whoopee! I'm a majority.

The columnist was very pleasant and intelligent. We actually had a great conversation on the phone. We discussed gender dynamics (one of my favorite topics) and the economics of the bike biz (another one of my favorite topics). And the Chronicle sent a photographer out to shoot me riding (and instead used a photo of me standing in the parking lot at Buck's).

But the columnist really wanted me to say that single women are bitter and we hate men and that's why we join women's organizations (like Velo Girls). I knew that's where he was going with it. I even asked him that and he giggled. I referred him to many of my single friends. The fabulous Ms. Moon and the beautiful Teresa Callen were also quoted in the article.

I was mis-quoted a bit, but not as badly as some of the other interviews I've done over the years. You can decide for yourself by reading the article here -- Women See Less Need for Ol Ball and Chain.

But do I really want to be the "model for the new single woman?" Thanks, Chuck!

Seasonal Lust

2007-01-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

There's something about trainer workouts that get me H-O-T! I haven't really done intensity in (too long) so last night's Tri-Flow training got me all hot & bothered. I was a bit burnt out from cross and racing 17 months straight, but now I'm chomping at the bit to get back out there for the road season. yee-haw!

for the studio audience -- play along at home

2007-01-30T15:15:00.000-08:00

I've been using iTunes for our indoor training workouts and race warm-ups for a few years. It's so much easier than mixing and burning CDs as I used to do for spinning classes. And now, I can publish my classes to iTunes -- how cool is that? So now, you can download and play along at home. Tonight's episode, a little 20 minute TT for your listening pleasure.

life is better when you're skinny

2007-01-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

I hate to write this, but we all know it's true. I've been on all sides of the coin here, so I can speak to various points of view.

Life is easier for thin people.

It's easier to climb hills.

It's easier to run.

It's easier to find clothes.

It's easier to flirt.

It's easier to smile and laugh (since you're happy).

It's easier to wear clothes (both finding them and the comfort of them).

It's easier to get a job (many studies show we would hire the most attractive candidate if all other factors are equal).

It's easier to do your job -- folks treat you with more respect (especially in the sports & fitness industry).

It's easier to have sex (on so many levels I won't even list them here).

It's easier to drive, fly, or go to the theatre (you fit in the seat better).

It's easier to have a treat (you don't feel like folks are judging you if you have a latte or an ice cream since you're not fat).

It's easier to go to the gym, pool, tennis court, etc (since folks are judgemental about fat people who exercise).

It's easier to dine out or shop (you get better service).

It's easier to look in the mirror or at photos of yourself.

It's a shame we live in a society where judgement is so freely passed on folks based solely on their appearance. We assume overweight folks are all lazy or overeaters. Of course, the reality is that there are many physiological reasons for folks to be over-weight. I never understood this until I suddenly found myself fat. I hope I never forget.

reason #348 why I love california

2007-01-29T10:52:00.000-08:00

it's january. I'm sitting on my sunny patio in 60-something degree weather, wearing a tanktop & shorts and answering email.

I love my job!

the man of my dreams

2007-01-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

If you're a single girl and a homeowner, you know who I'm talking about. As independent as we think we are, there are still some things better left to professionals. And in CA, that means finding a good handyman.

I've met a bunch of crazy, drug-addicted, alcoholic, incompetent handymen in my day. There was Paul, the man who would show up two hours late and then ask me to give him lunch. And there was Norm, the man who almost electrocuted me when he installed my outdoor lightening. And there was Thomas, who used a hudson sprayer to paint my ceiling.....while all my furiture was still in the house. And then there was the nutsy contractor (I've blacked out his name) who did my floors and crown moulding.

Needless to say, I'd basically given up on finding Mr. Right.

You may recall my flourescent light quandry a couple of months ago. Long story short, the fixture with a dead, now obsolete ballast, was still sitting on my kitchen counter until this morning. About a month ago, I located the ballast at Royal Electric, but didn't have the opportunity to pick one up until Wednesday.

So, Wednesday I happened into Royal and was pursuaded that changing the entire fixture was the more logical solution.

And that's when I saw him! At the other end of the counter was a charming, clean, sober handyman. Our eyes met briefly and I felt my heart flutter. My hands began sweating. And I knew he was the one! As we chatted, he told me his name was Tom and he was the handyman-of-choice for my condo complex (nice of the complex management to tell us). We exchanged numbers and the rest is history!

I now have lights under my kitchen cabinets again! And we've scheduled time to work on all the other little projects on my to-do list and a few he identified as problems that I didn't even know about. And he's cheap! And nice! And he smells good, too! He's a little chatty while I'm trying to work and he didn't put the seat down, but at my age I can't be too picky, right?

So, girls, if you need Mr. Right in your life, give Tom a ring. He truly is amazing!

can somebody tell me

2007-01-25T20:45:00.000-08:00

why does asparagus make your pee smell funny?