I'm back in the heart of Texas, this time for an oil spill conference in San Antonio. Goals are some seminars on aerial observations of spills, lessons-learned from last year's fantabulous San Francisco spill, buying a belt buckle the size of Texas, and finding the basement of the Alamo. I will not come home with anything less than 100% success.
Jane, Heather and I hit the RESET button on our Bike Luv computers today, hitting the road on our own in an attempt to remember what it is we love about riding. This had been a horrid week for all of us, making us contemplate why we should keep going forward when all the fun had been stripped like cheap Krylon paint on a beater bike. Thankfully an easy, sunny trip around Mercer Island, blanketed by beautiful rainbow-colored trees and lots of laughter and no stress was the perfect way to find that luv again. By the time we reached the I-90 portal on the way back we were smiling and recharged, our confidence back, cloaked again in the fabric of what makes our team special.
The perfect ending to our ride was having Lane ride up on his Cervelo as we were talking at the portal. I happened to look down at his fork and saw the word, "FUNDA" in small white block letters. I started laughing and pointing at his FUNDA fork, then had to explain its relevance for my amusement. It was the most I'd laughed all week and they agreed that everything we got out of today made it totally funda.
This is what goes through my head when I think of people who can't have fun on team rides at the end of a long, exhausting season and at the onset of an even longer winter training season:
My cycling career has been carefully groomed by Pee Wee's Big Adventure over the past 20 years. If there's one characteristic I've adopted the most it's that the person who's having the most fun wins! There is so much more to bikes and racing than being the fastest or who trained the most. Let's lighten up, kids. It will be a long winter of much wet and cold discontent so let's all put our training differences aside and be a team that has some fun together, eh? Put PWBA in your Netflix cue and chill the fuck out.
A friend of mine familiar with my disdain for the broccoli sent me this when I said that animals are too smart to eat such an evil, vile plant. Obviously this little guy will grow up to be an EEEEEVIL hamster (but with cute little feet!!).
I'm really going to be sorry to see her go in a few weeks. It's not often you get such easy fodder.
My head is still reeling from a night out with my favorite bike hooligans. Scotty, who left us 2 years ago to return to his homeland in the Far North, came back for a night of beach wrestling, bonfires, toxic martinis, broken noobies, and of course lots of bikes.
Well that hurt like hell.
Searing lungs - check
Inability to take another step up a "runup" - check
Flailing over barriers - check
Blackberry leaves sticking out of shoe 2 out of 3 laps - check
Screaming at girl who fell for no reason at 3mph on the pavement as I rode over her rear wheel and toppled over and lost at least 5 places on last lap - check
Lose sprint at the finish with nothing left in the tank - check
Uncontrollable drooling when I finally stopped - check
So close to puking, but not quite getting there - check
Did I mention searing lung pain - check check
Many lessons learned at South Seatac today. Biggest one is to not assume at the start that you are behind people who will have a good start. You're in control of your own race destiny. Hoards of women surged around me as I tried to get around those I started behind. I spent most of the race passing nincompoops with no bike handling skills and desperately trying to catch those in front of me who did. I still have crap in my lungs and was in crazy amount of pain breathing. Gotta get that figured out.
Had a great time seeing Ali (3rd!!) and Nancy do so well and hearing that Kelly finished unscathed. Our team had a great turnout and as usual, Eddie was a blessing on the stupid runup screaming "JILLYBEEEEEE!!!!!!" from across the infield. I was a little disappointed finishing midpack, but will cut myself a little slack for being on the bench so long and encountering so many wrecks in front of me. It only makes you determined to do so much better the next time!
Finally picked up my new Ridley Crosswind this week!
She's my first foray into the modern world of aluminum and carbon fiber (not to mention Shimano shifter/brake levers....what are these? Joysticks?). The last time I rode an aluminum frame was around 1996 on my old 1993 Cannondale (which replaced my 1987 Cannondale). Dang these frames have come a long way! Took her for her maiden voyage on Tuesday up the B-G and even then I could tell that this was one mighty fine bike. Bumps? Gravel? Dirt? Like buttah!! Seems like those carbon fiber forks live up to their reputation and aluminum isn't just the thick, beer can tubing of years past. So THIS is why people ride fancy modern bikes!!
Next we went to the Wed night CX training (holy hell I'm outta shape!) and she handled and rode like a dream - no jackhammering like my other steel frames that left my hands numb. And gears! Wow, when did those get invented? They're GREAT! Too bad I'm still so winded from 3 weeks off the bike and crud in my lungs to give this bike a true run for its money. For now it will be lots of play time and $20 training rides on Sunday mornings. And rides on the dirt during my commute! Grrrrrr.....outta my way joggers!
Just got a phone call that my music is too loud and the new person downstairs can't fall asleep. Sweet! The new speakers I got yesterday for my computer are officially deemed a success! What good is a subwoofer if you can't feel the base? What did I bother the poor lass with?
Britney Spears, The Bubblegum Pop Remixes
Hell YEAHZZ!!
Finally back from 2 1/2 weeks of working in Houston on Hurricane Ike messes. Funny that an AP article came out today on what we were doing and they even quote and have pics of the friends that I worked with:
Having a hard time getting back on the bike. I'm completely wiped out and EBV is ramping up. I've averaged 12 hrs of sleep the past 3 nights I've been back, a far cry from the 3-5 hrs I was getting in Texas. All my momo-tivation is towards laying on the couch and napping. Commuting and racing seem so....distant and haaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrd....
