Not April Fool's

I just got engaged last night.


Don't know if I will be able to do my usual plethora of Friday blogging...

wow...

I'm so lucky.

Countersteering

After some ridiculous huffing and puffing on my part, I did look up the physics of it.

Now I am even more confused.
Something about turning one way to go the other?

~

But, what if you go off course completely?
How do you get back on track?


By looking through the turns and never losing sight of whats important.

Pupus please

Mmmm....Hula's

poke and da big kahuna and sweet potato fries and a pink bimini....

Dickiedos and Dorks

Our free web statistics thingie lists all of the searches that land people on your site. I don't normally pay attention to this list, because...well who cares. But today, while taking a brain break from this stupid bank recon, I looked at the list.

And it cracked me up.

People will type anything in that search bar:


Last 20 Searchengine Queries
15 Mar, Wed, 19:56:46
Google: craigslist: yurt
18 Mar, Sat, 05:34:50
Google: dork riders
18 Mar, Sat, 17:11:47
Yahoo: nicole freedman shaklee
19 Mar, Sun, 01:10:15
Google: wiggly headband
19 Mar, Sun, 13:37:53
Google: ornopa
20 Mar, Mon, 10:09:56
Google: funny evite responses
20 Mar, Mon, 13:28:14
MSN Search: babble gallery
20 Mar, Mon, 19:44:14
Google: steve smith drunkingham
20 Mar, Mon, 22:56:25
Google: ornopa
22 Mar, Wed, 11:05:43
Google: velo bella pocket money
22 Mar, Wed, 14:47:13
Google: cycling hotties
24 Mar, Fri, 22:30:50
Google: olaf vanderhoot
25 Mar, Sat, 13:38:57
Google: nicknameless
27 Mar, Mon, 11:03:40
Google: Dickiedo Belly
27 Mar, Mon, 11:22:34
Google: bella schoolgirl
28 Mar, Tue, 04:25:06
Google: Nicole "Snerf" Freedman
28 Mar, Tue, 15:07:12
MSN Search: bella
28 Mar, Tue, 17:00:26
Google: "ceo of tmobile"
28 Mar, Tue, 19:08:36
MSN Search: Jennifer Tilley naked
29 Mar, Wed, 13:10:58
Google: ricky carmichael motorhome driver

I'm not sure how I feel about us coming up on a seach for Dickiedoos, dork riders, and wiggly headbands.

And the yurt is not for sale.

And Jen is wearing clothes.

The Cat's Meow

This race has always scared me.

Not sure why.

It could be the hill.

It could be the crappy pavement and a sketchy descent.

But quite honestly, its more likely the large crowds witnessing your personal agony.

Last year I watched a dear teammate who had demons as big as mine, conquer them at this race.

Because every once in a while you have to do something that scares you.

Purrrrrr.....

And I have a hangnail

Stop the presses, Boonen has a cold

If I ignored your email tonight

You can blame it on the blog explosion we've had recently. It seems there is too much fun stuff out there for me to read and procrastinate with.

I'll try again tomorrow night.

gnite

The big engine that couldn't

You ever watch those big 18 wheelers chug a lug up I-80, with diesel smoke spewing out the pipe and the rig's torquey engine fighting it the whole way?

That was me at Orosi this past weekend.

oy.

Wrench in the plans

backorders suck.

Just when you thought all the pieces were in place...

Now I won't get to blog this morning...

Weekend what up

So this weekend we are headed back to the Central Valley once more.

Can't get enough of those damn bloomin almond trees n bees.

We're racing Orosi tomorrow. I thought the Central Valley was all about the rolling flat races? 60 miles and 4,000 feet of icky for this race. A training ride for me. Gonna do the junk in the trunk ride with some of the Fresno Bellas. And maybe a Bunny Bella, even though she doesn't really have any junk in her trunk.

Hanford's on tap for Sunday. Shhh....don't tell anyone but there is a $1,500 prize list for the women at this race. That almost beats a misspelled Tshirt.

Decision maker

I love my mountain bikes so much that I haven't bought a new one in over 5 years.

But those new Konas were too much to resist.

Especially the squishy ones.

And after riding Sea Otter on the ol hardtail last night...I am thinking the new Kona FS is more the ticket. And what do you know...it just arrived in the mail today.

But now I gotta build it real quick like.

And there are all these hoopty options.

Disk or Vbrake?
Mechanical or hydraulic?
Tubeless or tubed?
Riser or flat?
Integrated or splined?
Carbon or aluminum(cranks)?
Peanut Butter or Caramel(kisses)?

One mean otter

Owch.

Just did ONE lap of the new Sea Otter course.

Mama.

The first part with the new singletrack section was creepy cool fun. The trail dipped and dived around a surreal section of burned craggly trees and eroded marscape cliffs.

But that was all just a tease.

The rest of the course is just heinous.

Going UP all the fun DOWN trails. Going down a fireroad just to make a Uturn and climb back up a paved road? Hello?

Still need to decide if I really want to do this. Nothing worse than crossing a finish line that was packed up an hour earlier.

On the other hand, it really is beautiful out there right now.

Ein Prost!

This morning, I woke up and realized that it was already Thursday.
And that tomorrow we would start the weekend action again.
Already.

The week just flew by.
They have been flying by like that lately.

Life does that when you are having fun.

And then I remembered my mom. She's a little freaked out because she will be turning 70 next month.

She's freaking out because she says the last 10 years just flew by. And I'm certain she's thinking that the next 10 will go even faster. And she can do the math.

So can I.

~



Prost! to living life so that it flies by, but remembering to savor and delight in every moment.

Nothing in particular

I haven't received my umbrella yet, so if its raining where you are right now, don't blame me.
~
I had a blast racing in the wind at Zamora. It was one of the hardest short races I have ever done. But I had fun. I have my silly great teammates and oV to thank for that one. Damn him if he hasn't made me like the wind. I still don't consider it an essential nutrient though, cuz thats just freaky.

Lula wrote a real fun race report on Zamora, I hope to post it later.

I didn't have as much fun at Landpark. I was just not feeling that race at all. Nor was I digesting the sundriedpestoeggs.
~
My hotmail account is down right now. That sucks.
~
Suzy can cook. She is my salad dressing hero. She is my hero in other ways too.
~
Speaking of heroes, I watched The Incredibles last night. It was cute. But how come the guys get strength and speed as their powers, while the ladies have to be flexible and disappear? If I were a superhero I would want whatever powers Barbarella had. I'm not sure what they even were, but I want those.
~
I love the bunny sprint. I love it almost as much as bunny fu, but nothing will top bunny fu.
~
There's nothing going on in Cyclingnews right now. Well, there's the Commonwealth Games, but I am just not getting into that so much this time around. I keep checking out the track pics to see if there is something hunky there to share with Heather, but so far no luck. I did see that Sarah Ulmer and Lynn Bessette had to pull out of competition so thats a bummer for them.

The news, when there's no racing, is so not news. Its usually euro-melodrama. You know, so and so may not race because he has a digestive ailment. Or so and so said this and that about their team manager. Or so and so are going to race this and that. Or the worst offender of the non news news: so and so's training plan is on target. Oh. wow. Thanks for that update. Now where's the pics of the trackbeef?
~
It looks like oV has found a cool job. Considering all he did to pick up and move here, that makes me happy. He's going to be a hippy soon. Don't know if that makes me all that happy. I guess its okay, as long as he keeps shaving his legs.
~
I wonder if I can find any pics to save this lame rambling post?

Sun manifester

I'm going to buy this today. Because, with my luck, as soon as I finally give in and throw down cash to buy a big ol umbrella, it will stop raining.

You can thank me later.

Did someone spike my decaf?

What the....?

Okay.

Just another day on the team I guess.

Okay...I am outta here. Up this weekend is the Landmine Crit and Somemorea road race.
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Gimme some gawddamn Coffee NOW

I switched today.

I'm on my 5th cup of decaf. I don't normally drink five cups of coffee at work, but I guess I am trying to satiate something that just ain't getting satiated? The last time I quit I went through a detox of sorts. I landed quite unexpectedly (and quite unrleated to coffee) in the hospital and since I had other things on my mind, I forgot all about my caffeine addiction.....That is until the headache from hell that hit me on day 2 or 3.

I woke up with a migraine to end all migraines. I pushed that little nurse call button so hard I thought I was going to break it. Staff ran in with cardio equipment (or something) because I scared them. The NP asked me what was wrong. "The pain...the pain..." I muttered.

They gave me a vicodin. For my caffeine headache.
and one more the next day.

And then I was detoxed.

And I stayed that way until I am not sure when. But sometime between then and now, I got addicted again.

I decided the other night to break the habit.

At least during the week.

Thank god tomorrow's Saturday.

More Glamour Shots by Deb

Dayamm. Jen Tilley is hot. Work it girl.



Nicole is funny. I almost wish I was a fast racer type so I could hang out with her at host housing across the country and laugh and stuff.

Kele is funny too. That krinkly tongue thing is freaking me out.

Cuter than puppies and butterflies!

NSync stopped by to visit

Kisses and smooches to Chad at G/A Communications and the Safeway/GA Communications Cycling Team. Extra schmoopy smooches to Pasco because he likes them so much.

The Ides of March

27 MPH on the first leg of an out and back?
Weeeeeeeeeeee

Turn around and head back to the office?
Help meeeeeeee

Nooooooooo

Deductive Seasoning

I am supposed to drink more water.

Chocolate makes me thirsty.

Therefore I should eat more chocolate.

Nerdy Cool

I swear...I need to bring my camera into work so I can snap a photo of the IT guys going to lunch. Sometimes they all go together and they hop into one dude's big white 4 door sedan. And when that happens, I can't help but hear "Sabotage" playing in the background.

Even the techie geeks are cool at Fox Racing.

Birmp..bi...bi...birmp...bi...bi...birmp..a..birmp.

Kissy Kissy

These are going to be the death of me. Damn little demons are like crack. Gimme more.

Why I like Zabel

Reason #3

How They Roll

Some quick cycling Rock Star action from the weekend....

Mario was spotted at TA (not with a &)..The man is just all style, no matter what the weather. Smooooth. I'm just hoping thats fake fur or else oV might get kicked out of the commune just for reading this.

Floyd is just killing me with his Inland Empire, Kid Rock, style. If they ever make a movie about him, I hope Steve Zahn gets the lead.

Lance socks + Sheryl = Livewrong

There are some things that are just wrong...like Lance socks. Good is good and bad is bad and in Sheryl Crow's words those Lance socks gotta be the nerdiest she's ever had. I think I know why they broke up. Rock and roll + Lance socks do not equal forever. Its too late for me I signed the contract without the deal breaker clause. Girls don't forget to write in your deal breakers. He does have a cute little bum though.

Wild woman

I have decided, that although I can splash and play in cold wet, slippery sloppery, mud, I am far too delicate to race in this drizzle.

I was looking forward to the Monterey Circuit race too. But, those are my ol stompin chompin grounds and I know how epic it can be out there when the rain dampens your spirits and the wind howls through your bones. It makes riding on those chip sealed roads an exercise of wills. And I am just far too delicate for that.

I think I'll clean out the fridge instead.

Snow Day

Okay...first a warning. Those of you who live in snowy cold parts of the world will probably laugh at this. But for us sea level coastal California wussies, snow is an oddity. Its something we travel a few hours to go visit and pay to play in. Its not something that drizzles down and invades our lives. All cold like.

And in all the years I have lived here (about 30) I've never seen this. So pardon me when I get all weird about it right now.

So, after a spooky night of thunder that was apparently striking Aptos, but it seemed like it was in my backyard, we woke up to this:

oooh. Cool.
That shit is cold and crunchy.

The gnomes were happy

We decided to drive over to the beach to see if it actually snowed there as well. And it did. Sort of. The snow was more like compacted giant hail. But it looked very winter wonderlandish. On the way back from the beach, we saw some surfers riding bikes, with their boards on the side, and snow in the background. Surreal. (no picture of that because we are too slow, but here is a pic of the snowhail on the beach)

Michael tried to rescue this funky bug thing from the snow. The phone number is the PG&E outtage info hotline. They told us our power would be back sometime between 2-4pm...I was hoping they meant today. (Since I am typing this, you can assume all is well, but I have no idea how the bug fared)

We had planned on doing chores today...but without power what are you gonna do? We did the only thing you can do. We loaded the mountain bikes and went for a slushilicious ride in the snow at Demo. The only real snow we saw was near the top of Santa Rosalia. It was more like a mudilicious ride. It was crispycold, muddy, slippery, treacherous Fun. With a capital F.

(No picture of the ride...you have to paint one with your imagination)

When we returned, the power had been restored and all the snow had melted. Its as if Snow Day never really happened at all.

Diversions

This pic from Tirreno-Adriatico sort of reminds me of the Cat 3 race last weekend at McClane.

Sad though....because the crash took out race leader Paolo Bettini who was on fire with his cagey spunky sprinting form. No one ever wants to see the race leader writhing on the ground like this. Ouchie.

And, has anyone noticed that Prettyboy Floyd is leading Paris Nice? Whats up with the backwards ballcap thing on the podium?

Urgh

I'm feeling it Marvin. I'm feeling it.




Why does Marvin have a broom sticking out of his helmet?

Can't I just work on Bella stuff?

Sometimes I feel like I am working in the dark ages. And it ain't quaint. Its musty and its annoying.

I am like the one who has time traveled from the future. Its sort of like when Marty McFly played metal on his guitar at the dance in Back to the Future. All the other kids just looked at him like he was crazy.

I am playing some wicked heavy metal in this office and its freaking people out.

Damn Fasdow. He's testifying right now. They were all greedy bastards. And the congressional scramble fallout has done nothing to protect shareholders. Its only made things even more complicated and expensive and added to a world that even fewer understand. And added to my job security too I suppose. yay.



I'd much rather be working on bella stuff right now.

Or writing a blog.

Or making soup.

Breakfast Burrito

Damn...I hate it when I am not completely in the moment and aware.

Of course, I only realize it after the fact, when its too late and the opportunity is gone and I did not take that moment for all it was worth.

And then I sit at my desk and do the woulda, coulda, shoulda game with myself.

So next time the opportunity is there, and these days it means it will be soon, watch out. Because I am taking full stock.

Texas Tornados

Found this photo on Kiersten's dad's blog.

There are like about 17 reasons why I love this picture.

Skillz

Today, I dropped Michael on a climb
and then dusted him on the descent.

But I waited for him at the bottom.

Sprintalicious

So my jazzercizerific motivator made the trip over the hill to work on sprints with me today.

I can proudly say that after doing these little sprint workouts religiously and vigorously for the past two months, that I have been.....
....doing them wrong the whole time.

oy.

Leg speed is not my forte. Its not. Ask anyone who has seen me run. Like a gawdamn grizzly bear. All ass and lumbering thighs. Effective, but not pretty. Outright ugly even. And, here's the problem...too short.
Back to the drawing board for me.

So today I didn't put it in the last possible grinder push push gear and used leg speed instead. Silly bike just flip flopped under me all lost and confused. My feet kept moving round and round and were begging me to give them some torque so they could stop spinning all wonky like. Those last 8 seconds were sheer clutzball-out-of-breath hell. I can't wait to freak everyone out with my screwball sprint at some upcoming race.

This silly bike racing sure is funstuff.

Bagel Bunny

Something about this pic is cracking me up right now. Maybe I am just tired and goofy from my jazzercizerific workout though. And tomorrow I will look at it, and it will just be a picture of Soni holding a bagel.

Inspiration

Ahhh...so good racing with you again.

Making Lemonade

After sitting and watching and waiting for the skies to clear long enough to go ride...I've given up hope of a daytime ride.

Normally the thought of a trainer ride would dampen my spirit more than the hail that thundered down at lunch. And I would drive home thinking of all kinds of excuses to talk myself out of it. Then, grudgingly, trudgingly, I would set up the trainer and slam the workout in.

But I just realized that my jazzercizerific motivator is here now.

Just a scant 6.2 miles away.

I just hope he doesn't bring his trainer CD of tunes to puke by.

Window Watcher

This raining and stopping every 30 minutes thing is just plain annoying.

Boing boing

Practice these

I can smell the dirt from here

I hope this rain eases up so I can get a little mountain biking in this weekend.

So needed right now.

Stupid Blogger

It just garbled and ate my race report and weekend what what.

Don't know if I feel like recreating it.

urgh

Here's the condensed version
race, wind, crash, teammates, food.

You like your women fast?

I feel like rambling.

I just realized that this weekend is the NRC opener at McClane.

The NRC, stands for National Racing Calendar. It should stand for Numerous Races Calendar. There's a lot of em. Its expensive for a broke little team like ours to compete in this series thingie. So this year, we just picked the best and funnest of the bunch. And of course, the California season openers are all on the schedule.

Racing for Velo Bella-Kona this weekend will be:
Jennifer "JJ" Chapman
Nicole "Snerf" Freedman
Jennifer "Why aren't I JJ?" Joynt
Kele "Keepthatflairawayfromme" Murdin
Hiroko "Gimme Some" Shimada
Crazy Jane Ziegler
Monica "Fastmama" Neilson
Andi "Attack first ask later"Smith

We are fortunate to have one of the best bunch gallopers in the country on our team. And no, she did not cause this crash. Unless it was with evil wheel hopping thought waves or something.

Can't wait to watch the team work together on their first race. They will be coming straight from training camp to the event. I wonder if they got pedicures? I hope to see some flair on even the flair shy Nicole and Kele. Even flair-lite will do. That shit works you know. Just ask the bag boys.
It looks like some of the fastest finishers won't be there. I don't see Tina Mayonaisse or Ina Choochooburg on the list. They are probably both still down under competing in the World Cups.

Ina.
She's so damn burly.
But knows how to have fun.
I dig her.

She won a stage in that Aussie stage race and she won the first World Cup. Good to see. She spent many a year as a leadout rider for Petrol Rossner and then she stuck to mostly domestic racing. So its nice to see her make her mark on the international scene. There's another World Cup this weekend in New Zealand. Maybe the cheeky cute Sarah can take it in front of her home crowd. I'd like that.

So my pick for the winner at McClane is, of course, Snerf and for the NZ World Cup its Sarah. And my pick for the 3/4 race is super secret. We'll be back Monday to see how it all went.

Happy Weekend.

P.S.
Nicole, this ol Shaklee picture is killing me

P.P.S.
This picture over there =>
is for my clicking pleasure only and has no relevance to the above so feel free to ignore.

P.P.P.S.
Its all about the Fat Cat this weekend.

P.P.P.P.S.
Ohmigawd...I almost totally forgot.
My roommates are complete pervs.
They are.
I came home last night to find them both watching (on tv) some big beardy naked guy with a dickiedo dancing some weird belly dance thing. He was totally naked, with his dingaling just a flopping around.

P.P.P.P.P.S.
Has anyone seen Shorty lately?

Immaturity continues

I was late to work today because I stopped and played in the snow.

And now that I am sitting here in my office overlooking the very temporarily snow covered hills in the distance, I am pretty damn glad I did.

Damn

My work desk water bottle was starting to smell a little funky. So I soaked it in dish soap all night.

Bad idea.

Now, no matter how many times I rinse that thing out, it still tastes like I am taking a big bite out of a bar of Irish Spring.

Nasty.

Blech, phooey.

Glitterati

How mature

Getting up for work, when you would really rather just sleep, sucks.
I was never meant to be a grown up. How I ever got to be in charge of anything is beyond me.

damn responsibilities
damn them all

and pass me my pillow instead.

Just wake me up in time so that I can go riding.

Welcome to the Chicken Farm

Life is such a fun adventure. One silly suprise after another. Drink it up.

More fun with Craigslist

As annoying as looking for a rental share in Santa Cruz is, at least it is entertaining. Here's today's top picks:

"I have large home in Rio Del Mar (Santa Cruz) and looking for a nice female who would rather have fun than pay rent! Yep. I own several businesses and don't have time to look for someone so thought this is the best method! I want someone to look out for the place and be there when I am. Simple enough- "

"Undouche house looks for non douche (santa cruz)
Hey! If you want to live in a chill house with people that like pirates and beer than look no further! The room is dorm size, we have plenty of parking and 7 glorious acres to chill on. We also have a fenced garden in need of some TLC. We are responsible people who like to have fun, so the occasional party is welcomed . we have washer/dryer. what else could you want? stop by and find out/ say hi. Douches need not apply! "

"Oh no pets..but we have a fish named Blah"

"Two good-looking young males (24) need a third roommate. Two current roommates are clean. Preferred roommate: decent+ looking female who likes to go out, is clean, has lots of hot friends, and has a higher than normal intellect"

"I play music almost everyday. I play the upright and electric bass and am willing to play round your schedule so it's no big bother to you. Strangely I've gotten some inquiries about the room from 3 seperate punky bassists. Sadly Im thinking that one more bassist under this roof and the house would crumble down to the ground. All other instruments welcome!"

"We are into conscious manifestation and the support and cocreation of all of our hearts desires"

"Chillers are welcome"

"Dogs, cats, and other "free ranging" pets are not acceptable, but if you've got some really interesting species attached to you, we can talk. "

"No maniacs"