Bella Babble

Bye Bye Babble

2008-07-21T12:24:00.001-07:00

Forest for the Trees, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Bella Babble is going bye bye!

My new website is here
http://sabinedukes.com/blog/

and the new bella site is here
http://69.93.229.214/~velobell/blog/

(both urls will change once we get out of beta, but we'll set up redirect thingies)

See you at our new digs!

Almost done

2008-06-28T06:39:00.001-07:00

Fast Freddie, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes .

Thank goodness I am almost done. I've just about saturated my brain with css and php and wtf. And I'm getting antsy for some picture making.

Where Have I Been?

2008-06-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

I've been here, in WordPress hell. I sure wish I knew what I was doing.

So stay tuned for the official unveiling, and then maybe I can get back to picture making and stuff.

I also realized that when we move the site over and abandon our goofy disparate blogger sites, that this babble page will be sort of stranded and outdated. So that probably means a new platform for this site too.

In the meantime, I raced the AVC last night. At first I was not going to because its AVC and thats for real racers. But one of our bellas came in from Portland to race it and so I just had to give it a go.

I am so glad I did because I cannot tell you how awesome it was to be racing on our local track with soooo many strong women. I was thrilled and honored.

And then I drank lots of the free wine.

Vernon

2008-06-12T10:11:00.001-07:00

Philadelphia, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

This is Vernon. Or at least thats what his Staples name badge read.

Vernon was kicking back at Love Park, when quite suddenly a bunch of cyclists, tv cameras, photographers, and local somebodys invaded the corner of the park he was kicking back at.

People were running around taking pictures and doing the rah rah thing and going back and forth and stepping over his feet and standing right in front of him. And then Ina spoke and Freddie talked, and kittens giggled, and a band played.

Vernon looked pretty irritated by it all. Curious, but irritated. Who were these people that just came in all loud and colorful and messing up a proper Staples lunch break?

And then, just as suddenly as they arrived, the cacophony of cyclists and the media left. All was quiet. And Vernon was still there.

I can totally relate to Vernon.

This Old House

2008-06-03T17:20:00.001-07:00

My Barn, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I got my car insurance renewal paperwork in the mail the other day, and it said I qualify for a new discount because I have 25 years of driving experience.

25 years?

I flipped the letter around to make certain it really was addressed to me.

Then I got on the 10key just to be extra sure.

41-25 = 16

I am too young to have 25 years experience doing anything. I'm not even really an adult yet.

I am not usually one to be hung up on age, and mostly its not something I think about. And 41 really is still young.

But sometimes I am reminded in ways I'd rather not be reminded. Like the other day I went to get my eyebrows waxed. And I am like most of you bike racer types, getting my eyebrows waxed is not high on the priority list and its probably been a few years since the last one.

So I am laying on the table and the estetician is putting the wax on (this is the part before the part that hurts). I notice that she is also putting the wax waaaay up on my forehead. Not just my brow, but my forehead. Maybe she's thorough, I think. Or maybe....maybe I have brows on my forehead.

I asked myself out loud "since when did my eyebrows start growing out of my forehead?" And the estetician sweetly responds that its normal for that to happen as we age.

So there's that. Brittle bones and eyebrows on our foreheads.

God Damn DoGooders

2008-05-30T11:31:00.001-07:00

Midnight Walk, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

The nice thing about emergency situations, is that you get to see a lot of acts of kindness.

There sure are some amazingingly kind people.

The people who run the Corralitos Community Church came down as soon as the evacuation orders went out and opened their doors so that people had a place to go, and bathrooms and they made sandwiches and passed out water to everyone.

The folks from Gayles Bakery came by and dropped off a bunch of food.

Neighbors helped each other with rescuing pets and arranging lodging and finding missing family members.

And, this was all hours before Red Cross showed up.

After that, I witnessed people coming into Corralitos and dropping off fresh baked goods and offering their homes.

I was so touched by all of the acts of kindness that I was seeing, that I got all verklempt and I wanted to be a dogooder too. I was all weepy eyed and touched and I was probably PMSing, but I didn't care. At that moment, I wanted to be good too.

So, as I snuck back into my house by cutting into the fire caravan, I was thinking of ways to be good. I looked back at the fireman I had just cut off and decided I wanted to thank them. I decided to make a big sign and put it up by the mailbox.

So, I got home and found an old road barrier sign thingie that I stole for cyclocross, and got some pens that I borrowed and never returned to Laura and thought about the sign.

Then I checked email, and grabbed some clean socks and sportsbras (I was NOT wearing my mom's socks and underwear thankyouverymuch) and drank a beer, and cursed the trees that were close to my house, and watered the stupid apple tree that won't grow and hopped in the car and left.

I forgot all about the sign. So much for my pledge to be a dogooder. I didn't even last 30 minutes as a dogooder.

I was feeling like a dogooder failure, until Monday night. I got the fun chance to help teach beginners (which seems silly since I am still a beginner myself) on how to ride at the track. People kept thanking us for being there, but really it was me who should have been doing the thanking. Nothing like feeling helpful to help you when you are feeling helpless.

Turns out, all my neighbors made signs thanking the firefighters. There are signs all over our street and on our little mailbox corner, there are four signs alone. Not as cute as I would have made with my stolen sign and pens, but cute enough.

Home

2008-05-27T13:36:00.001-07:00

Evening in the Apple Orchard, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I get to go home today!

Home.

On Thursday, after evacuating out the kitties, I spent some time just hanging around the Corralitos "center". Most of the residents were there. I had someplace to go, as did most others there, but we all just hung around near town instead.

And each time I came back to my neighborhood during the evacuation I did the same thing. Just sort of stood around town. I wasn't alone in this on those days either.

And, while I was worried about the fire, mostly I was distressed that I could not go home. My home.

There is nothing material in my home that I am so fond of that I would be devastated to lose. I'd be bummed to lose any bikes, but even that, with the right insurance, is just an inconvenience. Yes, if my home had burned down it would have been a HUGE inconvenience, but thats all it would have been.

What would have bothered me more, would be not being able to go home.

I was talking to this woman who was also loitering around Corralitos. She said, "I don't mean to be cavalier, but I don't worry about my house burning down. I would gladly hand over my house and all my possessions to have my two children who are in Iraq returned home safely. I would give up my house, to have them home".

Thanks everyone for all the concern. I really am lucky. And not because the fire missed my house, but because I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

It meant everything to me to have my friends calling and offering room in their homes, or space in their trucks, or just a shoulder to lean against. That reminder of how fortunate I am was a shot in the arm as much as a kick in the pants. I love you guys.

2 Cats and a Dawg

2008-05-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

Thats all I had time to grab.

Left for work this morning and thought it was just super foggy. Started driving up Hecker Pass and saw the full fire and just about flipped.

Uh...thats over my house.

I foolishly went to work, then turned right back around and came home. By the time I got back to Eureka Canyon, they were not letting any more cars up the road.

"Downtown" Corralitos was mayhem. Traffic jam, camera crews, police barricades and a stream of cars coming down the mountain.

All I could think about was my little Kuku and the husky Pupu. So I took the bike out of my car and rode it up to my house. I just hopped on, no shoes, no helmet. I pedaled up a very smoky and windy Eureka Canyon in my work clothes and Danskos. Cars going in the other direction yelled "Where are you going?"

I'm going to get my cats.

Luckily two of my neighbors were still home. One was leaving in 5 minutes and one was staying until he saw burning embers. I don't need to see burning embers, so I had five minutes to pack. I grabbed my cats and stuffed an overnight bag with bike clothes (figured I could get regular clothes anywhere) and then had about 1 minute to decide on which bike to bring (My neightbor had one spot on his rack open).

1 Minute to choose between a bikelifetime of bikes?

Luckily, the Bonny is out on loan, so she is safe.

And Michael's has one or two in his car.

That left all of my Steelmen, my track bike, my xc bike, my Kona road bike, some other bikes I couldn't quite identify and my Dawg.

My Dawg was the bike in the car and the one I rode up to get the kitties. We sorta bonded in the smoke. He got me here safely and I just couldn't leave him behind. So, I chose the Dawg.

So, that pic there is all I was able to take with me (except the neighbor, he's not mine). And except for the fact that I smell like a bbq, I'm feeling okay.

But don't laugh if you see Michael and I in my mom and Theo's clothes.

Distractions

2008-05-21T10:36:00.001-07:00

Watching, originally uploaded by Garrett Lau.

Sometime during Kern (I can't remember exactly when because all off bike time sort of ran together into one big blur of sleep, ice water and potato chips), Erika asked me if I were going to the track on Tuesday.

I thought she was mad.

NOOOO! I said all emphatically.

So, last night I went to the track. It was points race night. I love points race night. I also had my wee gear on because of the Kern legs. I also knew that I could not do my usual attack attack attack with my Kern legs. So I sat in and sprinted. Something I never do because I suck at it. And it was fun.

I never won any sprints or anything, but I picked up point crumbs here and there. So that was nice.

But I think I mainly went because thats what I do on Tuesdays. The comfort of routine is not so bad sometimes.

The Simple Things

2008-05-20T15:01:00.001-07:00

Fire Leaf, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Today I realized that I have no idea what I want to do today.

I mean, what did *I* really want to do. Without thinking about anyone else, just plain ol me.

And I want to go to the track.

Which is a little too early after Kern for such nonsense, but what the hell.

And on Friday, I will have some teammates at the track for the Friday Night Races. They are my Kern teammates. The ones who went to hell and put flair on the beast. Watch out Shelly because we are bad ass!

I had a Big Gulp today. Extra ice.

This post is lame. But I like the picture.

To Hell and Back

2008-05-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived another Kern.

It was truly a trip to hell and back in all meanings of the phrase.

Its good to be back. I mean, really back.

~~~

This was without a doubt the toughest Kern I have ever tried to complete. I kept going through sheer willpower and the generousity of my friends. They kept me giggling and motivated. I think Laura kept losing stuff like her shoes and race number, just to keep me entertained and distracted. What a pal!

The first day was like riding straight into a blow dryer, I lack the words to describe how it felt. I just remember thinking that this wind is not earthly. People are not supposed to survive something like this. Why are we racing in it? It scared me and I stopped racing in it. I am impressed by those who could push through such a thing, but I think you are crazy.

The morning of the second day was fun fun fun. Bella magic all over the place. Have I mentioned that I love my teammates?

The afternoon was another story. I set out on that stupid hillclimb with a heart heavier than those big ass motocross tires on my Dawg. As soon as it got hard, I wanted to stop. Linda and Andrea patiently tried to keep me motivated but I had pretty much given up. I told them to go on ahead. And I got off my bike. I envisioned the ripping off of the number that happens in a tour and how sad the riders look when that happens.

Then I dumped a bunch of water on my head, took a few breaths and got back on my bike. I repeated this a few times until I finally made up my mind to finish. And so I did and I saw Lorri calmly helping a new racer decide whether to finish or not. (They did!) And I heard Bob's clarinet and I rode the longest 1 K ever and finished and ate watermelon until I got sick.

A Velo Girl was at the top eating watermelon too and she just looked at me and said "that was hard". Yeah, sister, you ain't lying. And I told myself I would take it easy down the tricky debris scattered climb, but let go of the brakes anyway.

Sunday was good. We had a cool new venue and Tyler and Barret set up our bella camp. Our home away from home. The race went well, but I was not really a part of it. I fell off and came back about 6 times and just could not do it a 7th time.

The team was remarkable. Erika didn't want the responsibility, and Sue was there to help on that end. They made quite the climbing pair. Laura is the fighter. Don't let that smile fool you. She's nails. Andrea is rock solid and its like she's been on our team forever. And Linda, Linda is our guidelight.

I was more weight than help. In fact they all helped me more than I helped them. But sometimes its good to let your friends help you.

And Laurie Simonson stole my red lantern.

~~~

The pic up above is one of two very large traffic delays on the way home. That was almost harder than any of the stages.

Hear me Roar?

2008-05-17T21:16:00.001-07:00

Daydream Wanderlust, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Is it possible to feel both chaotic despair and to feel at peace?

Proving your own strength of spirit is a powerful lift. The self doubts aren't really self doubts. Not when you can climb mountains.

Paint a Pretty Picture

2008-05-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

I don't think I can.

Hellyer Hack

2008-05-14T13:05:00.001-07:00

Chariot Start, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I wasn't going to go to the track tonight. I'm just stupid tired right now.

Last night, after our races, I just sat around like zombified mosquito bait, waiting for Michael's races to finish. I had the total droopies as I drove home. I almost called Michael so that I would wake up, but I was almost home and wouldn't have a cell signal and figured I could fight it off. blah blah blah.

And then I fell asleep.

Shit. STUPID STUPID STUPID!

stupid

Luckily nothing much happened, but it very well could have and I know we have all been there before, but it doesn't make any less irresponsible of me to not have pulled over. I vow to never let that happen again, and I am writing it here so I will remember and hold myself to it.

Okay, enough of the self flagellation (at least until I get to the track tonight).

So, last night, after the first race, my throat felt like someone rubbed it with 20 grit. I could hardly talk. Then when I could finally talk, the hacking started.

Track Hack

If you have not yet experienced track hack, you are missing out on some fun times. I started to get a little anxious about my hack, when I noticed everyone around me had the dreaded coughies. Even 12 year old Dylan (who is awesome by the way!) was coughing up a storm.

Must have been something in the air.

And I am thinking about going back tonight. Although I am super tired, I noticed that a SNOWBALL race is on the schedule, and that sounds like too much fun to miss. Maybe Beth can do my math for me.

~~~

The pic above is from the Chariot races last Wednesday (note the lack of actual chariots and roman gods). Check out Gio's throw of Alicia! He was so into it that he threw her right into Jenny. But these girls are so pro that they just rode it off. (Notice Jenny's calm face compared to MIchael's "oh shit" face). This was the final heat of the races. Jenny and Alicia finished 1-2 in the heat right before this.

Schooled

2008-05-13T16:10:00.001-07:00

Sunset Monday, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

After my awesome night of racing at the Larry Nolan Tuesday Night World points championships, I headed back for more on Wednesday.

The night started off with chariot races. I don't like these chariot races because there are neither chariots nor half nekkid romans involved. Its just a one lap sprint. Go, bell, finish, thanks for coming.

And thats pretty much how my race went. Even though I pulled and pushed and grunted, by the time I got on top of my gear, all the other chariots were long gone.

And the rest of the night, I just could not get on top of that damn gear. So I told Michael that I probably need something smaller than my 88 for Wednesday nights.

Thats when he told me I did not have an 88, but a 92. A 92.6 to be more exact. Thats a Jaques-Maynesian gear. All this time I have been pushing around a humongo gear.

So, on Friday, I decided to try Michael's gear, an 86. It was the first of the Friday night races and I wasn't expecting much of my racing efforts, but my friends were there and the music (that I worked so hard on thankyouverymuch) was playing and Michael was announcing and well, I wanted to at least give a good show.

I thought with my new fancy lower gear I could do that.

But then, in my race, I pedaled and pedaled and didn't go anywhere. It was a wierd feeling. Like in one of those chase dreams where you run, but you don't really run. It felt like that. And slowly the pack just drifted away from me and left me in their wake, a spinning fool.

So, I suppose I should keep that small gear on and practice my spin and get my foot speed up. But I say that spinning is for people without butts. I have a butt and I have quads bigger than Beth's..so what the hell do I need to spin for?

Winding down

2008-05-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

This is how Michael and I wind down after a night of promotin and announcin and racin.

Just us and the fireplace and some wine and the kitties and listening to some awesome music.

And the comfort of each other.

(after listening a few times, be sure to watch his fret hand and her strumming hand)

And then some more wine.

Existst,,,wha huh?

2008-05-09T12:49:00.001-07:00

Into the Grassy Sea, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I am having one of those days where i think too much. And maybe blogging will make it stop.

You ever have a moment where you are slapped with such clarity of thought, that it threatens to just make you implode or something?

So, I was walking in to work, when I spotted a little bird gathering up twiggly things for its nest. And I made some kind of comment to the bird about how it looks like were are both going to work. The bird flew off with its twigglies and I opened the door to our offices.

And the receptionist said hello and then BAM it just hit me.

What the F am I doing? What the F are any of us doing? Life is so fleeting and we humans burn it up doing these strange tasks and getting all pent up about minutae of stuff, that when you put it into universal persepctive, is laughably inconsequential.

The little birdy has it easy. Eat to be strong enough to have sex and make nests and feed little birdys. Not that I think we should just hang out and eat and have sex all day....(Do I smell a new religion?).

But we have the amazing power of awareness of our situation (religious beliefs notwithstanding) and what do we do with that awareness? We put staples in papers and file them in drawers and wash our windows and collect little spoons from tourist shops.

It just seems so....flat. And I don't mean that we should all go out and devote ourselves to some cause, because even that kind of stuff is "meh" in the scope of the universe.

Maybe this is philosophical crap that people without kids engage in. Maybe we are so wired to populate, that when we don't, some part of our brain is sort of freaked out by our lack of purpose.

Maybe that explains my opossum dream last night.

I dreamt that I rescued this really dirty and ugly (is there any other kind) opossum. And it became all domesticated and a pet like a cat or something. But I was a little embarrased that my cat was a dirty opossum. And then it sort of morphed into a baby, but it was still an opossum. I was trying to convince these other people that it was totally cool to have a dirty opossum instead of a baby, when the opossum peed all over me.

But I am digressing.

And hungry. I think someone brought in bagels.

Track Nights

2008-05-07T17:47:00.001-07:00

Track Night, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I feel like its been forever since I blogged.

I mean really blogged. Not just dumping a picture and splashing a few words up to accompany it.

Its like my brain can only do either pictures or words, but not both.

But today I feel like blogging because I actually raced last night. I mean really raced. Where I tried and everything. And I haven't done that in a while.

Us women folk got our own race last night (well a couple of guys and an awesome junior did join us too). I like when we get our own race. Not that I don't like racing with the men and all, but damn if they don't chase any little attack.

And I like to attack.

When I first started racing again this season (after zilcho training and nothing but easy rides for the past 5 months), I had about 3 minutes of fitness. One attack would spend me for the night.

Last night I was able to launch about 7-8 attacks and didn't get spent until about the 7th one. Yay!

Erika and Linda were there again and I love racing with them. In the first race, Erika and I traded attacks. Erika ended up in the one that stuck. So with three up the road, there were only points for one in our chase group. Since I was not pulling, I decided not to sprint for them. Instead, I wanted to try and bridge up without pulling the pack.

I tried to get away a few times, but Ileana and a woman visiting from Ttown kept me on a short leash. Then I noticed that Erika's break caught up to the pack (who were behind us). And I remember the quirky rules of points racing. Of all the things I have done at the track lately, remembering this in the midst of the frenzy of a race is one of the things I'm most proud of!

Now, our chase group was the lead pack and full points were on the line. So I went for them, but goddamn that Ileana has some top end acceleration and I got nipped. But I also noticed how tired she was after the effort.

Then somehow Erika's group became the lead group again, except they were now four since a lapped rider joined them. That meant no points for us. (Is your mind whirring yet?) But my chase mates did not know that, so they sprinted and I rode their wheels. Then I did a most evil thing and attacked after they sprinted.

I tried like crazy to catch up to Erika's group, but it just did not happen. I did stay away for the remainder of the race, but it didn't earn me any points so I have no idea why I tried except that it felt kinda good.

Between races, Erika said "let's do some team tactics this time"

Uh...I thought that was what we were doing. But she said she wanted to do something different. What she really wanted was to not be in the lead break. And I got to find out why in the second race. That shit is hard.

On the second lap of the next race, I took a little pull up front. I was just pulling along all innocent like, when I looked behind me and saw I had a gap. I was confused, but decided to just take it and I took off.

After a lap, I looked back and I had an even bigger gap. Well cool, and well, crap. Cool because thats racing and crap because thats hard. Larry and Holloway's mom were telling me to keep going for it because bell lap was coming up. And, I had never ever won any bell lap in a points race yet. So I went for it and got my first 5 points. Yay for me.

Then Larry told me to keep going. So I did. Which was pretty much a silly thing as that put my laps alone out there at about 13 if you count the race prior.

Fortunately, Ali and Beth bridged up to me at some point. And I remember seeing Erika and Ileana there but I have no idea what happened to them. Maybe they were a mirage.

Unfortunately Ali and Beth had carpool bonding going on. The next few laps were spent getting worked over by the both of them. It was too much fun. Beth was doing tactical shit. I was so tired, but I had to laugh. And I was sort of flattered to because if you have to do tactical shit to me, then that means I am part of the race.

Kind of like how I liked it when the guys at hockey would check me.

So, Beth held me up while Ali attacked for a sprint lap. And then the two of us sprinted for the 2nd place points. I was totally wiped out before the sprint, but in all the times we have raced together, I have never been in a position to actually sprint against Beth, so I just had to go for it.

I think she was just teasing me though, because she did the most evil thing you can do in a points race, and attacked me after that sprint. Karma, on the track, is very quick.

Her and Ali rode off and lapped the field. Which of course made me leader on the road. I, thought that maybe the last sprint would be a brownie prime and I figured it was worth the 15 points to win some brownies. So I rode it in and scooped up my second ever points race lap win. But alas, no brownies!

Crap, I'm late for Wednesday night track....gotta run...

Kenny Live at the Drome

2008-05-06T16:24:00.001-07:00

Kenny Live at the Drome, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Looking for something a little different to do on some summer Friday Nights? How about a Track Night at Hellyer Velodrome in San Jose?

Michael is promoting this summer's Friday Night Track Races at Hellyer. Even if you are not interested in racing, you can still come out and have some fun watching. The races are fun and easy to watch, there's music (as soon as I fill up the iPod) and food. Also, you can bring your own food and refreshments (wine and beer is allowed in Hellyer).

The first race is this Friday, May 9th at 7:00, but the track opens at 6:00. My good friend and fellow mountain biker, Kenny Schick will be playing from 6-7, so I would love some folks to come out and hear his stuff.

Should be fun! See you guys there!

Directions are here

More info on Friday races are here

Otter-Rama

2008-04-23T17:09:00.001-07:00

The Real Otter, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Well shoot.

I'm glad thats over with.

I'm pretty much over the whole wind thing.

This was, however, one of my favoritest otters in memory. I think because we took it easy and let go. Although Laura did achieve perfection a few times.

And I think some folks raced.

But mostly we just got drunk in the back of a Uhaul.

I'm putting otter pictures up here.

Cool down

2008-04-14T12:37:00.001-07:00

Carmel Beach Wave, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Oy...what a weekend.

Seeing Michael in the throes of heat exhaustion was a wee bit scary. He is not allowed to do that ever again.

That was hard.

It also hard to fake your way through a stage race. I mean, faking it in a 15 minute points race is one thing...faking it in multiple days of racing in the heat is another.

I had lots of fun though. Our team really is special. Its not so much the racing as getting together with fun-minded folks and playing like a bunch of silly kids (who drink wine).

Now its Monday and the weather has cooled and already it seems like the weekend was some funny dream or something.

Weird.

Here's a little Happy Monday video

Jumping off the spectator wall

2008-04-08T15:11:00.001-07:00

Meanwhile at the Santa Cruz Crit, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I just registered for a race.

It was all the talk of planning which restaurant to go to that did me in.

Last week, all I heard about was the ice cream at Hanford.

We bellas have our racing priorities figured out just right. And so, that makes me want to race.

How much training do you think I can get in between now and Friday?

yay, Friday, yay~

2008-04-04T16:32:00.001-07:00

As the world rushes by, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

For half of the day today, I totally thought it was Thursday. And then, when I realized it was actually Friday, it was like finding $20 in my pocket that I didn't know I had.

Yay again.

Ann and I have started a Thursday night ride. We started it, like 3 weeks ago. Ann has stood me up each time. Thats okay though, because I am brave.

Except for sometimes.

And I need to add another animal that I am scared of to my list.

4. Crazy mating Tom Turkeys

I went out to Santa Theresa last night for a quick romp around the rocks. (alone...cough cough Ann in case you are listening) It was another wonderful spring evening with the poppies a bloomin and birdies a twitterin

and the turkeys a gobblin.

The turkeys were in rare form. The males were all Thanksgivinged out. You know, that full plumage like when you used to draw them at school by tracing your hand.

They were like that. Strutting all over the place. And they were rowdy. Kind of spooky rowdy. And, anyone who has watched "The Birds" or heard Laura tell her tale of how she was almost pecked to death by wild turkeys, knows to take that seriously.

So when a badass wild turkey crossed my path (unlike the last time when I was sixteen and woke up in my car at the edge of a cliff - wish I was making that up and maybe I'll tell you the story one day) I took notice.

Unlike the piggy encounter, I had my wits about me and took a picture. Except my cameraphone isn't so good and you couldn't really see the big mean Tom in the corner. So I photoshopped it just a little tiny bit.

This Tom was serious about protecting his hens. So, I let them have the right of way. And I am quite certain it was not my lonely imagination, but I think he gave me the stinkeye, even after they strutted up the hill.

Maybe I will start posting my Thursday night rides to the board from now on.

Live from the Poop Trails

2008-04-01T17:06:00.001-07:00

Camphone 26, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I have to maximize my lunch time riding time, which means, I only have time for a euro shower before returning to work.

So, that means, I could very well have little driplets of cow poop still stuck to me somewhere as I type this.

There is this one section of trail, that as long as no one is coming in the other direction, I like to hit at super fast speeds. As so, I did that today, but then found myself headed straight for a big ol pileopoop. Kerplush.

At least I am not afraid of the cows at Harvey Bear anymore. Even the ones who try to be all badass and stand in front of me and try to punk me and stuff. Its all bluff. I just give them a hearty "heeya!" and they scamper. Thats right, I made those cows my bitch. (says the lady who shops for orthopedic shoes)

But I am afraid of some things at Harvey Bear. Three things actually:

1. Mountain lions (for obvious reasons)
2. Ticks (ewwwwwwww!)
3. Mama pigs

Kenny and I were riding down one of the Harvey Bear trails last Friday. We had just finished showing those cows who was boss, when we spotted a little calf about to cross the trail. It was the ugliest calf I had ever seen. And, it didn't scamper to our Heeyahs. Instead, it squared its shoulders to us and stood its ground.

Thats when I realized, it wasn't an ugly calf, but an ugly wild pig. I didn't take a picture, but I found one on the internet that looks EXACTLY like the pig we saw.

And when I saw how this pig was holding her ground against us, I knew what that meant. I told Kenny, "we better back up...slowly and calmly". I think we took two small calm steps back, and the pig took one step towards us, and then we ran back up the hill. Kenny might have even screamed. Can't remember.

Once we backed up, the pig started to cross the trail, and sure enough, right behind her were 5 or 6 wee little ugly pigs. They were sooo uglycute. Their little pig tails stuck straight out behind them and their little pig hair was all wiry and piggly.

We waited a good and long time before we finished our ride down the trail...just in case. But at least we lived to tell the tale.

~~

So, sort of a side story. In my search for a pic of a "wild boar" I had to sift through endless pictures of guys posing with dead boars, with the mouth all open so you can see the tusks. I mean, endless pictures of this. Why do men like to pose with dead animals like that? Just wonderin.

~~

I think my Sidi mtb shoes are the culprit by the way....this is very sad.

Niblets

2008-03-31T17:19:00.001-07:00

Exeter Time Trial, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Its Monday and I have a neuroma.

And I hope this won't be a whine post, but it just might.

The neuroma is killin me. I thought I was a tough chick, but this little bundle of nerves has brought me to my knees.

Michael says my Danskos are probably to blame and that I shouldn't wear them anymore!

Excuse me?

Have you seen my shoe collection? If I don't wear Dansko's I am left with only a pair of flip flops, an old pair of running shoes (as if), some cheap ass Target garden clogs, my go-go boots (that I can only wear for about 7 minutes), and lots and lots of Sidis.

So I went online to look for neuroma friendly shoes. I don't suggest that anyone under the age of 80 ever ever do this. Ever. Not even to just look. Its that scary.

So, now I am walking around the office in my socks and hoping for the best.

~~

Everyone's racing but me. I'm not really sure how I feel about that yet.

~~

Sulpher Springs is every bit a tough climb as I remembered. Are climbs ever easier than you remembered? And, I'm sorry Beth!

~~

Doesn't Michael look like a little misplaced cloud in that photo above?

~~

So, I've been too busy to blog. And too busy to do bella stuff...but not too busy to work on Michael's new site or my pictures. I have had a great time working on Michael's blog and tinkering with it, and getting community interaction going on it and almost breaking the interwebs and stuff. I think it means that I needed something new to fiddle with. So, there you go.

Wild Flower

2008-03-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

The wildflower display going on right now at Coe is unbelievable (I almost typed "off the hook", but then remembered that I am 41 years old)

I didn't have a camera, and even the cellphone pooped out on me, so I borrowed a pic from Michael.

And although I didn't have a camera, I think, all this recent photo action I have been doing, has really heightened by visual awareness. I was almost overwhelmed by the scenery during our ride. Several times.

What a perfect way to celebrate the equinox and a birthday and the bunny holiday.

~~

SO, while climbing one of the descents at Coe (you'll understand that in a few seconds...) , I came up with the following:

Guide to Trail Riding at Coe with Natasha:

Descent = Rolling hills
Rolling hills = Climb
Climb = get off your bike and walk

I am not even exagerrating. I've never climbed so much on a descent. It was all totally worth it of course, I am just putting this up as a public service.

~~

And just because its the funniest thing in a while:

Bucolic

2008-03-21T15:28:00.001-07:00

Camphone 25, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I have turned into a mountain bikeaholic

The Bucolic bikeaholic.

I seriously can't get enough of it. My days are spent either mountain bike riding, or planning my next mountain bike ride.

Even riding sploosh splash right through a giant wet pile of cow poop can't undermine my enthusiasm. (although it does make me wonder what in the world those Harvey bear cows are eating thats given them all the runs)

So, yeah...I won't be at Copperopolis this year.

Mooooo

Wah!

2008-03-19T13:52:00.001-07:00

Camphone 22, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

My laptop is dead...long live my laptop.

Well, less than 24 hours after learning that my laptop would be an expensive fix (i've been wanting a new one anyway because all the photo editing has been stretching it the hilt) I bought a new laptop.

I researched, read reviews, comparison shopped, and plunked down the cash within 24 hours!

Thats a new record for me. I don't make these decisions easily. I usually have to ferret out every piece of information on the subject possible and twist and turn the data and do various scenario analysis and then change my mind 37 times.

But, not having a laptop was a serious hitch in my life. I was motivated. The computer on my desk has spider webs. Thats because sitting at a desk longer than absolutely necessary sucks ass.

I do all my surfing, emailing and photo-ing in 4 places: bed, couch, patio, hotel room.

So I got all impulsive and bought a new one.

And now I am questioning my hasty decision.

Because I did not buy a laptop. Not unless you count Andre the Giant's lap in the assessment. Its more like a suitcase computer. This thing is HUUUUGE. Michael warned me not to pick it up by the monitor (which probably led to the early demise of my old computer) and my new computer weighs so much that it would give me a hernia to even try.

And I hate Windows Vista.

And stupid controls that don't let you see hidden files.

And moving the backspace and delete key to new places.

But I LOVE that big ol mackdaddy 17" widescreen monitor. Not as much as I love chocolate, or Michael, or beer (not necessarily in that order), but its up there.

Back from the Valley

2008-03-18T09:55:00.001-07:00

Slice of the Valley, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I did have some pics from the NRC action in Visalia this weekend, but my Dell just died. I managed to get this one up before it happened. So, you will just have to use your imagination for the race action.

This was the first time in a bit, that I have traveled to a race where I was neither racing, nor had bellas who were racing. I must admit, that I felt a bit out of place, not really belonging. And the race director for Visalia did not make things any better when she gave me one of those passively aggressive "And you ARE....?" questions when I lined up at their free pasta feed thingie.

No, seriously, she did that. As if I came to mooch on her food. And the thing is, I really didn't know how to answer her question. In either a philosophical sense or literal sense. So I told her I was with Velo Bella, (who had no one racing this event), and she sort of reluctantly let the matter slide. And I helped myself to an extra portion of garlic bread.

However, what going to the event unencumbered did for me, was allow me to step back and be an observor. And I saw some cool stuff. I saw some ugly stuff, but I mostly saw some cool stuff.

The ugly stuff, I am going to ignore for now...but I if I find a soapbox around later, I might have to step up on it for a bit.

Now, on to the good stuff.

*Watching Ben J-M win the tt. Ben is dictionary efficiency on his bike. Nothing, nothing moves except those two hugely calved pistons. The same thing happens on the track when he gets in a groove. Its worth coming out to the track just to watch. Of course, I am a little biased because Ben is my neighbor and his wife is a bella, who also happened to help straighten Michael out a little.

*Watching Laura Van Gilder KILL IT in the time trial. She is not a tt specialist, especially for a long one like at Visalia. And she had a good shot at winning the next day at the crit, so you could easily forgive her for slacking a bit on the tt. But she does the opposite. She was attacking that TT and just forcing herself up those climbs. Damn..wish I had my photos for this cuz I have this great shot of her stomping up the final climb. And she's like two years older than me! She's just an awesomely strong woman who loves racing her bike.

*Brooke Miller's sprint smile. I always knew she smiled when she won a sprint. But she also smiles when she's second. She was trying so hard to overtake Ina. (Yes, I said overtake Ina, as if) And you could see that moment when she realized it was just not going to happen, and she broke out in a huge smile that seemed to note and respect just how awesome Ina is.

*Ina is awesome.

*The TIBCO leadout train. Wow. Its early in the season and this team is already turning heads with one of the most amazing lead out trains I have seen in a while in women's cycling. In fact, I don't think I have seen something that impressive since the Saturn days. That speaks volumes about the strength and chemistry of this team. They owned the last two laps of that race even though they were down a few riders. Lauren in particular used her sprinter's timing to deliver Brooke (if you get a chance, check out the last two laps in the video on IBN sports)

*Seeing Vanderkitten at the races. Yes, I have a bias towards kitties and Dave, but I could not help but notice how the Vanderkitten kits turned the heads of the young girls in the crowds.

*Knowing that Aarons and VAC both did school visits. I know exactly how difficult it is for an NRC team to race, travel and then still find time to do these kinds of local community activities. And I am super glad that Velonews covered it.

*Spending travel time with Michael. I have missed our road trips and silly times together. It was a good refresh and reminder of why I want to spend the rest of my life with him.

There was more awesomeness, but I need to go home now and try to fix my laptop situation.

Lunchtime

2008-03-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

Approaching, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

For some reason this photo makes me hungry. Maybe because it reminds me of a jolly rancher candy.

But there is no time to sit back and enjoy a long lunch hour. No instead, I rush to the bathroom to change, rush to the car, pull out my bike, throw on my shoes, roll off to ride, forget my gloves, roll back to the car, grab the gloves and the cell phone just in case, then roll off again. Then figure out where I want to ride, then change my mind about 8 times, then ride, then ride some more, then realize I am late, then frantically pedal back to work, then throw the bike in the car, run to the bathroom, wash the stinky parts (french bath), fluff my helmet hair, walk through the hallway as if I have been there all afternoon, throw something in the microwave and sit back down to work.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

Waiting Room

2008-03-09T20:05:00.001-07:00

Morning Stretch, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I took this photo while I was waiting for my mom to come out of a small operation.

Yeah, I snuck out of the hospital waiting room.

Like she would know.

Actually, I practically fled from the room as soon as they wheeled her into the pre-op. And I hopped on my bike and headed for Carmel.

And I rode around in the sunshine and walked on the beach in my bike shoes. And I took pictures of waves and surfers and golden retrievers. And I made cockamamie daydreaming plans of how to retire at age 50.

And five minutes past the last minute I should have left, I hurried back to the hospital.

I am a total believer that every moment of life must be savored. Even if it means leaving the waiting room.

Today I learned of yet another tragedy in our cycling community. Each one seems to hit me harder than the last. I can't imagine how those close to the victims feel. My thoughts go out to the friends and family involved.

Summertime and the livins easy

2008-03-05T16:36:00.001-08:00

Evening Stretch, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

It totally feels like summer time right now. It might just be a tease, but I'll take it.

Yeehaw!

I am soooooo not a winter person. If I could do that endless summer thing, I would totally do it.

Winter depresses me. And this past winter has been one of the toughest. And we don't even have harsh winters here. I'm certain that if I lived someplace like Canada or Alaska (lord have mercy) that I would be a raving maniac loon by January.

So, I'm riding more these days. And that means more unknown bruises. I've got a whopper of a bruise above my knee. One of those bruises thats got like six layers of colors that change daily and a little hard nugget inside. And its pretty horrific looking (which is why there is a pretty picture of the hill instead of my knee)

And I have no idea how I got i. (The bruise, not the picture). I might have gotten it when I did the touchdown almost crash into the puddle at campus this weekend.

But I was too concerned about keeping myself upright to worry about bruising at the time. Literally, my face was inches away from nasty week old puddle mud. The only thing saving me from complete ruin were my two fingertips that were propping me and my dawg up. And when you come that close to malaria/giardia/dysentary mud water, you don't think about the bruises.

Damn I love this sport.

Wild Adventures in Photography, part 1

2008-02-28T09:54:00.001-08:00

Disappointment, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Dog behind fence: ruff ruff ruff....ruff ruff

me: (click click.....click)

Dog behind fence: (more intently now) ruff ruff ruff....ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff....ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff....ruff ruff

me: (click click.....click)

Man behind fence: Roscoe! What's going on out there?

Man behind fence: (peering around fence) What's going on out here?

me: (pointing at knothole in fence) Oh, I'm sorry, I was just taking a picture of your fence.

Man peering around fence: My fence? Well that doesn't seem very interesting.

me: Its not (then trying to add levity to a tense encounter) but maybe if you had something interesting that showed through the peephole?

Man peering around fence: Is that your bike?

me: (hopeful that maybe he wants to put my bike in the peephole view, which is a little trite, but since when has trite stopped me) Yes, it is!

Man peering around fence: Then maybe you should ride it to somewhere more interesting and take pictures there.

~~

And now for something completely different

2008-02-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

I need a little Walken this morning.

Don't you?

and yes, that his him dancing most of those moves. I'm gonna memorize it and bust it out some night.

Cabin Fever

2008-02-24T11:41:00.001-08:00

The Morning of My Content, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Ack!

Double Ack!

Its raining a thousand rains right now, with those little teaser breaks that make you think maybe, just maybe...then it comes down again.

Yesterday was nice, but I need more...I still have energy to burn.

But not enough that I want to get on the trainer or anything. Maybe just go see a movie instead.

This tree is in my neighbor's yard. It gives me hope.

My IQ just went up by like 57 points

2008-02-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

That there photo up above is the radar image at just about the time that the Cat 3 women were finishing off their last lap at Snelling.

I kissed Michael goodbye as he left this morning for Snelling, and I headed out for a happy trails ride instead. Dawn, Beth, Steve, Brent and I zigged and zagged and had a rocking good time on the nicely packed but not muddy trails. And about fifteen minutes after our lovely 3+ hour ride was over, it started to pour. But for our ride, we were dry and even saw some goody sunshine.

Now I am sitting here eating roasted tomato soup, drinking a Hoeegarden, skippily dippilying around the internet, all while encased in the furry comfort of warm kitties.

I'm just sayin

Kobe for Erika

2008-02-19T09:39:00.001-08:00

Montana Del Oro, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I totally want to blog about TOC. I didn't get a chance to go see any part of it, but I saw pictures. And, man, I have a few things to say.

Hopefully will find some time later today.

In the meantime, there was a segment on the women's race and Brooke Miller and Team Tibco on KGO this morning. Thats huge publicity. A 30 second spot on KGO is about as expensive as it gets in the radio industry. It would be awesome if the TOC promotors could add another race or two to this event. This one race for them went a long way towards promoting women's cycling.

Livin la Vida

2008-02-18T12:28:00.001-08:00

Crossing, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Ohmigosh what a fabulous weekend.

And now I face a foggy Monday at work, while the rest of the world (the world I know anyway) plays at the Tour of CA on El Presidente day.

But, after my dreamy weekend, I can hardly complain.

And its funny, when I think back on the fun I had this weekend, very little of it had to do with racing. I didn't even race at all, and felt only a teeny tiny twinge of regret over that.

I have really tried to be motivated to race this season, but as of yet, I have not quite struck it. I have not yet been able to give up the things you gotta give up to do it. Things like sleep, that second glass of wine, Kobe burgers, and simply not riding when I don't much feel like it. Or, not riding hard.

I dunno. Maybe I will find the motivation later. But for now, I am enjoying la vida.

~~~

Some more pics of the beautiful race down in Los Olivos are here

The promotor, Mike Hecker, of that race is doing something interesting. Ever go driving down the highway, and look off into all that Cattle ranchland thats here in California, and see a little dirt road and wish you could go ride it?

I do that all the time. Well, Mike must have done that too. He's gotten in touch with the owners of the Chamberlin Cattle Ranch and they've allowed a network of trails to be built on that land. Hecker's group plans on holding about 8 races there this year, including a Norba National as well as downhill and dual slalom races.

Sometime this summer, the ranch will be open for riding outside of races for like a $5 fee or something.

Its a lot of work forming a partnership like this. And you have to ride alongside cowpatties and the occasionally ornery bull, but if this past weekend was any indication, the work is well worth it.

While not technical, the singletrack was stunning. There was one trail, in particular, that was along the top of the ridge, offering fabulous views of Foxen on one side, and Vaca Station on the other. I did not get a picture of this piece, because I was too busy enjoying it in person. (its hard to be both photographer and do-er).

And when in Los Olivos, you just HAVE to visit American Flatbread in Los Alamos. YUM!

Sunshine Dilemna

2008-02-12T12:06:00.001-08:00

Sunseekers, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

To ride in it?

Or nap in it?

We're smarter than we look

2008-02-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

NO, thats not Cherry Pie, its Ollalieberry Pie.

And its better than Cherry Pie because we didn't have to race to eat it. We just pedaled our bikes on sunshiney roads at whatever pace we felt like.

We didn't plan on pie. Didn't even think about it. Until we came up on the Gizdich ranch sign and Stella said "blah blah blah blah pie?"

So we all searched our pockets for whatever chumpchange we might have with us, and between all of our jersey pockets we had enough for one pie and 5 forks.

Erika complained that we couldn't possibly buy and eat a WHOLE pie. "A WHOLE pie???", she exclaimed.

This picture was taken right before (or maybe after) she helped herself to seconds.

In Portland

2008-02-10T09:02:00.001-08:00

Cross Fans, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

The North American Handmade Bicycle Show is happening this weekend. I sort of wish I had gone. How silly that I did not go the first two years it was in San Jose.

I dread dread dread going to Interbike for various reasons. Vegas being the biggest. But honestly, bike people, sometimes annoy me. I know, I am a bike person and I am probably pretty annoying myself, but the concentration of annoying bike people at Vegas overwhelms me.

I have a feeling I'd like the Portland crowd a bit better.

Cyclingnews has coverage here

and suprise surprise, Velonews has coverage too!

If you are there, give a big squeezy hug to the fabulous Sheila Moon and Jason at De La Paz for me!

Release

2008-02-09T09:40:00.001-08:00

Release, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Its a good thing I am going on a mountain bike ride this morning.

Learnins

2008-02-06T14:08:00.001-08:00

Page and Wells, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I learned how to do this today.

Not ride my bike through the mud, because obviously, I fail miserably at that.

But how to make a photo look all grittyness.

I love learnins.

Cooking with the Nimwit

2008-02-05T18:18:00.001-08:00

Makin Stucco, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Here is a great recipe for disaster:

1 freeride bike with whopping big tires. The less clearance for the tire the better.

1 Nasty steep fireroad

2 day old cow mud

7,000,000 tons of recently poured base rock

You can substitute the disk brakes for Vbrakes. But today's recipe calls for disk brakes.

MIx the first three ingredients really well at the beginning of your ride. You'll know you got the mixture just right when the sticky old mud jams in your seatstays and stops the wheel from rolling. Be sure to try and spin just a few more pedal strokes anyway just to prove to absolutely no one how fuckin strong you are.

Once you are finally forced off the bike, walk your bike to where the road is covered in freshly laid gravel.

Proceed to try to ride again. It helps to remain seated and have low tire pressure. Done correctly, the rocks will stick to the mud and form a nice layer of stucco over your tires. You should not be able to pluck off the stucco with a stick or a multi-tool.

Your bike should weigh about 63 pounds at this point. If so, continue to try and pedal because its your only damn lunch hour and you are not got to waste it dammit.

Yummy!

Breaking the Blues

2008-02-04T09:46:00.001-08:00

Blue Again, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Oh thank goodness for the sunshine.

I thought I'd go stark raving freakin mad if there were one more day of rain.

The birds were going nuts this morning with the chippity chirping and man, birdies, I hear ya.

I did my own chippity chirping in the car this morning. I was feeling too cheery to listen to the news, so I fiddled with the station until something fun came on.

And I danced and sang in the car and was totally getting my groove on. I was feeling pretty full of myself, until the station break announcement that told me I was listening to a soft rock station.

Soft rock.

Not Oldies, because, Oldies would be cool. But Soft Rock. The Oxymoron station. Dental office music. I was getting my groove on to Dental Office music.

Shit.

Hashimoto can kiss my ass

2008-01-31T20:06:00.001-08:00

Camphone 15, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I may be a lazy blogger, but I am kicking ass everywhere else.

Since Michael's been on his vacciones, I have:

Painted the den (well, not me, but its painted!)
Solved the flooring debacle (stupid Home Depot)
Got the heater fixed
Got my ear fixed (it was a little clogged and grumpy)
Got my tooth fixed
Went Trader Joe shopping
Installed Photoshop Elements 6 (sorry Beth, I'm not a big girl yet)
Finally figured out what damn PS layers were
Dinked around in Photoshop elements and made a picture for this blog
Finished reading the last of the Farseer Trilogies (you can get your books now Soni)
Extended the bella clothing order (cat herding)
Finalized the 2008 bella art
Consulted with Miss Mary on the Fandango (tapas or tatas?)
Bitty batted with Natasha about 08 road
Planned the Saturday mtb ride
Drank yet another bottle of spanish wine
Got out the 1099s
Installed the fixed asset software
Hired a temp
Made the auditors happy
Rode my bike at lunch

Yeah

but I still have not cleaned the cat box

~~

Reservoir Check!

Here is the little part outside the reservoir where all the fish were dying. It hasnt seen water since that fateful day. Now its flling up again and little duckies were swimming in it. Can you see the little duckies?

~~~

p.s.

So. I'm sitting here in the living room, rereading my post and reflecting on what a bad ass I am for accomplishing so much in a couple of days, when something struck me as wrong.

There was something I did wrong, but couldn't figure it out until I saw potato chips in the refrigerator and half and half in the pantry. Luckily the wine is fine.

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies

2008-01-29T18:00:00.001-08:00

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I'm a lazy blogger

and a sad panda

my honey is leaving and will be gone almost a whole week.

waah.

I'm going to get sooo much done this week. Already scratched one thing off the list:

1. Begin the planning of the bella party

and its not a moment too soon since the party is less than two weeks away. And really, Miss Mary is doing most of the work, but still its one thing off the list.

Then we've got the planning of the Bos training cramp, and then the flooring debacle at home depot and then maybe my tires (I've been skipping my thursday workout) and then maybe even paint a room, buy some filters for my camera, put away some christmas stuff, and finally order blinds for the windows.

Now, I'm just wondering how the cat boxes are gonna get cleaned.

For Sale: 1991 Gorilla

2008-01-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

My mom is selling her boyfriend's car. He can't drive it anymore. Or at least he "shouldn't" drive it anymore.

My mom caught him heading down Ord Grove Avenue into oncoming traffic.

His car is a 1991 Nissan 300Z with only 58,000 miles on it. But before you get too excited...its white with a red leather interior. Thats right, I said red leather.

So my mom wants me to put an ad in Craigslist for her. And I asked her to send me a picture of the car for the ad.

And today I got an email from my mom that said "here is the picture of the Nissan" and attached to the email was a very random picture of a gorilla. (above)

Huh?

~~~

Bella training camp was this weekend.

Training might be stretching it a bit though. Unless one is training for a wine tasting marathon, or a frat house party, or one of those roman parties where you gorge yourself and throw up.

We really are out of control.

Or maybe just I am.

Whichever, I was pretty hungover for part of the training camp weekend. I am going to blame it all on Marscat and Susie because they took me wine tasting.

This is what I remember about bella camp:

Belgian waffles
climb , freeway aaaack!, climb, climb, freeway aack!
Wine tasting
pepperoni pizza with wine
Creme brulee with port
Tums with excedrin
8 glasses of water in the middle of the night.
Belgian waffles
spin, happy, spin, spin
windy crit practice
grabbing dollar bills out of Laura's ass
keeping Laura from grabbing dollar bills out of my ass
sidewalk nap
portapotty dash
spin, happy, spin, spin

And then, somehow, I came home with more bottles of wine than I arrived with.

And did not ride in the rain.

Now if that ain't a perfect camp, I don't know what is.

Fuck Chicken

2008-01-17T16:53:00.001-08:00

CamPhone 13, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Oh yeah! I totally cleaned Rocky Ridge today. No bobbles, no dabs.

There were a few "oh shit" moments though.

Now, for those who aren't so wussy at mountain biking, Rocky Ridge is probably no big deal. But I am from the land of soft sand and redwood needled carpet trails and the rocks just foul me up something fierce with their pointy obtrusiveness.

I trusted in the Dawg (and in only about 17psi in my moto tires) and rolled right over everything. It wasn't pretty, but it got 'er done.

At the bottom of the trail, when I stopped to finally catch my breath and regain and reflect, I was all full of giddy glee and was sort of bummed that no one was around that I could fling my glee on.

So I patted myself on the back and granny ringed it back to the car.

I can't help myself

2008-01-16T11:38:00.001-08:00

Reason #113, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

I really shouldn't blog this picture, but damn, it cracks me up too much not to share it with a few of my friends.

Besides, he has it coming. For giving me a goofball training plan.

I think he's actually kind of given up on training me and using that part of his brain to help people who might actually take his advice once in a while. For people who actually want to workout and have some discipline and stuff. For people who don't nod their head and promise yes they will do 2 sets of 7 minute intervals on a flat road in the wind when they know full well they are going to go mtb and hit that tricky section of Rocky Ridge instead.

But still. He could at least humor me a little.

So, you wanna know the training plan he gave me?

Monday: ride the Dawg up steep fireroads in the granny ring
Tuesday: ride the Dawg up steep fireroads in the granny ring
Wednesday: ride the Dawg up steep fireroads in the granny ring
Thursday: Finally get the tires replaced on the Toaster
Friday: ride the Dawg up steep fireroads in the granny ring
Saturday: MTB Ride (which usually involves climbing steep fireroad in the granny ring)
Sunday: Who can plan that far ahead?

Yep. Thats it. Thats my super secret training plan.

I think, today at lunch, I will hit up that tricky section of Rocky Ridge.

Coe Legs

2008-01-14T19:05:00.001-08:00

Camphone 11, originally uploaded by Sabine Dukes.

Ouch.

They still hurt.

But man, was that worth it. Nine of us headed out to Coe on Saturday. It was an incredible Juneuary day. Birds a twitterin and streams a flowin.

And hills a rising. Lordy there are some hills to climb in that park. Ann mentioned that Serpentine trail would be a tough climb and we might have to walk a little.

A little?

I'm quite sure I push walked more than I rode. I even had time to stop and take a picture with the phone.

But it was so very much worth it to get to the top and see nothing. Well, not really nothing, but nothing man made, save for the observatory on top of Hamilton.

At 90,000 acres, Coe is the largest state park in No California. Because it is so large a park, it can maintain its wild habitat, with very little influence from encroaching populations. I imagine it is what California used to be, back when the Ohlones migrated seasonally to harvest the rich wildflowers.

How precious to have preserved such a chunk.

Unfortunately, it is on the list of parks to get the axe under Schwarzenegger's budget proposal.

48 State Parks to be CLOSED.

CLOSED.

In the history of our state park system, no Governor has ever closed a state park to meet a budget. What an utterly dreadful legacy we would leave to actually CLOSE a state park.

The cut would "save" $13.3 million from the state budget, as part of an effort to fill a $16 billion gap. That is less than 1% of the shortfall.

Just seems a stupid way to save some chump change.

Many its just an act on the Governor's part, or maybe the State Parks is just gesturing, or maybe it would really happen.

Sure, we'd probably still get to ride in these parks, but thats not really the point, is it?

More info on the proposed closures here. And a sign it and send it thingie is here.

Cyclocross Dreams

2008-01-09T20:14:00.001-08:00

Sploosh, originally uploaded by sabinedukes.

I had the weirdest cyclocross dream last night.

Michael and I rode out to watch a cyclocross race and on the way there we saw Ben and Andy. They were both on their new cyclocross bikes so we pulled over to look at them. (The bikes, not Ben and Andy, although I probably did look at their calves)

And that was all fine, but then the dream morphed into nonsense as dreams usually do.

So we are looking at the bikes and making cyclocross small talk, when I notice that Ben and Andy brought their pets with them. Their pets included some dogs, chickens, some kind of rodent thing and a pig.

Michael and I felt sort of outdone because we only had our cats with us. (How they came with us while we were riding was not answered by the dream) Michael sort of shrugged apologetically and said "we only have cats, I hope thats okay". Ben and Andy were cool about it and said they liked us so it was okay that we only had cats.

And then there were all sorts of animals, but I have no idea where they all came from. But in the dream, it was totally normal and expected to have all of these animals at a cyclocross race.

All of a sudden, Andy's pig turned into a giant wild boar with big tusks. It started tearing up the ground around the cyclocross course looking for food. It was messing up the course a little and I started getting worried that Andy's pig would mess up the course before the women's race. Andy just looked at me like I was crazy and said "don't you know this is how they make those courses in Belgium!"

And I was so embarrased because I didn't know. So I pretended that I did know. And that pissed off Andy's boar and he started squealing (the boar, not Andy) and getting angry. Suddenly the boar charged at a cat and I thought it was my cat, and I was going to kill Andy. (don't fuck with my cat, even in dreamland)

Well, the officials found out that I wanted to kill Andy, so they penalized me and I had to do two extra laps of the course. Except the course was super fun, and muddy because of all the pigs, and I was having a good time.

And then I woke up and had to go to work.

After the Storm

2008-01-07T09:38:00.001-08:00

After the Storm, originally uploaded by sabinedukes.

Some storm.

High wind warnings, high surf warnings, batton down the hatches!

And somehow, this treacherous weekend, we managed to get more riding in than usual. (And not on the trainer. Thats not riding, thats just exercising.)

We must have been followed by the group ride angel all weekend because we hit that magic window when the rain stops long enough for frolicking fun each time.

We had about almost 4 hours of mixed sun on Saturday and a couple more on Sunday. We rode over happy and happier trails. We went up the fireroad and down the singletrack.

(As it should be, by the way. I actually had a passive agressive protest on a group ride last week when they all wanted to go up this fine fine singletrack and come back down a paved road. WTF? Warped. So I sat out that loop and met them a little later on. I have my standards)

We went to little moab, lichen lane, monkey trail and watched some cyclocross. Then Michael and I followed it up with good food, boozy drinks and a lovely sunset.

And now its Monday and I am in that weird transistion zone I'm in each time I have to go back to work after a fabulous weekend. The work me just doesn't feel real after a days filled with such satisfying sensory overload. The work me feels hollow and automotonish. And I am stuck drinking decaf.

This morning Michael and I both got up late and he remarked at what a mess everything was. I told him we live like addicts. Just living from one hit to the next.

Bastard People

2008-01-04T10:38:00.001-08:00

camphone 9, originally uploaded by sabinedukes.

Damn Blogger has locked me out of publishing my blogs!

They think my blog is spam. They say they will review and if appropriate open it back up within 4 days.

Bastard People

But I am subverting them through flickr. Except I can't go back and edit. So you will have to excuse the blown out picture below until I am exonerated of my blogger crimes.

Resolution what wha

2008-01-04T10:31:00.001-08:00

New Year's Eve Necessities, originally uploaded by sabinedukes.

Michael made fun of my resolutions this morning. Mostly because I don't think I've kept to any of them. And its only the 4th.

I sometimes take my medicine. I haven't even flossed. I made the bed once, but didn't get up early to do it.

Its not the waking up early thats the problem, its the getting out of bed part that seems to be hampering things.

I just love sitting in bed in the morning and reading or lollygagging on the computer or petting the kitties. If I was one of those people who worked from home, I would set up my office in my bed.

But of course, I could never be one of those people who work from home. I would get totally fired.

~~~

So, I pretty much decided I'm not riding today.

~~~

Pictures from the 2nd Annual Troy Natwick Invitational are here

Fat and Happy

2008-01-02T10:47:00.001-08:00

Elephant Nap, originally uploaded by sabinedukes.

Let the New Year's resolutions begin!

1. Wake up earlier and make the bed once in a while
2. Become a yoga fuck
3. ~~Maybe slow down on the hedonism a little~~
4. Thank him for taking care of my bikes
5. Remember to take my medicine
6. Floss
7. Erase my answering machine and clean out my inbox
8. Finish the damn kitchen already
9. Find more opportunities to dance
10. Vote

Priorities

2007-12-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

Wilder Path, originally uploaded by sabinedukes.

I have to play games in order to trick myself to ride on the road in wet wintry weather. Maybe say I am going to meet someone, or promise myself some pizza aftwerwards.

And I'll still lay in bed and make excuses and sleep in with the warm kitties.

But, if its an mtb ride in the drizzle, then the kitties and the covers are tossed aside.

Where's breakfast? I got a ride to do.

Not the Camera Phone

2007-12-27T21:20:00.001-08:00

Wilder Doorstop, originally uploaded by sabinedukes.

I am spending waaaaaay too much time in Photoshop these days. And I spend most of my time there trying to look like I am not spending any time there.

But thank goodness for Photoshop.

Back in college I would spend hours in the darkroom fidgeting with some inconsequential detail until I went either cross-eyed or broke. Usually both.

Except...photoshop is fun and all, but nothing quite captures that moment of magic when your photo is in the developer and the picture slowly appears.

Drunken Yams

2007-12-26T10:57:00.000-08:00

I lost the actual recipe to this long ago. Since i make it by taste now, I have no idea of the quantities of ingredients. All I know is I love me some drunken yams.

Ingredients -

Yams - peeled and quartered into big bite sized chunks
Orange Marmalade - the gross kind with the peels and stuff in the jam
Fresh Squeezed orange juice - fresh. Not the nasty orange juice that comes in a milk carton. You need the orange bits for this recipe.
Mace, Allspice, Nutmeg, ginger - I think those are the names of them. All those pumpkin pie, eggnog kind of spices. I just go digging around my mom's cabinets and smell the spices to pick them out.
Butter - any dish worth eating has butter. For you vegan people, pick your favorite butter replacement.
Dark Rum - Cuban rum is best because its naughty, but Myers will do as well. If you really really can't use rum (then why even read this)you will need to add some amount of brown sugar instead.
Marshmallows - please don't!! I'm not sure who first starting putting marshmallows in yams and calling it a dish, but please don't.
Optional:
Pecans, Walnuts or sunflower seeds

Put Yams, 2-3 tablespoons butter, about 3-4 tablespoons marmalade, juice from 2-3 oranges (and if you are feeling it, grate a bit of the peel in as well)and about a cup (or more!!) of dark rum into a casserole dish. Cover and bake at some moderate temperature (maybe 375?) for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Add mace, allspice, ginger etc to taste. Add more juice, marmalade, etc to taste if needed. Dish will sweeten up considerably at end.

Cover and put back in oven until yams are almost done (about one hour, you can also do all of this in a microwave for about 30 minutes)

Uncover, stir, add nuts, maybe reseason one more time, definately add more rum. Put back in oven UNCOVERED for another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and put on high heat on stove. Uncover and stir until sauce carmalizes into yummy goodness all over the yams.

Serve with a really big spoon.

We enjoyed ours with a yummy Tempranillo from the Hootch.

And Laura, I don't think we saved you any.

Recycled

2007-12-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

I've been taking my new camera out for some lunch rides. But lunch is long enough for neither, much less both.

I wasted a perfectly good lunch ride yesterday taking some pretty stupid photos of buzzards and trees.

See, I carry the equipment in a backpack. If I see something I want to take a picture of, I have to stop, take off my gloves, open the backpack, determine which lens and filter to use, take a light meter reading, calculate exposures, focus, click, look at the picture in the review, recalculate exposure, click, change lenses, get frustrated because the buzzards aren't doing anything interesting anymore, wait for buzzards to do buzardy things, finally give up and pack up camera, put on backpack, put on gloves, clip in to bike and watch as all the buzzards spread their wings and do some weird buzzard bird dance with each other just as some light breaks through a cloud and shines perfectly on them.

I might have to go back to the camphone

LIke oooze from a black hole

2007-12-20T09:53:00.001-08:00

Between work and riding and christmas shopping for myself, I have been chipping away at "The Men of Cross"

soon.....

CYA

2007-12-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

I am too soft for cross.

Cuz there's no way in hell I would have raced in the conditions they had in Kansas City this past weekend. Frost nip, crashing in icy puddles, snow ruts.

But the hardcore award has to go to the pit crews. Washing bikes in the freezing cold? I'd just cry and walk away.

Crazy.

Instead, I spent the weekend in the luxury of my own house. The only time I ventured outside was to ride over to Demo. Yes, ride over to Demo. That is what is luxurious about my house. I can ride to a place like Demo.

It really shouldn't be that way. We should have patches of earth to ride and walk no matter where we live. It wouldnt be that hard if you planned for it. And then, maybe more people would give a damn about whats happening to it. (and maybe we wouldn't be so obese)

As it is now, nature is place that people go visit. We fence off little sections of it to be traveled to and ooooed and awwwed at. Vacations planned around it and RV reservations made.

Crazy.

There's talk that we might have passed one of those global warming tipping points. The northwest passage will be clear for the first time, some thirty years ahead of when climatologists expected. And what does this alarming news inspire countries to do? Well, to fight over it of course, and lay claim to the riches such a passage opens up.

Crazy.

I'm not sure what I think of all that. Its too early on a Monday morning for such thoughts. I really only meant to talk about Cross Nationals and somehow the conversation wandered over to this. I hate when that happens. Its so sobering and grown up.

Nothing a little bike ride at lunch won't solve though.

Poofter of Light

2007-12-13T17:22:00.000-08:00

I rode by the Thomas Kincade World Headquarters today.

God is a limited edition of 15,000.

It was pretty scary. I should have taken camphone pictures, but I felt all trespassy. And all the god stuff was freaking me out. I don't know why, because churches don't freak me out. Maybe its the mix of the corporate offices with the god stuff that was messing with me. Maybe its all that use of surreal pastel.

Whatever it was, it made me glad that I work at a motocross company.

But you gotta give old Thomas some props. He is an artist (yes, I know we could argue that point) that got rich before he died of alcoholism and without relying on tshirt and watch sales to do it. Of course, there is still time for him to wreck his life with drink I suppose.

But anyhoo, Kincade bashing is too easy and not really the point. The point really was, that no one here in my office has ever seen the Kincade World Headquarters. They've also never seen the quarries that are now cute little lakes, or the turtles that live in the mud at the reservoirs, or the little old ladies that plant the flowers along some sidewalks, or the big hippo sculptures, or the bobcat that is always hanging around the model airplane field. And they've lived in Morgan Hill all their lives.

After I described the creepy world headquarters, my coworker said, "you sure see a lot of stuff while on your bike, don't you?"

Yep.

Encino Men

2007-12-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

Michael and I went down to Encino this weekend. Willingly. Well, I didn't go so willingly. I went because Michael wanted to go and he is very cute and so usually gets his way.

He wanted to go because there was a 400 lap (that is not a misprint) $10,000 (also not a misprint) scratch race on Sunday. $10,000? We could run Velo Bella for two years on that. I can think of few women's races of any kind that give out that kind of prize money. I can think of no track races. But in SoCal, money grows on trees (just like water and gasoline and nail salons) and so they can throw this kind of cash at stuff like this I suppose.

400 laps. At least the earning of that cash would not be easy. 400 laps of a track may not sound like much, unless you have ridden on the track. Everything about the track is amplified times ten. A small teeny one foot gap on the track is like a 100 foot gap on the road. And a 6 minute race feels like a one hour crit. Time on the track is time spent stuck in fast forward. So you can get out the ten key to figure out what a 400 lap track race feels like.

We headed down The Five (freeways in SoCal are proper nouns)(The Five is an abomination of a road by the way)Saturday night and clicked off the miles, looking forward to the king sized bed awaiting us in Van Nuys. Whenever we travel, we like to get the king sized bed. We are like two kids when we see a king sized bed. Two naughty doctor playing kids, but kids nonetheless.

However, just before the approach to the Grapevine we noticed a sign that said the Grapevine was closed. I think we both read it and took the same few moments to comprehend what that really meant. And thats because its so incomprehensible. The Grapevine is 4 heavily traveled lanes of traffic in each direction. Saying the Grapevine is closed is sort of like saying the state of Kansas is closed. Something that big, can't "close".

We took the exit and looked for a hotel. With thousands of drivers abandoning the highway, we thought we would be forced to spend the night in Sputnik, but suprisingly, the Ramada had a room. And it had a king sized bed!

Unfortunately, this Ramada used something nasty and caustic in their laundry and Michael spent half the night in the throes of an allergy attack of some kind. He was caughing and choking and really making a gawdawful amount of noise. I was having a very tough time sleeping. So I kicked him out of the king sized allergenic bed and he spent the rest of the night on the floor. I used the opportunity to sleep totally cross ways on the bed.

We got up early and the road was open. We discovered the freeway was closed for a whopping 3 inches of snow. But we remembered that lady in the hotel who was all pissed off because she couldn't get to Burbank and it was all the Ramada check in guy's fault and someone had to pay for this as it just wasn't fair and didn't anyone understand how important it was for her to get to Burbank who's in charge here anyway, and we agreed that closing the freeway probably saved about 87 selfish insulated lives.

We arrived at the Encino velodrome (after a quick visit to IHOP which I love because they give you your very own pot of coffee) bright and early. Michael registered and I fiddled with my new camera. Michael made some new friends. I read a book. Michael warmed up on the trainer. I ate a bagel. Michael put on his racing gear. I looked at my shoes for a very long time and wondered if I should buy another pair of Danskos.

Then I went to watch the messenger race. That was fun. They got to race with cool clothes on. The kind of clothes that wouldn't get you kicked out of a bar in Texas. I have no idea who won that race, because I was too busy trying to figure out how to get my camera to focus and taking pictures of their shoes.

Then Michael's fan club showed up. A real live fan club. They had tshirts and everything. They reminded me of Mel and that scared me a little. But they had beer and were adorable and so it was okay.

Michael's race started off pretty civilized but as soon as it wound up, I could see something was not right with Michael. I can tell instantly by how he moves on the bike. And by the the fact that he wasn't off the front.

He pulled out after about 20 laps and I saw him in the infield (through my new very cool telephoto lens) wheezing in the infield. It scared the crap out of me but they wouldn't let anyone in the infield and I couldn't do anything. So I got a beer and took pics and contemplated my Dansko situation again.

The race had a halftime break and Michael escaped the infield. Apprently, his throat was still messed up from the hotel and he had some kind of allergy or asthma attack and couldn't breathe. Pretty scary and I won't joke in this part and I hope he goes and sees a doc about it but he doesn't listen to me.

The good news was he was full of some good natured piss and vinegar from being denied a chance at a race he was looking forward to. He started a great heckling/cheering section in the NorCal seats that made the SoCal audience look like storefront mannequins.

We all had a good time the rest of the afternoon being the fans of the sport that we are. In the end, the race whittled down to five riders and Curtis Gunn won. I think. I sort of lost interest after the DeWalt tool dude dropped out.

The drive home was uneventful, except for the part where I fell asleep while Michael was sleeping.

More pics here

Adventures of Encino Man

2007-12-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Coming soon......

Shiny lights

2007-12-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

Eek, a week with no post.

Not that I haven't written any blogs, because I have. But they were all in my head. They were pretty good too. The ones in my head usually are. Its not until the reality of the words on "paper" do I realize that I am only brilliant in my own mind.

But anyway, these blogs, which were about mountain lions and nutty mud women and ridiculous yoga poses, never made it past the grey matter.

Because I have been distracted with an old wordless love.

Its time

2007-12-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

I went out on my lunch ride today, not because I felt I had to, or because I knew I would feel better afterwards, or so that I could eat a bigger dinner...but because I needed to.

As if there were no other reasonable option.

And then, riding along at the walk-like pace that I have adopted these past few months...it happened.

I wondered what it would feel like to suddenly spring cat like from my pedals. To mash power down and pull it back up. To ride the tailwind at motorized speeds.

I'm not going to push it, but, I think its almost time.

He just has to fix my shifting first...

~~~

Last week sometime, I made a dentist appointment for 8:00 this morning. I forgot all about it until Michael just reminded me this evening.

8:00 on a Monday morning? What was I thinking? I'm lucky to remember where I work on a Monday morning much less to remember something as unmemorable as a dentist appointment.

I also forgot that my mom had planned a short visit for yesterday afternoon. Michael and I were just about to drive away on some random errand when my mom pulled into our driveway. Oh, oopsie! Hi Mom.

Not that my mom and dental appointments have anything in common. They don't. Well, except for the guilt about not flossing. And earlier I was a little hard on myself for being so addled and forgetful. But I'm going to call the momma one a fluke, and the 8:00 Monday morning one was just stupid in the first place.

~~~

The camera phone was feeling spunky today

Happy Christmas to meeeee

2007-12-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

Because if I got another bike, I would explode.

Holy Diver

2007-11-29T16:11:00.001-08:00

Okay, its official. These Portland folks are crazy.

Is this what overroasted coffee and lack of sunshine does to you?

The USGP heads to Portland this weekend. Of all the USGPs this was the one I wanted to attend. They may be whacked, but those Portlanders know how to have a good time in the mud. Katie Compton is back from her European stompfest and all the heavy hitters will be there. Velo Bella-Kona will have at least 10 women competing in the Elite Women's race:

Amy Dombroski, Shannon Gibson, Barb Howe, Shannon Holden, Marian Jamison, Anna Milkowski, Kathy Sherwin, Maria Stewart, Kari Studley and Jen Tilley.

(Keep and eye on Amy Dombroski, by the way. She is only 20 years old and was 7th in the last two USGP events and earned the SRAM Most Agressive Rider Award)

But we are not going. Michael and I will probably be celebrating a cross free weekend. Because too much of a good thing, is still too much.

like a hole in my head

2007-11-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

I had a root canal today.

It really wasnt that bad. Well, except for all the drilling and banging around they do. But otherwise, it wasn't that bad.

But shhhh, its a lovely day out. And I think I can milk this one for a few precious hours of afternoon freedom.

Ouuuuuccch!

My New Love Affair

2007-11-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

He's brawny.
He's exciting.
He's dangerous.
He's got 6 inches of travel!

And he's swept me off my feet.

because sometimes you need something a little new to spice up the relationship.

Cyclowhatwhat?

BrrAAP

~~

Back in my racing days, I was never a skilled mountain biker. I was a power climber. I used to actually hope to make it to the tops of climbs with enough of a gap to not lose my position on the downhills.

I sharpened my riding teeth in the gentle hills of Ft Ord. There is not much in the way of challenges in Ft Ord, save the sand. And I can ride me some sand. But throw a rock, root or just about any obstacle in my path and I am as clumsy as a new born colt.

I remember my first out of town race. It was at Deer Park in Utah. There were roots, on an uphill and I was dumbfounded as to how to ride that shit. I walked my bike as rider after rider passed me while riding. It was unbelievable to me that anyone could ride up such nonsense.

Then I went to Master Worlds in Bromont. The course was riddled with huge boulders. The kind you clambor over to get to a nice swimming hole. Surely people didn't ride over these things. But they did. Lots of them. I flew across the continent for the event, and totally wimped out of actually racing it.

All of my rides were with cross country racing types. I was always in the back, trying to keep up. Trying not to be the one everyone waited for. So, when it came to technical bits, I would just dismount and run. Not much to be learned by that.

So it is now, that I am not racing, that I am finally learning how to ride. I am taking the time to ride just for riding's sake. I stop at obstacles and give them a few redos. I take the more difficult line. I lower my saddle to give me some courage. I take a little air out of the tires.

And the funny thing is, slowing down has made me faster.

Well, that and 6 inches of travel and a thru axle.

Funny Monday

2007-11-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

Ewwwwwww.....I so don't want to be at work today. I want the fabulousness of the past few days to continue.

What a lot to be thankful for.

I had the pleasure of riding my Dawg on Wed, Thurs, Fri AND Sat. And I got to ride it on beautiful trails with beautiful friends.

It was a long hedonistic weekend spent eating, drinking, sleeping, savoring and sillying.

Sunday was my recovery day, but I spent that doing math without a ten key, and doing math is hardly ever recovery.

The video above is my buddy Kenny. Its a good cheer me up for those of us stuck inside doing responsible things after a long weekend of debauchery.

Creating

2007-11-21T10:49:00.000-08:00

Maybe - though I do not bleed - I am wounded,
walking along one of the rays of your life.
In the middle of the jungle the water stops me,
the rain that falls with its sky.

Then I touch the heart that fell, raining:
there I know it was your eyes
that pierced me, into my grief's vast hinterlands.
And only a shadow's whisper appears,
Who is it? Who is it?, but it has no name,
the leaf of dark water that patters
in the middle of the jungle, deaf along the paths:

so, my love, I knew that I was wounded,
and no one spoke there except the shadows,
the wandering night, the kiss of the rain.

I didn't write that, of course, Neruda did. If I tried to write it, well, it would just come out all ridiculous and contrived. So I am stealing Neruda's.

I do need to create though. And not just a chocolate cake.

I have gone too long without creating, and its gnawing at me. Making me feel a little wooden and oppressed.

Speaking of which, have you shopped at Etsy? Its a kindler gentler Ebay for handmade items. Its a little hard to make your way through the millions of items, but I love the concept. And I love wandering through the creations of everyday folks.

I think I'll ride the Dawg today.

Got a good one?

2007-11-20T10:21:00.000-08:00

I'm looking for an awesome chocolate cake recipe.

You got one?

And none of this vegan crap. I want the full fledged decadence of eggs and butter!

And chocolate.

Conquering

2007-11-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

La Ruta

I once had a roommate who had done the Ruta several times. I am all for jumping into an adventure, but his stories of the race just made the event seem a bit too crazy. Mud, local knowledge, barely hanging bridge crossings, cold, heat, bad course markings, bad food....

But, even with all the hardships, my roommate had finished the Ruta each time he started it. And it was really the only race he did. Mostly he just rode his bike alot. There was nothing externally about him that would give evidence to the fact that he could quietly complete what had to be the toughest little mountain bike event there is.

I am in complete awe of the people that decide they want to do this. Sure finishing is awesome too. But the strength to say "I want to try that", when failing is such a high possibility...thats brave.

La Ruta Website (which has been overloaded and usually unavailable)
Velonews on La Ruta
Not quite Full Results

Some Ruta Blogs:
Jason Sager
MichiKO!
Mike Cushionbury
Bart Gillespie
MonAvie
Biking Bakke
Carey
Bend Elite
MTBR thread

Tube tops

2007-11-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

I used to think, that if you wanted to kill someone, and not get caught, that a scuba diving accident would be the way to go. There'd be no witnesses and well, accidents happen.

But I think I found another good way. Make them ride tubulars but don't really glue the tubulars on.

Luckily, I didn't die. Well, except for a little piece of my pride that I left up on that sandy hill.

My race strategy for this weekend was simple. Take it easy up the hill, then have a good time coming down the hill. That had been the theme of the weekend and had worked well on our mtb ride the day before. I am not feeling the race vibes at this time, so it seemed a good idea.

For the first two laps this worked like a charm. But on the third trip down the hill, just as I was entering this bumpy little 180 downhill uphill thing, I suddenly splatted on the ground. One minute I was up and the next minute I was in the dirt. I was all dumb from the fall and stuck in my cleats like a turtle, smack dab in the middle of the trail.

People I had just passed on the downhill were negotiating past me, and asking me if I was okay. I felt like the car, that had been pulled over for speeding, that all the other drivers give a tsk tsk'd "serves her right" waggle as they pass.

When I finally unpuzzled myself from the cleat/bike combo and picked myself off the ground, I discovered that my front tire and rolled off the rim. I popped it back onto the rim, and it just floated there, like it was merely decorative.

There was no glue to be seen anywhere.

During my warm up, the rear tubular did the same thing, in almost the same spot, but I didn't go down.

Turns out that neither the rear nor the front had glue. Michael informed me that "oopsie!" he had put the glue tape thingie on backwards.

oopsie?

oopsie?

I'm thinking of inviting him out for a scuba dive trip.

~~~

This race had a tequila shortcut.

There was a shortcut in the course that saved, like 20 seconds, but if you took it, you had to also take a shot of tequila.

genius.

Also be sure to read how they did the starting line thingie.

I totally want to bring a waffle maker to the next cross race too.

~~~

Our summer just keeps on keeping on. Its been in the low 80's here in Morgan Hill the last two days. Not that I am complaining, because I could do summer all year long if given a choice.

Here's the latest reservoir shot. Its all mud in this section and yet, there is still some guy fishing. I have no idea what he's fishing for in the mud. He didn't catch anything while I was there. He just sort of sat there in the mud...waiting. Someone needs to show him the tequila shortcut.

Life in the Pumpkin Patch

2007-11-08T15:27:00.001-08:00

I love all the pumpkin flavored stuff thats out this time of year. Pumpkin latte, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin empanadas, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin.

pumpkin

I went to Target today. I hate shopping, but for some reason I love going to Target. They just opened up one of those super Targets by my work. It makes me happy. I like to mosy in that Target. Today I mosied in the pharmacy section. I have to say its a pretty weak pharmacy section. And I did the blood pressure thing. I always do the blood pressure thing when I see those machines even though my blood pressure is always the same and always low. I think I like to make it go real low, and leave the display there so other people can see it and go "whoah, thats really low". They should have a permanent display for the lowest readings, sort of like the high scores on Asteroids.

I almost bought the following items at Target:

Purple yoga mat with carrying straps
Snakes on a Plane DVD

But I came to my senses on both accounts.

I did break down and buy one of those 20 Question game thingies. I thought it would be a fun thing for the office here. But I think I got the retarded version. My first word was pillow and it guessed blanket. My second word was lemon and it guessed daisy. I am going to go give it to the guys in IT.

There is a giant preying mantis outside my window. Its been there all day. I totally want to take a cam phone pic of it, but I would have to crawl through bushes to do it. I would have to crawl through bushes in front of the people I supervise. I really shouldn't do it...but man, its so tempting.

Oh, fuck it.

The Short Bus to Namaste

2007-11-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

I went to yoga last night.

I say "went to" rather than "did" because I am not sure I was actually doing yoga. I was doing something, just not sure you can call it yoga.

I live in Santa Cruz County, where people have yoga'd since birth. There are yoga studios in Santa Cruz like coffee shops in Seattle. Its second nature here. But I did not grow up here. I grew up on the other side of the bay, which is the other side of the cultural spectrum. And I was an army brat. Army kids don't do yoga. We do jumping jacks.

Not that I haven't ever done yoga before. I did it for a year, but that was more than 15 years ago. It was Kundalini yoga, a powerful and ancient yoga, taught by some american sikhs at a local Universalist Church. The whole thing was so foreign to me. The sikhs had long hair that they curled up on their heads and they wore these funny little hats and silver bracelets. Their kids could wrap their bodies up like pretzels. We said lots of "sat nams" and listened to an ancient gong and drank chai tea. This may have been no big deal in Santa Cruz, but in the conservative jumping jack county of Monterey, this was as exotic as it got.

And I was lured and lulled by the whole thing. I romanticized the sikhs, and put them on a spiritual high rung on the nirvana ladder. They could touch the backs of their heads with their feet, so they must have had answers to life's mysteries. And if I said my sat nams and drank their tea, maybe I would be spiritually enriched somehow as well.

And then, one day, I read in the newspaper how this particular family of sikhs were all busted for construction fraud in Seaside. Seaside is my people. The yoga sikhs were fuckin with my people.

And I never went back and I hadn't done yoga since.

Until last night. And it showed.

Last night was vinyasa yoga. A slower gentler yoga than kundalini and I figured I could handle that.

I couldn't.

I needed remedial help.

First I walked on the floor with my shoes on. Everyone sort of made the oh-oh face at me and I realized that shoes on the yoga floor is a big no-no. I tried to show that they were Danskos. Surely there was some sympathy for Danskos amongst the yoga set?

So I tiptoed back to the shoe taking off area and took off my shoes. Then I noticed that everyone had mats and things. I saw the mats and things spot on the other side of the room and grabbed one of everything that was there. This included a purple mat, a blanky, a purple styrofoam block and a strap that looked like it was used for something naughty.

When did yoga have so many accessories?

It started off innocently enough with Child's pose. I could do that pose all day long. I'll just lay there and drool. Except my mat smelled like cigarettes. I can think of no logical reason that my yoga mat smelled like cigarettes, but it did. We were supposed to take deep breaths, but each breath brought purple cigarette foam into my face.

I noticed everyone else brought their own mats.

They also all had their socks off. I still had my socks on. Again another big no no. They were an old pair of bella socks and one of my toes was sort of almost sticking through the end of one of them. It kept distracting me, but I was too busy with the inhaling and the exhaling to figure out how to covertly remove them.

We moved through a succession of poses that all had wonderfully descriptive names. It was a blur of dogs, snakes and warriers. Upward ones and downward ones and sideways ones. And breath.

Always with the inhale and exhale. You were supposed to move from one pose to another with one breath.

You try deciphering what the hell downward snake charmer with warrier wings means, while discreetly glancing at the instructor and the people around you to make certain you really are supposed to have your foot next to your ear, all while trying not to slip in your socks, in one breath.

I was always one or two poses behind and sometimes I would have to skip a pose to catch up. I reminded myself of my mom when she does the electric slide or the macarena or the chicken dance in a big group. She doesnt have a sense of rhythym and so she is always on some other step than the rest of the group and clapping between beats.

And just when I thought I had nailed a pose, the instructor would come over and gently "correct" me. Or she would "suggest" the use of the block, a remedial aid of sorts. That really stung. I tried not to be competitive and all, I mean its anti-yogi to be competitive, but none of the other people in our group needed the remedial block.

We finished with some relaxation and then the session was over and everyone quietly gathered up ther mats and made a solemn exit. I hung out a little to talk to the instructor (who was Sarah Kerlin by the way and I hope she doesn't read this and get the wrong idea because I loved her session). We talked about yoga and poses and flexibility and health and fitness blah blah and finally put on our shoes.

When I notice that Sarah was wearing a Vanderkitten jacket and big ass high heel shoes. Yoga teachers aren't supposed to wear big ass high heel shoes.

I'm coming back next week.

Pumpkin Pie in the Sky

2007-11-06T15:58:00.000-08:00

I should know better than to take my lunch ride at 3:00ish. 3:00ish is the most dangerous time on the roads. I think I almost got killed about 4 times within 15 minutes.

But I was determined to ride my bike no matter what. No more excuses. Not even a lunch meeting that runs until 2:30. So if I have to risk life and limb amongst giant stinky school buses that have no proprioception, then so be it.

I didn't take a cam phone pic today though. It was the same old loop so it would have been the same old picture of the same old empty reservoir.

I rode the Dawg at Demo this weekend and I don't have any pictures of that either. Holy moly it was a hoot. Michael and I rode from home and met up with Russell who was testing out some demo bikes.

There were a lot of people out there, but as is the way with Demo, we hardly encountered anyone. Except at the beginning of the descent. Some guys were about to make their way down the trail. I sort of "cut" in front of them to get to the trailhead first because I was feeling Dawg cocky. One guy got a bit offended and yelled "are you guys fast or slow?". But by the time he finished his sentence I was already shifting it into the big ring. We never saw them again.

Riding the Dawg was a blast. I was smiling so hard I thought I was going to explode. I rode so much that I was outright exhausted when I got home. I think I went to bed at 7:30 or something. And now, all I can think about is going out and doing it again.

A kitty kind of morning

2007-11-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

Me and the cats are fighting for space on the keyboard. The computer could be out all day and the cats won't give it second notice, until you start typing on it. Then, suddenly, it becomes THE place to be.

So, in honor of kitty cat mornings, here is a little kitty butt present to the kitty people.

Michael gets his hardware taken out in a couple of hours and this is the kind of stuff we do with our valuable free time while we wait.

Freekshow

2007-11-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who keeps the official records of such things, but I think we set a record for costume cross participants.

Freekshow

Now then, where were we?

2007-11-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

I rode the reservoir loop today at lunch. It was nice, even if it did take me about 10 minutes longer than normal.

Sometime this summer, I was getting bored of the reservoir loop. Its pretty and all, but there is only so many times you can ride around the same circle of land.

But I haven't ridden the loop in about 2 months, and it was refreshing and not at all boring. However, I think the hills have gotten steeper in the meantime. Maybe that earthquake pushed up the ground or something.

I almost didn't make it because I am out of practice. I almost forgot my clothes and then couldn't find my helmet and my gloves are all dirty and I forgot water. You can tell you aren't riding enough when you don't have those little organizing routines dialed.

I'll get there. I want to ride my bike now. And then maybe I'll want to train some. Might dust off the heartrate monitor. Might consider intervals at some point. But for now, I just want to remember my helmet and wash the gloves.

Halloweenie

2007-10-31T15:30:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween. It gives those who need the excuse, a reason to break free a little...or a lot.

Merchandising sets up camp, complete with marshmallows.

These are some of our seamstresses. They all made their costumes. The Chess Queen was spectacular. Unfortunately, our judges don't know a hand made creative costume from a store bought package costume (wig included!)

The clothing design department did the "Downward Spiral of Britney Spears" It was pretty funny. All of them made their costumes as well.

We did Heaven and Hell. There were two gates you could go through. We convinced our CFO to be St Peter. He didn't let anyone in to heaven. Which was okay, because heaven was just a broom closet and all the food was in hell. Thats me up there doing my gargoyle thing to those that walked in to hell.

The Call Center beat us this year, but they totally deserved it. They made their area look like a frat house and they did this Revenge of the Nerds vs the footbal players thing.

Random other shots:

Another day in hell

2007-10-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

There's an opening in our department that I have been interviewing for. I blocked out Halloween because I will be too busy to do interviews tomorrow. I am busting out the gargoyle wings and hoping to repeat my costume win from last year. So, no time for accounting stuff. Besides, gargoyles can't do math.

So that meant I had to do a few interviews today. Well, I should have blocked off today too because we were very busy making pearly gates and gates of hell with only cardboard and trash bags.

And there is cardboard and glitter and cotton batting and red crepe paper and strapping tape, and ladder and glue all over the office.

And there is my box of wigs that I brought in to help others with their costumes. And white tulle, and cheap pitchforks and, of course, gargoyle wings.

And its pretty chaotic.

But I managed to get through the day and the interviews and was about to turn off the computer when I saw a shadow from my head. Caused by the angel halo I have had on all afternoon.

I guess they go with the mammo pasties.

Was there even a race?

2007-10-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

I know I am going to get in trouble for doing a thank you thing, because in my haste and addled state, I always leave someone important out, but I gotta do it anyway....so be it.

Thank you to:

Amy Hall - for being registration queen! She is the captain of the reg ship. She also brings over lots of bottles of wine. She stays up all night making a costume and then is too busy to wear it. She makes fondue. She makes me laugh. This sport introduces me to people like her. Cross season = get to spend time with Amy

Dave Charles - stake pounder and sign maker extraordinaire.

Susie Barbor - food booth, and results, AND volunteer coordinator and Miss Mary truck driver. Susie was everywhere with the helping this year. But she learned from the master.

Linda and Erika - Kiddie Kross organizers! They even got Andy Jacques-Maynes to design the kiddie kourse. Of course, they did have to call a couple of mommies for ideas about prizes (sticky eyes!!) and helped with a smile as we pulled them to and fro all over the place.

Soni Poulson - Clinic organizer. We were a little worried that with the USGP happening this weekend, we would not have enough instructors. Soni worked her magic and we had 10 awesome instructors lined up and participants were just beaming from the learnings.

Antonio Diaz - The DJ. If you need a DJ and you are in the Monterey/Santa Cruz/South Bay, let me know and I will put you in touch with him.

Russell the Canuckian - Tireless. Russell is tireless. Again, the wonderful thing about this sport, meeting someone you might not have otherwise ever crossed paths with.

Natasha Perry - sponsor coordinator. I hate sponsorship stuff...just not my gig. I was going to give up on it this year and just hand out empty bags (well probably not, but felt like it) Natasha took over and took care of everything!! I think we had the finest one day goodie bags thanks to her. And she found our EMT within like, 45 minutes!

Tim Watson - Graveyard maker. Tim has the best decorations. And showed up before sunrise to set them all up. Thats after helping all day the day before. Our vibe wouldn't be the same without our now signature graveyard.

Steve Litvin - Expo set up. It gets crazy in the morning, and we need to keep the sponsors happy! Steve used to put on UCI CX races in Jersey, and we are lucky to have him and his great hair helping us out.

Steve Gile - I love Steven. If he weren't my best friends man, I would kidnap him for myself. He does everything and does it with the cutest sweetest smile and then asks what else he can do.

Liz McAfee - for designing and coordinating our awesome tshirts and doing it with two weeks notice! Count Triffen!

Course Marshalls - probably the ickiest job at the race, and especially when you find out last minute that a Pop warner tournament is happening in the middle of the course. The VOS team and Jen and John See came to our rescue!

Jeff Clark - make him tell you stories about the olden days of NorCross!

Our clinic instructors (who volunteer their time for this!):
Rob Evans
Kathleen Bortolussi
Linda Elgart
John Elgart
Sheila Moon
Stella Carey
Carmen D'Aluisio
Chris D'Aluisio
Mark Abele
Andy Jacques-Maynes

All the bellas and friends of bellas and VOS guys who helped set up, tear down, reg, course marshall, cheer, make sandwiches, pound in stakes, collect course tape, buy sandbags, take pictures, judge costumes, pick up cones, and make me laugh. You guys are all what makes this team so damn fun.

Racers - thank you for coming to the party, and thanks for telling us you had fun. Thats the reward right there.

Costume Crossers - 70 racers in costume cross! 70!! That makes me all verklempt. I shit you not, but I used to be the only person who dressed up at Halloween cross races, just ask Keith And Rod. And then I met Laura and make her dress up one year. I lied and told her everyone did it. Imagine her surprise when she found out we were the only two. Life is too short to not dress up in something ridiculous and race a beefed up road bike around schoolyard berms and ditches.

And to Michael for getting it and enhancing it and yet allowing it to be ours (the bellas) while helping a shitload behind the scenes. And for being so damn sexy.

And to all the photogs from whom I stole these pictures:

She cares

2007-10-26T11:48:00.001-07:00

What the Fluff?

2007-10-25T23:24:00.000-07:00

My back hurts. Its amazing how frail cycling makes you. I can ride my bike for hours or miles, but put me to a little physical work and I am a wimp.

And its only prize bag packing I am talking about.

I could never be a strawberry picker. I would just cry.

But its worth it, the prize bag packing I mean. I may be biased, but I think we have the best prize bags ever. Especially if you like fluff and silly. Not everyone likes fluff and silly, but we are velo bella and its halloween and you will get fluff and silly and you will like it.

Too much fluff can give you a headache though. I have feathers in my hair and glitter on my nose and kitty ears on my head and sparkle bracelets on my wrists, and its giving me a migraine.

You all better like your fluff is all I can say.

Squish, Splash, Smoosh.

2007-10-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

Or is smoosh spelled shmoosh?

The Squish
Yesterday was the day I rode over stuff. I rode over everything. Just rode right over it. Log? Ride over it. Rock? Ride over it. Curb? Ride over it. If it was in my way I just rode over it. The ride over shit ride.

God damn it was fun.

I thought the Dawg would help teach me some skillz. But I don't think I am learning any skillz here. No skillz are required in riding over shit.

The bike does all the work. Really. I just sit there and pedal. I don't pick a line, or lift my front wheel or shift my weight or modulate the brake, hell, I probably don't even have to look where I am going if I don't feel like it.

The Splash
And its that kind of attitude thats going to get me in trouble. I have already found myself in mini-trouble a couple of times. Once I got all over cocky about riding over logs and I tried to ride over a wet log at a 45 degree angle. I don't normally ride over logs, so I didn't know that this is a bad thing.

I fell into a puddle. That was a bummer. But it was still better than getting my boobs smooshed.

The Smoosh
I had my first mammogram yesterday. I really didn't think about the date when I scheduled it, but let me tell you, scheduling it the day before your period (guys this is where you can tune out)starts is not a good idea.

They take your boob, put a really unattractive pastie (is there a more medical term for this?) on the nipple, and plop (okay, my boob didn't really plop, but I would imagine that larger boobs would plop)the boob on a shelf attached to a big old machine.

But thats not all. There's more.

I once had a pressed flower kit as a kid. Now I know how those flowers felt.

While your boob is plopped on the shelf, another shelf comes down on top of it. And the Xray tech starts clamping it down tight. And just when you think they can't possibly clamp down any more, they clamp down some more. Fortunately your head is turned so you can't see what yor boob looks like smooshed back into two dimensions.

Then they xray tech tells you not to move. Like, where am I gonna go?

Then they do the same thing in the other direction. But that didn't hurt as bad for some reason. Maybe because all the blood had already been smooshed out of my boob.

And then they do the other boob. But by then, I was glazed over and delirious and don't remember much and it was over pretty fast.

Then the tech told me to get dressed and she reminded me to take off my pasties. (she called them pasties). If I wasn't so busy trying to pop my boobs back into shape I might have remembered that. Instead I rode over shit with pasties on.

Aaachoo

2007-10-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't ride in the rain when I have a cold

I shouldn't leave work early when there is so much left to do

I shouldn't leave work early because I am sick, and then go ride

I shouldn't ride on trails while they are still wet

I shouldn't get a brand new bike all muddy and dirty

I shouldn't be blogging about it or I might get caught

Babbling elsewhere again

2007-10-16T10:27:00.001-07:00

Free moments are being spent on the cx race. This place will have to play second fiddle for a bit. There's a few updates here that are worth checking out
http://surfcitycxnews.blogspot.com/

Have you pre-registered yet?

Halloween Party!!

2007-10-11T10:31:00.001-07:00

Surf City Cyclocross Registration is OPEN!!

Make Amy happy (because its very important to keep Amy happy) and preregister!!

Have you figured out your costume yet? Michael has a few ideas and they scare me. Soni's been sewing all summer, Laura will think of something last minute and it will be fabulous. I have no idea.....yet.

Coming soon

2007-10-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

In case you don't see me out on the track, cx race, or crit anymore....you know why.

bbbrrrr-ap!

I want to be Sheila Moon when I grow up

2007-10-07T21:06:00.001-07:00

Sheila Moon goosed me today during the cross race.

We came up a run up together and she was giggling and laughing and sure as shit gave me a good ol goose on my arse as I scrambled up the climb.

Her sense of fun is infectious and try as I might to be in a foul mood because cross hurts and makes me drool, I giggled around the rest of the lap.

And after the race, I swung by her booth to help myself to the Speakeasy keg, when I see Sheila sitting all comfy. She is surrounded by about 8 handsome men that all call themselves Sheila Moon's boyfriends. They seem to be attending to her post race needs. She is radiant and relaxed while she props up her bare feet on a nearby chair. Her toes are all painted a delightful red and Gary Fisher, adorned in Sheila's latest skinsuit, is happily rubbing them for her. As if this is but an everyday occurance.

I love cross season.

Ping me baby, ping me

2007-10-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

this is just a test of the new scribblins. Don't mind this post. Nothing to see here. Move along now.

I lied

2007-10-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

When I said that track was really hard, and maybe even as hard as cross....I lied.

Cross is still harder.

Infinitely so.

The race this weekend was like a dusty slap in the face.

Whhaaaaaack! How easily you forget, let me remind you with a little of this (SLAP!) and a little of that (SLAP!) You think your silly velodrome training can prepare you? Bah! I spit mud on your fixed gear and dribble snool on your fancy track bars. And then I show you some real suffering.

Yeah, so it was hard. Crazy hard. The course was super fun and I dug the zippyyippies on the backsection. But the barriers, the damn barriers, I had forgotten how much I hated them. Especially that one little lonely barrier after all the 180s, that barrier I had special hate for.

I can't wait for the next race.

CrossVegas

2007-09-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

This was the year I wasn't going to go, but there was an award and there was Vegas Cross.

Last night was Vegas Cross. What a wicked little course they made up. I didn't see a spot of rest on that course. I was happy to be cheering and not racing. The cheering was good.

Lyne Besette and Katie Compton battled it out in the women's race. Eventually, Lyne pulled ahead on the run up and stayed away for the win. I heard Lyne spent the summer on the track working on her power by the way.

Nash and Gould were a few behind them and a small chase group containing Wendy Simms, Mary McC and a few others hammered behind. We watched as Shelly and Rachel bridged up to this chase. Rachel fell off eventually, but Shelly hung on for an awesome finish.

Meanwhile the crowds were growing as Interbike workers and watchers made their way over from the strip. It was finally dark enough for Michael to change into the skinsuit. I wouldn't let him wear it in the daytime because that would just be wrong.

The men's race was super fun to watch because a group of about 10 battled at the front of the race. Each lap lost one, until it was finally down to Trebone, Page, some Swiss dude, and the crowd favorite, Wicks. Trebone, Wicks and Page were all agressive and alternating attacks so when Trebone and the Swiss dude got away on the last lap, it looked like Swissie's day, but Trebone took the win and looked pretty stoked about it. Winning in front of hundreds of a thousand or so people has got to be a rush.

But the real drama of the race was happening in the back. Their race over, didn't mean the suffering was. But, if they paid attention, they could score some pizza, beer or even cash. Adam Craig managed to snag a slice of pizza and was seen half a lap later making his way around the course with his hands off the bars happily eating the slice to the crazy cheers of fans.

Marian, Michael and I had a super fun time. My cheering voice still hurts. And I woke up this morning and almost tripped over the wigs and sunglasses. Ouch.

Ravenous

2007-09-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

Oh man..for like, the past week or so, I have been soooo hungry. Crazy hungry. I could totally eat over one pound of food right now.

Our cats, they always act like each time they are being fed just might be the last time. I am starting to understand how they feel.

Hun-Gree

I hope its the synthroid kicking in...otherwise I better start brushing up on my sprint.

I was hunGREE tonight after the points race too. But this time there were no brownies or cookies. But there were Cola Clif Blocks and so I ate a package of those and then felt a little ill about it. I was hoping they would remind me of gummi colas....but they were too mushy and sugary. And they weren't cookies.

Tonight was my last points race. I was sort of sad. I have a love/hate relationship with these little points races. I hate them before, and love them afterward. The love is enough to keep me coming back each week. The hate doesn't kick in until right before the start. I swear, each time, while I am on the boards, I tell myself I will only race a few laps.

But I get sucked in each time and whirr whirr whirr....its suddenly only 10 laps to go and I might as well finish the thing and get my Clif Blocks.

I didn't have a single spaz moment tonight (Unless you count me almost leaving afterwards without my bike - I don't) Natasha and I keyed off each other tonight and that was super fun. Attack, counter attack. It didn't earn me too many points, but I felt like I was able to set up Natasha a couple of times. Or at least make the boys work a little. I loved when she attacked. I hated when it was my turn.

But I did score some points (I think) and so that was nice. But bestest of all was that I scored a helmet. Larry said I won a helmet for most consistent in the series. I guess its like a perfect attendance award, or maybe..egads the sportsmanship award (I was always winning those in high school instead of the mvpish ones). But yay! I won a helmet.

I wonder if its a space balls helmet? Oh, I hope so.

(a super duper thank you to Larry Nolan for giving up his Thursday nights to run these. Low key and great workouts. I'm going to miss my silly track pals so I hope I see them at some cross races soon. And I hope they bring cookies.)

Points and Potluck

2007-09-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

My group here at work loves themselves some potluck. I love potluck too. Where else do you get such a crazy mix of foods on one plate?

Yesterday's potluck included the usuals like spinach dip, meatballs in a crock pot, and weird pasta salads you would never make at home, but it also had chili colorado, spring rolls, kahlua pork, and cheesecake.

And then there was the fruit salad that I kept going back for and getting pad thai instead.

And it was with this eccletic brew packed in my belly that I hit last night's points race.

Talk about a perfect storm.

Last's nights points race was a blast. Larry shuffled up the groups a little and kicked some folks out of the Cs. That was nice. It led to a more evenly matched group and we all had a chance to slice and dice.

We had four women in the group and I think we were by far the animators of that race. Jen loves to attack, Julie has wicked sprint speed and vision, and Natasha (in her first track event ever) can lay down the suffer!

It was also the first time I got to race with a teammate and I think thats why it was so much more fun for me. I love me some potluck and I love me some teammates. I got to sit in while Natasha was in one of her several attacks. I got to yell at her to "hit it!" and she did. I tried to protect her side during the sprints so it was harder for others to go around. It added a whole new layer of learning and doing.

I had big improvement at this race, not just in point scoring which is nice and sort of the point of the points race and all, but in being aware. I am slowly losing that crazy go fast tunnel vision and starting to be able to see around and behind me. I don't know that I want to see these things because sometimes they freak me out, but I am certainly more aware.

And I am spazzing less, although I did have my one spaz moment last night. But it was because someone came out of the pole lane into me during a sprint (a big dangerous no no) and so I think my spaz was justified. I just wish my spazz cries were more like a vicious bark and less like a wounded animal. Eeeeek!

SO anyway, we are going around and around in the points race and I am not spazzing and Natasha and I are scoring and some dude in a white jersey is chasing everything down and Julie is a sprinting phenom and Jen just wants to get away and we are all basically kicking ass, when the potluck starts making an appearance at about 20 to go.

By 15 to go I was tasting the pad thai, but disaster struck when the chili colorado made an appearance at about 10 to go. I made a huge effort at 3 to go and I thought I was going to display the potluck menu for all of Hellyer and had no choice but to back off. I was disappointed to not be in the mix on the last lap, but such is the potluck price I suppose.

It was all okay in the end though, because I won some of Jen's fabulous chocolate chip cookies and nothing calms the chirps like cookies and beer.

And I think I wanna race cross this year.

Where all the blogs at?

2007-09-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Eeek. I've been too swamped in stupid kitchen stuff to blog. How lame is that?

Lunches spent at home improvement stores looking at stuff like I know what I am looking at when really I haven't a clue. And measuring, measuring, measuring. Its a good thing I've been practicing on my quads (holding still at 62cm by the way). And websearching for appliances and stuff.

Its all really quite mundane. And when I think about it too much, so irrelevant. What with the war drums beating, and people malnourished, and ozone depleting, and human rights violated, and life so short and fleeting...worrying about the fly shit in the pepper details of a kitchen when I don't even cook seems so...wrong.

So, should I get a 33" or a 36" fridge?

Oh yeah, and I scored 2 points last Thursday.

Random Thursdayness

2007-09-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

holy moley where did the week go?

So, the Vuelta has started. Does anyone care? I would care if they would go up AngryLou again. So far though, I don't care. I just checked results, and I don't even know who the guys is that is leading it.

I think Flandria went to the Vuelta so I checked her blog for some insight or rah rah...but she crumbled it while she is away. Huh? No fair. Blogging is only good for a couple of things, and one of them is being able to travel vicariously through them.

At least I can go visit the Aussie Kewpie Dolls.

We have a roach coach that visits our office parking lot every morning and afternoon. It "honks" its squacky music horn right by my window. The morning horn is Reveille and the afternoon is the Theme from the Godfather. The Godfather one always cracks me up because its such a serious song to be tooting for tacos. The biggest indignity a song could face is to be a roach coach horn song.

Pavarotti died today (or yesterday). That makes me sad. I grew up listening to opera, but don't much listen to it now. Still, it can move me to tears, and Pavarotti was one of those who could. Opera is seldom made into a roach coach horn song.

I got a nasty case of Track Hack last Saturday. Yep, during the Saturday beginner session. It was the Aussie Pursuit. I usually get passed pretty quickly in this event, but this time I was one of the last three. Let me tell you, it sucks to be one of the last three because by that time, nothing is going to happen quickly and suffering is guaranteed. Even if it is the Saturday beginner session. Thank god Maurice finally caught me. Poor Natasha though was left to suffer for 4 more laps. Anyhoo, I got that copper taste in my mouth and about 5 minutes later was caughing and aspirating and generally spazzing out.

Track hack is not pretty.

So I am a little worried about doing Larry's points race sufferama tonight. The air here smells like burning trees and its thick with smoke from the Lick fire. Poor Coe, talk about a re ote and difficult place to fight a fire. Seems some fella at a place called "Booze Lake" started a trash can fire. 20,000 acres later....

Oh, its track time already. Gotta run.