Cal Aggie Race Report

On January 26th, I decided to race the Cal Aggie Criterium. It was my first P/1/2/3 race. For the three days prior to the race, I was hoping that the pros in the race would at least be kind enough to use some lube for the ass raping that they were going to put on the field. Also, as awesome as it was to be in the same race as them, it's January 26th... isn't it too early to be raping people? Go away. (I say that in a loving manner... sort of.)

I wasn't really looking forward to the race. The course is okay, though not the most awesome. In fact, I don't think I've ever had an awesome race there. I've had a fun time there, but I've never left that course saying, "DUDE I HAD SUCH AN AWESOME TIME!!!" Nope, it's always just been... meh.

And that's pretty much what I probably looked like before the race. I wasn't excited and I was terrified because I was racing against some pretty fast women. I should have just stayed in the 4s or something. I'd gladly take a bunch of sandbags... I have a truck; do you know how many sandbags I can fit in that thing? 

Okay, so I was warming up while Boyfriend was racing (he got 3rd in the Masters 1/2/3, by the way). Then, I took a lap after his race was over and I lined up. When the whistle was blown, I apparently forgot how to clip in. Yeah, so that was good. Good job, Kay. Good effin' job. 

On lap 2, one of the pros decided to attack and got on a break with some other super fast girls, so most of the 3s were left in in the field. And yeah... I mean, my legs are still in the building/base mode, so they didn't even try to respond to that acceleration. Bummer.

Thanks to Dale Tapley for the photo!

The good thing is that I know that I can keep up with the 3s and a few 2s. The game is totally different, though. It's more about tactics than muscle. In the 4s, I was able to muscle my way into the podium and the win. Not so much anymore. I'm going to have to race smarter, not just stronger. 

I got 10th in this race. I wasn't too bummed out about it since it was my first race in a completely new category, racing with Pros and 1/2s, and it was the longest crit I've ever done. It was a 50 minute crit. I'm used to racing 30-35 minute crits. Usually, after a crit, I can go out for a ride and get a good workout in. On Saturday, I couldn't. My legs were fried because I actually tried in this race. Which is awesome! I actually tried at something and I got a good workout at the race, but that has its issues...

I find that intelligence and length/toughness of ride have a negative correlation. The harder and longer the ride, the lower the intelligence. 

And that's kind of what happened after the race. We watched the P/1/2/3 race since a bunch of teammates were in that race and I wanted to cheer them on. After the race, the only thing I could think of was going to Chipotle to get a burrito. That's it. That's all I wanted. And I got one. 

Basically, this race pretty much kicked me hard. It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I'm glad that I'm now in a tougher category. However, I think this lady has the right idea about working out...

That looks pretty smart. 

Things That Are Not Okay 1

I have a few bunch of pet peeves. Some are funny, others are not. They're not funny to me because they, obviously, annoy me. Whatever. I'm not sure why most of the population laughs when a short person is angry, but it does... and I must live with that. Forever.

1) For the love of all that is holy, quit using "hypothesis" and "theory" as if they meant the same thing! A hypothesis is a proposed explanation. You have to test it. When you test and prove said hypothesis, then that proof has to be able to be challenged. When it's repeatedly confirmed that the results will not change, then you can call it a theory. Until then, whatever the hell you think is a hypothesis because you haven't proved shit! 

2) People who take any opportunity to talk about themselves. You know those people? When you start telling a story about something that happened to you, or about how your horse decided to be a shit head and give dirty looks to the farrier, or about the awesome race you won, those people take the opportunity to say something about themselves. 

And you know what the biggest problem with them is? They don't get it. They don't get that they're rude and the biggest assholes ever because they just don't care enough to actually listen to the social cues telling them that they suck big donkey butt. Nope. It's just about them and they're stupid 10-mile run on the sun. Hey, buddy! No one cares that you think you're awesome. You're actually not that awesome and everyone thinks you're a douche. How about you ask questions about the person who's super excited about the awesome story he/she is telling? Huh? It's not that fucking hard to be courteous!

3) When people interrupt you in the middle of your sentence. Oh, geez, I'm sorry that the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of yours. How rude of me. Please continue with your obviously more important story. Asshole.

4) While I'm at it, people who don't listen at all, or are on their phones when you're clearly talking to them. Seriously? I mean, I'm one of the biggest assholes I know and I still listen to people. It's really not that hard. You assholes. 

5) Having to repeat myself several times because people are assholes and don't listen. Do you know how annoying it is to have to say things over and over again because people are too fucking rude to listen, or keep interrupting, or are on their phones, or are just fucking assholes and need to burn in a fucking fire!? And then they wonder why I just stop telling my story. Assholes. 

6) Spiders. Or anything that looks like a spider. Things that look like mutant spiders are the worst. 

I found this picture on the internet!

No, I take that back. Hiding spiders are the worst thing ever. Or spiders that don't die after you spray them with hair spray or something. Oh, awesome, now the spider is pissed and hiding, probably plotting my death. Good thing it looks fabulous now because my damn hair spray did nothing except make it look fabulous! 

I actually don't know how to cleverly end this entry besides writing, "Stay tuned for Things That Are Not Okay 2." So... uh, here's a picture of a triangle. 

Days Off The Bike: Baking Adventures

I ride my bike a lot. It's pretty much what I do. Sometimes, I put in 19-hour weeks. That's basically a part-time job after working my full-time job. That's a lot of dedication to having a sore bum.

Like I said, I like to ride my bike.

After being exhausted and getting reprimanded by my coach for not following the schedule correctly (I guess an easy spin is not 2-1/2 hours of riding. Which I knew, I'm just as stubborn as a tired mule), I decided to follow the schedule that my coach wrote for me to the T. As in, I didn't switch days around (I made sure I worked around my work schedule so it all fit perfectly) and I mostly rode solo, which is boring and lonely, especially on my 4- and 5-hour rides. I actually followed the schedule and I was able to complete every workout and got my numbers extremely close to what my coach wrote on the schedule. I was pretty stoked, but my body was exhausted. Seriously. I pretty much had to give myself the finger for beating my body up so much. I also sent my coach an "I hate you." He knows it's all out of appreciation, but still. What the eff?

Dramatization 

I've never been so happy to see a rest day on the schedule.

With that said, however, I still don't know what to do with myself on my days off. I go to work... then what? I shouldn't ride my bike on a rest day (hurr), so I didn't. What did I end up doing? Baking.

I baked a lot.

Since I like to experiment with my baking, I decided to make some Orange Creamsicle Cookies. I had never baked orange creamsicle cookies, but I like orange creamsicles, so why not? The recipe was simple enough. I started mixing everything, put the dough on the cookie sheets, baked them, and when I opened the oven, I just...

Because this is what I got...

And these were the only ones I could salvage because I was really fucking careful when I transfered them from the cooking sheet to the plate:

I admitted defeat on this one. I didn't have time to make another batch so I just took those with me and gave them to Boyfriend and Frank (one of the bffs4eva. Shut up). Apparently they liked the crumbling mess for cookies. Alright. Men are easy to please. Noted. 

After a weekend of exhausting riding, I had Monday (today) off, so I worked, then came home and decided to bake while doing laundry and cleaning the house (shit, maybe I am becoming a woman). This time I decided to make some brown sugar cookies, which turned out to be a joygasm and a half. The recipe called for sour cream but I decided to use greek yogurt instead. Seriously, guys, joygasm.

The next thing I decided to bake was extremely experimental. I had no idea how it was going to turn out. I decided to make cookie dough stuffed brownies. It sounds awesome, right? Well, they are.

This is definitely an experiment gone right. You can see on one of them that the cookie dough is trying to poke out. Yeah... they're awesome. 

Then I decided to bake some Mac and Cheese, which also turned out awesome.

I love me some Mac and Cheese, though I used penne pasta because I didn't have any macaroni pasta but I don't care, it's still delicious. I also used up all of my shredded cheese. 

And this is what happens when I have the day off from the bike. I get bored after I get off work and start to bake. Commence operation make everyone around me fat.

Adventures in Mountain Biking

As I've said before, I'm pretty much a roadie... a roadie with the attitude of a mountain biker. One of my best friends, Asa, is an awesome mountain biker, so naturally, my mountain biker attitude eventually lead me to riding mountain bikes. I have a lot of fun riding on dirt, but just in case you've missed the entries that have described how I mountain bike, I'll give you this:

Okay, so I crash a lot. But I still love it. I really started loving mountain biking when I got the Grammo Toa. It's the best 29er that I've ever ridden. Point and shoot. I've never been so comfortable on a bike and on the trails as I am on this bike. It just naturally fits me, just like my road bike, the Grammo C3. As soon as I got on these bikes, I knew they were the ones.

Since I've gotten the Toa, I've ridden many trails, some more technical than others, and have gotten over a few things that challenged me, like going over rocks, or mounds of dirt... leaves... sticks. Eh, you get the picture. Rocks and trees jump out at you, okay? Don't judge me.

Riding the South Fork American River Trail 

Oh, sand is fun.

But, like I said, I've ridden more trails and have gone out of my comfort zone. I've conquered a lot of obstacles... literally. This bike just rolls over anything, which is awesome, because I just have to keep pedaling and steer in the correct direction. So, I decided that I'll do some sanctioned races in 2013. Sea Otter is in my sight as well as Boggs 8-hour. While I've been encouraged to do Boggs solo, I think I might do it as a two-person team. It hasn't been decided, but either way, it'll be something I've never done before and something I'm looking forward to.

The Toa makes you chronically smile

What made me decide to race more dirt? Well,
1) I have an awesome bike to do it on.
2) I got my road CAT 3 upgrade (on my Grammo C3!).
3) I want another challenge and goal.
4) It's a lot of fun!
5) Why not?

I'm getting faster, my skills are getting better, and I love it, so I'm going for it.

Of course, this means that I have to train more on the mountain bike instead of training on the road 80% of the time. Woe is me, right? It's completely different training than training for criteriums. I have the fitness, now if only I could get those trees to stop taunting me...

I'll write about my adventures in mountain biking and racing. I'm sure you'll all get a laugh at the expense of my chronic smiling and crashing... oh, and you know, tearing it up out there, both on the Toa and the C3, dirt and asphalt!

If you're wanting to try this baby out and are in the Sacramento, CA area, hit me up and we'll make the magic happen. This frame is a small, so it's great for shawties like me.

What's Up, 2013?

Another year has come and gone. Crap, dude. Everything is going so fast. A lot happened in 2012, and even though there were some pretty sad moments, the good definitely outweighed the bad. I got to learn a lot about myself in 2012. I grew a lot as a person, matured more (well...), made some life-changing decisions, and proceeded to take charge of my little dysfunctional Kasea Land.

My cycling grew like no other. My coach was freakin' awesome and guided me through it, and because of that, I was able to accomplish my goals. I'm now a CAT 3 racer who's going to get her ass kicked this year, but it's expected when a person who learned how to ride a bike nearly 5 years ago decides to race and upgrade pretty quickly. While I'm not some super star who was able to upgrade 2 categories in one year, my recent upgrade is pretty good for a person who learned how to ride a bike at 21-years-old.

I also decided not to move to the Bay Area to pursue a PsyD. While I thought it was what I wanted, and things (mistakingly, but I learned my lesson) kept me from moving, it was a good thing that I didn't go for the PsyD. I realized that I want to be a "real doctor" and get a PhD, so I'm taking the steps for that. I don't know how long it's going to take and I'm not sure if I'm going to be some old person still in school, but I'm trying. Also, if Master Plan works, it should be doable.

I'm not telling you guys about Master Plan yet. That's still top secret.

Some friendships died, while others got stronger. I'm happy to say that I have 3 very awesome friends whom I'm not afraid to call my best friends. I'm not sad about the people who have left my life, whether they chose to or I chose for them; they were lessons learned. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but this year seemed to be the "lightbulb" year for me. It's as if I actually grew up and realized that I can't be making the same mistake over and over and over again while expecting a different result each time I make the same damn mistake over and over. It finally got through my thick skull. Einstein, you were right about insanity. Though I guess I wouldn't have chosen to become a Psychologist if I weren't a little insane, right?

I guess I could officially be called educated and shit since I have a diploma. Now if only that meant that I could get a job in my field right away...

Speaking of jobs, in 2012 I became the head trainer at Coulson Ranch. Things are going pretty freakin' awesome and my riding school is going along. I have some pretty great students of all levels. I've also decided to put my psychology degree into use and teach kids with Autism on horseback, which has been a very neat journey and I absolutely love every minute of it. 

I also met a pretty cool guy who rides bikes and puts up with my weird shenanigans. That says something, right?

Overall, 2012 was a pretty awesome year. Probably one of the best years I've had. We'll see if Master Plan unfolds in 2013, what changes come, what victories, and what failures. So, what's up, 2013? I'm looking forward to your surprises.