Bike Review: Leopard TT1

Alright, so we've all been guilty at one point or another of oogling a TT bike. For newbies, some of those TT bikes can look quite awesome and fast. For more seasoned riders, some of those bikes look awesome, fast, and plain sexy. I've had the pleasure of racing the Leopard TT1  for a couple of time trials and let me tell you, that this bike is sexy.

TT riders and bikes (also: Tri bikes and triathletes) have this stereotype that they can only ride in a straight line. While we all know it's not 100% true, the stereotype is there for a reason. Not only do some people not know how to handle a bike, time trial bikes aren't known for their awesome cornering and turning. However, after getting used to the TT1 (took all of 5 miles), I was pretty impressed at how stable it is. I didn't have any of the "oh crap!" moments I've had with other bikes and I was able to descent comfortably. Bike-handling comes easy with this baby.

Folsom Bike South Canal TT

Not only does this bike handle well, it's fast and it looks good. You can't ask for much more. The bike may be a bit pricey for some people, but in this case I've found that you get what you pay for; the bike is worth it. Well built, comfortable, and steady. You don't find that in a lot of time trail bikes.

Check out the website, see if you can find a dealer or a rep near you, try one out. I assure you that you'll want one. It's a great bike. If you're in the Sacramento area, just hit us up and you can test the one in the pictures. Once you ride that Devil, you'll want it all for yourself! Feel free to drop a comment and I'll get you the info you need.





Note: Before you all go on saying that I stole these pictures, I had permission by the very talented Alex Chiu to use these pictures on this post. I wanted his water mark on the pictures so I could give him credit he deserves. Heck, check out his website and see how awesome of a photographer he is. Let's support our local photographers, eh? Thanks, Alex! We're lucky to have such a talented person in our area!

UC Berkeley Crit, UC Davis Crit and Conference Reports

Things have been up and down as far as racing. Not only do I have an injured achilles, my legs have decided to stop working. My calves, especially the left one (the side of pretty much all of my injuries), developed huge, horrible knots. My legs, specifically the calves, were tender to a simple touch. Weird. So, I took time off (per coach's orders). Was I happy? Not at all, but considering how crappy the Land Park Crit and the UC Berkeley Crit went, I listened. Why were they crappy? My legs were in way too much pain to be able to do anything.

The good news is that the knots are getting smaller, but not after a lot of painful softball rolling (the knots were so bad that the foam roller wasn't doing a thing), stretching, and heat/ice therapy. Since I've been doing that and after my mandatory rest, my legs have been pain free. In fact, the smaller the knot in my left calf, the less my achilles hurts. It makes sense if you think about it. 

I decided to skip the UC Davis road race on Saturday, April 7th. I rode with my old teammates from Team Revolutions instead. It was a good choice. I haven't felt that strong on the bike in a long time! I kept up with very strong riders, one of them even said that it was the strongest he has ever seen me ride. Awesome! The ride went so well that I had to text my coach right after it was done. Finally a good ride. 

I raced the UCD Crit on Sunday, April 8th. I was nervous because the fear of my legs going back to that painful, ugly state lingers. After a horrible warm-up where everything was going wrong (Garmin taking a poop, cable going slack, etc), I checked out the very technical course and lined up. The turns were tight; one was a 90 degree turn, the other a 120 degree turn. This was a "test" race, in which I just wanted to see if my legs would respond. I took off on the first 6 laps to drop the weaker riders so that the turns would be less crowded. From what I saw, it worked. I didn't get much rest, I just did a lot of the work and kept going. I got a prime and 5th place in that race. Not bad for having such crappy legs. Several of the girls said that I would be winning if I had teammates helping me. Maybe. It is what it is. 

I went to conference hosted at UNR. On April 14th, I raced 2 crits, USAC and Women's B. The course was a lot of fun, with a little hill and a lot of freakin' elevation. That's what got me. Touche, Reno. You got me again with your 4,500 feet of elevation. I got 3rd and a prime in the USAC crit, representing LeadOut Racing, which got me a lot of goodies. I've never won so much stuff in a crit before! I won't be buying shot blocks for a while (yay!). The Women's B collegiate crit was later that day. It was fun. I got 8th in that crit. My legs were pretty tired. I've never raced 2 crits in a day before. Pain and fun all in one package. I'm glad I did it.

The UNR Conference road race was on Sunday, April 15th. Pretty much a climber's race. We went out and I kept up with the main group. Awesome. Last year I got dropped on mile 12 of that race. I attacked at some point and was able to keep a solo break away for a few miles. I got caught on the climb, the girls gave me kudos (since my attack was the cause of the main group dropping the most dangerous rider in our division), and we kept on riding. It was a lot of fun being able to keep a breakaway for a while; I've never been able to do one! So, hey, I was happy. As we were climbing, we crossed paths with UCSD that dropped out of the race and were just riding. One of the girls had cookies, so her teammate turned around and gave us all cookies! It was funny, awesome, and made for a fun and great race! That doesn't happen often (haha!). At the harder part of the climb, a Davis girl and I got dropped, so we rode in together. My legs definitely felt the weekend (but no pain like before, just the good kind of "burn"), but that was the goal: to race my legs into uselessness. Davis and I chatted while we finished the race and she said that the whole Davis team likes me and and thinks I'm a great rider. That's awesome to hear! We crossed the finish line. I got 8th in that race again, which got me a 9th overall in the Women's B devision in our region. I consider that good since I hardly went to any collegiate races. 

Awesome thing about Conference is that our sponsor got us an RV, so we were able to stay at the race sites! How awesome is that!? Lucky that we have such an awesome sponsor! He also bought us a nice dinner and lunch. CSUS got spoiled! 

This is my last collegiate season. I'll consider it a successful one getting top 10 in my region while hardly racing and being injured. I had a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll be able to stay involved as the team grows as an alumni!

Stanford Collegiate Race

I'll start off by saying that in the preceding 2 weeks before this race, I had been on the bike for 2 hours. Why? My body was pissed. I'm not really sure what happened, but I wasn't feeling well at all. Coach said overtraining and stress. Probably. That week was academically (plus more) stressful. So, after experiencing much dissonance and externally justifying why I should go, I went, even though I knew it was stupid, hence the dissonance I felt. Two teammates and I left Sacramento on Friday evening.

Stanford Road Race, March 3rd

The road race didn't start until late morning because Stanford schedules the TTT first. Awesome. We got to sleep a little more! We all got ready and headed to Hollister, where the race was basically an out and back... because it was a climb. Eh, we all know how well I climb, so I knew I'd probably get dropped wherever the grade got steep. As we kept racing, I stayed with the group (17 girls). I actually stayed with the group for most of the race, until we reached the climb and I got dropped with a couple of other girls. We kept riding, got to the turn around, and the group was maybe 30 seconds ahead. Basically, I didn't climb as poorly as I thought. I saw a few of my teammates coming down as I was riding to the turn around point and everyone looked great! One of the Men's D was ahead of the field on a break, so it was great to see.

The way down, there were a few sketchy areas, but nothing too horrible. I was working with a Cal Poly girl who was all over the place. She's nearly caused several crashes and is constantly being told off in the field since the girls get pissed off. She then stopped working and just sucked on my wheel. I eventually got annoyed and said, "Hey, Cal Poly, if you're going to suck on some wheel, at least do some of the work."

I finished 8th out of 17 girls. Surprised me, because I suck on climby races and, oh right, I had only ridden 2 hours, on a trainer, the 2 weeks prior. Whatever. I'll take it. I didn't have a sprint at all, but I was able to finish in a decent spot.

We all got together and chatted. Brandon, our Men's D, won the race... by 20 minutes! The guys in the B, C, and D categories had strong finishes as well. We went to get lunch and came back for the men's A race. We waited, chatted, goofed off, pretended we cared about school work, sort of napped, chatted more, and then we went to the finish line to see the end. We saw the women's A finish, and then a solo rider a few minutes after them. We realized he was wearing a CSUS kit! Chuck, crossing the finish line all suave-like won the A's race by 40 seconds. The other 2 A's finished strong as well! It was great! 2 wins for CSUS!

We went to a different hotel in Morgan Hill, ate, chatted, and went to bed for the crit the next day.

Stanford Crit, March 4

We woke up way early to go to the crit, which was held at the Specialized business park. It was pretty awesome! Specialized opened for the event. The D's went first, then the WC, then the men's C, which was pure carnage. A 35 minute race turned into over an hour. Two guys got taken away in an ambulance, one of the crashes happened right in front of me. Psyched me out. After all of that drama was over, the Women's B started. We all made a point of not being douche bags and race intelligently.

The course was fun. It was flat and fast. I was stupid and stayed at the front too much. Oh well. We had a good race. Nothing out of the ordinary happened except a few attacks, but those were just fun and made the race interesting. I got 8th again. No sprint at all. If I at least had a sprint in me, I would have been able to get a better placing. No idea what's wrong with my legs, but it's just not there. Oh well. Hopefully things get better after this. Still not bad considering I wasn't on the bike very much.

We hung out for a bit, chatted, did whatever road racers do before a crit. One of our A's said, "The secret to winning is to have no one in front of you when you cross the finish line." Oh... noted! I'll keep that in mind next time my legs say, "gtfo."

We stayed for the rest of the races. Men's B was fun and we had 4 racers in the Men's A. Solid finishes for all of them and it was a lot of fun seeing them get organized. I'm pretty sure one of them got top 5.

After the A's race was over, 2 of my teammates and I left. A few teammates stayed to do a second USAC crit. The rest of us went home to sleep.

It was a fun race. I'm glad I went through with it. I was able to ride the Monday after the race and felt pretty good. Hopefully my body's mojo is back and I'll be able to train better for the Berkeley race next weekend!

This picture is compliments of one of my teammates, who came up with new lyrics to the song Low by Flo Rida. "Apple bottom bibs, boots with the fur, she had the whole bike race looking at her. Baggy sweatshirt with the Grammo in all black, on the first climb she threw down an attack. Next thing you know, 1k to go, shawty unleashed a sprint and got low low low." Thanks, Matt.

Cal Aggie and FSU Collegiate

On January 28, a bunch of LeadOut Racing riders went and raced the Cal Aggie criterium. My teammate Asa and I participated in the women's 4 category, a few friends rode the Cat 4/5 masters, and many rode the E3's. I was so nervous that race that I was actually shaking at the start line. Since my achilles injury, I've been nervous that I won't be able to ride as well. My sprint isn't fully there . Asa had to actually smack me and tell me to knock it off. Hey! I couldn't help it... I was nervous. The whistle blew and we started the race. While we were riding the first lap, we saw quite a bit of sketchy riding (we're 4's... we're going to see lots of beginners. Hey, at least they're out there!), so Asa looks at me and says, "We're going to the front for the first couple of laps." So we did. We rode through some of the s-turns that this course had, some girls got a bit catty, we raced. Over all, it was a good race. Like I mentioned before, I don't have my sprint back since my injury, and I had a pretty lame one at this race, but I rode hard enough to get 7th place. Asa got 5th.

It was pretty awesome having a teammate and having some tactics. I know that pretty soon, Asa and I will have enough tactics to help each other win races! The Cat 4/5's did great. Our E3's took the win! It was a good day for LeadOut Racing. A really good day.

On February 11th and 12th, I switched gears and raced for CSUS at the Fresno State University collegiate race. I decided to upgrade to the Women's B this season, since it's my last season racing for CSUS, so this was my first race as a B. The road race was on the 11th, and it was the Madera road race part of it. The official told us to respect the roads because he doesn't want to lose that course for the Madera Stage Race. I told him, "We're ladies! We listen to rules, don't worry."

"Oh no," He said. "You ain't ladies. As soon as that jersey comes on, you're women. You can be ladies after the race." Touche. And we hear the whistle.

On the course description, they said that there was a 2.5 mile "rough" section. Rough my ass. There was hardly any road! We rode through it, felt fine, we all worked together. On the second go around in that section, my achilles practically gave me the finger. I decided to sit back, go into an easy gear, and the race was over for me. I crossed the finish line, but not in a very good placing. I didn't want to risk injuring my achilles even more because of one race.

The race had me really frustrated. Really? After a year and a half, my achilles still hurts this much? I stretched, did what I could, and relaxed. I wasn't too hopeful for the crit the next morning, but it is what it is.

On the 12th, we all got ready to race the crit. It was a fun, flat course with a few fun turns. We took a couple of laps before our race, lined up, and started our race. We had 4 primes in a 35 minute race, basically, every other lap. On the second lap, we had a prime, and I decided to sprint a bit. I basically wanted to play a bit. The girls definitely wanted to put a race on after that. I got second on the first prime, Stanford got first. The Stanford women's team had great teamwork going on. They knew how to block, lead out, and work together. It was great. So I started to follow them. I needed a wheel for the last couple of laps, so I used Reno and Stanford. At the last lap, I was about 10th wheel, sprinted at the end, and took 4th. Not bad for having an achilles that was hurting like no other the night before.

I went by my teammates after I took a cool down lap and a couple of the Stanford girls came by me and said, "Hey! Sac State, you're a powerhouse!" Dude. Awesome. One of my teammates told me that the Davis girls were giving me kudos, and on the cool down lap a couple of the Berkeley girls told me that it was good racing with me. It was a good race for me.

My achilles has been hurting the past 3 days. I'll get on the trainer tomorrow to see if I can start back up on my training. Hopefully I can.

Here's a video that one of my teammates took of our race:

Our next race is Stanford. The road race will be a killer, but the crit looks like another fun one. Here's to my achilles feeling up to it!

Celebration, Love, and Happiness: MCA Hi Impression

Many people take a long time to find something they love. A passion. I never realized how hard it was to find a passion because I was lucky enough to find one when I was 13-years old, the age I started to ride horses. At 14-years old, I stumbled upon the love of my life. Did I know it at the time? No. Like many say, "It just happened."

I had been hunting for a horse for months. After seeing many horses and none of them being a good fit, I was getting disappointed. On Christmas day of 2000, I decided to check out the Equestrian Connection (I still have the magazine!). I saw an ad that simply said, "Six year old gelding. 15.1 hand, grey, very gentle. Would make good kids horse. $1500/obo. Others available." My dad called that Christmas morning, guy said, "Well, we're not doing anything. Come over." They were located in Bangor, CA, about 2-1/2 hours away from Sacramento. Since my family and I celebrate Christmas eve, my parents decided that it would be okay to take the drive over to see this horse. Why? I'm not sure, but we went to go see him.

When we got there, they had a huge 20 acre pasture filled with beautiful Arabian horses. We kept looking at which horse was the 6-year old gelding I was there for. More and more horses came by to greet us, all very pretty. I was getting excited! We stepped into the arena and saw a little bay mare. Ummm? Then, I saw him. I swear he had to be the ugliest thing on the property. He came over to greet us with the derpiest of derp faces I've ever seen in my life. He looked red because he had rolled in the arena, which had red dirt in it. Oh man. Are you kidding me? Nope. That was him. Mac.

I didn't even ride him. But for some reason, we got him. We went back to their house and I signed the papers. My first "big purchase" as a 14-year old. I was freaking the hell out.

We picked him up on the 28th. He wouldn't get in the trailer. Crap. So it starts now, huh? We eventually got him in and we went back to the barn... and he freaked. Which made me freak. I just made the biggest mistake of my life!!! He heard a helicopter, he freaked. He saw the pig, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?!?" It was pretty much a disaster.

I put him in the arena and he rolled. And rolled. Then he rolled some more. I longed him and the dumbass fell. Great. I gave him a week to get used to the place. After the week was over, I put a saddle on him and the first thing he did was take off and buck. Awesome. A friend who was more experienced than me rode him first, and besides a few spooks, he was fine. I got on him and survived my first ride.

I was at the barn every day after school. The more I rode him, the more comfortable I was with him. A lot of girls get a very nice, bomb proof first horse when they're young. They fall in love with it, show him, ride him, then sell him to another young girl who will repeat the process. Their horses become that first crush and for many their first love. Not me. I hated that asshole of a horse I got.

He ran me over, kicked me, bit me, bucked me off at least once a week, took off on the trails, went back to the barn once without me (thank the gods he didn't get hit when he crossed Auburn-Folsom Rd!), stole my food, stole tools, broke 4 halters in the span of a week, bit me more, pulled in the trailer (he has scars from that day), and so on. I absolutely hated that jerk. It got to the point where I actually had to have a stud chain and a whip with me to control the damn thing. The first year of owning him was hell. While I loved to go to the barn, the shit-head wouldn't let me catch him. It actually took me an hour and a half once to catch the ass because he kept running away and riling up the other horses in the pasture. He made me cry so many times that year that I lost count. In fact, I lost count of how many times he bucked me off because it was getting depressing. I wanted that horse gone. Shot, dog food, glue, a purse. I didn't care. I hated him. Our first show was an absolute disaster and after lots of tears and almost getting killed by him, I was able to go into a couple of classes and survived. That was that.

I'm not sure what happened, but after 18 months of owning asshole-horse, something clicked. It was as if it was overnight. He bucked, I stayed on. He ran me over, I disciplined him and he listened. I was able to catch him in under 10 minutes. I took him on the trail and I stayed on. I even went on a show and got the Championship due to all the classes we were placing and winning in. What the hell happened?

We kept winning, we kept succeeding, and we kept improving. Our relationship was getting to be amazing. I'd go to the barn, he'd greet me at the gate. He no longer bit, kicked, or ran off from me. He'd load into the trailer just fine. We were becoming true partners... best friends.

A few went by and many people told me that I would eventually sell him. It happens to everyone's first horse. They give you the miles they were meant to give you and then they get sold to do the same to another person. That didn't happen. I got plenty of outstanding offers for him, especially once he started Dressage and jumping. A 3rd level Dressage horse that can jump 3'3" and is safe for kids and looks good? Hell yeah! People were all over that. But I wasn't all over their offers, even if they were more than generous. He was my buddy and I loved him to death.

More time went by. I was absolutely in love with that horse, and he had the same attachment to me. I'd go on vacation and the people who'd be horse-sitting him told me that he wouldn't eat. The little shit missed me! I'd go back to visit him after my vacations and he'd start whinnying and bucking to the gate. Those moments told me that we'd be best friends for life.

He's done a lot for me. He went from being the "fucker horse" that I absolutely hated to being the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't know how many of my relationships with boys that horse ruined because when the boys would say, "It's me or the horse" (or a variation of that) I'd respond with, "The horse." And why wouldn't I choose him? This horse has been the only one that has been there for me no matter how hard times were. Any time I needed to cry, he'd have that neck around me while I sobbed into his shoulder. Any time I was happy, I'd go over and we'd have a fantastic trail ride. No matter the occasion, he made it 100 times better.

On July 2 of 2011, he went lame after a limited distance ride. He hasn't recovered since then and I recently made the choice of retiring him from any competition. If he recovers from his injury (torn suspensory), he'll only be doing fun trail rides and easy rides. His competitive years are over. He's my buddy. I owe it to him to keep him happy for the rest of his life.

This horse has taught me so much in the 12 years that I've owned him. He's taught me what never giving up is and what persistence and dedication are. He's taught me the meaning of hard work, compassion, heart break, victory, failure, patience, disappointment, commitment, loss, friendship, and what unconditional love is. I don't think that I would have learned what any of those things were without him. He taught me that in any relationship, you have to be willing to put in the work to make it last. That's exactly what we did.

Today, January 25th, marks Mac's 18th birthday. I bought him when he was a month shy of being a 7-year old. He's taken me through countless show and endurance miles. He's taught me that I can love and trust. He's never pushed me away when I needed someone the most; he's always had that big neck around me when I'm feeling as if nothing could lift my spirits up and he's there when I want to celebrate a victory. He's never failed to be the best friend I could ever ask for, he's never turned his back on me, and he has showed more love than I could ever imagine seeing. He's my best friend.

12 years together and it's been a blast. I'm looking forward to many more. My future right now is going in so many different directions and while I'm scared senseless about where it's going and how I'm going to go through with it all, I can trust that Mac will be there for me, waiting for me if he can't move with me, and will be happy to see me when I return.

Here's to my best friend, my partner in crime, and the love of my life; MCA Hi Impression.

Where's the Fun?

We all train. We go hard, go fast, or go home. Sometimes we forget why we enjoy cycling so much. Yes, riding and training is the goal for those who race. We hire coaches, keep our bikes in top shape, race, train some more, etc. We forget why we started riding bikes.

When I first started cycling, I never thought I'd be racing. That was never my intent; never my goal. I never thought I'd be racing for my university or an amateur team. I got a bike to go out, get good exercise, and have fun with some friends. But when I saw some racing, I thought, "Hey! That looks fun!" (No, my competitive self didn't have anything to do with this... okay it did!) I started training to race. Got a bit faster, got better bike-handling skills. I was terrified when I did my first criterium but at the same time, I got addicted. I became a crit slut.

It eventually gets old, though. All this seriousness and hard training; body gets tired, the mind gets exhausted, and it's no longer fun. It becomes a chore. I don't like it when my passions become a chore, so I looked for suggestions on how to get out of "the funk." I got rest, cross train, rest some more, swim, run, so on and so forth. The best suggestion I got was, "Go on a stupid slow ride with some friends. Just go out and goof off." And it worked.

On January 18th, a few friends and I went out to ride some dirt. I finally have a mountain bike and I was able to go out and have some fun, even though I was (still am!) extremely rusty. We went out at an easy pace. I did a lot of sections I used to be terrified to ride without thinking about it too much, which surprised me. It came back! It was the distraction that I needed. Rocks, roots, more rocks, crash, sand; things you don't see on the road. We even went out to the beach and rode our bikes through the sand and some of the little dunes that are on it.

As you can see and hear from this video, we were having way too much fun. Laughing, joking, laughing some more. It's sometimes what we need to get the fun back into a sport we're so passionate about. Sometimes this is what we need to do to kickstart some intense training.

This blog can also be found at http://www.ozarksbiketrails.com/

Hammerin' Wheels Holiday Ride

The day after Christmas, my friend Nathan and I went on a ride with the Hammerin' Wheels. The group was meeting for a 41-mile base pace ride on some hills. Perfect for me, right? I get to hang out with people and ride at an easy pace because we all know my gimpy self can't take anything else.

We met up at Vic's Market. The group was pretty big and there were riders of all levels. We headed out; I was in the front part of the group. After about a mile or so, I heard a lady scream and down she went, taking another girl with her. She had rubbed her front wheel on Nathan's back wheel. What did we learn? Protect your front wheel! I know this is just an easy paced, social ride, but we have to pay attention. Both of the ladies who crashed got up and got back on their bikes. This is when I decided that I was going to stay in the front of the group... pretty much a repeat of the Dunnigan Hills Road Race, only this wasn't a race.

We kept on going through Granite Bay and went up Sierra College. Even though I've lived right behind the first section of Sierra College, I had never climbed it. Up we went. I kept it at a moderate pace since my achilles and knee were still kind of iffy. I taped them up, which seemed to be helping on the ride. After the hill, we kept going for a bit more, down the hill (in which I went by pretty fast because we all know I love going downhill) and we regrouped.

We took off and headed towards Sierra College #2, which I climbed the week before this ride. I climbed it a bit better since my achilles or knee weren't hurting as much. Actually, my achilles was great; it was my knee that was giving me a few issues. Didn't matter, I kept riding. For being as out of shape as I am, I didn't climb too poorly. Regroup. Down English Colony. I was keeping up with the lead group.

We then stopped at a little coffee shop in Loomis; Wild Chicken Coffee. Cool little place. People were getting food and whatnot. We stayed there for a while. Then, a group left and Nathan and I decided to follow. Went through a bit more of Loomis, Newcastle, and the surrounding areas and then hit Auburn-Folsom Rd. The lead group consisted of a few guys and me. As we kept the pace line going, I started to get tired. Ugh! I started to get frustrated. How can a stupid injury get me so out of shape!? Went to the back of the group and a guy in a Ventana jersey says, "Don't fade. Hang in the back of the group!" That gave me enough "go" to stay on. The group kept going, got a little faster, and since I'm just getting back into riding consistently and whatnot, I saw a 6'2" target, sprinted to get behind him, and pretty much got a free ride. It's good being short sometimes! He caught us back to the guys who had gotten away and we all rode together. There were about 7 of us at the end. We were the first to finish the ride and I was the first chick. Dude, that pink bike makes me feel pretty bad ass!

Later on, people asked me if I was the one with the lead group. It's pretty cool getting recognized, even if I'm in poor shape. And people loved my bike! It's awesome being on an eye-catching bike. The base pace ride we had planned turned into somewhat of a hammerfest, which was fine with me. My achilles didn't bother me at all. My knee felt pain, but it wasn't as bad as it was the week before.

Some of the moping went away. You know, the whole "I feel sorry for myself because I'm hurt and this sucks and all of my friends are doing epic rides and I can't because I'm out of shape someone call the whambulance for me." Am I still mopey? Yes, because being injured sucks and having to have self-control sucks even more, especially when friends and teammates are doing awesome rides, but it'll get there. I'm pretty content with this ride. I'm doing something right with my healing. For now, I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I'll be in good enough shape to do some epic rides soon, I just have to play it smart and not hurt myself again!

How to End a Great Season, LeadOut Racing Style!

The end of a season is always a bummer. Many racers look forward to these events. I know I do and I don't even race, I only volunteer!

The last race of the season took place at Laguna del Sol in Wilton. A beautiful resort with a pretty hotel, a fun restaurant, cool trails, camping, hot tubs, pools, nice residents, and clothes are optional.

Yup. You read that right!

LeadOut Racing was the hosting team for this last race, and boy did the season end with a bang! LeadOut definitely knows how to throw a party. On Friday, a few of us went to Laguna del Sol to set up the course. Lovely day for being mid-December (Uh, hello temperatures in the 60s!). While there weren't very many of us, we all worked hard and worked fast and got the course set up. Asa, the course designer and team bad ass, asked me, "Are you having fun yet?" This was the first race I've ever helped set up. I usually only work registration. I, of course, was having fun since I'm a volunteer slut. Hey, if you're going to be a slut, might as well be the clean kind.

I'll admit, it was a long, long day. But it was also a lot of fun. Working hard with a bunch of people you enjoy spending time with makes it less of a chore. By the end of the day, we were all hungry. We were all hanging out in one of the hotel rooms, chatting, relaxing and stressing out simultaneously, doing some team bonding (more on this later), when Gene came with Thai food. We were all really hungry, so as soon as we got our food, it went dead quiet. Nothing but nom nom nom could be heard. Yup. We were that hungry.

After we were all happy from full bellies, some beer, and a shot of tequila (which I still drank even though tequila and I have been fighting for a few years), we all decided that it was time to go into the hot tub. While I know I said that we were at a clothing optional resort, clothes are not optional to get into the hot tub. You're either nekked or no hot tub for you. So, we did the natural thing, dressed for the occasion, and got in the hot tub. We give team bonding a new meaning (get your mind out of there; it was just hot tubbing with birthday suits). We chatted, we relaxed, chatted more about the race, pruned up, and then decided to call it a night. I pretty much passed out as soon as I hit my air mattress.

6am came by pretty quickly. I didn't want to get up after my alarm went off, but Frank decided to start yapping so I had no choice but to get out of my cozy air mattress and get ready to work for the day. Got ready, got girly, and out I went to the registration tent. To add to the ironic lulz, the heater at registration was frozen. Everything was frozen. I took one of my blankets out there because I was way too cold. The chairs were frozen, the grass was frozen... I'm surprised my hair wasn't frozen (but that didn't happen because I had my bran new LeadOut beanie!). After we got the heater on, the chairs thawed out, and the computers set up, we started registering riders. I was surprised at how many riders were already lined up to register! Jessica, Dee, Steven, and I were the first to work registration, which is always fun working with them.

The races started, people came to say hi, to register, to talk, to be awesome, etc. I got so many hugs, but that always happens. I love hugs, people know I love hugs... Maybe I'm just huggable! More races, more registration, trained some of my teammates on registration. Awards came and I was volunteered to be the podium girl. Lots of fun. The guys got a medal, swag bag, a beer from Buckbean Brewing (one of LeadOut's sponsors), and a kiss on the cheek! The ladies got the same thing, but a kiss on the cheek from two of our LeadOut Racing guys! (I volunteered the guys to be podium boys. Hey, girls! I'm lookin' out for you, too!). (photo taken by Brian Joder)

As the day went on, more races, more podiums, and more fun went by. The Men's A was our last "official" race, but the fun wasn't over. After the race, we decided to have a naked race. Oh yes. One lap around the course. No barriers since, you know, ouch! I was lucky enough to be the MC for the race, and I had a blast. I've never announced anything before, so I took the chance to have fun with it.

Racers started to take their kits off, some people left, many stayed, some racers who didn't race the naked race took their clothes off. We rolled with it! We lined up the racers and Gene told me we had 2 minutes to start. I announced it and the 13 racers said, "What!? You just want to see us naked!" After some laughing, Gene gave me the go ahead and I sent the riders on!

Announcing the race was too much fun. I tried to be as entertaining as possible for the spectators and encouraged a lot of cheering. We could hear that people were cheering, very loudly, from across the lake, which I figured were the residents. I found out later that yes, the residents were having a blast with the race! How awesome is that!? I told our racers/spectators, "If we can hear them then cheer loudly enough so they can hear us!" The cheering got loud! The lap went on, people kept cheering, and every time I announced for them to get loud, the cheering got louder, and louder, and louder! It was the perfect way to end a race; people were happy and genuinely having fun! It couldn't get any better. Everyone was all smiles, laughing, and having a good time. The winner of the race got some pretty sweet prizes. Hey, if you're gonna race naked, you're gonna get some pretty sweet stuff! People came up to me and told me that we know how to put on a race and that they had fun. One person even said we put on a "class race"! (Photo by Brian Joder)

After the naked race, we did the Men's A podiums, tore down some of the course, and then went to the club house to do the overall podiums, raffle prizes, and had some fun. Everything went well there. We had some pretty awesome prizes. After that, staff went to the restaurant and had some dinner. Residents kept coming to us and told us that we put on a great race and that they were inspired by us. They want us to come back with a race next year... and to visit between races! Compliments kept piling up and people seemed grateful (this is the best word I can think of for how happy they seemed then they came up to our table to talk to us) that we put on the race there. Too awesome for words. This race was definitely a success.

LeadOut Racing is a couple of months old and has already made a name for itself. Guys, we should be proud of the race we put on, the way everything was handled, and the way everything turned out. People know who LeadOut is now, and I think we showed them that even though LeadOut is a new team, that doesn't stop us from being a great team. Spectators and racers were very happy with the race. Respect, LeadOut! Respect!

And check out that spiffy beanie!

(Photo taken by Brian Joder)

First LeadOut Racing Group Ride

LeadOut Racing had a ride the day after Thanksgiving. Hey, we all ate/drank too much and needed to do something to help those who felt guilt (I felt no guilt. I love food!). The ride was a no-drop ride around Folsom Lake. It's about 55 miles and quite a bit of climbing.

Thank you, Strava, for saying I climbed at a wooping 8 watts up Zee Estates.

There were 10 of us. Frank, Asa, George, Pako, Stuart, Jessica, Mike, Charles, Tony, and me. We met at coffee republic, took pictures, goofed off, and headed out. We climbed at a nice, easy pace, waited at the top of the bigger climbs, goofed off, rode some more, goofed off. See the pattern?

It doesn't really matter how "easy" of a pace you ride Folsom Lake Loop; it's still a bitch. You have to climb out of some pretty good hills. Either way, the company, the jokes, and the fun made the climbs a lot easier than they usually were. Not only that, I have an awesome bike now! It's great when you have a bunch of riders who are out there just for the fun and love of the bike. LeadOut is a bran new team (maybe 6 weeks old) and it's already proving that it can bring cyclists together - cyclists who want to have fun.

These are the kinds of rides I live for. The ones where you get together with a bunch of friends and have fun. You get to know your teammates, make new friendships and new training partners, you learn new things from the experienced riders, and so on.

I found myself getting tired of the bike. I didn't want to go out as often because the fun was fading. Riding with LeadOut has re-sparked that fun and helped me remember why I love being out there, whether it's suffering up a climb, riding 10 miles of dirt on my road bike, or riding in the rain and getting soaked.

It was a great first group ride for LeadOut. I can't wait to get our kits and start racing and representing out there! I'm going into 2012 with a lot of changes: new bike, new team, new training, and a whole new attitude!

Thanksgiving Riding

On Thanksgiving, I decided to head with Frank and Asa to the annual Turkey Day Ride. I've never done this ride before, so I was pretty excited. Rain was on the forecast. I rode The Diva (my Grammo) even though there was a possibility of getting yucky. That's what soap and water are for.

There were about 100 riders who gathered around. We all chatted, did whatever people on bikes do before a ride, then we headed out. From what I've heard, there weren't as many riders as other years. Roadies see a little rain in the forecast and chicken out. Me? Well, I'm a roadie, but I hang out with mountain bikers; I'll never hear the end of it if I chicken out due to some rain.

On one of the first stretches, a herd of horses were running with the group. They'd gallop with us, do a circle, check us out, gallop with us again. It was a great game and an amazing sight to see! These are the kinds of sights that make cycling so worth it.

We kept riding until we reached the market in Rancho Murietta. I learned that there was a dirt section. Out of 100 or so riders, 9 decided to do the dirt section, and I was one of the dummies who went. Why? Again, I hang out with mountain bikers, I would never hear the end of it if I had bailed. Ever.

I've never done any dirt riding like that, especially on a road bike. It was pretty scary. Yes, I'm a huge wuss. There were some pretty slippery parts. On one section, Asa and Frank slid in front of me on some mud. Cue Asa's, "Weeee!" I went after them, cue my, "EEEEK!!!" Yes, Asa and Frank laughed at my terror. But I stayed up. The road was bumpy. Duh. Dirt road. But I kept going like a little trooper. The more I rode the more I relaxed my death grip. My hand hurt quite a bit, mostly because I have no idea how to ride in those conditions. Never have I said, "Shit. I want an uphill" in my road cycling career. I took it nice and slow, mostly because I wasn't sure of what to do. I stayed away from my brakes on the downhill, though. Even though I was scared senseless, my reflexes told me, "DON'T TOUCH THOSE WE WILL DIE!!!" So, I rode. Some of it faster than I wanted to, but I learned that that's what I was supposed to do. Brakes on that type of terrain are bad. Hooray for me.

We got back to the asphalt and I was so happy. The roads, even though they're pretty crappy, felt like glass after riding the dirt road. As we were riding back we got some rain. Oh, it was raining alright. We were soaked. I clenched my fist and a lot of water dripped. We kept riding, muddy water hitting our faces. While this sounds extremely shitty, it wasn't. It was one of the funnest rides I've been on.

Asa and Frank popped a few cherries. I rode on the dirt, got over some fears, and had a blast riding in some pretty good rain. I got dirty. My bike got dirty. I guess these mountain bikers are rubbing off on me a little too much. Pretty soon you'll see me riding a mountain bike... Nah! ;)