Ladies' MTB Ride

On Monday, June 14th, Team Revolution's Jeanie (aka boss of the MTB race team ;) ) hosted a women's only MTB ride. This was my first group MTB ride ever, and maybe 5th time out in the dirt (hey, I'm a roadie... we don't see much dirt!). I was nervous and scared senseless, but I went out anyway. Stayed in the back most of the time since I didn't want to slow anyone down, though the uphill is not my issue, it's the downhill! Unfortunately for me, I have no depth perception. It's pretty hard to see anything out there, be it drops, rocks, sandy areas, water, or shadows. I can't tell what's what nor if it's a shadow or a hole on the ground. Either way, I just have to be more alert. Since I've had no depth perception for a few years, I get used to my surroundings a lot faster. Being alert is key, though, and always looking at my surroundings is as well. Key things help.

The ride had a good turnout. Jeanie had asked Randy to come out and help a bit (he's usually the "catcher" in the rides). Chandra's husband, Rob, also came out and helped a bit. So we had a bunch of women and 2 men to balance out the estrogen... Hah!

This ride turned out to be a bit more of a "skills learning" ride. I was the newest to mountain biking, but not the only

beginner (just the really, really newbie). Jeanie and Randy taught us how to go up and down some of the more technical stuff on the TBF course at Granite Bay. We all mostly had issues with rocks and realizing that we can go OVER them. I think that that's where I have most of my issues. I'm not used to my bike simply running over rocks and tree roots... my road bike would be sending me over the handlebars if I did that! Either way, we worked on that, and one of our teammates, Krista, did extremely well going over some of the very technical parts that I can only dream of doing right now (there's a couple of spots that are more WTF!? than anything... I'll do those soon enough!).

After doing some skills, we got to more riding. There's a short, steep hill with a lot

of roots in the way where I crashed last time. This time, I took the better line but lost control of my front wheel and crashed AGAIN, though this time around I got past the roots. Not too much damage was done; just a scrape on the arm, elbow, a sore arm (lasted about 3 days), and a dirty kit. Let's just say that I was glad that I was on dirt and NOT on asphalt.

We later on went on a section of the trail that some of us hate. It's not a hard section, just a weird line with a bunch of rocks, and since I can't see how far away or how deep the sections between the rocks are, it scared me. However, this time I went for it, and after Jeanie, Krista, and Randy showed their lines (since they were ahead of us), I rode it, and it was a lot easier and smoother than I had thought before. So, I conquered another section that I didn't feel confident in!

After the ride, everyone packed up and went home. Jeanie, Rob, and I decided to ride to Folsom Bike and Grind. They are very experienced MTB riders, but I toughed it out. The only issue I had was the downhill. Uphills are fine for me, but I have yet to get comfortable on the downhill (everyone knows I'm crazy on the road on the downhills [I love the speed], so it's only a matter of time for me to get comfortable on the dirt). I pushed my comfort zone with speed and was able to keep up for the most part, until they would take off on the downhills and turns (still working on those). We then got on to the paved trails at Beal's point, where I lead the paceline down to Folsom Bike (asphalt, haaaay!). All of a sudden, I feel something hit my pedal and Jeanie say, "ooohhhhhh ho!" I look back and ask, "What the hell did I hit?!" thinking it was a snake only for her to say, "A squirrel!" I didn't even see that thing, which is good because if I had seen it, I would have probably swerved or tried to avoid it and caused the potential of Jeanie and me going down. When we got to Folsom Bike, I asked Jeanie if she saw it run off, and she said, "I just heard a loud crunch." Rob said he saw it go to the side, but I'm sure that after a loud 'crunch,' it wasn't going to live for very long. Oops!

This was a great first group ride for me. I'm excited that I was able to do some of the technical parts that I wasn't able to before. I also got another crash down! This ride definitely made me look forward to my next time out on the dirt!

Mt. Diablo and the San Francisco Zoo

On June 12, Randy and I decided to go to Mt. Diablo again. Hey! It's 11 miles of pure climbing and great training for the Death Ride with some elevation gain and an eff-load of wind (at least that day). It was a fantastic ride, to say the least. Two repeats up Diablo. The first time we didn't stop at all. We climbed the whole thing in one go, no rest stops, which is good if I want to do the Mt. Diablo challenge this year. It wasn't hard to do the whole thing at one go, though there were parts with a lot of headwind which really slowed me down (from 9/10mph to about 7mph). We climbed the south side of the park then up to the summit due to a time trial being held on the north gate by the Wells Fargo team.

The second time was a little more of a "Death Ride pace," so I took my time, spun on the places that I had to, and took a rest stop at the second ranger station, where the North and South Gate routes meet. I talked to some cyclists there and they asked my training program and why I "was doing repeats up Mt. Diablo" and that I was "a bit crazy," all in good nature and fun, of course.

Going to the summit a second time was a great feeling. We took a bit more of a rest at the top, filled our waters since it was pretty warm, and headed back down. We didn't do a third repeat since we got there later than I wanted, but still got a great workout!

On Sunday, June 13, we went to The San Francisco Zoo, which was great! I hadn't been to a zoo in a long time, so it was even more fun! Add the fact that I was with the best boyfriend in the world and it made the experience one of the best I've had! There were a lot of great and funny animals. It was a bit chilly at first, but it warmed up as the day went on, and the more the sun came out, the more animals we saw either basking in the sun or being silly.

It was a great weekend. I had a lot of fun and it was cool and breezy. Coming back to the valley, where it was 20 degrees hotter, was nice, though, and we're back to our regular routines of living life and riding!

Folsom Bike's South Canal Time Trial

Folsom Bike is hosting the time trial on the South Canal. Yesterday (Tuesday, June 8) started the four-week series, where they give prices out and make it even more fun! This was the first time trial I have done since 2008, the year I started cycling. That year, I went from doing a time trial in approximately 34 minutes to 28:26 minutes. Yup, that same season. I didn't do any time trialing last year (I'm sure my readers know that last year was just a horrible one for me, but that definitely changed!). This year, I decided to just go, and my schedule finally cleared up enough to let me ride it.

Randy and I drove over to the time trial to get there on time since he works in Roseville. We got ready, signed up, and warmed up for a whole 1.5 miles. That's... not a warm up for me. I take a while due to my hip, so I knew that this was going to hurt. Add the awesome headwind we had, and we're in for an awesome ride!

Wilson (the owner of Folsom Bike) was holding people up, but I've never done that and I didn't want to fall (something I'm going to practice), so I just held myself up. I felt silly, but I've never had someone hold me up while completely clipped, and it would have been really embarrassing if I had tipped over. So, I started out on my own. The wind was brutal going out. Nothing eventful, really. There are three rollers on the course, which isn't bad at all. The way back was a lot easier, since we had a tailwind. Some guys had passed me, all decked out on their TT bikes, aero-helmets, booties, disc wheels... yeah... But it was going well. Looked down at my watch and was going just in time to beat my last time. At the end, I went faster and it looked as if I beat my time.

We had the prize drawing but I didn't get anything (boo). They had some good prizes, too! Hey, there's 3 weeks left (no I kid. I was there for the fun!). I met a woman who mountain bikes (I hear about her a lot, so I introduced myself when I confirmed it was her), and met another Team Revolutions teammate I've never met before (it was his second time on a road bike! He's a mountain biker). Overall, we had 4 Team Revs representing!

When we got home, we looked at our results. Randy did very well! I checked mine and I did better than I thought- 27:58, which got me second place to a CAT 2 racer, who rode it in 27:21... I wasn't too behind! My average was 21.5 mph and hers was 21.9 mph. If I push a bit more, I'm sure I can catch her. But hey... she's a CAT 2 racer. I'm ecstatic to even be that close to a CAT 2 racer!

This time trial is 10 miles long. It's the most painful ride ever... I'm going back next week!

Ladies' Crit Practice, Sierra Century 2010, and Ladies' Social Ride

Crit Practice

So, on Thursday (June 3rd), we had a women's only crit practice. John Collins organized it, as he does with most crit practices, coed or not. It was mostly a skills practice in which we rode while touching each other's shoulders as we were riding the course and then touching elbows (since there are no personal bubbles in crits), "attacking" from the middle, and bunny hopping. Yup. I now know who to bunny hop over things and I'm having a blast with it. I may have to true my wheels again, but it's a lot of fun. Good thing I have a monster 22-pound bike with very heavy wheels, not those flimsy ones :P Over all, it was a great practice and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Sierra Century 2010

What a fantastic ride! The Sacramento Wheelmen have always put on a great ride, and I'm glad I rode it again this year, this time with my great boyfriend. I greatly enjoyed the ride and looking back on it, it wasn't as hard as it was last year.

In 2009, I was riding most hills on a 30-25. This year, I rode the steep hills on a 39-28, and only used the 28 when I needed to. It was a lot hotter this year, too. I remember that I started out with a jacket last year, and this year I started out with my sleeveless jersey at 7:30am! I think that it wasn't until mile 30 or so that I had to take my jacket off during the 2009 century, and that's because we had started the climbing.

Around mile 82, the descent starts, which is a lot of fun! I think that the descents are why I enjoy climbing so much; it's well worth it when you can ride 40+mph down some great hills with great scenery.

The "dinner" was fantastic as well, even though I wasn't as hungry as I should have been because the weather spiked from being in the high 70's to low 80's up to 92 degrees yesterday. I drank a lot of water, which got hot very quickly in those bottles, but it's still water and I still drank it (haha!).

The rest stops were well stocked and had enough water to go around. Even the last of the stops had enough of everything, even though we skipped the very last rest stop and decided to ride to the finish (it was mile 87, with mostly descents and flats. We had food and enough water, so we decided to ride through). I think that I'll be riding the Sierra Century in 2011. It's one of the best rides in the area.

The Team Revolutions Women's Social Ride

Team Revolutions hosted a women's only ride today, June 6. We had a fantastic turn out! I wasn't expecting to have so many ladies come to the ride, and it's

great that we had such a large turn out. I volunteered to help "lead" the Cat 3 women, and we rode up to Beal's Point and then around Lake Natoma. When we hit the Negro Bar staging area, there was an ambulance and a crowd. I saw my boyfriend walk from behind the ambulance and I thought, "Oh, great! Was his silly ass involved in a crash?" He walked to up to me since the group slowed down (we don't need more crashes) and he told me that there had been a heart attack. Apparently there were two men running and the one in front had said that his chest started to hurt and then fell face first. His running partner tried to wake him up, which is when Randy rode up to them and asked them if they were okay. The conscious runner said that no, they needed help. Someone had called 911 but was on hold, while another person said that the rangers weren't too far ahead. Randy then rode up to them and told them what was going on, so the rangers called their dispatch and got an ambulance on the way. In the mean time, two of our Team Revolutions women, Shannon Beretta and Heidi, did CPR on the collapsed runner. I rolled my group right through the scene since the ambulance was already there; there was no need for a huge crowd. Hopefully the runner is doing okay.

The rest of the ride wasn't as eventful (hey, not a bad thing!) and we rode back up to Folsom Bike and Grind where we had some yummy Folsom Grind drinks and socialized. It was great meeting a lot of the Team Revolutions women (I ride a lot with the guys, so it was a nice change), and it was fantastic catching up with the women I haven't seen in a long time (such as Cathy Kastner and Shannon Beretta).

I'm sure that there will be more fun to come. The weather is getting to be fantastic and more and more riders are coming out.

Another fantastic weekend down in the books. Just what the doctor ordered to prepare us for the week!

Indian Valley Century and Calpine Ride Report

What a great weekend to ride! Three days of fantastic riding, great company, and amazing scenery. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

On Friday, the boyfriend got off of work early, so we decided to go on a 57-mile ride on the American River Trails. After that, we showered and got everything ready to go up to Calpine to our friend Dave's.

Saturday was the Indian Valley Century. What an great ride! It was windy and cold, but it was fantastic. I got some elevation training in, which is great since I haven't done much of it for the Death Ride. We started out at 3,500 feet at climbed up to 5,000 feet or so up to Lake Antelope, which is where the mile century sent us to. I was still wearing FOUR layers on top and full-fingered gloves, but after the descent, I went down to 2 layers, though I was still wearing full-fingered gloves.

Here are some pictures from the ride:

The view we got on a lot of the ride.

Gorgeous roads.

On the climb to Lake Antelope.

In this picture is Randy's (the boyfriend) ear, me sticking my tongue out, Dave to the right, and Randy's dad- Ron- behind me.

On Sunday, Randy and I went and explored around the area. We got quite a bit of elevation going on in Calpine, so we took advantage of it. The warm-up was a bit harder for me since it started on a one-mile climb, but I was able to keep it at a steady 8/9 mph pace, which for my warm-up is pretty fast, but it felt great. My breathing was deeper, but I expected that since I'm not used to any sort of elevation.

After a little more climbing, we descended into Graeagle.

We then went on into Portola via Highway 70 where we thought we were going to get killed since cars didn't seem to be too bike conscious, but we survived. Oddly enough, we bumped into another Team Revolutions teammate going the opposite direction. Randy was in his Sea Otter kit and I was wearing my CSUS kit, but I still yelled out, "HEY TEAM REV!!!" and said hello to him.

After Portola, we took a right to go into Calpine, which was another 13 miles.

Over all, it was a fantastic weekend. I hope to go back very soon, and I think I'll be going back next year to do this century again. The people are extremely friendly and there is hardly any traffic. I recommend this ride to anyone who wants a little bit of change in their riding!

Le Mans Race, Monterey, and Life

The Le Mans race was absolutely fantastic. Here I was, always saying, "No, no! I will never go to a car race!" and look at me. I was there for a 6-hour race and enjoyed it! Granted, this wasn't a NASCAR race (I don't know how I could handle that) and some of these cars were beyond impressive in speed, their ugliness, and how amazingly skilled their drivers are. It was an experience. The race was great overall. Lots of excitement between one of the cars that I wanted to win (it looked like a Predator, so I chose it), and between a Porsche and either a Corvette or a BMW - I can't remember who was fighting with the Porsche at the very end. The car I really liked (re: Predator) was down a lap, then caught up, had to go in the pits, was 30-ish seconds behind, then as he was catching up and was around 22 seconds behind, his motor blew. Damn! So it was the Patron car on his own. I gotta say, that was some extremely impressive driving.

We checked into the hotel and went to Bubba Gump's for dinner. I haven't been to that place since I went to Pebble Beach in 2007! The service was a bit of a dud at first but the staff apologized and got on their game. The food, as usual was great, and the company, my boyfriend, was even better.

To the hotel we went. We watched some TV and fell asleep. It was a good day!

We slept in a bit and got ready to head into Monterey. We went into a Monterey Bay Aquarium and I saw some lovely, lovely fish! This has only been my second time to that place and the first wasn't a great experience, so I enjoyed this visit to an unknown level. We saw some big tuna, the penguin feeding (cutest things ever!), their sea otters playing, some flamingoes, sea horses, turtles, and so much more. We stayed there for FOUR hours and I enjoyed every moment of it. We went out to the observatory and I took a picture of Randy and me. Ah, what it's like to take a picture with someone who actually cares about you, who is so happy and treats you well. Absolute bliss, I must admit.

After four hours of me going "ooh, ah!" over fish and random sea life, we walked a bit and sat by the ocean. It was windy as hell but beautiful. We then got into the car and drove by the beaches, where, again, it was windy as can be but absolutely gorgeous and impressive! The waves were huge! We saw some surfers and life guards training, a guy on a three-wheeled bike being pulled by a kite, a wedding, photographers doing their job and taking photos of people on the flower beds... everything was gorgeous.

After such an amazing trip, we went home. Everything was so perfect. I'm glad I went to my first Le Mans race and enjoyed it a lot. The time I spend with my boyfriend and the awesome new things he's introduced me to are so much fun!

My life has gotten so full of joy!

Finals, Crit Practice, and a Margarita

I had my last two finals yesterday. Funny, it's over in an instant. After all of the work, stress, and freaking out because you think you're going to fail everything, then you'll drop out of school, become a hobo, and nothing will ever help your poor, lost soul, it's all over. I turned in my Women's History finals into the History department at CSUS, then I went to my Anthropology class. We had two hours to do the exam. Of course, some people don't take the whole time. A few people and I got out of our seats after ten minutes. Yeah, that's how long it was.

After ten minutes, all the freaking out and stress were over. Let the summer begin!

So, after that I took my two books to get sold. $24 for books that cost twice as that, but hey, at least I get something back. I refuse to let books that I will never use rot in my bookshelf. After that, I went home, took a nap, and got ready for Crit practice with Team Revolutions.

Crit practice was great! I actually felt confident in my cornering (though sometimes I was a bit nervous, but I kept my line so I wouldn't do any stupid mistakes), and my sprints felt great. Riding in a group is feeling a lot better, but that's why my team, and I know how my team rides. I'm sure a Crit won't be too bad, but I still get nervous. Then again, I was really nervous when I first got on my bike, my first team ride, and my first cornering clinic, so I'm sure that this is something else that will be crossed off of my "nervous list." I won't be doing a Crit until AFTER the Death Ride, just in case I crash (haha!).

Afterward, some of the guys decided that they were going to ride the circuit, so I went with them. It's a fun one! Too bad I won't be racing this weekend, it all looks great, but I'll be going to my first car race every! I believe it's a Lomond race, but I'm not sure of what they're all called. I know that they turn both ways, go very fast, and it's not NASCAR. I'll learn, I promise! I'm excited, though!

Them after the ride, my boyfriend took me to Mexquite to celebrate the end of the semester, where I had one margarita and it was enough for me! Especially after crit practice. What a good margarita! I don't drink often because of my training, so it tasted even better (haha!). Then had a tostada salad and came home, took a shower, and vegged around.

It was a great day. The end of school, a nap, Crit practice, and an awesome margarita and dinner with my boyfriend. This weekend will be fantastic! I'm extremely excited!

Iowa Hill, Bike Breaking, and Accomplishments

So, after a few mishaps with my bike - Bad tires, bad brakes, broken derailleur hanger (yeah, more on that in a bit), bad knees, it seems that my cycling has finally gotten out of that little ditch and continued on.

I broke my derailleur hanger after climbing Iowa Hill in Colfax two weeks ago. Just as I was making the climb OUT of Iowa Hill into the little town, it completely snapped... and the chain went with it. Now, I don't know if it was because it was a faulty hanger and it decided to break after 3,600 miles, or if I simply had too much power on it. I broke it when I was climbing with an 11-25 cassette, so it could happen. So, after replacing the hanger and fixing all that was wrong with the damn thing (it was shifting on its own in crit practice. Awesome), and putting an 11-28 cassette, resting my knee (any pressure would make it throb like no other), I climbed Iowa Hill again. Keep in mind this is two weeks after I broke the derailleur hanger. I climbed Iowa Hill a mile per hour faster than my previous time, which is not much, but it's an improvement!

How did I get out of that mess? My boyfriend, Randy, is a fantastic mechanic and was able to make my bike into a pseudo-single speed, which allowed me to climb enough to get to my ride by Foresthill Rd. After 15 miles of climbing with the single speed, my body and mind were done. The chain had way too much tension and I had no gears, which simple wiped me out. This past weekend, however, I climbed faster than I ever have on that ride, and I will never take for granted my ability to shift on hilly rides.

I hate Iowa Hill, so I'm climbing it again on Friday if all goes well. Yeah... I hate to love that effin' hill!

Diablo and Easter

On Friday, the boyfriend and I went to Walnut Creek. Took the bikes, went out and about, hung out with Brandon, then went to bed way too late (ahem, I'm usually asleep by 10pm, we went to bed around 12:30am). The next morning, went out and about in Walnut Creek then headed to Mt Diablo. Rode it it 1hr 15min, which is 5 minutes under my goal time for that day. Next time ought to be under 1hr 10min, then I'll start really going for the sub-54 minute time, since that's the fastest 2010 female in the 2009 Mt Diablo challenge, which I really, really want to do this year! Figured out that my bike needs new tires. Man... I freaked out going down because I thought they could pop. I need to get on that.


Easter was eventful. Packed some stuff, took my horse to a temporary stable (having loads of drama at the place I currently work/live at, though it won't be for much longer). Then came home and my parents and I started our little party! Mom was already drinking (though mostly for joke) out of the bottle, so I snapped a picture. Dad and I just relaxed. I eventually got a beer, which is sad that after 2, I was pretty buzzed (that's what I get for being an abnormal, cycling college student). Brent and his wife came by, then Randy (the boyfriend) came by, and we all had a grand time. I had a glass of champagne, and then fell asleep as we watched Sherlock Holmes. Oh yeah... Super light weight. I even had a mild hangover! From TWO beers and a glass of champagne. Yeah.. I know. Ah.

So, now to get new tired for my bike and to get more miles in!

Monkeys

This chain letter has always made me laugh...

I like Monkeys. The pet store was selling them for five cents a piece.
I thought this was odd since they were normally a couple thousand. I
decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth so I bought 200 of them.
I like monkeys.

I took my 200 monkeys home. I have a big car. I let one of drive. His
name was Sigmund. He was retarded. In fact, none of them were really
bright. They kept punching themselves in the genitals. I laughed. They
punched me in the genitals. I stopped laughing.

I herded them into my room. They didn’t adapt very well to their new
environment. They would screech and hurl themselves off the couch
at high speeds and slam into the wall. Although humorous at first, the
spectacle lost its novelty halfway into it’s third hour.

Two hours later I found out why all the monkeys were so inexpensive;
They all died. No apparent reason. They all just sort of dropped
dead. Kindalike when you buy a goldfish and it dies five hours later.
God
damn
cheap
monkeys.

I didn’t know what to do. There were 200 dead monkeys lying all over
my room; on the bed, in the dresser, hanging from my bookcase. It
Looked like I had 200 throw rugs. I tried to flush one down the
toilet. It didn’t work. It got stuck. Then I had one dead, wet monkey
and one hundred ninety-nine dead, dry monkeys.

I tried to pretend that they were just stuffed animals. That
Worked for awhile, that is until they began to decompose. It started
to smell real bad. I had to pee but there was a dead monkey in my
toilet and I didn’t want to call a plumber. I was embarrassed.

I tried to slow down the decomposition by freezing them.Unfortuantely
there was only enough room for two at a time, so I had to change
them every 30 seconds. I also had to eat all the food in the freezer
so it didn’t go bad.

I tried to burn them, but little did I know that my bed was flammable.
i had to extinguish the fire.

Then I had one dead, wet monkey in my toilet, two dead, frozen
Monkeys in my freezer, and one hundred ninety-seven dead, charred
monkeys in a pile on my bed, The odor wasn’t improving. I became
agitated at my inability to dispose of the dead monkeys and I
really had to use the bathroom. So I went and severely beat
one of the monkeys. I felt better.

I tried throwing them away but the garbage man said the city was not
Allowed to dispose of charred primates. I told him I had a wet one.
He couldn’t take it either. I didn’t bother asking about the frozen
ones.

I finally arrived at a solution. I gave them out as Christmas gifts.
My friends didn’t quite know what to say. They pretended to like them,
but could tell they were lying. Ingrates. So I punched them in the
genitals.

I like monkeys.