Some of my favorite blogs...

I really admire this girl and her journey in life... and LOVE that she keeps her blog updated! Thanks Jen :)

Pedal Power

The writing style... write on Tiffany. The truth is that I barely know this girl but I must read her blog every week at least once. Stalker? Not really. You read and you will be addicted too.

Is this thing on?

How else would I keep up with the comings and goings of my teammates?

TWENTY12

Just entertaining...

Post Secret

I do have to keep my brain working... not just the legs. These guys are from Atlanta and have a great free pod cast too.

How stuff works

What are some of your favorite ones?

Spring in Colorado

Sometimes you can't control everything. Sometimes Mother Nature takes over. This week I fully granted Her control of my training schedule.

"Ride now."

"No, now."

"Don't leave the house, this is your warning."

"Rollers!"

"Ha! Surprise, rest day"

Thanks Mother Nature. Did I pass your test?

New bike this week and I barely rode outside. It wasn't that cold... yes, for those watching from out of town, Colorado did get a ton of snow this week but not here in Boulder. I take that back, we got snow and a major hail storm but those occurrences were quick and soon followed by sun.

Overall, I think I passed my test this week that Mother Nature threw at me. I didn't panic when the days got all switched around or when I had a surprise rest day due to weather. I just took it all in and tried to take the frustration out on the pedals when I did get the chance to ride outdoors.

The bonus of this weather is that everything in Colorado is so green and beautiful. The tulips on Pearl St are worthy of a photo. I hope to make it down there this week.

P.S. Something is wrong with me. I willingly rode over Old Stage Rd. this week. Don't worry, I am still not a climber. But, that 15% grade didn't scare me :)

Monday is for Recharging

Weekend update-

Saturday was a TT here in town. This race has been run for as long as I have lived here I think and it was the first time I raced it. My coach wanted to "see where I am", aka, test me.

The individual time trial was first... 12+ miles with rolling hills but really just a power course. This is good for me!

Surprise, I ended up winning it. Seriously. I couldn't believe it.

Thanks Kimmy Nuffer for the borrowed bike (Julia for letting me try your bike out but Kim's fit better), Neal for the borrowed front 404, and Greg for the borrowed back cross wheel :)

We followed it up with a team time trial which I raced as a guest rider with DFT/Treads.com. I really love team events, in general. This experience was no different except we could have done without the pouring rain. Yes, pouring rain and I think it was in the 40's. Slightly miserable!

A shot of Casey post TTT. Yes, this is how cold it was. How cares about aero clothing just as long as we stayed warm. Can you see the dirt on everything?

Sunday was a local crit with a decent turnout. Mara, my teammate, lapped the field solo and I took the pack sprint. 1st and 2nd and we won 3 out of 4 primes. Nice!

I think after being freezing cold all day Saturday and then staying out way past my bedtime to celebrate a friend's birthday, Sunday was rough. Maybe that looooong hill in the crit finally got to me. So, last night, all I could do was sit around and catch up on "Dexter" episodes. Of course, I then had scary dreams all night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN! Glad I could come out and celebrate with you. Plenty of more good times in our future.

Today is recovery starting with home baked muffins, yoga, and then a massage. Ahhh, I love recovery days and will take this one seriously so I can hit the training hard again starting tomorrow.

Cari

Mara gets the ROCK!

As we rode out to the course together, Mara explained that if one of us wins, we would have to ride home with the rock. She had stuffed a bag in her jersey pocket for "grocery shopping" on the way home. As it turned out, Mara needed the bag for her rock.

1- Mara, PB

2- Meredith Miller, TIBCO

3- Anne Samplonius, Team Nano Blur Gears

I ended 5th in the race and was happy with the performance.

Fun race for sure! I had not done the Roubaix since I was a Cat 4 in 2006 and this was a new course this year. Such a well run race and the number of people out there on the perfect spring weather day in Boulder was awesome!

After this weekend, it's a good day today to relax. We have some friends in town visiting and will be doing the "Boulder thing" most likely- Sanitas, Pearl St., etc.

Have a good week!

W for Peanut Butter in Colorado!

I started the day with a motorpacing workout at 9 am. I was fine...Greg froze! He deserved another hot cup of coffee after lots back and forth in Eldorado Canyon while I sat on at 135 rpms @ 30 mph...quite warm.

Home for the usual (large) bowl of steel cut oats with blueberries, bananas and walnuts...and off to line up at the first Prairie Center Criterium. A large prize list kept the racing exciting all day on a new and fun course! I spent all day reacting to repeated attacks by Alison Powers and Kori Seehafer...it felt like one of them was always attacking...it was great! After closing a gap in the last straight (from another Kori attack), I was sitting third wheel through the last turn and had 200 meters to make my first attack of the day...and pulling in the W!

1- Me

2- Alison Powers, VBF

3- Kori Seehafer, Type 1

A photo of Greg warming up for his race...and a plug for sponsor Fuji with my bike on the roof!

After taking home 2 cash primes and a nice pay for women's racing (THANK YOU THF Realty Cycling Team for supporting women's racing... just like last year if I remember), Greg and I enjoyed dinner and ice cream.

Tomorrow is the Roubaix both in Boulder and across the pond. We are hoping to somehow catch some internet coverage of the big Roubaix before heading out for the beautiful course here in Boulder.

C

Boulder Roubaix

This weekend! True Colorado style!!!

COURSE DESCRIPTION

NEW 18.7 mile (30k) loop with 43% paved roads & 57% unpaved roads in North Boulder County. Make sure you secure your water bottles/cages. Neutral support based on volunteer availability and unlikely. Please bring a pump and spare tube. Also don't forget to do a "bolt check" the day before.

Pictures from year's past... gives you an idea of true Colorado road racing!

http://dmoynihan.smugmug.com/Colorado-Cycling-2007/Boulder-Roubaix-41407/Boulder-Roubaix-Group-3/2711349_KESRb#143726118_AshYQ

http://dmoynihan.smugmug.com/Colorado-Cycling-2007/Boulder-Roubaix-41407/Boulder-Roubaix-Group-3/2711349_KESRb#143725445_w5rdf

I had emailed a friend and told her I was racing this weekend. Her response, "Koppenburg and Roubaix? Who are you?"

Exactly! The new Cari.

You've Seen it Before

I really do love coaching the juniors at the Boulder Indoor Cycling velodrome. Sometimes I drag myself in there after a long day and wonder how I will find the energy. Usually I leave with a bit more energy. Wait, maybe that's adrenalin from watching 10 kids ride in fast circles on a 129m track. Yikes!

Here's a view of the Flatiron Flyers looking good in a fast paceline.

Here's a little one looking up to the "big" kids on the velodrome. Notice my thermos I show up with on the left; a little caffeine to insure I make it through class.

The next generation of moutain bikers. This chick is 5 yrs old and riding the tricks!

5 hrs on the bikes today. It is supposed to be warm with NO wind!!!

Lucky us!

We are pretty lucky to be racing here. Wind or no wind.

Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday we took the kids out for an Easter egg hunt...5 hours in the saddle and all we found was wind...it blew!

KFC (Katie Compton) and her husband Mark are coaching this Junior Super Star Kaitie Antonneau; they all piled in the car to make the trip to Boulder and get some good miles in with us on the road. Greg and I brought our junior friend Danny "Killer" Hiller.

We started the morning wondering what the weather was going to do to us... sunshine and snow at the same time. Only in Colorado!

We had a mid-ride conversation with the local Larimer Sheriff. Thank goodness for Mark's smooth New Zealand accent; he's such a charmer. I would hate to call Kaitie's mom and tell her Kaitie got arrested on her spring break training block in Colorado. Danny's parents would not exactly be excited either... we should be a better example to these juniors then to be riding 2 abreast. ugh!

Well, I had one minor bonk during the ride where I was yelling at Greg, "go on without me. just leave me." That lasted 30 seconds when Greg asked, "have you eaten anything lately?" Ok, he was right. I just got crazy mental because I was so stinking sick of the sound of the wind. Other then that moment, the ride was nice. So glad I could ride with other people on a day when the headwind limits you to 8 mph in your smallest gear.

Good luck to Kaitie riding for the US National Team in Italy later this month with a few of my PB&Co teammates, Shelley, Coryn and Sinead!

Belgium... Boulder Style

Yesterday was the super fun local race called The Koppenburg. Yes, "The" is capitalized in my mind because it is a Boulder classic. 5+ mile loop and 2.5 miles of it are on dirt.

The conditions yesterday weren't ideal but it is spring time in Colorado... it could have been worse. Bright sun (good), no snow/rain (good), and 50 mph wind gusts (not good). Last year this race was postponed 3 times I think because of snow. So, count us lucky we got to race. Unfortunately the wind scared a couple people away and the fields weren't packed like normal. Even some of our favorite Ft. Collins friends drove all the way down to race but turned around when they saw the port-a-john blow over. I won't call them out by name but I will tell them that they missed a good time.

Yes, hills are for cars. I agree. I have been working on my endurance and sustained power for longer periods vs. max power for short periods. This kind of work makes for better climbing.

Here is a shot of The Koppenburg. No race photos yet.

A video at The Koppenburg during the Men's Pro/1 race. http://www.twitvid.com/LRFYI

The race... 5 of us girls made the split after the first brutal climb up the Koppenburg. I was only thinking "1 climb down, 4 to go." After the 4th climb up, Anne Samplonius attacked and it blew our group apart. She and Alison Powers made it off together and left the three of us to battle it out. I actually got dropped for over 1/2 a lap and had to chase the two other girls. I never let them out of sight and knew I would catch them if I could keep a constant pace. Being in the wind alone was not fun but I got into that TT zone (the one I have been working on.) I caught them before the last climb and knew from that point that it was my sprint. I did indeed win the sprint!

Alison Powers 1st

Anne Samplonius 2nd

Me 3rd

I was happy with the effort. Although I always want to win, taking 3rd to these two climber girls was not a huge disappointment. (P.S. The last and only other time I did this race was 2006 and I was a Cat4. I quit after 1 lap. Ha!)

With the ride before and the ride after, it ended up being a long day out in the wind. I was exhausted but glad to spend the rest of the day having girl time with my friend Vera... shopping, dinner, good times!