Hills are for Cars

Fully Rested

2012-01-26T07:26:00.004-07:00

Sometimes you just have to listen to your body. Sounds easy? It's not always just that easy.

Here are the facts: 1) I have one of the best coaches in the country and, like a blind sheep, I follow that plan exactly, 2) At times I am supposed to be tired, 3) It does hurt. It should hurt, and 4) Most importantly, I am the only one who knows how I really feel.

Elite athletes are not always good at putting the facts together and making a good judgement call. I have failed that test several times but I have also learned from those lessons. Now I know what to look for when I am under rested.

Am I sleeping well? What's my mood? Do normal little things (i.e. making the bed) seem like monstrous activities? These are my big signs that I am TIRED.

So, last week after calling the coach (for the first time EVER) and explaining that I am just too tired and I can't even seem to get on my bike that particular day. He followed with, "Is Greg working this weekend? You need to go to the mountains. Go have fun. No bike." Um, ok!

And those couple days spent in Vail with our good friends was just what the doctor ordered. I didn't leave the condo much... who needs to when you are staying at The Ritz? (Thanks Nick and Megan!) So, I really don't have many pictures. Here's all I have...

A BIG powder day on Sunday had all the adults, minus me, drooling to get on the slopes. In order to help accommodate that, I offered to hang with my little friends for a couple hours. These little two year olds couldn't help but stare out the window during picture time. Seems like they were itching to make some turns too!

The biggest bonus of the weekend was my bestie from Atlanta coming out for vacation. Perfect timing. Mande flew out Sunday morning with her husband Joe and friends Steph and Greg. It's been way too long since I have seen Mande and was the perfect reason to leave the condo. :) Literally, this was the only time I left The Ritz all weekend. Thanks Mandooooie!

Oh, and then guess what... I couldn't wait to attack this week of workouts. Mentally and physically I was rested.

Windy City?

2012-01-19T19:33:00.003-07:00

Anybody who's ever lived in Boulder over the winter questions why we are call the Windy City. Gusts up to 95 mph overnight. Rooftops shredded, sheds in pieces, trees down... and it barely makes local news. If they had these same winds in Florida, they would call it a hurricane. If they had these same winds in Oklahoma, someone who "see" a funnel cloud and call it a tornado. If they had these same winds in Kansa, they would call it Kansas.

Anyway... I ran into a friend today who had a funny memory. When Jill and I both were new to bikes, we rode together. In a naive moment, we were lured to our bikes one January because of the 60+ degree sunny skies. This is how Mother Nature continues to trick us here in Boulder... "Come here little cyclists, I give you sun... and wind! Bwahhahhhahahha!" Well, a couple hours into our ride together, we had a MAYDAY moment. The winds became so out of control that riding was not an option for the real threat of being blown over. Standing holding our bikes was not an option because they were blowing parallel to the ground. We took cover in the ditch with our bikes until a nice driver saw us and stopped to offer us a ride home. The driver was clearly doing rounds picking up runners who were also abandoning their workouts. The car was pretty full. Jill jumps in with no hesitation and I claim that I'll just ride home. There wasn't room in the car and it was no big deal. Her statement today: "I should have known you would make it to this level in the sport being that competitive and driven."

Thanks for the memory Jill and thanks for the compliment! One day our bikes... or running shoes... or skis... or wine glasses...or dogs (hurry up and get one!)... will meet again. Soon.

All Pumps are Back Together

2012-01-17T20:01:00.004-07:00

For the past several months, Greg has constantly been asking questions like, "Hey, have you seen the Specialized bike pump?" "Do you know where my yoga mat is?" Illusively, I never fully answered his questions.

But, last night, I pulled the car back into the driveway here in Boulder. All my belongings (and Greg's) are happily residing in one city. The bike pump, his yoga mat, all my bikes, all my skinsuits, all my toiletries, all my wheels, etc... all back in Boulder where they belong. It's not the stuff or the things that matter. It's the feeling on being settled.

It's the same as last winter, I left my car in LA for the season. As you might know, it is impossible to live in LA without a car. Granted, when traveling with the National Team our primary transportation is taken care of but having my own car means I have a little freedom and go somewhere besides the velodrome and Trader Joe's. But, since I won't be living in LA anymore this winter, it was time to bring it all back. Not to say I won't be back but it won't be for weeks/months on end.

The wagon was packed literally to the ceiling and the drive was as long as I remembered it from October. Listening to the "Hunger Games" made it tolerable and, once again, the second I saw the Rockies I fell in love all over.

It's almost the same routine every time I come home after a long trip: the next morning I wake up and start cleaning (it's no reflection on Greg but it's just how I 'nest'), I visit the post office (and that is a reflection of something Greg doesn't do), I go grocery shopping (no matter how long I'm gone, Greg doesn't go), and then... I go get my massage.

All the routine things that make me so happy to be home... in Boulder... with Greg... with Elke. Back to wearing fleece jackets even to the nicest of restaurants. Back to wondering what the manic weather is going to do, not tomorrow but in the next 30 minutes. Back to trying to fit a full social life into the handful of days I'm home and limited energy my body gives.

Oh, one random thing I learned this morning while cleaning and nesting. You CAN opt out of receiving yellow pages! Wow, big news I know. But, this has seriously bugged me for years. What a waste of resources- paper, human, etc.

http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/

Listening to a little Crosby, Stills, and Nash on Greg's new record player. How could I not be a good mood this morning?

Exergy TWENTY12

2012-01-16T07:00:00.003-07:00

Proud and honored to be a part of this- http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/exergy-twenty12-announces-full-roster

There's a glimpse of the squad for this season. Here's a glimpse of me and Lauren (and other National Team members) hard at work at the velodrome. For those who don't know anything about Team Pursuit or track in general, watch this video.

USA Team Pursuit Camp feat. Exergy TWENTY12 Riders from Exergy TWENTY12 on Vimeo.

Kicking off 2012!

2012-01-15T11:48:00.004-07:00

What better way to do it but with a training camp in LA?!? If it sounds like I do this a lot... well, I do.

This particular LA camp was more of the same.... and slightly different for a couple reasons.

One treat was getting to see one of my favorite people- DeNelle or DeNeNe. College teammate, exercise nut, nutritional no-it-all, corporate smartie pants, true blond, and best friend who is always good for a full body laugh or two.

I got to watch my team- University of Alabama win a National Championship! You can tell my teammates were WAY into the game too. ha! Definitely not the same as watching with football fans but at least I got to watch it.

Under peer pressure, I got my nails painted. But not just classy painted nails... I went ghetto. Ghetto mixed with a little patriotic spirit. This was a trial run for some big races coming up!

Some things don't change... Vigo and his leg rubs.

Beautiful sunsets I get to see on my recovery rides. Let's hear it for 70 degree days in January!

On this particular ride and about 2 hours after this picture was taken, I was saved by that banana in Max's pocket.

Whenever I pack for a training camp, I am optimistic with all that I can accomplish in my downtime. I bring multiple books, plan iPhoto projects, think about all my friends in the LA area I would like to see (Garrett, Sarah, Suzanne, Uncle Jim, etc.), and plan for at least one day lying on the beach. The reality is completely opposite of the plan. I am brain dead, have no energy to be social, and, in general, not much free time for anything outside of recovering. But, that is what hard work requires... hard rest. I have gotten my graduate degree in recovery... still working on that PhD.

In a couple hours, I go back to the track for our last session of this 2 week camp. Rally cap! Tomorrow morning I will sleep in and, after LA traffic, start the journey home to Colorado. I will be brining my car back and I can't wait to see the Rockies!

Road Riding in LA

2011-12-15T21:09:00.003-07:00

My quick little training trip to LA... Sunday I get into town just in time to jump on the bike and catch this view down by the ocean.

Not too bad!

Monday was a long track session, Tuesday was another peaceful road ride/weights/track, and Wednesday... oh, Wednesday is when it all went crazy.

I set out on my 4 hour road ride from Huntington Beach thinking I would head north and do some laps of Palos Verdes to get some climbing in the legs. That's 45-60 minutes up the beach to Long Beach, get around/over Long Beach Port, climb around beautiful Palos Verdes, and reverse my ride to get back home. Sounds easy?

For the record, there is no easy way to ride a bike around that major port. Trains, 18-wheelers, huge highways, interstates, and no bike lanes. My mama would not have been happy with this decision. So, after a couple honks from 18-wheelers, a flat tire, a dirt trail (after the flat tire- read: no spare left), some new grey hair, a couple peaceful Dave Matthews albums, and 4.5+ hours in the saddle, I made it back to the beautiful Huntington Beach. My adrenalin pumped until 11:00 pm that night.

I will not be riding anywhere near Long Beach Port... or any port for that matter. I am thankful I made it out of that situation safely. Now, back to the track where there are no cars or trucks... only bikes with no brakes!

Cheers!

And, the flip side

2011-12-11T12:26:00.002-07:00

The flip side to my last blog is that I have actually been having a ton of fun being at home. There really is no place like home.

In no particular order, here are some of the things I have been enjoying the last handful of weeks.

Yes, it is winter in Boulder. Despite a couple huge snow storms, we have had some super warm days. Elke and I did some hiking up above Boulder.

Mountain biking! My first love. This photo was taken at Valmont Bike Park. Super cool, city owned/built bike park in Boulder. Not such a bad view of the Flatirons from here!

Debating the jump.

For the record, Greg wouldn't let me take any pictures of him. Would have made a great Holiday card to get one of us both. Lame!

This only documents one of the great nights we spent with good friends. Although we ended this night at the all famous Boulderado Hotel, we started this night having dinner at Frasca with a guest chef from Eleven Park Madison in NY, a three-star Michelin restaurant. Kind of fancy but oh-what-a-treat!

Greg and I spent a weekend in Vail with our close friends, Nick and Megan. One day we snuck away to Beaver Creek to watch the Birds of Prey World Cup... skiing on steroids. Wow! That was my first time to see skiing of that caliber up close and personal. I am convinced that Greg and I, genetically speaking, would produce the perfect physical downhill skier. Legs. Butts. Huge.

Although I didn't ski this weekend, it was fun to escape and feel like I was on vacation for a couple days. Thanks Nick and Megan!

What else? Home cooked meals. Baking experiments. Riding and training with friends. Sleeping in my own bed. Big, wet kisses from the dog. Quality time with the man. It was a good couple weeks.

Debbie Downer

2011-12-10T08:10:00.002-07:00

I avoid negative people like the plague. Don't bring your sad story, your shitty attitude, or your poor-me pouty face in my direction. Now, it doesn't mean I am not a friend to those who need someone to talk to. I have bitch sessions like the rest of you. But, once it becomes your modus operandi, I don't want to be around.

Well, excuse the absenteeism but I was having a poor me moment. It's been 2 months and, no, I haven't been curled up in a ball in a dark room the whole time. There was no need to write when you don't have much nice to say. Then, once I got out of the habit of updating the blog, it was easy to act like it didn't exist.

Here is the quick and dirty of where I have been...

LA Camp for 2 weeks- extension of "can't get out of my own way Nationals." As many elite athletes so, I ignored so many red flags.

Home for 2 or so weeks- My thinking was... well, you need to train harder. So, I did. And, this is when I curled up in a small ball in the dark room. 2 days prior to leaving for another camp in LA, I couldn't ride my bike more then 20 minutes without crazy bad knee pain. Nice timing.

LA Camp for 2 weeks- I found a miracle doctor who diagnosed exactly what was going one. Thank you Charles Whitney! I wish he had a website I could refer everyone in SoCal to because he is genius. I went from not being able to ride my bike, literally, to being about 80% functional in 2-3 weeks.

Apparently, it wasn't the knee that was/is the problem. It is an old undiagnosed injury from back in March. Did I ever write about my left leg problems from Worlds this past year? Probably not because I don't really like talking negative on this blog or in person. But, ya. This little issue has been lingering around for quite sometime and I always thought my left leg was just weaker or I needed massage or .... 2,000 excuses that any elite athlete uses besides the word INJURY.

Anyway, about 6 doctor visits (in both Boulder and SoCal), 2 PT visits, 2 dry needling visits, way too many massages, and lots of at-home rehab... and I see the light. Thank you Dr. Charles and Boulder Center for Sports Medicine!

Now I have been home again for a couple weeks and it is time to head back to the 60 degree weather of SoCal tomorrow.

Meanwhile, there have been lots of fun happenings at home and lots to catch everyone up on...

How could I forget???

2011-10-07T10:22:00.001-06:00

My birthday present from the team! Interviewing me in the middle of testing. Thanks Nicola and Greg :)

Birthday fun with Exergy TWENTY 12's Cari Higgins! from Exergy TWENTY12 on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday to me... ha!

2011-10-07T09:09:00.003-06:00

Does this sound like a fun way to spend your birthday?

- Early morning at the track for benchmark testing. Track time 9am-1:30pm.

- Lunch, 2 hrs. downtime, rollers/core, dinner (made my Lauren!)

- Rained ALL day in LA. Really? Does that happen?

- Death of one of the greatest brains and pioneers ever to live. RIP Steve Jobs.

Sound depressing? Well, not to be a downer, but it wasn't a celebratory day by any means. For that, I subtract a year instead of adding one.

But, it ended with this...

That brought a smile to my face.

Last night I stayed up late to order "my" birthday present... two new iPhones for Greg and I. They went on sale at midnight California time and the website was crashed for about 45 minutes. Amazing! One of the few companies in the world that can put something for sale in the middle of the night and have people in every time zone setting their alarms... only to wait patiently for the website to work for 45 minutes... happily pay hundreds of dollars... and go back to sleep peacefully.

Today is a 4 hour ride north of Santa Monica. If nobody is watching, I may stop and go shopping in Santa Monica on the way home. More birthday presents for me :)

P.S. Besides not being with Greg... I wouldn't want life any other way right now. I feel lucky every day!

Take 1

2011-10-04T15:06:00.003-06:00

The last day before the big work begins...

So far, I have done a much better job embracing LA. I can't really count the number of nights I spent in this city last winter but I trust it was more then I spent at home. I fought it, cursed it, damned it, etc.

This year has been easier so far. Maybe it's because we are staying in a nicer hotel, one that provides us all with a little personal space. Maybe it's because I know my way around without having to Mapquest my first step out of the door. Maybe it's because I started spending more time in little pockets of heaven like Manhattan Beach. Maybe it's because I swore I would make a life for myself here and not just make it ALL bikes. Any way you look at it, I am not dreading spending most of the winter here... only wish I could bring Greg and Elke!

Thanks to my friend Adam, we got tickets to watch the Chivas play at the Home Depot Center. I love watching soccer!

And so it begins... the bikes from a bunch of USA Cycling athletes await the hard work we all have ahead of us. Bring on the pain because I am ready for the gains!

LA Team Pursuit Camp, Take 1.

Lucky Me!

2011-10-02T08:17:00.006-06:00

I'm sitting here in my hotel room and taking account of equipment. As I start the track season, I am just assuring I have everything in place. Bike, check. Wheels, check. New tires, hmm. New aero bars, need adjusting. SRM, when is the last time I had it serviced? You get the picture.

It's a good time to take a moment and thank the sponsors who make this all happen.

Felt Bicycles. Hot damn. The best! Not only are they completely supportive of Team Exergy TWENTY12 on the road providing road bikes and TT bikes but they have stepped up to support us on the track too. I ride the ZW on the road which is optimized to fit women and a DA TT bike which always makes me feel uber fast. On the track, we train and race on the TK1. Look around, all the fast people are doing it? I sincerely want to thank a major bicycle company for caring

enough to put major bucks into designing and building some crazy nice track bikes. Not only that, but they support their athletes by coming out to races and cheering for us. That, my friends, is called support. Thank you Felt and Doug/Ty/and gang.

Zipp Speed Weaponry. Enough said.

This summer I had the privilege of visiting Zipp's headquarters in Indianapolis. Since I have raced Zipp wheels on the track pretty much since I started racing, I was already sold on the fact that, for whatever reason, I really like their wheels. But, after the visit and learning about the research, human time, and quality materials that go into making Zipp wheels (right here in the USA!), I understand why they are the best. The facts are secret and I signed something very official that said they would own my first born if I told their secrets. So there.

I am privileged to ride too many wheels to list. 101s, 303s, 404s, 808s, 900, sub-9, super-9. Ya, exactly! We also use all the Service Course bars, stems, seatposts. Lucky me!

Putting in all in action!

THANK YOU FELT BICYCLES AND ZIPP SPEED WEAPONRY!

Exergy TWENTY12

2011-09-28T09:49:00.002-06:00

Big news for the team!

Introducing Exergy TWENTY12 Professional Women's Cycling Team from Exergy TWENTY12 on Vimeo.

Hello SoCal

2011-09-28T09:25:00.004-06:00

Well, here, there, and everywhere.

We wrapped up the camp in Colorado Springs and it's kind of been a whirlwind since.

Here's a quick shot of a group ride in the beautiful hills outside Garden of the Gods.

A workout in Colorado Springs with a little extra oxygen for good measure.

2 weeks in Colorado Springs, 1 night at home, 1 day/night in Las Vegas, a handful nights back in Boulder, and the drive out to Los Angeles. I am getting settled here in LA and have a peace now with this city. Although there are things I would rather not deal with (traffic, smog, 4.5 million people, concrete, etc.)... there are things that I can appreciate about living here. (I have now sat and stared blankly at my computer for 3 minutes trying to make that "like" list.) No, really, I have found my little pocket of happiness in SoCal. I have a wonderful friend and house to live in in Huntington Beach, the winter weather actually allows me to train, there is an indoor velodrome, great selection of healthy grocery stores, and the ability to recover and relax between workouts. Being away from home is hard but it allows me to have complete focus.

I will always miss home. Here is a shot from a recent mountain bike ride.

Speaking of focus. I am sitting here on my bed in LA while the first morning of the Omnium is taking place at Elite Track Nationals. Weird, right? Yes, weird.

I LOVE racing my bike. I LOVE the omnium. I am good, really good, at the omnium. But, this winter I am focusing. I am focusing on making the Team Pursuit team for next summer's London Olympics.

"Excellence demands sacrifice." - Kristin Armstrong

We all sacrifice. Greg and I have made major sacrifices (careers for both of us, living in separate cities, lifestyle) in order for me to pursue my cycling career. In the big picture, my sitting out of my favorite races this year at Nationals is a small sacrifice. But, in the moment, it feels like a hard one. Even, as of yesterday, I doubted my decision and almost registered.

Focus. This year is different and I will remain focused on the big picture. I am a perfect A.D.D. athlete but I can and will remain focused on the goal for the next 11 months.

"Excellence demands sacrifice." Thanks Kristin!

Labor on the Labor Day

2011-09-06T06:17:00.002-06:00

I don't really get Labor Day. Maybe I should take the time to read about it and figure out exactly why we celebrate labor by not working. With the recent reports in the news about the USA (13 average vacation days and only 56% of people use them), maybe Labor Day is a way to make people take a day off.

Well, not for us! Last week we started our first Team Pursuit camp here in Colorado Springs. It's fun to be back with the girls and get some early season track time in the legs.

With road racing season wrapping up and track racing season on the horizon, there is a lot to be excited about!

More updates with, hopefully, some pictures later in this week!!

Small Glimpse

2011-08-29T05:51:00.004-06:00

of what was a lot of work for both us girls and for the awesome crew of Jim and Iri, Brakethrough Media and Panforte Productions.

These are the only photos I have seen so far and I figure they are ok to share since Jim/Iri posted them on Facebook. To see all the other media and photos you will have to wait :)

Oh, and I added this one just to show the winning team for the Aspen Women's Stage Race. From L to R: Alisha, Olivia, KMac, Armstrong, Ali, Me.

Boulder-CoS-Aspen-Vail-Boulder-Cos-Boulder

2011-08-28T11:22:00.004-06:00

That was my last week of travel. Looks rough with the number of cities but take a closer look. Aspen? Vail? Boulder? Life is sweet!

I left Boulder to spend some days in Colorado Springs to race.... er, I mean watch some really sweet track racing, Winslow BMW Sprint Grand Prix. World class!

I drove over to Aspen to race the Aspen Women's Stage Race for 3 days. That altitude put a hurt on me. I can't imagine how the girls from sea level felt. It was a successful race for the team- KArmstrong winning the overall and KMac winning the Best Colorado Rider. Some serious beautiful days and nights in Aspen and lots of work to be done for the team off the bike each day. Exhausted but totally excited! (announcements coming soon)

The view from lunch one day in Aspen after the race. Makes me smile.

KMac and O-Wow on a ride in Carbodale pre-race.

From Aspen, I drove to Vail to meet Greg, Nick, and Megan. I know, rough life! Aspen.... Vail... can you pass the Dom please? Thanks to Nick and Megan, we all stayed at the Ritz in Vail for 2 nights. The four of us enjoyed watching some bike racing, riding our own bikes, drinking some wine, eating some good food, and relaxing.

The Pro Cycling Challenge TT started in the Vail Village.

The town was cycling crazy.

Greg and I watching... in the shade!

Nick and Megan making very important business decisions at the Ritz poolside. Seriously, they were.

Greg and I ran into our friends Jon and Beth in the Avon/Beaver Creek area watching some more Pro Cycling Challenge racing. In 2 days, I randomly saw them 3 times.

Home for 8 hours, 5 of which were sleep, and then back to Colorado Springs for some track training. Oh ya, I was tired when I got home last night! After a tough ride with some girlfriends this morning, I am stuck on the couch. The week finally caught up to me and I am ready for my rest day tomorrow! Oh wait, I still need to go to the gym today. Then I can start my resting.

Later!

Up an Over

2011-08-22T08:52:00.002-06:00

It's no wonder why people visit Colorado in the summertime. Sitting in the car for 4 hours didn't seem like a chore at all. It was like a vacation.

Yesterday, Nicola and I drove from Colorado Springs to Aspen which took us up and over Independence Pass.

This is one of the routes for this week's USA Pro Cycling Challenge. It seemed hard to me in a car so good luck to all those guys who are pedaling their way.... oh, wait, RACING their way up that little hill. The downhill seems to me like the "challenge" part of this.

For those of you who don't know, Nicola Cranmer is the woman who gets work done for women's cycling. She is the owner/manager of my team but her job doesn't stop there. She is an advocate for women's cycling and development of young riders.

Yes, we took the cheesy tourist picture. Had to.

Today is the start of the Women's Aspen Stage Race which is a 3 day race. It starts with an uphill time trial tonight. Oooohhhh, my favorite!

Yes, I exist.

2011-08-20T16:42:00.002-06:00

Usually when I don't keep up with my blog, it is because I don't have anything worthy of bothering you with. My ego is smaller then most bloggers and I tend to underestimate the excitement of my life.

Not so true these days. This summer has been particularly exciting!

Last I updated was June. I hate even admitting that. The couple subtle reminder emails I have received from friends and family has inspired me once again to write.

So, the quick recap:

June:

I ended up 2nd in The Tour of America's Dairyland which was a 10 day Omnium style race. Racing with no teammates and only losing to the legend, Laura Van Gilder. Yes, I was happy with that! Great experience traveling with my friend Jen Triplett too!

From there I went into coaching mode and loved the whole experience. Thanks to USA Cycling for giving me the opportunity to mentor and coach some wonderful 16-18 year olds. Parents- if you want your kids to have a good shot at being quality, classy, respectful young adults, put them in sports!

That was 1 week in Indianapolis, IN (my birthplace) and 1 week in Frisco, TX at Junior Nationals.

July:

One week at home to recover from the WI-IN-TX trip and prepare to leave for Bend, OR to join my team in the Cascade Classic Stage Race. Yes, for those of you who understand cycling, this was a hilly stage race. Doesn't much sound like me? True. It doesn't. The truth must be told- I enjoyed every second of it (well, minus the last road race day) and would do it again in an instant. Racing with my teammates was inspiring! Typically I would have some advantage living in high-altitude Boulder and training in the mountains. But, my month of June at sea level and flat lands put me in the same boat as everyone else. Ouch!

That tough week was followed by a rest week and Greg and I took off for the cabin in Yellowstone. Thank you Rich! This is our secret little retreat cabin. Ha! I said "our" retreat. This is funny since Greg has been escaping here for the last 25 years of his life to meet up with his brother from Montana. So, really, it's the dude's cabin and I only get invited about every 5 years or so. :) Those couple days I didn't do much of anything except.... sleep, read, eat, love on the dog, and shoot some guns. We did see a bear this time around!

We arrived home and the "Mom-a-thon 2011" started the next day. My mom and Greg's mom for 10 days! Perfect timing for my mom to get in town since I promptly got sick. Everyone needs their mom around when they are stuck on the couch for 4 days! I got something called BPPV- Benign Paraoxymal Positional Vertigo. Basically, I couldn't stand or sit without getting dizzy and having nausea. Really, no fun. It just added a couple days onto my rest week but really dampened the fun I had schedule with the Mom-a-thon. Thanks Mom! I owe you.

That brings us to August:

Training and sleeping at home has been AWESOME! I still love Colorado and feel so rejuvenated when I am home.

This weekend I am down in Colorado Springs watching some high level sprint racing at the velodrome. Tomorrow I head up to Aspen for a 3-day stage race with my team. Then, I will stay a couple days in Vail to watch the men's Pro Challenge which is all week in CO. Updates WILL follow!

Transition Time

2011-06-27T20:03:00.002-06:00

I played high school basketball and follow college basketball to this day. (The only NBA team(s) I follow are ones in the playoffs. The only ones I cheer for is the one that I may happen to know someone who plays or coaches for them.)

One of my best contributions to my team was my transition. Whether going from defensive to offensive or visa versa, I was always quick and reliable.

Same situation yesterday. Quick and reliable.

I went from racer... finishing up the 11 day TOAD to coach... picking up the first junior at the IND airport last night at 11:30 to kick off a junior Team Pursuit camp here at Major Taylor Velodrome. Quick and reliable.

I had doubts I would somehow make the 9:00 flight from Milwaukee to Indianapolis after our race ended at 4:30 in Madison. There was the award ceremony, the packing of the bikes, the speeding through construction zones, the quick stop for junk food at the undisclosed location off I-94, the meeting of the host family who brought us our bike boxes at the airport, the 1.5 hour drive, etc.

Made it. We checked into the dorm at Marian University last night about 12:30.

I now put on a different kind of "hat" this week and it will be a fun one.

Can't....Stop...Now

2011-06-25T11:03:00.003-06:00

Been racing. Lot's of racing.

Right now I am in Wisconsin doing the Tour of America's Dairyland. 11 days in a row of racing. Ouch!

Needless to say I don't have much time and even less brain power.

Here's an idea of the daily schedule:

7:00 wake-up and bribe the body/mind to function with coffee (Alterra coffee in WI rocks!)

9:00 ride for about 1-1.5 hours.

10:30-12:30 only free time of the day for internet, stretching, core, cooking, shopping, napping, cleaning bike, etc.

12:30- usually when we leave to drive to the next race, find town, register, warm-up, etc

3:30-4:30 race. some races have been longer but for the most part these have been 1 hr races

4:30-6:00 cool down, podium, eat, pack car AGAIN

7:30- usually when we get home and cook/eat again... and start planning the next day's schedule.

9:00 in bed, although, i haven't been able to sleep until about 11.

So, for those of you who think this is vacation and we have a bunch of free time. Wrong. We have about 2 hours free time each day. That is like a normal work day for some of you 9-5 people. Same thing.... can't find the time or energy to do much else.

A dear friend of mine (who went to great lengths to coordinate all my host housing this week) asked me one day if I would like to join her for her lunch-break yoga class. Over text, she couldn't hear me laughing but I got a great belly laugh and roll of the eyes out of this one. I know she just thought I was sitting around being bored all morning waiting to race in the afternoon.

Ok... off to pack the car for the 10th race in this series. Pictures and race results to follow- whenever I get enough brain power and time.

Still hot

2011-06-11T21:34:00.003-06:00

Tulsa Day #2- Still hot and humid. Surprised? Don't be.

Today's race was the one I won last year, 2010. The year before, I crashed hard, 2009. This year, I crashed again, 2011. See the pattern? Odd numbers are bad luck. Ok, that is just how my weird head works.

I still had so much fun out there today besides the last 1o minutes of the race when I crashed, got back in, went until I noticed my brake was locked up in the rear, went to the pit again, got back in... and then it was the last couple laps of the race and I didn't end up finishing where I wanted. Again, just some bad luck.

But, let's talk about the fun part! The racing here is great! Big fields, teams attacking left and right making it fast, fun courses, and good crowds. All makes for great racing.

Fitness is great... I know I can sprint with the best of them... it just will all come together at some point.

Yes mom, I am ok. Some banged up body parts but really ok.

Some pictures below are from Lynne at Podium Insight. This women KICKS BUTT covering cycling in the US. Check out her website www.podiuminsight.com She covers women's as much as she covers men's racing. Love her!

I'm not sure but I think the fields are around 70 women? Great for a non-NRC event.

A little of the action.

Today I was the lone ranger for Peanut Butter & Co. Tomorrow is a new day... we will see who is racing in the morning. See who can throw a leg over the bike and make it pedal. :) Three girls... three crashes in one week. Bad luck! But, we are lucky girls for racing our bikes and doing what we love. So, really, can we consider ourselves that unlucky? Perspective.

Tulsa is Tough

2011-06-11T10:20:00.002-06:00

As my fav Willie Nelson says, "On the Road Again."

Some down time at home and now it's business time on the road. First stop, Tulsa, OK where you could cut the humidity with a knife. They call it Tulsa Tough and they don't lie. Three days of crits (yay!) in crazy hot weather (boo!).

There are three of us here... me, Tayler, and Olivia. Check out the article our superb host wrote. There you can see some pictures too since I am lame and never take any. Written from the "host" perspective.

Day #1- 2 of us racing. Tayler is sitting this one out. KDoc, our team doc, is giving the red light for a couple more days while she recovers from a crash last week.

Not great luck for us last night. Sometimes bike racing doesn't come down to the strongest or fittest. Luck plays a part and we had none of it last night.

Olivia went down in a crash and was out. (After 4 hours in the ER, we find out that nothing is broken but she is banged up.)

After the crash, which took out about 25 people, a break went off. I was near the crash when it happened so was out of position to follow the break. So, being alone now, I decided to play it smart and hope some other teams would do work to pull it back. Nada!

I followed one good/hard move to try and bridge the break with about 10 laps to go. Good effort but we didn't make it.

Field sprint for 5th. Damn. Ok, get in position.

I got on a train headed for the front and felt like I was sitting pretty. In the beginning of the last lap, sitting about 6 wheels back and the girl in front of me lost control of her back wheel. It skipped or slid or something. Either way, since I was so close to her, we both went swerving out of control and hitting the brakes. I went from 6th wheel to 20th wheel in 5 seconds. That was something that couldn't be compensated for in the last lap. BUMMER! Bad luck- that's what I'm talking about.

That's bike racing folks. Somedays it works and others it doesn't. The good news is that we are all safe and sound this morning and I have another chance tonight.

This weekend kicks off my road season. After a full winter, 1 week break, and about 1 month of training at home... I am feeling great! I worked out my "1st big crit of the year" nerves last night and the fitness is here... now it is time to find the "luck" part.

More tonight!

Sumfing difrent

2011-06-02T17:17:00.005-06:00

I have been changing up training this week and doing things differently (for my Grandma who reads my blog- the title above is my ghetto spelling of "something different." i sometimes speak ghetto to entertain myself.) Ok, back to the 2 other people who read my blog...

Two mountain bike rides in 1 week! That's more times then I have ridden a mountain bike in 18 months. The first ride was with a group of cool chicks. Where can you easily get a group together for a 3 hour mountain bike ride on Tuesday morning? Answer- Boulder. The second ride was today with Greg.

Since Greg started his new working man life, we rarely get long rides together anymore. Today was a beautiful exception. 2 hours and 25 minutes of climbing up, up, up, up, up into the mountains followed by 20 minutes of screaming downhill back into Boulder.

Beautiful! It looks like a fake backdrop from Walmart.

Proof that I can ride dirt!

Coming back into Boulder, I wanted to stop by the creek and soak my legs. (It's like the quick and easy ice bath for recovery.)

Apparently, this is where the Boulder Beach is located. Funny thing- Greg was fully aware of the fact that on any hot day in Boulder you could find half-dressed college kids here. News to me!

He looks scared and he should be. The water is snow melt!

Ahh! The legs will feel better soon.

Happy Birfday to my ghetto homey Tricia! Love you!

Holiday Weekend

2011-05-30T21:29:00.004-06:00

Festive weekend in the Flatirons.

Some bike racing... some Boulder Bolder... some Greg making me dinner... some hiking...one nap... some friends... some gardening... lots of coffee...

No cleaning... no being productive... no stress.

Nice little holiday weekend. Happy Memorial Day everyone!

The rest of this week is business. One more tough week in this training block and then I think it is an easy week before I head out for a month packed of road racing. I can feel the road work in the legs. The weight room is taking it's toll. But, this is the feeling I love. Fatigue. Soreness. It means I am doing it right. This is the work pays off in the end.

Springtime!

2011-05-28T06:37:00.002-06:00

Oh ya, didn't want to write much after the Omnium at Pan Ams. Truthfully, I haven't even really been able to talk about it much. It ended in a disappointment. But, I will tell you about it sooner or later.

This morning I opened up my blog for other reasons... non-cycling reasons.

The past couple weeks in Boulder have been Seattle-like rain. I could have moved to Seattle 10 years ago but I moved to Boulder... if I wanted rain all day, every day, I would have moved to Portland or Seattle. But finally, these past couple days, the sun has poked through and Boulder has come alive!

You can feel the excitement in the air. One thing that 95% of people who live in this town love... is being outside. So, the second springtime hits, everyone is outside.

outside riding

outside running

outside at the coffee shop

outside mowing lawns

outside walking dogs

outside grilling

outside shopping

outside taking off clothes... ok, mostly near campus

outside climbing

This weekend in Boulder we have the Creek Festival (funnel cake fun), the Superior Morgul Omnium (bike race), and the Boulder Bolder (10k running race). Between racing my bike, grilling with friends, gardening, I think I will find some other reasons to stay outside.

P.S. Somewhere inside I am happy that we got that much rain... I know the farmers were dancing with joy and the mountain communities breath some relief because it will lessen the wildfire possibilities.

Points Race Report

2011-05-02T08:29:00.004-06:00

The great news is I finished 3rd. 25k points race. For those of you who need explaining... that's 100 laps with sprints for points every 10 lap. You get 5 points for 1st, 3 points for 2nd, 2 points for 3rd, and 1 point for 4th. 20 points for lapping the field.

I have mixed emotions from racing last night. Once again, I am left with the frustration of wanting more. Competitive? Not me :)

The positive part of the race is I finally was able to lap the field. That part of points racing is NOT my strength. Sprinting- can do. Lapping the field- I have tried before but it hasn't worked for me. A move went with 2 girls at the right part of the race and I felt like they had some momentum. I bridged to them and we then worked together to lap the field. That's a first for me in international competition. I was also a lot better at being involved in multiple sprints instead of "going big" for 1 or 2. Last night I think I was involved in about 4-5 sprints.

South America is a different style of racing for sure. No need for excuses- I walk away from this race hungry for the Omnium!

In this photo, we all look proportionate.

In this photo, I look like a giant. That girl is tiny, tiny, tiny.

Team USA walked away with 3 medals- 2x bronze and 1 silver. With only 4 events taking place yesterday, we are off to a good start.

Morning spin

2011-05-01T11:40:00.003-06:00

Instead of spending another morning on rollers, indoors, we ventured. Kit and I, hit the streets on this Sunday morning closed circuit. It got my adrenalin pumping for sure- roller bladers, kids who were falling off bikes left and right, walkers, tons of dogs, etc.

The highlight was the BMX park we found.

We were slightly out of place. Kit said I was acting like his dad wanting to take pictures. Shows how easily embarrassed a 19 year-old can get.

Exploration

2011-04-30T17:15:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I took about 30 minutes to walk around the city streets near our hotel. It feels relatively safe during the day... I wouldn't do the same walk at night or alone.

Medellin is the second largest city in Colombia with a total population of 3.5 million which includes the surrounding areas. From my view, the only surrounding areas are the mountains. We are high in the Andes, about 5,000 feet but it feels way more tropical to me then the mountains of Colorado. The humidity is pretty high (to me) and there is a late afternoon thunderstorm everyday.

For all you track racing geeks like me.... this all means that the air pressure is pretty similar to LA and therefore, I feel like, the speeds, gears, etc. will be similar to riding at Home Depot Center. Oh, I also take into consideration the "Alpenrose" character this track encompasses, i.e. bumps.

More pics:

Sidewalk stores

Tropical beauty in the middle of lots of urban commotion.

I love checking out homes in the different cities. They say a lot about where I am at that moment.

Does this mean I am possibly not safe at this moment? Hmm... put away the camera gringo.

Local moving company.

I wasn't kidding.

We are surrounded by mountains and security.

One of the keys is to stay hydrated. Check out the coach's post for today and there personal note at the bottom.

Racing starts tomorrow! Points race for me. Scratch race for Kit Karzen. Team Sprint for the sprint boys. 500m for the sprint girls.

About that...

2011-04-29T19:13:00.003-06:00

Yep, I have done it again. I promised for more blogging and then I failed.

The truth is that when I was home for 3.5 weeks, I didn’t have that much free time. Week 1, I slept the whole time… day, night, whatever. Week 2, I started training again but was still tired and, therefore, I slept a lot. There was also that whole thing about the real world that got in the way. Week 3, the real world took priority over sleeping.

And that brings us to now… in the southern country of Colombia via a couple days in Los Angeles.

I am preparing for Pan American Championships in Medellin, Colombia which start on May 1^st.

A blog in pictures:

Let the crazy bike travel begin

With 6 athletes and several staff members all flying out of LA, it was a circus.

Once we landed in Medellin, the unhealthy snacks were abundant.

Our bike limo.

View from my hotel room.

Bike rack, South American style.

Yep, that's how we roll.

Famous Tela. Oh, and, she is the only US athlete that speaks spanish.

Outdoor track! The vampire might get sun.

My buddy and old training partner, Michael Blatchford.

Outdoor concrete 250m that rides like Alpenrose. Carnival style!

The velodrome guard dog. I call mine at home Moochie but I am afraid to approach this one... they took off his mouth guard.

Home... for now.

2011-03-29T05:57:00.003-06:00

Back in Boulder as of last night and up early with my friend, jet lag.

I have tons of pictures and blogging to catch up on and it will happen little by little this week.

Here are some teasers:

Sold out crowds!

Cool little interview here. On that website you can also scroll around and find other great videos from Track Worlds. I love this one , not because it is a crash but how they are picking splinters out of the guys back and then send him back into the race. Oh, track cycling!

Ok, off for a sunrise hike at Sanitas Mtn. I love me some Boulder!

Nice Timing!

2011-03-23T04:48:00.004-06:00

A friend of mine, one who doesn't read CyclingNews and most likely has no idea I am waiting to race the biggest race of my career thus far, emailed this picture today. He was cleaning out his inbox and came across an email/picture from Greg after I had my first Elite Track Nationals Podium... Bronze in the 500m.

Wow! That caused a pause and some reflection.

Bronze in the 500m on October 4, 2007.

3 years and 5 months and 19 days later I am about to race at the World Championships. Holy! It's been quite a ride and I expect the excitement to continue!

Thanks for the reality check email Geoff... if you even read my blog.

Last night was opening ceremonies. Basically, the build of excitement and an introduction of Nations.

3 year and 5 months and 19 days ago I had no idea who Eddy Merckx was...

That's it... racing starts tonight!

Here in Holland

2011-03-19T07:59:00.006-06:00

Apeldoorn specifically. Home of Elite Track World Championships and lots of other bikes. Everyone rides bikes. Holland loves bikes.
There are bike lanes and bike lights and drivers that yield to bikes. Amazing.

Bikes are even used as decorations. Every other light post on this major "highway" has a painted bike hanging from it.

Not unlike where we were in Germany, Holland is very agricultural. This guy and his many friends live right outside our hotel.

Don't ask. I don't have an answer to this sign but I have ridden my bike past it several times and yet to see a frog.

Today was our first day in the velodrome. This may be my favorite track EVER. Hard wood, smooth, steep, round. The facility itself is maybe the nicest I have seen as well.

Again, a country that treats track racing with enthusiasm. I have seen a couple billboards with some of their local stars... this one is one of their women sprinters.

She's getting ready....
Ready to go fast!

Manchester Flashback

2011-03-15T14:18:00.004-06:00

Since today was a rest day here in Germany and as promised, I will wander back a month or so when I was in the UK for the 4th and final World Cup of the season.

We got there a day earlier then normal which gave us a bit of time to actually check out the surroundings. Apparently Manchester is a very industrial city but we happened to stay very near the city center which seemed metropolitan.

Super old buildings... of some significance I am sure. We didn't have the time or energy to actually be real tourists... just ones who are in search of a good coffee shop.

In the city center.

My first event was the Team Pursuit with Kim Geist and Kristin McGrath.

As a team, we rode a PB (personal best). That is me 2nd wheel.

It's hard to explain to people in the US how big this sport is in other countries around the world. This 3 day event sold out each day/night session. I would guess the facility holds 3k-4k people. Pretty impressive and fun to race with that many people cheering!

The most talked about event from this World Cup was this little incident. Don't watch if you are squeamish or my mom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rltqF-HT9iU

What should have been the most talked about event from this World Cup was Sarah THE HAMMER dominating the women's omnium. She never fails to amaze me... and inspire me. Congrats to Sarah! More rainbow stripes in her future! (for the non-cycling people- you get a "rainbow stripes" by winning a World Championship which happens to be a big deal.)

So, the second race of the weekend was the Scratch which didn't end up how I had planned. For once, I actually had the confidence of winning a race at a World Cup. Yes, seriously. I just said it out loud. I actually thought I could win it. Damn it for crashing! Thank goodness for not being injured but damn it for crashing. No splinters for me though! Congrats to my teammate Jennie Reed for taking the podium. Let's hear it for recovering sprinters in the scratch race!!!

So, that's Manchester in a nutshell. I am still not done filling you in on the rest of February...

Architecture

2011-03-14T03:58:00.006-06:00

This morning I went on a solo recovery ride and had the chance to pull out the phone for some pictures.

What's this? Doesn't look like anything is in the picture. Exactly. This represents the area of Buttgen and surrounding towns.

These are agricultural communities. I was still shocked to see farm animals in the middle of towns.

Again, in the neighborhood.

Yep, I wasn't kidding. More farm animals in the hood.

Up close.

Now for some shots of the architecture. Any time I travel, I love checking out the homes.

Pretty traditional. Everything seems to be dark... brick, brown woods, dark roofs.

A little newer but...

Very typical town home type living.

A contemporary twist on the traditional townhome.

A little modern home using old materials I found in the middle of some random town.

A found several examples of people trying to add color to the monotone. Newer homes have painted brick or white stucco. This home tried to splash some color out front so everything didn't look so grey.

Even this random wall had some attempt at color. Can you see the colored squares?

I like this attempt!

Signing out.

How to make a velodrome profitable?

2011-03-13T11:19:00.004-06:00

... without 6-day races... every month.

In the three days we have worked out at the velodrome here, there have been three different sports taking place in the infield.

Hockey... on roller blades

Team handball... a sport the USA needs to learn more about. Very athletic sport!

And soccer. Ironically (my favorite!), this is the one sport I didn't catch on camera. For the record, these kids were so good at soccer. I think I was so busy being mesmerized by the skill level of these 8 year olds that I forget to get the camera out.

Now, for the smallest real bike I have ever seen at a velodrome...

For perspective...

And then the little dude attacks the big kids .on their apron warm-up

All is good in Buttgen! Check back for more updates. I am getting to be a regular on this blog thing.

Rest Day in Buttgen

2011-03-12T15:32:00.003-07:00

I know, I still owe a lot of updates and not necessarily about this trip.

Today was a rest day and it flew by... didn't really clean out the email inbox like planned or finish my book.

Easy spin this morning on the sweet bike paths that run parallel to the streets. If you look closely, you will notice there is a wind power 'tower' in the back. They normally don't put these in areas that don't produce wind. :) Today was mild but we have felt it on previous rides.

A nice little touch for our dorm style hotel rooms. Thanks to Andrew Bettinger- USA soigneur extraordinaire!

Pictorial Review of Day #1

2011-03-11T04:36:00.005-07:00

We arrived in Buttgen, GER without drama. Day #1 was filled with chamois time- road ride in the morning and track in the afternoon.

Here is our track session in pictures:

Taking it all in.

It is a steep track with some funny bumps.

and REALLY cold inside. If we could, we would train wearing parkas.

Andrew, "Betty", to the rescue with hot tea.... trackside.

Time for a little motorpacing. How do you start this thing?

"Hmm, Ben, do you know how to do this?"

Jones had enough watching the boys stuggle... so she took over.

Some team work.

Soon, she was up and running. In this picture she looks slightly cautious. It wasn't long until she was doing hot laps.

I see a future for Jones!

Can't keep track

2011-03-09T13:38:00.004-07:00

So, where was I? Oh ya. I had promised a race update and pictures from Manchester. Then I wrote about a whirl of travel to NorCal for Peanut Butter & Co team camp.

And, now? It's been a heck of a couple days traveling.

Sunday I raced in California... made it to my own bed in Boulder by 1:30 am Sunday night/Monday morning... unpack/laundry/repack/say hello to Greg and Elke on Monday... Tuesday I was back at the airport and on my way to Germany.

I will spend the next 10 days here in Buttgen, Germany in preparation for Track World Championships with Team USA.

I should have more downtime to update this bloggy thing this week. So, check back because I will begin the updates from Manchester and move toward the present.

Last time I was in Germany it was to pick up a car we had purchased and make a little vacation out of it. Looks like King Kong got the best of this car in the Frankfurt airport.

Much to tired...

2011-03-05T22:57:00.002-07:00

Much to tired to blog, blog.

The only reason I scratch out a lame blog is to let my mom and grandma know where in the world I am right now. NorCal is the answer.

Actually, that is wrong. I guess I am in the Central Valley... or is this considered NorCal? Where in the world is Merced? Whatever. I will be back at SFO tomorrow.

All is well racing my bike with Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12 and back to Boulder tomorrow. There is so much to catch up on... I don't know how I can backtrack when I can hardly find time to stop and smell the roses. (I am a lucky girl for sure!)

So, mom/grandma, I know I haven't called you back in about 5 days. There is good reason. Life is moving at the speed of light... now if I could only pedal my bike at the speed of light too. Hmmm.

2 random & fun things

2011-02-28T21:16:00.003-07:00

I know, I know... I owe you pictures and a race report from the Manchester World Cup. Don't worry, as soon as you forget about it, I will post something.

Right now I am in Mill Valley, CA at Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY 12 Team Camp... worthy of 5 blog posts a day. That is the product of the problem... I don't have time to post!

So, here are my two quick/fun/random things for today:

Erin, my neice, posted the fastest Super G time in her age group... even beating the boys! I am hoping that one day she teaches me to ski and doesn't laugh.

Second, the posse in Blaine, MN who run the Fixed Gear Classic did a great promo video. Check it out by clicking on this sentence (I need to explain these things to some family members.)

If you have never raced this velodrome, you are missing out. No, not like "you are missing out if you have never race Alpenrose." It's an entirely different kind of "missing out." Smooth, 250m, outdoor, not as many tattoos or piercings.... you get it.

Last year I pulled off winning both the endurance and the sprint omniums. That was a TON of racing in 3 days. This year... who knows?!?

Anything better then Boulder?

2011-02-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Not to me!

What do you do when you have three days at home every month?

Well...it is really busy! I often get questions about logistics...and "all the other stuff" that is involved with being a professional cyclist. Today involves a mountain of laundry...do you bother to wash a shredded National Team skinsuit? Feels wrong putting the stars and stripes in the trash...without a small ceremony of folding and firing off a rifle into the air! With that started (and two showers to put some jet lag behind me), I unfortunately have to open the bike box, dig out my beautiful Felt TK1 (that now looks like it has been to battle...and has!), and take it to University Bikes for Doug Emerson's group of merry mechanics to go over it and make sure it is ready to ride another day. Good News...the bike is good...but the new Zipp Super 9 "Short Range Ballistic Missile" rear disc is now ready for discus toss in the street. It is now 10:30, I am have passed on a couple jars of PB&Co to the guys that keep me on two wheels...and pretty happy about it!

Now what? What day is it...and how many more hours do I have in Boulder before headed to team camp in CA? Small pleasure...trip to Great Harvest for a fresh loaf of bread and a hot sample with honey! Off to the chiropractor for the cold laser thanks to Dr. Boyton. They were good enough to call and check on me this morning...yep, same as last time you saw me, beat up from sliding across the track and ready for some body voodoo! Then home for some some lunch...hot bowl of Greg's Moosewood Brazilian black bean soup with lots of cilantro...gotta feed the machine!

Nap! Maybe. Build up the road bike and get ready to head over to Boulder Center for Sports Medicine with four pairs of shoes for a cleat fitting with Sean. Ah yes, getting on the bike and feeling like a lab rat! Done? Check in at Coach Neal's office...more PB&Co to deliver (or beer)!

I thought I didn't have anything to do today and it is a full-off rest day? If I'm lucky, the sun will be going down and I'll be wandering down to Pearl Street to see some Boulder amigos that I haven't seen since...what month is it?

Who knew there was so much to it!

Race reports and pictures from Beijing coming soon. Maybe tomorrow I will have more brain function.

Where in the world?

2011-02-14T01:19:00.004-07:00

From Beijing, I went home to Boulder for a week. The plan was to have a wonderful, relaxing week at home with Greg. Although I am happy to be home whenever possible, I wasn't too much fun to live with while I suffered with the "Beijing funk" that kept me miserably sick all week. Not much fun when you are also dealing with some wacky jet lag. So much for doing something fun for Greg's birthday!! (I lost some big points that week)

Right as the cold snap of the century was hitting Boulder, I hopped on a plane and headed back to LA for more track camp fun.

I didn't want to rub it in... actually never even mentioned it on my calls home... but the weather in LA was PERFECT! While Boulder was struggling to get above 0 degrees, LA was flirting with 70 degrees.

Travel day beach ride... hello sunshine!

We normally don't get out much at track camp. A typical day looks like this:

- eat

- morning road ride

- eat

- afternoon track training

- eat

- sleep

The only variation is whether track or road is morning or afternoon... oh, and, who is in charge of cooking our team dinner. (Thank goodness KMac has joined the team... we had all run out of creative ideas for Extended Stay dinners.)

BUT... this camp, we actually carved out an afternoon and did something FUN!

Yes! The famous Dave Towle joined us for an afternoon on the Grey's Anatomy set.

If you didn't believe me....

More interesting then the set... Patrick Dempsey's Mercedes Gullwing

If one day of fun wasn't enough... we had a road ride scheduled another day. Wait, let me explain. We had a road ride scheduled without also having track training scheduled. Driven by the desire to see more then stoplights and concrete, we jumped in the car and drove out to Pasadena to join our friend Peyton for some long hours in the sun!

Ah, brakes, hills, sun, gears... something out of the ordinary! Thanks Peyton!

So, that was last week in pictures. I am now sitting in Manchester, UK getting prepared for the last World Cup of the season. The winter has flown by and reflection brings many positive thoughts!

Recovered Sprinter

2011-01-28T08:44:00.005-07:00

Several months ago I wrote about my journey from sprinting to endurance.

This past week in Beijing, I was outnumbered by sprinters. The USA athletes included Bobby and me (endurance)... Cristin, Liz, and Jimmy (sprint.) It was as if I was let out of my full-time rehab facility (National Team Pursuit Program) to test the rehab progress... like letting a someone in AA go to a bar. Will she slip back into old habits?

Two funny stories confirm I am no longer a sprinter.

In the San Francisco airport, my coach, Neal, bought a American super sized Snickers bar. He told me he was putting it in his bag until the end of the Omnium. If I were to get a top 10 result, he would split it with me. Fair enough! A little more inspiration.

The first night in Beijing, we had a full team meeting in the coach's room... endurance and sprinters together. The sprinter girls noticed a Snickers bar (not Neal's) and started talking about it. Jamie, the sprint coach, announced that if they got a top 10 in the Team Sprint, that he would buy them A DOZEN Snicker bars. Neal and I looked at each other and couldn't contain the laughter.

The inequity. Endurance girls get 1/2 a Snickers bar for a top 10. Sprint girls get 12 Snickers bars for a top 10.

I guess I passed the test back in SFO when I truly thought 1/2 a bar was good enough for inspiration. Endurance brain.... check. (And, yes, I did get that 1/2 a Snickers. And, yes, I did it eat it in one sitting.)

Neal and his Snickers.

The next was a conversation that Liz started when she asked what wild animal would be depict a sprinter... and then later a enduro. The conclusion- a sprinter is clearly a lion.

You see, sprinters are really good at laying around and sleeping most of the day. But, when they wake up, beware. They are hungry. They can go from sleeping to violent movements in .01 seconds. Once they satisfy that hunger, they can instantly go back to sleep mode.

Endurance athletes (omnium in this case) on the other hand are constantly busy. Antelopes best describe our state. Always grazing, always moving.

The analogy can be taken much further but you get the point. We laughed quite a bit about lions and antelopes.

See, I kind of stink at relaxing. It isn't something I am proud of and something I would like to get better at doing... but, it is rare that I can take a nap. There is always something to do... clean my room, send another email, stretch, fill a water bottle, eat an apple, play on iTunes, make my bed... you get the point. I am an antelope.

Seriously, those sprint girls were ALWAYS sleeping. They are true lions.

Chinatown

2011-01-25T20:05:00.005-07:00

Actually Beijing...but I don't really get to see it when I'm there, so it might as well be Paris! I know I was in China because I have a plane ticket to prove it and don't think I need to have a bowl of rice for a while!

Our interpreter/helper. She's a student and spoke great English.

The roof of the velodrome while laying on the floor.

What was different about this trip than other trips this winter? First of all, I was not traveling with the women's endurance team and I did get used to that. Hm, Jennie should be here for coffee any minute! On the other hand, I did get to travel with my coach, Neal Henderson, and Jamie Staff, US National Team sprint coach. It is great to have these guys at competition with me. I have been working with Neal for about nine months and glad to have him there to see my progress (and success!) during my transition from sprinter to hmmm...well...something else! I look forward to having Jamie in LA when I train there in the future...and I am very impressed by his "indoor voice" that can heard over all the velodrome noise and still reach me through the pain of my final pursuit laps! Thanks guy...you (and the staff) are great! Look forward to the next one!

Picture of USA Cycling Staff- Alec, Andy, Jamie, Neal

THE RACING

I love to race. In the Omnium, you get plenty of racing. All kinds of racing and all of it at the highest level. Seven (including a qualifier) races over two days. Highlights for me...a PR and top ten in the pursuit. On the other side of things, there was the crash in the Elimination on the first day that didn't help. There is the adrenaline of the crash, but then there is also the comedown afterwards. But that is the point of the Omnium, dealing with something like a crash and coming back in the next race. It is not all about one race, but who is still standing when it is all over and the smoke clears!

I always manage to carve out my own little corner for my bag explosion. Heated floors at this velodrome!

QUESTION: WHAT IS AN OMNIUM?

Best described as cycling’s own version of the decathlon, the Omnium tests the all round track racing abilities of each competitor demanding skill, speed, endurance and tactical abilities in order to win. Riders score points according to their placing in each event with fewer points awarded the higher the placing. The rider with the lowest number of points overall wins.

The Omnium at the Track World Cup consists of:

Flying 1 lap time trial

Points race 20 km for women

Elimination

Individual pursuit 3000m for women

Scratch race

500m time trial

A couple random photos:

This store was so busy at the airport. We discovered that those walls are packed full of duck... in a bag. ?? Spring festivals are next week in Beijing.

The local landscaper and he wheels.

This was how I kept track of my "countdown" until I was back in Boulder. How many more meal cards?

Reflection

2011-01-07T22:10:00.003-07:00

Feeling sentimental tonight...

It's Friday and I am enjoying doing nothing. Really, when I say nothing, I mean nothing. There is nothing left on the internet, I ran out of podcasts, TV has rotted my brain, and I am about to start a new book. Fun, eh?

Sometimes people think the life of a professional cyclist is always exciting. And, frankly, the fact that I get to sit here and do nothing is actually really exciting for me. It means I am doing my job; my job today was to rest so I can be ready to kill it this weekend in workouts.

But, the downtime here in LA has given me the capacity to reflect on how exactly I am sitting here in a rented bedroom in Huntington Beach.

It was 5 years ago (actually June of 2006) that I decided to actually try this track bike thingy. Greg and I got married in the summer of 2005 and in the fall of that year I did my first real bike race, a stage race in Taos, NM. Greg convinced me that I would love the velodrome and to sign up for a beginner clinic in the spring. It's a long story but the short version ends with... by the end of June I was taking part in a National Team Sprint Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and way in over my head.

Here I was.... working 60 hours a week, traveling 3-4 days a week for work, running on the treadmill in various hotels across the country, and hurrying home every Friday night so we could be weekend warrior athletes. Then, I rode a track bike and my life drastically changed. The only constant has been the support of the husband and the dog :)

From designer suits to dirty sweats... it has been a hell of a ride the last 5 years.

My evening ride here in Huntington Beach.

Be Here Now

2011-01-02T12:38:00.004-07:00

Actually, as much as I would like to be living in the moment on my last leisurely morning in Boulder, I can't help this lack of Zen balance in my life today! I've got luggage from one country (is this a bag of coffee from Columbia?) and have to switch to over to bigger suitcases and bigger bike boxes for a longer trip to other countries. Lot of coffee today! My passport has seen more action than...prize for the best finish of this sentence!

Where have I bean (that's what the Canadians say!)? You know the lull between Christmas and New Year's? Sure...right! Packing for Canada on Christmas Day. Off to a suburb of Vancouver, Canada for the UCI Burnaby Four. That is a six-day (condensed into three nights of racing) and a final full day Omnium. Translation for "normal" people...four looong days of racing! Neal...can I get a day off? Flying on Boxing Day?

Props to Jeremy Storie, the Burnaby promoter, for a true World Class race! Unlike certain tracks (you know who you are!) that could care less about women's racing, Jeremy went above and beyond to have a stacked women's field that included three World Champions and five different countries. Thanks you for your support of women's track racing! It is not often that I am able to line up with a field of this quality outside a World Cup and work on trying out different tactics...like taking a lap...ha! No pressure racing at that level...so much fun!

Picture from Burnaby.

Now what? After a couple nights at home, I am back to LA for a week of Omnium training before the next National Team pursuit camp next Monday. Two weeks in LA and off to Beijing to World Cup #3. This will be my second WC Omnium. I love this because I love to race my bike...and you get six different races! Look forward to some great results in China!

Madison winners at Nationals, 2010.

Before stepping on to my first flight in 2011, I would like to take a minute to thank all of my personal sponsors that made 2010 a great year! Peanut Butter & Co/ TWENTY 12 for their great support! Tiemeyer for the best custom track frames (total of 11 National Championships on Dave's bikes!)...D2 for the best custom cycling shoes (call Don!)...both from Colorado! SKINS for providing the recovery clothing layered under my jeans on every trip! Zipp for all my track wheels...including the new Super 9 rear disc...short range missile!

Omnium Pursuit, Nationals, 2010

Last, but not least...I want to thank a hand full of people that put in lots of hard work making "it" all happen...it couldn't happen without you!

Neal Henderson of Apex Coaching for helping me through a crazy transition from sprinter to...pursuiter? Oh man...never say never! But if you do, I got the guy for you!

Mark Tyson for being there at the track everyday on the moto. Hey, pull the throttle already, baby...or I'm gonna smash that roller again! Looking forward to lots of lunches in 2011. Thanks for answering phone calls from the other side of the globe in the middle of the night! Don't worry, Noreen...just another crazy female trackie!

Ben Sharp, US Women's National Track Team coach, for all his hard work (and the other USAC staff). Wish I had been there when you told your buddies over a beer how easy it was going to be to coach women! Trial by fire, Benjamin! You can sleep after London! I hear Tyson is writing a book about dealing with women athletes...

And Nicola Cranmer, GM for Peanut Butter and CO/2012. Thank you for all your dedication! Looking forward to my third year! Every year is better than the last...and it doesn't just happen! Some of us know that it isn't a job for you...it is your life...and this "job" is my life, so thanks for all you do!

Finally...to my hubby for all his support...I couldn't do it without you...I miss you so much...you're hawt...hahaha! WOOT! When we stop laughing about all our personal inside jokes on this one...from our favorite 2010 Twitter, FB and blogs...whew...comedy! Seriously, enough people... you are killing me.

And for Tony, a moment of silence. Wait...Tony wouldn't want silence...I'm going into 2011and going to turn the volume up to 11 just for you Tony!

Boulder for the Holidays (kinda)!

2010-12-19T19:55:00.003-07:00

Let's see... Denver-LA-Melbourne-LA-Cali, Columbia-Denver. That's the short story. I won't give the long version. It's three weeks long and exhausting to even think/talk about. Let's just say that after 22 hours of traveling on Friday, it was good to be home (until I leave in a few days for Canada).

Sleep has been priceless the last couple days and Greg has been spoiling me with homemade food- Winter Minestrone soup with orzo, Blueberry Banana Buckwheat Pancakes (thanks for the syrup KfC!), Farro salad with dried cherries/toasted walnuts, etc.

Traveling with this cycling circus, the one thing I have learned to loath is packing/unpacking my bikes. Luckily, while I am home, I have a live-in mechanic for those duties (when he's not cooking...or while). This morning, after my hot yoga, I got dressed to ride and, BAM, the bike was miraculously built and waiting for me.

How do you travel (a common question)? Here is a snapshot of how I pack my $20k worth of bikes and wheels and stuff them in a large box. I complete the task by crossing my fingers and hoping they arrive, like I left them, in the next city.

People make think this is a glorious job...

Wouldn't you want to travel the world and coach women cyclists? Seriously, we are a ball of fun! Ben... Ben... um, Ben! Who's got the Sharpie?

No seriously, this guy works his butt off (that's why he is sitting that way) for our program and always gives us 110% of his attention. We just seem to wear him out. The old saying..."Women, can't live with them...pass the beer nuts."

Back riding today. Beautiful winter day in Boulder! Cool to see this beautiful stretch litter free thanks to Clif Bar volunteers (there is a nice sign)!

Change of plans

2010-12-13T19:14:00.005-07:00

I write from Cali, Columbia.

This week I was planning on being home snuggling with my 100 pound rottweiller but instead I wrestled my 100 pound bike box down to Columbia. The second World Cup is this coming weekend and the original plan was for me to be home for training. But, all has changed and I am here to race the Team Pursuit. :)

We headed back to LA last week... I caught a nasty little cold... I am hammering the vitamins and sleep... and, we are all hoping I am healthy in 3 days!

Too many bikes... way too heavy... made for a headache for team management. Although we eventually got on the flight, 5 of our bike/equipment boxes didn't. My bike happened to be one of those five so today I went without a bike. Rumor has it that the bike is here now though.

Travel was long. Weird to travel about 15 hours and only change 2 or 3 time zones. Finally arriving in Cali, we load all the boxes into a moving truck and pray they show up at the velodrome.

This track is a covered, open air velodrome and beautiful. You can slightly see the mountains in the background from this photo.

Not everything is as high tech here. This is a music system I found. No promises this is the one they will use during competition though.

Must sleep now... more later.

Welcome Home?

2010-12-09T08:39:00.004-07:00

This is a message a friend sent me. Well, if you consider "home" our hotel in beautiful Torrance, CA home... then, yes, welcome home. (oh, I dream of the Flatirons of Boulder.)

Anyway, I digress.

Quick race recap of the Omnium in Melbourne, as promised:

(P.S. Omnium for those who don't know is 6 events over 2 days. 1st place in each event gets 1 point. Last place gets 24 points. The person who ends up with the least amount of points, wins.)

-Each country can send 1 athlete but the rules state that only 24 cyclists can race on a 250m track (which is the international standard). We had 31 countries (I think) send athletes for the Omnium which meant we had to start day #1 with a qualifying race which was a 10k Points race. My goal was to spend as little energy as possible to qualify. I felt in control and accomplished the goal.

- Next up was the Flying Lap. I started early and held the fast time for a bit but ended up 8th with a 14.856. The fast time was a 14.589.

- After about 2 hours we raced the 20k Points Race. For those who don't know, this means we sprint for points every 10 laps. If you lap the field you get 20 points. Well, we had 5 girls lap the field and I wasn't one of them. Funny tactics in the Omnium Points race vs. a normal Points Race. I sprinted for 3 points and scored in 2 of them. Good for 12th place. The bummer is 1 more point would have given me 8th or so place which is a big difference.

- Then the Elimination or "miss-n-out". For those who aren't familiar with cycling, this race is sometimes chaos. Basically, the last person over the line on every other lap is out. The problem with this race is telling people they are out... especially if we all speak different languages. Solution? A brick sized computer they mounted to our handlebars that flash LED lights in our face when we are out. Good solution but not perfect. I raced a less then desirable race this time around and finished 15th.

Day #2

- Individual 3k Pursuit. Basically, a race against the clock. In my world, this is considered "distance" and an event I am least experienced in. I posted a 3.47.7 for 13th place. This was a personal best in this event and I didn't even feel like I was going to die.

I forgot to zip up my skinsuit before the pursuit. DUH! I wasn't trying to show anything off but basically just look silly!

- Scratch Race. 40 laps and first one to cross the line, wins. This is the one race I play over and over in my mind. I was SOOO close... but, in the end I ended 9th. AHHHH! I can't wait to watch this one on video. I had the position and the legs but... well, whatever, it didn't come together. Next time :)

- 500m time trial was the last event. I was no where near my personal best time but ended 9th with a 37.3 seconds. At least I am consistent... this was the same time I posted at the end of the Omnium at Nationals in LA in October. There is easy improvements to be made in this event with some work.

So, at the end of 2 days, I ended up in 11th place. In the big picture I am happy but not satisfied. With a micro-view, I see lots of places for improvement and remain totally inspired. With the exception of Great Britain (and maybe China if they have a Omnium athlete), every big country had a athlete. So, against the best in the world, not bad for my first showing.

All photos are from CJFOTO.COM.

Thanks for reading... more soon!

That's a Wrap

2010-12-04T13:16:00.003-07:00

From the land of Vegemite and Cricket, my first true International Omnium is done. I am pleased but not satisfied by finishing 11th.

There is so much to write and I can't possibly do it all right now... since I need to drink more coffee, pack my bags, drink more coffee, and then catch the airport shuttle. But, quickly...

1) I had AMAZING support from USA Cycling! Thank you Ben Sharp for everything... for being positive, professional, and always attentive. James Stanfill might be called the grumpy mechanic but he is meticulous. James G. was a rock star soigneur and served as a great interpreter when we just couldn't understand the AUS language.

and,

2) I really love racing my bike. Still.

Race report to come... I will have plenty of time to write my thoughts in the 24 hours I will be traveling.

Some quick photos:

Beach Road ride with the girls early in the week.

Our commute to/from the velodrome. We stayed in the middle of China-town. Cool area.

No, really, he was always attentive as I mentioned above. Hey, 14 hours at the track on Day #1... what can you expect?

In between sessions on Day #1. A little like a 6-day. Nothing glamorous here!

Ok, packing must be done. Talk to everyone on the Stateside.

Cari

Reset Button

2010-11-20T07:53:00.002-07:00

Sometimes in life, you just to push it. Take a deep breath, step away, and start over.

This was my experience this week. After the wedding, I was tired. Family time, travel time, questionable eating, etc... left me in the tank for a couple days.

The reset button has been pushed and things have changed.

For athletes, it is essential to not let a couple bad workouts send the head in a downward spiral. I am sure it is the same for parents who have a couple bad days with the kids or for married couples or for managers in the business world or, really, for anyone. Negative feelings can snowball and the only person who can reverse that attitude is the owner of that attitude. (the legs will come around... the head is the controllable part)

So, find your reset button! (mine came in the fashion of a sleeping aid, a couple really big meals, and some friends)

Family

2010-11-17T07:41:00.005-07:00

Last time I wrote I had just gotten home from LA Track Camp. Since then, I have been back to LA for some individual training, back home, to Florida, and now I am back in LA for Track Camp II.

Travel took it's toll but I am here this week to concentrate on fully giving it my best on the track and then fully recovering in the hotel at night.

Some pictures from this past weekend in Florida for my brother's wedding. I am so lucky to have such a cool new sister-in-law! I joked that I was afraid she would call off the wedding and, although, I wasn't fully serious, I kept thinking "this is too good to be true." And, you know the saying. :) No, really, my brother deserves Amy and they will provide each other a lifetime of happiness... and laughs.

The setting was perfect. The beaches in the panhandle of Florida rival those of the most beautiful beaches in the world. White sand and crystal clear water.

In a rare photo together... in the same state!

Mom's side of the family minus the cousins.
Surfing with my cousin Sam.
My dad and best-man.
A very beautiful couple... in the swamps of Florida.
Coolest groom's cake ever! Beattles theme.

Ok, off to the velodrome for some fast riding. Race simulation today!!

Nice Surprise

2010-11-01T11:52:00.004-06:00

I received a surprise email telling me I won the National Championship Series for the American Track Racing Association. Cool! I love that they have pulled together the series with all the major US races. Nice to see my team come out on top too :)

Since my last blog I have been to LA for a week of Team Pursuit Camp and then home a week... now I leave again tomorrow for more training in LA.

No pretty pictures of the beach since it rained every single day we were there. Seriously! SoCal rain for 6 days in a row. Thank goodness for the indoor velodrome!

Getting front door service from Sarah... it was POURING out!

We did manage to ride outside some but notice all the clothes... I think this was the only day I didn't wear leg warmers. Oh, and, this is a picture of us changing a flat. Oh many girls.... oh, that is not funny joke.

Camp was great and I am really looking forward to see what our team can do this winter! With a solid group and more focus, the sky is the limit!

More soon...

Armstrong is back!

2010-10-23T09:17:00.003-06:00

From directing the team to racing with the team... she's back!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/olympic-champion-armstrong-to-return

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=5715822

Old news... but good news

2010-10-22T07:57:00.003-06:00

My poor family... still have not seen photos from Nationals. Here you go!

Boulder's Higgins Finishes US Track Cycling National Championship with Four National Titles

October 3, 2010

Carson, CA-Boulder's Cari Higgins (Peanut Butter & Co/2012 Professional Cycling Team) completed her competition at the 2010 US Elite Track Cycling National Championships on Sunday with the addition of two more national titles. With teammate and former World Champion Jennie Reed (Kirkland, WA), Higgins won the first ever US National Championship in the Women's Madison. Her final Stars and Stripes jersey came in the Women's Team Sprint with teammate Liz Reap (Jim Thorpe, PA). Earlier in the week, Higgins also won National titles in the Women's Team Pursuit and Points Race. She has eleven career National Championships and four Pan American Cycling Championship medals.

Higgins commented "I am really inspired by starting my track cycling season off with a strong Nationals. I am looking forward to a great winter of racing internationally with the US National Team as we work towards our goal, the London 2012 Olympics".

Cari is coached by Neal Henderson of Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. She is also the founder of the Boulder-based Flatiron Flyers Junior Cycling Project, a junior cycling team with twenty local riders. She also serves an athlete representatives to the USA Cycling Board in Colorado Springs, CO.

Recovery

2010-10-08T15:14:00.002-06:00

I didn't even have a chance to post ONE THING from Nationals. You would think that this week would allow me the opportunity to get caught up on all things blog. Not really.

What have I done this recovery week? Goes something like this...

Monday- travel, sleep, eat lots

Tuesday- sleep, celebrate birthday, drive to Denver to pick up bikes and Katie/Mark's dog, doctor, birthday dinner with friends, sleep

Wednesday- SLEEP, yoga, finally make it to the grocery so I can stop eating Clif bars, SLEEP BIG TIME

Thursday- SLEEP more then I thought was possible, decide that laundry was a must, SLEEP, and SLEEP again

Friday- sunrise hike, nap, lunch with a friend, fight the nap.... and maybe some more yoga

I think I am starting to feel normal again. This is all just in time to start the hard training again. It's all a crazy cycle!

Ok... race reports and pictures from Nationals are on their way. This weekend, it will all be posted!

Really?

2010-10-01T13:59:00.001-06:00

If a sprinter sits out the Scratch race and signs up for the Individual Pursuit instead, is she still a sprinter?

Do not disturb: Therapy in session.

2010-10-01T13:57:00.000-06:00

The answer... this is how and where you can support our team and our sponsor!

http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/cycling

Something Sassy!

2010-09-26T22:51:00.003-06:00

She's new and beautiful!

This photo was taken from Tiemeyer's shop at about 10 pm the 2 nights before I left for LA. I was so tired from a long day but you would never know it by the smile. THE man stayed up late to make sure everything was perfect on the new frame. Thanks Dave!

The beauty about precision and custom is you just throw on the components and you are ready to roll!

I can't say enough about Tiemeyer's bikes. Lighter then most carbon frames I would consider. As stiff as I would possibly need. More aero then anything else out there. And fits me like a glove!

Boulder Fire

2010-09-11T14:50:00.003-06:00

This has been a strange week around Boulder. One that we won't ever forget.

On Monday, Labor Day, a fire started in the mountains just west of Boulder. Because it is the end of summer and everything is dry/hot/waiting to be firewood, the fire went crazy and fast.

Thousands of homes have been evacuated, almost 200 homes/structures have been destroyed, and I promise the 100,000 Boulder citizens (and all surrounded communities) have been affected in some manner.

How have I been affected? Not directly. But, I have been helplessly addicted to the fire radio... their live radio communication. I know several firefighters in town and can't stop thinking about their tireless work and their families worrying about them at home.

I also have been forced to ride east into the plains and skip my rides into the mountains. We know how much I love climbing mountains. :)

Ok, seriously. I don't want to make light of this situation. It's bad.

I will say that I have learned a ton about Boulder and the people who live here. It is pretty warming how everyone has pulled together and responded as a community.

There are a million scary photos out there on the internet. Here is one that gives a sense of size. This is a photo belonging to my friend Craig Hoffman, pro photographer.

As I left for my ride on Tuesday, this was my view from the same exact spot at an intersection.

NORTH

SOUTH

I rode south.

Here was a couple shots from South Boulder looking north.

Yikes!

Time lapse video of 1st night.

What we have been hearing all day all week.

Keep in mind that these fires were literally one ridge away from the city of Boulder. This wasn't some fire way up in the woods. This was a couple miles away. Thursday night they warned a huge section of Boulder City residents to prepare for evacuation due to crazy winds (up to 60 mph gusts) that were pushing due east... straight into Boulder. Thanks to the efforts of the fire crew, evacuation was not needed. I don't know how they dealt with those winds.

Big thanks to all the firefighters and volunteer guys/gals up in the mountains. They have worked non-stop to contain this fire and protect the residents. We all owe you!

Hi, My Name is Cari and I am a Recovering Sprinter

2010-09-06T06:27:00.002-06:00

Therapy started in Mexico at Pan Ams. This is where I realized I needed help. Thankfully I was surrounded by some wonderful friends and supporters of my effort.

After several months of long ass endurance rides on the bike prescribed by my head therapist, coach Neal Henderson, I can finally see the light. I AM NOT A TRACK SPRINTER ANYMORE.

For those of you who think you may have a problem, read below. These were some of my signs.

- Wearing long fingered gloves in a Team Pursuit

- In the van after our first ride on the fastest track in the world (Mexico), there was silence as everyone else absorbed the scenery. All I could say was, "Ben, it would be so f*@^ing fun to ride a keirin here."

- "Hey, are you going to eat that?"

- Can't share chainrings with teammates because I ride 1/8" NJS chains.

- Only girl on the team with "medium" shorts.

- Would prefer 15 minutes between efforts, minimum.

- Warm up in a 81" gear and not the required 86" gear.

- Again in Mexico, I daydreamed about doing just 1 200m just to set a new PR. Just one! That's all I ask.

- When told to do a 70% standing start team pursuit effort, I went 1.5 seconds too fast off pace.

- Still call mass start bars my sprint bars.

When I look at tomorrow's track workout which includes MANY efforts longer then 1 lap and I don't cringe, I know I am on the right path. Therapy is working.

Quote for Friday

2010-09-03T16:29:00.003-06:00

"There is no limit to what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit." - John Wooden

True.

Coming from a team sport background it took me a long time to understand what was missing in the "team" aspect of cycling. Most teams don't get it.

I believe Peanut Butter & Co./TWENTY12 has it figured out and I am honored to be a part of this team, in the true sense of the word.

Thanks Flatiron Flyers!

2010-09-02T09:36:00.003-06:00

Another road/track season in the books. I can't believe it has been 3 years already!

Monday marked the end of the Flatiron Flyers season for road/track. Many of the juniors will continue their racing season with cyclocross. (I dream of racing CX myself but it is my time to move on to the track)

We have seen such growth from so many juniors which has been followed by fun success stories! It is the little personal moments I get with the juniors that inspire me to spend time with these kids. The wins will come (and they have!) but it is the relationships I cherish!

We ended Monday's ride with pizza... and schwag.

One of the cross crazy kids wore a KFC t-shirt in honor of Compton who will rip it up at Mtn. Bike Worlds on Saturday.

On another note- last night Greg was in charge of a little birthday dinner party for a dear friend of ours. 14 people on a picture perfect September night!

Paella on the grill! Seriously divine.

The question I always get from people "does he cook like this all the time at home?" The answer "yes." Could I be any luckier? I just need to keep burning the kJ so I can afford to eat like this. :)

Thanks Zola's/Bloom's/Allen's for a fun night! We are lucky to have had your family adopt Greg and I.

From LA to Pikes Peak

2010-08-29T18:57:00.004-06:00

Greg and I volunteered today at the Assault on the Peak. Ya, we decided we didn't need to ride up above 14,000 ft.

Since our volunteer station was at the top, we got to see all the happy, hypoxic, cold, hungry, and confused finishers.

The winner! Hotel San Jose dude... of course I forgot his name. Let's just call him fast... finishing in 2 hr. 20 min. I asked him how he felt and he was the only one all day who answered "great." Well, you are crazy Mr. Climber Dude.

I can't call her crazy 'cause she's my friend. We can just call her Mrs. I-can-seriously-climb-and-sprint-Beth-Fisk. You are looking cold and confused in this picture Beth.

Hand cyclists stud. Impressive!

Our local Colorado Springs resident and recent 2x Para-WORLD CHAMPION..... Allison Jones.

Uni-cyclist guy. Ya, he rode up Pikes Peak on a uni. I question the sanity.

Cold or not, we all were enjoying the view. Thanks for helping out Justin Rogers!

Big props to Pat McDonough and Mark Tyson for making this happen for the first time! Hopefully this race will be the first of many Assaults on the Peak!

P.S. Remembered winner's name. Leroy. Leroy Insane Climber.

Track Time!

2010-08-28T14:39:00.008-06:00

So excited to kick off this new season of TRACK RACING!!!

I just got back from a week in LA kicking where I finished a little personal training camp. It was time to set some time standards for myself, get a feel of the 250m again, and really just slaughter the legs with some training on the velodrome. Really, it amazes me how differently the body reacts to the different bikes, pedaling, etc. Ouch! Tonight I go for a massage :)

The trip was already pre-planned and it happen to fall on the dates of the SoCal Elite State Omnium Track Champs. So, within 24 hours of landing in LA, I found myself hitting the boards with the men. Since I am not eligible to win a women's California state title and I was out there for self-torture, I raced with the boys of SoCal.

Setting off for the 1K TT. Yes, 1k vs. the 500m since I was with the men. Ok, I just did a 500m and then cooled down for 2 more laps but...

4k. No 3k here :) Like my alien helmet? Thanks Kevin for letting me borrow it.

Trying to put the hurt on some of these boys.

Thanks to Pat Benson for all the photos!

The trip was so worth the time and money. Being on that track is just plain different from the track I have in Colorado. This trip allowed me to try and dial in some gears, pacing, lines, etc. It also just gave me a concentrated week of training away from my super stressful life in Boulder. :) jk.

Now that I am back, I am excited to start the prep for the fall and winter season. I am confident after this week that all my new training is going to pay off this winter. Can't wait to throw down!

Cari

P.S. For the non-cycling folks- There are no other pictures since there really wasn't time for anything else besides sleeping, eating, driving, and riding. I touched the beach once on the last day but decided it was too windy and cold... so that lasted 30 minutes. I know my family sometimes thinks all this traveling has "got to be so much fun." The reality is I barely did anything social and, short of getting Pinkberry yogurt twice, it wasn't vacation.

Translation to the normal world

2010-08-14T20:26:00.004-06:00

Mainly, this goes out to my cousin Theresa.

Our conversation at WeeBee's wedding still makes me laugh. You explained perfectly how different our worlds rotate.

The discussion was mainly about how I am addicted to exercise of any kind and act like an addict in the first 48 hrs of rehab if I don't break a sweat daily. Theresa, on the other hand, has a body that would go into convulsions if she accidentally slipped on running shoes and simultaneously thought about sweating.

Well yesterday I was excited when I finished my ride to find out it was a 2,000 kilocalorie ride. (Ok T, I will explain.) We weirdo athletes have these computers that monitor almost everything we do. At the end of each workout, we download the data to a website/software that automatically sends this information to our coaches to analyze. With me so far? It is just like your "big brother" in the corporate world checking up on your work daily. Fun, eh?

The difference is that I love looking at the data and don't mind that the boss man may check up on me on any given day. One of my favorite parts is seeing how many kcal's I spent...ok, truth... it just means how many extra calories I can eat that day :)

While you, Theresa, are getting ready to give birth to a healthy #3 and (possibly) using that as your reason to eat anything your little heart desires. I use this data as my basis for indulgence :)

I thought of you, Theresa, as I celebrated my ability to not call a ride "hard" or "epic" and yet still have a 2,000 kcal day on the bike. I thought that you would get a good laugh out of that one.

T with Baby #1 on his #1

Important Moments in Life

2010-08-13T09:43:00.004-06:00

While bike racing is oh-so important and will someday save the world... something like that... friends are what makes my heart warm.

Last weekend I traveled to Charlotte for the Presbyterian Criterium. Great race, great town, great crowds... gosh, I am starting to sound like a broken record since my last couple race weekends have all said the same thing. But seriously this time!

Traveling gets lonely sometimes so it is a bonus to have familiar faces in the destination city. One of our best friends, Stratos, lives in Charlotte with his family. Not only is he a kick-butt chef (and owns 3 restaurants that rock!) but he is a great host.

Here was my morning note and goodies left on the counter.

Stratos with his son Dino who can light up the room with his smile! Sorry to have missed the beautiful wife and daughter as they were vacationing in NYC. Next year!

Bonus friend sighting in Charlotte! Tracey, college soccer teammate of mine, showed up at the race in full school spirit. Some people never change!! What a sweet surprise seeing her after the race and meeting up later that night. Thanks Timmerman :)

Then back home and back to Colorado Springs 7-11 velodrome. Do you know I haven't race 1 time down there all year until last night? Not once. That is a total record as I obviously got my start as a bike racer on the velodrome and love the atmosphere. But, new goals... new coach... new focus... different timing.... this will all equal new speed and fitness.

Anyway, last night I ventured down to 7-11 with the junior crew from Boulder. The 12 passenger van was filled to the top with kids and equipment. Thanks Neal for setting this up! Good times.

Racing last night made me realize how much I miss everyone in the Springs. I'm back people! I bet you will see more of me now. My friends have been out of sight but not out of mind. Julia... Vera... Missy... Kate... even Sabga... I do miss you guys. Thanks for some good racing last night :)

Still rolling... just not writing

2010-08-04T06:42:00.002-06:00

After the Portland race, I stayed the week with my dear friend Heather in the Portland area.

Besides me trying to avoid Heather kissing me all week...

we had a ton of fun. Berry picking and baking, Nike shopping, sleeping, laughing, and, of course, bike riding.

The next weekend we were off to Seattle for another packed weekend of track racing. I think we did about 8 races in 2 days. Long days. 14 hour long days.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired at the end of the weekend. So tired that I didn't even want to answer my phone. So blogging was way out of the question.

Seattle's velodrome in Marymoor Park isn't necessarily a fun track BUT the people, the race director, the crowds... they make it an awesome experience. If the US wants to make track racing a crowd sport like it is in Europe and Australia, they need to talk to Dave Mann and ask him how he does it.

The racing was once again tough and I once again did all the events included in the Omnium... in this case Points, Scratch, Miss-n-Out, Madison, Keirin, Sprints. I took several podium spots and ended up 2nd overall. Good times! The sneaky little Australian beat me for the overall.

Yes, we were all a little goofy by the end of the last night. Below is the Madison podium... a race you do with a teammate. Clearly we were all done with this racing thing... or at least Shelby was done.

Usually when I get home, I get a day off to recover. This time the "go" button was pushed right when I got home. Greg and I were moving and had to pack up the house. So, in between training, eating, and sleeping, we were packed, loading, and cleaning. The new house comes complete with a garage. I can't tell you how much this changes my life! No longer do I stumble over bikes to get in my bed or play musical bikes just to have a place at the kitchen table. Ahhhh!

So, I am now recovered (not unpacked) enough to blog... just in time for another weekend bike race. I leave Thursday for a race in Charlotte where I get to see one of my favorite friends!

Cari

Back to Racing

2010-07-19T12:56:00.004-06:00

Ok, a week off and a 1.5 weeks of sick, and I'm back. This past weekend I raced out in Portland at the Alpenrose AVC. Funky track, great coffee, crazy tattoos, exciting racing, and superb friends!

I decided to do all the events since I am a "recovering" sprinter... why not?

Alpenrose velodrome is likely to scare most people. Steep, bumpy, and an awkward size... makes for some home court advantage for the Portlanders. I actually have a weird love for this track.

Racing all day for 3 days in a row. I had my own little apartment set-up.

Teammates :) Always posing for pictures!

Girl friends! I love meeting up with people from all over the country... trying to pummel each other on the bike and then laughing together in the infield.

The Tiemeyer beast never fails me! I still LOVE this bike.

Airing it out between races. Smelly bike racers!

Unfortunately, there is always a couple crashes. Cleaning the wounds could be more painful.

But at least there wasn't another one of these crashes... this was from the last time I raced here.

My 3 days in Portland ended with me winning all of the endurance events (pursuit, scratch, miss-n-out, points) and proving that I still have some speed in the sprint events (sprints, 500m, team sprint, keirin). With the results I won the Women's Omnium and came away happy!

Thanks to Charlie and the folks at Alpenrose for never failing to have a great race! Thanks to all the racers from across the country that traveled out to Portland. What a stacked women's field we had!!! I do think the women had more athletes participating than men this year (minus the Masters).

I will stay here in Portland and drive up to race in Seattle next weekend. More to come!

STING

2010-07-07T17:25:00.003-06:00

Bronni sent me some great photos from our night at Chastain in Atlanta. Since it is raining here in Boulder and I am forced to stay inside, I have time to do things like... blog. There are plenty of other things that should take priority but who wants to clean?

Ok, Sting is about 60 years old and in amazing shape... and sexy.

Fun group!

Thanks LaScalas for letting Greg and I borrow your Jeep while in town. Don't worry, as usual, I ended up as the designated driver. We wouldn't let "that guy" drive.

Holiday Weekend

2010-07-06T07:59:00.002-06:00

Greg and I were planning on going from Atlanta to Crested Butte for a weekend of camping and mountain biking. This was the week that was assigned to me as a mid-season rest... as much mental as physical. Although I have felt fine physically, the mental break is as much or more important and always welcome.

The good news and bad news... the bad news is that Greg was/is fighting a asthma/allergy hack and I came down with a summer cold so we cancelled the CB trip. The good news is that we live in Boulder and it feels like a holiday just hanging out here.

We did lots of staying home and sleeping but also managed to still mountain bike several days.

Greg and I on some trails outside of Boulder. Those are the famous Boulder Flatirons you always hear about. Beautiful!!

I got up to Nederland another day with my friend Mike and his friend Jess. Super sweet singletrack! Thanks to these guys for putting up with my lack of technical skills and being patient. In this picture (i-Phone once again so not great quality) you can see the Eldora ski area in the back. Still some snow way up high.

I thought I was breathing hard because I had been at sea level for 3 weeks and went straight to mountain biking at 9,000 feet. I guess I was getting sick.

Back to work this week. Translation- following a training plan. I am super inspired and looking forward to the hard work ahead. I can taste the winter track season!

How to blog with no bikes

2010-07-02T09:30:00.004-06:00

I have had several people tell me lately that they read my blog but can't understand what I am talking about. I promised a girlfriend of mine I would do an update that didn't talk about two wheels. Perfect opportunity...

This past 5 days or so I took some time away from the bike to visit ATL, the dirty south. I have started traveling without a camera but I am starting to regret that since I either rely on other people and their cameras or I have the quality of iPhone photos. But, here we go...

The whole reason for the trip was to celebrate Mande and Joe's wedding! The Saturday night party was so much fun and Greg was did all the food for the party... yum :) Happy couple. So happy.

(stolen FB photo)

Sunday our friends threw a pool party for us complete with a shrimp boil. Gotta love the deep south!

Monday I got together with a several college girlfriends/teammates and their kids. I didn't capture everyone on camera... sorry girls! We talked lots of soccer which seems so appropriate for the World Cup season. But, we also had so much more to catch up on too. I love you all and miss you. (even the ones I didn't get to see)

Monday night we were lucky enough to join some friends at Chastain outdoor amphitheater to see Sting. Fun is an understatement. Thank you Michael LaScala for driving us around. Thank you Karatassos boys for dinner and tickets. And, thank you Sting for being Sting.

I do miss things about Atlanta and Chastain is one of them. One summer after college, Mande and I bought season tickets. Oh, the memories :)

Angela couldn't stand not being in our picture.

Because I was essentially on vacation, there were lots of perks like Greg making me breakfast in the morning. Oh, wait, he does this at home too. But this particular meal looked too good to not document.

It was great seeing my family (mom, dad, step-mom, brother and fiance) and my all my adopted family (mande, kara, jan, lascalas, karatassos, etc.) but there were so many people I missed. I could spend weeks in Atlanta and not get to spend the amount of time I would like with everyone. Thank goodness for Facebook, email, and cell phones!

Once I get the "real pictures", I will post more.

The Quick and Dirty WI update

2010-06-22T08:19:00.003-06:00

Last I left off.... Minn Fixed Gear. I had a couple days off and traveled to Wisconsin to participate in the Tour of America's Dairyland. What a well run race!

It's an 11 day omnium with mostly crits and a couple road races. Since I can't stay for the whole thing, I am not going for the omnium but going for wins and money!

I have some pictures to share and longer updates... but bad internet. So, I need to give the quick recap.

Day #1- Shorewood Crit. I won! Sweet! The race was active but came down to a bunch sprint and I took it long. :)

Day #2- I felt like doodoo. The heat and humidity really got to me this day and I had nothing in the tank. (I am also playing around with gluten/gluten-free foods and trying to figure the body out. It didn't work this day.) I ended up 10th but that was a struggle.

Day #3- Once again, a break got off the front and we were sprinting for 3rd. I was actually feeling great this day and sitting in good position coming into the 2nd to last turn. The girl who was keeping the speed up at the front totally popped and I didn't have time to react, got swarmed, and had no where to sprint. I was pretty bummed because I felt great and the swarm just took over. Once I got off the brakes, there was no where to sprint. We came across the line about 10 wide with no daylight in front. UGH! I finished 14th or something. I accept that as a sprinter, I totally botched this one up.

Day #4- Another crit and it was super active, fun race. I told myself I would win this one because I was so bummed about the day before. The legs felt good and I got to test them by sprinting for money (primes) mid-race. With 5-to-go, there was a big crash. It started with some girl trying to make room where there wasn't room which happened to be on my back wheel. As the first girl went down, she knocked my wheel pretty hard... it went a skipping. Luckily I didn't go down because there were a couple bad injuries. But, my wheel was knocked and not right. I was within the "no-free-lap" period and had to ride it out. Every time I stood up, I felt like my wheel was going for side to side. I was scared... yes, I said it, scared. So, I had to ride the sprint in and not sprint myself unfortunately. Just unlucky and that is bike racing! I still finished in the money but didn't win it and I wanted that one.

Day #5- Road Race, 50 miles on a hilly Road America course. The racing dynamics were fun this day. A big break got away which included several of the teams but none of the "big teams" like Vera Bradley, TTI, Kenda, etc. So, we raced super aggressive to bring it back but nothing worked. With that many people up the road and me not caring about the omnium, I made the decision to just race hard and not sit in. I did that... wasted myself a couple times... tried to go with something at the end that didn't work... and rolled through the finish. No great results but great racing and great fitness. :)

Today is another crit. Hopefully I can get back to update the blog and post pictures tomorrow!

Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic

2010-06-14T18:38:00.003-06:00

The Nature Valley Bicycling Festival is made up of the Nature Valley Stage Race and the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic. The past three days I've been racing the velodrome in the MN Fixed Gear Classic.

If you have never raced this track, you are missing out. 250m wood @ 43 degrees and it may just be as smooth as ADT. Seriously, it's the nicest outdoor track in the country. And the people here are what is called "Minnesota nice."

There was both an endurance omnium and a sprint omnium. I decided to tackle both of them and race every event offered. What started as a crazy idea turned ridiculous when Saturday was rained out and they made Sunday 1 HUGE day of racing... it was like a 2 for 1 special.

So, Friday:

1st in Sprints (this was my first 200m tt since Nationals... racing or training... I felt pretty good about the way my new endurance training has really helped my sprinting. Go figure!)

1st in Miss-and-Out

2nd 60 lap Points Race

Sunday:

1st in Keirin

1st in Scratch Race

1st in Team Sprint

1st in Madison Kilo

1st in Handicap

1st in 60 lap Points Race

2nd in Tempo

Sprint Omnium Podium

Endurance Omnium Podium

For the men's racing, there were two big stories both coming from the young boys.

Colten Barrett, age 19, gained huge respect from the stacked field (some pretty big names out here) by winning the Endurance Omnium in a demanding fashion. Watch this name!!
Matt Baranoski, age 17, took control and landed himself at the top of the podium for the Sprint Omnium. Very impressive! Another one to watch.
Full results listed here.

Not only was the racing SOOO well run but the weekend was SOOO fun. (I'm laughing that I am SOOO brain dead that they only vocabulary I can come up with to emphasize and get my point across is the word "so" written in capitals and with extra "ooo". I feel like I am pulling from the 10 year-old dictionary right now.)

Anyway, I digressed.

The people here make this race... from beginning to end. From helping to arrange transportation to providing food for racers to just being respectful to athletes, they go out of their way.

A cool side note- we had 12 people from Colorado make the journey to race the MN Fixed Gear Classic. Represent!!

Photography: Lisa Lardy/Lardy Photography

Madison Warm-Up, Trinidad Style

2010-06-14T12:26:00.000-06:00

While I wait for some pictures and full results from this weekend's racing in Minnesota, I will share a glimpse of some fun.

Apparently my friend Emile (Trinidad&Tabago) was so excited for his upcoming Madison that he let out a little warm-up dance.

Good times and good racing at the MN Fixed Gear Classic... everyone needs to be here next year!

Big Race of MN Fixed Gear Classic

2010-06-13T06:15:00.002-06:00

This was the last 45 seconds or so of the 5 minute track stand competition. It started with about 15... dwindled to 4. Money was on the line... the tension was building... my bet was on the messenger dude.

Rain delays from yesterday will cause us to have 2 days of racing slammed into 1 day of fun :)

Tulsa Tough Day 3

2010-06-12T06:45:00.004-06:00

I have delayed this posting because I was waiting for some cool photos. Unfortunately, I have cool photos... but not from Sunday. Let me explain.

Coryn, my 17 year old teammate bad ass, WON on Sunday! That means we took 2 out of 3 crits in Tulsa. Having only a squad of 3... you can call that sweetness.

So, I wanted the winning salute picture of Coryn but all I could come up with his her crash photo from Saturday. But, they are such cool photos and everyone was ok... therefore, its totally appropriate to post them.

Two teammates at the start of Saturday. Coryn on the left and Ruth on the right. These 2 were so easy and fun to travel with... yes, 17 years old and 16 years old. I was called mama Higgins for the weekend.

Oops... here we go.

This is why they call it "Tulsa Rough"

All ok in the end!

I was home for a couple days and gone again. This weekend I am in Blaine, MN racing on the track! Updates to follow.

Tulsa Tough Round 2

2010-06-06T08:33:00.003-06:00

Pictures can tell a story sometimes!

Cool interview!

Tulsa Tough Round 1

2010-06-05T06:47:00.003-06:00

My teammates for the weekend- Ruth on the left, Coryn on the right. Add their ages together and it equals mine. Nice! Too many jokes for that one.

Last night was the first night of Tulsa Tough. I love this race and this is my third time here in Tulsa for racing.

For the first major portion of the race I was totally chill and sitting in to not waste energy. Actually spent the first 10 or so minutes just moving up because I had such a crap starting position.

There are a handful of the major teams represented with 4-6 people so we didn't take it upon ourselves to do any major work in the beginning but we just wanted to be aware when any moves with major players went up the road. Nothing stayed away long enough to be dangerous.

Later in the race our game plan was this- I was to be the girl to chase or watch for threatening attacks. We had our hit list of riders that were a threat off the front. If it came together, I would provide a lead out but if not, then Coryn was on her own for the sprint. Ruth was to just sit on Coryn's wheel... learning to fight for position and learn from Coryn on where to be in the final sprint.

As it turned out, Kori Seehafer attacked hard with 15 to go. She was one we wanted to be aware of. I hesitated and then bridged to her. We got reeled in with 10 to go. I sat 2nd wheel for the next handful of laps covering 4 moves in a row. Seriously. TIBCO (and a couple other random girls) was just sending girls off the front one after another trying to get something to stick. With 6 to go, I was still sitting 2nd wheel and had the chance to sprint for $200... bingo! Got it. At this point, I fell back into the middle of the pack to recover. Yikes! A little late in the race for that :) With 4 to go, TIBCO sent Amanda Miller off the front and she got a big gap. With 2 to go, I jumped and tried to bridge it. The bridge didn't work but I ended up at the front of the pack pulling it around. At this point, that was ok because I knew Coryn would be sitting in a good position for the sprint if I could close the gap to Amanda. For 1.5 laps, I sat in the front and towed everyone around. With .5 lap, we were within 20 meters off Amanda and I blew up. I thought (wrongly) that this was good and the sprinters were close enough by now. I floated back and back and back... I was blown. Coryn finished 5th and Ruth came in 8th.

Really, we needed one more person on our squad to help out at the end with reeling in Amanda or covering other things so I was more fresh in the last 2 laps. Or, what would have been really nice if some of the other teams with multiple people (won't name names but come on!) would have worked at the end too in order to set up their sprinters!

I feel good about the effort and know I did my job. One day, I will have the opportunity to sit in and sprint because I am confident that it could be good. But, I love having a job and working for a purpose. I think most racers do better with a job and purpose. Even if you are racing alone, think about giving yourself a purpose. It makes racing way more exciting!

That is it for now! Another race tonight.

Cari

Passing in the air

2010-06-02T21:49:00.004-06:00

Practically.

As I leave for Tulsa, Greg gets back from NYC. Yes, that's right, he is in the big city!

I usually don't like to announce when he is out of town but this trip is so exciting for him that I can't hold it in.

Greg has some buddies that are big time chefs. Not the ones "that own their own restaurant" but ones that "own their own nationally acclaimed restaurants." (I can brag because I am not related, only a very proud friend.) One of these guys, Pano, is one of Greg's friends from way back in the day... pre-puberty back in the day. Pano happens to be the guy that Greg worked for all winter in Atlanta opening a new French restaurant, Bistro Niko.

Anyway, Pano was invited to cook at the James Beard Foundation House and he invited Greg to come up there and help. Who knows what crazy good food he is making but I sure can't wait for Greg to get home and practice his skills :)

Here is an example of a typical picture I get from Greg when he is all hyped up about cooking and food...

I can't tell you if this is something they are doing for this dinner but I do recall some story of a pig from the Atlanta trip. Boys will be boys.

A picture of the men at work. Wait, why is Greg standing around? Oh, he is watching the zen master.

Good luck to Pano and boys!

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

2010-06-01T21:05:00.007-06:00

Greg and I were both in town for the long weekend which is crazy for starters. There was a local 3-day race in town called the Superior Morgul Classic. As the inaugural event, it was great... great racing, great town support, great weather, great fans! I really hope this race sticks around for years to come.

I will recap with lots of pictures. Frankly, it is the only way I can remember the hectic weekend.

Friday night started with Street Sprints- about 300m uphill from a standing start. I took the win. That's what us trackies do!

One of the juniors, Danny Hiller, that Greg and I mentor also won the sprints for the Cat 3 men. Here is a photo of us in our leader's jerseys. Yes, he is a junior. Actually only 17 years old and he's got some talent on the bike!

The town of Superior (right outside of Boulder) put on this weekend festival and race. What would a festival be without a beer tent. Oskar Blues? None better.

This was taken in the morning while volunteering. Not a bad view with the mountains in the background. There was perfect weather all weekend.

Oh, on top of the racing, I volunteered about 8 hours over the weekend for the race organizer.

Saturday: After volunteering in the morning, we had a crit in the afternoon. Racing was quite a bit frustrating since I felt like I was at a disadvantage without any teammates. I raced hard, really hard but only could manage 4th. Even though the course had a big old hill in it, I really enjoyed racing on it.

It was a long day already and I rushed home to soak my legs in the Boulder Creek. It's like taking an ice bath and great for recovery. I caught this guy flipping his boat. Oops!

That night we went to Nick and Megan's house for dinner. Not a bad view from their back porch! Greg made a vegetarian feast with all fresh ingredients from that morning's farmer's market. There was a wild mushroom salad, a heirloom tomato/cucumber/onion Greek salad, and a giant white bean salad. Nick fired up the grill and added some chicken sausage and grilled fresh rustic bread and topped it off with fresh berries for dessert. Good food, good friends, and good times!

Sunday: The famous Morgul Bismark road race! Torture for me but an honor to race on such a historical course. Here is a view from the bottom of "the Wall" which we climbed 5 times. It is 1 mile long and parts of it are up to 12% grade. Ouch!

The fans were out in full support on Sunday. If Lance Armstrong gets his way and there is a Tour of Colorado some day, then this course will surely be part of it. The local fans are only getting warmed up.

I have changed my attitude towards hills in the past month. Although I am not yet to the point that I am super fast uphill, I don't dread them like I used to.

The race went as predicted. Up the wall for the first time, the pack splintered. The lead pack ended up with 12 of us. Eventually, I got dropped from the main group but the torture was that I never lost sight of them. So, I basically TT behind them for 2 hours. The closest I came was literally like 50 meters and the furthest was about 1 kilometer. I guess it was good because it kept me working hard. I ended up 9th on the day and was pretty happy with my fitness- mentally and physically that day. Results- 1st- Anne Samplonius, 2nd- Jessica Phillips, 3rd- Alison Powers.

The overall podium at the end of the 3 days- 1st- Robin Farina, 2nd- Megan Hottman, 3rd- Meredith Miller (not pictured), 4th- me, 5th- Alison Powers. Local Colorado racing is pretty damn tough sometimes!

On Sunday morning before my race, I showed up to encourage the juniors who were racing. I am so proud of all of my Flatiron Flyers. Every time I am around these kids, I smile. Below is one of my buddies that inspires me.

Monday was chill for me but crazy for Boulder. The Bolder Boulder is the 2nd largest 10k in the country. Ironically, 2nd only to the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. I am proud to say I have run both of these several times. But, Monday, I just watched.

Below is a picture I stole from Nick taken from Folsom field where the 54,000 runners get to finish. What a view! I LOVE BOULDER!

Boulder also hosted the Boulder Creek Festival where all those 54,000 people and their friends/families go to wander and eat festival food. There was everything from Ferris wheels to teeth whitening. No seriously.... weirdest festival tent there.

That's a lot... but there is so much more to catch you up on! Check back soon.

Oh my!

2010-05-31T20:20:00.002-06:00

I am LAME. That requires a capital L.A.M.E.

It all started when I traveled to Mexico and did the experimental iPad thing. Yes, I left the trusty MacBookBigSomething at home and went for the won't-throw-out-your-shoulder-iPad. It seems the lack of experience typing on that thing hindered my ability to blog.

Oh, wait... yes, I have been back now for 2 weeks and yes, exciting things have been happening. I don't really have an excuse other then to say I am LAME but back on board.

Lots of fun events in Boulder this weekend.... check back tomorrow for the full report! This is a test. I must earn your trust back by telling you I will blog and then following up with a non-lame blog.

Cheers and happy Memorial Day!

Some of my favorite blogs...

2010-04-27T20:47:00.002-06:00

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

2010-04-25T20:33:00.004-06:00

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

2010-04-19T07:59:00.002-06:00

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!

2010-04-12T07:22:00.002-06:00

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!

2010-04-10T21:46:00.003-06:00

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.

Boulder Roubaix

2010-04-09T07:51:00.004-06:00

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

2010-04-08T07:55:00.004-06:00

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!

2010-04-05T20:58:00.001-06:00

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

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-05T09:29:00.005-06:00

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!