Whose 20+ mile ride got shortened to 9?

If you can tell me what's wrong with this picture, you'll get a prize. Seriously. Post your answer. You could win. Something nice. Really.

My fabo day

I analyzed data and crunched numbers until 1AM last night. I couldn't get any microscopy pics together b/c my eyes were too tired. BUT, that didn't matter b/c my PI was totally receptive to what I had to show. I laid out my paper and explained what was left. He had an idea for an additional experiment too (just ONE, totally shocking!). He just wants to opinions of my other committee members before he lets me loose! What a great meeting!

The other thing that has me feeling better is the awesome conversation I had a couple days ago with my friend T from MN. I don't know anyone here in UT, so I don't have any friends (Boo fuckin' hoo!). Which is fine because the things I enjoy doing, save racing, don't require other people (drawing and writing, etc.). Since I've been going through a terrible crisis for the past few months, totally life altering, it was nice to finally talk to her to resolve some issues and to get a lot off of my chest. It's nice when there are people who are always on your side.

The final thing that's got me close to cloud 9 is the fact that I got 7 hours of sleep last night! YES! I feel like I slept for a hundred years, good REM sleep!

So, I'm off to catch the 6pm group going up Emigration Canyon. I don't know if they meet somewhere and go at 6pm, or if they reach the mouth of the canyon at 6 to ride up. Whatever, it doesn't matter, I can't wait to see some cyclists out enjoying the beautiful weather we have right now.

It is always so calming for me to ride and to watch other people enjoying a ride. It's like watching boats sail on the ocean in Hawaii (or on the Great Lakes where I'm from). I took a solo trip to Oahu a while back. I woke up every AM before sunrise and sat on my balcony just waiting for dawn to crack and the first few ships come sailing into the harbors.



...truly paradise...

Maybe I'll move when I graduate and go study whale immunobiology?...

"Oh man, I'm so high...I have no idea what's goin' on!" - Towlie (South Park's yay-smokin' towel)

I awoke at 10:30AM!
I haven't done that since high-school, at least I think.
I faintly recall hitting the hay ~1AM.
I also remember red numbers flashing 6:40 and 8:20.

My brain is in a cloud, a gray, soaking, acid-rain-dripping cloud.

I will attempt to go to lab and grab some data so I can analyze at home and put some crap together for my data meeting at 10AM tomorrow.

After careful consideration, and having reviewed/thoroughly enjoyed the brilliant PhD comics (check them out on the website), I have decided to finally continue with my "The Explorer" comic book series and I have decided to begin my own "funny" strip related to grad school.

I have NEVER delved into the realm of funny comics before. This will be new. BUT, since everyday at lab seems to bring endless amounts of amusing pain, there's no reason I shouldn't retell the drama in comic-book form.

So, get ready to see occasional strips. The frequency will be sporadic, but I will work hard on the content.

Is this yet ANOTHER attempt to distract me from lab...yes. I will not deny that.

Science blows.

Blows the big one.

Tuesday's Training

So, how's the insomnia working out?

Today I slid out of bed the way that a slugs slides out from the bottom of a foot that is half-assed crushing it....wait, did that even make sense? I have full blown delirium (is this a word?) now, really! I am no longer clumsy, but I still see sun spots. I still cannot sleep.

I sat in front of the confocal microscope today gathering stupid images for my stupid paper/future thesis. Then I sat in front of a computer and analyzed data. Half of what I did today involved correcting the mistakes I made during last night's analysis hell.

The BEST part of the day, however, was meeting a teammate G to ride out to RMR. She's such a strong rider, I wish that I could climb like her. She is so hard core, that she rode the High Uintas Classic stage race last year as her first race!

Riding to the RMR crit with the 5pm group is a way for me to get a good fast-paced workout. Chasing the guys is great interval work! At the race,...b/c I can't afford it and because I am afraid to crash and ruin my bike, and b/c my goals are to perform well in the Gate City Grind and Sanpete RR, not training races,...I like to relax and watch the race and just think. It's quiet when there are no cyclists flying by. You hear some voices, the wind, etc. It's nice time to clear the day from my head before I head home to face yet another night of sleeplessness knowning that the next day will bring more of the same. Same sh*t, different day. I am going to make a T-shirt with that slogan and wear it all of the time, unless I am riding.

Numbers:
~27.0M
~1:30
18.6mph average (holy jeez, was this a race?!?!?)

Another of my sprinting heroes has gone down!

Quote from Unibet Professional Cycling Team website:

Cooke breaks collarbone

Saturday 26th, May 2007

Baden Cooke (Unibet.com) has broken his collarbone during the sixth stage of Volta a Catalunya today.

"Baden got off the track while he was avoiding a few riders and crashed", said team leader Mathieu Hermans of Unibet.com. "He will be out of competition for at least three weeks."

Baden Cooke (Unibet.com) was leading the points classification in this Volta a Catalunya.

Baden won the green points jersey in the 2003 Tour de France. SCREW FRANCE AND BELGIUM FOR NOT LETTING UNIBET COMPETE!!!! JUST BECAUSE THE FRENCH ARE SO FUCKING MISERABLE AND BITTER OVER GOD KNOWS WHAT...WHY DO THEY HAVE TO TAKE IT OUT ON UNIBET??? AAAAAAH! If you're not going to treat them like a ProTour team, they should get their Million-Bazillion Euros back for their ProTour license....


Olaf Pollack broke his collarbone a while back but had surgery and was back in action ~10 days later = TOUGH!

Monday's Training

I did a zone 2 endurance ride on the Cycle Salt Lake Century Route with two friends from the Univ. They are training for Saturday's Little Red Riding Hood Century in Cache Valley. I'd do this, I wish I could, I just don't have $45. I already need ~$60 for the High Uintas Stage Race, ~$60 for the Gate City Grind (GOAL RACE!!!) and what like $25(?) for the Sugarhouse crit! Ugh! I can barely afford food (but seem to be okay beer-wise) let alone all this competing. How nice would it be to have a sponsor to pay my race fees?

Numbers:
52M
~3:50 (Whoa! I rode 52 at Bear Lake RR in 2:28!)
2000+ kCal

My latest issue = SLEEP!
I got 5 hours last night. I can't seem to go to bed at night. I am so damn tired all of the time. I did my last race on 6 hours or less of sleep a night for a few days. I'm gonna start hallucinating soon.....god I hope it's not when I'm on the bike! (Unless I am seeing vision of the legs of various members of the Pro peleton riding in front of me...what AWESOME motivation!)

My Team, wraught with past drama, but currently rockin'

So, what's up with the T-mobile Team 2007?...


Gerald Ciolek won the Tour of Rheinland-Pfalz on Sunday 5/20/07.



Judith Arndt won Stage 8a of the Tour de l'Aude on 5/26/07 but lost her yellow jersey after the afternoon Stage 8b.












Ina-Yoko Teutenberg won the last Stage (#9) of the Tour de l’Aude on Sunday 5/27/07. She also won last year's final stage!





Here's a quote from the T-mobile Team website: "It was a very successful week for us. The team won four stages, Judith wore yellow for six days and finished the race on the podium," said T-Mobile Team sporting director Anna Wilson .



Mark Cavendish won two stages of the Tour of Catalonia on Tuesday 5/22/07 and on Saturday 5/26/07. He had already won two stages in last week's Four Days of Dunkirk.








Finally (last but certainly not least!), Michael Rogers finished 2nd in the Tour of Catalonia! Let's see how he does in the Tour de France! Looks like we may have another exciting race...hopefully without the scrotal testosterone patches. (Vino is totally gonna win, if anyone wants to argue with me, go ahead, Bring it!)

Vladimir Karpets (one of the infamous Euro Pro peloton mullets) won overall in the Tour of Catalonia. Denis Menchov took 3rd.

My Sunday

Today the Vanguard clan met at Blue Star Cafe to take photos for our mate. So many folks showed up, it was great! Park City Cycling Academy (wish I had money to do their thing where you pay to be treated like a pro and they help you upgrade, maybe I have to be a dude though...), Canyon Bicycles, two local Pros (who I am still always so star struck to see, I probably sweat and drool like a freak and they laugh!). Anywho....There were Contender guys and others as well.

It was cool to hear stories and to chat about the cattle drive yesterday. I guess others' got stopped too. OH and guess what? The guys said that they were going too fast to stop, so they didn't! They f-in' charged the cattle head on (apply directly to the forehead...just kidding, that's annoying...)! Guys who bike are so hard core! I'm glad none of them were mauled by a rabid "Mad Cow" cow.

So, the pic session was okay. I hate pics of myself. My head looks like a big potato.

So, I hopped in with a bunch of dudes that rode South down 2300S to Cottonbottom. The pace was fine since we were in a double paceline and I was drafting. They said they wanted easy so I was happy. BUT, like what ALWAYS happens when I am nervous in a race....I shifted on the "hill" up to 6200S and dropped my chain. I tried to shift up to get it back on. It ALWAYS works when I'm alone, but of course in front of hard core cycling dudes I just sit there spinning, trying not to land on my face or take anyone down with me! I stopped and got it on with a few more clicks. I time-trialed back up to one teammie L. She spurred me on to try and chase the others. I wanted to try so I did. I chased to the 2nd group and went past (I was dying of course) and then I set my sites on the pack of Vanguard jerseys and a few local elite team guys. I was SO determined to catch them, to be strong, to not be dropped b/c of my stupid chain incident. As soon as I caught the back of them, I popped!

So, I climbed up the hill to Ft. Union/Wasatch alone and saw that they went straight where I know there are a lot of short hills to power up. On a normal day this would've been fine, but, my legs were "heavy" from the race so I bailed and sucked the wheels of some Contender dudes back down Wasatch.

I bombed down 3300S which is a fav of mine. I went to the State Fair grounds and came back through the aves for some flat and then short hill work. (When will I be able to throw down on that 25% grade up 300N towards the capital??? If anyone can do this hill, I wanna see it! I've fallen over a few times trying it, kind of like I always do when I climb on my mountain bike, "Ulle." How do I keep the front wheel down on "Ulle" up steep grades? I need so much help....!)

Numbers:
35.6M
2:15
1800+ kCal (like it matters, but I love numbers, data, etc. My Garmin rocks.)
1598 ft. total ascent

Then I went to lab and analyzed data till 9pm. :(

So much for watching my TiVo'd Giro from today!

Race Report - Charging Cattle and a Killer Butterfly at the Garden Creek Gap RR!

From the start of the race I rode for 6.61M for 24:26 on the front above tempo pace yet below lactate threshold pace. At the end of the race my teammates thought I was crazy for pulling the field up to the last half of the climb (~4M?). I told them that I was following some guidelines in my Bike Racing 101 book. It recommmends using races that are not your goal races for training without worrying about results. The book says that you should practice breaking away, attacking, etc. all sorts of things that you wouldn't normally do in a race where you are trying to win (or get the best placing possible). They were relieved! I'm sure they thought I was insane or half asleep at the time!

After we hit the climb up, I dropped off w/o wanting to. I tried to hold onto a teammate's wheel but I tore myself up. I rode my pace and felt good. I was caught by a woman as we hit the 1K sign (1st time around) up to the finish. What a BITCH of a climb!!! I rode her wheel a bit then had to go my own pace. When I crested the hill I caught her easily on the descent. (She is afraid of descending fast, but she'll get used to it with time. But, she ROCKS on the climbs!) I made a gap then realized that I could hold it and extend it by going hard. I rode fast for 9.17M until BAM!!!!...

...A wall, a mass, a sea of cattle groaning and mooing and stomping and shitting and running everywhich way was moving closer to me and taking up the entire road AND the grass along the sides. A barbed wire fence was on one side and a farm on the other. It felt like a scene from "The Blob" where I had no where to go! Like a flow of lava and no escape! Unfortunately, the woman who I dropped on the descent caught me after I had been there for like 2-3 minutes. I stood awestruck until then watching them come ever closer! There were actual cowboys too like saying stuff and lasso-ing, etc. I turned back and was like, okay, do I ride back? I saw a side road leading straight up practically, like a mountain bike path. We dove onto it just as the bovine onslaught hit us. They stared at us, spit, walked towards us, continued on, etc. I was so scared b/c my team kit is red and her bike was red!

Anywho...we got to chat which was cool. We went 25mph for a while and then averaged about 18-20 once rollers started again. We turned left onto the start of the climb (~8M from finish). We stayed together for a while (I think I should've attacked earlier, but I just accepted us riding fast together and didn't think). I dropped off ~2-3M from the finish while we were grinding away. After the race, she told me that she sped up (I didn't realize this) in order to ensure that I didn't pass her on the "slightly flat" section in the climb. I don't recall one of those, but, oh well. I am glad she did it b/c you should never wait to use your strength to exploit someone else's weakness. Yes, I f-ed this up today by not trying to drop her earlier. But, this was a training race for me, so I was fine.

Right before the 1K mark, a butterfly the size of my HEAD smacked right into my face and was on my lenses! I smacked my face, like an idiot, and swiped my glasses away. I turned and watched as I passed them. They were whole, so I decided to get them on the way back to the start. BUT, the sun was so bright! I had to squint the rest of the way.

At the 1K mark the climb up to the finish was brutal (sections of 13%). I felt strong and fresh so I pushed it. It would've been cool to have been in the main/a pack.

This last bit from the cattle attack to the finish was 18.18M. The ride back to the start was 8.96M.

NUMBERS:
42.91M
16.2mph avg; 41.5mph max
2630ft total ascent
2253kCal

So, all in all it was a great training race. I wish the cattle had not been there so I could move up a place, but, what matters is my stage race at the end of June, not the training races in between.

I have now learned that in order to be competitive, I need to lose some body weight! I can power on the flats/false flats, I can bomb down mtns, I can drive into the wind, I can power up small hills (aka Sugarhouse rises during the crit for example) and I can sprint (no, I am not perfect at any of these, but I can do these things). What I need to do is lose weight (~8lbs) to improve my strength to weight ratio. I have no clue as to how to do this, but I do need to ride more (somehow w/o sacrificing my plan to actually finish my PhD.). I also need to stop eating Red Vines! (Yeah right). I may do the century on Sat. since I'm not doing the Utah State TT championship race. It would be nice to get 100M into my legs. Last year, I didn't start my 150-200M weeks until July (after Gate City Grind Stage Race). Maybe I will start earlier?


Sad News:
Yesterday the Vanguard Team found out that one of our teammates has cancer and is going to start chemo next week. Ugh!!!! How f-ing unfair! I am really depressed about this. No, I don't know the gentleman personally, but who cares?...(Ex: I saw a child get plowed over by an SUV during the AM commute a bit ago and I shook and cried all day. The kid was purple, blood everywhere, legs twisted, shoes BEHIND the SUV! I called the news and they said he was okay! No I didn't know the kid, but I wanted to strangle the life out of the a-hole who ran him over!)

...back on topic...

Anyone who has to go through this shouldn't have to! He can't train/race now (and obviously maybe other things that are more important). Sucks. I wonder if there's anything I can do? (Babysit? Mow lawns? Hmm...). The Vanguard Team will meet tomorrow AM for a photo session for him. I am going to work extra hard at my cycling now since I am fortunate enough to have 2 legs and my health. Kind of makes all those little "problems" we think we have just go away (like when the hell are they gonna' bring back my Hercule Poirot and Midsommer Murders Sunday on Biography Channel!!!). I am going to get him something to keep him entertained during this recovery time. I will probably rip and burn some cycling DVDs since I have like a zillion.

How much sleep do we REALLY need? Part-III

I've worked 10-12hrs. on Sun, Tues and yesterday. I didn't leave work last night until 1AM!!! Holy balls! Remember, the plan is: the sooner I finish my expts, the sooner I have a paper = thesis, then the sooner I can graduate and get a REAL job to support my expensive cycling obsession.

I've only commuted to lab 2 or 3 times this week...I can't remember b/c the sleep deprivation is rotting away at my brain.

I was bumping into stuff at the beginning of the week. Now, I've graduated to FULL BLOWN PSYCHOSIS! I jumped, screamed and flailed my arms while driving when a bird flew near my car. I also jumped when a sprinkler hit my window...OPEN window. I shouldn't have been driving, but I had to fill up my car for the haul up to Idaho tomorrow.

Tommorrow I will do the Garden Creek Gap RR for the 1st time. I am really excited b/c there is a woman, M, whom I have not officially met yet who is totally into her bike and wants to start racing. I'm proud that she has signed up to do this race.

When I first came here to Utah in Feb. '05, I had never raced my bike (except 2 duathlons in Georgia). I did the UT. Summer Games in Cedar City. The 4M TT up some steep mountain (pitches of 13%) shocked me! I was told to get a compact crank. At the time I didn't even know what that was! The RR was scary as I had NEVER ridden fast in a group before. We started at 25 mph mixed in with guys and I was terrified! I was dropped right away and rode alone as fast as I could until the end. I remember fondly that I went 15.4mph avg!!! Alone? Sounds pretty pathetic now, but it was hard at the time! Now, I can do way more than that in a race or a solo TT. I am not bragging, just saying that no matter where one starts in cycling, he or she WILL get stronger every year just by riding and racing.

So, I appear to be wandering, I'm gonna' write a little and watch some old school Rammstein on You Tube (check out the 1996 concert in some outdoor festival somewhere in Germany).

Oh, yeah...I feel bad for ranting the word F*!k a zillion times yesterday over the current state of Pro cycling. Sleep deprivation? No, I was really pissed but now I am cool. I am totally gonna' work on my swearing. Maybe.

OH! So, here's an example of what a shitty day I had today. As I was walking to the TRAX, a pine cone SNAPPED off of a tree and crashed down almost clunking me on the head! It fell like an inch behind my head! It was a huge hard cone too! Here is an amusing pic:

The T-mobile Women have been doing well

Judith Arndt is still leading the Tour de l'Aude, the longest stage race on their calendar I believe.






Here is a pic of the TTT on Stage 2.

What will happen to this team if T-mobile ends sponsorship at the end of its contract (2010 I think)? This is one reason I support this team. They treat the women's team just like the men's. They get money, great bikes, etc. I love what they are doing/have done for women's cycling. I wish other teams followed in their tracks, but I understand that money is hard to come by.

Are cyclists simply Billboards with great legs?

I've been following the news on cyclingnews.com about all of the doping admissions, sponsor pull-outs, etc. I don't understand how a team can suspend, fire and condemn a rider for doping and then admit that they have been doping him and their other riders all along. How can a team dope a rider at the start of their career and then cast them off years later when the rider gets caught and it looks like the team may get called out? Hypocritical. Two T-mobile/Telekom riders that condemned Jan last year are now admitting use. Hypocritical. Why did most of the "old" T-mobile riders (most Jan's friends) get booted or leave?...so the Team could distance themselves from their sordid past? Why didn't Bjarne confirm or deny his accusations? Was he doped? The doctors say that they did dope riders continuously, even in the during the 1996 tour. Is Bjarne a hypocrite for firing Basso or was he simply concerned with his team/future/$$$?

So, HA HA stupid German stations/certain Drs./& officials for blaming Jan for destroying cycling! Fuck you all, look at all of the others? Feel stupid for your witch-hunt? You should. You suck balls. Scapegoats are not cool.

..but, who cares anyway?...

Cyclists are moving billboards. They entertain fans/other cyclists/sponsors/ etc. To me, now, their job is too look hot and ride hard. (Yes they are people too with families, etc. I acknowledge this, and I love people....and families...)

They make money for others rather like members of the oldest profession. It seems like they are being pimped out by big companies. No, I am not saying that all cyclists are prostitutes, but they sure do get screwed in the end like such people. Be it by the actions of others or their own. It saddens me. (I am not saying "such people" are bad in anyway. We all choose our own path). (I am also not trying to offend all cyclists, I am just making a comparison for entertainment's sake).

I still want to be a cyclist, a great one even. I love cycling and cyclists no matter what. Through thick or thin I will always be a fan and a rider b/c we are all human and each have our own demons haunting us, skeletons in our closet and monkeys on our backs.

This is where great afterschool specials and memoirs (sp?) come from! :)

Race Report - Lots of crashes and a lack of sportsmanship at the Bear Lake Classic RR

Thumper's mother was right: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

MISSING: Enthusiastic, 25-29, Female, grad student into cycling...

I have been MIA...last week was pretty bad for me. I was depressed for 4 days (T-F) and I couldn't leave my room. I didn't ride, go to lab, etc. I wrote and worked on my second edit of Book One. I did a massive plot rewrite of Book Two and brainstormed and drew maps for Books Three & Four. WHOA! It was the only thing keeping me sane.

This week is awesome, however. I am making positive progress in lab (now that my f*@king reagent came in!).

Numbers:
4:40 and 63.0M total so far this week (pretty awful!).

I will do 2:00 today, 3:00 total tomorrow (including warm up) and 3:00 on Sunday.
13.0hrs. this week is the target, although I am lacking enough high intensity.

I also need to climb Millcreek ASAP. Last year around this time I had plenty of canyons under my belt. I don't know what's up with this year (besides the fact that I have ~6-8 extra pounds compared to last year around this time!!!).

I am trying to attain some sort of fitness for Saturday because I am doing the Bear Lake RR in Garden City, UT. It is supposedly flat, so, I am looking to keep a high pace the first half to discourage breakaways. If we are together 5-10M from the finish, I will attack and try to get away, or at least drop as many riders as I can. If we are all together (or even if I am in a small group) I look forward to my first bunch sprint!

NOW who's the sexiest man in the peloton???

The sexiest man in the european peloton is now GONE! Now who are the ladies gonna ogle? Who's left?


I should've know when Laurent Brochard cut his mullet that SOMETHING was off in the cycling universe. All the mullets have fled (no Ecki, unless Vladimir Karpets still has his greasy do). What are the cosmic repercussions of these events?

How can a man with such a beautiful tan be guilty? What a stupid bastard. My heart is broken...AGAIN! First Jan now Basso, who's next?

W, R, F, Sat & Sun Numbers

Wednesday:
Commuted to lab on Ulle via trail
~1:15

Thursday:
Picked up roadbike from Contender.

Friday:
1:00
Tested the shifting, etc.
flat with some sprints

Saturday
Raced
2:00

Sunday:
3:00 easy
Should've been 4-5, but I had trouble eating all AM. I got up at 4:30 but didn't leave until 9AM b/c I just couldn't eat! What's up with that? All during the ride I was just not interested in being there. I wonder why b/c the weather was perfect and I felt fine (physically). Did I just wuss out on my long ride or was my body telling me to cool my jets?

Race Report - Hell takes root, then freezes over at the Buffalo Stampede RR

For some random reason, God decided to shit all over everyone's AM on Saturday. It was in the low 40s, with a windchill that put it in the high 30s. There was a dampness in the air and a threat of rain. I awoke at 4AM to leave at 6AM for my 1:30 slog up to Antelope Island. I was excited to cross over the Great Salt Lake causway and check out this "island."

So, of course I see a "road closed ahead" sign and follow a detour that lead me back in the wrong direction (mistake #1). I asked for directions and check my googlemap printout, 1700S all the way. They crossed my name off at the entrance to the causeway and I was off!

All of a sudden, the most horrific smell known to man invaded my nostrils. Remeber the "Obliet" from Labrynth? This is probably what it smelled like. It was as if someone had opened up a can of oysters (the yummy kind you put on crackers) but they were rotten, chewed them up, mixing them with their digestive juices, regurgitated them, shoved them up their ass, shat them out of their mouth (al la that South Park episode), then smeared the resultant goo all over my face. I totally almost puked in my mouth 3 times.

How's that for gross?

I was goin on ~5-6 hours a sleep for a few nights, so that combined with the weather put me in a sour mood. As I parked my car and decided that I should warm up, I began dozing off! I closed my eyes and a minute later a woke from some deep REM slumber, so it felt like. I decided to just sleep until the start. I just wanted a hard workout, no heroics.

I started in the back because I was occupied right up until the race start helping someone out. I didn't really care though. We started at a good pace, but I was at the back, my own fault (mistake #2). When we hit the first climb I fell back, but figured I could come back on the flatter part or the descent. Nope! A God awful head wind split us all up. 5 were in the leading group.

So, I fought the headwind, happy that I could go 26mph through it w/o feeling overworked. There were a lot of climbs, but none were long enough to be a problem. There was one side of the loop where sand blasted your face; a free microdermabraision (sp?) if you will. Then a climb where it was straight into the wind and you practically did a track stand. I felt great sprinting up the FINISH climb every lap (8 laps total, 4M long). I suddenly wished that I had been with the main pack. After 4 laps, I did want to quit, but then I began catching women. I caught and passed 2 women on my own. Yes, I tried to work with them, but they were climbing too slow for me and when we hit the wind, I wanted to go faster.

Then I joined a teammate and we worked and caught another woman (probably doesn't count as she was 3 months pregnant = extreme exhaustion b/c your metabolism is in OVERDRIVE building placenta, increasing blood, the baby-in-all).

My teammate and I worked hard together. We seemed to slow in the wind, so I insisted on pulling, was this dumb? I don't think so b/c I wanted to go at least 23-25mph. It was a slight downhill afterall with some climbs. No excuse not to punch it. (Oh, there were SEVERE gusts! I was blown everywhere and figured I'd go down at every 90-degree corner!)

My teammie and I agreed to push on the climbs to keep our gaps over the other women. I coaxed her to catch up to various riders in front of us even though they were guys not in our group. I like carrots, chasing carrots is great for motivation. We agreed that when we hit the final corner that lead to the finish climb, we'd sprint like mad against eachother. I knew that I needed to take the corner first, so I did. I chose my gear on the descent nearing the final 90-deg corner. I turned then stood and flew like mad up the climb. The grade was perfect! Hard, but not so hard that you can't gain momemtum. I crossed feeling exhausted, but great.

Final Cat4 women results had me in 10th/14. Wow, I am happy if this is true. I normally won't publish my results here, b/c I don't always (ever) like them. You can catch them at cycleutah.com (Mo) if you want.

It seems one woman quit, which sucks, but I understand b/c the wind/gusts/sand-blasting/cold was a bit much. I was miserable mentally the whole time. Also, I think someone crashed which sucks. I wish the race was later in the day, or on a different weekend. All in all I had a great race considering I napped instead of warming up and I felt like shit b/c of the weather.

Yes, another win for the Magenta boys!

47th Rund um den Henninger Turm - 1.HC
Frankfurt, Germany, May 1, 2007


1 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) T-Mobile Team 4.46.54
2 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 0.04
3 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Liquigas 0.05






BEER = better than flowers or a stuffed animal!

Tuesday's Training

I rode up Emigration this AM ~7:30 to about the 5M mark and then headed home.
I tried to find that one road off to the left(?) that people talk about being really steep and good for hill work. I turned left somewhere (Pioneer something?) but ran into a sign that said "private drive" so I bailed. The grade was steep, but gradual and did not kick up or flatten suddenly. I'd like to take that all the way up, but I don't want to get chased down by some guy with his shotgun and rabid dog.

Numbers:
16.9M
1:14

I had hoped to be out of lab with enough time to ride out to RMR and watch the A/B race. But, I forgot to drop the rent off in the AM so I had to do that. Then I went ahead and grabbed some groceries at Smith's on the way back home. As I drove past Contender, I saw all the guys lined up in their awesome kits and shiny bikes. I got SO depressed just sitting there in my car, waiting for some truck-driving cocksmack to move his dolly out of the driveway so I could pull in. Why is it so hard to drive those last few hundred meters to the back of my house? I wish I could've gotten some more time in today.

I am not sure about Buffalo Stampede RR this Sat. It looks like there will be thunderstorms.

I dropped my roadbike (his name is "Lance," go figure; it sounded cool in August 2003 when I bought him) at Contender for a tune up. I am still trying to figure out how to pay for it.

So, I will be riding "Ulle" up to lab in the AM. I'll take 800S up to the Shoreline trail and head north to lab. If anyone sees me fall backwards going up that steep beginning, feel free to pick me up and push me to the top! :)