RAIN

I know.... original title for a post, but seriously, here it is, the last day of January and on the news, they annouced that we had over 10 inches of rain this month. They say it's the 4th rainiest moth in recent history. Now, I don't feel like too much of a lah-hoo-zah-her for not riding outside much. I've been getting a lot of roller time. Sunday was a blast with 4 sessions of 45 minutes. I got through the rest of season 2 of The Sheild. Tonight was a roller derby as well. Hopefully, I don' tpull the side view mirror off my car anytime soon.


We went to the Gleukos Lab tonight http://www.gleukos.com/ for our training to do sampling at Zupans. My favorite flavor will be melon, when they start to get the powder available. Glad to have an up and coming, respectable company as our feature sponsor. GOod product- good guys. I'll be happy to recommend the good stuff.

DIRT

Man, I wish I had a camera today. At one point, Norrene just looked at me and laughed. Dang Ian and Dave had the clip- onto- seat post flappy fender today. It's already wet and muddy, we're riding on highway 30, and it's raining. Now, after my shower, I'm STILL digging dirt out of my eyes and ears. Oh yea, my glasses were fogging too, so I got a pair to borrow. It was so grimey that I was making sand from the grinding of gravel between the chain and ring. I'm totally fine with only 2 hours of riding today. I"ll make up for it tomorrow. it might be, get this... dry tomorrow!

An Amazing Discovery

Oh my goodness, guess what I found out today? I was so nervous about bonking during my ride today, that I paid attention to eating, and staying fed during my ride. You know what? It made my ride much more enjoyable- all 4.5 hours of it. Really. Can you believe it. Of course you can- you've always known better. Granted, I had to pack away about 500+ calories to do so, between my clif bar, my clif blox (love those gummies), and some gleukos, but it for sure beats not being able to turn the cranks.

Logie trail and I have yet to become friends. That bully put me on the sidelines today, as I had to rest at left hair pin #2 and #3. So, I'm still at about 27 minutes- including the rests, but that's the time to beat as of today. I have no ambitions to be the team climber by ANY means, but maybe I can get up the monster without resting next time. Can you imagine it? You're in a race, cursing up a hill, when you see another racer, just hanging out on the side of the road. Whooo! That's funny.

You know that rule about 1 hour on the trainer is equal to an hour and 15 or 30 on the road, since you're pedaling that whole time? Is that true for rollers too? If so, I could theoretically get through the rest of The Shield season 1 DVDs in just 3 more rides. Each episode is 44 minutes....watch two per ride to equal 90 minutes in the saddle. No problem- the job is done. I've had my new fork on my bike now for 8 days and I've yet to actually ride it OUTSIDE.

So, I'm still working on a name for this Blog. I did Miss Justa Littlefaster, now Ms. Littlefaster, but I'm already over that one and I only changed it 10 minutes ago. Any ideas out there?

Motivated Finally

Well, it only took about 3 month's longer than it should have, but I finally feel the fever to train. I finally have the energy. I finally want to train and ride. It might be the fact that racing starts in about 7 weeks. I feel much different this year. In year's past, I had already spent a lot of time in the saddle by mid January, with endurance to do what I had to get done. This year is different. It's like I'm just priming the pump- like I'm getting ready to get faster. I guess it makes sense since Nationals aren't until October. Really, I don't have to be even getting fast until July. I'm a little nervous for the few road races I have coming up. I shouldn't worry about it so much. I'm in good hands.

Chuck is at his folk's tonight and Miranda moved out yesterday. The house is empty except me and the kids. I caught Pepper trying to sharper her... paws this afternoon. Sharped away, my sweetie! Sadie's recovering from her hair cut. I can't say that I miss her hair everywhere though.

Is there a fairy to hire to take away Christmas present credit card debt? Please refer.

A Canuck Weekend Eh?


So, it takes 4.75 hours to drive to the Canadian border. And that's even driving the speed limit. Really, why do racers drive hours to a race, for no reason at all other than we miss the dizziness of flying around and around and around? Steven refers to the Burnaby Velodrome as a bathtub. The last time I was there, someone asked me, "So what do you think of our toilet bowl?" I think the second metaphor fits better- not just physically, but figuratively.

I was happy to ride a 200 meter time close to my Alpenrose time. That was my goal. Granted, the Burnaby track is faster and indoors and faster and wood and faster, it's January. I"m not suppose to be all that fast right now. I have another 9 months to train until it really matters. I put myself in a silly spot and only got 2nd in the first round. I won my rep ride. Steveo has a nifty movie of it on his web site. Stayed stuck in a box in the 3-6 ride. 6th place is not usual for me, but let's remember the month again.... January.

The toilet flushed from there on, from scratch races unfinished, to keirens ridden "safely" (not winningly), and being the first rider pulled in a miss-n-out. But, overall, it was a great first race in orange. It's funny, I've been chasing this orange kit around for 4 years, working to race against anyone wearing one. Now, Norrene and I will be working together! Looking forward to the team camaraderie in 2006 and doing the best I can, both on and off the 2 wheeler.