Jack Frost Time Trial

Sweetness is living about 5 miles from a race venue. First, I got to sleep in. Then, I got to watch all of the movie, Employee of the Month. It wasn't too bad, even funny at times, and Dane cook is pretty hot, so overall I give it a B+. Breakfast was yummy pancakes with cottage cheese, strawberries, and syrup. I highly recommend it. I added an egg white to the pancake batter for extra protien. You should try it sometime- worked nicely.

I got to do my warmup in my garage, which had it's pros and cons. Obviously, I was able to stay out of the rain, but there is something to be said for warming up at a race venue, with the spirit of the competition all around- riders getting ready, some socailizing, and getting into race mind. This is hard to do alone in your garage.

I got to ride with the master's women and be scored with the senior women, so I didn't have to wait until after 1:00 to race. I was the last to roll out. I felt alright. There was quite a headwind going south in the beginning, then a sidewind when I turned west, but a sweet tailwind cruising out to the turnaround. I was turnign about 26-26 mph, but was spanked down do maintaining 18-20 most of the way back. I caught the 3 women in front od me and was caught by no one, so I felt that I did well. I hadn't reset my computer at the start, so I only really know my speed and heartrate while riding. Last year, I rode a 31:48 with better weather and a disc wheel. I was a little over 2 minutes slower this year with a time of 34:12. Ugh.

race photos borrowed from Shane at www.oregonvelo.com.

Cherry Pie Road Race

Well, when we scoped out the course 2 weeks ago, I was confident that I'd survive the year's first race. Not so much. We started with 15 riders. For the first lap I rode in the top 5, staying out of the wind and enjoying the pace, how I felt and just being out with the girls. Then there was a hill, followed shortly by another. *POP* I was off, going past the finish line for the end of the first lap. There was hope for me. I knew that there was a nice, long descent after the crest, but I forgot about the west wind, so try as I might and along with another rider, I did not make it back with the group. I did eventually roll away from the other girl. I "enjoyed" the next lap alone, but kept up a good pace. I didn't finish last- but almost. Looking forward to Mason Lake in 2 weeks.

Recovery Week....

Yesterday (Sunday) I didn't leave the house at all. I read half of a chick book, and watched plenty of TV. I also made my first loaf of banana bread. Who knew it was so dang easy!?! Today, I had no trouble driving past the exit to the gym. I think I might lift a weight or 2 tomorrow.

Kids were funny today. Friday's adventure was still fresh on everyone's mind. At least we had the weekend to digest it all. So far, the police have given no information about leads on the jerk that made the phone call. We bebriefed in a meeting after school. We heard about irrate parents. One called the district office and left a message yelling that we had no right to keep her daughter hostage for 5 hours, how the kids didn't do anything wrong, and that she was going to call President Bush about it.

Uh... OK.
But most parents we spoke to or heard from thanked us and were confident in our ability in keeping theri children safe. Alls well that ends well.

Threats Force Lockdowns at Four Battle Ground Schools

This has nothing to do with racing, but I'm sure will stay on my mind for along time. I teach at Lewisville Middle School. We were in the high school gym for about 5 hours today. This story is from a local news station.

Friday, February 09, 2007
BATTLE GROUND, Wash. - Four Battle Ground schools were forced into lock down and were eventually evacuated Friday after a bomb threat and reports of a sniper in the area threatened student safety.

Fire and police officials told KOIN News 6 that a 911 call came in about 9:10 a.m. claiming that there was a bomb inside Lewisville Middle School. They were trying to trace the call, which was from an automated voice.

Students at the middle school were evacuated to the neighboring Battle Ground High School stadium until they could be safely transported to the high school's gymnasium. . They were instructed to leave their bags behind and take only their coats.

Officials say that had it been an immediate, credible threat, a fire alarm would have been activated. Instead, teachers were notified individually.

Police were conducting a threat assessment of the building, going through each room and checking for anything suspicious that should be examined by the bomb squad when the second call came in around 11:35 a.m. Another computer-animated voice then claimed that there was a sniper in the area.

Police asked officials to lock down Battle Ground High School, Captain Strong Elementary School, Chief Umtuch Primary School and HomeLink/Cam High School.

Reverse 911 calls were made to residents and businesses in the surrounding area to advise them of the threat and to instruct them to report any suspicious activity.

Confused and worried parents wanted to pick up their children. School administrators assured parents that their children were safe and asked that parents not come to the schools until an evacuation route was established. Police say they did not want to inform parents about the evacuation plan until it was already underway because of the potential sniper in the area.

Buses were rerouted to the secured area on east side of the high school. Battle Ground High School and Lewisville Middle School students were released around 3 p.m. Bus students were allowed to leave first, then student drivers and then walkers and students picked up by parents.

Chief Umtuch and Captain Strong students were evacuated a short time later, around 3:45 p.m. Students were released in a similar manner: bus students, students picked up by parents and then walkers. Students were instructed to walk east out of the school area.

Lewisville Middle School will be open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday so students can pick up their belongings.

The story ends there, but continued a little longer for our staff. We weren't able to return to our campus for another hour after most kids went home. The nice police had some pizza that they gave us. Finally, we were able to go quick to our classrooms, then to our cars, and go home. Being involved with this today made me realize how lucky I am to work with a fantastic staff, to have patient students, and happy to be home tonight. It was a long day with no lunch. They had planned to feed us in the gym until the high school went into lockdown and we weren't able to get the food to the kids. The kids were good, although hungry, bored, and tired. I answered an array of questions with "I don't know." We visited, played concentration games, and braided hair. I skipped my workout today.

If you squint, you can almost see my car in the parking lot...

2007 Preview

So, it's the beginning of February and every conversation with a cycling friend sparks the question...." So how's training going?"

Training is going very well- much better than last year. I'm feeling wintery strong. I've seen improvements in the gym and I've felt good on my rides. It helps that I've been healthy so far and my knees are cooperating. I'm looking forward to a recovery week next week, leading up to the first race of the season, The Cherry Pie Road Race. There's a new course this year. A bunch of us that train with Brian drove down there yesterday to preview the course. I think it'll be a pretty good one for me. You'll be surprised when I say that it's not perfectly flat. Although I prefer flatter courses, pancakes are a bit boring. This course has some rollers and a couple of short climbs. Unfortunately, one of the climbs is where the finish line is. But my biggest worry is getting through the full distance, hope that I have the endurance, since the race will be my longest ride of the winter.

My serious goals are on the track this year. I'd like to see a 12.8 second 200meter on Alpenrose. This will be .4 seconds of an improvement. This time should equate to about 12 seconds in Colorado Springs in July and iat the ADT for Nationals in October. I truely think a faster time will make me a more confident sprinter. I also want to get 39.8 in the 500m. TT at Alpenrose. This will be about a half second improvement. It's really hard to tell how the winter training off the track equated when things start up in May.

Big Events for me this year include:
Independence Day Grand Prix in July- Colorado Springs
Alpenrose AVC the following weekend- Portland
FSA Grand Prix (Nationals Qualifier)- Seattle/ Redmond
Master's National Championships in late August- Trexlertown, PA
Elite National Championships in early October- Caron, CA
Master's World Championships in late October- Sydney, Australia

So here I come 2007. be good to me. I'll try to update this blog on a weekly basis :)
Grrr- the proof is in the biceps. Well, it's probably more in the legs, but couldn't get a good shot. Stay tuned!