Ms Littlefaster

2010-07-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge 2010

Well after 2 years of non- motivation and/or being out of race shape, there seems to be some hope for this old broad. For that time I've needed to race more with the muscle between my ears. It was frustrating to be less than successful, even knowing the reasons.

Most of the top riders in the country and Canada came to throw down some hurt. It was quite competitive. One of my goals this season is to ride under 40 seconds in the 500m. TT. I came close and feel it can happen in the next month. Usually at AVC, 2-3 ladies will ride under 40 seconds. This year.... 9. I got 10th place with a great time for me. Crazy.

I posted a good time for 200m.TT to seed 5th or 6th for sprint tournament. Lost the first ride, but eeked out a win in the reps. The last ride placed me 6th overall. Keiren went well also.

Details aside, the results might not show that I did very well this weekend. But I honestly was very happy with my riding AND with the level of competition. I'm totally looking forward to next weekend up in Seattle.

2010-04-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

WALK THIS WAY!!!

The 1st Annual Daybreak Middle School Walk-a-thon is on Friday, May 7th. This walk-a-thon raises money for the American Cancer Society. Part of the money goes to our school's ASB account. Many teachers at my school and friends of ours have been affected by this disease. I don't know if you know this, but racer, a official, David Hart's wife is going through chemotherapy right now.

Teachers can choose whether to volunteer to help that day... or participate. It wasn't a hard choice.

How it works: Our walk-a-thon is 2 hours. You sponsor me a certain amount of money per lap I walk. Remember, I have long legs and determination. Your amount per lap can be as small as $.25 a lap up to... as much as you want. The estimated lap total is 15. You can also indicate a maximum donation, in case I walk more laps than you can afford. Finally, you can also just donate a flat amount.

You can send me a message privately or get excitement going, by replying to this note publicly. List your sponsorship like this:

Name, $ per lap, Maximum donation
ex: Sally Smith, $2.00, $50.00

P.S. My class has a goal of $1000. At 25 people counting me, we estimate that each person only has to raise $40 in lap sponsorships!

2010-04-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

Cryptococcus and a Criterium

This year's Icebreaker Crit turned out to be a nice "break"through for me. As too many of you know, I contracted a blood infection last fall through a wound I got in a cross race. It took until mid-January to discover what it was.

Cutaneous Cryptococcus is rare. The doctor who removed most of the infection from an area on my leg had never seen it. It's quite rare to contract ever. Of those that do get it, most have HIV. Then, of those that get it, most get it by inhalation, so by the time is shows up on the skin, the disease is pretty advanced. My version was that tiny % of a tiny % of a tiny % that actually contract Crytococcus through a wound on the skin.

Since then, I have been on a heavy dose of an antifungal medication. Luckily, it only targets the infection, not damaging healthy cells. However, liver was working double time, my appetite was practically non- existent, and I spent the last 3 months, quite disappointed in my racing. I started 7 races and finished 3. Although I tested negative for the disease in early March, the doctor wanted me to stay on drugs for another month to be sure it was totally gone.

I came home from visiting mom and Larry in Kentucky on Saturday, the 3rd. I attempted to race a cat 3/4 criterium on Sunday. It was flat, and so was I. The 35 minute race only lasted about 10 minutes for me. That was it. No more drugs.

My logic: I had tested negative, and was now taking medication for an infection that only had about a 1% chance of still being in my system. The next Wednesday, I finally saw doctor again... and he agreed, after much SYA discussion.

So, on to the crit yesterday....

We had 12 riders, which by Oregon standards, from what I can remember, isn't too bad for a crit. Or course, I haven't really raced much on the road for two years, so no clue what field sizes have been like. The race was pretty typical. Lots of riding tempo around and around, with the occasional attack. There was a nice wind coming from the north. I spent most of my energy playing a game called, Stay Outta da Wind. Not too many ladies seem to know how to play this game. Oh well. If you want to ride directly behind the wheel in front of you with a strong wind hitting your left, then your right side... that's cool. The only trick to this game on a "D" shaped course was in the last turn (think bottom of the big "D") on to the front straight, trying to take an inside line to stay wind free.

Early on, I launched a little "I'm-not-really-attacking-just-opening-up-the-system" attack. It was good! I took the 2nd prime- a large pizza for a pizza joint in Eugene. Super great.Because I'm in Eugene about 2 times a year. Like I mentioned, pretty uneventful. A comical part was when this girl (snicker) thought she could (giggle)... push E-Charb....(hoooooo) off of a wheel she wanted. Um, yea. Not even I can get Emily off a wheel she wants. OK, maybe I could, but she's my home girl, so... I probably never will. There was a firm elbow and a shoulder check,along with a little bumping. There were a couple "Woaaaaah"s from behind. I was off to the side (refer to wind game).... laughing.

OK, enough rising actions here. Finally we were down to 3 laps to go. If you were following the conflict that I have sucked at racing this spring, then we've already hit the climax. I survived feeling all right. If you're following the conflict, that I haven't placed well in a criterium in a few years, the climax isn't much better. At 2 to go one women attacked pretty hard. Of course, I was about 8th back in the group and this girl had attacked a few times already. (ding dong) 3 women linked up quickly to chase, followed by another 3 including me. Now sure how it all went down, but in the end, I finished 6th. Had Emily and I chatted and planned a little before or during the race, we could have at least been better positioned to be 2nd and 3rd. Had we felt even more confident, we could have surprised out little party and worked together to... win. Next time.

I'm just excited to finally feel like my training all winter, fighting infection and drugs is going to pay off. I'm actually looking forward to spending my Tuesday nights this month at PIR with the boys.

2009-12-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

Ha ha! I figured it might be fun to throw in another post for 2009. I think that makes it a total a 3 posts for the year. To anyone that is following, I'm going to be closing this blog. I'm on facebook. Befreind me if we are not already. If I don't know you, please indicate so I don't ignore you

ADIOS BLOGGER!

Heather VanValkenburg
Vancouver, Washington

2009-09-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

It's About Time

So...uh... I guess it's time to update the bloggy blog. Not sure if I'm going to keep this going. Facebook seems to be easier to post stuff and stay tuned.

I thought about completely closing this blog, but I don't want to lose some pretty funny stories. Maybe another rainy afternoon, I'll go find all my posts and copy them into a document. Hmmm

Oops! Computer is about to die. Guess I'll figure it out later.

2009-02-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

Might I Race This Year...?

It's possible. I threw on the new duds and rode to the coffee shop. Then I continued riding to Swan Island for some crit intervals. My knee is little tweeked, but nothing Kurt can't fix.

2008-10-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Nationals Recap

Tuesday night, Jeanie, Nathan, Charlie, and I boarded Alaska flight 560 for LAX. Nationals. Finally. I had light expectations, considering the season I've had and my weak motivation lately.

Our house was a 3 minute walk from Manhattan Beach. The beach was not heavliy used, even on the first hot, Wednesday morning. Brian was surfing before most of us got up. I put it on my list of things to do the next day. That afternoon I did not have a race, so I hopped on the track for a bit to regain my bearings. It takes a few laps on ADT to shake the feeling that you're going to slip. This year's turnout looked to be light compared to the past 3 years I've been here. Brian, Nathan, and Mark put out a standing 250 and the rest of us... stood. And cheered.

Thursday morning, I spent more time in any ocean than I ever had. Jeannie, Mark, Brian, and I, along with our house quiver of 1 surf board and 2 boogie boards went down to the beach. It wa about 9:00am and 70 degrees! I had SO MUCH fun. I didn't let that evening's race affect my wave time. Nothing irrigates your sinuses like a few salt water waves crashing on your head.

The water romp must have been a good idea because that night I rode my fastest 500m. time on that track, 39.021. SO close to sub 39. Oh well. I'm far from fastest though, as that time placed me 9th. But I was content with a PR at the end of a blah season. Cari won her first gold metal of the week.

Friday morning, we were awakened by members of the other house, so I was a GRUMP. I big, nasty why-did-you-not-be-quiet-and-let-me-sleep grump. But after breakfast, Jeanie and I went to the beach again. The waves were grumpy and rip-like, so we mostly sat on our boards right where the water stretched and dug our feet into the coarse sand and absorbed the sea air. Very nice.

The morning's rage was released in my first heat of the keiren. I won the heat with quite a gap. I was confident going into the semi-finals. I got into a box- no problem, but right when I decided to crawl out, another rider bumped my onto the apron. Not a huge deal. Rubbin's racing, but it messed up my rhythm, and I finished 4th. 3 went to the final. Grrr. Then in the minor final, I finished 2nd behind Liz, which landed me 8th. We later found out that Liz was disqualified after a series of bogus calls, so I was placed 7th.

Saturday morning, my legs did not agree with the idea of going to the beach. Instead, I enjoyed it from the big windows of our kitchen. I hung around, ate lots of granola and yogurt, and made a spreadsheet of everyone's 500 splits. I also looked forward to the sprints that night.

Well, I think my lack of training this... year affected my endurance. I was TIRED- during warm up, while waiting to ride... and apparently in my 200 meter TT. I posted my official worst time ever on this track. 12.9 is .2 slower than last year, and .4 slower than the 3 times before that. Crazy. The 4th-7th qualifying times were all 12.9 something. Tight!

My first sprint was against Colleen. The first ride was very close- photo finish in her favor. The second ride was not as close, but she successfully sent me to the minor final in 2 rides. I wasn't too disappointed. I rode smart and did my best. She had quite a turn of speed and eventually earned a bronze medal.

As I was spinning on the rollers, waiting for the 5-8 final, a lady in a USADA shirt came up to Jeanie and I and asked who Heather was. "Guess what Brian, we're going to be here until midnight again. I have to pee in a cup." At that moment, I began drinking lots and lots and lots of water. I still had to race, so that bought me some time. After finishing my sprints, where I finished 3rd in the group to earn 7th overall, I continued to take in liquid and change bike wheels. Eventually, I decided to go with the lady to the super secret place. And in a surprizing short amount of time (read August 2005), I "produced." It helped to have the lady talk to me about everything else but peeing. I was back to the track in time to watch Brian and Dean in their keiren minor final.

So, all in all, it was a good week. I'm glad to have had successful races under all my circumstances. Cari swept the sprint races- 500, keiren, sprints, and I ahve to assume the team sprint. What a great birthday gift for herself. We hopped to 6:15 morning flight back home and I spent the entire day laying around and cuddling with kitties.

2008-09-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

It's not a Bucket List

On the sly, I've discussed with a few friends my plans for the fall/ winter. They say, "Oh, like a bucket list." No, it's more like a "I've ignored it for 8 years and now I want to do other things than ride my bike...list"

There you have it. How did I get here? First, I fell off my bike last December... onto my shoulder. This injury put me off the bike for a while, but I wasn't too sad. Then, I caught the super flu in late February and couldn't get out of bed, let alone train, and I wasn't too worried (since at that time, nationals was, 1..2..3...8 months away.) Then I began my Mary Kay business in April. All those little white boxes and trips to the bank (to make deposits) are pretty intoxicating. When that happened, I set my training aside. Then my close friend's mother passed away and I began thinking about what I've done in the past few years... and what if it all ended tomorrow. Once the new Mary Kay adventure reduced to a simmer, I was struck with Guido, the intestinal demon that destroyed my system.

Finally by August, I was healthy, my business was underway, I was looking forward to a new school year, and...

I'm still not motivated to train.

At this point, I'm going through the motions. Ryan Triplett passed away last weekend and again, I"m reminding that it's a big world out there to explore and I need to get on it. I LOVE racing, but I'm not IN LOVE with the training anymore. I need to be IN LOVE with something to give it my all. I want my last hoo-rah at Nationals to be fun and worthwhile and I have the motivation and the spirit to hang in there and do the work for 3 more weeks.

This fall and winter, I'm planning to do all the things that I've put aside. Some are get-back-to's and some are want-to-try-them's. So, add my on your list to join you...

hiking
climbing (want to try)
fishing
quading
dating (you may need to help me supply the date)
riding- yes, i still plan to
snow shoeing
xc skiing
snowboarding- i have a little- 10 years ago
backpacking
camping
um...
dating
hash running
kayaking
ok, now i'm starting to visualize the floor plan at REI
rugby
football (i think)
dating
bbq
chili feeds
running- a little at first

I think that's about it. The point is, my goal is to be outdoors every weekend, and some weeknights from mid- October- end of February and beyond.

Call, email, post to my facebook, whatever!

2008-09-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

A Fortnight Condensed

1. Began a new school year. So far kids are pretty cool. And we have a collection of 7th and 8th grade teacher assistants, so its nice to have help throughout the day. I've already changed 2 projects in my curriculum, and this reignites my motivation.

2. Kitties are still not friends. Nougat is totally into Pepper. Pepper wishes Nougat would go back to the pound. What a bitch. I'm trying to give Pepper her own loves, but she still won't get along with the little one.

3. My dear friend, and amazing cyclist, Jennifer lost her husband on Sunday. Ryan was rock climbing and fell. My heart is breaking for her. I love you very much, Juice! Ryan was your perfect partner and a funny ass story teller.

4. My other friend and racer extraordinaire, also a Jennifer (Featheringill) won the match sprints and 500m. TT at Master's Nationals. Great job keeping it in the Alpenrose family! Woo hoo!

5. I've made the decision not to train seriously this winter. I'm going off a formal training program. I want to ride still... for fun and fresh air. I might get back into a program next spring, maybe not. It's time to chase other activities. So if you hike, campy, ski, sled, walk, boat... invite me any weekend after Nationals! My goal is to do something active and outdoors every weekend possible.

2008-08-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

Cat Attacks Mouse- Only in Bedroom.

The latest is that Pepper has a "private" area in the spare room. There is a big rubbermade tub that blocks the way to the room/ bathroom (not that Nougat couldn't jump it), that Pepper seems to feel is a good barrier. She is sitting on top of it. If Nougat walks by and pauses or even looks at her, she cat growls at her. Yes, I read all th website about keeping them separate and putting new cate in a separate room. But now that Nougat has been here a couple days, it throws a different dynamic in. Now Pepper is sort of like the intruder. These videos were taken from the other end of the hallway. Notice how Nougat only daudles with the play mouse in the hallway. Then she picks it up and carries it into my room before the beating begins. It's like she doesn't want to play in from of Pepper or have Pepper take her toy.

P.S. Made my first meat loaf tonight. When the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of onion, do not add more. Too much onion not good

2008-08-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

Guess who was crying to get inside when I got home from the track today? Pepper. She was a little pissed when, as she was eating, I little kitty came tip-toeing into where she was. Since she was gone for about a week, she was pretty hungry and now pretty tired. 20 minutes later, she has fallen asleep in the spare bedroom. And as long as Nougat stays out of the room, all is balanced in the world for now.

The track racing has been fair to good lately. Last week, I qualified for nationals by getting 3rd in the 500 with a 40.7. I also did a team pursuit in order to help a couple of other ladies qualify in the endurance races. Yesterday was Masters State Championships. This time,my 500 was on par with others when I've been in shape 40.35. I really cannot complain. I didn't even really like my start and my quad is still a little weak. Then I got 2nd in the sprints and 3rd in the keiren. I'm back.

Hey, this is Pepper. I snuck on to give my 2 cents on the new pooty tooty. I am not happy! I am free to come and go as I please. So flippin' what that it was a week this time. I'm 3 years old. I can do whatever the heck I want. So I finally decide to come home, since I was famished and there's a stupid burnt marshmellow meowing and following me around. Right now, I'm bathig myself and she is watching me. If she gets closer... I'm going to have to remind her who rules this place!

2008-08-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

"New" Gut

Don't worry this has nothing to do with my digestive system....

Nougat came home with me yesterday. She's a Blue Point Siamese and Domestic short hair mix. She came with the name Esther, but I wasn't keen on that one. Jeanie and Courtney came over shortly after we came home to go for a ride and eat dinner. We rolled around the names Dulche, Mak Pao (coconut in Thai), Coconut, Praline... All were either harsh, too long, or lame. Since we ate a Tiger's Garden (Thai, Loasian) we asked the guy how to say coconut in Thai. It sounds a little sharp for a cat. So late last night I was trying to think of other names that were creamy and fluffy. Mmmmm... Nougat.

I originally went to the Humane Society to see if Pepper was there. She went outside over a week ago and hasn't come back. If she does come home, she's in for a surprise! So after not finding her amount the 40-50 cats there, I spent some time looking at the dogs. There were a couple that stuck in my head. I finally decided that between school, training, racing, and Mary Kay, I don't have time to walk, run, hike, and love on a dog. Maybe once the season is over. Also, I got a little upset, almost crying a couple times- somewhat because they were there, and a little because I kept thinking of Sadie.

As a side note, later, when I was adopting nougat, 2 of the dogs that I stopped a little longer at were getting adopted too, so I didn't feel so bad about leaving them behind. Yey for Buster and Porter!

Then I went over to the kitty ward. Nougat was the second one to catch my attention. She didn't say much, but when we took her out of her cage, she was very cuddly on me. And after 5 minutes, she was in no hurry to get off my lap. Of course, now that she's home, she's all over the place and doesn't care too much about me. And in the time that I've written this note, she's found a head band... and a tennis ball... and my duffle bag.... She obviously has a big day ahead!

She just noticed that I was talking about her and wants to say. "aau4lq2[nlfjyf" as you can see below.

2008-08-17T17:44:00.000-07:00

State Championship Criterium

Well, according to the results I didn't do very well today, but I was very active in the race and I got one of the two primes (cash is good.) The prime came with 6 or 7 to go. I was driving the group i through turn 1 and 2, when another rider jumped through. I jumped on her wheel and followed her tight until about 100m. to go and came around for the sprint.

After that effort, I was spent, so I hung out in the group... a little in the middle... and eventually in the back of the group. I made a couple feeble attempts to creep back up, but was really satisfied with the race overall. Going into the last lap, I was toward the end of a 20 or so person train. I think I COULD have, but I was in a "can't be bothered" at that point.

Man, it feels good to be getting back into shape. Might just be ready for nationals in 6 weeks!

2008-08-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

A Funny Read

My friend, and fellow bike racer Jeanie tried to submit a letter to her creator, concerning warranty on her knee...

2008-08-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

Bitter-butt-sweetness

Yea, these are the things my pretty little head juggles on warm summer mornings...

My weight before Guido the Gut Detroyer: 187
My weight after Guido the Gut Destroyer: 173 this morning

Most people say..."Yea, not a bad diet. You're looking great!"

My first reaction was..."I lost my butt! Have you seen my butt! Guido ate my butt!" And my looser fitting shorts have prompted, "I have chicken legs!" I can't believe that I"m complaining about weighing less than I have in 5 years.

Racing friends use the standard, "You look "fit" (which is code for skinny.) But most understand that this is result of the Everything-in-everything-out diet.

Loss of 10+ pounds pros:
Revisit some old shorts I haven't worn for few years
Ability to fly uphill when doing hill sprints- fun
Guiltlessness of eating ice cream
Not having to suck in the gut all the time!

Loss of 10+ pounds con:
Loss of muscles

Believe it or not, the con almost outweighs the pros.

But if I plan it right, maybe I can get back the muscles and leave behind some of the... not muscle.

2008-08-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

FSA-OK

A few folks have quietly asked about how FSA went. They assume that since I didn't blog it, that... I didn't love it- the results that is. That's mostly correct. The racing was hard. The womens' field was stacked. It might as well have been nationals! Only 2 big national sprinters were not there. Being that I was still coming back (still am), I wasn't that strong.

Bt outside of racing, it was a blast. I love having everyone in town for those 2 races. It's like summer camp, really. You see them and hang out for two weeks, then everyone goes home... and adds each other on Facebook!

2008-07-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

New Sport

I went to pick up Cari and the MAX station yesterday by PIR (Portland International Raceway for you out-of-towners) and we decided to hang up the pedals for a new sport. Ran into Bill Cass out there and well, it just seems like a natural progression!

Speaking of PIR, us girls (Cari, Shelby, and Cristin) rode out to PIR today so I could show them the track. The gates were open, so we casually pedaled down by the watch tower... onto the track...and heard a "HONK" followed by, "What are you doing?" I explained that I raced out there and we wanted to take a lap, so I could show them the track." He agreed to our one lap. Whew!

2008-07-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

AVC 2008

The report you've all been waiting for! Well, it wnt pretty well, considering the last month of my digestive/ athletic life.

Friday afternoon was the 500 meter time trial. I got an acceptable time of 41.1. ANy other year, I would NOT be OK with a time one second slower than my PR, but since it was over a second faster than last week.... ROCK ON!!!

Saturday morning I rode a 13.81. I was thrilled to see a time under 14 seconds. Again, it's about a half second slower than I'd like, but whatever. I qualified 5th for the sprints. The sprints themselves didn't go so well. We began with 3-ups in round one. I finished 3rd. Then in the reps... I got... not first. So, I raced for 7-10 and that video is below.

The keiren was Sunday. In the first round, one rider went to the finals. Everyone else goes to the reps round. So, when I knew I wasn't going to be first, I just rolled in. In the next round, I raced like a racer. I went long when the motor pulled off (not the smartest idea with no endurance) and the crowd cheered. The issue with taking about 5 weeks of not training hard... is the inability to sprint for 2 laps. I got caught in the last half lap. As someone put it, "Yea, we saw the monkey jump on your back," to which I responded, "and his brother." But I felt good about the effort.

Regardless of the results, I am finally on my comeback!

AVC 080719 Heather

2008-07-21T09:00:00.001-07:00

Sam Beardsley got my 7th- 10th sprint final. It's a start...

2008-07-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

My Life As A Zombie

How those zombies can break it down effortlessly in the Thriller video is beyond me. Coming back from the dead is very hard.

I'm struggling with what to expect and what to accept right now. Since I'm no longer hunched over in gassy pain every moment and I have the energy to turn the pedals, it's hard for me to accept my worst times ever. I know people use the words "ever" and "never" much to loosely, but I can honestly say the a 42.5 and a 14.3 are both my worst times on the track in an important event- ever. My first ever 500m. was at AVC in 2001 and I think I did a 41.7. And I've only been over 14 seconds in the 200 on a couple of Friday nights- but never anything that has ever been recorded. Ugh. Not that you need this little nugget of information, but I lost my first sprint today, then got 3rd out of 3 in the rep ride for the sprints. I've never not been on the podium locally in the match sprints for state championships.

My big track family has been AMAZING! Everyone reminding me that I'm pretty much coming back from the dead, that I've had about a month of no training, that I've lost a large amount of muscle in 10 pounds, that I'm just now retaining any calories, and that I should go easy on myself. And I'm really trying. Some have listened to me unload more than they've expected, having an ear turned and just the moment when I'm about to lose it mentally. But I am so grateful that I have people in my racing life that support me and are only trying to encourage and love me, even when I'm so down.

I've had to melt quietly, which has made me a bit of a poor sport lately. My training girls- Amelia, Meg, Emily, and Camille are shaping up so well. Amelia ROCKED at 40 second 500m. last night and made a sweet move on me today. But I'm so wrapped up in my own pity, that I can't even be a good enough sport to congratulate her. And Jen ran a low 39 second. I did have the energy to talk to her last night though. And Meg discovered a big gear today for the keiren. I love watching her become so confident and strong this year. Emily, not a big sprinting fan, took the day to watch some bike racing. She'll kill it tomorrow.

I know its going to get better, but I've never been patient. I have to find a way to suck up the pity and put on a good face and be happy with whatever happens next weekend.

Here's an amazing picture that says a lot. Interpret as you will. Steven Beardsley's dad, Sam sent it to me today. So there I sit, with my national jersey on- from "back in the day." Meanwhile my bike chills patiently, waiting to go fast. "Gee mom," she says, "bring it back already!"

2008-07-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

My Little Adventure

Question:
Which takes longer to travel from the Salmon Creek area to my house?

a. the bus
b. my bike

Answer: the bus

And why would I know this, you ask? Is it because I'm doing a science experiment? No. Is it because I want to convince others to save $2.35 and ride their bike? No... Is it because it's my summer vacation and I was bored enough to try such a thing? No... Did I want to get to know the folks that hang out at bus stops? No.... Did I want to test my motion sickness and see the difference I felt sitting facing forward, versus facing sideways? Nope...

Did I get a flat tire and knowingly not travel with my pump because I couldn't find it when I left the house and thought I'd take a chance with one ride of only about 90 minutes to the medical lab and back and figured I wouldn't get a flat... and did?

YES!

About 4:00, I finally pull myself away from my book and decide to go for my ride. While I was getting dressed, I felt the familiar grumble that as going to be more than a fart. YES! I can do the next round of poop samples the doctor wants, then ride it up to the lab. I wasn't going to drive two times to the lab in one day. THis morning I got to get blood drawn to check me out. Even on vacation, I find ways to multi- task.

The ride was awesome. I felt pretty good, except when going uphill, it was sunny and warm, and all the cars were polite. The lab person was even smiley at 5:10 pm, which is pretty amazing. It must have been my bright yellow Livestrong outfit I was wearing, which by the way, gets a lot of looks inside the doctors office!

I had made it about half a mile towards my home, when I felt a squishiness. No, it wasn't in my pants, but in my rear tire. I call Logan in the off chance that they weren't already in Bend. Nope. I call Norrene, with hopes that she had decided not to do PIR. Nope. I stood at the light at 134th Street and 20th Ave. for about a minute when I looked over my shoulder at my last resort...

Public transportation.

Luckily, I only had to walk about 200 yards to the Park-n-Ride. The first person to talk to me, of course wanted to know if I was OK. He was nice enough, and would later, break my $5 bill into 5 $1 bills for the fare. The second conversation with another man went something like this...

"Excuse me me, I'm just an old, jolly hippy, and my friends and I are trying to get money for the bus, and-"

I wanted to say, does it look like I have money? But to the trained eye, here I sit with my Orbea bike, my full team kit, including my Oakley glasses, Giro Atmos helmet, and expensive Nike shoes. So the answer would be yes.

"I'm not sure that I have money for the bus."

"Then can I have your bike to sell and have money?"

For which I snapped, "NO!" Little did he know that he could probably purchase a first class ticket to fly anywhere in the world if he sold my bike.

Then he turned around to a poor kid with his mother and said, "Don't you grow up to be all uptight like that lady. Life isn't about money. It's about friends, yadda, yadda, yadda."

Dude, if it isn't about money, then how come you wanted some of mine.

Finally our bus comes. Yes, all of us. Nice Guy, Hippy and his friends, and me. I used the front end bike rack for the first time ever and plopped my full race kit self on what I must admit was a pretty nice bus seat. I'd consider riding one more often. Hippy and his friend were lucky to get the 3 for 1 deal and the bus driver let them know, when he got on his microphone to tell them to be quiet and not to use profanity.

Next stop... the 99th street transit station, where I was to catch the #2 bus to my 'hood. As soon as I get to my little bus shelter, a dumpy guy, with some special qualities finishes zipping up his backpack.

Right as I sit down he says, "Oh sorry... (apparently he farted)... I had the buffet today at Izzy's and I don't think the pizza agreed with me. I've been passing gas all afternoon."

SERIOUSLY? You just told this to a stranger, who honestly has bigger intestinal issues lately than your pizza farts.

I politely told him it was OK. He leaves for a few minutes, probably for the same reason I keep walking away from people lately (except when trapped in my car with Jeannie- ha ha ha.) When he returns, he tells me that the bus should be coming in 9 minutes, unless it's late, which it often is this time of day. And that usually he rides this bus all the way home, but today he was getting off downtown because.....

After he finishes telling me all the things you tell strangers at the bus stop, I pull my phone out of my back pocket and call anyone I can think of. Cari, that's when I called you, again.

Finally this bus does come approximately 9 minutes later and we get on, along with a young mother and her sleeping baby, and their stroller, a quirky fellow, from the Parks and Recreation (or so his bright red t-shirt announced,) and another man who helps Young Mom with her stroller, after a long day of doing some sort of labor job.

By the way, to all the guys who work construction of some sort and ride the bus home, and are still nice, friendly, and helpful to everyone you see... THANK YOU!

Anyway, Parks Guy goes to sit next to Young Mom, but she can't move over. That's when Fart Boy tells him, it's because she has a baby on the other side. Parks Guy gives him a funny look and sits anyway.

So, eventually, Young Mom and Nice Labor Man get off at the same stop. Yes, he helped her with the stroller again. And it was just me and Fart Boy. As I sat there, I started thinking about those Chicken Soup For the Soul books with the stories about folks who go about their lives much more positively than I was feeling. I thought about Fart Boy, and although he gave me some unnecessary information, was just being friendly and nice. He let me on the bus first and probably just wanted to visit with someone.

So, knowing that I was getting close to my stop, I asked, "Is this the button you push to signal for a stop? It's been a long time since I've ridden a bus, where they have the cables."

"Yes maam," he smiled.

We spent the next couple of minutes talking about bike and the weather and his getting off the bus downtown to go do something, instead of ride all the way home and then he was going to walk. As I got off the bike, I thanked him for his help, thanked the bus driver, and click clacked the three blocks to my house.

How much longer was the bus adventure than the easy ride? About 10 minutes.

2008-07-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

State Games of Oregon

Today didn't suck. I'm so happy to say that I felt OK today- no stellar, but OK. I felt like a bike racer again for reals. Hats off to my teammate Norrene for doing some great work for me today in the races.

The first was an unknown distance. I hung out in the back most of the time. Great for drafting... not so great for finishing. Plus there was a lot of jockying around, which seemed a little unnecessary. I finally came up to the front where it was safe. But I let myself slide back and have to weave through some traffic to get 5th. Oh well.

The miss-n-out was next. Usually, I'm not a big fan of this race. But Norrene and I went in with a plan. She'd________ (can't give away top secret stuff) and I'd _____________ (pure rocket science.) It's nice to know that the wheel you're glued to is on your side. Wow, it really helps in the race to count riders left. It worked out beautifully and I was in the last 3 with Anna and Jen. Anna jumped in the last lap, with Jen following. I couldn't find my sprint legs to come around.

Our final race was a 15 lap tempo. Again, Norrene motored up front and I got some single points in the beginning. In talking later, we devised a better version of this plan. I got pretty tired in the middle of the race, but got my second wind in the last couple of laps. I came around a few folks to get 1 point in the last lap.

In the end Camille and I were tied for points, but she finished in front of me more than I did her, so she got the 3 step of the podium. She did well today. Jen took first- because she's flipping fast. Anna got second because she's also fast. I'm excited to see her improvement this year.

Kayla and I did a team sprint together. Poor thing got out pretty fast with her smaller gear. She had to wait about half the first lap for me to come under to get a draft. Sorry girl!

So, I'm still recovering. I came home from the race, laid won to rest and read, and fell asleep for an hour. I don't usually nap.

2008-07-04T22:08:00.001-07:00

1st Real Week-o-Summer.

I say its the first week, since I'm not still super sick (just a little) and I can manage to get through a day with stuff accomplished. So, I just read Jen Triplett's blog and all of the things she wanted to do around the house. Well I finally beat her in a race this week- the race to home improve! Boo-ya!

1. I scoured that bathroom Jen silently tolerated last week. Since it was my roommate's bathroom, I had no idea how bad it was, since I never go in there. Big ew! It's a perfectly clean now for my AVC guests in 2 weeks.

2. I planted my vegetable garden, so I can enjoy the view from the yellow lounge chair on the deck. In 60-80 days (I think it will be sooner) I will be enjoying pees, corn, cucumbers, and squash. I can also freshly season with sweet basil, oregano, and cilantro.

3. I put some ferns in the garden under the cherry tree, and some flowers between my driveway and the empty house my garage in connected to. Today, my neighbor helped me get in some arbovite, so in a year or so, I won't even have to look at that mess of a house.

4. Yesterday, my friend Krishna and I explored IKEA in depth in the morning. It's so easy to spend $130 there. And the most expensive single item was $10. That afternoon, she brought over my brand new (hand-me-down) futon with super thick fancy mattress. We had to take the entire thing apart to get it upstairs and then reassemble, which can be quite a task when you're giggling the entire time! Cristin and Cari are in for a treat later this month!

5. Finally, today, I totally cleaned the refrigerator today. It was one of those cleanings where you take EVERYHING out, including the shelving, and clean everything. along the way, I threw away a few mysterious containers. After the super intesto-virus, I'm not eating anything that might be funky....

... Which is perfect lead in to the "Poo Pants" update. Thanks coach for new nick name, who also made the point today that not only water can be a liquid, solid, or gas all in short amount of time. I'm doing much better. After 2 days of baby food, which is yummy, but expensive, I ventured into some solid foods- even finished Jen's lasagna, and this morning... a breakfast sandwich- that never some for a re-visit. Bad news is that things are still "fluid" in the mornings. Doctor says I sort of stripped my intestines (like roto-rooter?) and just have to let it heal.

I race this afternoon and it wasn't a total loss. I won a sprint, lost two. I watched a keiren from the back of the pack, but I know I just have to be patient. I AM NOT A PATIENT PERSON!!! I'm going to forego racing tomorrow, I think.

2008-06-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Alpenrose 6 Day
(My Alpenrose Shits Days)

So, I wake up Monday feeling a little better, but decide it's best to go to the doctor. She says it's a virus, sends me on my way. Tells me to get lots of electrolytes and to grab a stool kit from the lab on my way out... just in case.

I call Haley and she says she had a stomach flu all weekend, as did what we found out later in the week to be 5 other teachers as well. Super. Misery loves company and we share our version of the killer virus, then wish each other a good week.

I call Dairen and tell her that I'm going to go for it. We'll race. I'll go easy that night. I'm not going to let this virus keep me from the first women's field 6-day in 99 years.

Monday night we manage to get down 2 laps- not a good start, but that's OK. I'll feel better the next day and we'll be fine.

Huh? Team China? But we're not Chinese and we're definitely not on the Chinese national team. Yes, Darien's friend from work found them at Nike in some marketing stuff for the Olympics. We wore them Monday for shits and giggles (yes, shits is a pun here). They were a hit. "Nee How! (Hi in Chinese)" Tuesday I was first to the track and wore my Livestrong kit, because it was MUCH more comfortable. Everyone was sad wanting to know, "Where's Team China?" So from Wednesday on, we gladly squeezed ourselves (the Chinese are not very big people) into our Team China kits and it was fun. Thanks Tony Halford for the cool photo.

Tuesday and Wednesday not so fine with the devil virus. I race like shit, I feel like shit, and I the morning, I deliver the shit... diawoowoo!

I got a chance to watch track racing from a new perspective- the bad of the pack. It's SO bad. I have nothing, since my body is a) calorie deficient and b) fighting the viral monster eating my gut. I got down 4 laps in two mass start races. 4. That's 2 laps in a 20 lap points race and another 2 in some other race.

Thursday night I actually feel OK. I had some of Jen's lasagna and ceaser salad after racing. Yum. Next morning (actually before morning- I had to wake up and jump in the shower at 4 am- thank god I sleep on my side)...diawoowoo.

Friday night, Jen makes some awesome pasta and lightly stirfried veggies. Saturday morning...diawoowoo.

Saturday morning I decide I've had enough diawoowoo-woowoo. I email doctor. Lucky for me she must be at the computer and responds for me to do the sample kit the next morning

GROSSEST THING IN THE WORLD! Seriously. It's not just poo in a tub and seal it up. No! I had to poo in a small tub (gagging) and then SCOOP the poo into a little jar (choking) and stir the shit up! UUUUGGGGHHHHHH! I drive the stinkywoowoo to the lab this morning and the phlebotomist (cool word- had to throw it in) hands me another tub. This one won't be so bad. This will be an easy poo in the tub and seal that shit up.

And to round out my Sunday morning, I went to Walmart. The mission was to find a window air conditioner. Stupid ting doesn't fit, so I get to take it back. But as I loafed around the super center, I discovered what I wish I would have thought of earler in the week- baby food!

2008-06-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

I struggled with the most creative title for this long overdue post...

Runnin' Around....no

Sewage In, Sewage Out... no

When you're sliding into first, and your pants're 'bout to burst....no

I finally decided on:

IT'S BEEN A SHITTY WEEK

Let's go back 9 days. I'm driving to San Jose to their AVC with Larssyn and Jeanie in the car. All's well, until we stop at a rest area in No-Cal and I'm like- that's weird, I have total diawoowoo (that's my new pet name for it.)

For the next 3 days, life is shitty. I slept under an oak tree for two hours across the parking lot from the track as racers came and got ready. I was able to watch some racing. Now, at this time, I'm thinking that the Sushi I ate at the Medford Fred Meyer's was the culprit, so I'm certain I'll feel up to racing Saturday.

Saturday morning, it's HOT, so maybe I had a fever, who knows, but I suited up, warmed up, and sucked it up and in. My blistering 13.9 second 200m. is about a half second slower than a decent 200m at Alpenrose- the slowest track in the country. Well, that landed me 11th of 12 in the sprints. I had 3 lame sprints, going to the infield after each one and curling into a hot ball of crampiness and hate for whatever was in my belly!

I decide to skip the racing Saturday night. During the break, Jeanie put up with my crampy, gassy, groaning self. We go to Jamba Juice to slurp on about the only thing I've had an appetite for. No worries, because I'll feel better tomorrow for the ride home. (foreshadow hint- scroll down to see how long this post is.)

And the next morning, I felt great. I was irritated that I drove 600 miles to watch a bunch of bike racing, while wiggling to the port-o-john about every 5 minutes and leaving in the bowl a creamy green specimen for all the world to notice, since they don't flush, and by then everyone knew my condition, since they were curious why I wasn't racing. But I'm happy to be feeling better at Starbucks with my yummy breakfast sandwich and latte. Finally I had an appetite.

Fast Forward 2 hours. Sacramento Walgreens (yes, we missed the 505 turnoff from Oakland). Pepto Bismal and a pharmacist who says it will totally help... and then an upward explosive relinquishment of that yummy breakfast sandwich- nothing like yacking in a public toilet. Puke- n- rally dudes!

The next ten hours included a visit to every rest area from Sacramento to Eugene, where I finally began to feel better. We also stoppped in MT. Shasta city, where I nibbled on some KCF mash potatoes. I called the advice nurse at Kaiser and she tells me to quit drinking Pepto and begin the BRAT diet- bread, rice, applesauce, and toast. A quick stop at Shopko in Eugene to get some supplies, which included liners for the damn granny panties I'd be sporting the rest of the night. I had to sprinkle in that detail so that you really got the picture and an assumed definition of SHAT- if you had not one.

A quick time out for Jeanie who drove most of the way home and put up with me. What a great friend.

By the time I got home, I felt a bit better and decided to go to the doctor to see what she said.

To Be Continued....
Next on Heather's blog: Hello, my name is shata-lotta-lasagna.

2008-05-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

F#%* YOU, CANCER

I hate you, Cancer. Give it up, already.

My close friend's mother lost her battle with cancer yesterday morning.

An assistant at our school just got the diagnosis last week.

What is it Cancer, you finish off one and just have to move on to another? I hate you. Go away.

2008-05-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the boxes of inventory were brown, not pink. But there were... 6 of them.

As I opened the lot, I discovered the "rookie initiation" method at Mary Kay. In high school sports, we'd kidnap the rookie and make them dress all funny and go do silly stuff in public. At Mary Kay, the joke is to put all of the same of one product in 4 different boxes. I know there is probably a method to this system, but it was more like Christmas madness. Seriously it was so fun.

5 hours later, this Mary Kay lady was snug in her bed, while visions of white-boxes-filled-with-miracles danced in her head.

2008-05-01T06:16:00.000-07:00

Satin Hands and Timewise Miracles

Guess who just became a Mary Kay Beauty Consultant? I'm more excited than I expected about my new business and looking forward to helping friends and their friends discover skin care and color products. I've been quite busy.

I'm still riding and training. I am reducing my training as I adjust into a new groove, but still plan to enjoy the local weekly racing and fun summer stuff in San Jose, Seattle, and Portland.

Out and About with Drew Carney this morning on the local news featured the Alpenrose Velodrome. Great job Drew! And Darell... you're always awesome. And 11 year old, Camden Morey... what I can I say? You looked great demonstrating your flying 200! It's an honor to train

2008-04-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Buh-Dunk-a-Donna

Donna had a funny experience at the grocery store. Listen to her version of the story...

"Hey, so I've been making this joke about my big sprinter butt belonging on a
black woman's body and today, a black man actually approached me in the produce
isle of the grocery store and enthusiastically proclaimed that I had the
"goods"...so I thanked him."

Here is a picture of BuhDunkaDonna

2008-04-15T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have boring new news, so I sprinkled it in with other's clean laundry...

Deano feels like a zoo animal or a science experiment and it's cold in C-Springs

My Matrix car windows have been re-called. Appointment to fix on Thursday

Brian, Donna, Cam, and Camille are flying new track bikes. The rest of the world should watch out. They're going so fast, you'll be hauling ass... when they pass you.

My students are taking the dreaded WASL tests this and next week.

Jen loves sushi like me and makes some great points about goal setting

My cat refuses to use the new cat door in the window. What a stubborn bee-otch.

Rubicon boys are driving to Sea Otter today.

Teammate and housemate Bradley baked banana bread. Yes, Bradley baked. He says it's for sale... only $10 a loaf. It's good, I promise.

2008-04-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hit the Deck!

What did you do over spring break? Did you go anywhere cool? Sure did! I went to Home Depot... and Shurway Lumberyard... and back to Shurway... and back again. And in the end, I had a new deck. Fellow racer, and wood working superstar, Tim Luther helped me design and build this beautiful slab to hopefully spend lots of hours upon. Tim helped me be a part of the entire process. It was fun and I learned a lot along the way. I still have some landscaping details to finish and we have to do a couple small touchups next weekend. Here are some pictures at the end of each day ending with a couple of today, where the Superdeck sealer is doing it's job.

2008-04-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

New Look

Welcome to the new look. It might not stick. I'm still cruising the blogger template websites. Team Rubicon is no longer "that orange team." We're now rocking the bright yellow and black of the LAF with a touch of white and Sram red frogs. Have you taken the leap?

In the meantime, this site is open, yet under construction. Stay tuned for photos and team sponsor links.

2008-04-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Internet Bubble Wrap

This rocks. Be sure to try to Manic Mode

BUBBLE WRAP

2008-03-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hail Yea!

This year's Piece of Cake Road Race was graced with similar weather to the past 2 times I've done the race. I had to miss last year. It was one of those days when you're at the car 5 minutes before roll out, trying to figure out.... hat...?...no hat?....booties.... or not?....vest?... or a whole jacket. I had faith in the weather man and his promise of clearing in the afternoon. I was wrong.

We had a big field of 22+ (21 finished and I know of one woman that did not finish....) There was a fair amount of action, but nothing stuck in the first 2 laps. Beginning our final lap 3, I noticed a giant purplish black cloud. Soon we were treated to some hail. That stopped our pace down considerably. Luckily, it was only about a mile or two.

Finally about 2/3 of the way through the last lap, some girls got more ambitious about making something stick. 2 riders went first. They got about 20 seconds gap, when another group of us, 7 in all started the chase. At one point there was a surge I just couldn't stick with and I popped along with another woman. After working together for a short time, she found a new set of legs and went to try to bridge to the breakaway. Her and I remained about 30 seconds.... and a minute off the breakaway, with the peleton another 30-40 seconds behind me.

I settled with the idea that I would finish 9th. But I had to keep the pressure on, in the wind, in order to keep the peleton back. Thinking back, I don't think they were trying too hard, since most teams had someone in the break. I marked myself against the other lone rider with a telephone pole. I was just getting motivated to empty the tank, about 2K from the finish when...pss...pss...pss...the evil sound of a flat.

I have never flatted in a race until today. And of all moments, when I'm in no man's land, with no wheel car near. If it were dry, I would have been OK, riding with the flat, and may have still stayed away from the main group. But since it was wet, my rear wheel kept slipping. So I pulled over and cheered for the group.

Ugh... it's all part of racing.

I was happy with my fitness today and response to action within the group. I wish I hadn't spent so much time in the wind. It's hard to decide how far back to stay in the group, especially when you're paying attention to certain riders. I didn't want to miss a break attempt. I felt strong, (until I got dumped), and confident. I love my bike.

Goodbye to the Normals

2008-03-24T14:58:00.001-07:00

Welcome Rubicon teammates! Safe travels to you and don't forget your f'in passports.

2008-03-02T18:04:00.000-08:00

Lolita off to Texas

I shipped my yearling Orca to her new daddy in Texas yesterday. He wrote me an email, describing her future...

She will like it in Texas. I have four other nameless bikes that will keep her company. Not much rain and a lot of good riding days. I have a bike dedicated to the trainer so she will never be shackled to the steel taskmaster in my exercise room. No rides in ice/snow, one of the nameless bikes will have that chore. In Texas, there is always a great deal of wind for her aero dynamics to tantalize. Pickup trucks are another thing all together and may be very scary for at first. Hopefully, she doesn’t know much English and she will not be able to comprehend the harsh words directed at us as the pickups go by.

I told him that being her mother's daughter... she's herd plenty of language. Be good, girl!

2008-02-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

As February Wraps Up...

Training has been going well. I've pedaled my way up Cornell-Thompson- and some variation after that the past 4 weeks. I was blessed to not be injured or sick the past month- go figure! We're all getting pretty tired at the end of thie training block. Only one more week until recovery, unless....

Um, training was going well, until the Super Flu flew in on me. I spent most of Monday and Tuesday in bed. I tried to go to school on Wednesday, but felt a little woozy on the drive (oops). When I got to school, they kicked me out- told me to go to the doctor. So, I did. A couple hours later I was back home... back in bed... with some antibios and steriods (super.) I love that angry, cranky, depressed side effect that prednisone gives me. Watch out kiddos.

Sold Lolita (last year's road bike) to a nice man in Texas. She'll like it in Texas I think. New Orbea Aqua frame came in last week. Dean, the speed machine is building it. So far, she's in nameless. I'll work on that. any ideas?

2008-02-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

New Shirts and Stuff

I've just added a couple of new products to my Cafepress store

Check it out. Buy something. Support my habit.

2008-02-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

Earthly Training Methods

I have discovered that mother nature possesses 2 ingredients for whipping up some quality training.

Snow and Air

First, snow. I prefer snow to rain when riding as long as it doesn't make the road slick. Snow does not make you wet. And it's fun to get accumulation on your helmet and drifts in the front of your ankles.

Second, air. I decided to check my tires before Sunday's ride uphill. I've been riding around the past couple of weeks with about 70 psi in my front tire and 60 in the rear. A hmmmmmm! Wave a magic wand, and bibbity, bobbity, pumpity, pow!.... I'm now rocking about 100 psi. Dude, my bike actually works now.

Enjoy some pictures from snow on Saturday at elevation of around...zero.

2008-02-05T22:03:00.000-08:00

K-Man Kenji!

This is how famous Kenji is.... Every once in a while I'll check to see if it's worth my time to ramble on about nothing on a racing blog- in the winter. So, after getting a friends comment tonight, I check it out. 60 HITS ON SATURDAY! I knew it was snowy and cold Saturday and folks had nothing better to do, but WTF? I am only moderately cool, and slightly famous, but I am not racing. And finally, there are no nudie pictures, so why all the traffic?

K-Man does the occasional blogroll and update of what's news in OBRAland... and what is not. But even the Un-news is pretty entertaining. I giggle over Miffy and Kiffy and love getting little tidbits of who's up to what. It's like OBRAs own Page 6. Low and behold... I scroll down to Saturday and there me is. Thanks for the props, bro!

2008-02-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

That's Ugly

I haven't been hooked on a show since Alias, before Sydney and Vaughn finally hooked up. Over Christmas I blasted through the entire first season of Ugly Betty and continued on to make it up to speed with the here and now.

Damn writer's strike has finally affected me. It was sad enough that my Friday nights consisted of cuddling up with www.abc.com and watching the previous night's episode. Now, even that has been taken from me.

I think I will inflict some pain on my leg to mask the pain in my heart.

Oh wait, I just did. This is the outline. Color to come in a couple weeks

MANGO!!!!

2008-01-25T23:40:00.001-08:00

Sorry... I couldn't sleep

2008-01-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

My Hump

Heather the biker has- one hump (sung to the tune of "Alice the Camel")

The tape came off Saturday afternoon, and a shiny, tender, pink hump now pokes up. Rumor has it that it will diminish as the muscles in the area strengthen, but will always be there. I survived a few laps out at Swan Island at a top tempo Saturday and 2 laps out at Sauvie Island Sunday. It's still a little weird when I get out of the saddle and when I get tired, it gets sore. But all in all, I'm on the mend, ahead of schedule.

I'm still going to have it tapes again tomorrow maybe. Depends on what Shawn and Dave think.

2008-01-09T21:36:00.001-08:00

Raise the Roof

Well, raise my hands over my head at least... and use some HUGE dumb bells, like 5lb, and 8lb, and even 10s for some of the work. Almost 5 weeks after my launch over the bars, I can manage a day with almost no pain. It's pretty silly, watching my posture in the gym mirror pumping, the big iron, but I gotta start somewhere. I have to keep the shoulder taped a couple more weeks. Without it, my bone still pokes up pretty far, but I think it looks better than a couple weeks ago.

2008-01-02T18:55:00.001-08:00

Ego Stroked

Due to the popularity of the spin classes at LA Fitness, AND due to the New Year's resolutions of what seems to be most of Hazel Dell, it's required that hopeful attendees sign up for the class. I scored the 34th and final slot at 5:09. The class is at 5:30 and the sign up sheet is out at 5:00.

As I glanced at the list to see if my friend Deana was on there (which she wasn't) I noticed that a one Mr. Tom Boonen had signed up first. Hm... either my favorite Belgian sprinting hottie was craving the luscious, brisk weather of the Pacific Northwest in January, or he finally came to his senses, found out I was single, and came to find an older woman of my stature, drop dead gorgeous looks, maturity, and popularity.

Or, someone in the spin class was being cute.

Well, as you may have guessed, not one person in the class looked anything like Tommy. Oh well. Sporting my Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge T-shirt- the one with the Captain America jersey wearing guy and other Madison riders, I climbed on to the bike,next to an older guy with a full Lampre kit on. I soon learned, he could spin very well, with great form, and I assumed that he raced or had raced.

At the end of class, older bike racer guy caught a look at my shirt and my attention.

"Do you ride out at Alpenrose?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied, happy that someone in the room recognized the venue, let alone even knew what a velodrome was.

"Do you know a racer named Heather VanValkenburg?"

With eyebrows perked and a little stun to my voice, I let him know that, "I am Heather VanValkenburg!Um, thanks! So were you the first person to sign up tonight?"

"Yes, I figure if I can't be fast that I'd just pose as someone who is. Sorry if I disappointed you."

"Ha ha. No worries...."

So, yea... somebody asked me if I knew me. That was quite a pump to my ego. Turns out he sold me my bike work stand years ago. We shared war (bike) wound stories, as he could see the tape on my shoulder and I skipped off on my merry way.

Frankly I'm surprised that my head fit through the car door.

2008-01-01T23:10:00.000-08:00

Ivy's Future Career

I think she's bound to be a movie star. She can find every photo of herself, her papaw, mamaw, daddy, and mommy I have in my home. So, to entertain her for a minute I took a bunch of photos on my computer and started up a slide show. She loved it.

2007-12-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to Me
Nothing like an impulse buy to give you that special rush. It all started when Emily tells me that she got the new Nano with video for Christmas, which got me thinking that I really wanted video too. I looked up the price and was blown away at how inexpensive they were. So today, one of my stops on my errand run was to PowerMacPac. I played around with all of the toys and finally went for many more gigglybites than my original plan, and got me the 80 GB Ipod Classic in black. It cost a bit more, but I can put all music, photos, and video, and all my computer software, and saved files, and... I still have tons of room.

To avoid any impulse regret, I justified the purchase. If I were not broken, I would be going to Canada to race next week, for the Burnaby 6 Day. With travel, food, accomodation, and registration, I'd spend close to that amount. And now, I can manage 1.5 hours (2 episodes of Ugly Betty) on the eliptical trainer and stationary bike :)

Jeff Dunham - Achmed the dead terrorist -

2007-12-26T22:28:00.001-08:00

This one's for my brother in Iraq. Cheers to you, Charlie!

Cat Wake Up Call

2007-12-25T22:45:00.001-08:00

This IS my cat

2007-12-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

Managing

Well, I am doing much better. Thanks everyone for well wishes. As I write this, I'm in no pain at all, but the moments come and go. Most of the time, it's just a dull irritant,, but I have many sharp twinges, cramps, and spasms throughout the day, which force me to sit and sink into the back of the chair, couch, or... bed. And it sucks. I began physical therapy on Tuesday. She's an OK lady, but hasn't had much experience with this injury. She admitted that she was going to do some research in order to give me a recovery time line. Luckily, I have been nice to the folks at Therapeutic Associates, where we work out on Tuesday and Thursday, so I got hooked up with a super tape job last night to keep me standing straight and not "wing" so much. Those guys absolutely know what they're doing!

Now that I am on vacation for 2 weeks, I have no excuse for not working out. So after watching everybody else ride around in circles tomorrow morning, I'll head to the gym for some quality spin bike and eliptical trainer time. EXCELLENT!

2007-12-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

Drumroll.....

Grade 3 AC Separation. Google it.

It's sounds pretty bad, but I should be riding again in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'll spend some trainer and spin bike time. And I can still do some lower body workouts. I just talked to Dr. Murray, and anyone that's ever asked him anything... knows the type of answer you get. He gives you more information than you know what to do with, which is awesome. You get your original question answered and some bonus tidbits. And it gives me such peace AND piece of mind.

Dr. Tilson turned out to be pretty straightforward and to the point. He found me an article to read about treating a grade III bustaroo. He told me to email him my decision and he'd get me going in the direction I needed before he gets back to the office. I think a little bird told the ancient man that I was not keen on our past experiences. So, he's on my good side again.

Surgery is one option, but the amount of function I'd get back isn't much better, if any, than just rehab. So, I'm going the rehab route and if I still want surgery after the 2008 season, I'll do it right after nationals. The surgery mostly fixes the deformity. On my right side I have a shoulder. There is a point, and my t-shirt seams hit nicely. On my left, I look like an old lady. It goes neck... a small lump... and my arm. I foresee my biggest problem being keeping my bra strap up!

Not joking.

And yes, I'm planning to wear one :)

I took a photo of my x-ray. Not sure if that's legal. Oh well. See where that big space is on the top right, at the end of the collar bone? Yea, there's not supposed to be a space. It's not so much that the collar bone is sticking up, but that my arm has sort of fallen. Nice lungs, huh?

2007-12-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

Going to Doctor Tomorrow

I'm worried that Dr. Tilson is going to pull the ole, "Let's give it a week and see how you're doing."

ABSOLUTELY NOT. I need to wear my big girl pants and be assertive. I know what needs to happen, it's just a matter of what Dr. Tilson says. It's going to be my way- with him... or my way- without him. Hopefully my next post will mention something about getting an MRI soon!

In the meantime, I'm still workin' the arm sling. Oh yea...

2007-12-10T19:03:00.000-08:00

Degrees of Separation...

Well, in case your friends have never shown you a separated shoulder, check out my scanty pictures below. I have to wait until a doctor sees this to know at what degree it's pulled away. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get in to see a doctor until Thursday. And I have to see the same doctor I dealt with when I broke my wrist. He's skilled and knows what he's doing, but it bothered me that he wasn't as interested in my urgency to get healed and back on the bike as I was. He's well along in the years (at least 70) and my guess is that he's not learned anything new in years....That's the Kaiser catch 22. They'll pay for just about everything as long as they control just about everything. But I got the appointment lady pulling for me and will let me know if anything opens up before my appointment.

In the meantime, I'm able to move it quite a bit. I'm going to see if one of the boys at Therapeutic Associates can take a peek at it tomorrow.

2007-12-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

Shoulder Ouch

Typing with one hand. Crashed this morning. Walking pace and in the grass. Took a hit during a maneuvering drill. Flew over bars and landed 90% on my left shoulder (10% on my head.)

Went to ER. Had a wonderful time. Got some fuzzy pain medicine. Funny looking lump where collar bone should be attached to shoulder blade. Have to see Orthopedic Specialist in a couple days.

Could have been worse. Helmet is ok (ground was grass and squishy mud.) Pain a all in shoulder. Everything else is fine.

Sigh.....

2007-12-02T12:52:00.001-08:00

To all the Grandparents...

2007 has not been a good year for Grandparents. Hopefully all of them meet up in heaven and party together...

Me- Grandma Maxine (February)
Amelia- Grandpa
Emily- Grandpa
Brooke- Grandpa
Haley- Grandma

It's been a *!$# year for pets too...

Jen's puppy
Digger kitty
Sadie Dog
Richard's Dog too!

And all this is just off the top of my head.

Whoever is in charge out there, please be merciful in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

2007-12-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

Great Gads!

I'm starting to run out of good answers for when friends ask me why I ride in nasty weather. Today was one of those days. When I left the house it was pouring. I traveled south bucking a head wind the entire time. The ride to North Star that usually takes me 25-30 minutes took 35 today, making me late for our group ride and putting me smack dab in a bad mood.

I have to just keep telling myself that my competition is also training today. I sure as heck hope so at least. All saddle and torture time is money in the bank!

The sweet reward for surviving such a day is being able to peel off the sopping duds, tossing them into the washing machine, and sprinting upstairs to a hot shower.

2007-11-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

The Gym

I discovered this evening what the WORST time is to go to the gym. Let's call it 5:flipping:30. I had to cruise the parking lot until a spot opened up! I got the 3rd to last eliptical trainer. There was a packed aerobics class, a full cycling class, and all racket ball courts were being used. Oh, and there were about 20 people at volleyball open gym. The folks that own LA Fitness were happy today! I guess they'd be happy whether everyone showed up or not, since the membership costs the same either way. Wow.

Check out the cutest toddler I know. This is my brother's daughter, Ivy. We hung out last week. We playyyyyyed at the park, painted some gifts for the family, and then visited the hunts (where fudge was made.) Her dad, Charlie was deployed to Iraq last Saturday. So since her mom... is not our favorite person, I'll be visiting her lots and lots to take lots and lots of pictures to send to daddy and mommy Shannon, and Maamaw Jen and Paapaw Larry.

2007-11-22T18:41:00.000-08:00

So..... just got home from Lincoln City. I met Dad and Barb there for Thanksgiving dinner, with a gorgeous view of the ocean at Inn at Spanish Head. The one time of the year when it might be nice to be a picky eater. There was a HUGE layout of so may choices. I think I had 6 different smoked fish and seafood, along with the traditional Thanksgiving goodies. I'm still not hungry and we ate... 5 hours ago.

Training is getting better. It was hard to get back into moving my body because I expect a different result that what my body wants to do in November. I'm just getting back into it, so I'm not too upset, but at the same time, it's frustrating. I'll probably feel a little under par for a couple more weeks.

The part I'm positive about it that I WANT to work out. I went to the gym last night for the first time since the end of September. I did a spin class, which was interesting. The focus was on keeping a steady cadence, while varying the tension. The instructors there turn out the lights, so we're working out by the light from the windows. Why is that? No matter the reason, I was certainly more comfortable taking off my t-shirt to use it as a towel, since no one could see my white rolls! Ha ha ha.

I hung out with niece, Ivy yesterday. I picked her up from daycare and we spent the day having total fun! Charlie and Shannon are deploying to Iraq Saturday. Weird.

2007-11-07T06:44:00.000-08:00

And on the 11 month... She Started Up Again

Well, I'm back in the saddle, so to speak. After 3+ weeks of eating junk food and drinking too much, I have managed to gain back my love handles and lose some fitness. Based on the 3 workouts I've done so far, I'm surprised that I don't feel worse. I guess I had some money in the bank.

Saturday I showed up at the coffee shop, North Star, which is one of the best in town on north Interstate Avenue, just north or Lombard. We executed our Saturday morning activities, that I would tell you about, if it wasn't super secret. It was fun. On the off season you realize what you learned during the season. What I noticed is how much I count on the lines (sprint lane, stayer's line) on the track! When they are not there, I find myself looking ahead more to see where I'm going!

Sunday I led a little 2.5 hour ride around west and northwest Vancouver. I remembered this ride having rollers, but in early November, those suckers are HILLS! I was wasted the rest of the day. Yes, a 2.5 hour ride completely destroyed me the rest of the day.

Monday.... I did nothing and went to bed early. I highly recommend a feather (or fiber) bed to put over your mattress. It feels like I'm cheating and sleeping on a blanket. Heaven!

Last night was core/circuit training. My plantar faciitus (I know that's spelled wrong) came back and almost made me fall over getting out of bed this morning. My least favorite excercise thus far is the pull ups on the rings. Wow- that sucks. Thursday is another round!

So... that's the latest. I must get ready for school. happy hump day!

2007-10-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

Rest Session

So... I haven't seen my track bike for almost 2 weeks and I don't miss her yet. Lolita (the raod bike) had been hanging in the garage since before I left. I bet if I go check, I can find a couple cob webs. I asked Brian not to write me a schedule for the rest of the month and I'm going to enjoy it with no regrets. Here's a short list of things I have managed to do in the past 9 days...

1. Raked the first round of leaves from my big (I don't know what kind) tree out front.

2. Put on about 3 pounds. This might be an exaggeration, but the pants are already fittin' tighter.

3. Watched Blades of Glory. Awesome

4. Bought a crock pot. I'm looking forward to many dinner/ lunch combinations.

5. Get caught up at school

6. Finished a book that I started over a month ago.

7. Update my blog

2007-10-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Home Again

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I was just tired and not really looking forward to reporting more bad news. Well, not totally bad news, but not super exciting either.

I posted 12.8 in my 200m. TT This is my slowest time on this track. Not really sure what happened there, but it seems that everyone's times were a bit slow. Anyway, it set me 7th and 8 sprinters make it into the tournament. This was also the closest I've ever been to not making it in to the sprints!

I rode against a super fast, Liz Reap. She won in two rides. In the 5-8 ride, I did a good job of controlling in the first 2 laps. But it is important to know how to count to 3 with a 4 up ride. As I was controlling my outside, I left the lane open and the girl that one slipped in there.

Kara and I rode a decent team sprint, although it didn't put us into the finals. We "won" 5th place by default. But our start assured me that my 500m. loss was ALL about the start. My split to the first tape was a 14.01 and ours was 13.13.

I'm home now, after waking up at 5:00am and hopping on a big bird. Now I'm looking forward to grading some writing projects!

2007-10-05T08:22:00.001-07:00

Elite Nationals Day 2

Today was the keirin. Last year, it seemed that everyone did the keiren, whether they were a sprinter or not. This year, just the sprinters came out- all 12 of us. This was awesome, though because it made the first ride difficult from the start. Since there were only 12 riders, we didn't have heats. We went straight to a semi-final ride. I was in the first ride, with 5 others, including Anna Lang and Jennie Reed- 2 very strong ladies.

I drew lane 5 (like I have doing all season it seems) so for me to get anywhere near the motor was going to be hard. When we started, the girl above me, basically ignored that I existed (good move, really) and I was squeezed like a little watermelon seed somewhere near the back. I chose to give up the position fight early and sit behind Jennie, who sat behind Anna. This provide a great draft and I could see any moves they'd make.

The motor dropped us off pretty fast and in the first lap nothing happened. I thought about making a move over the top to at least surprise, but being that we were going a quick tempo, I wasn't going to be much of a surprise, coming over slowly or I risked getting gapped by losing Jennie's wheel just for a second to swing high and go.

The unfortunate choice was to wait for them to make a move, since reacting to either of these riders means you're too late. Somewhere in the fury, there was a crash the happened in front of me. It didn't effect me too much, but since I wasn't going to be one of the top 3 to go through to the finals, i let up, knowing that my next rider would been soon.

Gearing has been weird this year for me. I'm starting to think... well actually pretty sure that I want to go back to my 170mm cranks. This year, I'm stronger, my leg speed is faster... and I'm going slower. I have long legs. Maybe the longer lever is better for me. That's not so much gearing, but I did feel under geared for my 500m ., which ended up being the same gear I rode in the keiren. I decided in the final ride for 7-12, I'd go up and see how it felt.

Turned out that was a good decision. In the next ride, I drew lane 6 and there were only 5 riders! Yes, I still have the skills of getting the outside lane. Luckily Matt gave me a nice shove. I fought a little for the second spot and finally got there behind Emily. When to motor pulled off, she ramped it up a titch which was awesome. With two laps to go, I came around her and led for that lap. Good and bad. Many keirens that I have won or been in the top 2, I've led out, so it was possible that this would work. Going into the last lap however, another rider came around me, but not fast enough to clear my wheel. This forced me to back off a bit and I wound up on the blue line a bit. This is racing and I didn't think anything of it, but later she was relegated for this move. Mark the day that Phil Miller made a call on my behalf (inside joke for those that know some of the officials.) So although I came across the line 3rd, I was awarded 2nd in that ride and 8th overall. Later I went with the other girl to talk to the official just to see what he'd say. I guess they saw her come around as a bit more dangerous. Oh well, I think it's just racing.

It's strange because even thought I'm not doing very well in the placing, I'm having a good time. I'm not stressed and I'm enjoying racing my bike! You have to love your sport. If you don't love your sport, you have to step away from your sport- or at least be able to answer yourself as to why you're out there.

Today is the sprints!!!

Here are some pictures from yesterday. There is a short movie clip at the end of Emily in the scratch race.

2007-10-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

Elite Nationals Begins

In a nut shell... it's starting off not so well. This actually began before we got here, when our flight out of Portland was 2 hours late. Here is a picture of Donna waiting for our plane.

After getting to Los Angeles, then to the house, then stretch, then get a massage, then shower... it was probably around 1:30 am before I got to sleep.

Today was the 500m.time trial. I hoped to ride under 39 seconds. My time last year was 39.1. I'm not sure what the main problem was today, but I think it was a mixture of a lot of little factors. In the race itself, I should have had a stronger start. When you don't get going fast enough in the beginning, it chips away at the overall time. My time today was my almost slowest on this track at 39.59. I think I was 10th overall- not good. If I got the time I was hoping for, I would have been 6th I think. Brian and I talk about a few things and one idea for next year might be to go back to my longer cranks....

Tomorrow afternoon is the keiren. Hopefully I get home a little earlier tomorrow night to report.

This is Molly our massage girl. She rode her bike ALL THE WAY HERE from Portland. She left Portland about 3 weeks ago. She often gives massages at our track and we love her. I don't know that guy on the table.

This is the view of the track from the infield, where all the riders warm up and wait to ride.

2007-10-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

I just finished my last workout before going to nationals. Similar to studying for a test or working on a project for a long time, before we go to a big event, someone will say, "Well, the homework is done." I won't get any faster or stronger before Wednesday. Actually, these workouts the past week, leading up to the final showdown are easy ones. It's to get the muscles ready for what's coming.

Check back tomorrow night. I'll try to get on to tell you about the sweet beach house we're staying at!

2007-09-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

The Final Countdown

Well, it's getting close to Elite Track Nationals in 11 days. I'm feeling good about my workouts. Tonight's motorpacing was tough. I sighed something about it being hard to "stay on as long as I can," without a for sure end.

"It's supposed to be hard!" reminded Dean.

Good point

I'm feeling snappy and have a much better attitude about nationals this year. I just have to stay healthy for another week or so.

My realistic goal is to be on the podium for all of my events. My ambitious goal is to kick ass all around.

We all know that racing is 90% in your head, so I'm going to focus ambitiously!

2007-09-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Going and going and going and...

Here's a whirlwind recap of the past week. We opened a new school this year, so besides the buzz of the beginning of any school year, there are so many new things, or things not yet in place, and there are more kids than we expected, and it's just overall busy. Mix the job with a birthday party, a visit with my brothers and niece, and other general errands, and I'd be busy without cycling. Now, finally add on a few workouts, and I haven't stopped for about a week. Here was today. Punctuation was left out for affect.

Thought I planned it all very well. I have my cycling clothes packed in my bag, I had a shower bag and towel packed, and I had a plan. This plan was to get through my school day with one class that is very well behaved and the other, containing about 3 kids that fill in every mili-second of dead air with chatter. I was going to do my intervals on the beautiful roads of north Clark County, then go to Haley's to shower, eat, and rest for curriculum night, where we talk to the parents about expectations and procedures in our classroom.

I get to school in the morning and start to tell Haley my plan. But I got stuck on the first step, because at the part where I was about to tell her that I was going to do my ride... it dawned on me that I forgot my bike.

I live 23 minutes from school.

I can leave school at 3:30

I make it to my car at 3:47, because no one ever leaves school on time the first couple of weeks, contemplating what I will do- skip the workout and be disappointed that I did so, or go for it.

Gentlewomen.... Start your engines!

I drive 23 minutes home, eating some pretzels and an apple on the way, then I get changed into my cycling clothes that were in my car all day, so they are toasty warm, I fill 2 water bottles- one with water and the other with ice, since it's 90 degrees on September 11th, then I hit the road. The workout was 40 on-20 off- 40 on (seconds that is). I'm supposed to do 7-8 intervals, but I didn't have that valuable resource of time, so I cranked out 3 into the wind and 2 with a tail wind- out to Vancouver Lake and back. Then I hung the bike, put the Lean Cuisine in the microwave for 2.5 minutes, and took the protein smoothie out of the freezer, hopped into the shower, then managed to get dry in the heat, by pointing my floor fan into the bathroom. I took about 4 minutes to get looking presentable, ran downstairs, fed the cat, inhaled my Lean Cuisine, and grabbed the protein smoothie along with a spoon. I was back in the car 65 minutes after I got out of it, including my 42 minutes power workout. I made it back to school and even had time to shoot the breeze with some other teachers before the 2 waves of parents came in to hear all about their kids classroom.

Bed will be good.
Photos of nationals and others coming soon, I promise.

2007-08-30T19:20:00.001-07:00

Here's a little tour of the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. This video is shot from the bridge that stretches across the track just past the finish line.

And a photo that I stole off of Juicey's blog. I'm not sure where she found this photo. I'm working on finding out.

2007-08-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

And in the Sprints...

It was a dark and storm night….

Nawt!

It was a hot and humid Pennsylvania afternoon. It was the kind of day where you start to sweat by simply walking outside and every breath is like breathing through a Burgerville milkshake straw. Sounds fun, huh? As Donna described it, she needed gills to survive. The countryside is beautiful, however, Trexlertown and surrounding, similar mini-towns are icky and sticky in late August, To quote my 3 year old friend, Grayson Hunt, it was….”Haaaaahhhhtttt!”

I’m writing this on the plane from Chicago to Portland. It’s almost a 4 hour trip. I have the cutest toddler suffering a cranky fit, but it’s tolerable with my headphones plugged into itunes. I had to fly with my niece last Christmas, so I feel bad for her parents. She’s just tired. Anyway, I have lots of time to write, so get comfortable….

Wednesday began with the 200m. TT for sprint seeding. I was hoping for something around 12.8, so was a little irked with a 13.008, only a breath of a hundredth faster than my time on Marymoor last month. I learned how important a race gear full effort is before racing. I sacrificed track time in my race gear for sleep. I got to the track an hour after racing began. A couple of the men’s groups had pursuits first on the schedule- about 20 heats. When they opened the track for about 5 minutes between the pursuit rides and the 200m., I was still in a warm up gear. So, by the time I put on my 94”, I just had the rollers, which offered little resistance. I could spin the heck out of it, but not really tap the leg muscles. I think that was the biggest factor affecting my ride. However, that time earned me front row tickets to the sprint show, .8 seconds up on the second seed. Since there were only 4 of us, there would be no rounds and we’d go straight to the semi-finals in the evening.

Went back to the hotel, peeled off the wet skin suit (not as sexy as it sounds), took a shower, ate, and cuddled into bed for a lazy afternoon of TV and cat naps. Donna and John granted my every whim, from juggling laundry to filling my water bottle. I was queen for a day. Amelia even gave me a much needed leg massage. My left quad has been giving me grief on and off for about a month. Tight.

Fast forward to my first ride of the evening. All rounds were best 2 out of 3 rides. My first was against a woman named Sara (I forget her last name.) Her qualifying time was around 14 seconds. The plan was to be in control and work as little as possible. Coming up on the final lap, I drifted up track and much to my enjoyment, so did she! Quick fake up to the right and an Abers dive to the left and I was gone. By the time I got to the first turn, I had a safe gap. I think my 200m.time for the lap was in the neighborhood of 15 seconds. The next ride was similar without the fun swerving. This time I popped over the top and took the ride.

My final rides were against Kara Vidaca. She’s a strong road sprinter and her 500m. time was less than .2 away from mine. Hopefully, she enjoys my recap, as I know she reads my blog J I drew the first lane for ride number one. I guessed that she would go either from the start or within the first lap. I had my holder, John Simmons from Helyer Park, and frequent visitor to Alpenrose, set me up as high as possible to reduce the chance of an attack from the start. John gave me a big boost. I was wrong. Kara went for the lane, so I closed that door, taking the lane. She came along on my right, and we picked up the pace a little. Eventually she dropped back behind me. I wanted a better look, so I drifted up track a little, staying aware of if she chose to pull up on my left for a press. But she stayed behind me. As I remember it, she floated underneath coming out of turn 2 in our final lap. The staight- aways on the Lehigh Valley Velodrome are short. The track is pretty round, I didn’t waste any time by dropping behind her. I went for the come around right away. It took awhile, since we were in the turn, but out of 4, I pulled ahead for the win. It was a fun ride. It’s always fun when a rider likes to play match sprint.

The final ride, we basically traded places. The ride was similar, with me following her around for a bit. She rolled up the speed in turn 1-2 of the final lap. I waited until we were out of the turn, took a run and came around. This sprint was a bit closer, but I was victorious.

Podium time was fun, as Kara and I played a game of “Queen of the Mountain” from the top step after the awards. It was a tie. Later her coach reminded us to be nice and safe to each other since we are now teammates for Elite Nationals in the team sprint. Then Donna and I hogged the podium for some fun photos. Happy times.

So, poor me gets to drag home 2 more jerseys and some hardware. The fun will be over as soon as I get home though. It’s time to cram for the beginning of school on Tuesday. I hope Haley forgives me for being absent last night for our “open-house-check-out-your-teacher-and-ask-a-billion-questions” evening.

Donna and I took about a billion pictures, so check back for those later. She gets home Saturday after the team sprint. They should win.

2007-08-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Donnanator!

So, Donna is 51 years old, which puts her in the 50-55 age group. BUT, they only have a 45+ category for match sprints, because until recently, there haven't been many strong women in the 50+ group. So, today, Donna posted the second fastest 200m. time this morning out of the group of 13 in the 45+.

Time gap....

Not only did she win her age group, which they decided to award a separate medal for... she won the whole 45+ group!!! She and Annette Hansen had both won their age group, but the officials said that they had to sprint in order to finish the tournament. She beat Annette in 2 rides. She made it look easy :)

2007-08-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

Masters National Titles Defended

Donna and I both defended our titles this morning! Weeeeee are the Chaaaaaampions!

The track was a little slow. I only posted 39.95, but it was the fastest time of the day among all women, and was .3 from second place. Donna was 4th fastest overall, behind me, Kara, and Annette. I wish there were more than 3 women in my field, but it's OK. A win is a win! Per has his kilo tonight, John has a 2K, Donna sprints tomorrow. The pressure is off me until Wednesday. Photos to come later.

2007-08-26T05:32:00.000-07:00

Off to Master's Nationals

John Forbes, Donna Smith, and I are here in Allentown, about 8 miles from the track, concluding a short adventure. We left Portland without error, headed for Chicago. I was worried that we'd have trouble with weather there, but no drama. Our next gate was about 20 meters from where we exited.

A little while into our layover, we heard that our flight was going to be delayed about a half hour due to weather in Newark. OK, no problem. Blah, blah, blah... we get on the plane and start to taxi and the captain gets on and says we have to sit there because the delay is extended. This was not good news, as a baby was having a fit behind John and I. But eventually we take off, almost an hour later.

"Ladies and gentleman, we are going to be a little longer getting into Newark, due to some storms in our way. We'll be going around...stay in your seats..." We safely made it around and those of us on the left side of the plane were treated to an amazing light show, the cloud firing up with lightening, the currents dancing through the clouds.

Applause answered our soft touchdown and we were in Jersey. HUMID! I could barely get a breath in the jet way!

Our bikes seemed to have gotten here before us. They were stacked up against a wall when we got downstairs and it was about 20 minutes before our baggage carrosel. Within another half hour, we were stuffed into our Xtera, driving about 80 minutes to Allentown.

Next, was a treat. I used my card to check us in. The $189 a night quote was crossed out and handwritten along the side was $119. Sweet, a discount- not sure why. Then we hiked to our luxury suite! We have 2 bedrooms with 2 full bathrooms, a living room area and small kitchen. It's pretty awesome.

So, now it's time to build bikes and get to the track. The weather is still a little shakey, so hopefully we get to ride.

2007-08-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

That's Me Bum!

Two people told me today that there was a picture of me in Willamette Week. Too bad it's a picture of me falling back in a race. Oh well, that's the second time my bum has been in a Portland publication.

Tonight was my last interval workout before Master's Nationals. We leave for Pennsylvania on Saturday. Speaking of bums, I'm a little bummed that there is only one other woman registered in my age group.

Today, Haley and I unpacked about 50 boxes at school. We only have about 6 left to get out, but all are opened. Tomorrow is another full day at school, getting stuff put away. It's so crazy in the building still. There's construction stuff everywhere and we have families coming in just one week!!!

2007-08-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

"I'll Quit Complaining"

Wednesday we have interval training and I pull coach aside and start a little rant about being disappointed about my times this year, that I hadn't come close to my best times on Alpenrose and if I plan to be faster this year than last, shouldn't I be going at least as fast and I've only been using a racing gear for about a month and it's hard to stay motivated when I'm not seeing successes...blah blah blah.

Today was Master's State Championships and I rode 40.08. This is an Alpenrose personal best time by about .3 of a second.

"Ok, I'll quit complaining," I gasped when I met up with Brian on the warm up track.

I also won the sprints and keiren. My favorite sprint opponent was not there today. Jen, who had been riding so damn fast this year, who has smoked my best times in the 500m., who is virtually unstoppable, had a horrible crash last night. I'm so upset for her. I wish I had a fraction of her perseverance. Two years ago, she had issued with her hip/knee, then last year, she fought an elbow injury. And she just keeps on fighting. Then this crap happens. She has some broken bones and will have to miss track nationals. If you're reading this and whether or not you know Jen, please wish her a quick recovery and keep her in your thoughts. She is so supportive of other racers out there and deserves nothing less than our love.

2007-08-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

"Hurricane" Sadie VanValkenburg
April 15, 1998- August 9, 2007

Sadie suddenly got sick this week. She had signs of upper digestive bleeding. After a long haul of figuring out what was going on and a near death moment, I found out today that she had cancer- probably lymphoma. Rather than to have her suffer a long road, to maybe live up to a year, I chose,to let her go, happy, relaxed, and in the arms of her mommy, to dog heaven.

I hesitated to blog about this, fearing that I seemed like a sympathy monger, but a very good friend told me to. She said that it was easy to fall in love with Sadie and that anyone that loved her (rather knew her for even 20 minutes) would want to know.

Thank you for everyone's support, love, prayers, and thoughts.

-Heather and Sadie

2007-08-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

Attack of the Weathermen

So, check this out. I was at a Beaverton-based-major-shoe-company retail store last Friday, and I noticed that local meterologist for KOIN 6 news, Bruce Sussman was there. (I can't belive I cranked out such an enormous run-on sentence just then.) I pointed it out to my shopping mates, and we were on our merry way. Yey- graced by the presence of a local celeb.

This morning, I was at the gym and noticed a familiar looking small man and quickly realized that he ALSO was a local meteorologist for KATU channel 2 news. Who knew that Rod Hill worked out at my gym.

Isn't that weird? 2 weatherman in 4 days! What does this mean? Feel free to comment and be creative. I know about 20 people read this blog per day, so I'm looking forward to some good responses.

2007-08-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

BLONDE'S YEAR IN REVIEW!

Mom hooked me up with this little treasure- enjoy!

January - Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.

February - Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print
labels....."duh".....bottles won't fit in typewriter!!!

March - Got excited.....finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months....box
said "2-4 years!"

April - Trapped on escalator for hours.....power went out!!!

May - Tried to make Kool-Aid.....8 cups of water won't fit into
those little packets!!!

June - Tried to go water skiing.....couldn't find a lake with a
slope.

July - Lost breast stroke swimming competition.....learned later,
other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!!!

August - Got locked out of car in rain storm.....car swamped,
because top was down.

September - The capital of California is "C".....isn't it???

October - Hate M&M's..... they are so hard to peel.

November - Baked turkey for 4 1/2 days.....instructions said 1 hour
per pound and I weigh 108!!!

December - Couldn't call 911....."duh".....there's no "eleven"
button on the phone!!!

What a year!!

2007-08-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

FSA Pictures

Here is one of Amara's pictures from her website Wheels in Focus. Here you can see and order prints from the race. The pictures below are from my camera. Enjoy.

Donna and I team sprint podium.

Donna and I check out the pretty green New Belgian cruiser bikes.

Confusion...? Comparing roses...? Telling secrets...? Who knows.

Finally we get it figured out! We look like a pack of cheerleaders- very buff cheerleaders.

Like a good sprinter should, Jen takes a nap between rides.

Donna and her mega-guns

Brain's sprint podium.

Me, Jen, and Molly having a late dinner with some strange characters.

2007-08-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for School!

Haley and I have class lists already and we don't start school for over a month. It's against state law to post class lists on the school window anymore, so the families get sent home a little welcome packet. Now we just need furniture and our stuff moved from the storage containers where they've been all summer. I guess the move in day is the 21st, so we'll have a lot of time to get ready. We are pretty excited to only have 56 rather than 62 kids this year. But all four 6th grades are full. I'm sure by the following fall, we'll have five 6th grades. We found out that our secretary is the one that was ours at Lewisville the past 7 years minus last year (due to cuts.) Karen is so flipping awesome. She knows all of us teachers from Lewisville, and we know what to expect from her. I talked to her today about scheduling. Next year, I get to sleep in a little since school doesn't start until 8:40. That extra hour will be nice especially in the winter.

2007-07-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

FSA GRAND PRIX

This was a fun and successful race weekend. It was a lot like our Alpenrose AVC. The first event was the team sprint. Donna and I had the 4th fastest time, which was pretty cool. Two of the top teams were international or a mix and one team was disqualified for an illegal exchange. So, we were the first place American team and qualified for nationals!

The next event was the keiren. I won my heat and got 5th in the final. I was proud of my aggressiveness in the heat, riding from the back and attacking with a lap to go. A lap at Marymoor is 400 meters, so everyone, including myself was a bit surprised at my long haul, but it worked. Later I was a little disappointed that I waited to long to do anything in the final, but each race is a learning opportunity, and I can take that from the race.

Saturday was a long one. I rode a 13.03 to qualify 2nd in the sprints. Then I rode a 39.___ (I forget the tenth) to get 5th in the 500m. I was the 3rd place American though. They took the top 12 riders for the sprints. I won my first 2 rounds, putting me in the semi- finals. Jen F. and I rode. I lost. Then I raced against Anna-Brit in the final. She won the best 2 out of 3... in 2 rides. But each was quite close.

Overall, I was happy with the racing and am officially qualified for nationals and left with a little extra cash for Saturday evenings dinner and beers.

Photos to come....

2007-07-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

So, What Do You Do All Summer?

This week, I promised myself that i would accomplish one task per day- not cycling related. Yesterday was the final attack of the ugly light fixture in the dining area.

Here is the "Before" look. This is from a picture when I first bought the house almost 3 years ago. Notice the ugly shades. They are pleated too!

And after. I'm not totally sure with the shades because the bulbs look like they extend past the shade. The silver matches the new fixture in the kitchen and blends in more with the decor.

Today, I filled the yard debris can to the top with weeds and pruned pieces in my yard. Lucky for Brad, there is not enough room for grass clippings, so he'll be off the hook in that department.

Tomorrow... I think it's going to be the attack of the kitchen ceiling to paint over the patch.

2007-07-23T21:30:00.001-07:00

New T-shirt Designs

Check them out. Buy one. Buy some. Go to the link on the right --->

2007-07-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Day 6 The Final Showdown

Got to the track at 1:30. Racing didn't start until 3:00, but some folks were doing work outs and I just went early to hang out. Today, open categories were racing as well and the 6-Day riders.

An unknown distance opened the racing. It went like this.... Neutral Lap... Meg attacked on lap 1... DING DING DING! Everyone reacted with at "What the f'..?", jumped on the gas and did the best we could. There was no strategies, no attacks, no time. It was a 2 lap unknown distance race and Meg won. Turns out it was a smart move for her to attack early. Emily and I finished 6th and 7th.

Next we did 2 heats of keirens. Well, eventually we did, after waiting for the rain. I was in the first heat with one member of each team, including Mike, Brian, Jeanie, and Meg. I sat 3rd behind the motor behind Brian. He kept sweeping, hoping that I'd take the bait and roll underneath him. But I was content where I was. When the motor pulled off, Mike led us. In the last lap, Brian and I came around him. I got 2nd. Then other heat was more competitive. Andrea attacked into the last lap, eventually winning. Between the 2 of us, Emily and I got 3rd overall.

Because of the weather, we had a big break in the day. This was the most irritating rain. It would stop NO other activity except track racing. There were no umbrellas, no tents, no protecting the bikes. It was sprinkling just enough to keep the track slick. The officials decided to run the "A"s madison first, since they were racing for a FIAC national championship (more important.) They raced for an hour. So there were about 2 hours between my keiren and the madison.

YEY we raced. Although rumored that we'd do 45 minutes, the clock read 30:00 at roll out. Emily and I did our best to stay with the boys'(and Darien and Amelia) teams. About 10 minutes in, one of the guys surged just enough to open a gap together. And since the two teams had each other to share the work, they were able to open up a quarter and eventually a half lap. within the next 10 minutes. Emily and I fought the wind alone, but successful on staying on even laps. Once gaining that half lap, the other teams didn't close much more until the last few laps. The hardest I worked was to be sure that I crossed the line going into the lap last before Mike caught me. Then I caught Jeanie at the line. Track time was about 7:00 by then.

In the end, my fellow cupcake and I finished on even laps and lapped the other 2 teams twice. I was pretty happy with that.

After racing we passed out mini cupcakes to all 6 Day racers, collected our gift certificates and jersey prizes, and went out for dinner. Fun times. Here are some pictures from the day. The cloudy skies provided poor lighting, so some are blurry. Enjoy and thanks for reading. Next up will be the FSA Grand Prix at Marymoore next Friday and Saturday.

Darien, Emily, and Jeanie discussing brownie recipes.

The fans are "patiently" waiting for the rain to pass.

This is my game face. Actually Per is testing out his camera skills.

Riders get ready to start the madison.

Emily gets ready to throw me into the race.

Mike and I wait to relieve our partners.

And the gap opens

Rolling in to relieve.

Podium shot. Per took about 5 shots here. Brian wasn't looking in any of them. This was the best shot of everyone.

Cupcakes #3

2007-07-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

Day 5 No Jive

Suspicious clouds teased us as we warmed up. By 6:00, there still hadn't been a leak from said clouds.

Our first race was a progressive points race- with a twist. It was 3 X progressive to 5, for a total of 15 laps. I got 2 and 3 points for the first set. Then I hung on the back for a while to catch my breath and find my legs again. Later, I got another 3 points. Mike and Brian got most of the rest.

Then the "A"s did a miss-n-out (again.)

Then it started to rain. After 5 minutes, all was called. Grrrr. I totally wanted to race.

2007-07-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Race Some More on Day 4

Power of the cupcakes!

Emily and I made these shirts in response to a BigManShoes blog. Apparently, the most interesting thing about us is our last names. Actually, the racing reviews are pretty funny, so no offense taken. Our jerseys were a hit. I think it made me more powerful.

The first race was a progressive points race. In this race, the winner of the 1st lap gets 1 point, the winner of the second lap gets 2 points.... and so on. Like a good sprinter, I got some points early on in case the enduros decided to pick up the pace. They did, but we all regrouped by the end and I came across the line 3rd behind the boys, placing me 2nd in the race.

The next race was your basic scratch. We rolled around pretty mellow until there were about 6 laps to go. Then everyone got impatient and we were all spread out. Going into the last lap, I was the last wheel. I came around all but Mike, Brian, and a quickly-recovering-from-knee-surgery Andrea for 4th place.

Highlighting the evening was the Madison. Had we not botched another exchange, we might have gotten more points. But the good part was staying on even laps with the boys' teams. Brain admitted later that they weren't going 100%, but that's OK. Emily and I have big plans for tonight.

Current overall score:
1 Abers, Brian Team Rubicon 182
Bjesse-Puffin, Amelia Bike Central

2 Murray, Mike Team Oregon 153
Curl, Darien Team Rubicon

3 VanValkenburg, Heather Team Rubicon 93 -2 laps
Charboneau, Emily

4 Fisk, Andrea 83 -6 laps
Bihlmaier, Jeanne Specialized/RCB

5 Mautner, Meg NoMad Sports Club 55 -14 laps
Hughes-Godfrey, Lynn Bike Central

Sadie enjoyed a walk today.

2007-07-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Way to Be on Day 3

The skies opened up for racing last night. My legs were screaming from my stint at the gym early Tuesday morning, and I think it was an evil plan on Brian's part!

The first race was a Miss-n-Out. For the first time ever, I was in the final 3 to sprint. Against Brian and Mike, that meant I finished 3rd. Next was a 15 lap tempo. The boys let the women duke this one out. Unfortunately, this girl had the least amount of break from the race before. Since Emily was in the hunt, I was OK with being detached from the group for most of the race. Jeannie and Lynn were scooping up most of the points and they are both down more laps than us, so I wasn't worried.

Our 30 minute Madison flew by. Emily and I were doing pretty well. The boys' teams pulled away early. We were riding with Andrea/Jeannie for a few laps, but between our awesome exchanges and Emily's power, we pulled away. Eventually, the boys' teams caught up to (lapped) us and we were able to ride with them for a few laps. If we could stay with them, we could get lucky in the final sprint and not be lapped by at least one of them. But... then we had a complete mess of an exchange- well actually we didn't manage to exchange at all and Emily was stuck out there for another shift. It wasn't really our fault, but we learned to space ourselves out more from the teams coming in with us. This caused us to go down about half a lap, which caused to problems- we were now 1.5 laps behind the teams we were trying to stay with and Jeannie/Andrea caught and overtook us. But I think we still got more points than them and we're still a lap up.

Observations:

Being in the "B" group, you have only a little break between your omnium races and the madison

Tessa and I are friends finally. Anyone that spends enough time trying to win her over knows that this is a victory in itself.

Emily and I have long and hard...last names. Stay tuned.

If you hang out at the track long enough after racing, Candi gives you ice cream.

2007-07-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

Day 2 All Through

Tonight's racing began with a 25 lap points race. The important thing for Emily and I is to stay on even laps during the omnium races. The pace was tolerable and I even went for some sprints. I think I got 2nd and 3rd in 2 of the 5 sprints. Then Emily took over the grrr and picked up a few more points for us. We got 3rd and 4th place in that race. The mass start races are scored 10, 9, 8.. .and so on points, for the riders finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd... and so on.

The next race was a point-a-lap. I played follow the leader(s) during this race. Emily scored a point or two. Then we finished 3rd and 4th in the finish, putting us 4th and 6th overall.

The Madison was scheduled for 20 minutes. We completed 16 minutes because it started to rain, then stopped shortly after. I thought we got down another lap, but the results show different. We're still down 1 with 40 points. It doesn't matter how many points we get though until we get a lap back or one of the other two teams goes down one. Stay on lap... stay on lap... stay on lap.... However, this is tough with Mike and Brian on separate teams vs. us! Here is a link to a sample of what a Madison exchange looks like, if you've never seen one. This is not at Alpenrose. It's pretty amazing to feel the momentum transfer from your teammate as you're thrown into the lane and have to catch up with your pedals!

I am having fun so far with this. I'm feeling comfortable on my bike and have a gear that I can accelerate, and I'm feeling strong. It's a fun, novelty to play madison/ mass start racer for a week. I feel like I fit in with the skinny kids!

2007-07-17T13:47:00.001-07:00

The Big Mix-Up

Last week I bought The Magic Bullet. It's NOT an R-rated toy. No, it's the best blender- ever. Linens-N-Things has it on sale right now, so go get yours! So far, I've made about 10 protein shakes, fluffy scrambled eggs, pancake mix, and chicken salad for a sandwich. I would not recommend their pesto recipe though. I'm going to be sweating garlic oil later!

Day 1 of 6 down, of the Alpenrose 6-Day race. Emily and I are 3rd in the "B" group. There are 3 women's teams and 2 co-ed teams in our group. One team consists of Amelia and Brian. They are so going down.... Of course that means it needs to stop raining within the next 4 hours.

2007-07-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Lately...

The past week was pretty mellow. Had an empty house for the most part. Brad and Candice off to Cascade with the team. I made it to the gym a couple times and Emily and I practiced for the 6 Day race this week. We have the exchanges down, but we'll see how it all works out with other riders on the track! It's going to be a long week. Friday I raced- sort of. My body was there, but my head was no. Had no power, no reaction, no nuthin'.

Saturday was Heather and Aaron's wedding, finally. We all joke about the time frame, because they have been together 9 years. It was a blast, hanging out with great friends. Below, Meredith and I cheese it for the camera.

2007-07-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

AVC Pictures

Ed Norton and Shane Young posted some of their photos from the Alpenrose Challenge. We are very lucky to have so many shutter happy folks at these races. Thanks guys!

A morning Keiren. I got third in this one and later had to win the reparcharge round to make it to the finals.

This is the sprint against Jen in the morning- the one I won. Later in the day, the tables turned in her favor :) Hey Brian and Dean- check out the bent arms!

Tessa wants you to know that she won't take attitude from anyone. a giant Heather and mom, Darien are afraid...very afraid.

Coach Brian and volunteer/friend Matt are secretly in love. Not really, but this shot totally cracked me up. The good luck kiss must have worked. Brian had the fastest qualifying time in the master's competition and later won the sprints.

This is from the pursuit. I did the event without tt bars this time. I love the lighting on the photos taken in the late morning at the track.

2007-07-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Alpenrose Challenge Day 3

Each day has gotten a little better. Today was a long one. We started with the 200m. TT for sprint seeding. I took a different line than I have the past couple years. My time wasn't the best ever, but better than I've been putting down this season. 13.54 seeding me 3rd for the sprints. The first round was a 3-up with Donna and Tamara. I won this round. My second sprint was against Jen. Her and I have raced against each other SO much over 4 years! I have to dig deep into the tool box, since she knows my tendencies. I jumped late, out of turn 2 and was able to hold off to the finish. Later in the day, this technique won't work....

After the blink of a break, we were back at the track, warming up. Donna and I attempted a team sprint. We had a false start and then a mechanical. The chief official gave us the option to start again, but we decided to call it, so I could focus on the the sprints. No worries. Racing has its mishaps.

My semi-final ride was against Anna-Brit (just like last year.) It was a fun ride- lots of jockeying and tactical. When did I attack? I don't remember, actually. But I do remember trying to razor, staying out of the lane. But her strength overtook me out of turn 4... Jen also finished 2nd in her semi-final. So...

I got to race Jen again for 3rd place. The ride was pretty similar to the morning run, but this time, it was her victory.

4th place was acceptable.

Later I posted 18.4 in the flying lap for 2nd place.

I went to McMenamins with the Canadians and Cari (sounds like the name of a new band. "Ladies and Gentleman, please put your hands together for.....") We ate, we drank, and joked. Good times for the end of a good weekend.

2007-07-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Alpenrose Challenge #2

Keiren today. I decided to sit and watch my first keiren heat from third place. Not sure where my head was, but it wasn't set on finishing in the top 2. So, it was on to the reps later in the morning. I was very fortunate to have my 2 teammates in the race as well. We cooked up a little plan and it played out well. (Insert top secret plan here.) In the last 2 laps, Norrene stepped on the gas and I stuck to her wheel, with one to go, I came around and finished 1st.

Lunch Break

Not too much excitement in the final ride. The end was a situation where I was behind a wheel that was behind a wheel. Around turn 3, I had to go as high as the person I was trying to come around plus some. I finished 5th.

Weee! I have 1 omnium point!
Sprints tomorrow.

2007-07-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Alpenrose Challenge Day 1

Well, so far, not so hot. I did a pursuit this morning to open up the legs. I did it in a light gear and it felt OK. I didn't get a stellar time, but I eased off whenever it was bothering me too much. I think this might be the last year that I do pursuits- for no reason. Time was 4:45, which placed me 6th... of 8.

Tonight was the 500m. TT. It was pretty windy during warmup, so I should have gone a smaller gear. Turned out the last straighaway buried me. I didn't time my warm up all that well, either, but part of that was out of my control... But the real reason that it didn't go very well is because, I didn't actually ride my bike very fast- go figure. Time posted 40.7 (about half second slower than last 2 years) and placed 6th.

Many sprinters this weekend. 4 ladies went under 40 seconds. Jen Featheringill went 39.7! Awesome for her. It should be an interesting weekend. Keirens tomorrow.

At least people like me :)

2007-07-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Prick!

I had acupuncture for the first time yesterday. I won one of those first visit/consultations from PIR for the June series. I had thought about acupuncture in the past for various ailments, but have super anxiety with needles. I saw this opportunity as a door opening. I've had plantar faciitis (fancy word for tendinitis) in my arch/heel for a few weeks. I went to the doctor last week, then grumbled as I dropped $45 for a pair of flip flops with more support. $45! I guess they are pretty decent, but not very good looking....

Anyway, I went to see Malia Susee at Good Medicine Acupuncture in Portland. She stuck mini needles in various places, including about 8 in my head (like I needed more holes in my head.) I did feel more relaxed within a few minutes, like she promised. There were 2-3 in my heel. After a while, she tweeked all of the needles. I don't know exactly what this means, since I refused to look at any of them. When she got to the one directly in the sore spot of my heel, I thought I was going to die- BIG HURT.

Right after the session, I didn't notice a huge difference in how my heel felt, but within less than an hour, I did notice that the pain had reduced in half. And if it bothers me, I can squeeze my ear seeds!

2007-07-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

New School Pictures

Here are a couple shots of my new classroom at Daybreak School. No electronics or furniture are there yet. We have one big room for team teaching. The wall in the middle opens and closes, but we leave it open the whole time. I'm pretty excited to be in school with hallways, motion detecting lighting, an infocus projector, and document camera.

2007-06-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

As I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Actually....
Twas the night before, the night before, the night before Independence Day
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Except the dog and the cat and the people because my white trash neighbors find it necessary to set off fireworks for a week leading up to the 4th of July! WHY!?!

Only 5 days until AVC. I'm pretty excited. It's like the first quiz of the season to see that the winter homework hopefully paid off.

2007-06-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

State Games of Oregon

1. Warm Up
2. Rain
3. Sit Around While Track Dries
4. Warm Up Some more
5. Big Rain!
6. Announce Delay until 2:30
7. Warm Up Again at 2:15
8. RAIN RAIN RAIN at 2:25
9. Get Refund
10. Go Home

Sounds fun, huh?
Check out new items in Cafepress shop (see link at right)

Got a suggestion for a shirt? Let me know.

2007-06-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

I get to be famous for one day. It's like having a second birthday

Check out this giant article in The Columbian from today.

Thanks for reading and thanks everyone for your support. I'm excited about this season. Last weekend I earned 3rd place in the 500m.TT and 2nd in the match sprint. Jen got the double gold in these two events. I'm not worried. She's riding super awesome right now and I'm on a different schedule. This month it's all about leg speed and keeping the power in the gym. The two don't get to mix just yet.

2007-06-16T00:03:00.000-07:00

Selling T-Shirts and Stuff

So, I wore one of my favorite homemade t-shirts to the track tonight and got some reaction. It will soon be for sale at my CafePress shop. For now, buy one of these sweet garments. Check out the link on the right margin. You KNOW you want to. Profits from each sale goes directly to the replenishment of my life savings after the purchase of my ticket to Sydney to race my bike. Tell your friends! You don't have to make them read the blog- just send them the link to the t-shirts. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2007-06-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Early AM Gym Time

Ok, maybe you go to the gym at 5:00 am all the time. Today was my first day to venture into the muscle maker place in the wee hours. By this evening, it feels like it wasn't even today. Why did I do it? Sometimes I have 2 workouts in one day. And in order to avoid going to the gym and then racing an hour later... sacrifices to that last hours of sleep must be made.

There was an interesting character at the gym. She skipped to everywhere she was going. She skipped to the drinking fountain, she skipped from one machine to another across the room, she skipped to and from the locker room. She just skipped. The thing is, she was lifting some decent weights. Maybe she was keeping her heart rate up. Maybe she just liked to... skip.

2007-06-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Back to the Grind

Well recovery week was great. On Monday, I got on the new track bike for a fit with Dean at Bike Central (best track bike place.) Tuesday I went to the gym and did my leg workout. I graduated to a heavier weight on my squats. Feel pretty good about that. Wednesday got my hair did and had dinner with Heather and Aaron. Thursday, I took my new baby out on the track. My oh my- shorter cranks feel much different. Narrower bars are a bit kooky too, but I think I'm gunna like! Friday I thought about going to the gym, but went went home instead and took the boys to happy hour at Beaches. I never get to go to Friday happy hour, so it was fun. Today felt great to get back on the track and roll it.

I'm looking forward to the hard work leading up to AVC in just 4 weeks. Rumor has it that many sprinter women are coming up for the race, which is awesome!