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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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!

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.