The Green Theme

Seems like everyone is trying to do their part to live a Greener life. Joy and Tonya have blogged about their efforts, figured I would too. Why the heck not! I am still working on getting the comunting by bicycle thing going...

CROSS Update: Before I get into my living Green weekend recap, I will mention that I have done 6 cross races at this point, all with pretty consistent results. I am doing base training at the same time, so sometimes I am coming off a 4 or 5 hour road ride the day before a cross race and usually a couple days of intervals during the week among other rides and lifting. So given that I feel pleased with my results (last 3 races I have been 4th place) knowing that I am not tapering off before cross races. Anyhoo! I still need to work on my cross technique especially in the area of remounting, but hopefully I can get some more non-race practice in before I head to Nationals! I entered the Women's Masters 30-34 race and the Elite Women's race (close to 80 registrants so far!). Should be interesting AND COLD back in Kansas City.

We got our snazzy Team CICLE kits for cross. There are some great pictures at Kennedy Photo Works...

http://kennedyphotoworks.smugmug.com/gallery/3815849#220723082

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http://kennedyphotoworks.smugmug.com/gallery/3783921#218349596

Trying to live Greener: This weekend Greg and I tried our best to use the car as little as possible. We did this by riding from our house to do out MTB ride on Saturday AM. Saturday evening, we had plans to go downtown with friends. This was 2 miles from our house and we decided to walk. Took around 30 minutes each way. Sunday morning, we took off from our house for our road ride. Again no car needed. Sunday afternoon, we walked to our local grocery store, Gerrard's bringing my trusty cloth bags that I always try to have on hand for groceries. Funniest part was that the bagger did a horrible job, which lead to me repacking so that we could actually walk back home with them! We have also been trying to keep up with carpooling together to work (working on getting the commuting by bike thing going again!)

Also congrats to Joy for KICKING BUTT at the 12 Hours of Temecula this past weekend. She did 9 strong laps winning the solo women's expert class and would have been 2nd place pro. Also congrats to everyone else who raced and worked hard out there!

Real update coming soon!

It has been a while since I last posted! I am tardy on a few race reports and by the end of the this weekend, I will owe 3 on here! Hopefully soon.. Been busy! Working, training, racing! The usual! Lots going on, just no time to post!

real update coming soon! I promise!

Couldn't resist...

Joy told me I must post this picture on the blog. We picked up Murphy from boarding/grooming last week and he was sporting this candy corn bandana. Greg proceeded to remove the bandana as soon as I snapped a few token pictures.

Cross Season hath begun!

Wow, it has been quite a week! A cross team meeting and ride/clinic and 2 cross races for the season already under the belt including Cross Vegas and So Cal Prestige Series #1.

I don't have any pix to share yet of Cross Vegas (What happens in Vegas....), but it was quite a way to kick off the cross season, lungs burning and all (hmmm maybe it was the pesticide all over the soccer fields we were racing on!). The race was Weds night (feels like forever ago!), during Interbike, which some of us from Team CICLE attended to meet with sponsors and see all sorts of familiar faces. We ate many clif/luna product samples (yum!) and drooled over some gorgeous bikes and bike products. The race venue drew an amazing crowd including folks like Gary Fisher, lots of dudes and dudettes in wigs, and a really good Elvis impersonator who sang the national anthem for our race. You know you are in Vegas when a bike race has spotlights shining into the sky and a taxi stand! Mandy, Carolyn, Dorothy, Tonya and myself all represented Team CICLE at the race (a.k.a Team Frumpy due to our temp kits that unfortunatly are CLUB cut). We didn't get the greatest warm up because we were busy pinning 3 race numbers on each of us. We did a loop of the course to discover that it was 95% turf-like grass that didn't seem to pack down at all! Lots of false flats and short yet painful climbing sections covered the course. There were also hidden sprinkler heads in the grass that would cause some pretty bad crashes in our women's race. Overall, it was a great experience with an amazing crowd of spectators (felt a little bit like doing the World Cup at Mt St Anne last year). We were up against the best in North America, which felt alot like our National MTB races which a few road and cross stars in the mix. For my 3rd cross race ever, I can't complain too much. With 40 starters, I ended up 31st. Unfortunately there were 6 DNFs! I realized how important a good warm up is and also for me to take my inhailer when I am going to be racing on chemical-laden grass! Congrats to Carolyn for a strong 19th place finish!

Somehow after doing our 7:30 PM race and watching the men's 9pm race, we rallied and made it out to the Sinclair Imports party by midnight (Team Frumpy cleans up well!). What an interesting mix of industry people and athletes including Mario Cipollini, Todd Wells, Georgia Gould, etc. Thanks to Derek (one of our awesome Team CICLE sponsors (Bear Valley Bikes) and friend) for coming out with us girls, it was really fun!

Saturday was the first So Cal Prestige Series race of the season at Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton. It was a nice venue and a fun and challenging course and we had Larry Longo announcing which is always great. We were already used to a mostly grass race from what we experienced on Weds night. Thankfully this race was a bit less like just a road race on grass, and required actual bike handling skills (helps out the mountain biker faction). We helped set up the team tents/booths, etc etc. We all participated in a team relay race which acted as a nice warm up for us. We had a great showing, 10 girls from Team CICLE all in the elite women's race (including 2 juniors). I had no idea how my legs would feel, but I had a good start, lead the race for a bit, dropped back a few spots and witnessed some interesting crashes that I thankfully avoided, but rallied to 3rd place finish feeling like I left it all out there on the course (almost 2nd, 10-15 seconds back or so). Guess I recovered OK from Cross Vegas and a late night out! Congrats to Carolyn who blew us away and had her 2nd win of the season (1 on each coast in less than 1 week). Also congrats to all the girls who gave it their all! it was a tough race and for most in the group was the first of the season.

MTB Season wrap up!

My 2007 MTB season has essentially wrapped up at this point. I am transitioning into a full cross season and will be riding for Team CICLE-Redline, formerly known as Team Redline-Figueroa Farms. Some of us on the elite team are heading to Interbike next week to attend a bit of the show and participate in Cross Vegas, which will be televised and is also a UCI level race.

My final three races of the season went well! It was nice to end the season on a high note. This included my first Cal State pro win which took place at the Big Bear Shoot out #2 (Also Cal State finals). I missed one of the series races and DNF'd at Castaic Lake (bee sting on the neck during the race) thus costing me a few spots in the overall series. So I ended up 4th overall. However, finishing out the series with a win really felt great!

I also did the Rim Nordic Stage Race (Rim #3) and the series finals in August. Both races resulted in a 2nd place finish in the XC which I was pleased with. Felt good and my bike was operating perfectly (except for at the finals where my seat post kept falling down thus causing me to ride BMX style on the first lap)! I wrapped up the Rim Nordic series 2nd overall behind Carolyn. It was also fun to hang out with the usual suspects/friends before and after the race! Carolyn and I decided to do a trail run right after we finished our XC race at the finals. I think everyone thought we were pretty crazy, but we had a good time!

I want to thank everyone for a really fun and quite successful 2007 MTB season. We had so many great trips to the Nationals and great times at the local races. It's really a great community to be a part of. I have made many new friends this year and had a great time as usual with the old ones! Also thanks to everyone who helped out with feeding or other support this season! It's nice to see everyone working together regardless of the team they are riding for. 2008 is going to bring great things as well. Some excellent talent has popped up through this season and the pro ranks are going to have some new faces to mix things up (especially Joy & Maureen). If I could award a most improved award, it would definately go to Joy. She has emerged as a power house climber and has also made great strides with her descending! She has a long career in front of her, and hopefully she will remember all of us when she is famous! :) Props also need to go out to Vegas Bob and James, both of who had greatly improved seasons as well! James might want to think about moving up to expert!!

Labor Day Outing

Believe it or not, sometimes I partake in activities other than riding my bike! I took the opportunity yesterday on a Monday (day off the bike) which was also a day off work (Labor Day) to go on a fun outing with Greg and Murphy.

We decided to beat the heat and go up the hill to Angeles Oaks (an easy 30-40 min drive or so from our house). I learned from riding up in Big Bear Sunday (Joy's B-day!) with Joy, Matt and Trevor that the thunderstorms would start up right around noon (I am sure Joy and Matt will give some good updates on that outing! My clothes are still drying from that one!). So we planned for around a 2 hour hike before getting deluged with rain/hail/wind/lightning.

We ventured up San Bernardino Peak Trail which I highly recommend! It was beautiful singletrack and we really enjoyed it We are trying to plan an outing to complete the whole climb. This time of year we would have to start hiking around 5 am to make the summit before storms develop. So we might camp part of the way up the night before and summit early. We could also go with Trevor's style of a total green solution: ride MTB from Redlands, stash it at the trailhead, hike all the way to San Gorgonio Peak, hike down, ride back to Redlands and Gourmet Pizza Shoppe for grub.

Murphy was a champion. For his first real off-leash hike, he was great about staying on the trail and not venturing too far ahead of us. He definately wanted to lead the way! He had on his trusty backpack which makes him feel like a real working dog. It definately made him more thirsty hauling that pack up the hill!

It was a really good exercise for myself and Greg to test Murphy's obidience. To our surprise, he did not chase after a single squirrel and responded when we called him to come back to us. Also on the way back down the hill, I was a bit slower than Greg (my knees/legs aren't used to descending like that!), Murphy was behind Greg, in front of me. He would periodically stop and look behind to make sure I was still there. It was a really great experience for us and we definatley want to go do more hikes as a *family*. The thunderstorms rolled in forcing us to head back down, but we got a solid 2 hour hike in. My legs/glutes are feeling it big time today. It was a pretty steep trail and felt fine at the time. Guess I should have stretched before we got in the car!

Beautiful views so close to home

After Vermont... Pleiss Family Vacation

Here are a couple pictures from our post-Vermont family vaca in central New Hampshire. I could go on and on about how wonderful this trip was. We had mom and dad, all of the Pleiss kids & spouses, grandkids and extended family visitors too! We had a great time at the family cabin. We had 10 people sleeping in the cabin (comfortably!) and up to 12 around the dinner table. It was really a special time with everyone. Did some great hikes (including Mt. Chocorua), some good bike rides and excellent COLD swimming in various bodies of water. We had a great time. Greg saw a black bear on one of his rides. I will eventually post a link to a bunch of pix from this trip (and more from Vermont)

Family breakfast at the cabin: Greg patiently waiting for blueberry pancakes and local NH maple syrup (yum!).

Jackson (future national champ) had the most energy of anyone, ready to ride his bike 24 hours a day! He got in some good climbing and technique work with Aunt Christie and Uncle Greg

The family cabin! We will certainly make many more trips to this wonderful place. Hopefully someday Murphy will come too.

Vermont Report: FINALLY

I have to say that the race weekend we had in Vermont this year for the USA Cycling National Championships is up there with the best. It wasn't the best in terms of results (by any means).However, in terms of a fairly low stress *away* race, fun with frends and family, good food and what ended up being great weather, it was awesome! We got to actually get away from the venue and enjoy Vermont (and swim in a river!)

I could go on forever about all the details of the weekend. If I could have a "do-over" for the XC race I would jump at the chance. It was also nice to see Meggan, who we all miss very much! Joy and Matt both had good showings in their races, and my STXC resulted in 5 lightning fast laps (with LOUD and EXCITED cheering from Joy and Matt). SO not too bad overall!

By far one of the best moments of the weekend was particpating with my niece and nephew in the Shimano Kid's Race. We had been planning it for months, and Anna and Jackson would be bringing their bikes out from Indianapolis, IN. I think they win the prize for furthest distance travelled for the kid's race. It was well worth it! Here is a photo recap of the event.... Thanks so much to Joy and Matt for joining in on the family fun! You have new best friends in Indiana now!

Jackson and Anna ready to race!

Joy a.k.a "Coach D" gives a pep talk to her new BFF's!

Christie and Anna check out the competition!

Christie and Matt giving some last minute tips to the kids before race time.

Jackson wrapping up a lightning fast race including a tumble with cyclocross style remount on the descent! Also got a push start after the tumble from Ryan Trebon (who would go on to WIN the pro men's short track championship later that day!)

Anna shows off her (2) battle scars! She was very proud of these wounds. Aunt Christie was very proud of Anna dealing with a hard crash on the last corner and getting right back up on the bike!!

Joy and Anna recap the day's events

Some pix!

Here are some more pix from Deer Valley Nationals (in June). I am still gathering photos to FINALLY do my Vermont post and also Rim Nordic Stage Race post. They are coming, I promise!

In the meantime, congrats to everyone who kicked some serious butt at Aspen Nationals this past weekend. Joy, James, Matt to just name a few. Sounds like it was an excellent weekend up there. And it sounds like everyone survived without me! :o)

Thank you to Thom Blaine and Ben Mesa from Team Jose Ole for these great pictures!

New England Jet Setting

We are finally back in California! Our trip was prolonged due to weather/airport issues on the east coast. We were supposed to return Sunday, but just got back a few hours ago. I will do a full update on the trip soon WITH PICTURES. It was a great trip and we visited many places and people. The racing was even more challenging than last year, but I also got to ride in some new locations during our vacation after racing in Vermont (New Hampshire and back home in upstate NY).

In other news... Happy 34th B-day to Greg this Thurs.

In other other news, Joy and I were apart for over a week and actually survived.

Bike Pix - Finally!

Ok I am finally posting some pix of the new bike... Enjoy! Click on the pix for full resolution versions. I think I have finally got this bike dialed in after a solid 2 weeks of riding and tweaks! After a pro fitting and some switching around of the stem height this week, I think I am good to go. Also put on the Ergon grips that just make things so much more comfortable. Prob not saving any weight, but it's worth it!

We are off to the east coast in a few days for the National MTB Championships (including riding with niece Anna and nephew Jackson in the Shimano Kids's Race!), followed by some vacation time in New England. It's going to be great. We get to see my family, Greg's family, plus east coast friends. We will also make a pit-stop in Boston to see Jen & Drew and Alison & Brian (who literally started their cross country drive to move there yesterday)

I am almost packed, just need to Stan's up some proper east coast tires tomorrow night, then pack up the bike and a few other things. I have learned that starting to pack several days early really reduces the stress! Given that my XC race is Friday at 2PM I need to keep the stress level LOW this week if I can! My weekend in Vermont will be interesting; with Friday being the XC Championship, Saturday I will watch Joy, Matt and Karen (and do feed zone duty). Sunday at 5pm (they will have the whole venue packed up by then) is our Short Track National Championship.

FOR SOME REASON I CANNOT INSERT A TITLE HOWEVER IT WOULD BE .....

GUEST BLOGGER - Joy!

Due to the fact that Christie has a VIJ (Very Important Job) that shockingly lasts YEAR ROUND, i (Joy) have been asked to be a guest blogger of the very exciting things that have in fact taken place in her life. Here is the run down:

Being too busy to blog!
As stated, Christie works a lot. She also likes to entertain, clean her house, and throw tennis balls for pet Murphy. She also enjoys heat-laden training rides and adventures.

Deer valley (racing plus the traveling adventures)
Unlike last years trip to Park City UT, this one was smooth and quick. We ran into very few hitches in our master plan, and if we did, they were fixed pretty quickly. Food was great and company was calm leading up to Christie's big day in the Cross Country Event. The altitude was high compared to the low lands of So Cal and the competition was stiff. They shot the pro women up an extra climb at the start in an attempt to spread the field before the windy switch back single tracks. Christie had a very strong showing in the field, coming in 36th. Thankfully, she had no mechanicals and body mechanicals, which is always a good thing!

** COMMENT from Christie: The best part of this finish was that I made a smart move after the final switchback to pass another rider, then bust into the final singletrack section, and blast out onto the pavement for a STANDING SPRINT to the finish! And alas, as the third attempted sprint finish of the season, I finally won this one!

The plan quickly switched from recovery to preparation for the Short Track event the next day. She had until 3 pm to line up, which can actually be a bad thing! Way too long to ponder over the looming task of throwing down for 20 minutes with the best in the country! This event will be looked at an a learning experience! Although Christie did not place as well as she had hoped, she realized she had made some tactical errors, which can always be fixed for the next time! We are not fortunate like the Mountain racers who have local STXC on a weekly basis, so Christie has not had the practice that some other racers have had. Plus, we only really care about XC, this short stuff is just crazy!

New bike
Although it took just a little while longer than expect, the bike has arrived! Shiny grey with the bling of SRAM XO and a pink Bontrager seat! It will take a bit to get used to, but Christie loves the 29" wheels with their gingerly handling and smooth maneuvering.

** COMMENT from Christie: Pix to come soon I SWEAR. It's a Paragon 29'er frame, with Reba Race 29'er Fork. Bontrager Race X Lite wheels (running tubeless with Stan's), SRAM X0, Juicy Ultimates, Bontrager Race X Lite cranks, Bontrager XXX Lite handlebar and stem, XX Lite seat post, Bongrater Race X Lite Pro saddle (yes with pink!), etc etc.... Had my pro fit from Mike McKovich @ Don's on Friday and things are fitting nicely.

Fun rides in the wash with joy
Our training schedules sometimes collide, and they are fun ones! Sometimes it will say MTB technical or MTB one hour aerobic. That is hard to come by, so we like to hit up the WASH. Located at the base of Morton Peak in the fantastic zip code of Mentone Beach, the wash boasts tightly woven single track with drops, rocks, roots, and sand. Although peril looms, we are always able to chat it which made me at least run into the wrong things like branches and the rocks i am NOT supposed to hit. These are some of Christie's favorite rides because they lack the stress of watching the power meter or heart rate. Plus they are close to home, which is always a plus. It is also a good place to practice riding through sand traps that are always present in the So Cal events.

And that is all i have for now! But Christie is famous for making delicious Orzo for BBQ's and gatherings at the Pleiss house! Maybe one day you can get hooked up with some of it!

I owe some updates!

Full update to come. I have been so busy! Deer Valley Nationals, ESRI Conference in San Diego, great long rides on the weekend, demo'd the new Trek MADONE and another day on a demo Trek Fuel 9.5 Ex... and finally.. the new race bike (Gary Fisher Paragon 29'er) being built at the shop (tonight)! I owe the boys at the shop some cupcakes or beer for sure.

More details on Deer Valley to come... I promise!

Product Review

In the spriit of Joy's blogging style, I decided to do a product review.

Yesterday I stopped by my shop, Redlands Cyclery USA for a quick on-the-spot tuneup of my MTB and to pick up some more recovery drink mix. The bike was dialed in and it was time to make my drink mix selection. They were all out of Endurox R4 Tangy Orange (my usual the past 6 mos or so), so it was between Vanilla, Fruit Punch, or Chocolate. There were a couple other racer types in the shop nearby and one guy said Chocolate all the way. SO I took my chances and sure enough he was right. After wrapping up some brutal interval sets last night I tested out my new drink. It was EXCELLENT, tasted just like Ovaltine (or how about Roundtine for all of you Seinfeld fans).

So my review of Endurox R4 Chocolate results in a high rating!

Tomorrow afternoon, Joy, Matt and I kick off yet another travel adventure. Destination: Deer Valley, UT for NMBS #4.

What a difference cooler temps can make!

We just had Cal State #4 in Santa Barbara at Ellings Park. It was a good day for just about everyone (except for Mandy and her broken chain). The weather was MUCH better than last year. I would say at least 20 degrees cooler. This makes a huge difference. So much so, that I managed to take nearly 18 minutes off my time from last year! Last year I was on the verge of a heat stroke (delirious, nauseous, disconnected, etc) but still managed to finsih (behind just about every other rider!).

Joy, Matt and I drove up together in Matt's Mazda. It was a comfortable ride and we had a bathroom stop at probably the nicest McDonald's I have ever seen (somewhere near Camarillo Factory Outlets I think). It even had a conference room that business-folk could reserve. it also had a *lounge* with leather couches (well maybe they were Pleather) and funky chairs and coffee table! On top of that had probably the nicest fast food joint bathrooms ever.

We arrived at the venue with plenty of time in advance and scored a sweet parking spot. Unfortunately the spot was next to a sage bush with hundreds of bees swarming near it. SO I had to set up my trainer on the other side :).

Marius did an excellent job feeding us again! James and Roger also poured water on me during the laps which was a big help! I could hear Shelli cheering for us every lap!

The race was pretty much non-stop the whole time. The laps were short, ending up around 27 min per lap (we did 4). One false move and you could lose your position. Ankie (from Team Helen's), Mandy and I worked together great (toggling back and forth for position). On lap 3 I managed to fall going UPHILL around a switchback. My saddle twisted out of place, so I had to use brute force to get it back. It managed to stay in place the rest of the day thankfully. I had a couple cuts and bruises but was able to get right back on. Had to play catch up to Mandy and Ankie, which required some extra work. Mandy's chain broke on the downhill switchbacks, which left Ankie and myself to push eachother hopefully closer to Chrissy (we could still see her ahead of us until the 4th lap). We could also see super strong Joy creeping up behind us which also lit a fire!

Ankie and I continued to push forward staying together, toggling back and forth a few more times. I was feeling ready to try to see if I could pull away to seal 2nd place on the 4th and final lap (backside climb), but I got cramps in my quads (a new experience for me) . I shouted out like some of the guys I have seen suffer from cramps. Darn that hurts! I didn't know what to do, could barely pedal! Ankie moved ahead of me at this point and I was worried about my fate. I moved into an easier gear and took a gu and some water. Not sure why that would end up helping so fast, but all of a suddden I felt better enough to push hard again. I tried to catch up to Ankie, and did OK, managing to get into the final switchback descending section just a few seconds after her.

The race was not quite over as we entered the final paved climb. I gained on her, but couldn't quite pull it off. Once we got to the final grass section to the finish, I didn't have much sprint in me, but managed to finish just 2 seconds behind her to take 3rd. We chatted alot after the race and felt it was a good day for both of us. Working together and pushing like that was excellent!

It was the kind of day I needed! A good strong day. Thanks to everyone for the support. It was fun once again hanging out with everyone after the race. Thanks to Roger for some of these great pix!!!!!!!

On the way home, Matt, Joy and I feasted at In-N-Out Burger! YUM! Got home around 9pm just in time to see a classic movie: Bladerunner in HD!

In other news: On Sunday Joy, Shelli, Heidi (Joy's old time friend from boarding schoo) and I did a chill 2 hour road ride to shake the legs out. As seem to happen quite often, we had to come to the rescue of a living being! A CUTE black dog was shaking and hurt on the side of E Street in Yucapia. Joy fed him some water and we asked the people across the street to call the animal rescue. If I had a basket on my bike, that dog would have been coming home with me.

Next race stop: Deer Valley Utah!

A Bee-autiful Day at Castaic Lake

Well a little creature looking alot like this one cost me my race and alot of pain (and there were no pretty flowers involved!)

Sunday's Cal State race should have been pretty straightforward. No field of 50-70 women, and lots of room on the trails (even if we come across some of the expert men). It started out nice, just a small field of 4 including Mandy (who would end up having a great day!). The temps were very hot which did not help anything, but I think we were all suffering equally. We were pretty evenely staggered apart and it was clear that the winner of the race would be determined on the final lap. No one was making any stealth moves or attemps to break away (prob partially from the heat and all of the climbing!). I was definately feeling the hurt though, that is for sure!

My fate arrived just before the twig/brush covered climbing section when all of a sudden I felt a sharp sting on my neck. I knew i had been stung and it honestly felt like multiple occurances. I started to panic, but knew that would be a bad path to take (I am allergic, but thankfully have not gone into shock or swelled up instantly). I slowed down a bit to see if I was going to have a serious reaction right away. Lots of thoughts went through my mind like "I could die out here", "am I breathing ok?". I knew that I had to climb my way up to the top and then down back to the start/finish. So far other than pain from the sting and some slight nausea (but that could be from the heat?), I was able to make it back out without any severe issue. I was definately stressed and very tired at this point. I just wanted to make it down to the bottom and had already decided that my race was over. Continuing on for a third and final lap could make my reaction to the sting much worse, esp with high heat and exersion levels.

I got to the bottom safely and saw James and Rod by the feed. They ran over and James removed the stinger. Rod and James escorted me over to first aid where I was taken great care of by Janet from Team Big Bear. She checked my vitals, put an ice pack on the sting, had me put my feet up, etc etc. My heart rate was still over 130 just sitting there after having been off the bike for a good 20 minutes. Again I realized I made the right choice. What if I had keep riding and went into shock up on the hill? NOT WORTH IT! My HR eventually went down and thankfully the swelling was not bad (thanks to the ice and letting my body just recover from the race).

After 30-40 min at first aid, I was doing alot better, but still had to take it easy (no cool down which I would regret later when my legs burned all night!)

Today, 3 days later, I am still dealing with the effects of the sting. One of my lymph nodes is completely swollen up and I have a stiff neck. Also the sting site is still red and puffed. I went to the dr on Monday to receive 2 cortisone shots because I felt like I was completley drained or even getting sick from it. I am going back in a little while for a follow up. See what this stiff neck business is all about! However, all in all I feel quite a bit better.

I cannot thank enough everyone who helped out on Sunday! That includes Marius who got to do his first feeds! Thanks to Roger, Rod, James especially for coming to my rescue. Thanks to the Backbone girls and guys for a really fun day. I can't tell you how many of them lectured me for not having my Epipen on me!! :) I promise it will never happen again! Had some great chats with everyone there! One of the best parts while I was out racing was getting a high-five from Abel's little brother!

Also congrats to Mandy who had a strong race, finishing a strong 2nd (almost first!). Also congrats to Joy who had the fastest expert time of the day once again!

On a funnier note: Joy drove us to Castaic in the Subaru and we enjoyed an adult student driver changing lanes near us on I-5 in the middle of a bunch of traffic! Splendid!

Next race stop: Santa Barbara for Elkings's Park Cal State XC on June 2nd.

This weekend: Mammoth for some good training rides and some fun!

ALSO Thank you to everyone who has been asking about Greg's knee surgery! He is doing much better now. It has been 2 weeks today. He is moving around well, still not taking the stairs much, but is doing well in general!

Another Fontana Nationals in the books

Ok this post is several weeks too late! In any event, we had Fontana Nationals a few weeks ago. It's certainly nice to be able to sleep in your own bed and drive 20 minutes to the venue each day. However, the difference is that the house chores and other daily distractions are still there. So when I am supposed to be off my feet resting, I am sweeping or doing dishes or laundry! I suppose being out of town at a hotel where all you can do is lay down and watch TV is probably the wiser choice over staying at home. Unless you are good at just being lazy at home, which I am NOT!

We had Zephanie and Kenny stay with us for the week between Firestone and through Fontana, which was great like last year! They brought 5 bikes along with them an a gazillion wheels, so our garage was extra packed! However, it was a fun sight to see. I shoud have snapped a photo! Also Murphy was very pleased to have some friends visiting to give him even more attention and playtime. Also Zeph shared some of her Power Bar SUN TEA which I just LOVED.

Also special shout out to KENDA/Titus/X-Fusion team sponsor Mighty Good Coffee. This is my new favorite coffee! They sent out 3 giant bags of beans for us to brew up. It was wonderful! Thanks to Zeph and Kenny for leaving the leftovers for us to enjoy ;)

The racing was pretty good. Especially on Saturday for the XC (apart from all the sections where people were OFF THEIR BIKES just like last year!). WAY TOO MUCH RUNNING for me. I was able to hang much longer with a new group of girls, some of who finish in the top 25. It was a very strange day for people, as many were falling and just not having the best day. I was seeing girls who finish top 20 not to terribly far ahead even on the 2nd and 3rd lap. In the end, I sprinted to the finish for 38th, but got 39th. No big deal because I was pleased with my time for the day and all of us in the 30s were only seperated by a few minutes. I made it through the day not falling once and was able to work with people all day. Made it a good day overall and I was pleased.

I worked so hard the rest of the day and Sunday morning to recover and prep for short track (Zeph and I watched Talledega Nights before heading to the venue). I was nervous because I had faired well in the short track at Fontana last year, so was expecting to do so again. However, the temps were reallyhot, the course was even tricker than last year. Apparently my legs were not as recovered as I thought because after an excellent call up and start (I went around the first bend in 15th place), my legs felt worse and worse each lap. I lost a ton of spots and was pulled out after only 3 laps. there were a few girls who were pulled out after 2, but I had hoped to be in it at least 4 or 5. Oh well! As Gareth said, short track is a good way for me to build peak power, but that is about all for now! :) I think I was spoiled by stayin in the short track the week before at Firestone for nearly the whole race! it was just a different course and a different week. ALSO the short track was the day before XC!

Greg took some pix, but I still haven't downloaded them from the camera!

Zephanie and Kenny had great results. Zeph was 12th in XC and STXC and Kenny was 8th (?) in Super D and had solid mid-pack results in a tough pro men's XC field.

Joy took home the gold in Expert 19-29 again! Including some GOLD ODI grips that I am not sure we will see her sporting. :)

Thanks again to everyone for the solid support and cheering out there! Leo from our title sponsor Pass Physical Therapy was there on Saturday, plus lots of other people cheering from the sides. I heard someone say "Hey! See you at Rim Nordic!" while I rode by during cross country. I am not sure who it was, but cool to be recognized even in a new kit!". On Sunday for my short lived short track Jess and Danielle came out, and also Matt, Denise and Ryder (my new BFF).

Also thanks to Roger, Vanessa, Ara, Jay, Teri, James, etc etc for their continued cheering and support! Once again I could hear James' voice from all points along the course!

Firestone Nationals Recap

NOTE: this is the longest blog post ever!

Greg and I headed up to Buellton/Los Olivos on Friday afternoon, stopping in downtown Santa Barbara for dinner on the way up. We ate at a great Trattoria with nice outdoor seating. Arrived at the Days Inn – Windmill (yes the one featured in the movie Sideways) around 7:45 PM. Still had time to catch the re-run of Grey’s Anatomy while I set out my gear for the next day. Had a good night’s sleep in preparation for what would be a very hot day for Short Track.

Day 1: Short Track

Saturday AM we headed over to the race venue at a new location on the Firestone Winery property called Charlotte’s Meadow (made me think of Charlotte’s web). When we arrived at 9:15am it was already prob in the upper 80s. It was going to be a painful day for sure. It was so hot I didn’t really feel like doing much but falling asleep in the shade. Greg set up the EZ up so I could warm up for my race. As usual as I was warming up, I was asking myself why I do these things to myself!

Right before 11 am was call up for short track. I had a cool, wet towel around my neck and tried to hide in a small sliver of shade in our starting corral. I decided we need to buy a big golf umbrella ASAP! I had a great call up (somewhere in the 20s). Selected my start position so that I could potentially avoid a bottleneck. We shall see…….. Had the 2 minute warning, and the nerves kick in as usual. Also the heat was getting to me and I did NOT feel like moving at all! GO… well, the person in front of me could not get into her pedal which caused a delay! So much for going all out right away. I had to play catch up and deal with a massive cloud of dust (ate about 1 cup of dust on the first lap). So dry and terrible! Around the short climb I realized that there wasn’t really anyone left behind me, so I knew I had to WORK!!!!!!! It was so painful in the hot sun with NO WIND. I toggled back and forth with a couple girls on the climb, and around the S turn, and then made more solid moves around the final turn into the lap. This went on for a few laps… At this point I realized that Frosty was keeping people in a lot longer than usual! I kept thinking that at any moment I would be pulled out, but still kept working hard and managed to pass a few more people. Then I saw the 3 laps to go and Frosty waved me through. OH MAN! I was in pain and could I last another lap? I held on and noticed we were pulling away from the girls behind us, so that was good!

Teri, Greg and Roger were in a great spot (drinking beer I think) at the bottom of the decent. Every time I went by Teri told me to get those girls (and lots of cheering!).. I was finally pulled out with 2 laps to go, ALMOST made it the whole time! Was certainly not planning on that! I did 5 laps, over 20 minutes and man was I out of it when we finished! I had dirt all over my body and teeth and I was thinking about chugging water ASAP! In the end I was 34th, but it was hard fought given the bad start and how fast and HOT the event was! It was a strong field, no rag tag people for sure! Also thanks to Jon Rourke (manager of Subaru-Fisher pro team for cheering me on through the S turn!)

After Short Track, we did a team pre-ride of sorts. Matt, Trevor, Mandy, myself, Teri and Joy! We had a good time and I tried to take it easy to recover from short track. After the ride we went for our VIP lunch at the Subaru-Gary Fisher Factory Team trailer. It was great food!!!! Ran into Papo and Team Helen’s there too which was great. After fueling up, Greg and I left the venue by 2pm and I went back for a nice ice bath and to recover for day 2.

Sat night had a great dinner with Matt, Trevor and Greg at Los Olivos Café (a special place for me and Greg!). See Matt’s blog for more details on dinner and the funny story afterwards.

Day 2: Cross Country

Got 12 hours of sleep Sat night! Greg and I ate at Ellen’s Pancake House in Buellton on Sun AM. Danish THIN PANCAKES!!!!!!!!! YUM! They worked well for me last year here, esp when you have a late starting race!

Race start was 2:45pm in the hot sun, but thankfully slightly cooler temps with a hefty breeze! Again I had a good call up, and lined up in the 3rd row. I sort of lined up behind the same girl from Sat who had the pedal problem, but I was off to the side! I felt SO TIRED and not motivated. I was worried I would have no power. It was just one of those blah days… BUT……………. Once they said go (and by the way ladies at the start line it was announced to our field that Andrew Firestone is STILL single!) it was pandemonium, but I went for it!!!!!!!!!!! The girl who caused a delay Sat proceeded to sideswipe across the left side and take out 3 girls!!!!!! I kept going and had somehow ended up on the tail end of the lead pack (trying so hard to hang on!)! We went through the short track course again (hmm LESS DUST when you are with the lead pack!). Greg said that coming out of the short track I was in 15th place! Not too shabby and how fun it was! However, my legs were TOASTED from short track, so I could not hold my place for long. I probably stayed in the top 25 for 15 min or so, and then more people started coming by. This included some of the heavy hitters who were involved in the crash or were held up in the bottleneck.

I felt pretty strong overall (and had a little too much energy for the finish which means I didn’t leave it all out there). I know it wasn’t my absolute best day (partially from not fully recovering from the *long* short track). I had too much pressure in my tires and my saddle was squeaking SO BAD (picture Napoleon Dynamite saying that)! It was really driving me nuts and made me wish for a dual suspension bike!

In the end I finished 35th which I was quite pleased with. Also pleased with my time overall too! So all in all a good day and good weekend. The best part was coming into the finish and getting an ice cold wet towel!!!!

Congrats to everyone for a good weekend! Special props go out to: Joy (1st place expert!), Matt and Trevor (both podiumed in pro/semi-pro singlespeed class!) and VEGAS BOB (2007 breakthrough performance!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks of course to GREG the best supporter EVER. Also Teri, Matt, Trevor, James, Roger, Vanessa, Ara, etc!

Best part of the weekend was finishing XC and Greg telling me that after my great start and being up as high as 15th he said he could care less how I finished. He has been telling me so many times to just be aggressive and finally I did it right!

Top 5 moments at Phoenix and Sea Otter!

Ok I am way behind on blogging! I decided to get caught up quickly I would do a top 5 moments (not in any particular order) for Phoenix Nationals and Sea Otter. Then I will start fresh with a FULL blog on this past weekend's Firestone Nationals.

Top 5 Moments at Phoenix Nationals:
1. Greg getting pulled over by the Fountain Hills Police, but not receiving a ticket because the cop said "I could never ticket a fellow mountain biker!"

2. Not falling on a cactus and finishing 43/60 finishers in a very hot and sometimes sketchy XC race.

3. Finishing 33/48 in Short track without even realizing it! It was too dark and dusty to even know! Plus my arm was pulsating from my time trial crash.

4. Faux Crocs (pink) for Mandy purchased at CVS.

5. Packing Joy, myself, Matt, Trevor, Mandy and 5 bikes in and on Matt's Mazda.

Top 5 Moments at Sea Otter
1. Mary-Ellen taking 3rd in the Pro Super D!!!!!!! On the podium with Marla and Kelli!)

2. Reciting lines in my head from The Big Lebowski during the muddy short track race (where I proceeded to lock up my drivetrain).

3. COLD COLD COLD ice baths (but they really work!)

4. Mandy living on sweet potatoes and avocados (again!)

5. Snapping a pic of Teri and Kabush (who had JUST won the pro men's XC)
In summary: Thanks to everyone for helping me out at those events (Joy, James, Greg, Roger, Teri, Matt etc etc!)

A few (tiny) pix:

Warming up in the RAIN for short track! Was it even worth it? Probably not!

The grueling 5 minute time trial the day before! Was it worth it? Probably NOT!

Quick post...

Well I know I still owe a full report on Phoenix Nationals, and I certainly owe a recap of the 3 days of racing at this year's Sea Otter.

It's coming soon.. I promise. Very busy at work this week, also fending off a cold that seems to have started developing before/during XC on Sunday (hence my DNF in Sea Otter 38 mile XC for the first time in 5 years racing that event!!!!). Thankfully Coach Gareth penciled in some good recovery days and taper into harder efforts later in the week.

I made it into a couple more Cycling News pix once again! Not the featured person in this, but still cool to see. The new kits finally shipped this week, so Firestone Nationals will be graced with the new Pass PT/Gary Fisher team kits.

Greg took some good pix this past weekend again (the rainy conditions at the short track race made for some more good mud photos).

More to come I promise w/ pix!