I don't really like the show that's on right now, but I'm too tired to A) find the remote or 2nd) get up and change the channel.

Another camp started this morning and it was a long day.

**Note: There will be a lot of pictures of Clay's backside in today's post because that's about all I looked at all day today.

3,2,1....Go. And we're off for our epic ride today. Clay and I rode to Deckers since we both had the day off work and are both in "fat camp"

The worst part of the ride is the 'corridor of death', aka: 'the narrows' or just the first 3 miles up the pass. Notice the lack of shoulder where cars whiz by at 60mph.

So to get to Deckers you go past Woodland park... and don't even get to stop at the Donut Mill because you've still got a long way to go.

The ride, though, is bellissimo. So you climb about 20 miles to Woodland Park, then descend about 20 miles to Deckers, then climb the 20 miles back to Woodland Park, and then get to coast the 20 miles back down to Colorado Springs.

It's the climb out of Deckers that really get's you cuz by then you're already pretty tired. "Bye Clay"

Even once you get past the big climb out of Deckers you still have a long way to go. See that mountain way out there, that's Pikes Peak and we're on the wrong side of it.

It's always long slog back. I started to crack about 6 miles before we got back to Woodland Park.

We made it back, and right before the storm rolled in. So a little over 5 hours, 90 miles*** and 2300 kj, that's definitely the biggest ride I've done this year. Considering it came at the end of a 20-hour week on the bike, it was actually a damn good ride.

***Just for the record Clay was pushing to do the 10 more miles to make it an even hundred and I vetoed the decision as I'm sure it would have taken me another hour to do 10 more miles.

What a nice day for a ride.


I took off early and did the hour of power* before the group ride, rode the Air Force Academy with the group, and then a lap through the garden on the way home. 4 hours and 1800 kilojoules later, I'm kind of tired.

* hour of power would be the 15 min ride over to Gold Camp, the 25 minute (for me) climb up to the dirt, and then the 15 minutes back to town. Ok, it's really only 25 minutes of power, but still good if you only have an hour to ride.


In all a great day and good ride, and the scenery around here is awesome. I know I've lived here for 12 years now, but it doesn't always look this pretty. I guess there's a pay off to all those snowy days this winter and all the rainy afternoons we've had lately.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the view from our velodrome is better than any other track in the country.

In other news, I haven't blogged much this week. So I thought I'd catch up on a few things.


-I slept until noon today and missed the group ride. I wish I had slept in just to be lazy, but unfortunately it was because I was up sick in the middle of the night. I think it was food poisoning.
- Sleeping on the bathroom floor last night made me realize something. I really need to mop the bathroom floor. So I did today.

- On the track this week Clay taught me how to do madison slings. Although I still need a lot of practice, I certainly like throwing in little 11 year old Ben instead of the big load that is Clay Worthington.

- Also I did find some Coke Blak and drank 3 today. Is that too many?

Anyone know where I can find a Coke Blak? I've been wanting one for days but haven't seen them anywhere. Did they discontinue it?

That's right Clay, you better hide. From all the hail that is.

We had some rain, hail, wind, and wicked cold temps come in this afternoon that put a cramp in our afternoon track session.

Also, when your computer says this:
"Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM"
That's pretty bad .

Overall a pretty crappy day.

Apparently there is a new phrase that all the camp staff are using these days and it's called "getting Renee'd". That apparently is what happens when a small, fiesty camp manager strongly suggests you do your job correctly.

Like when small, fiesty camp manager suggests you show up to dinner wearing slacks (yes slacks) and a clean shirt to dinner at camp instead of grubby jeans and a hoodie sweatshirt.... that's getting Renee'd.

or when small, fiesty camp manager suggests you come help wash bottles now, not later.... that's getting Renee'd.

I think I like that. I'm going to start using that all the time now, and maybe talking about myself in the 3rd person more too.

Sorry no blog updates this week. I've been busy with camp all week. This time Climbing Camp and twice the athletes... triple the work.

Good thing I have lots of help. The coaches and mechanics at this camp have really been fantastic.

Too bad as camp manager I don't get out on the road to have fun... look at how much fun they're having. I have to stay back at the office, make the bottles, and steer this ship away from the gigantic icebergs.

We're lucky to have Gord Fraser as in Lazer back again for camp this week.

On a completely unrelated and uninteresting note, I'm watching Cocktail on TV tonight and although it is the ultimate cheesy 80's movie, it makes me nostalgic. It was my "first date" movie for my first real boyfriend back in high school. Ok, kind of lame, but I still watch the damn movie whenever it comes on.

Uh, Oh! We had our first accident at the track today. Luckily, all is ok and not too big a deal. One word of advice... keep pedaling on the track.

So I'm still on the two computer system and still working pretty late most nights to get ready for camp this week.

I'm not sure what gang sign Clay is flashing, but he was fired up for our little group ride today. Too bad most of our group bagged out after the first hour. Then there were two, just me and Clay slogging away all day out east. I have to admit I'm a little worried about my fitness seeing as how that 3 hours and 45 minutes was the longest continuous ride I've done in 6 weeks and it wrecked me. I think for both of us it was a death march on that long way back on Peyton highway.

Another day, another win. I think at this point we can stop saying "we" got the team win because Beth did some darn impressive riding all by herself to guarantee the victory at Wheels of Thunder, thunder, thunder.

My day wasn't terrific. I kind of botched up the field sprint. I ended up 6th. Anne was 5th, but took a prime early in the race. So all in all, the VC juggernaut won and took 4 of the 6 $50 primes (ok, really Beth juggernaut as she took 3 of the 4 primes and the win). It was a good day.

In the morning I did some mentoring in the cat 4 women's race which was fun. What wasn't fun was getting up there to race at 8am.... then have to wait until 4:20pm for my own race.

Jessica came up for the cat 4 race, it was her first crit ever. She did great.

I want to end on a little public service announcement. All that needs to be said is NO, just don't do it. Nobody needs to see that. (You're just lucky I didn't post a shot of the front end, this is a PG rated blog afterall)

Mike says "safety first"

Brad Huff says "I love cookies"

Brad Huff also says "I likes the ladies"

So I went to Jamba Juice today for lunch because it was the only thing I could eat after spending the morning at the dentist getting half of my teeth drilled down to nubs. That's not the story, the story is it took me 20 minutes at the store to get it. I had Dumb and Dumberer behind the counter, and there were only 4 people ahead of me in line. I swear, teenagers are getting dumber all the time.

That's my rant for the day.

Time to get on the track. I finally got out on the track with the juniors today. With the weather and my schedule I hadn't been able to until today. So on my first day at the track I end up riding 50k. In case you didn't know, that's a lot to ride on the track, in fact that's about 150 laps.

Oh Ivan, things have really gone downhill for you since we broke up.
http://velonews.com/news/fea/12213.0.html

Ahhh! Worms! So a worm, just like one of these landed on my shoulder yesterday after the race and when Beth pointed it out to me, I screamed like a little girl. I was pathetic.

Today we got to race with our old teammate Carmello who is now a big time pro for Aarons.

Today's crit was in Louisville. That's not to be confused confused with Loo-uh-vul, or Loo'ee-vil, but instead it was the Coloradan town of Lewis-vil.

The outcome of today's race was much better as we avenged the loss from yesterday. Beth got herself in the break and took the win. Then with Lisa and I patrolling the field all day, I was able to clean up and take the field sprint thanks to Lisa's very nice leadout.

Lookout! This morning was the Lookout Hill Climb. The weather looked a little ominous, but it actually wasn't that bad. No snow at the top.

I'd say the race went ok, but we certainly got excelled by the Excel team. Beth and I came in 3rd and 4th. For 3rd place she got this fancy medal and a few bucks. For 4th I got squat.

Read more about today's adventures at Beth's blog. Click here.

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't blog anything at all.

























































I guess in that case I don't have anything to blog about.

Do you ever feel like you're being watched?

Maybe the glass bottom desk wasn't such a good idea.