Today was a big day.
First, we slept in Kansas City last night.

Then we went for a little ride before the last push to St. Louis. (from front to back me, Beth, temporary teammate Maegan, and Sharon the hammer)

The we arrived in St. Louis and realized our hotel was less than 1 mile away from a Trader Joe's - Score!

Then Beth tried to diagnose Sharon's walking pneumonia.

Then we did a crit at night in the dark and I won! Click here to read more.

Beth and Maegan raced great all day and we all got in the top 10 and in the money. So today was definitely a good day.

Amendments to the road trip rules.

10. No eating apricots or delicious dried fruits (remember Redlands)


11. If you shed any hair please throw it out the window, not on the floor.

12. No bleeding on the upholstery of the car. If you cut your finger just get a napkin to to put on it and do not keep fishing around in your bag to find a band-aid.

13. Do not stop to get Mexican food in Missouri.

So we're on our way now to St. Louis. We drove about 8 hours today and did fun stuff in the car like travel Scrabble, "would you rather," and "who would you do?"

Well, actually I couldn't get them to play "who would you do?" I guess because they're all married.

Then we stopped in Kansas for some Mexican in Missouri (I don't recommend that) and to catch some zzzz's before the last few hundred miles in the car tomorrow.

Getting ready for Gateway. I'm headed off for a road trip to the Gateway Cup races in St. Louis this weekend. Here's a pic of me from a couple of years ago. It must have been the first lap, because I am in the lead. I guess that's why they call me "hot laps"

This, like any good road trip, starts with some rules. Here they are.

1. no eating crumbly crumb stuff in the car. pretty much any carbs, might i suggest apples, bannanas, grapes. carbs that can go in your mouth all at one time like animal crackers are okay.
2. drinking stuff is fine as long as you don't spill.
3. everytime we stop you must pick up all of your trash and put it in the trash can.
4. i hate the sound of bottles rolling around on the ground while driving.
5. only one person navigates, and i will assign that to renee (that means get directions to every race now so we have them when we need them)
6. if we stop at fast food we eat inside the fast food joint, not in the car.
7. i think that's it.
8. oh yeah, one more thing no cheetoes or anything that turns your fingers a different color.
9. double oh yeah, if you sneeze or toot roll the window down.




Quiz of the day.
Name 3 Colorado riders in this picture (from the same race 2 years ago)

Yesterday was a fun day.

It started with coffee and a little ride with Beth and Amy.

Then we did some some cruising in the streets of Boulder in Amy's new (old) car.

Then we raced the crit in Niwot, and any crit that ends with a beer garden is a good crit. Is that Beth Fisk getting a beer?!

No, of course not.

It was a really fun race. They haven't run it in a few years, so I'm glad they brought it back. The race went pretty well, I mean depending on if you're a half-full person or half-empty person.

You could focus the fact that I got second, and Beth got third despite leading the pack out for the last 2.5 laps. Or you could focus on the fact that I broke the streak. We had won the last 5 races in a row, then Beth gives me the best lead out of my life, and I blew it by going way too early and practically gifting the win to Catherine Powers.

Hmmm, I think I'll stick with being happy I sprinted pretty well for second and keep in mind that the only one who beat us is a pretty darn good pro rider anyway.

Lookout world, here I come. I'm starting to feel real good on the bike these days. This is the second week in a row that my legs don't hurt, and when I ask for the power, it's there. Today was one of those days where I felt like my bike had no chain. I opened up with a little speed work on the group ride then turned back early to save it for tomorrow. I even took some time to smell the daisies on the way home. While I still might not have the form I had last year, it feels about 100% better than the half-impulse I've been running at all year. The season is almost over now, but the form is coming just in time for a few good races left on the schedule, and I'm pretty sure I'll have something to say about their outcome.

Worthington Watch 2007

I just stopped by Clay's house this afternoon to see how he was doing after his big wreck in the Madison last week. He had surgery yesterday where they put his shoulder back together with some chicken wire and duct tape, and everything went A-OK. Now he's got a party ball of narcotics strapped around his neck and looking forward to a fun weekend, I mean until the party ball of pain killers runs out.

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Will it or won't it? Rain that is and once again cancel another Thursday night track race. Answer: Yes and no. Yes it rained, but not enough to cancel track racing!

Buh-bye Joe. It was Joe's last night in town yesterday. He's headed back to Minnesota after his 6-month residency here. I think Steve is sad Joe's leaving and that's why he's snuggling with him in the hammock.

Clay demonstrates the #1 reason why I don't try racing the Madison. Poor Clay crashed in the Madison at the district championships last weekend and separated his shoulder.

One step closer to being famous... I was quoted in an article in the Sunday New York Times Play Magazine yesterday. The writer of the article came to one of our CTS training camps in California way back in March and his article finally came out.

Click here to read the article.

Good morning Beaver Creek. Not sure why I'm so pensive because I stayed in awesome Beaver Creek, in Beth's family's awesome condo, and had an awesome chocolate chip pancakes by Teton this morning.

It's pretty awesome here in Beaver Creak.

I'm not kidding, it's real purty there.

We were up in the mountains for the Copper Crit today. It went right though Copper Mountain Resort, and it was AWESOME!!!! I don't mean awesome because we won both men's and women's pro 1/2 races, I mean the course was a freaking blast! Best course in Colorado, hands down.

p.s. I'm not sure if you've been counting at home, but today makes 15 wins for Ms. Bfisk in 2007. Now that's pretty awesome!

So I drove the back way home though Breckenridge because it's a lot more scenic, plus you get to go through South Park.

No, the real South Park, CO.

THE END.

So today we raced in Dillon; that's up in the high altitude mountains near Breckenridge and Vail. Racing a crit at 9,000 feet is something like trying to ride as hard as you can while breathing though a straw. It was still a really fun race, of course because Beth won, again!

Tiff is psyched to win her beer prime (pronounced preem).

Then we all went on a little cool down ride, it was fraught with challenge. click here to see more.

Say "Gouda."
Hey Amy, what are you wearing? I think it's called shabby chic (pronounced sheek).

Later, Tiff took a roadie to ice cream store and opted for the mini spoon.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I figured out, I don't actually like bananas. Every week I buy bananas, and every week they sit on my counter until they turn brown and gross. I don't think I am going to keep buying bananas.

I wish I had a story to go with these pictures. From my office window first I saw two cops in the alley.

Then there were 3.

I swear I don't live in the ghetto.

So, you know I'm from New Hampshire. You know, the state that looks like Vermont, it's just right side up. Anyway, I'm online today and come across this definition for New Hampshire.

Cow Hampshire: A stretch of toll plazas, liquor stores and fireworks stands on the way to Maine. Also known as New Hampster.

Yes, that is unfortunately correct.
On a related topic, I rented Live Free or Die last week (not to be confused with Live Free or Die Harder...). It was fairly amusing, I'd give it 3 stars.

By the way, what kind of state motto is Live Free or Die? Who has "die" in their state motto?

I've got blogger's block. Absolutely nothing funny or amusing has happened in the last 2 days.

So I will blog this picture of my niece Caroline, because it is the one thing that makes me laugh every time I see it.

Chores:
So if you're a grown up and live alone with no one to report to, do you still have chores? Well, whether or not I get paid 50 cents a room to vacuum, I still have a lot of chores to do around the house. This afternoon I got caught up on a lot of them though, including cleaning my car.

In my vigor to clean I had a bit of a vacuuming incident, and I'm pretty sure I broke a toe.

I think the fact that my little toe is still a little crooked and the color it's turned is a pretty good sign (and yes i know I have goofy tan lines on my feet too).

So much Fun! The second annual Ladies Night Out at Lakeside Amusement Park occurred on Friday night.

Seriously, when do you get to as an over 30-something adult get to pretend to be an adolescent?

Even Amy D., who is actually an adolescent, had a lot of fun on Friday. This year we had about double our group from last year.

Kate gets ready for the Chipmunk... and I am tall enough for that ride!

Honestly, I have never heard anyone scream so loud as Kate did on the Chipmunk. It was, Ha, Ha, Halarious.
Later on the Spider, Kate is hoping that Missy doesn't barf on her as that was a pretty spinny ride followed by the 'Tilt a whirl.

Missy, after the Spider, prays she doesn't upchuck her dinner....well about 10 minute later she did, although reportidly she did feel a lot better.