tall tales from a small fry

Sleepless nights

2010-09-19T22:41:00.002-06:00

I wish I could sleep this well.

I've had a lot of trouble sleeping lately. I blamed it on stress initially, but realized that it was this cute, little, sweet cat that has been causing most of my lack of rest. It's not that I can't sleep or even fall asleep: it's just that 'something' keeps waking me up frequently in the night. That's why I can't sleep.

It's actually quite a sad story, so I can't get too mad. Little Pest is just sad and lonely, so she needs a lot of attention. It's been about a month now since Budha passed away, and after 14 years of having a constant BFF, she has become a bit more needy. So, what has been waking me up, is just her crawling all over me and trying to sleep on my head, ect.

I hope this passes because for me it's mostly a reminder that Budha is gone, but I really do feel more sad for Pest now than me. She doesn't have her little buddy to sleep with or play with anymore and is lonely. I don't mean to get all crazy cat lady, but if your sister (litter mate), and best friend, and the one you spent 23.5 hours a day with for your whole life was gone you'd be sad too. So little Pest, I hope you hang in there, and please stop waking me up at midnight, 2:30 am in the morning, and also 3:30 am, and 5 am. Thanks.

DYNO-ARM!

2010-08-23T17:21:00.002-06:00

Move over Robo-Arm, you've been replaced.

I haven't been seeing a ton of progress with a range of motion in the past few weeks, so my PT and I decided to try something new. Peter got me a dynamic range of motion device to wear, and instead of limiting my range of motion this stretches it out. There is kind of a spring in the joint and it gently (or forcibly) increases my range of motion. I'm supposed to start with 20 minutes today and work up to wearing it all night. I'm calling it Dyno-Arm because when I'm done with it my range of motion is going to be DYNO-MIGHT! I may be calling it Torture-Arm or S&M-Arm depending on how much discomfort stretching it out all night gives me. Right now I'm only on a setting of 2, out of 10...

Tattoos

2010-08-03T19:07:00.006-06:00

On my last birthday I came pretty close to getting another tattoo. I really wanted to get another, and on my arm this time. I guess I really don't need to do that now.... unless, I make this in to some kind of cool snake or barb wire tattoo. Send me your sketches!

Gummy bears and rainbows

2010-07-24T14:01:00.002-06:00

Everything is all gummy bears and rainbows today. I went for my first bike ride since I broke my elbow. The ride was just to work 1.5 miles away and it was on my townie, but progress none the less. It's still going to be some time before I'm ready for a real road ride, but still it feels pretty good to cruise around on two wheels. I think I might even ride down to downtown later.

I hit another major milestone today too. My triceps is sore.... My triceps is sore! It doesn't sound like much to you, but I was able to work it enough in PT yesterday to actually make it sore today. That's never happened before because it was just too painful to contract the muscle. So I couldn't even really work it. It seems that soon I will be sculpting my guns again.

I'm pretty psyched about the progress. I haven't seen any progress in the last couple weeks. Actually, in the last couple weeks I've lost ROM and hurt it a couple times so it has been less than awesome.

Now I just hope I don't f... it up a again this week.

Two steps back

2010-07-13T19:13:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since my last update. First, I've been real busy, and second, things have been pretty status quo on my arm, at least until last weekend.

Last week I went for my final appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. He took x-rays and said the arm is all good. He said I had no restrictions anymore. I think he should have given me restrictions because I overused it last weekend at camp and lost about 50% of my range of motion. It's about twice as better today as it was Sunday, but on Sunday I could only straighten it to about 90 degrees, as opposed to the 14 degrees my PT got me to the week before. Ooops. Guess I did too much.

This rehab is taking a lot longer than I thought. I'm not at full range of motion yet, and even though I'm cleared for strength work, I can't really do it yet until I get my range of motion back.

I also had another disappointment last week. I tried riding my bike outside for the first time. I just did a lap around the block, but I could tell right away that riding outside is still a long way away. I don't know how long, but every week I seem to realize that this was a more serious injury than I thought. Hell, Cadel broke his elbow and only lost 8 minutes today in the Tour. I must be some kind of wuss if I'm not even riding yet. I know that's not really true...

We had an athlete in town this weekend for camp and he's an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in hands and elbows. Super nice guy, but he gave me the real deal on my situation. He said matter of factly that this is a season ending injury. No one had told me that yet in such plain terms, not my ortho and not my PT. Hearing it said kind of makes me at peace. It's not that I'm a wimp for not working hard to trainer my ass off to come back and race at the end of the season, the fact is it's going to take too long for the arm to heal and the 2010 racing season is over.

I'm ok with that. I'd prefer to be riding my bike outside even if I'm not racing this year, but I'm hiking and trail running now. I hardly ride the trainer at all. It's just not fun in July. I'm also not putting a time line on riding outside. At this point it'll happen when my arm is ready.

week 6 update 2.0

2010-07-02T17:47:00.003-06:00

Since the first week 6 update I have a few more progress notes to make about this week since now that it's a few days later.

- PT told me I didn't need Robo-Arm anymore and to make it a "relic of the past". Haven't worn it since.

- Did the Incline with my other crippled friend Abby. Well, half, but still impressive that we both were in slings or casts and were still passing A LOT of people.

- Gave a little stab at running, arm didn't hurt at all (2 weeks ago it was too much jostling about)

- Still not riding outside, but think it's about a week to 10 days away.

- PT gave me the clear to start sculpting my guns. I promptly started in on some serious triceps work. As it turns out, 2lb dumbells are still a bit much for my Grandma-Arm. I couldn't even lift the 2lbs (hahaha). I'll have to work up to that and up to the one arm push ups, but at least I can start strength work.

- Range of motion for flexion today = 150 degrees, same as the right arm. Woot!

- Range of motion for extension today - 14 degrees. Still have a little work to go.

- I am still not in to riding the trainer, but I've been hiking a bunch. With the Tour starting tomorrow I'll just live vicariously through my fantasy team until I can get on the road.

Happy Tour de France tomorrow and 4th of July on Sunday!

Week 6 update

2010-06-28T19:10:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was 6 weeks since I broke my elbow. The major milestone of this week is that I can touch my shoulder with my left hand. I guess that's a certain marker for range of motion progress, because it's what my PT told me to work on while he was on vacation last week. So mission accomplished.

Boom!

In other news I lead my first CTS DVD workout the other day. It was quite exciting with the video crew, hair and make up, and director shouting instructions. Don't worry, you'll get to see it because they'll be released just in time for the holidays, and that's all you'll be getting from me for Christmas this year.

They asked me not to wear Robo-Arm, which to tell you the truth I only wear a couple hours a day anymore, just when I'm doing something "dangerous" like walking to work. Someone told me I looked like Bob Dole holding a pen with my rigid, crookedy arm holding the stop watch all workout. Awesome.

Commuting

2010-06-17T08:26:00.003-06:00

I've been commuting to work via foot a few days a week since I can't ride bikes outside. Now that it's summer it's a nice stroll through the hood in the mornings. It's about a 30 min walk each way, which for me right now counts as exercise.

Crookedy Arm

2010-06-16T07:07:00.002-06:00

I don't really need Robo-Arm to ride the trainer anymore. Instead, it's just me and Crookedy-Arm because this is how much I can straighten it.

Thing is, I'm just not that in to riding the trainer so mostly it's just been 30 to 60 min just EZ spinning 4-5x a week. I certainly wouldn't call that training, but I that doesn't seem to bother me much. I'm still not back to 100% physically. I'm slightly past needing naps everyday, but I'm still kind of tired and usually have to go to bed when it's still light out, so real, legit training seems a little optimistic right now. I'm just being patient with it; in some ways it's kind of nice to have some down time.

No more bandage

2010-06-11T17:21:00.003-06:00

A lot of progress this week. Not only did I ditch the bandage on the formerly gruesome hole in my arm, but I achieved a few other firsts with the broken arm. Picked up and drank from a cup of cofee, touched the back of my head, scratched my nose, slept on my left side, and put the duvet cover back on the bed. Next up, trying to blow dry my hair. That's my goal for the end of the weekend.

p.s. Notice I now have grandma arms since I haven't had the ability to contract my triceps for the last 3.5 weeks.

Me and my buddy RoboArm

2010-06-06T19:37:00.005-06:00

Me and my buddy RoboArm had a pretty busy weekend.

We rode the trainer. I made it a whole hour on Saturday. That's a record. RoboArm is pretty good just resting on the bars now that I've flipped the stem and put it them up a few spacers.

We went on a little hike in Red Rocks Canyon Park. I usually do this more in the fall, but with my new buddy RoboArm I have an excuse to go there this summer. It's real purty there. I should go more often, it's only 3 miles from the house.

RoboArm likes that you can see the Garden of the Gods from Red Rocks, and enjoys how much less crowded it is with tourons from Kansas.

I thought it would be fun to do some bouldering, but RoboArm did NOT think that would be a good idea. RoboArm needs 4 more weeks to achieve full bionic status.

RoboArm did like chillaxin in the sun though. Note how RoboArm has enough range of motion to be placed on the top of my head; however RoboArm still lacks the strength to lift itself from that position. I have to give it a little help from "regular" arm.

I did find out that RoboArm hand can be quite handy as a water bottle holder.

RoboArm was also helpful in other household chores, like spackling the wall in the garage. Now that I have so much free time from not racing I can get a lot of household tasks done.

RoboArm also helped with doing the grout on the tub.

I think RoboArm starting to get a life of it's own, it's even getting mail now.

That's all for now. RoboArm and I are going to watch some Law and Order later because as I've found out with all this recovery time, there is some version of Law and Order (regular, SVU, CI...) on at any given time of the day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Addendum

2010-06-01T18:59:00.002-06:00

I don't love my PT as much as I did this morning. Tonight I love my ice pack. He really put my arm through the ringer today, but got me to near full extension by the end of the appointment. It's the good kind of pain, right?

PT update

2010-06-01T09:56:00.001-06:00

Can I just say I heart my PT Peter deJong. He's great, and today I hit a milestone of tying my hair back in a pony tail. It's not pretty, but its still progress. I go to Total Function downtown which coincidentally is right next door to where I used to live. See that grey, dreary building on the right? I lived there for 3 or 4 years. The only good thing was that it was only 4 blocks from Starbucks and the center of downtown.

Outdoor adventure

2010-05-31T17:13:00.003-06:00

Went for a walk with Swill, Mini-me, and Seamus today. I'd call it a hike, but the pace was pretty mellow. It was still nice to get out and about. I had a much better day today. Yesterday I was pretty fatigued all and canceled my trip to Boulder. This whole breaking my arm thing and recovery from surgery is taking a little longer for me to feel normal and healthy than I thought, but I did pretty good today and even did some vacuuming and one-handed mopping. So all in all a good day.
Back to work tomorrow. I really enjoyed having an extra day off this weekend. Apparently I needed it.

Hot compress

2010-05-29T16:37:00.001-06:00

Seems that I have a slight infection from all the deer poop I ground in to my arm in the crash, so I am doing warm compresses to drive the infection out. Not to worry, I don't think my arm will fall off, it might just leave an uglier scar.

Weekend Update

2010-05-29T13:12:00.003-06:00

Today marks a milestone in my post-surgery recovery. I got on the trainer for the first time.
20 minutes, 103 avg watts, 125 kilojoules, but who's counting. I devised a system with propping Robo-Arm up on the back of a chair and that worked pretty well. It's a little bit too much extension to reach the bars, and I can't put any weight on my hand, but this seemed to work OK. In fact, I'd say it went really well. I stopped at 20 minutes because my upper back started to tighten up. That's been giving me more problems than the broken elbow the last several days, so I decided not to push my luck and leave this progression on a positive note.

One good thing I can say about riding the trainer now that summer has arrived in Colorado and that's Air Conditioning.

I did take a little rest afterward for some ice on the elbow and heating pad on the upper back. You know you likes all this Renee down time? The kitty cats. They think it's fantastic that I'm home more and napping a lot.

getting kind of cocky

2010-05-27T21:26:00.002-06:00

I had a really good day today.
- I made it through a whole day at work, first time this week
- My arm still felt really good at the end of the day
- I had so much energy at the end of the day, I went for a walk, and I didn't need a nap afterward.

But then I got taken down a notch. I was chatting on the phone when I knocked something off the table. I had the phone in my right hand so my natural instinct was to reach and try to catch it with my left. Owwwiee!

The funny thing is I just got off the phone with my friend who broke his hand in February. I was going on and on about my breakthrough day and how good I felt and he said I might have a bad day tomorrow following this really good day. You know, good days, bad days.... Anyway, hope it doesn't hurt too much in the morning. I'm going to grab an ice pack and head to bed.

Rick to the rescue

2010-05-27T14:27:00.001-06:00

I should have nice straight hair for the next 48 to 72 hours after a visit to Rick today. I'm going to have to bugdet for weekly visits until I can get my left arm high enough to do a pony tail. Either that or a buzz cut for the summer.

Week 1 review

2010-05-27T06:05:00.003-06:00

I wanted to write a little review of my first week after surgery. Really, there's not too much to write about because there just a lot of napping and sleeping.

And not just the cats. I slept a lot, and I was really surprised at how much surgery wiped me out. The first day I left the house was Wednesday. I was out for about 2 hours and only went to get my hair done and stop by the office, but I came home and had to go to sleep immediately. By Saturday I ventured out for a walk to Walgreens 1/2 mile away. Again, complete exhaustion and nap once I got home. It's getting better, but I'm still not able to make it through a whole day at work yet, so I'm not even really thinking about training at this point.

I think the most awesome thing about last week was how much support I got from family and friends. I didn't know I had so many awesome friends! I don't want risk leaving anyone out so I don't want to name names, but to give you some examples of my friends' awesomeness, I had people driving me around (because I couldn't drive), bringing me dinner, baking me cookies, sending me flowers, and coming over to clean out the cat box and help me tie back my hair.

Which brings me to the inconveniences of having a broken arm. For me I think the biggest one is not being able to tie back my hair. I have naturally curly (more like frizzy) hair. It takes a lot of product and time with the blow dryer and flat iron for me not to look like a crazy cat lady. At this point hats are not even containing the mess on top of my head. I have an appointment with Rick today for disaster control.

I've had to be creative too with some other things like opening jars. I feel like some kind of monkey, which is also what I look like when I shave my right arm pit. Go ahead and try shaving your right arm pit with your right arm. I think I've got a mohawk going on under there now, but I'm doing the best I can. Makes me really appreciate the challenges that some of my Paralympic friends face every day.
On Monday, the week after surgery I went to ortho to get the cast off and get fitted with a new cast. Looks pretty gross still. I am going to have an awesome scar.

Instead of getting a hard cast they fitted me with "robo-arm." It's just a brace with a movable joint. So far I like the name robo-arm the best, but others have named it "bionic arm", "star wars arm", and "go, go, gadget arm". I will be taking a poll of best names to appropriately name my new best friend of the next 6 weeks.

So with robo-arm, the doc wants me moving it already and has me starting PT already which is great. The brace is so much better than a hard cast because I can take it off and shower and move my hand around. I can even type with both hands. He's got me on a pretty good range of motion in it too. Not that I have any strength to move my arm but it's still so much better than having it in a hard cast.

So that was pretty much week 1. Thanks for stopping by, and stay classy.

Update

2010-05-26T19:33:00.003-06:00

I wanted to make a week 1 review update, but today was such a good day I had to post. First, I think I have figured out why I haven't been sleeping well... someone's been using my brace as a pillow.

So I haven't been sleeping well the last few nights, not because of the cat company, but just because my muscles are so jacked up. It's not my elbow that's been hurting so much the last two days, but my upper back from wearing the sling for the last week and guarding so much.

Yesterday I went for my first PT appointment, and it didn't go well. They set me up with a hand therapist...uhm, it's not my hand that's broken, duh! She had me do some piddly ROM exercises and when I told her that my back was what was really bugging me that day, she said that wasn't part of my therapy and I'd have to get another script from the doctor and see someone else to take care of that. What? Are you f'ing kidding me? Anyway, I did not make a follow up appointment.

I called my friend Jessica Lehman who's a PT and she recommended another therapist. I went to him today and he's great. Peter deJong, which coincidentally I have worked with before. Way back in the day I was an exercise tech at a PT clinic and he used to work there. So he poked around, looked at my back, and has come up with a good plan for my therapy. I feel really good about it.

I also feel really good because I got a massage today to work out those muscles in my upper back. We conveniently have a massage therapist that works out of our office. She's really great, Jennifer Chee. I highly recommend. I feel 10 times better than yesterday. I'm hoping I can fit one in at least once a week til this gets better.

The Crash

2010-05-24T21:36:00.004-06:00

Here recounts the story of my big crash in the Deer Trail road race. Deer Trail is a classic Colorado road race. It's flat, windy, and my kind of race.
(not actually Deer Trail, but you get the idea, basically looks like Kansas)

I usually do pretty well in these kinds of races. I've finished on the podium in Deer Trail a few times, so I was pretty psyched for this race. Plus I was getting to race with my good buds Sharon and Beth. They're not racing crits this year because they're too dangerous with a high risk of crashing. Ironic.

So we raced around for a couple hours, blah, blah, blah. It was pretty much a race of attrition with the wind out there. By the time we came in to the final kilometer there were only 5 of us left. Me, my teammate Beth, two DFT gals, and one other person I didn't know. Going in to the sprint, Beth gave me the nod and told me she was going to lead me out. That put a lot of pressure on me because I'm convinced Beth can win any race she wants to (because she usually does.) So if she's leading you out, you better not screw it up.

Beth start going with about 3 or 400 meters to go, basically way far out. She went pretty hard but I was able to stay tucked right in on her left hip. There was a pretty strong cross wind, so staying in the draft was key. She turned to look back at the gap we had and we just got tangled up. I didn't expect her to look back and she didn't expect I was so close. It's nobody's fault, it's just one of those things that happens. I hit her back wheel with my front wheel pretty hard just couldn't save it. I hit the deck, and as I was going down I knew it was going to be bad. Plus I was pretty pissed because I was soooo going to win that sprint!

The good news is Beth didn't go down too; she actually won. Perhaps it was because I was sprawled in the middle of the road providing a good road block for the rest of the group, but hey a win's a win.

Stock photo of Beth winning, although to note, she said she didn't raise her hands in victory out of respect for her wounded teammate. She actually said that she contemplated stopping to see if I was ok, but kept sprinting because she knew I'd be more pissed if one of us didn't win. What a good teammate.

So I laid on the ground knowing I broke something. I knew other groups were coming in to the sprint, but I just couldn't get myself off the ground. The EMT helped me up eventually, and he asked if I wanted to go in the ambulance. Having been transported in the ambulance from a race before, I know how pricey that can be. Plus we were in the middle of BFE eastern Colorado and I wasn't actually dying, so we decided to drive me to the hospital in the Springs, 2 hours away.

I have to give a big thank you to Christina Moore. We drove out to the race together and she did a great job of taking care of me on the drive and making sure I got checked in to the hospital ok. I usually travel to races alone, so it was just good luck that she asked me to carpool to the race, and even better luck that she was willing to help me out so much.I don't really know how I survived the 2 hour drive or the 2+ hour wait in the ER before I saw a doctor and got good pain meds because this is what my elbow looked like. I broke off the olecranon process (tip of the elbow) when I hit the ground. Then as I was skidding across the pavement the olecranon got pushed out of the way and I just kept scraping down my ulna (lower arm bone) on the road. The doctor said the end of the ulna was real smooth after all that sanding down so the pins he put in to fix it all together fit in really flush to the bone. That's a bonus, I guess.

I also took some hunks of flesh out of my knee. You could see my inner fat from under the skin. It was kind of gross but didn't bother me at all because the pain in my elbow pain almost made me pass out a couple times.

Because it was an open fracture (broken bone through the skin) they had to do surgery right away. So I had surgery to screw it all together that night. I stayed in the hospital overnight to make sure everything was ok and to get plenty of IV antibiotics to flush out all the cow poop from the road in Deer Trail.
I got out of the hospital on Monday and went straight for an ice cream milk shake. Makes sense since with all this I'm not so worried about rehab and permanent damage to my arm, I'm just worried about becoming a big fattie with the time off the bike. So what better way to get a head start than a milk shake at Cy's.

Back to the Blog

2010-05-24T19:50:00.004-06:00

I've decided to start blogging again because my blog fan (note singular) suggested it would be good to chronicle my comeback from my recent injury. Plus most of my family is not on the book of faces so it saves me from actually having to talk to them... just kidding Mom!

So what recent injury? I broke my elbow in a bike crash in the Deer Trail Road Race on May 16th.
I had surgery to repair it. They put pins in to fix the bones back together, and it's estimated it'll be 6 weeks before I can hit the road again on my bike. I can, however, ride the trainer. I can't tell you how awesome that is to be faced with riding the trainer in May and June after trainering through a bad winter and spring.

After considering blogging all this, I thought it could be therapeutic and help me work through all the ups and downs of coming back from injury especially at this point in my life. The last time I had a major injury was when I broke my collar bone in 2000 or 2001 at the Solano race in California. Back then I was still an enthusiastic bike racer, working my way up the ranks and that was one of my first NRC races so I was super motivated to work my way back that year. I think I raced my bike 4 weeks after that and won my first race by week number 6. But now I'm old, semi-retired (if you can retire from something you don't do professionally), and just hanging on to old glory in the sport. I've done this bike racing thing for 20 years. I'm not trying to get any better at this point; I'm just trying not to get too fat or too slow.

To tell you the truth, before the crash at Deer Trail I was really struggling with motivation for 2010. The weather this spring has been so crummy and I just don't have the drive to ride in crappy weather or trainer like I did 5 or 10 years ago when I was coming up in the sport and "trying to go pro." I was contemplating taking a break in training after Hugo to try to get myself back on track... I got a little more of a "break" than I wanted, and now I need to decide what to do.

Do I work hard, trainer my ass off, and come back strong for the late season races and masters' track nationals? I had planned on defending my title in the pursuit in Frisco in September. I even bought a new track bike this year.The other option is to bow out gracefully for the season. No one would begrudge me that. I could spend the summer doing other things that regular people do like hike, go on vacation, and do beer and barbecue on the weekends. Shit, I haven't taken a summer off racing since 1996-97 when I broke my back, and that was no "vacation". I don't know if my inner bike racer will let me do that, but it does sound like fun, more fun than riding the trainer for the next 6 weeks.

I have cried just twice since I broke my elbow. I didn't cry when I hit the ground, I didn't cry on the 2 hour car drive to the hospital or in the 2.5 hours waiting in the ER to get to see the doctor and get my first dose of morphine. I didn't cry in recovery after surgery or in the hospital alone overnight. I cried once a couple days after surgery when I woke up because it hurt so f'ing much after sleeping through taking my pain medicine. Then I cried tonight because the reality of it all hit me. A week after surgery I'm off the Percocet euphoria of the last week and I've determined this just sucks. I've been playing it off as no big deal, and in the big picture it isn't. I've been hurt worse than this and come back from bigger things, and certainly lots of people have worse problems to deal with, but I still think I'll rate this an 8 out of 10 on the suck meter.

So here we go. Tonight was a lot of words and philosophy, sorry for that. I promise in my future posts there will be a lot more pictures and amusing quips just like my old blog posts. Maybe even a few cat pictures. Next post, I'll tell you all about the crash since a lot of people have asked how it happened.

2010-01-12T21:59:00.002-07:00

Dear Mom, I know you're not on the book of faces and wanted to see my holiday/ birthday/ housewarming gift that you so wanted me to have. It's pretty nice, and High-Definition is totally worth it, you should get a high-def TV, you'll never want to watch anything else but HDTV.

Another Cat Blog

2009-11-14T14:37:00.004-07:00

Yes, there has been a lot of cat blogging going on this week, but it's either this or the weather which it happens to be snowing again anyway.

Budha and Pest have a new favorite hiding spot.

That is because I moved their basket close to the fireplace which finally works after I got it fixed this week. That's a good thing because as I said it's snowing today.

Toothless Wonder

2009-11-12T18:21:00.003-07:00

I picked Budha up from the vet tonight. She's fairly groggy, but the first thing she did when she got home was go straight for the food dish. She must be trying to get her girth back. Who's ever seen a skinny Budha? The second thing she did was go straight for my water glass. Somethings never change.

Turns out the vet needed to take out 7 teeth, which in addition to the other 2 she's had pulled before, means she only has her front teeth and canines left. It's kind of sad, but still funny to watch her drink water tonight. It's somewhat similar to how anyone of us drinks water after going to the dentist.

Looks like at least one kitty will be on the soft food from now on.

What did I tell you?

2009-11-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Given up

2009-11-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

I have finally given up trying to get the kitties to drink out of my water glass and have fooled them with giving them one of their own. So far it is working.

Kitty Loaf

2009-11-09T17:49:00.002-07:00

Some mild drama in the life of the Eastman kitty cats this week. Budha needs to go in for some minor surgery. I took her to the vet today after realizing she had stopped eating and dropped some weight recently. In fact, she's lost 2 lbs, and when you weigh just over 10lbs, 2lbs is a lot. She is a svelt 8.2 lbs now. Anyway, took her to the vet today and turns out she needs to get a couple of teeth pulled, that's why she's not eating. Funny thing is, the vet said she wouldn't be "upset" if Budha stayed at the weight she is.... Is she calling my cat a fattie mcfatterson? To be honest, Budha did not get her name from being the thinnest cat on the block, which just goes to show, you can't even be a fat cat these days and get away with it. There's even peer pressure on my poor kitty cat to be a svelt 8-9 lbs instead of her large and in charge 11-12 lb. I wonder if she'll have any body image issues from this whole ordeal?

The vet also referred to her age several times and said things like "at her age" you can't expect her to bounce back as quickly. Is 13 the new 65 in cat years?

Mom's Visit

2009-10-04T19:59:00.005-06:00

Today, for the last day of Mom's visit we went and did some touristy things around town, including going to the top of Pikes Peak. Allow me to illustrate.

We went via the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. It takes about an hour to get to the top via the train, and I've actually never taken it up it before.And Mom loves trains. The view ain't bad either.

View from the top of Pikes Peak. 14,000 feet up.

It's a little windy up there.
But she made it.

2009 season review

2009-09-11T00:38:00.008-06:00

My 2009 racing season is officially in the books now. I think it was a pretty good season; although, I am at that age now when reminisce about ‘back in the day’ when I used to be fast. Regardless, it was way better than my 2008 season. 2008 was not a good racing year for me. There were no wins for me and no team wins, so I was a little more motivated this year to turn things around.

I had some major life changes in 2009 too. I went back to work ‘for the man’, aka Chris Carmichael, and resumed a full-time position at CTS. That was a major change from working in my pj’s at home on my own time to going back to a full-time job where I had to be somewhere occupying space from 8am-5pm every day Monday through Friday. Really, it’s not that bad. I do work for a cycling company, after all, where office meeting can often involve 3 hour bike rides on the open road. This year also marked another major life change to buy a house (townhome) and embrace the wonderful world of having a mortgage.

Despite all those changes, I really enjoyed the 2009 racing season. I have embraced my role as the old, wily, veteran racer who might not be as fast as the young’ins but has years of experience to carry me through. 2009 also marked the return, after a year hiatus, of my good teammate Beth. With Beth and Lisa back from having their babies, the addition of Maegan to our roster, and Jenna and Carol returning from last year we had a really fun and cohesive team for 2009. The more years I race, the more and more I rely on my teammates to make racing fun and help push me to a higher level.
2009 also marked a return to the track for me. It’s not that I ever really left the track, but this year I raced a full season on the track, and I realize how much that makes me a better rider. Track is great; it’s all the best parts of racing. It cuts out all that b.s. riding around for miles and miles before anything good happens and just gets straight on to the good parts. A long race on the track is about 12 minutes, so it suits my attention span just fine. I had a good year on the track in 2009 as well. By my math, I’ll win CVA rider of the year on points for the season, and I also won a couple of national championships. Masters Nationals was held here in Colorado Springs, and I won the individual 2k pursuit and the team pursuit. No matter what else happens, it’s a good season if you win a stars and bars jersey, even if it is just Masters Natz.

Our team also had a very good season. With Beth back in full-force, she won so many races I lost count. It was somewhere over 10 or 12 races; I’m sure she can correct me. It’s funny how when you’re on a winning team that it elevates the performance of everyone around. So, I think the team as a whole had a much better year in 2009. Everyone on the team raced really well. Maegan had a win in Glenwood Springs, and I finally got a win on the road too. I hadn’t won on the road since 2007, and it meant a lot to me to get one this year. I won the Vic’s crit in August, and I think getting that monkey off my back helped my confidence going in to nationals that was a few weeks later.

So I am satisfied with my 2009 season. I have this imaginary mark of a good season that is winning 3 races. I think that’s a pretty good season for anyone (except Beth). I won 2 by my count with Masters Natz and the crit at Vics. Sure, I could count the team pursuit or any of my other individual races at the track, but I never got the sweep at any nights of the track. At the track, we do 3 races every night. I count it as a win if I win all 3. I had a few nights of winning 2 out of 3, but a young 16-year old, Maddie, nipped me a few times for that 3rd win and the sweep. How’s that for injustice, getting beat by someone less than half your age and that you are totally old enough to be her mother! I feel old. I’m also tired, but a good tired from a good year of racing. So that’s all folks, until the 2010 season where I’m totally going to come back as a climber… (p.s. I say that every year and have yet to make it true ;-))

I have been singing this all afternoon.

2009-09-09T13:59:00.001-06:00

Steamboat Springs Wrap Up

2009-09-08T20:16:00.010-06:00

Last weekend we (Beth and I) went out to Steamboat Springs to do the last official race of the season.
Steamboat is really pretty, and I've never been, so I was pretty excited to go. It's too bad that my legs were not also excited to race as I pretty much stunk it up in the first two stages of the this race. I finished 11th or 12th in both the opening time trial and the first circuit race. I just chalk it up to bad legs in the first circuit race. Maybe too much track racing this past month? There are no hills on the track you know! I got dropped on the first lap climb of that circuit race and was in no man's land. I made up a little ground by catching a few people along the way, but it just ended up being a bad day for me on the bike. Beth did really great though, she finished 4th and hung on to the lead group of climbers. She was sitting 4th overall after the stage.

I was kind of upset about the circuit race and really didn't know what to expect from myself after 2 bad days on the bike. I joked to Beth the night before about going from the gun in the road race, and her response was an emphatic "No!" We hoped the race would stay together and not be too aggressive because we heard it was a pretty hard course, and as we've said before, we're not a team of climbers.

We started the 3rd stage road race with a neutral roll out on a dirt road for about a mile and then hit the open high way. Then I, in typical fashion, got bored about 1 mile in to the race because I was doing about 90 watts and no one wanted to pull, so I went to the front to to a pull and get the ball rolling, and lo-and-behold, I was off the front. Turns out Beth pulled up when I went to the front and opened up a gap for me. 2 Bike Law women followed with me and when I saw we had a bit of a gap, I just started riding. That was how this epic adventure all got started.

I pull up my SRM file as evidence of the race that unfolded because I am sure as I retell this story that my breakaway will get longer and longer as the years pass. So it was me, Alisabeth, and Sue off the front from mile 1 of the race. We worked very well together. I knew it was an ill-fated move, but I still wanted to gain as much time as possible before we got caught so we could help our teammates in the race. Unfortunately, Alisabeth flatted around mile 15 when we crossed a rail road track. Then it was just me and Sue for another several miles. We still had a pretty big gap because I couldn't see the pack behind us, but our break had more bad luck when Sue dropped her chain around mile 20. I had the choice to go alone or wait for her. I chose to go alone. And so I went...

I went alone to the turn around in the race which was about mile 25. I thought I couldn't be more than a minute or two in front of the pack by then, but when I spotted the pack after the turn I had already been past the turn around for more than 2 minutes. By my powers of dedcution, that meant I had to have about a 5-minute lead on the pack. Holy Crap! I had almost 25 miles to go to the finish, but a pretty big lead. This is the point when I started to have a glimmer of hope of taking this race to the finish. So I grit my teeth and did my best impersonation of Jacky Durand.

Of course, it didn't play out the way I had hoped it would, in epic fashion to start a break on mile one and hold it to the finish. It still was a great adventure. As I ticked the miles away I still couldn't see the pack behind me. When I got to 15 miles to go and still couldn't see the pack, I thought I still had a chance. I did a lot of math in my head that day... I could lose 1 minute every 10 km and still win, but of course, the last 5 miles were mostly uphill. So I was not certain at all that I could hold it. Then with about 10 miles to go the skies opened up and it started to pour down rain and hail. This was turning in to an epic day. I thought and hoped the rain would slow the chasing pack down, but it didn't.

Unfortuatately for me, the moto official started giving me time splits in those last few miles. At 10 miles to go I had 2.5 minutes. I thought... I couldn't lose 2.5 minutes in 10 miles in my worst time trial, right? Oh, but wait, I forgot to factor in the 30 miles preceeding of bascially time trialing. By the time I hit the base of the climb the moto official rides up and tells me I had 1:10 over the chasing pack... I thought to myself, "Crap, I need at least 2 minutes to hold this lead." I kept going as best I could, but was like one of those tour guys who has been in the break all day and getting chased by Lance just weaving my way up the climb. I got within sight of the summit of the penultimate climb when I heard the whir of Susannah's wheels behind me. My epic adventure was over 3 miles from the finish of the race.

It was the best of times and the worst of times. I have always been the rider who isn't afraid to attack, and although my attacks are often ill-timed and ill-advised, I always go with the hope it will work. This time I was in the lead of the race for 45 miles, it's just too bad that the race was 48 miles.

I got popped as soon as the pack caught me and strolled in well after the leaders finished because the last mile was all uphill and I was cooked. The good news of this epic adventure was that it did actually help my teammate Beth who didn't have to do a lick of work all day until the final climb. She did great and finished 3rd on the day and made the final selection up the last climb. The next day was the crit and if she did well she could move up on the overall.

In the crit, I made several attempts to get off the front, but to no avail. We did take both cash primes, and I was able to help Beth with a good the leadout on the final lap. She eneded up taking the win and bumped herself up to 3rd overall with the time bonus, so that at least was some gratification for the weekend.

All in all, I had a good time at Steamboat and we went to the hot springs after the race. I wished I had raced better in the early stages, but we can't always get what we want. I will still count that break-away in the road race in Steamboat as one of my favorite moments of 2009, eventhough it didn't work out in the end. I'll keep trying though, you all know me by now.

New napping spot

2009-08-29T15:23:00.000-06:00

I have discovered the reason why all my towels are covered in cat hair

Nationals Wrap Up

2009-08-24T19:24:00.002-06:00

Well, nationals finished the way it started, with a win. This time in the 3 kilometer team pursuit. That's when 3 people ride together to get the fastest time over the distance.

We assembled a great team with me and Ingrid Alongi from Boulder who incidentally set the second fastest individual pursuit time. I only nipped her by 0.2 secs in the individual event. We also had Kate Gracheck. I guess I could say that Kate had us on her team since it was 6 months ago when Kate asked me to do the team pursuit with her. Thanks so much guys, it was a great ride and a great way to wrap up nationals.

Master's Nationals Update Part II

2009-08-22T14:41:00.004-06:00

Last night was the points race. I've been eagerly anticipating this race since they announced Master's Nationals was moving to Colorado Springs. The points race is by far my favorite event, either road or track, so I was super pumped for the race.
Unfortunately the tactics of the race didn't suite my strengths. I prefer a very fast, aggressive race. Although I did my best to live up to my nickname with several futile, ill-timed attacks, I couldn't get anything going off the front. I ended up 3rd in the points, just barely. I took the 3-way tie for 3rd with my sprint on the last lap, so it was real close.

I do have to give a lot of props to Brooke O'Connor. She raced a fantastic race and it's great to see her win. I couldn't think of anyone nicer to get beat by. She and I used to face off against each other when I was racing nationally. I never beat her back then and I still couldn't last night. To be honest, I think that field last night was one the deepest and most competitive field I've ever raced with. So it's no shame in finishing 3rd with that group.
Of course, I'm still bummed about it, and I did my fair share of pouting last night, but there's more racing tomorrow. I have the team pursuit tomorrow. That's 3 people doing a 3k time trial together. We assembled 3 of Colorado's best pursuiters, so between me, Ingrid, and Kate we hope to put in a good time.
In the most excellent news from the points race last night, Kate Gracheck won her age group. I couldn't be happier for Kate since she's not only a good friend, but someone I've seen get better and better every year on the bike. This year in particular it's great to see Kate doing so well because a year ago this month she was diagnosed with cancer. So, she not only kicked cancer's ass this year but also totally kicked ass on that track last night.

p.s. thanks to random people on facebook for all these photos which I stole.

p.p.s I also want to thank everyone who came out to watch last night. I had friends come down as far as Boulder just to watch me race. I definitely had the home crowd advantage. Thanks everyone!

Master's Nationals Update

2009-08-19T22:12:00.003-06:00

This week are Master's National Track Championships. I haven't raced them since 2006, the last time they were here in Colorado Springs.

2006 was also the last time I won a national championship, which I was lucky enough to do again today. That makes a total of 5 for me now. I guess I'm kind of proud of that number now.
Today's race was the pursuit and it was a surprise win as I've only done 3 pursuit workouts all year. I guess those last 7 or 8 years of pursuit training is paying off because I not only won my age group today, but also set the fastest time for all the women. My time was 2:39.5 which I think is a PR. My goal was to go under 2:40, so I guess I did that, just barely!

I do have some people to thank.
I need to thank Swillissa for loaning me her aero helmet. I won the race by 0.25 seconds, and I'm sure her more aero helmet was the difference over my circa 1996 P.O.S aero bucket.
I have to thank Katie Compton for calling my splits during the race, mostly she just yelled at me to go faster, which is all I really needed anyway.
I also have to thank all my fans, aka coworkers, that came out to cheer me on like maniacs. Every time I came through the home stretch there was thunderous cheering, cowbells, and screaming. I am sure I would not have dug as deep without them.

And then the day ended with a beautiful sunset.

Next up, the Points Race on Friday night. I can't wait! The Points Race is what I'm actually good at.

Racing update

2009-08-11T18:16:00.003-06:00

Dear Mom,
It's been a while since I've been able to say this, but I won the race on Saturday. Woot! The form seems to be coming good just a couple weeks ahead of nationals. After about a dozen 2nd places over the last 2 years it's kind of a relief.

That's snow, yo!

2009-07-27T18:27:00.003-06:00

That's snow y'all. It snowed on the Peak and it's only July, or is it July and still snowing, I'm not sure. All the winter snow hadn't quite melted yet but I still think it's a first for me to see fresh snow on the peak in July.

Mail Call

2009-07-26T08:49:00.003-06:00

Budha finds the mail basket quite cozy

New House

2009-07-19T14:45:00.005-06:00

Some people (Mom) have asked me to update my blog with some pics of the new house since they are not on the book of faces.

So as of July 2nd, all this is mine.

Kitchen. Just like my good friends, I struggle with fingerprints on the stainless steel appliances.

Living room... I think I'm gunna need a big flat screen TV for this! (hint, hint Mom, I still haven't gotten a housewarming gift).

As a lucky coincidence, the bedroom furniture matches the wood doors and framework.

There's a small back yard so that some day I can think about growing the family, like with a puppy.

But for now, I'll stick with the wild, jungle, tiger cats.
I'm still not sure what this room is... spare room, office, junk room, but if you stay with me, this is where you're sleeping!
Laundry. The new washer and dryer make my clothes seem that much cleaner.
I heart my garage. So nice to have a garage now for all the bikes.

The view ain't bad either.

The view from the other side is of NORAD. http://www.norad.mil/ It reassures me that when the big one comes, we're probably going first.

Side-walk giveaway update

2009-06-06T22:20:00.001-06:00

I put the stuff out at 6pm, then went to dinner at a friend's house. By the time I got back everything was gone. We may try some more items tomorrow.

Sidewalk giveaway is back.

2009-06-06T18:01:00.000-06:00

I didn't even have time to put the free sign on it before some guy claimed the futon.

Faithfully

2009-05-28T21:54:00.001-06:00

Best song ever? You tell me.

La Casita

2009-05-14T19:50:00.000-06:00

I think this could mean trouble now because I pass La Casita every evening on my way home from the new office. Yes, I did eat there tonight, but it could, and has, been worse. I used to live across the street from this fine establishment.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T18:37:00.006-06:00

My mom does not "do" Facebook and rarely surfs the internet super highway, so I feel obliged on Mother's Day to do a big, big update since I never update the blog anymore.

The spring has been very tempermental for us so far with some days in the 70's and some days in the 30's and snowing.That does make the Peak extra pretty though with the snow.

I spent early April in the wind tunnel in North Carolina. It was a lot of fun.

In the wind tunnel we test for aerodynamics.

Then in we moved from the old office to the new office.

To the new office.

The new office is in west Colorado. It's real cool.
And then I tested out Kirk's bike. He's 6'4"

channeling Cruise?

2009-05-07T20:42:00.003-06:00

Question: Is Lance Armstrong channeling Tom Cruise now?

ESP

2009-04-13T08:01:00.002-06:00

It snowed much of the day yesterday, so last night was a good night to cozy up by the fire.

All that snow yesterday made the mountains look extra special pretty with the blue, blue sky this morning.

I tried to capture what I saw on my drive to work this morning, but the pictures just don't do it justice.

Big Blog Update

2009-04-12T17:48:00.005-06:00

You'll notice I don't update the blog much anymore, well that's because everyone has Facebook now. Everyone, but my family that is. So here's your big week in update.

Another week in the office is in the books. The charm of the first couple of weeks seems to have worn off...

We toured the new office building on Friday.

It's supposed to open in early May.... it doesn't look like it's going to open in just 3 weeks, but even if we open late it will be worth the wait.
Friday night I headed up to Maegan's house for a team dinner. Maegan, although new to the team does conspicuously fly the Natural Grocers colors on her lawn.

Matt, Maegan's husband, made dinner. Let's just say this folks, he cooks REAL good.

Of course, Lucy is always super cute.

And so are the twins.

Except when they wear ridiculously oversized Natural Grocers team wear.

Today it snowed, just as it does every weekend in spring. That's just the way it goes in Colorado in April. It's a good thing though, I wasn't up for a big ride after the beat down Lisa and Maegan gave me on High Drive yesterday.

Twilight

2009-04-07T21:21:00.002-06:00

Not the movie, but the time of day. Twilight is the prettiest time of the day in the Springs. I am still in search of a good picture to capture it. Stay tuned.

kitty loaf

2009-04-05T21:18:00.000-06:00

drinking problems

2009-03-31T15:34:00.000-06:00

I think I may have a drinking problem. 4 out of the 5 empty beverage containers on my desk contained some kind of caffeine in them at some point today.

Comfy?

2009-03-29T20:57:00.000-06:00

Koppenburg Postponed

2009-03-28T19:55:00.001-06:00

The race tomorrow is postponed. For some reason, they think it's un-rideable.

Snow Day Busted

2009-03-27T14:58:00.001-06:00

3pm post blizzard

Ok, so there's really no reason to be at home any more... yeah for spring snow! Comes in fast and leaves fast. Let's hope it leaves us with a little green grass too.

The little blizzard that could

2009-03-27T08:05:00.003-06:00

8am

I guess I didn't give our little blizzard enough credit. We still didn't get ton of snow downtown, but enough to have a snow day at work today. All that really means for me today is I'll work from home like I have done every other day for the last 4 years until 2 weeks ago. Still nice not to have to go in to the office today.

It's still coming down pretty good in some areas north of town too. I guess our storm was just a late bloomer compared to what Boulder got.

blizzard busted

2009-03-26T19:03:00.002-06:00

6pm

This blizzard is officially busted. While some places in the state got snow measured in feet instead of millimeters, my Colorado Springs blizzard watch is officially over. While we did get some snow and got sent home from work early, about the worst thing about today is that it's 14 degrees. I think chances are slim to none for a snow day tomorrow.

BLIZZARD WATCH UPDATE!

2009-03-26T14:04:00.002-06:00

2pm

2 hours in and it's starting to pile up. The roads are getting messy. I think it's about time to leave work early...

BLIZZARD WATCH UPDATE!

2009-03-26T12:21:00.001-06:00

12pm

...and here it comes. It just started snowing and you can barely see the Wells Fargo building from the office now. This could be the real deal. Stay tuned!

BLIZZARD WATCH UPDATE!

2009-03-26T07:20:00.000-06:00

7:00 am.

Weak... so far unimpressed by the Blizzard of '09, although, to be fair, it's not really supposed to start snowing hard until this afternoon. Stay tuned!

Yikes!

2009-03-25T19:20:00.001-06:00

Now there's some serious power in those legs. (German sprinters at track worlds http://velonews.com/article/89711 ). It kind of makes me feel like I should go do some squats.

Longest Blog Post, Ever?!

2009-03-24T19:50:00.006-06:00

Dear blog readers, I'm sure you've noticed a dearth of blog posts lately, and that is for two reasons. A) I have a real, grown up job now and 2) Blogs are passe and Facebook is where it's at. Not only do I update more often on Facebook, but you can also (nearly) follow minute-ly what I am doing during the day. If you're not already on Facebook, please check it out because I may just give up the blog for it soon.

So this is folks, me at my new/ old job at CTS headquarters. I have worked for CTS as a coach since October of 2001, I have worked part-time, full-time, part-time, and full-time once again. It's kizmet, it's like the rash that won't go away, I'm back working at the home office once again. (please note, the first picture captured of me on my first day and what is on my computer? (yes, it's Facebook)

In part of my transition back in to working with all the facilities available, I have opted for the two monitor, multi-computer functionality. Although, I like the clarity of my new monitor, all the cool kids are making fun of how big it is. Whatever, yo!, I can see what I'm doing without squinting you LCD mointor snobs.

I did try to make lots of friends in my first week back in the home office by brining in muffins from Wooglin's and keeping candy at my desk... By Mike and Adam's reactions, I think it is working.

I've also gotten a lot of new SWAG since being in the office. SWAG, Stuff We All like to Get. I've gotten Smith sunglasses, Pearlizumi jackets, Giro helmets, and the best is our new MBT shoes. Brianna and I got the same pair, actually several of us do, but I have to admit that I think I'm sold on the concept. You can go to the website to check it out. http://www.swissmasaius.com/Default.aspx
The basic idea is that these shoes return your feet to the nature bare foot on an unstable surface form, therefore, activating your core stability muscles more. So, there you go.

In trying on the new shoes, I did discover that the team Vitamin Cottage socks do have a integrity problem.

In the meanwhile, my good friend Gretchan came out to visit for 48 hours of fun. Gretchan and I are old racing buddies and spend some good quality time as housemates in our formative years.

We had a great time and were able to play dress up for a party.

The party, of course, was for our friend Bob. His 40th birthday was last week and we had a great time celebrating it!

Since then it's been back to the norm and hanging out with work friend and dogs after work.

Of course, the best part of coming back to the Office is office pranks. This morning we found Steve's bike hanging from the rafters when we came in. This time Steve got it, I can just imagine what they'll do to me next time.

2009-03-16T21:00:00.003-06:00

Today is the first day of the rest of my life, I guess. I started back at my new/ old job today in the main office working full-time today. Old because I used to work in the office full time, new because I am moving from a role of independent contractor for the past 4 years to full-time employee again. All that really means is I have to show up every day at 8am, groomed and dressed, and stay until (at least) 5pm every night. It's the same job I've been doing, I just wear nicer clothes while I do it (rather than my standard of sweats and a hoodie, kackies and a button down ).

After a full morning of emails and phone calls, we went out for a little coaches' practical today. It was just a little time to brush up on our hands on coaching skillz. It sure was nice out today... I am concerned about how dry it has been lately... see that ground underneath us? That is supposed to be grass, not so much now. It's real dry here.

The biggest thing I forgot about in the office was all the meetings and distractions that come up. See, I've been working "full-time" for the last 4 years, just not inside the confines of the office. What that meant for me today was that my regular 8-ish hour day on Monday turned in to an 11 hour day today... and I still have more to catch up on tomorrow. Phew, let's hope day #2 isn't quite so long.

One last day

2009-03-15T22:18:00.003-06:00

Saturday was Gretchan's last day in the Springs, so we had to make the most of it.

We went to Wooglin's for muffins, then watched the St. Patty's Day run downtown.

It was a very pretty day.

Then we got all dressed up and headed to Boulder for Bob's 40th birthday bash.

Dinner was at Burnt Toast, it's a cozy little restaurant in Boulder. We had the whole joint to ourselves, there were about 45 people there. The food was great and company was good.

There was plenty of booze too.

And this one guy, Andy, brought some good olive oil pressed at his villa in Italy (and if you don't recognize that guy Andy, it's Andy Hampsten).

Of course the reason we were all there was this guy Bob. Happy 40th Bob!

Gretchanpalooza

2009-03-14T06:11:00.003-06:00

Gretchan has come to visit for quick trip to Colorado. Gretchan is my old housemate, teammate, buddy from my early days in Colorado Springs. She's on her way to Kansas, and with a very creative travel itinerary found a way to get a 48 hour layover in Colarado.

Gretchan hasn't been back to Colorado since she moved to Portland 6 years ago, so we have to cram in a lot...
Like taking a drink from every spring fountain in Manitou Springs.

There were some I had never tried before. To be honest I only knew of 3 of the spring fountain, so we found some new ones.

And you can't forget the Indian, which I think has the best tasting water of them all. It's like Gerolsteiner, for free!
Then we had to go over to the Garden of the Gods and see the Kissing Camels.
Close up of the Kissing Camels. 10 years ago last month, Kurt and Gretchan got married at dawn outside underneath the Kissing Camels, and in case you didn't pick up on that, dawn in February in Colorado is pretty damn cold.

Then we walked around all the old stomping grounds downtown in the Springs. She's only here for a day, then we head up to Boulder. So we had to get everything in one day, and we've done pretty well. We did lunch at Wooglins, stopped by her old work at Thomas and Thomas, went to the Garden and Cheyenne Canyon, hung out in Manitou, shopped for books at Poor Richards, and ate at Il Vicinos. Phew! 24 more hours, we've got a lot more to do.

2009-03-12T10:04:00.000-06:00

I only have a few more days left of working from the home office. I start back full-time at CTS next week. I wonder if I'll miss getting watched by small furry creatures all day.

Dynamic Duos

2009-03-07T21:47:00.009-07:00

Throughout history there have been some memorable dynamic duos.

Of course, there's the original dynamic duo, Batman and Robin.

And who could forget Goose and Maverick.

And, some, we have been inundated with since childhood.

And let's not leave out the ladies.

And some may be of questionable sorts....

Of course, what I'm talking about is the return of my racing better half, the Batman to my Robin, the Cagney to my Lacey, the Salt to my Peppa. After a taking a year off to have her baby, Beth is back and racing again. Woot, Woot!

Today was our first race together in over a year, and it was just her and I from the team at the DU crit. We did our best, but we could not contain the fury that was Amanda Miller. She and Kori took off in a break. Beth and I cleaned up in the field to finish 3rd and 4th with some crafty teamwork in the last corner that allowed me to take the sprint from the chase group.

I can't wait for the next race!

2009-03-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

It's new, it's Blue, and a little (SRAM) Red too.

Too noisy to work

2009-03-05T19:52:00.003-07:00

I needed to get some work done tonight and wasn't motivated at home so I went out to my favorite office away from the office a the Coffee Exchange. Little did I know that it was Irish folk music night. These guys are actually pretty good; however, it is far to noisy to work here now. That's fo' sho'

Excessive Celebration Fail

2009-03-05T17:11:00.001-07:00

Waiting

2009-03-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

Every morning when I get up Buddha sits and waits by the food dish to get fed... Please note, there is still food left in the dish from yesterday. However, as you can see, there is a spec of white at the bottom of the bowl, therefore, she thinks she is starving.

WTF?

2009-02-19T17:54:00.002-07:00

I really hope Mark Cavendish hasn't started a new trend of pointing at your wee-wee as your victory salute. This from today's ATOC stage win.

Boulderiffic

2009-02-14T16:41:00.003-07:00

I am up in Boulder for Valentines Day with the Fiskington's. Since Sam and I are both swingin' singles we'll be celebrating Singles Awareness Day instead.

I took this opportunity to check out the new velodrome in Boulder.
It's pretty steep, and really short. Only 138 m around.

Getting serious

2009-02-13T13:33:00.000-07:00

I am not f'ing around before I start this workout today.

Back to winter

2009-02-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

It's back to winter weather for a few days... Time to cozy up to the fire.

Seriously!

2009-02-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

Seriously, how am I supposed to get any work done this way?

Do you ever get that feeling...

2009-02-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

That you are being watched?

So Nice.

2009-02-05T14:49:00.001-07:00

It's so nice today, I've taken the home office in to the backyard office. 65 and Sunny. What a great day to be in Colorado.

Just the beginning

2009-02-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

I did the first of many L.T. workouts for season today. It won't be long before I dread the sight of Gold Camp road, but for now I'll still enjoy riding it on a 60 degree day in February.

Cross World's Update

2009-02-01T18:35:00.004-07:00

Why does Katie look like the only one who is happy at cross World's? Nice job at World's Katie, our home town hero from the Springs.

If you want to watch the race coverage click here. It's worth the watch, Katie rides a great race!

It's Blue

2009-01-28T09:36:00.003-07:00

I picked up my new frame and parts last weekend. I keep on clicking my heels together three times but the bike building fairy still hasn't come to put it all together.

Snow Hike

2009-01-25T14:03:00.003-07:00

I stayed up at Beth's house last night so we could go ride today... The snow, however, put a crimp in that plan, so we went for a hike.

It was real cold out. It's hard to believe it was almost 70 degrees out on Wednesday. It's about 15 degrees today.
The overlook of Boulder.

After the hike we did a little tree climbing for our upper body workout.

Coaches' "Meeting"

2009-01-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

Enjoying our last day of spring in winter the coaches from the office and I did the first of many Squirrel Creek rides for the year.

Shorts and short sleeves

2009-01-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

It's spring in January in Colorado

2009-01-19T08:33:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Kimberly (a few days late). This weekend I went up to Denver with Swillisa and Mini-Me to help Kimberly celebrate her big birthday. Phew, she's finally moved out of my age group at Master's Natz now!

2009-01-18T18:21:00.003-07:00

Nicely done Ms. Compton, very nicely done. (click here to read more)

2009-01-18T09:27:00.001-07:00

This was the song that was stuck in my head all day yesterday during my 4-hour ride. Wonder what it'll be today?

Deer-tastic

2009-01-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever seen so many deer in one lawn before (that's 8 of them if you can't see them all)

2009-01-13T09:55:00.002-07:00

I was running a little slow this morning and got to the gym about 30 minutes late. It usually still dark out when I get to the gym, but since I was late I got to see the moon above the Peak this morning.

2009-01-12T20:10:00.005-07:00

It was great to spend the weekend with my teammates and do a little riding in Boulder and Denver with my teammates. It was a whole weekend of firsts and learning new things.

I enjoyed spending time with Beth and Sam. He's a real cutie.

And Beth went on her first chariot ride with young Sam.

I also learned about the Bumbo. Apparently it is all the rage in baby contraptions.

I also learned that the moms on the team are "Burley" strong, which means they can ride just as fast, if not faster than you toting around a baby behind. I also learned that babies on team rides result in a lot of "oohing" and "aahing" at the cute babies. (see cute Lucy!)

And last, I learned that the draft behind the mommies on bikes is saawheet!

2009-01-10T20:46:00.003-07:00

I went up to Boulder today to hang out with Beth, do a mini-team ride, and celebrate her birthday a few days late.Before the ride Jenna fuels up with some baby formula. It does a body good.

It was great to see Sam again, he's getting so big, and cute. That boy is going to be a lady killer for sure.

Then we went out to dinner to celebrate Beth's birthday.

With so many people it was tough to figure out splitting the bill, but good thing Beth had her trusty calculator watch. At $13, it was a bargain and an accessory every 7th grade boy from the 80's would desire.

Weather Report

2009-01-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

Froggy says it's 65 degrees out in January, get your a$$ outside! Ribbit.

Double shot

2009-01-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is my 3rd double shot of the day before my 2nd session on the rollers. I am not sure which is the sign of a problem.

2009-01-06T15:09:00.002-07:00

I don't know if I ever want to go on vacation again. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast at home, but catching up with the work that's piled up since I've been gone has not been fun. .... back to work I go!

2009-01-03T23:28:00.006-07:00

Never in the history of blogging have we done two Retro CD's of the day, but here you go... Bonus Retro CD of the day: Poi Dog Pondering - Texas Hotel.
It's a little more obscure, but it is good if you like folksy Irish type music (but they are not Irish)

2009-01-03T19:15:00.010-07:00

Retro CD of the Day: U2 Wide Awake in America
It's a live album with only 4 songs but it is awesome! Classic U2. I found this gem in my sister's collection. I hadn't listened to it in years.

Ahhh, cute

2009-01-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

(It took me one day back before I ran out of interesting things to blog about & needed to put up a cat post)

2009-01-01T08:42:00.002-07:00

Oops, I realized I never posted any pictures of me and mom from the trip home. Bye Mom!

Happy New Year everyone.

2008-12-31T07:56:00.002-07:00

As I get ready to leave today and go back to Colorado, just a few last notes from my Christmas visit.

Some things never change as I keep the tradition of sneaking in to my sister's bed in the morning after she gets up. It's so much more comfy and comes with a 100 lb snuggle buddy named Chester.

My mom, err Santa, also still stuffs fruit in our stockings and leaves them on our bed Christmas morning.
One last note. In case you were wondering when it all began:

The Stratus Citizen Bike Race. 1st Place 18 & Under. July 15, 1990.

That's it folks. I'm back to the land of blue skies, big mountains, and free range internet access tonight.

2008-12-30T08:17:00.006-07:00

On Saturday, Donna and I went to Portsmouth. I love Portsmouth, it is one of the few places I have to go every time I go home. It reminds me of college because we used to go out there a lot since Durham is just down the road.

Donna and I walked around.

Got some coffee.

Performed a impromptu puppet show.

Then we ate lunch at the Gas Light. It was a good day.

2008-12-28T08:14:00.001-07:00

On Friday my mom, sister Donna, and I went down to Boston.

We went to see the Nutcracker ballet at my sister's request.

Then we walked down to Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market to get some chowdah.

From there we walked over to the North End to get canolis at Mike's Pastry.

Boston at twilight.

Even my mom had a good time walking around the city all afternoon.