My brother Josh

I just got this photo from my dad and liked it so much, I had to post it! My older brother Josh is such an awesome big brother. He got me riding bikes at a very young age and till this day, he is still very passionate about cycling....mainly mountain biking. He has been a bicycle commuter since the early nineties...hardly ever driving anywhere. Pictured with him is George. His best friend and one of the smartest dogs I have ever met. If I even mention Josh or George in front of Ippon (our dog), he gets very excited. These two are very easy to love. Josh is currently residing in Lake Tahoe, but hopefully he will coming home to visit soon.

Smap's new ride...

Smap decided he had enough bikes, so he decided to just go for a Porsche Boxster instead for a change. KIDDING!!!!! My dad picked this pretty baby up coming back from the beach a few weeks ago. I think he scored if off of EBAY....my dad is the KING of trading cars and/or selling them. We were out at the farm gathering clippings from several plants around the farm, and Dad was so nice to let us both drive his new toy around the block. I decided that I would much rather be a passenger then driver....too much liability. Even though it is a few years old, my poor teacher's salary probably couldn't take the hit if something were to happen to this car while I was driving it.

Here is Luna (Smap's brother's dog who we babysat for a month while they were in Czech visiting Kate's family) having a good time with Ippon, Squash, and I think Petey...the dogs always just LOVE hanging at the farm.

Dad has a friend who has a ranch in Texas who gave him a baby stear (sp?). Dad named him Crocket after Davey Crockett of course. He also managed to get a female sent over as well. Dad named her Rebecca...Davey Crockett's wife's name. He said if they have babies, then he will have to research the names of their kids. Dad loves his history.

We have a three day weekend coming up, so Smap and I will be back to more yard work, training for our upcoming mountain bike races, and hopefully just hanging out with some friends and family!

CHEERS!

My future bike...

I totally stole this image off of Dave Holmes's blog. I had to though. I emailed GF well over a year ago for them to come out with a carbon fiber single speed 29'er. My current RIG (which is my 2nd) is my favorite bike I own. I hope to get my hands on one of these.... January will tell...only a limited number of these babies are going out to folk like Dave and Trek owners I think. My fingers are crossed.....

Race Results for FCF's...

I just got my race results....not bad I think for a gal who doesn't run or train. I got first in my age group and 6th woman overall. Again, it was a fun day...exhausting, but fun.

The Fall Creek Falls Triathlon

I can't say the last time I actually did an Olympic distance triathlon. Before I quit racing tri's, I was either doing 1/2 Ironmans or sprints.... Anyway, yesterday I was offerred a free entry into the Fall Creek Falls Tri. The first Olympic tri I ever raced was in April of 98' (The Lock they use to have in Oak Ridge). The last race I did prior to yesterday was the Tellico Sprint back in 06'. I can't remember how I did back then except that I beat my sister and I hadn't trained...she was pissed.

Anyway, Smap got home from doing a midnight Heinous Loop at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday. They started at 8 pm, and did the full 60+ miles in the dark. YUCK...you couldn't pay me. I woke up pretty much when Smap got home. I might have gone back to sleep for a half hour, but I always like to talk to him when he does these things. He was pretty much out when his head hit the pillow though, so talking was pretty much out of the question.

I drove down to Fall Creek Falls early yesterday for the 7:30 am central time start....if you haven't been there, it is a must see. It is a beautiful park with miles of pathed bike paths, a golf course, play grounds everywhere, a lake to swim in, boats to rent etc....

The water was a little cold, so they declared the swim a "wetsuit legal swim". Of course I have no such thing because I was always too cheap to buy a wetsuit when I raced. I just always borrowed....it is free. I think I did well on the swim. I am still waiting to see the times because I did not stick around afterwards for awards. I asked Chris Urban, who was there for CBC bike maintenance, how many gals were out in front of me....he said five for six. I knew I wouldn't be first out because, well I haven't been swimming a lot. I was at the beginning of the summer before I became Smap's temporary office gal.

The bike proved a strong leg for me even though I was on my regular race bike without any aero bars. A funny thing happened...this guy...number 231 (age 40...your age is always written on your calf) was on a complete tri bike with the tri helmet and everything...I passed him like he was sitting still. So, he came back around me and I around him and him around me... Finally, he was ahead of me and I came around again....he says to me, "how did you like your draft"....I said to him, "excuse me, but I don't know what you are talking about"... he then starts being a jerk saying I was cheating by riding too close to him. I know how close I was to him and it was at least 4-5 bike lengths. For those of you who aren't up on your tri knowledge, drafting was illegal in this race, so you have to stay back 3 bike lengths. There are some races like in the Olympics that do allow drafting, but not yesterday. So, I finally just started cursing at him and told him, "I'm sorry you can't handle a girl on a regular bike riding faster than you, you male chauvinist pig...". He and I kept going back and forth, every time commenting back to each other. Finally with five miles to go, I dropped him and did not see him again until the run...where he of course passed me because I don't run.

The run was bad for me at first. I had a small asthma attack because I couldn't get my breathing right, but after three miles I had a good rhythm. I never caught two girls on the bike, but did get passed by about 5-6 women on the run. I'm unsure what my final time was, but it was decent I think....and fun.

My knees never hurt me for one second yesterday. I was a little nervous about them, but they held out well. My asthma hurt me the most, but once I got it under control I was fine.
I doubt I will do any tri's next year unless a mountain bike is involved. We'll see how my knees do. I am not planning on running every day or every week for that matter. I just like to mix it up from time to time because if I don't, then I get BORED. If I am bored, then I am unhappy.
So, today I am satisfied.

Smap and I have the Black Bear Rampage coming up at the end of September. This is the mountain bike race down at the Ocoee that we did last year. It is such a fun time. This year, Fisher's name sake will be there competing with us...Gary Fisher.

We also have the annual 12 hour Hill of Truth race coming up at the end of October. We'll be doing a lot of mountain biking these next few months! I can't wait!

I am up to absolutely no good...sorry dad...

My curiosity got the best of me last week when an old friend offered me a free race entry for tomorrow's upcoming triathlon at Fall Creek Falls.  Curious why?  Because I want to see how well or rather, how bad I will do in a triathlon.  I have run only a few times in the last year due to my horrible knees that I was given to walk this earth.  I guess it doesn't help that I had three knee surgeries before the ripe age of seventeen.  But, after having the Quatum Touch Therapy, I decided to see how well it just really works.  What is six miles anyways right?  Sorry Dad if you are reading this.  I really do value your judgement on me not running, and I don't.....very much...or, I should say I rarely do run.  At least I don't run like Sissy...all the time...she did 12 miles today for crying out loud.  I guess I just want to do something new....I mean old.  Something I use to do.  It is hard to believe that I started doing tri's a little over ten years ago.  I started when there was a lull in the sport.  I think it was popular in the eighties, then not so popular in the nineties.   I don't know.  All I know is that the several weeks ago, Smap and I volunteered at a small sprint race and there was a TON of people trying the sport out.  

So, tomorrow morning I will be tested.  I don't even have aero bars on my bike!!!!  Should be very interesting and hopefully fun.  

Finally a new post...

I have been quite busy lately.  We are taking care of Smap's youngest brother's dog right now while he and his wife are on an extended holiday to visit Kate's family in Czech.  Having another dog around as well as our new KITTY, makes things complicated because the "niece dog" as I like to call her wants to eat my new kitty, Fisher (aka Fish-head).We got Fisher from our friends Tim and Lindsay.  We had been thinking about getting a kitty for quite a while, then one day little Fisher walked into Lindsay's life/yard and she called me.  I named him Fisher due to our love for our Gary Fisher bikes we ride on a regular basis.  And, it is a cool name for a cool cat.  

I started back to school today with 136 new 6th graders.  Fun times I must say.  I will have my hands full most definitely, but it is all okay.  

Smap and I went for a great trail run this past Sunday.  I just felt so great thanks to Eric Bell's mom and her Quatum Touch Therapy.  She worked on my knees and they just felt so good running.  I also had a fun ride with my great mountain bike buddy Jen on Saturday out at the ridge.  

I also have to mention Smap's friend who contacted him this past Friday.  Smap hasn't heard from Kari in about 10 years.  Kari is this Harley Davidson, long-haired, carpenter, from Finland who Smap met a long time ago through another friend.  It was a very interesting story actually how they met but I will not bore with the details... So, Kari comes in Friday and hangs with us.  He is a very interesting person...full of stories.  Saturday night, we met him and a gal he met on his motorcycle out at the brewery on Gay Street.  I must say I have never hung out with Harley people of this sort before.  The tattoos, the hair, the clothing, the earrings....these people look just like what you would see in the movies.  I had so much fun though.  Meeting new people is ALWAYS so much fun, but meeting new and completely different people from what I am use to meeting is even better.  I laughed me arse off with Kari's friend Lisa that night.  

To top off the weekend, Smap and I got to hang out at my dad's farm on Saturday afternoon.  He got two new steers from Texas....and he has 4 foster pit-bulls who were all just incredibly adorable and loving.  A lot of people like to sit and argue with us that they are horrible creatures that should be put to death and have no business living with families, but these people don't realize it is all about how they are raised.  I have never been in contact with such loving dogs before I met these.  They just curl up in your lap and kiss you and want you to rub on them.  They are just so sweet. 

We capped off our weekend at Smap's parents' house.  His mom always cooks the finest meals for her sons and their families.  I am always so excited to see what kinds of fabulous things she has on the menu each time we visit.  I also got to see my new little niece Anna.  She has grown so big in these past 7 weeks.  It is amazing how big kids get so quickly.

Enough rambling.  I hope to have some photos soon from my dad.  My step-mom took a ton of all the dogs while we were out there.  When I get them, I plan on posting them.

Tah tah....