2 posts in one day!

Okay, so about a year ago Smap and I went to Aspen with his mom, his brother Alex and his wife Kate. It was a very nice trip. It helped me take my mind off of losing my dearest grandmother, Nernie (she passed right before we left). Smap's mom, Barbara, left Aspen the day before we did, so she made it back to K-town just fine. Alex and Kate's flight back to San Fransisco was four hours prior to ours. They flew out of Aspen just fine. We didn't have such luck. As soon as they flew out, the clouds started rolling in and we got stuck! Smap and I missed the last free shuttle to Denver, so we had to rent a Ford Explorer with some really rich old man, and a very young married couple from South Africa. The five us set off in a semi blizzard for Denver around 4:00 that day. We got to the Denver airport in one piece around 9 pm and dropped off our passengers. Since Smap drove the truck, the old rich guy paid for most of the rental, so we had it for the entire next day. Our flight wasn't until like 6pm the next day too, so we had a day to kill in Colorado. As soon as we dropped off the passengers, Smap asked me, "how far is it to Fort Collins?"... He knew I had been there before (7 years prior). "An hour and a half"....I say, and as I look at him, I see a huge grin. "We're going to the New Belgium Brewery then tomorrow". Yep, we did and here are photos to prove. Of all the breweries in the world, I have only been to one before, and I have been to this one TWICE! Yep, two times...

This time at the brewery, Smap and I had such a good time. We made friends with all the people working there (I think we got there as soon as they opened for the day). We got our own private tour and tasting. They usually only let you taste each beer once, but we pretty much got whatever we wanted. Also, they gave us so much free stuff since we were from Tennessee and since we were buying so much other stuff. I could live in Fort Collins. It is such a cool town. We really like this brewery because they are COMPLETELY off the grid and they are employee owned. They give a really cool cruiser to all their employees after a year of employment.

Smap and I are really into being green these days, so we appreciate and spend our money on items/services/food from companies that are green.

Anyway, I wanted to share the spontaneous unplanned trip from last year. Hard to believe this was a year ago. Hopefully, I have a lot more fun times to share soon.

Peace Out,

Rach

Thursday...cold again...

Well, we had a warm snap, but it didn't last long. Good thing too because it has really caused some damage with all the tornados and crazy wind gusts. My poor sis can't sleep at night due to Nashville's tornado warnings (which I think my sis said are actual alarms right next to her house). Anyway, I ended up getting in 25 miles on Tuesday rather than the 40 actually wanted. I only took one water bottle with me. I failed to remember how much water I actually drink when it is really warm outside. I think the high on Tuesday was 77?!!! Craziness. I did have a good ride though. I am feeling quite strong.

Other than that, not much is going on. I am hoping schools will get called out due to the flu. So many kids have been sick and we had like over 200 out yesterday. They are dropping like flies. So, if I don't have school tomorrow, I will upload photos! I have so many to share.

Cheers for now.

~Two days in a row for blogging~

So, this is what I am "doing" today (see picture).... Ha ha ha....

Yep, for some reason (perhaps GLOBAL WARMING) the weather is a balmy 70 or so degrees out today. Yesterday it was terrential (SP?) downfall and cold. This calls for a celebration. Oops, I forgot to vote. Well, it gets dark at 6, so I have time to run home and get 30-40 miles in prior to the darkness and prior to the polls closing. I just can't pass up the opportunity to get a ride in in February without knee or arm warmers in! And, for once my feet will not hurt.

This is my pretty road bike I got last year. It was the Discovery Team's race bike last year. Of course the Discovery team doesn't exist anymore, and Trek has come out with a much better race bike. I will be on this one for not much longer. Smap has aquired the ability to sense when I need new bikes (which is frequently!). Soon, I hope to have my new single speed frame in possession as well as my new Fisher HIFI carbon full suspension bike. Truefully, I really could care less about the HiFI. I really LOVE riding my single speed mountain bike the best out of any bike I have EVER had. This says a lot about me. Coming from a girl who use to cry when Smap took me mountain biking. I just use to get so completely frustrated because I couldn't stay with him or the other guys like I could on the road bike rides. It took me a while to be able to ride fast, but thankfully Smap introduced me to the single speed. It has changed my world of riding (both on the mountain and the road). I am so very thankful for my one geared bike. My technical ability on mountain is 100 X's better as well as my strength and speed....just because of one gear. I could tell on the Tuesday night CBC shop rides how big a difference it made for my road riding last year. I would be able to hang on to those super fast rides just by channelling strength from my core into my legs...it was amazing. I am looking forward to more channelling this year on both my road and mountain bikes!!!

Not much more to talk about today except that I don't have kids today due to teacher in-service!!! WAHOOOOOOOOO... teaching rocks. I do need to plan, so I will plan to blog a little more tomorrow about my ride today.

Cheers!

I'm a lazy poster, but not a lazy rider...

Well, I have a camera full of great photos. My dad got it for us for Christmas, but the thing is, I have no patience to unload the pics onto the computer in the computer room....I think partly because the computer room in our house is cold. I like using the lap top in the den which we don't load the different stuff on to (Ipod music, pictures, etc). I will get around to doing it soon. Like I said, I have some great photos/shots.

This past weekend, Smap and did two great rides. I (maybe we) am training for the Cohutta 100, which is a mountain bike race in April. Our friend Carol Ann has done the previous two years of the race. I was thinking about doing the 100 on my single speed, but Smap convinced me to ride gears (and he is getting me a new carbon full suspension Fisher), so I will be riding gears for my first mountain bike century. We got over 100 miles in this weekend. Close to 50 on the greenways Saturday, and then close to 60 on the road yesterday before the Super Bowl. I felt abnormally good. I think it is because of all the swimming and weight training I have been doing. Not sure, but also the single speed helps.

I am hoping to also race the road once agian this year. My sis is racing for the Harpeth Bike Shop in Nashville, so I am riding for that team too. It will be nice to have teammates...even though they may all be 4's...the last time I raced I was a 2, but I may be back down to a 3 now...I will have to contact the lady who moved me up to a 2 back in 03' (the last time I road raced). It will be exciting. I think I have really matured as a rider and I feel like I will be really strong this year due to my single speed training/riding/racing and the fact that I am just more seasoned on the bike. I feel really comfortable.

I am hoping Smap will be racing with me (mountain bikes), but if not that is cool. He really likes doing the long epic stuff, but other than that he usually isn't interested. He did great this year at the 12 hour racing solo....he got 9 laps on his single speed.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to all the racing and camping and fun this spring, summer and fall. I am ready for all the rain and cold to end (even though the South desperately needs the rain) so I can start riding more. I haven't been to Haw Ridge since Christmas time....too wet. You really can't ride out there if it is wet because 1)it is dangerous on the roots/rocks and 2)it destroys the trails. We have been out to Norris, but Norris is soooo boring compared to the Ridge. Not enough technical stuff.

Aw well, 4 more months of school and I will be out for 10 weeks!!! Love being a teacher. Hopefully I won't work as much this summer like last summer. I didn't leave myself much time to do what I had planned on doing (swimming and riding every single day). I will change that this summer.

Cheers for today.

My first 08' post...I am a slacker!

I'm not really a slacker, I just have gone through a camerless spell and have not been able to get some good shots to share. Finally though, I paid a visit out to my dad's farm last weekend and he so kindly sent me a shot of my activity for the day. Llamas! My dad and Joyce have begun taking on unwanted llamas on their farm. Before, they took on pot-bellied pigs (they have 9), and now their latest animal to add to the Laughalot pets are LLAMAS! They have 11 of them now in two different pastures. I need to go out and get a bunch of shots of all the animals (koi, horses, dogs, pigs, llamas, cats, and sometimes they have some of my uncle's cattle). It is such a fun place to take Ippon because he has so much fun sniffing, swimming, and just hanging out w/all the other dogs.

So, here I am feeding a few llamas. The brown one was letting me hand feed him. I can't remember his name. Corky (the blonde) was only eating out of the bucket (Dad said it was his first time eating out of the bucket). Such funny animals to be around. I shall post more soon....I promise!

Halloween Ridge Ridge 07

Here are a few shots of me enjoying the ride!

Alan and Jimi waiting for shots to be taken!

Someone hung a disco ball at the top of the Hill of Truth for the 12 hour race. The ball was still there last night. We did not climb the HOT though, we came up Rainbow. This shot does not due the HOT justice on how steep it is.


Jimi and Alan again. Alan is on his new Ferris that Smap got for him FREE.... Smap warrantied his old Fisher Rig and Alan lucked out getting a new Ferris since the new 08 Rigs are backordered.

Jimi following the ride. She cleans up nice! She looks much younger than her years and acts younger for that matter. Gotta love Ms. Flynt!

All of us waiting for the random guy to shoot a photo of us.

More waiting.

Me hanging with Alan and Mr. Jones after riding. Our friend's tool truck makes for an odd background. This is also a photo of Alan's new Fisher.

Just a quick blog to show some shots a friend took at the Ridge last night. This will be one our last "Wednesday Night Rides" until next spring. Sad times.

I met up with my friends Jimi Flint (a close friend who introduced Smap and me), Karen Clemments, Alan Carnell, Jeff Murray (Karen's fiance'), and a few others who joined us along the way. It was a perfect night for riding our favorite local trails. I will surely miss my Wednesday night fix.

Thanks to my friend Karen for making us stop to take the photos (even though you had some random guy take quite a few of the shots).

I will surely try to get out right after school for a quick lap here and there. One plus to being a teacher!

Cheers!

9th Annual 12 Hours of Haw Ridge

Here is a tiny photo of me coming finishing my 2nd lap coming off of Low Gap, which is a crazy fun decent. The 12 Hours of Haw Ridge was a blast this year! My women's team (The Menstrual Cycles) had a great race! We got second place behind a semi pro/pro team of ladies out of Chattanooga. My lap times were a lot faster than I thought they would be. My whole team really did well.

Smap did an impressive nine laps on his single speed. Next year he is promiseing to do more. I am sure he will too.

Unfortunately, I did not have my stupid camera at the race because I was having technical difficulties with it. I will still try to find more photos of us at the race. The best part of the race were all of our friends being there. I have never had so much fun. Ippon had a good time too.... Each year we lose him while he goes from camp to camp begging for food. This year though, he had to hang in the Element quite a bit. He was limping (he will be 11 in a few weeks), so I didn't want him to wear himself out too much.

We all had a good time and our team even won Thompson goods for our second place finish.

Here is a link of some professional photos taken of all the racers at the 12 hour. I wish I had some of the field where everyone partied. It was a HUGE party this year. I had too much fun actually.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3229978

We can't wait till next year!!!!

Rach