Check it!!!! New Apple laptop fun...

What the heck am I looking at?? Not sure.  I was just playing around.
This is one of my all time favorite shots.  My dad took this at my little brother's birthday dinner at Litton's in 01'.  I guess that would have made Nic 14 or 15....crazy...  This is actually one of our first "couple shots" ever.
Yeah, we don't have a scanner, so I am taking advantage of the little camera on the computer.  Here he is, Mr. Hottie.  I think he looks modelish here.  We were camping either at the Nanty or the Ocoee back when this was shot in 01'.  Pretty cool...
Of course I had to add one of the grotesque shots in with the others.  I love the distorted look!  I have never laughed so hard in my life than when I was at the first SORBA meeting last year with Jimi Flynt. She had just purchased this same computer we have, and we were getting bored, so she started taking some shots of us all standing around us.  We were pissing in our pants it was so funny.. He he he he.  I sent my brother and sister in law the shots and they quickly discovered the photo booth on their newly purchased apple laptop.  Fun times.....

Bla weekend...

Unfortunately for me, I had to work at the bike shop all day long yesterday.  The weather yesterday proved to make a great day for riding and I was stuck inside.  I had a good time though.  Smap made it out to Haw Ridge and said it was a bit too greasy.  That made me feel better.  If the trails were "perfect", then I would have been pissed to have missed such an opportunity to ride.  I was needed at the shop though, and I did have a good time working with "the kids", Mig, and Scooter.  The five of us work extremely well together, so it made for a fun day of work at CBC.  

I did get a great 30 mile ride in after school on Friday.  I wanted to see how fast I could ride 20 miles.  I have an exact 30 mile course out of our driveway, which has some decent climbs, but is mostly flat.  I did experience quite a bit of head wind as I traveled west, but I ended up keeping a solid 20 mph average.  I didn't think that was too bad considering it is just February, I had some steep hills, and I had to stop several times for traffic and red lights.  I can only get faster.  

I don't know if I have mentioned this in any earlier posts, but I am trying to get a lot of miles and ride time in not only for the upcoming road racing season, but also for the Cohutta 100.  I have a link to this event under my links.  This is a 100 mile mountain bike race down at one of my favorite places to ride in the world, the Ocoee (Tanasi trail system).  I believe Floyd Landis will be competing this year,  but also one of my good friends Carol Ann Lawhon.  She has raced the previous two years of the race.  Last year she raced the 100 on her single speed, but this year she will be riding gears again like her first year of the competition.  Her friend Leslie who comes in from California with her is a pro for Niner bikes and Leslie kicked serious butt last year completing the race in like 10 hours or something crazy like that.  I think she got 4th place overall for the women.  The three women who beat her were all on gears.  I originally wanted to race my single speed (I hate shifting and if I have a mechanical problem, I can probably fix it), but Smap talked me out of the single speed for my first year doing the race.  Looks like I will be riding gears...new gears though.  Hopefully my new Fisher hifi carbon will be here in decent time for me to get use to it.  I tried to go back to gears some last fall while training for the 12 hours of Haw Ridge, but my single speed just made a better and faster ride for me.  I am just really confident on that bike.  

So, we will see.  Cohutta is April 19th!  I hope it is DRY!!!!  

Cheers for now!  Rach

TGIF!

This is where I wish I was right now....Marin County mountain biking....this is me back in October over Fall Break. Smap's brother Alex lives out there and took me to a trail right across the Golden Gate. BEAUTIFUL!!!!

I got a decent ride in at Cherokee Blvd last night. I did some intervals. I am getting back into racing this year (road racing). I have not raced road since 03'....I ended racing 2's. I don't think I am considered a 2 (the lady that catted me up didn't change me, but she did put a 2 sticker on my license...which got stolen), but that is okay. There is no big difference between a 2 and a 3 in the races I do in this state anyways. My first race weekend is March 8th and 9th. I can't recall the last time I did a 40K time trial. I think it will be alright considering all the single speeding and solo riding on the road I have done. We'll just have to see. The ninth is a crit. I LOVE crits, but again I haven't done one since 03' so it will be a renewing "learning experience" for me.

I did run into one of Smap and my good friends out there last night...Eric Bell. He rides with us out of our bike shop and CBC also somewhat sponsors him. I have his blog listed on my links. He is one hell of an athlete. It is always good to see him.

Last night was Valentine's night. Smap and I detest going out for dinner on Valentine's Day. It seems like all the rednecks who usually go to McDonald's and/or buffet restaurants splurge on this one night a year and infiltrate all the restaurants we enjoy. So, Smap and I always have a yummy dinner at home. Last night it consisted of salmon, brown rice and chocolate covered strawberries... SUPER YUMMO! It was better than anything I could have ordered in a restaurant AND we got to enjoy it while watching the new seasons of Survivor and Lost with our forever begging furry child.

I woke up this morning thinking I had the flu, but I am now sure it was the fact that we left the stupid space heater on in our room all night. I feel much better now and plan to hit the road again after school today. I just can't swim again this week after swimming three days straight. I don't mind swimming, but swimming inside sucks bad. It grosses me out. I look forward to the day Fort Sanders opens up their outdoor pool next month!

Later! Rach

More shots of our furry child....

For a little while my dad owned a landscape company which specialized in Koi and spectacular ponds with waterfalls. My dad has an incredible series of ponds in his "back yard". Smap and I got married down in front of the largest pond. Anyway, in the very top pond Dad and Joyce have a bunch of Koi. These koi LOVE people because we feed them. For some reason Ippon is just infatuated by these fish. If for some reason we lose him on the farm, I always know where to look for him. He is standing over the Koi with his nose in the water. Here is Peaches and Ippon talking. By the way, Dad and Joyce have all the koi named. I named one last summer. Hopefully he is still around. Sometimes the stupid herons sneak in and eat our beautiful fish.
Here is my baby talking to another sweetie. Smap is holding onto Eeps' collar. His tail was going crazy. Usually he really isn't interested in other dogs, but he really liked this gal.
Dad has a huge pond at the bottom of "back yard". There is a beautiful weeping willow down there. Here is the "Laughalot Monster" doing what he loves doing the most....swimming.
Here he is last summer chasing a tennis ball into the same pond. You can see the Willow a little better.

That is it for today on the pics of the Smelly. I am limited here at school on photos. It is funny because we have so many more shots of our dog than we do of ourselves.

The weather here in K-town is gorgeous today! Sunny and 50ish I think (I haven't been outside at all today because I have been trapped in my classroom). I am planning on doing a ride today in order to work off some of the Valentine's candy my kids have brought me. Also, I didn't get to workout yesterday because I was feeling ill, but I overcame it thanks to Smap. He got this stuff from Eddie over at the Health Shop. It is called Blockade...all natural chewies that are suppose to kill the virus....worked for me! Anyway, I need to burn off the calories from yesterday and today now.... I can't wait till it is a lot warmer and I have more day light! More day light = more fun time. Also, I can't wait till Haw Ridge has dried up. I am having HUGE cravings for those technical trails. I am tired of riding Norris (just up and down, not much technical stuff). I don't want to drive a few hours to ride somewhere that may be just as sketchy as it could be here, so we haven't been doing any road trips down to other trails. Fine by me because I am so cheap when it comes to buying gas. The Element goes for almost 2 weeks on a tank for me....that is how much I dislike driving. I either drive just a little bit or I don't drive at all....I ride to school, or walk to school if I can.

Okay I am starting to ramble, so it is time for me to stop.

Cheers,

Rach-L

I am hoping I don't have the nasty FLU!!!!

Well, kids are still dropping like flies at school....as well as the teachers. I am trying to safeguard myself by not working out today and just sitting on the couch. I don't do it very often, but I unfortunately feel a little bit feverish. So, I am just hanging with Mr.Smellyhead/Ippon/Buddy/EEPS... I haven't talked much about our dog. We love him and he is SPOILED ROTTEN. I think he may very well be one of the most spoiled dogs on the planet. One reason why I bought my Honda Element was to give him more room to stand and lay. He is one of those labs who has the long legs. He is quite tall and as my mom would say, "he is just so big". That is okay, Smap and I love him to death.

It is so funny to talk to other dog owners about their dogs quirks and routines. Smelly really has a lot of routines. He also is so smart, he can learn from other dogs. When Smap and I first started dating, Smap didn't have anyone to keep Ippon, so we had my dad keep him out at the farm. Dad has five dogs....four at the time. All four being labs (the smaller squattier type). Dad's only male dog, Fudge (all Dad's chocolate labs are named after chocolate and the yellow is named Squash...yeah, I know wierd), has this thing where when he wants to come inside he just barks at the door. Prior to staying at Dad's for the first time overnight, Ippon would just stand at the front door when he was ready to come inside after using the bathroom. Ippon is so well trained, we can just let him go outside and he will come right back when ready. Anyway, sometimes when we would get really into a tv show, we would forget about Ippon being outside after putting him out. After staying out at Dad's, he learned Fudge's trick of barking when he wants to come in. Very handy for us and for him. Unfortunately sometimes Ippon gets a little bossy and instead of just barking once to let us know he wants to come inside, he will let out like five in a row trying to tell us, "let me inside immediately damnit"....he is quite bossy.

Recently Smap and I are on the whole eating all organic etc....like a lot of people. We also have a composter and don't throw away hardly anything...we recycle EVERYTHING. Well, Smap would usually put the leftover oatmeal in the composter bucket, but one morning he decided he would let Ippon have it on his food. WEll, we created a HUGE BOSSY MONSTER DOG. Now every morning he demands his oatmeal on his food. Not to mention he knows when it is Sunday. He gets 2 small pancakes every Sunday as well. He won't eat his food unless he has had his pancakes already. He is so silly. I will usually wake up early on Sunday's and let Smap sleep in. Ippon hates him sleeping in, so he will walk back and forth between the den where I am back to the bedroom to hopefully pester Smap enough to wake up and make his pancakes...I know better. I let him sleep as long as I can... If I wake him up, I get in trouble. Ippon does too, but he obviously ignores it because he continues to do it every week.

More stories to come on my LOVELY best buddy. I love him.

Monday's are horrible....

I didn't want to come back to school today. It meant that I had to deal with 6th graders all day long as well as their parents (their parents are always emailing about this and that). A lot of people think teachers make way too much money for the time we spend teaching and the amount of time we get off. Well, if people think that, then they need to come and stand in my shoes for a day. I think teaching would be 70% better if parents would parent their children, if parents would not question our authority, if parents would let us teach and do our jobs, if parents would realize that sometimes their "perfect child" isn't at all perfect! Crazy....I have been called to parent conferences with two principals in the room because I was "so mean to their kid"....I'm like, maybe your kid is a HUGE disturbance and pretty much deserved to be called out! It is just crazy. I love teaching though don't get me wrong. It is a great PROFESSION and I am so glad I went into it. I have some really great kids and I look forward to watching them succeed in life (hopefully right?).

So, Sunday Smap and I went out to Norris with Larry Creech, Tim Rogers, and Craig Rogers (Tim and Craig are not related). It was Craig's first time out to Norris ever and he was on his new Fisher Paragon 29'er. It was a day full of climbing. Smap and I were on our single speed 29'ers. I love mine. Smap asked me what bike I intended on riding due to the guys we would be riding with, and I just said, "my single speed". He kind of looked at me like, "don't you know we are riding with Larry and Tim?"....but, he just said, "okay, we're doing a lot of climbing"... The climbing part wasn't so bad until we went up to climb up to the water tower. I had to walk that part....just so steep and so LONG. I did it last summer, but right now I am just not fit yet. I also had to walk up the Lake Loop climb, but dang it is steep too. Plus, Smap reminded me that he changed out my rear cog from a 22 to a 21, so it is going to be harder for me for a while until I really get use to the ratio. I am fine with that. I just love riding that bike.

So, it was pretty cold and the sketchy descents were made sketchier because all of us were having trouble with our eyes...it was also very windy, so it made everyone's eyes water and blurry. It was a great day though. Smap took a photo of us on top of the last climb, but it was really too dark for me to post. I may try to lighten it up. All it is, is me standing with a bunch of tall fit guys. I did feel priviledged riding with them though. They are super strong riders and if I can continue to increase my fitness with them, I will be ready for the racing season this year! I can't wait.

After the ride Larry and Smap shared cold beverages with us as well as Larry's homemade guacamole... Mountain biking is great because we always drink cold beer after good hard rides. I never feel guilty indulging in a nice cold beer. It makes the ride even sweeter in the end. Actually, after Tuesday night rides, we usually enjoy frosty beverages at the bike shop. Trust me, after a Tuesday night road ride with some of the fastest dudes in Knoxville, you deserve a beer. Sometimes I pass though and go straight home to drink more water. More on those rides after the time changes.

Peace out!

Saturday Farm stop-in

Dad's Farm:

I finally hooked up my new camera to the computer to download some new shots. I am doing this as I clean house (sweep, change the bed, do laundry, etc..). I hate cleaning. I would much rather be outside doing domething else. I had a friend over the other day who is also outdoorsy, and she said her house was in the same shape...so, I don't feel so bad knowing that other couples have the same type of house cleaning issues. It is enough for me to get all the laundry done all week long. It would be okay if I just had my own laundry to do because I don't mind wearing something until it looks dirty or I can smell myself, but my husband likes to put something on for 10 seconds and it is then classified dirty to him...

Anyway, that is probably too much information on laundry in my house.

Here are some recent shots from my new camera (Thanks again Dad!)

One of my BFF's, Jen, and I do a lot together on the weekends. Her husband works at the Bike Zoo (Cedar Bluff Cycles' biggest competitor for expensive bikes. She and I have a lot in common, therefor you will usually find us together on Saturdays. Jen is just getting use to the whole road biking thing, but she can kick some major butt mountain biking. She just recently decided to ride a 29'er with only one speed just like me....now, I have someone else with me (besides the guys) to experience the same kind of pain and fun on a mountain bike that I experience often.

Here are the two of us goofing off on my dad's farm. I ride over there frequently to hang out w/my dad and my stepmom Joyce. It is a blast over there. They have an incredible "water feature" which I will probably have lots of photos of on here sooner or later (spring time is best), and they have 9 pot-bellied pigs, 11 llamas, lots of horses, 5 dogs, cats, and a lot of KOI, which my dog Ippon LOVES to watch. He is enamored by them.

Here is a shot of Jen and some Koi....the Koi are like dogs and cats....they always want treats. We can't feed them in the winter time, so they are coming up to taste our fingers. In the summer time, we have a lot of fun with them. You can put your toes in the water and they will suck on them....I know that sounds perverted, but oh well. We have a good time with them...Ippon will stick his nose in there and they will even suck on his nose. We also paid a visit to the llamas. My dad and some others were vaccinating them and clipping their toe nails. These animals are so peculiar to me. They hard huge and strong. They have these feet like dog feet, but the feet are at the end of what looks like horse legs....then, they have these really soft mouths (like a dog's mouth), but their teeth look like horse teeth. I had one (Garinger) eating out of my hand a few weeks ago. They look at you and due to lack of being around them, you feel very awkward, like why is that llama looking at me like that. They seem to be thinking really hard about what

are these humans looking at me for? Anyway, here is Jen checking out the llamas. You can see them in the background if you look pretty hard. I had on my cycling shoes, so I didn't want to get out in the mud. Okay, so here is one more shot of Jen with the pigs in the background. These were my dad's first "different" type of farm animal. He has always had horses and cattle, but no pigs or llamas until just over the last several years. It all started with one pig named Oz. Ozzie isn't with us any longer, but he was the first. My dad and Joyce are very involved in taking in unwanted animals...or helping out by letting folks keep their horses on the farm for free (they pay for the feed and my dad takes care of them). So, Oz was an unwanted Pot-Bellied pig someone did not want. One way or anther, Dad and Joyce got connected with some pig refuge in Cookeville I think. The lady there started giving Dad and Joyce overflow pigs. My dad loves them...he is now at nine and holding. Just a year ago, Dad's horse vet came to him needing someone to take on some "overflow" llamas from a llama refuge. Of course my dad accepted. He started out with three, and now has 11. Dad says his nex animal to take on is a Donkey. He had one for a little while (again, someone needed Dad to "house" the Donkey for a short period), so now he wants his own. It is never boring over at LAUGHALOT....the name of Dad's farm. We do laugh quite a bit here. This is also where Smap and I got married. Perfect place for a big party (which is what our wedding was...300+).

So, this was my Saturday fun. Jen and I got in 40 miles, and I planned on doing some more at Cherokee Blvd, but Ippon came first. Actually, one of our friends had a shoe blowout playing frisbee golf down at Morningside Park. Smap and some others had ridden their urban Assault bikes downtown to play. I had to run down some duct tape so the guys could tape Larry's sole back onto his shoe. Then, I took Ippon down to the park where we met up with Lindsay Rogers and her three dogs. It got really windy and I lost interest in getting on my bike again...that is the way it goes for me. Gung ho one moment and uninterested as soon as the weather changes.

I'm not sure what we are going to do today. It is colder...I think the high will be 45 or so. I am thinking a good Norris ride perhaps...I can hurt myself on the single speed up there pretty good with all the climbing. That is all for now. I have a lot more photos to show from previous weeks!

Chiao!