A cold race weekend

Saturday was the coldest day of the year I think with snow and wind. Needless to say, I did not get out to do the time trial. It would have been really stupid of me. I am SO glad I blew it off and swam inside in a warm pool instead. I worked at the bike shop Saturday so I was able to hear about the conditions from Robbie Kidd first hand. He spoke of the time trial miserably and I am SO glad I listened to Smap, and did not race.

Sunday, it was beautiful. Smap was there with his CBC tents and Tim came to assist racers with any mechanical needs. It was a very nice day for racing. I was so nervous going up to the starting line. I haven't raced a crit in four years. There were a few pro's there as well as women who have been racing consistently for the past few years. I held my own though and stayed up with the leaders. I was not disappointed with my 5th place finish at all. I was just glad to see where my fitness level is at compared to other's. Also, I know what I need to work on....several things. It was a good time though. My lungs are killing me today having worked so hard in the cold to put out so much effort. Smap took a lot of shots, so I will try to get them up later this week.

FOUR DAYS TILL SPRING BREAK!!!! Yippeeeeeee!!!!

TGIF

I can't describe how happy I am that it is FRIDAY! Unfortunately though, it is raining and getting colder by the hour outside. I am suppose to race a time trial tomorrow. It is suppose to snow. Do they call off bike racing for snow? Seems like they should. I'm not complaining....well, yeah I am. Lucky me, I volunteered to chaparone a school dance today after school. I am really looking forward to that....I'm being facetious of course. These kids are driving me nuts. I just can't believe how lazy my group of kids are this year. Last year all my students seemed to work really hard, but they were on the snobby side. This year most of them are really sweet, but I have a lot of slackers. I just don't understand. It isn't like I give hard assignments.

Anyway, enough complaining about school and weather. Spring break is only 8 days away!!!! I hope it is WARM!!!!

I got to ride my road bike last night. Ran into a few friends. I usually can do 2-3 laps on the boulevard before I want to pound nails into my skull due to the boredom, but last night wasn't so bad. I think I got 7 laps in. It is nice when there are a lot of people out on the boulevard because I can people watch and try to lap/catch/or pass people. Also, it is always fun to see all the different dogs enjoying their walks.

That is about it. We'll see how the weekend goes. Maybe I will remember my camera!

My sis's bike...

Here is a shot of my sis and her best bud, Kat racing a friendly Wednesday night crit in Nashville last summer. Smap has since put some time trail bars on this bike (it is a Trek Madone, the bike Discovery raced in 06') for her and she and I will be using it for some time trials and triathlons this year. I am hoping to be fit on it today and race it Saturday. I don't know though, riding those TT bars after years of riding with drops is sketchy to me. I keep wanting to grab my drops. We'll see. If I don't feel comfortable riding that bike, then I will put the old school TT bars on my race bike. Anyway, I've renewed my racing license so there is NO going back now!

Another ride day! 3 in a row!

I'm smiling because I got another ride in today to make it 3 days in a row.  Yippee.  Unfortunately it will start raining tonight and be cold and dreary for the next 2-3 days. Big bummer.  But, we do need the rain.  I wish it would rain A LOT so the Little River would come up.  It is my FAVORITE river to paddle.  It isn't very technical like the Ocoee.  It is a lot smaller, but the rapids are one after another.  Pretty exciting.  I would like to do the Tellico at some point, but we need rain for that river as well.  

I drove down to Cherokee Blvd today and did 25 miles worth of laps. It wasn't too bad.  I saw several folks out there running and riding and got to catch up with an old friend for my last 10 miles, so it was pretty fun.  

Nine days left until Spring Break!!!  I can't wait.  After Spring Break, I think I have 9 weeks of school left!!! AWESOME!!!!!  

LATER!

Lots of ride time this weekend

I'm exhausted after my ride today.  Smap and I went down to one of our favorite places....the Ocoee.  We rode some of the Tanasi trails behind the whitewater center.  We were both on our single speeds.  I was not up to par on mine today.  I think maybe the 64 I did yesterday zapped my legs some.  I am looking forward to being able to do back-to-back hard rides this spring and summer.  Fun times coming up!!!  

We had a good time last hanging with our friends Tim and Lindsay.  We ate La Costa and Nama.  We also got to hang with our friend Danny Davis.  Downtown is becoming one of our favorite places to hang out nowadays.  We dislike eating at chain restaurants, so we have plenty of non-chain places to choose from there.  La Costa is a "green" restaurant which makes it all the more better.  They recycle everything and compost all their scraps.  One more reason to support that place.  They have some killer Margarita's too.  Yummy...

That is about it for this weekend.  We are totally exhausted.

Next weekend I try racing again after a 4 year lull...

Hasta la manana!

Random stuff...

The other night Smap and I were watching some TV, and he started checking out this blog. Funny, I had no idea he actually checks it regularly....I'm glad. Perhaps he will surprise us with an entry!!! Fingers are crossed. Speaking of TV. I use to be a huge TV fan in the old days, but lately as I get older I prefer to read. Yes, I do have some shows I do watch. Smap and I really enjoy LOST. Even though I am always "LOST"....pretty much because I can't seem to stay awake long enough to watch the entire show. We also like Survivor. I have loved it since day 1. When I worked at Dagger back in the day, there were some of us at our office that always had a bet. We got to choose 2 people out of the hat (we had to put money in for each person). Anyway, I have missed a few seasons due to school back in 04 and 05, but I am back on it now. I think I would be an ideal person for the show, but Smap thinks I wouldn't last a day due to my unfortunate never-ending ability to go without food for more than four hours. Also, my inability to tolerate disturbances while I sleep. Funny story....we were camping down at the Ocoee for that Black Bear Rampage, and the first night we were in the campground there were about 15 college coeds partying across the campground from us. Well, around 1:30 am I decided I had had enough. I snuck out of the tent (smap would have NEVER let me go say anything) and went over to tell the college kids to be quiet. The girls got quiet, but the boys persisted and even started doing crap to piss me off even more. So, I got up and snuck out of the tent 1/2 an hour later and went over to this time to do some scare tactics (act like I am going to call the rangers)...anyway, to make a long story short, the stupid sorority biaches came after me...they tried to scare me, but what happened just made a funny story for the morning.

Come to find out, the next morning I started talking to the camping couples next to us and they were glad I said something. Smap was pissed, but he got over it. I learned a lesson not to do that again...go over to someone's campground in the middle of the night (because they could pull a weapon or create even more drama), and in the end the Rangers were called on them anyways and they got a lecture the next day by a ranger. So, the next night (the night before the race) we got a really nice night's sleep...ha ha ha..

Well, this was a random post. I hope to have something more interesting by the end of the weekend. It looks like very decent weather. Still no Haw Ridge in the future (still too wet). Smap is probably paddling Saturday. I will be on the road bike and hopefully my single speed.

Cheers!

Tuesday and getting colder.

This shot is of one of the weinie roasts after riding Haw Ridge on a Wednesday night....can't wait for these days to hurry and be here...

Global warming is pissing me off....warm one day, freezing the next. I miss the old days when the weather was at least consistent. It would be cold for weeks straight, then warm up and then stay warm, and then it would get hot. The weather is just so wacked out now. Crazy.

Yesterday I got out of school and got on my bike and rode down to the Cherokee Boulevard. I did some laps and rode back. I don't think I got cold one time. Sunday, same thing except I swam for an hour prior to riding. I really miss riding every single day and I REALLY MISS riding my single speed out at Haw Ridge. I am so looking forward to the day when I can ride out there again and it isn't a muddy slop fest.

I enjoyed my two days off last week due to the flu outbreak. Now I am hoping for some snow. I have some kids and their parents that are just ridiculous. I am looking forward to being done with some of these kids this year.

Got to go do a snow dance. Actually, got to go watch Smap at his drum practice....(he is learning how to play the bongo type drums)...We went to Asheville last summer and ran into the drum circle. I danced and he watched for over an hour, so ever since he has wanted to learn. Now he is...too cool. Actually not so cool when we are in the house and it echos in our eardrums (mine and Ippon's).

Later!