Ahh man, it's only 10:20 in the morning, and I've already had such a great day! Lisa and I read the weather report for here today, and it said 24 mph winds when we're normally able to get out of work and go riding. Uhhhh, ya, not so good. So, while relaxing in thbe hot tub last night, we made the call to get up super early this morning and hit up Arbor, 7:00 am style! It was SOOOO nice. No wind, 50º, and only the geese and early morning dog walkers as spectators. We both had a great 1.5 hour session!
At 8:30 we hopped in the car to make it to the tail end of Heather's Fat Tuesday Pancake Breakfast! What a brilliant idea! Yummy pancakes, bacon, fruit, and great friends. What a great way to start the day!
Happy Fat Tuesday to everyone!!
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Friday, February 24, 2006
A Day of Understanding
It has been quite awhile since I have really gotten to ride my bike. Today was beautiful here. The temperature was pretty warm, and the wind died down for a nice dirt jumping session this afternoon. I didn't have the best day I've ever had at the Fix, but I had a day where things felt like they really started to make sense. I'm sure that how I'm jumping looks no different to anyone who might see me, but I feel like I had a bit of a breakthrough with feeling my bike/my body position in the air, and knowing what I am supposed to be doing. I think the super cold days that forced me to be off of the bike were really good for me. It gave me time to pause and reflect so I could acutally think about it all for a bit. I sure was happy to get to finally ride today, though!
Just got back from one of the best shows I have ever been to: Sigur Ros. Check them out, their music is really amazing!
Just got back from one of the best shows I have ever been to: Sigur Ros. Check them out, their music is really amazing!
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Rough Day. Glad It's Over.
Warning: Not a happy post.
Today was a really rough day for me. 1 year ago today, I lost my sweet kitty, Einstein, to cancer. He got sick really suddenly, and I wasn't prepared for it at all. He was my little buddy that took several road trips and made many moves with me in his 6 short years. He was always there for me no matter how bummed out I was. Since depression often leads to excessive sleeping, I think he was actually an advocate for the bad times! Not really, he just really liked to cuddle with me in bed. Since he didn't really "like" anyone else very much, not many people understand just how much he meant to me. I really miss him.
Good night.
Today was a really rough day for me. 1 year ago today, I lost my sweet kitty, Einstein, to cancer. He got sick really suddenly, and I wasn't prepared for it at all. He was my little buddy that took several road trips and made many moves with me in his 6 short years. He was always there for me no matter how bummed out I was. Since depression often leads to excessive sleeping, I think he was actually an advocate for the bad times! Not really, he just really liked to cuddle with me in bed. Since he didn't really "like" anyone else very much, not many people understand just how much he meant to me. I really miss him.
The BEST Kitty ever!
Good night.
Monday, February 20, 2006
The Temps are Rising, Now the Snow Needs to Melt!
It's sort of funny how you get used to things being a certain way, and then when they absolutely can't be that way...It sort of sucks! Now that statement could be said for and applied to a lot of things, but most specifically, it applies to me getting to ride my bike almost every day that I have wanted to (which is almost every day) for the past couple of months, and that was just not possible at the end of last week and all weekend. I'll ride when it's cold, but single digits is too much, or too little, I guess. Also, the unmelting blanket of white stuff on the ground would have prevented any sort of riding mission anyway.
Well, what does one do when they can't ride their bike you might ask? Well, I went skate skiing a couple of days in North Boulder Park because it's close and pretty much flat, which is nice. It's been over a year since I've been on the super skinny slippery skis, and it showed! Now, I was no phenom the last time I went skate skiing, but I was getting a descent amount of glide on each ski and had descent balance. Well, not on Thursday. Skate ski poles come up to your chin, and while very necessary can also get in the way. Ultimately, if I stop thinking about what I am doing, disaster ensues. My fabulous display of lack-of-skill happened when I accidently planted my pole inside of my ski instead of on the outside. It didn't stop my forward motion, so I ran into the pole and ultimately landed flat on my face in the snow. It was pretty embarrasing, especially since 5 "pace line" pros were about 15 feet behind me. I'm glad that I can provide comic relief for the really talented kids! Luckily, I didn't snap my pole in half. That would have really sucked!
The other thing I have been doing to keep myself from going stir crazy is swimming. Now, I have spent a fair bit of time in the pool growing up on the swim team and all, but ever since my freshman year in high school, I have been on the less is more plan with swimming. Well, I hate to say it, but I actually enjoyed the couple of miles that I swam last week, so much so that I was worried that if it didn't warm up soon so I could start dirt jumping again, I might convince myself, again, that triathlons would be fun! Luckily the temperature got to 40º today, the snow is melting, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the last tri I did! Let it melt, let it melt, let it melt!!!
Build and ride session at Darner's this weekend! I can't wait. I love that place. Some places just have good vibes, and that's definitley one that does for me!
Well, what does one do when they can't ride their bike you might ask? Well, I went skate skiing a couple of days in North Boulder Park because it's close and pretty much flat, which is nice. It's been over a year since I've been on the super skinny slippery skis, and it showed! Now, I was no phenom the last time I went skate skiing, but I was getting a descent amount of glide on each ski and had descent balance. Well, not on Thursday. Skate ski poles come up to your chin, and while very necessary can also get in the way. Ultimately, if I stop thinking about what I am doing, disaster ensues. My fabulous display of lack-of-skill happened when I accidently planted my pole inside of my ski instead of on the outside. It didn't stop my forward motion, so I ran into the pole and ultimately landed flat on my face in the snow. It was pretty embarrasing, especially since 5 "pace line" pros were about 15 feet behind me. I'm glad that I can provide comic relief for the really talented kids! Luckily, I didn't snap my pole in half. That would have really sucked!
The other thing I have been doing to keep myself from going stir crazy is swimming. Now, I have spent a fair bit of time in the pool growing up on the swim team and all, but ever since my freshman year in high school, I have been on the less is more plan with swimming. Well, I hate to say it, but I actually enjoyed the couple of miles that I swam last week, so much so that I was worried that if it didn't warm up soon so I could start dirt jumping again, I might convince myself, again, that triathlons would be fun! Luckily the temperature got to 40º today, the snow is melting, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the last tri I did! Let it melt, let it melt, let it melt!!!
Build and ride session at Darner's this weekend! I can't wait. I love that place. Some places just have good vibes, and that's definitley one that does for me!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Model of Inefficiency
Okay, so it's cold and windy outside, and I'm in a bad mood. =) hahaha I'm sorry, but since I don't have any fun adventures to write about, I am going to have to bore you all with a little vent session about the people that I work with.
If someone wanted to develop of Model of Inefficiency, our little group here at CU would be it! There are only 7 staff members who work in our group (all women, btw) and we have staff meeting every week. One would think that out of a 40 hour work week (well ranging from 20-40 hours a week for most of the staff to accommodate their children's schedules) the best use of time wouldn't be a 2+ hour staff meeting once a week. I guess I could understand if this was the only time that we saw each other or had meetings during the week, but it's not.
So, just a brief recap of the highlights from our meeting...
Topic: 3 Year Old Peeing on the Floor
Duration: A brief 5 minutes
Our Director's son likes to push her buttons! This is clear and evident to me just from listening to stories about the kid and meeting him on 3 occasions. He is a smart kid. Apparently, his current attention getter is to pee all over the floor whenever he decides it would be funny to!
Topic: How Long Does It Take To Drive To Albuquerque?
Duration: At least 10 minutes
There is a conference that our group should go to next October, in Albuquerque. Someone asked, "Will we drive?" Are you kidding? I was thinking. Then the onslaught of stories about how long it takes to drive there ensued. Everything from 6 hours to 9 was thrown out. Of course we had to hear stories of how it took someone 7 hours to get to Pueblo, blah, blah, blah. The moral of the story and the common thread today is KIDS! I really couldn't believe that we talked about this for as long as we did. I was half tempted to get up and go type it into Google maps just to get people to shut up. Getting up and leaving for no real reason has become a favorite activity of mine during these meetings.
Topic: Listening to My Child Scream at the Top of Her Lungs While Trying to Poop for an Hour
Duration: 10 minutes
The title says it all. Are you effing kidding me? I have learned that my patience level for most things has deteriorated over the past couple of years. I can only hope that while sitting listening to all of this rubbish, my facial expressions don't reflect all of the wonderful things that are going through my head about these people.
BTW, I work for an outreach science education program, not the University Day Care Group. Just thought I would clear that up, in case there was any confusion.
Think warm, spring, no-snow thoughts so I'll actually have fun stories and adventures to write about soon!
If someone wanted to develop of Model of Inefficiency, our little group here at CU would be it! There are only 7 staff members who work in our group (all women, btw) and we have staff meeting every week. One would think that out of a 40 hour work week (well ranging from 20-40 hours a week for most of the staff to accommodate their children's schedules) the best use of time wouldn't be a 2+ hour staff meeting once a week. I guess I could understand if this was the only time that we saw each other or had meetings during the week, but it's not.
So, just a brief recap of the highlights from our meeting...
Topic: 3 Year Old Peeing on the Floor
Duration: A brief 5 minutes
Our Director's son likes to push her buttons! This is clear and evident to me just from listening to stories about the kid and meeting him on 3 occasions. He is a smart kid. Apparently, his current attention getter is to pee all over the floor whenever he decides it would be funny to!
Topic: How Long Does It Take To Drive To Albuquerque?
Duration: At least 10 minutes
There is a conference that our group should go to next October, in Albuquerque. Someone asked, "Will we drive?" Are you kidding? I was thinking. Then the onslaught of stories about how long it takes to drive there ensued. Everything from 6 hours to 9 was thrown out. Of course we had to hear stories of how it took someone 7 hours to get to Pueblo, blah, blah, blah. The moral of the story and the common thread today is KIDS! I really couldn't believe that we talked about this for as long as we did. I was half tempted to get up and go type it into Google maps just to get people to shut up. Getting up and leaving for no real reason has become a favorite activity of mine during these meetings.
Topic: Listening to My Child Scream at the Top of Her Lungs While Trying to Poop for an Hour
Duration: 10 minutes
The title says it all. Are you effing kidding me? I have learned that my patience level for most things has deteriorated over the past couple of years. I can only hope that while sitting listening to all of this rubbish, my facial expressions don't reflect all of the wonderful things that are going through my head about these people.
BTW, I work for an outreach science education program, not the University Day Care Group. Just thought I would clear that up, in case there was any confusion.
Think warm, spring, no-snow thoughts so I'll actually have fun stories and adventures to write about soon!
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Well, I should be studying for an exam that I have in my polymers class in an hour because I didn't really study at all last night, a little preoccupied with other CRAP! Since school is the reason I have been such a slacker about posting (a little busy trying to work full time, go to school full time, and train for racing!), I figured now's as good a time as any to catch up! hahaha Any reason I can find to procrastinate (well some are better than others) is awesome.
Well, this past weekend was crappy outside, mostly. It snowed! wtf? Does Mother Nature think it's winter in Colorado or something? Oh wait, it is, and we have been utterly spoiled for the past couple of months. Oh well. It's supposed to start snowing tonight for the next few days as well. Maybe I'll actually go snowboarding or skate skiing since I bought an Eldora pass and have used it a grand total of 1 time! That's a great investment.
So, back to the weekend before last. It was awesome (well, for most of us anyway, I'll get to that later)!! We had about 15 people show up to ride at the Fix for about 3.5 hours. Emily, Lisa, and I were throwing down on the One Hit Wonder. It was awesome to have so much positive, fun energy to pull from! We even inspired G. Mike to learn no footers! I think he's our new biggest cheerleader. It's nice when the boys actually compliment us and encourage us. There aren't very many that do, so I know that I really take it to heart when one of them takes 5 seconds out of their life to say something nice! Thanks! After our awesome sesh at the Fix, we moved the party to Arbor where there were over 30 people dirt jumping and enjoying the afternoon! It's pretty darn intimidating where there are that many people standing around and watching. I was just proud of myself for even jumping at all with that many spectators! That was a big step for me, for sure.
Okay, so the good...awesome dirt jumping session on a beautiful day, the bad...severely nose casing a jump on your brand new bike, and the ugly...Jon's dislocated and severely broken pinkie finger!
Well, this past weekend was crappy outside, mostly. It snowed! wtf? Does Mother Nature think it's winter in Colorado or something? Oh wait, it is, and we have been utterly spoiled for the past couple of months. Oh well. It's supposed to start snowing tonight for the next few days as well. Maybe I'll actually go snowboarding or skate skiing since I bought an Eldora pass and have used it a grand total of 1 time! That's a great investment.
So, back to the weekend before last. It was awesome (well, for most of us anyway, I'll get to that later)!! We had about 15 people show up to ride at the Fix for about 3.5 hours. Emily, Lisa, and I were throwing down on the One Hit Wonder. It was awesome to have so much positive, fun energy to pull from! We even inspired G. Mike to learn no footers! I think he's our new biggest cheerleader. It's nice when the boys actually compliment us and encourage us. There aren't very many that do, so I know that I really take it to heart when one of them takes 5 seconds out of their life to say something nice! Thanks! After our awesome sesh at the Fix, we moved the party to Arbor where there were over 30 people dirt jumping and enjoying the afternoon! It's pretty darn intimidating where there are that many people standing around and watching. I was just proud of myself for even jumping at all with that many spectators! That was a big step for me, for sure.
Okay, so the good...awesome dirt jumping session on a beautiful day, the bad...severely nose casing a jump on your brand new bike, and the ugly...Jon's dislocated and severely broken pinkie finger!
Ouch!!
Unfortunately, while the rest of us were having a wonderful day of hours of dirt jumping, Jon was icing his finger and watching it get more and more bruised and swollen! He is a trooper, though! He even ponied up and jumped a little bit at Arbor. He didn't know his finger was broken at that time. We went to the ER later that night, and he ended up getting surgery to put in a plate and 3 pins last Friday! Hopefully he'll back on his brand new bike in no time!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it's my favorite day of the year! Hahahahahaha. I hate Valentine's Day! I even hated it when I had a boyfriend, so I'm not prejudiced just because I don't! Oh well, only half of the day left, and Heather is having a celebrate being single PBR party, so it'll be all good!
Unfortunately, while the rest of us were having a wonderful day of hours of dirt jumping, Jon was icing his finger and watching it get more and more bruised and swollen! He is a trooper, though! He even ponied up and jumped a little bit at Arbor. He didn't know his finger was broken at that time. We went to the ER later that night, and he ended up getting surgery to put in a plate and 3 pins last Friday! Hopefully he'll back on his brand new bike in no time!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it's my favorite day of the year! Hahahahahaha. I hate Valentine's Day! I even hated it when I had a boyfriend, so I'm not prejudiced just because I don't! Oh well, only half of the day left, and Heather is having a celebrate being single PBR party, so it'll be all good!
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
The Proverbial Roller Coaster
So, I haven't written in quite awhile, and not because I haven't had something to say. Apparently, I always have something to say. Hahaha. Seriously, though, since the last time I've posted, things have been all over the place. Everything in life needs to be balanced. It always seems too bad to me that the really high times inevitably get balanced out with some not so great times, but I guess this makes you appreciate the awesome times that much more. Anyway, on to the good stuff and leaving out the not so good stuff...
Last Thursday TJ and I met up super early to head down to Arbor for a nice early morning dirt jumping session. Whenever I do drag myself out of bed to enjoy the early morning experience, I am rarely disappointed. Last Thursday was no exception! I had been thinking a lot about the Couch line at Arbor, in fact I was pretty nervous about hitting the line on the way down there. I knew that I could do it, but I hadn't done the first jump very many times, and I had ONLY done the first jump before. Well, watching TJ dirt jump is always inspiring as he is very fluid and makes it look completely effortless. Thursday was no different, even though he had a bum ankle from a small fight with the tramp bike. After we had been there for about an hour, TJ decided to pull out his camera and his brand new fisheye lens. I wasn't quite sure what he planned to take pictures of, as there weren't any cool dirt jumping kids there that early in the morning. I guess when you really want to experiment with your new equipment, you'll take pictures of anyone! Well, after I got over having a little undisclosed stage fright, I decided just to pretend like he wasn't there. I'm not quite sure how the camera inspired me, but as soon as he started taking pictures, I decided I was going to do the 2nd and 3rd jumps in the line. Although they weren't perfect, I was very excited that I was going for them and hitting at least the first and second ones fairly well! It was one of the better dirt jumping days I had ever had. TJ took a couple of pictures that I really liked, too! What a great way to start the day!
Last Thursday TJ and I met up super early to head down to Arbor for a nice early morning dirt jumping session. Whenever I do drag myself out of bed to enjoy the early morning experience, I am rarely disappointed. Last Thursday was no exception! I had been thinking a lot about the Couch line at Arbor, in fact I was pretty nervous about hitting the line on the way down there. I knew that I could do it, but I hadn't done the first jump very many times, and I had ONLY done the first jump before. Well, watching TJ dirt jump is always inspiring as he is very fluid and makes it look completely effortless. Thursday was no different, even though he had a bum ankle from a small fight with the tramp bike. After we had been there for about an hour, TJ decided to pull out his camera and his brand new fisheye lens. I wasn't quite sure what he planned to take pictures of, as there weren't any cool dirt jumping kids there that early in the morning. I guess when you really want to experiment with your new equipment, you'll take pictures of anyone! Well, after I got over having a little undisclosed stage fright, I decided just to pretend like he wasn't there. I'm not quite sure how the camera inspired me, but as soon as he started taking pictures, I decided I was going to do the 2nd and 3rd jumps in the line. Although they weren't perfect, I was very excited that I was going for them and hitting at least the first and second ones fairly well! It was one of the better dirt jumping days I had ever had. TJ took a couple of pictures that I really liked, too! What a great way to start the day!
Couch line
What an amazingly beautiful Colorado day!
Emily came down from Fort Collins on Saturday to do some riding, and then we headed to Denver for the premier of Earthed 3. It was an awesome film that was nicely complimented by John Reynold's production, So Hot! That was really fun to watch, as it featured several of our very talented local riders!
Sunday we all woke up to the howling wind. I'm not quite sure how the wind knows when it's the weekend, but it sure seems to show up every weekend and die off during the week. Maybe all of the commuter pollution does something to affect the wind patterns. Okay, probably not, but I'm looking for a plausible cause here. Anyway, a few of us headed back to Arbor for a super fun session of 20 mph tailwind dirt jumping! Howse and Fisher were going to town making up new ways to transfer back and forth through many of the different lines. It was a lot of fun to watch! I'm so glad that I can actually jump at the real jumps at Arbor and don't have to pretend on the "kiddie" jumps anymore!
Lisa got back from her Cali trip on Monday (check out her posts for the amazing adventures she had down there!) and the One Hit Wonder Trick Learning School went into full swing! Lisa, Tammy, Jonathan, and I all showed up for an awesome before work session. We are all having so much fun learning new tricks. Tammy was going crazy learning no handers and had a bad super manual down the backside to serious loop out. She took a really hard fall on her butt, back, and head. She is okay, but is pretty darn sore. Lisa took about 10 minutes to learn no footers. (It only took me 2 weeks!) I decided to try to mix it up a little bit and learned a turn bar no footer. I was pretty excited about that one!
Sunday we all woke up to the howling wind. I'm not quite sure how the wind knows when it's the weekend, but it sure seems to show up every weekend and die off during the week. Maybe all of the commuter pollution does something to affect the wind patterns. Okay, probably not, but I'm looking for a plausible cause here. Anyway, a few of us headed back to Arbor for a super fun session of 20 mph tailwind dirt jumping! Howse and Fisher were going to town making up new ways to transfer back and forth through many of the different lines. It was a lot of fun to watch! I'm so glad that I can actually jump at the real jumps at Arbor and don't have to pretend on the "kiddie" jumps anymore!
Lisa got back from her Cali trip on Monday (check out her posts for the amazing adventures she had down there!) and the One Hit Wonder Trick Learning School went into full swing! Lisa, Tammy, Jonathan, and I all showed up for an awesome before work session. We are all having so much fun learning new tricks. Tammy was going crazy learning no handers and had a bad super manual down the backside to serious loop out. She took a really hard fall on her butt, back, and head. She is okay, but is pretty darn sore. Lisa took about 10 minutes to learn no footers. (It only took me 2 weeks!) I decided to try to mix it up a little bit and learned a turn bar no footer. I was pretty excited about that one!
Well, again, I said I was only going to mention the awesome stuff, so I will stop now before I am forced to mention the counter balancing stuff!!
Ride hard and have fun. If it's not fun, stop!
Ride hard and have fun. If it's not fun, stop!
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