And The Racing Begins...

10 out of 10.

That's the score I'd give last weekend if it were judged against all other weekends so far in my life.

It was the weekend of the Swamp Classic, the first race of the season, and I wasn't sure how I'd feel on my bike. Well, after winning the USCF and collegiate time trials, getting second behind my team mate in the collegiate criterum, and going on to win the women's Pro 1, 2 criterium, I think I can confidently say that I'm ready for the 2009 season. My performance was sort of a relief to me. I'm coaching myself this year, so if I fail there's no one one else to take even a fraction of the blame.

But the 1st 1st and 1st places were only half of what happened. Outside of the racing, me and my team mate, Morgan, each gave pretty lengthy television interviews. We talked about Team Type 1, our sponsors, and our message. I also met a little girl who has diabetes, and I got to win a race while her and her parents were there watching. Knowing they were there was really what helped me overcome the pain and give it that extra kick at the end.

And if you were unfortunate enough to see me in the days after the race, you'd know that I had to overcome A LOT of physical pain. On top of the muscular pain, my legs were feeling jello-y. Weird feelings in my legs are always the first indicators from my body that something is going wrong. My legs start to feel weird if I stay up too late, walk a lot, eat something different, sleep to much, or drink a few sips of wine. That's right, my legs (not my fingers or lips) start tingling after only a couple ounces of alcohol. So my legs were feeling weird today, and I knew it was the 'I'm getting sick' weird feeling. And because I wasn't feeling my best, my mind was starting to turn on me as well. During the race, my thoughts went something like this: "what the **** am I ******* doing here. I need to get my ******* **** ***** self *****home to bed *********. My legs feel like ******* ****. Can we slow the ***** **** down." I don't care if you're the sweetest person in the world, if you're miserable in a bike race, you're thinking the exact same thing.

After crossing the finish line, I pedaled home from the race, showered, crashed into bed, and stayed there for 60 hours in a pile of tissues and sweaty sheets. I owe a big THANK YOU to the friends who took care of me and the young girl for giving me the strength to win.

I took the Dade City weekend off because I was still recovering from the illness.

I'm not the champagne bottle-opening expert.

February 16th was my birthday! The big 21! I told my friends they could throw me a party under one condition: everyone must be gone by 11pm so that I could go to bed with minimal negative effects on my training and recovery. Heather arrived at 8:30 with some flowers, chocolates, and a bottle of wine. By 8:35 my legs were tingling. By the time everyone else got there at 9, I was laughing and carrying on and ready to hug a East Gainesville hobo if that's who happened to come stumbling through the door next. We had cake and talked, and everyone was out the door by 11. My senior citizen version of a 21st birthday party was a success! It was awesome!

Love and Cycling Survey

I've got a question I'd like answered. I thought I knew the answer, but now I'm not so sure, so I thought I'd ask you, the cycling world, and see what you came up with.

I wouldn't be thinking about this right now if I hadn't gone to Publix today. You see, I'd forgotten it was Valentine's day, that us, until I walked through the doors and had my eyes bombarded with the pinks and reds of flowers, balloons, and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. I was fine at first, but some time during that 30-minute shopping trip Valentine's Day got to me. I can still see the line of guys at the register waiting to purchase the roses they picked out. None of those roses were for me. There wouldn't be any boxes of chocolates or candlelight dinners when I got home.

So that was it. Now I was depressed. And I was even MORE depressed by the fact that I was depressed in the first place. Why was I letting a made-up holiday get to me!

Now I'm here at home thinking back to a couple separate conversation's I've had with professional and cat 1 cyclists about life, love, and cycling.

Here's the question we have: Is it better for a serious cyclist to date another serious cyclist or someone completely outside of the sport? And if it's better to date someone outside the sport, how should we go about meeting people outside the sport if we spend all our time on our bikes?

If you haven't had this dilemma well then, I hate to break it to you, you're probably as serious a cyclist as you thought you were.

Pictures from Camp

When you sign with a team you can never know for sure what you're getting in to. Of course you know what your contract says, what they'll be providing for you, and what races you'll be doing, but there's really a lot more to it.

I flew out to California not really knowing what to expect. I knew I was supposed to meet a shuttle at the Santa Barbara airport which would take me to the team's hotel, but I didn't know much beyond that. What would I'd be doing while I was out there? If you asked me that before I left, I would probably have told you I'd be riding all the time. Well, I was wrong. Camp was an eclectic cross between a buisness conference, a diabetes camp, and a cycling camp. If we weren't in meetings, at photo shoots, or on our bikes we were trying to get some sleep!

In the meetings we learned about the history of the team and our title sponsors, Lantus and Apidra. My teammates' glucose monitors beep to tell them if their blood sugar is getting either too high or too low. Phil Southerland would be speaking to us, a glucose monitor would beep, and he would pause and jokingly say, "Stop interrupting and get your blood sugar under control!" It was such a positive atmosphere.

Below is a guy from the camera crew who was filming the filming for a documentary about the team.

I also got to meet my team mates who are all amazing cyclists and amazing people. Two of my team mates, Morgan and Monique, are living with Type 1 diabetes. They are living proof that people with diabetes can do anything a normal person can - even be a professional bike racer! Below is a picture of Sam and me. Sam's the youngest one on the team, but she can rock a sprint like the best of them!

Out on a training ride!

Getting pretty for the camera!

Monique and Me between shoots.

And this is what I had to leave when I came back to Florida. I was sad to go, and even more sad when I realized how much school work I'd have to do after being absent for ten days.

But right now, Redlands is on my mind. It's time to train.

Oh, and be sure to follow our men's team in the upcoming Tour of California!

Team Type 1 Camp

If you've been wondering where I've been since I disappeared off the face of the earth over a week ago, click here. This link will take you to the TT1 blog which has pictures from a school visit we did yesterday. I'll write more later, but overall it was a really fun experience!

More pictures and stories to come once I get back!

We're Crazy and We Know It

Several of my cycling friends have told me how hilarious this book is. I've never read it, but it's really something I'd like to get my hands on. Apparently, it was written to explain to the non-cyclist why we cyclists do some of the weird/crazy/obsessive things we do. A good gift for your disapproving spouse? Eh, I'm not so sure. But it will definitely be a load of laughs for you!

New Semester, New Season, New Team, New Year

Something good is beginning; I can feel it.

I was getting pretty bogged down there between exams, base training, and signing season. Could it have something to do with the five TI-89s I took to carrying around with me? Yep, that's just how much math I had to do.

Don't let the smile fool you. Nothing that requires that much computing could possibly be so fun.

The signing season was exceptionally stressful this year. I got four offers, which seems fine when I say it like that, but it certainly didn't go down as smoothly. I tried to play it safe, keep my options open and watch out for myself, but crises kept happening! Sponsors were getting anxious as the banking crisis began to unfold and several pro teams (Cheerwine, Aaron's, and Verducci as well as Toyota United and other men's teams) lost their sponsorship. Normally the economy doesn't affect me drastically, but after a particularly stressful evening in October where I was on and off the phone with different directors I thought to myself: dammit! Now I HAVE to vote!.

I finally signed to Team Type 1,and I'm super excited to race for a team with such a positive message. You can see our roster and check out the website if you click on the TT1 logo to the right.

I can tell this year is going to be great. I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling (see my race schedule) including a team training camp in California. I'll take pictures for you! I'm enrolled in interesting classes with enthusiastic professors. I'm registered for Heat Transfer, Power Transmission, Mechanics of Materials Lab, and Geography.

I also wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all you cyclists out there! Your racing age is now one year older than it was last year! (which means I'm racing age 21! eeeeeeekk! Don't look at my wrinkles!) I've only just come to terms with my gigantic thighs! I don't want to have to start thinking about wrinkle cream too!

In Which Jackie Talks About Getting Back on the Bike After the Off Season and Describes What it's Like to be Her Own Coach.

More to come...

Unfortunately, exams are a little more pressing.

Meanwhile, we can look at Jan:


Apparently I was wrong to assume that Jan's photo makes every heart flutter like it does mine. Dave, this one's for you:

Victoria Pendleton: Gold in the Sprint at the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing

Exams are going alright. I had my Intermediate Engineering Analysis exam yesterday, and I've got Fluids and Mechanics of Materials tomorrow. As I was cramming for Fluids tonight, I read over a section on Dilatant Fluids. These are types of fluids whose viscosity increases with an increase in shear (meaning they're disturbed). I immediately thought of the increase in resistance that occurs when I pedal harder on my fluid trainer. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I haven't been able to do much extra research because I've been studying), but I think my fluid trainer might have a Dilatant fluid inside it :-)

I think I might get an A in this class.