Training Camp in Tallahassee

Hey everyone!

Training camp in Tally was awesome! Morgo organized the whole thing, so the credit goes to her. I think there were about ten of us including my new teammate, Mandy, from south Florida, several guys from Georgia including Joey, Thomas, and Oscar, and of course my favorite person EVER! The Snowman!

If you know me, you'd know that my feet are pretty big for a girl. Sometimes I have a lot of trouble finding shoes big enough. I like Jason because the first thing he said when we met was: "Oh my GOD! You're feet are as big as boats!" That's a pretty unique greeting, isn't it? I like people who say it like it is. So now Jason and I are best friends! He even let me borrow his Yoga DVD this week.

Anyway, I'd been getting a little complacent training all by myself for so long, so camp fell at a perfect time! Like most cycling camps, we spent most of the time sleeping, eating, riding, and talking about chamois cream. On new year's eve, Morgan's mom had a party at her house, and we all had a really good time. Through the following two days, we were so beat from training and the party that we ended up watching The Hangover, Harry Potter, and Up three times each.

Nutella and animal crackers, the ultimate training food (almost on par with Lucky Charms).

Only at one point did I lose the desire to pedal. By the last day of camp, I'd already gone over the number of hours I needed to do that week. I woke up, put on my normal cold-weather clothes, and got on my bike. I'd been riding for about 10 seconds before I realized I didn't have enough clothes on. I kept getting colder and colder. All I wanted to do was coast until I fell over on the side of the road and could curl up in a ball for warmth. The real test came when Morgo started singing my all-time faaavortie song, Party in the U.S.A to me, and I didn't have the spirit to sing along. That's when I knew I had to turn around.

Now, I'm back at my apartment in Gainesville wondering how much I should worry about the fact that I'm graduating in a year. It's so much easier not worrying about it! Maybe if I pretend it doesn't exist it will go away.

I'm Rich!

I didn't realize that my complaining about never being able to find quarters for the laundry would actually pay off! Many thanks to Nancy for sending a roll of quarters my way. Now if only complaining about exams yielded a similar result. Would you come take my exams for me?

Wow, I can't believe I just said "yielded a similar result" on my blog. I've spent way too much time today typing up formal technical reports. In fact, I've had so much school work to do that I had to skip my ride today! I hate it when school gets in the way of my training.

10 more days till the end of semester and counting...

Cycling Goals

After 56 days off the bike, I'm finally riding again. I've started thinking about next season and my goals for 2010. Here's what I have so far:

(1) Have tons of fun with Morgo and the new teammates
(2) Get my bra cup size down to an A (aka lose some weight)
(3) Win

The Normal Life

24 days off the bike and counting...

It didn't feel so strange at first. I just noticed that I had more free time, free time that I spent doing things other than laying with my feet up against a wall.

Then I noticed I wasn't eating as much. In fact, my weekly grocery bill went from about $75 to $50 or less. And that made me realize that I spend heck of a lot of time (1) being hungry, (2) thinking about food, (3) not being able to think about anything but food, and (4) eating food.

So far, one of the best parts of the off season is that there's a TON less laundry to do. When you think about it, the non-athlete goes through about half as many clothes as I do. Food is pretty good-tasting, but laundry is never fun. Especially when you have to spend as much time as I do searching for quarters to run the washer and dryer.

Not everything is getting better though, now that I'm off the bike. I have to admit that along with the decline in the amount of food I eat and laundry I do, the number of times I shower each week has taken a turn for the worse. In my mind, if there's no sweat then there's no shower. But I'm gradually learning that that doesn't rule doesn't really hold past two days or so.

Other things:
I've lost a little weight
Had time to go mountain biking for the first time in two years and the third time EVER.
I only crashed once.
And this weekend, I'm about to participate in my first mountain bike race: The South East Collegiate Cycling Conference Championships! Wooooooo!

If I can get motivated enough, I might actually try to document this race with my digital camera. Then there will be pictures for my next blog!

See ya!

Almost Home

The first week of summer, I went to Alabama.  The next weekend: Colorado for Collegiate Nationals.  Then Delaware and Maryland, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Idaho, Oregon, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Illinois.  I was supposed to be racing in Indiana today, but didn't because I got sick.  Tomorrow, however, I'm finally headed back to Gainesville!  

And it's a good thing, too!  I've been off my bike for a few days now, and in place of riding I've taken up eating large amounts of Wisconsin's famous custard.  Yum yum.  If I weren't flying home tomorrow, I might consider staying here longer until, perhaps, it became "too late" so to speak for my growing bottom!  

Home means it's time to start getting serious again.  Looking at my class schedule, it's hard not to slip back into serious mode.  I'm not sure how much I'll be joking around when I'm taking exams in classes called "Compressible Flow" or "Controls of Mechanical Engineering Systems."

Elite Road Nationals

Thanks to Sean Weide, I now know how to link YouTube videos to my blog. That means more blogging excitement for everyone!


The first video is from the U23 Criterium on Sunday. Sam and I broke away from the group 13 laps into the 35-lap race. And if you do the math correctly, that means 22 laps off the front by ourselves! We'd planned all along to break away together; we just didn't know that the right moment would come so early in the race. Ally and Rachel had attacked and were dangling off the front while the other girls tried to bring them back. I was itching to do something, but knew I had to save my energy for the right moment. Luckily for us, the break came back in the most technical part of the course. We were able to attack and get a gap pretty easily.

From there, it was pure pain. We held it at around 28 to 30 mph down the home stretch and 25 to 26 on the back stretch. The only place where we slowed was on the slight rise through turns 3 and 4, the corners we initially attacked through.

The pack chased surprisingly quickly. I kept waiting and waiting, hoping and hoping for the moment when they gave up, but it didn't come until 4 laps to go. Jack said he was surprised by how organize the chase was. With 10 laps to go, I began to question if we'd be able to make it. The gap was staying consistently at about 15 seconds.

Having Sam there with me really helped both mentally and physically. When we made the initial jump, she yelled at me "GO GO GO," and I knew that meant we'd made the right move. When the pack realized they weren't going to catch us, the gap went quickly from 15 seconds to 30 seconds all the way up to over a minute and a half. Crossing the finish line was the best feeling in the world. As Jack told me afterward, this was one of those races that you never forget.



And this is an interview the day after I won the U23 time trial. I was asked if the victory had sunk in yet.

Nature Valley Grand Prix Diary

To follow my progress at the Nature Valley Grand Prix, click here

As of yesterday I'm 14th in GC and Best Young Rider!