Thursday, April 01, 2010

life in review: volume 1-- february

so i need to go back in time.... i am sure i could just start from the present... but i was one of those guilty diary keepers as a kid, and if i missed a day.. or a week.. or a month, i'd always backtrack. so that is what i am doing here.. too much good stuff to share.

let's see, we last spoke in early february when i had my team ride. boo yah! i discussed how much peterson sucks. he is out of shape now, so i can't wait to kill him next time i see him.

so i think i pretty much peaked on that team ride. (like planned). the next morning we woke up and michael and i tried to ride mount diablo. it was super bowl sunday, officially the best day of the year to ride bikes, because everyone is off the road. so we rode as slow as a windup toy to the base of diablo... i rode up half way like i was an old granny with a walker, then went down, deciding riding all the way to the top was just stupid. (i.e. there was no way i was going to make it to the top.) at this point in time i think i also informed my boyfriend i think it is stupid when people propose on the top of mt diablo. not that that was actually anywhere in the horizon-- i just wanted my matter of opinion to be out there. and also i want that matter of opinion to be out there to the whole blogosphere: don't propose to me on top of mt diablo, unless you want me to say no. it's stupid. i hate it up there.

we took bart back, but used our hellyer "free pete's coffee drink" on our way home. i used this opportunity to have some fancy pancy coffee drink which i couldn't even pronounce (and didn't really know what it was), but that didn't stop me from adding shots of this and that to it... cause, it was free! amazingly, after this "coffee" i felt like a rockstar and was ready to actually go ride up mt. diablo five times... but, alas, we took bart home.. oh well. i guess that is why people drink that shit before the ride, not after.

whatever.

so then i hurt myself in the gym, cause i was stupid, and thus turned into miss whiny pants for a good week or two every time i tried to pedal, cause i was totally worthless on the bike. and then i found out i was borderline anemic and thus was totally worthless off the bike too. but i deserved in A+ sleeping! i was really good at it! honestly, i'm lucky i didn't get dumped. good thing my quads are lookin' good. anyway, pedaling so crappily let me master some other cross training activities, like this.

beth bikes learns to DUNK!

that's right, bitches!

so sometime mid-february, i did some ride called "the grasshopper". don't be fooled, grasshoppers are MEAN. i show up at this non-race, RACE.. something like a 81 mile (non) RACE with 8,000+ ft of climbing. MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!! it started straight up. at the beginning of the ride michael starts pushing me up the hills and i get a little ants in my pants, thinking: 'don't push me!' but i don't really say anything, cause i can't exactly keep up anyway. by mile 80 (...hell, mile 40!) i was cursing him for only pushing me everything 4th pedal stroke, instead of every 2nd pedal stroke, on some 20% grade, or something stupid like that. ouch.

anyway, here is a lovely picture of me, my boyfriend, and my ex-boyfriend.

hahaha.

and you know what i have to say to them? scoreboard, bitches! that ride was so hard i think i fell asleep on the car ride home.

i am pretty sure that grasshopper ride put me under for the next week or so. so then, my first road race of the year arrives... SNELLING ROAD RACE!

before the race i hung out by the porta potties, like this....

don't knock it!!

then, the super-pro, roman killun comes to talk to me... now i don't think i wrote about this, but before christmas, i had plans to go for a bike ride with martina...and then i find out that this ride is with roman, and some other fast dudes, and i am very nervous about getting dropped. we did some loop that usually takes me 4 hours to do in 3 hours, and when i get home, i fall into some deep sleep, when i was supposed to be doing christmas shopping!

anyway, on this ride roman keeps looking at my AWESOME bicycle. i don't know if you've heard of a neuvation bike-- but it "it is an aluminium bike, that rides like titanium!" (that is what the website said! i was sold!) anyway, i thought he was going to give me shit about my frame, but instead, he starts giving me shit about my janky setup. what's wrong with having shimano, sram, AND campy?!?! it creates for lovely musical bikes! and fun shifting!

sometime in february, my michael swapped out my cranks and i got a new rear derraileur, so for the first time in a year i had matching parts. and how COOL it was to shift just once to get in the gear you want!! (also i got a compact crank.... so i bet that is why my quads are getting smaller.... oh well, i like being lazy!) so, at snelling, while sitting in the parking lot, the first thing roman does is come up to me and immediately looks down checking out my bike and goes: "thank god you have all matching components now."

pros are such prima donnas!

so snelling road race went like this. we started and it was slow for the first 1 minute, and i was bored so i attacked. then i got caught and i attacked again. then someone told me: "what are you doing, do you really think you are going to stay away to the end of the race?" and that annoyed me so i attacked again. and then the pack sped up (and i was tired) and i got myself dropped! yes, i got dropped in the first 10 minutes! i chased and chased and was like, OH SHIT, what if i just got myself dropped out of this race?! this is going to be a pissy car ride home! but thankfully i caught back on, and then was miss sissy pants for the next lap on the back. then i got dropped again in the tailwind section, cause i was in the back and got gapped off, but chased back on... and you can see a pattern here..... luckily, i managed to be in good position the last lap to not get dropped there the last lap, and went around the last turn okay, but when the sprint occurred, well, i was *slow*. i held my position for 4th, so that was cool and landed me a sweet velo promo shirt- YEAH!

well, praise jesus, i am through february! march was an exciting month, so perhaps i will break it up into two segments... maybe not, though. i love the epic long posts that no one can get through.

okay, hugs and kisses to all my readers! and please leave me comments about the color scheme. if you don't like, tell me what would be more pleasing on your eyes! peace!

6 comments:

Andy Mangold said...

I have been following your blog for awhile and just had to comment on that one photograph; I will be going on Ragbrai this summer with my current girlfriend and ex-girlfriend. Hope it's not awkward!

beth bikes! said...

just make sure you leave them in the dust at the finish line, that's classy!

chatterbox said...

I don't know, Beth. I think you are more of an Autumn, but this color scheme is mostly Winter. ;)

I think it is much easier to read, though, which is good with these epic posts, so that my eyes don't burn out.

runjoelrun said...

Hey, everyone asks if there will be another post Oakland GP Party this year.

We would bring the beer this time. By 'we' I mean your loving Oaktown friends (I still claim to be Oaktown Karla, damn you, or as Sean calls it 'Frump Town').

beth bikes! said...

joel, if i am still in my apartment, i will have the party. i am moving out sometime this summer, but date to be determined. i'll still be in oakland, but just not in that area... and in the new place, i probably won't have such a lovely backyard for a kegger.

DNA The Splice of Life said...

Like your attitude (all miss whiny pants etc.). Sometimes you just have to call it like you see it. Myself, I'm a,"you suck but not as much as last time", self-hater. :)