Tuesday, February 08, 2011

wrapping up 2010

cause my boyfriend started blogging again, i figured it was about time to start again too. i realize that february 8th is pretty late to be wrapping up last year, but i don't care.

since we last spoke, what's been up? well, this required me to sift back to my blog and jog my memory about happenings...

1. keirin cut update

beth bikes! dropped the ball on that one. those guys even agreed to send over a few pants if i got sizes, but then i forgot cause i am lame. i bet i am too late now. foiled again.

2. bike riding

i have been doing a lot of it. last i wrote about bike riding.... was.... well, nationals in october. below are a few highlights since then.

highlight #1 - track camp

maybe a week after nationals, i headed back down to LA for a USA development team pursuiting track camp.

getting to the camp was a bit difficult, because: 1) motivation to train the week after nationals was a bit lacking, to be honest. thankfully, the boyfriend made me do some intervals in the between nationals and camp so i didn't suck balls too much, 2) i had to talk my work into letting me take another week off...even though i have more than used my vacation time. luckily my boss was really understanding, 3) i had to drive all the way by myself. considering michael usually chauffeurs me around, the drive to LA was very lonely, 4) i didn't have a bike to use for camp (as mine was broke bigtime after my sweet cyclingnews crash at nationals) ...but they let me go on a rental bike. now, these aren't the normal hellyer rental bikes. they put me on a sweet carbon teschner~ so i felt super cool.

i am having a hard time remember too much about track camp, which is probably why you shouldn't write blogs 4 months late... but let's just say, we did some team pursuiting, and i learned a lot about it!

i had a real fun time at camp. thanks to usa cycling for inviting me & for letting me borrow one of the team bikes, there was another camp in november, but i couldn't make it do to the real job...but maybe next time!

highlight #2 - off season

kingsburg criterium

off-season began with the kingsburg criterium. yep - you heard me right! the next weekend we went to the central valley for some good times at the kingsburg criterium. course was super fun~ we had a field size of four or five - but it was still a really fun race & course! i won bunches of primes (and the race!) - so after the race, it was like michael & i were on a shopping spree in fresno.... we went to 3 or 4 different bike shops/sporting good stores to spend gift cards we won, then had a luxurious 3-course meal the next day at some steak restaurant. (funny, as we are pretty much vegetarians). we stayed with some nice folks in fresno then crashed the steven's bicycles ride the next day, which was a blast! riding in fresno pretty much rules.

redding!

maybe two weeks after the fresno adventure, i had to be up in redding for work - so we stayed an extra day or two to do some riding. riding up in redding was awesome. it was maybe some of my favorite riding all year long. i have been a big fan of the mapmyride website for several years for this very reason... you can just type in any city and find some really cool rides. i've used both it in california and ohio - and it is great for finding cool bike routes when you are on vacation. here was day 1 and day 2 - check them out if you are ever in the area.

redding is full of pretty riding, as you can see!

this was our ride the first day... we didn't write down our directions quite well...after we figured out where we were, we found this map... sometimes road names are for locals-only... as in the road changes names or three roads have the same name....

the second day, we crashed a parade. unfortuantely the picture didn't come out of me next to the marching band... so you just have to visualize it.

this is the shasta dam - very beautiful area!

also, if you are in redding, be sure to check out the sundial bridge-- it is pretty cool!

reno!

the week after the redding adventure, we went to reno! [this must have been mid-november?] (that's right, that was 3 weekends of fresno, redding, reno traveling). i got to crash my boyfriend's team camp! the guys were super nice to let me tag along on their weekend of group rides ~~ thanks fellas! i had so much fun in reno-- it was great riding up geiger...and just all around... loved it!...

and i didn't even freeze my butt off too much because 1) it wasn't too cold yet, as it was only mid-november... and 2) my inner ohio blood came out & i toughed it out.

i sadly don't have any pictures of the reno adventure - but it was good times, to say the least!

my new team!

i am a part of a women's road team for 2011 -- fremont bank cycling. i am pretty excited to be racing with the ladies of this team, as they are all super nice. in december i got to do a few rides with some of my teammates on both the men & women's side. again, i don't have any photos. but our kits are supercute and baby blue- so there you have it!

new bikes!

fall was a time for new bikes.

road bike: my neuvation ... well, it was time to upgrade. i'll leave it at that. i was looking for a new-to-me (aka used) bike... and thank you to my most wonderful bike sponsor annabell. annabell sold me her beautiful old giant road bike - which was in pristine condition! i love it! that bike kicks so much ass... it is undefeated & has five wins under it already. don't let people tell you it isn't the bike. it is!

track bike: as you all know, my bike broke at the nationals... this too was annabell's old bike. (she is my bike sponsor!) i thought a lot about what bike to get, and then i talked to dave tiemeyer, and there was no more thinking needed!

my bike is getting painted as we speak!

here it is -- pre getting tempered and painted....

when you get a tiemeyer, you can get a custom paint job....and of course i wanted an orange bike! but full orange is a bit much, so I wanted something orange and white. mr. tiemeyer sent me a picture of cari higgins' bike and suggested i do something like that.... i didn't know how best to tell mr. tiemeyer what i wanted, so i figured i would use MSPaint to display my preferences...

my bike will look like cari's, except the blue will be orange & beth bikes! will be writting on the top tube! then i realized there was one major flaw with this picture.....

so i put my head on cari's and sent it back to mr. tiemeyer. i hope he liked it!

alright... i guess that is about it for 2010. it was a fun year. and i am ready for an even better one in 2011. ...and one where i blog more regularly.

peace out, bitches.