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Tube tops
I used to think, that if you wanted to kill someone, and not get caught, that a scuba diving accident would be the way to go. There’d be no witnesses and well, accidents happen.
But I think I found another good way. Make them ride tubulars but don’t really glue the tubulars on.
Luckily, I didn’t die. Well, except for a little piece of my pride that I left up on that sandy hill.
My race strategy for this weekend was simple. Take it easy up the hill, then have a good time coming down the hill. That had been the theme of the weekend and had worked well on our mtb ride the day before. I am not feeling the race vibes at this time, so it seemed a good idea.
For the first two laps this worked like a charm. But on the third trip down the hill, just as I was entering this bumpy little 180 downhill uphill thing, I suddenly splatted on the ground. One minute I was up and the next minute I was in the dirt. I was all dumb from the fall and stuck in my cleats like a turtle, smack dab in the middle of the trail.
People I had just passed on the downhill were negotiating past me, and asking me if I was okay. I felt like the car, that had been pulled over for speeding, that all the other drivers give a tsk tsk’d “serves her right” waggle as they pass.
When I finally unpuzzled myself from the cleat/bike combo and picked myself off the ground, I discovered that my front tire and rolled off the rim. I popped it back onto the rim, and it just floated there, like it was merely decorative.
There was no glue to be seen anywhere.
During my warm up, the rear tubular did the same thing, in almost the same spot, but I didn’t go down.
Turns out that neither the rear nor the front had glue. Michael informed me that “oopsie!” he had put the glue tape thingie on backwards.
oopsie?
oopsie?
I’m thinking of inviting him out for a scuba dive trip.
~~~
This race had a tequila shortcut.
There was a shortcut in the course that saved, like 20 seconds, but if you took it, you had to also take a shot of tequila.
genius.
Also be sure to read how they did the starting line thingie.
I totally want to bring a waffle maker to the next cross race too.
~~~
Our summer just keeps on keeping on. Its been in the low 80’s here in Morgan Hill the last two days. Not that I am complaining, because I could do summer all year long if given a choice.
Here’s the latest reservoir shot. Its all mud in this section and yet, there is still some guy fishing. I have no idea what he’s fishing for in the mud. He didn’t catch anything while I was there. He just sort of sat there in the mud…waiting. Someone needs to show him the tequila shortcut.
November 14th, 2007 / 14 Comments » / by sabine
Life in the Pumpkin Patch
I love all the pumpkin flavored stuff thats out this time of year. Pumpkin latte, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin empanadas, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin.
pumpkin
I went to Target today. I hate shopping, but for some reason I love going to Target. They just opened up one of those super Targets by my work. It makes me happy. I like to mosy in that Target. Today I mosied in the pharmacy section. I have to say its a pretty weak pharmacy section. And I did the blood pressure thing. I always do the blood pressure thing when I see those machines even though my blood pressure is always the same and always low. I think I like to make it go real low, and leave the display there so other people can see it and go “whoah, thats really low”. They should have a permanent display for the lowest readings, sort of like the high scores on Asteroids.
I almost bought the following items at Target:
Purple yoga mat with carrying straps
Snakes on a Plane DVD
But I came to my senses on both accounts.
I did break down and buy one of those 20 Question game thingies. I thought it would be a fun thing for the office here. But I think I got the retarded version. My first word was pillow and it guessed blanket. My second word was lemon and it guessed daisy. I am going to go give it to the guys in IT.
There is a giant preying mantis outside my window. Its been there all day. I totally want to take a cam phone pic of it, but I would have to crawl through bushes to do it. I would have to crawl through bushes in front of the people I supervise. I really shouldn’t do it…but man, its so tempting.
Oh, fuck it.
November 8th, 2007 / 13 Comments » / by sabine
The Short Bus to Namaste
I went to yoga last night.
I say “went to” rather than “did” because I am not sure I was actually doing yoga. I was doing something, just not sure you can call it yoga.
I live in Santa Cruz County, where people have yoga’d since birth. There are yoga studios in Santa Cruz like coffee shops in Seattle. Its second nature here. But I did not grow up here. I grew up on the other side of the bay, which is the other side of the cultural spectrum. And I was an army brat. Army kids don’t do yoga. We do jumping jacks.
Not that I haven’t ever done yoga before. I did it for a year, but that was more than 15 years ago. It was Kundalini yoga, a powerful and ancient yoga, taught by some american sikhs at a local Universalist Church. The whole thing was so foreign to me. The sikhs had long hair that they curled up on their heads and they wore these funny little hats and silver bracelets. Their kids could wrap their bodies up like pretzels. We said lots of “sat nams” and listened to an ancient gong and drank chai tea. This may have been no big deal in Santa Cruz, but in the conservative jumping jack county of Monterey, this was as exotic as it got.
And I was lured and lulled by the whole thing. I romanticized the sikhs, and put them on a spiritual high rung on the nirvana ladder. They could touch the backs of their heads with their feet, so they must have had answers to life’s mysteries. And if I said my sat nams and drank their tea, maybe I would be spiritually enriched somehow as well.
And then, one day, I read in the newspaper how this particular family of sikhs were all busted for construction fraud in Seaside. Seaside is my people. The yoga sikhs were fuckin with my people.
And I never went back and I hadn’t done yoga since.
Until last night. And it showed.
Last night was vinyasa yoga. A slower gentler yoga than kundalini and I figured I could handle that.
I couldn’t.
I needed remedial help.
First I walked on the floor with my shoes on. Everyone sort of made the oh-oh face at me and I realized that shoes on the yoga floor is a big no-no. I tried to show that they were Danskos. Surely there was some sympathy for Danskos amongst the yoga set?
So I tiptoed back to the shoe taking off area and took off my shoes. Then I noticed that everyone had mats and things. I saw the mats and things spot on the other side of the room and grabbed one of everything that was there. This included a purple mat, a blanky, a purple styrofoam block and a strap that looked like it was used for something naughty.
When did yoga have so many accessories?
It started off innocently enough with Child’s pose. I could do that pose all day long. I’ll just lay there and drool. Except my mat smelled like cigarettes. I can think of no logical reason that my yoga mat smelled like cigarettes, but it did. We were supposed to take deep breaths, but each breath brought purple cigarette foam into my face.
I noticed everyone else brought their own mats.
They also all had their socks off. I still had my socks on. Again another big no no. They were an old pair of bella socks and one of my toes was sort of almost sticking through the end of one of them. It kept distracting me, but I was too busy with the inhaling and the exhaling to figure out how to covertly remove them.
We moved through a succession of poses that all had wonderfully descriptive names. It was a blur of dogs, snakes and warriers. Upward ones and downward ones and sideways ones. And breath.
Always with the inhale and exhale. You were supposed to move from one pose to another with one breath.
You try deciphering what the hell downward snake charmer with warrier wings means, while discreetly glancing at the instructor and the people around you to make certain you really are supposed to have your foot next to your ear, all while trying not to slip in your socks, in one breath.
I was always one or two poses behind and sometimes I would have to skip a pose to catch up. I reminded myself of my mom when she does the electric slide or the macarena or the chicken dance in a big group. She doesnt have a sense of rhythym and so she is always on some other step than the rest of the group and clapping between beats.
And just when I thought I had nailed a pose, the instructor would come over and gently “correct” me. Or she would “suggest” the use of the block, a remedial aid of sorts. That really stung. I tried not to be competitive and all, I mean its anti-yogi to be competitive, but none of the other people in our group needed the remedial block.
We finished with some relaxation and then the session was over and everyone quietly gathered up ther mats and made a solemn exit. I hung out a little to talk to the instructor (who was Sarah Kerlin by the way and I hope she doesn’t read this and get the wrong idea because I loved her session). We talked about yoga and poses and flexibility and health and fitness blah blah and finally put on our shoes.
When I notice that Sarah was wearing a Vanderkitten jacket and big ass high heel shoes. Yoga teachers aren’t supposed to wear big ass high heel shoes.
I’m coming back next week.
November 7th, 2007 / 25 Comments » / by sabine
Pumpkin Pie in the Sky
I should know better than to take my lunch ride at 3:00ish. 3:00ish is the most dangerous time on the roads. I think I almost got killed about 4 times within 15 minutes.
But I was determined to ride my bike no matter what. No more excuses. Not even a lunch meeting that runs until 2:30. So if I have to risk life and limb amongst giant stinky school buses that have no proprioception, then so be it.
I didn’t take a cam phone pic today though. It was the same old loop so it would have been the same old picture of the same old empty reservoir.
I rode the Dawg at Demo this weekend and I don’t have any pictures of that either. Holy moly it was a hoot. Michael and I rode from home and met up with Russell who was testing out some demo bikes.
There were a lot of people out there, but as is the way with Demo, we hardly encountered anyone. Except at the beginning of the descent. Some guys were about to make their way down the trail. I sort of “cut” in front of them to get to the trailhead first because I was feeling Dawg cocky. One guy got a bit offended and yelled “are you guys fast or slow?”. But by the time he finished his sentence I was already shifting it into the big ring. We never saw them again.
Riding the Dawg was a blast. I was smiling so hard I thought I was going to explode. I rode so much that I was outright exhausted when I got home. I think I went to bed at 7:30 or something. And now, all I can think about is going out and doing it again.
November 6th, 2007 / 9 Comments » / by sabine
A kitty kind of morning
Me and the cats are fighting for space on the keyboard. The computer could be out all day and the cats won’t give it second notice, until you start typing on it. Then, suddenly, it becomes THE place to be.
So, in honor of kitty cat mornings, here is a little kitty butt present to the kitty people.
Michael gets his hardware taken out in a couple of hours and this is the kind of stuff we do with our valuable free time while we wait.
November 5th, 2007 / 10 Comments » / by sabine
Freekshow
I’m not sure who keeps the official records of such things, but I think we set a record for costume cross participants.
November 2nd, 2007 / 4 Comments » / by sabine
Now then, where were we?
I rode the reservoir loop today at lunch. It was nice, even if it did take me about 10 minutes longer than normal.
Sometime this summer, I was getting bored of the reservoir loop. Its pretty and all, but there is only so many times you can ride around the same circle of land.
But I haven’t ridden the loop in about 2 months, and it was refreshing and not at all boring. However, I think the hills have gotten steeper in the meantime. Maybe that earthquake pushed up the ground or something.
I almost didn’t make it because I am out of practice. I almost forgot my clothes and then couldn’t find my helmet and my gloves are all dirty and I forgot water. You can tell you aren’t riding enough when you don’t have those little organizing routines dialed.
I’ll get there. I want to ride my bike now. And then maybe I’ll want to train some. Might dust off the heartrate monitor. Might consider intervals at some point. But for now, I just want to remember my helmet and wash the gloves.
November 1st, 2007 / 10 Comments » / by sabine
Halloweenie
I love Halloween. It gives those who need the excuse, a reason to break free a little…or a lot.
Merchandising sets up camp, complete with marshmallows.
These are some of our seamstresses. They all made their costumes. The Chess Queen was spectacular. Unfortunately, our judges don’t know a hand made creative costume from a store bought package costume (wig included!)
The clothing design department did the “Downward Spiral of Britney Spears” It was pretty funny. All of them made their costumes as well.
We did Heaven and Hell. There were two gates you could go through. We convinced our CFO to be St Peter. He didn’t let anyone in to heaven. Which was okay, because heaven was just a broom closet and all the food was in hell. Thats me up there doing my gargoyle thing to those that walked in to hell.
The Call Center beat us this year, but they totally deserved it. They made their area look like a frat house and they did this Revenge of the Nerds vs the footbal players thing.
Random other shots:
October 31st, 2007 / 18 Comments » / by sabine
Another day in hell
There’s an opening in our department that I have been interviewing for. I blocked out Halloween because I will be too busy to do interviews tomorrow. I am busting out the gargoyle wings and hoping to repeat my costume win from last year. So, no time for accounting stuff. Besides, gargoyles can’t do math.
So that meant I had to do a few interviews today. Well, I should have blocked off today too because we were very busy making pearly gates and gates of hell with only cardboard and trash bags.
And there is cardboard and glitter and cotton batting and red crepe paper and strapping tape, and ladder and glue all over the office.
And there is my box of wigs that I brought in to help others with their costumes. And white tulle, and cheap pitchforks and, of course, gargoyle wings.
And its pretty chaotic.
But I managed to get through the day and the interviews and was about to turn off the computer when I saw a shadow from my head. Caused by the angel halo I have had on all afternoon.
I guess they go with the mammo pasties.
October 31st, 2007 / 8 Comments » / by sabine
Was there even a race?
I know I am going to get in trouble for doing a thank you thing, because in my haste and addled state, I always leave someone important out, but I gotta do it anyway….so be it.
Thank you to:
Amy Hall - for being registration queen! She is the captain of the reg ship. She also brings over lots of bottles of wine. She stays up all night making a costume and then is too busy to wear it. She makes fondue. She makes me laugh. This sport introduces me to people like her. Cross season = get to spend time with Amy
Dave Charles - stake pounder and sign maker extraordinaire.
Susie Barbor - food booth, and results, AND volunteer coordinator and Miss Mary truck driver. Susie was everywhere with the helping this year. But she learned from the master.
Linda and Erika - Kiddie Kross organizers! They even got Andy Jacques-Maynes to design the kiddie kourse. Of course, they did have to call a couple of mommies for ideas about prizes (sticky eyes!!) and helped with a smile as we pulled them to and fro all over the place.
Soni Poulson - Clinic organizer. We were a little worried that with the USGP happening this weekend, we would not have enough instructors. Soni worked her magic and we had 10 awesome instructors lined up and participants were just beaming from the learnings.
Antonio Diaz - The DJ. If you need a DJ and you are in the Monterey/Santa Cruz/South Bay, let me know and I will put you in touch with him.
Russell the Canuckian - Tireless. Russell is tireless. Again, the wonderful thing about this sport, meeting someone you might not have otherwise ever crossed paths with.
Natasha Perry - sponsor coordinator. I hate sponsorship stuff…just not my gig. I was going to give up on it this year and just hand out empty bags (well probably not, but felt like it) Natasha took over and took care of everything!! I think we had the finest one day goodie bags thanks to her. And she found our EMT within like, 45 minutes!
Tim Watson - Graveyard maker. Tim has the best decorations. And showed up before sunrise to set them all up. Thats after helping all day the day before. Our vibe wouldn’t be the same without our now signature graveyard.
Steve Litvin - Expo set up. It gets crazy in the morning, and we need to keep the sponsors happy! Steve used to put on UCI CX races in Jersey, and we are lucky to have him and his great hair helping us out.
Steve Gile - I love Steven. If he weren’t my best friends man, I would kidnap him for myself. He does everything and does it with the cutest sweetest smile and then asks what else he can do.
Liz McAfee - for designing and coordinating our awesome tshirts and doing it with two weeks notice! Count Triffen!
Course Marshalls - probably the ickiest job at the race, and especially when you find out last minute that a Pop warner tournament is happening in the middle of the course. The VOS team and Jen and John See came to our rescue!
Jeff Clark - make him tell you stories about the olden days of NorCross!
Our clinic instructors (who volunteer their time for this!):
Rob Evans
Kathleen Bortolussi
Linda Elgart
John Elgart
Sheila Moon
Stella Carey
Carmen D’Aluisio
Chris D’Aluisio
Mark Abele
Andy Jacques-Maynes
All the bellas and friends of bellas and VOS guys who helped set up, tear down, reg, course marshall, cheer, make sandwiches, pound in stakes, collect course tape, buy sandbags, take pictures, judge costumes, pick up cones, and make me laugh. You guys are all what makes this team so damn fun.
Racers - thank you for coming to the party, and thanks for telling us you had fun. Thats the reward right there.
Costume Crossers - 70 racers in costume cross! 70!! That makes me all verklempt. I shit you not, but I used to be the only person who dressed up at Halloween cross races, just ask Keith And Rod. And then I met Laura and make her dress up one year. I lied and told her everyone did it. Imagine her surprise when she found out we were the only two. Life is too short to not dress up in something ridiculous and race a beefed up road bike around schoolyard berms and ditches.
And to Michael for getting it and enhancing it and yet allowing it to be ours (the bellas) while helping a shitload behind the scenes. And for being so damn sexy.
And to all the photogs from whom I stole these pictures:
October 30th, 2007 / 19 Comments » / by sabine
She cares
October 26th, 2007 / 11 Comments » / by sabine
What the Fluff?
My back hurts. Its amazing how frail cycling makes you. I can ride my bike for hours or miles, but put me to a little physical work and I am a wimp.
And its only prize bag packing I am talking about.
I could never be a strawberry picker. I would just cry.
But its worth it, the prize bag packing I mean. I may be biased, but I think we have the best prize bags ever. Especially if you like fluff and silly. Not everyone likes fluff and silly, but we are velo bella and its halloween and you will get fluff and silly and you will like it.
Too much fluff can give you a headache though. I have feathers in my hair and glitter on my nose and kitty ears on my head and sparkle bracelets on my wrists, and its giving me a migraine.
You all better like your fluff is all I can say.
October 26th, 2007 / 21 Comments » / by sabine
Squish, Splash, Smoosh.
Or is smoosh spelled shmoosh?
The Squish
Yesterday was the day I rode over stuff. I rode over everything. Just rode right over it. Log? Ride over it. Rock? Ride over it. Curb? Ride over it. If it was in my way I just rode over it. The ride over shit ride.
God damn it was fun.
I thought the Dawg would help teach me some skillz. But I don’t think I am learning any skillz here. No skillz are required in riding over shit.
The bike does all the work. Really. I just sit there and pedal. I don’t pick a line, or lift my front wheel or shift my weight or modulate the brake, hell, I probably don’t even have to look where I am going if I don’t feel like it.
The Splash
And its that kind of attitude thats going to get me in trouble. I have already found myself in mini-trouble a couple of times. Once I got all over cocky about riding over logs and I tried to ride over a wet log at a 45 degree angle. I don’t normally ride over logs, so I didn’t know that this is a bad thing.
I fell into a puddle. That was a bummer. But it was still better than getting my boobs smooshed.
The Smoosh
I had my first mammogram yesterday. I really didn’t think about the date when I scheduled it, but let me tell you, scheduling it the day before your period (guys this is where you can tune out)starts is not a good idea.
They take your boob, put a really unattractive pastie (is there a more medical term for this?) on the nipple, and plop (okay, my boob didn’t really plop, but I would imagine that larger boobs would plop)the boob on a shelf attached to a big old machine.
But thats not all. There’s more.
I once had a pressed flower kit as a kid. Now I know how those flowers felt.
While your boob is plopped on the shelf, another shelf comes down on top of it. And the Xray tech starts clamping it down tight. And just when you think they can’t possibly clamp down any more, they clamp down some more. Fortunately your head is turned so you can’t see what yor boob looks like smooshed back into two dimensions.
Then they xray tech tells you not to move. Like, where am I gonna go?
Then they do the same thing in the other direction. But that didn’t hurt as bad for some reason. Maybe because all the blood had already been smooshed out of my boob.
And then they do the other boob. But by then, I was glazed over and delirious and don’t remember much and it was over pretty fast.
Then the tech told me to get dressed and she reminded me to take off my pasties. (she called them pasties). If I wasn’t so busy trying to pop my boobs back into shape I might have remembered that. Instead I rode over shit with pasties on.
October 19th, 2007 / 22 Comments » / by sabine
Aaachoo
I shouldn’t ride in the rain when I have a cold
I shouldn’t leave work early when there is so much left to do
I shouldn’t leave work early because I am sick, and then go ride
I shouldn’t ride on trails while they are still wet
I shouldn’t get a brand new bike all muddy and dirty
I shouldn’t be blogging about it or I might get caught
October 17th, 2007 / 7 Comments » / by sabine
Babbling elsewhere again
Free moments are being spent on the cx race. This place will have to play second fiddle for a bit. There’s a few updates here that are worth checking out
http://surfcitycxnews.blogspot.com/
Have you pre-registered yet?
October 16th, 2007 / 7 Comments » / by sabine
Halloween Party!!
Surf City Cyclocross Registration is OPEN!!
Make Amy happy (because its very important to keep Amy happy) and preregister!!
Have you figured out your costume yet? Michael has a few ideas and they scare me. Soni’s been sewing all summer, Laura will think of something last minute and it will be fabulous. I have no idea…..yet.
October 11th, 2007 / 5 Comments » / by sabine
Coming soon
In case you don’t see me out on the track, cx race, or crit anymore….you know why.
bbbrrrr-ap!
October 9th, 2007 / 19 Comments » / by sabine
I want to be Sheila Moon when I grow up
Sheila Moon goosed me today during the cross race.
We came up a run up together and she was giggling and laughing and sure as shit gave me a good ol goose on my arse as I scrambled up the climb.
Her sense of fun is infectious and try as I might to be in a foul mood because cross hurts and makes me drool, I giggled around the rest of the lap.
And after the race, I swung by her booth to help myself to the Speakeasy keg, when I see Sheila sitting all comfy. She is surrounded by about 8 handsome men that all call themselves Sheila Moon’s boyfriends. They seem to be attending to her post race needs. She is radiant and relaxed while she props up her bare feet on a nearby chair. Her toes are all painted a delightful red and Gary Fisher, adorned in Sheila’s latest skinsuit, is happily rubbing them for her. As if this is but an everyday occurance.
I love cross season.
October 8th, 2007 / 17 Comments » / by sabine
Ping me baby, ping me
this is just a test of the new scribblins. Don’t mind this post. Nothing to see here. Move along now.
October 5th, 2007 / 5 Comments » / by sabine
I lied
When I said that track was really hard, and maybe even as hard as cross….I lied.
Cross is still harder.
Infinitely so.
The race this weekend was like a dusty slap in the face.
Whhaaaaaack! How easily you forget, let me remind you with a little of this (SLAP!) and a little of that (SLAP!) You think your silly velodrome training can prepare you? Bah! I spit mud on your fixed gear and dribble snool on your fancy track bars. And then I show you some real suffering.
Yeah, so it was hard. Crazy hard. The course was super fun and I dug the zippyyippies on the backsection. But the barriers, the damn barriers, I had forgotten how much I hated them. Especially that one little lonely barrier after all the 180s, that barrier I had special hate for.
I can’t wait for the next race.
October 2nd, 2007 / 12 Comments » / by sabine
CrossVegas
This was the year I wasn’t going to go, but there was an award and there was Vegas Cross.
Last night was Vegas Cross. What a wicked little course they made up. I didn’t see a spot of rest on that course. I was happy to be cheering and not racing. The cheering was good.
Lyne Besette and Katie Compton battled it out in the women’s race. Eventually, Lyne pulled ahead on the run up and stayed away for the win. I heard Lyne spent the summer on the track working on her power by the way.
Nash and Gould were a few behind them and a small chase group containing Wendy Simms, Mary McC and a few others hammered behind. We watched as Shelly and Rachel bridged up to this chase. Rachel fell off eventually, but Shelly hung on for an awesome finish.
Meanwhile the crowds were growing as Interbike workers and watchers made their way over from the strip. It was finally dark enough for Michael to change into the skinsuit. I wouldn’t let him wear it in the daytime because that would just be wrong.
The men’s race was super fun to watch because a group of about 10 battled at the front of the race. Each lap lost one, until it was finally down to Trebone, Page, some Swiss dude, and the crowd favorite, Wicks. Trebone, Wicks and Page were all agressive and alternating attacks so when Trebone and the Swiss dude got away on the last lap, it looked like Swissie’s day, but Trebone took the win and looked pretty stoked about it. Winning in front of hundreds of a thousand or so people has got to be a rush.
But the real drama of the race was happening in the back. Their race over, didn’t mean the suffering was. But, if they paid attention, they could score some pizza, beer or even cash. Adam Craig managed to snag a slice of pizza and was seen half a lap later making his way around the course with his hands off the bars happily eating the slice to the crazy cheers of fans.
Marian, Michael and I had a super fun time. My cheering voice still hurts. And I woke up this morning and almost tripped over the wigs and sunglasses. Ouch.
September 27th, 2007 / 12 Comments » / by sabine
Ravenous
Oh man..for like, the past week or so, I have been soooo hungry. Crazy hungry. I could totally eat over one pound of food right now.
Our cats, they always act like each time they are being fed just might be the last time. I am starting to understand how they feel.
Hun-Gree
I hope its the synthroid kicking in…otherwise I better start brushing up on my sprint.
I was hunGREE tonight after the points race too. But this time there were no brownies or cookies. But there were Cola Clif Blocks and so I ate a package of those and then felt a little ill about it. I was hoping they would remind me of gummi colas….but they were too mushy and sugary. And they weren’t cookies.
Tonight was my last points race. I was sort of sad. I have a love/hate relationship with these little points races. I hate them before, and love them afterward. The love is enough to keep me coming back each week. The hate doesn’t kick in until right before the start. I swear, each time, while I am on the boards, I tell myself I will only race a few laps.
But I get sucked in each time and whirr whirr whirr….its suddenly only 10 laps to go and I might as well finish the thing and get my Clif Blocks.
I didn’t have a single spaz moment tonight (Unless you count me almost leaving afterwards without my bike - I don’t) Natasha and I keyed off each other tonight and that was super fun. Attack, counter attack. It didn’t earn me too many points, but I felt like I was able to set up Natasha a couple of times. Or at least make the boys work a little. I loved when she attacked. I hated when it was my turn.
But I did score some points (I think) and so that was nice. But bestest of all was that I scored a helmet. Larry said I won a helmet for most consistent in the series. I guess its like a perfect attendance award, or maybe..egads the sportsmanship award (I was always winning those in high school instead of the mvpish ones). But yay! I won a helmet.
I wonder if its a space balls helmet? Oh, I hope so.
(a super duper thank you to Larry Nolan for giving up his Thursday nights to run these. Low key and great workouts. I’m going to miss my silly track pals so I hope I see them at some cross races soon. And I hope they bring cookies.)
September 21st, 2007 / 16 Comments » / by sabine
Points and Potluck
My group here at work loves themselves some potluck. I love potluck too. Where else do you get such a crazy mix of foods on one plate?
Yesterday’s potluck included the usuals like spinach dip, meatballs in a crock pot, and weird pasta salads you would never make at home, but it also had chili colorado, spring rolls, kahlua pork, and cheesecake.
And then there was the fruit salad that I kept going back for and getting pad thai instead.
And it was with this eccletic brew packed in my belly that I hit last night’s points race.
Talk about a perfect storm.
Last’s nights points race was a blast. Larry shuffled up the groups a little and kicked some folks out of the Cs. That was nice. It led to a more evenly matched group and we all had a chance to slice and dice.
We had four women in the group and I think we were by far the animators of that race. Jen loves to attack, Julie has wicked sprint speed and vision, and Natasha (in her first track event ever) can lay down the suffer!
It was also the first time I got to race with a teammate and I think thats why it was so much more fun for me. I love me some potluck and I love me some teammates. I got to sit in while Natasha was in one of her several attacks. I got to yell at her to “hit it!” and she did. I tried to protect her side during the sprints so it was harder for others to go around. It added a whole new layer of learning and doing.
I had big improvement at this race, not just in point scoring which is nice and sort of the point of the points race and all, but in being aware. I am slowly losing that crazy go fast tunnel vision and starting to be able to see around and behind me. I don’t know that I want to see these things because sometimes they freak me out, but I am certainly more aware.
And I am spazzing less, although I did have my one spaz moment last night. But it was because someone came out of the pole lane into me during a sprint (a big dangerous no no) and so I think my spaz was justified. I just wish my spazz cries were more like a vicious bark and less like a wounded animal. Eeeeek!
SO anyway, we are going around and around in the points race and I am not spazzing and Natasha and I are scoring and some dude in a white jersey is chasing everything down and Julie is a sprinting phenom and Jen just wants to get away and we are all basically kicking ass, when the potluck starts making an appearance at about 20 to go.
By 15 to go I was tasting the pad thai, but disaster struck when the chili colorado made an appearance at about 10 to go. I made a huge effort at 3 to go and I thought I was going to display the potluck menu for all of Hellyer and had no choice but to back off. I was disappointed to not be in the mix on the last lap, but such is the potluck price I suppose.
It was all okay in the end though, because I won some of Jen’s fabulous chocolate chip cookies and nothing calms the chirps like cookies and beer.
And I think I wanna race cross this year.
September 14th, 2007 / 21 Comments » / by sabine
Where all the blogs at?
Eeek. I’ve been too swamped in stupid kitchen stuff to blog. How lame is that?
Lunches spent at home improvement stores looking at stuff like I know what I am looking at when really I haven’t a clue. And measuring, measuring, measuring. Its a good thing I’ve been practicing on my quads (holding still at 62cm by the way). And websearching for appliances and stuff.
Its all really quite mundane. And when I think about it too much, so irrelevant. What with the war drums beating, and people malnourished, and ozone depleting, and human rights violated, and life so short and fleeting…worrying about the fly shit in the pepper details of a kitchen when I don’t even cook seems so…wrong.
So, should I get a 33″ or a 36″ fridge?
Oh yeah, and I scored 2 points last Thursday.
September 13th, 2007 / 12 Comments » / by sabine
Random Thursdayness
holy moley where did the week go?
So, the Vuelta has started. Does anyone care? I would care if they would go up AngryLou again. So far though, I don’t care. I just checked results, and I don’t even know who the guys is that is leading it.
I think Flandria went to the Vuelta so I checked her blog for some insight or rah rah…but she crumbled it while she is away. Huh? No fair. Blogging is only good for a couple of things, and one of them is being able to travel vicariously through them.
At least I can go visit the Aussie Kewpie Dolls.
We have a roach coach that visits our office parking lot every morning and afternoon. It “honks” its squacky music horn right by my window. The morning horn is Reveille and the afternoon is the Theme from the Godfather. The Godfather one always cracks me up because its such a serious song to be tooting for tacos. The biggest indignity a song could face is to be a roach coach horn song.
Pavarotti died today (or yesterday). That makes me sad. I grew up listening to opera, but don’t much listen to it now. Still, it can move me to tears, and Pavarotti was one of those who could. Opera is seldom made into a roach coach horn song.
I got a nasty case of Track Hack last Saturday. Yep, during the Saturday beginner session. It was the Aussie Pursuit. I usually get passed pretty quickly in this event, but this time I was one of the last three. Let me tell you, it sucks to be one of the last three because by that time, nothing is going to happen quickly and suffering is guaranteed. Even if it is the Saturday beginner session. Thank god Maurice finally caught me. Poor Natasha though was left to suffer for 4 more laps. Anyhoo, I got that copper taste in my mouth and about 5 minutes later was caughing and aspirating and generally spazzing out.
Track hack is not pretty.
So I am a little worried about doing Larry’s points race sufferama tonight. The air here smells like burning trees and its thick with smoke from the Lick fire. Poor Coe, talk about a re ote and difficult place to fight a fire. Seems some fella at a place called “Booze Lake” started a trash can fire. 20,000 acres later….
Oh, its track time already. Gotta run.
September 6th, 2007 / 15 Comments » / by sabine
Points Schmoints
Despite my best lazy intentions, I headed out to the track for another points race sufferfest last night. Thank you to Matt for keeping it going while Larry is at Master Nationals by the way.
So far, I have done 4 points races, each race with 7 opportunities to score points to the first 4 riders. I am going to go grab my ten key and figure something out…just a sec…
(crunch, crunch, crunch)
112
In the points races I have done so far, I had 112 chances to score some points. So, guess how many points I have scored in my illustrious points racing career?
(crunch, crunch, crunch)
0
I am batting 0/112.
But I am having so much fun, that I am going to take improvement where I can:
I can now sit up and air out my chamois region without forgetting to pedal.
I can ride in the narrow area between the grass and the official stand without freaking out.
I found the angle at which I can fill up my waterbottle from the little fountain in the track.
I can stop my bike without doing the Fred Flintstone thing.
I made it through a race without spazzing and yelling “whoah!” at anyone.
I did have a schlepping setback however. I was doing so well on being able to schlep all my stuff from the car to the track in one trip, but last night I forgot my bike shoes and towel at the track. So next week I will refocus on my schlepping skills.
I have improved so much, that last night Beth was trying to talk me into racing States next weekend.
Beth: “You should race States next weekend”
Me: “Really? I don’t know….”
Beth: “Yes, you should totally do it. We need more slow people out there”
Me: “Okay”
I want to help Beth find more slow people. So, I have been convincing my friends and teammates to come out to Saturday sessions. Except I am a little more diplomatic than Beth, so I don’t actually tell them to their face that they should come because they are slow. I tell them to come because its FUN!
The last Saturday we went, we had 4 bellas. We practiced the team pursuit. We were awesome…after a few tries anyway. This Saturday we will have, just a sec…..
(crunch, crunch, crunch)
7 bellas there! I expect some mayhem and lots of giggles. Oh, and Quad measurements.
August 31st, 2007 / 19 Comments » / by sabine
Scratch that Itch
Thanks to Tracie and Bunny, I went and got a full panel blood test after feeling increasingly tired and unmotivated near the end of this season.
Fatigue, thats almost manageable because I am a good german and I can push through that. But the lack of motivation was getting to me. I just didn’t feel like doing anything, and I mean anything. Didn’t feel like doing all the Velo Bella stuff that I used to love doing, didn’t feel like putting on a cross race, didn’t feel like remodeling the house. Didn’t feel like calling up friends, going to the movies….or even riding my bike. Just didn’t have the itch to do anything. And I am usually full of itches, too many itches. I was sad that I had no more itches.
So it turns out I am hypothryoid. Hashimoto’s…so hot right now. I am of course, going to have to stop reading Velogirl’s blog now. One, because I seem to be following in her health footsteps and two, because I am a clinical hypochondriac.
(And one thing that hypochondriacs should not do is play Googledoc. Yikes.)
Anyhow, I start my Synthroid today and I am hopeful that I find a dosage that works and get my itches back.
Good news was that my hematocrit was like 43%. Thats like 10% higher than my usual. Its too bad I’ve been too unmotivated to race, because I would be flying right now!
Okay…I’ll try to think of a funnier post next time. Or at least one with some hot quad photos or something…
August 29th, 2007 / 33 Comments » / by sabine
Couldn’t help but overhear
“DO YOU WANT TO GO POO?”
“mumble, mumble?”
“I SAID DO YOU WANT TO GO POO?”
“mumble”
“BECAUSE I COULD GIVE YOU A STOOL SOFTENER AND YOU WOULD GO POO IN 10 MINUTES”
“mumble?”
“YES IN TEN MINUTES YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO POO!”
“mumble mumble”
“SO WOULD YOU LIKE TO POO NOW?”
August 23rd, 2007 / 19 Comments » / by sabine
Bad Medicine
I snuck out for a ride today. I was tired and poopy and not feeling like it at all. Because it was close to the hospital, I decided to head out to DeLaVeaga. But I had never been there before and didnt know where to go. I ended up on the lamest trail ever. It was covered in those stupid slippery Eucalyptus leaves and poison oak and the scene was just making me even grumpier.
But I kept riding because I needed to and I didnt want to give up because just maybe it got better. So I climbed through the stupid leaves and the oak and huffed up the hill and the trail ended…at a golf course.
Blah!!
I rolled back down the stupid hill and decided to try a different trail or something. As I was puttering all mopey like on the road I sensed someone coming up on me. And then I heard, in the mellowest and familiar drawl, “I know that butt”
It was my buddy Jen. She was on her way to the top of the world and she asked me if I wanted to go. I had no idea where that was, but as long as there was no golf course there, I was game.
We rode up and over some fun little trails, and got a little but not a lot lost. And eventually we popped out at the top of the world. Otherwise known as Disc Golf basket #27.
And Jen handed me a Tecate and we joined the rest of the crew that was already up there and we heckled disc (dont call if frisbee) golfers and we were just as silly and juvenile as a group could be. And my tummy hurt from laughing.
Steve gave me a bud to take back to Michael. It was his get well gift. He explained that Michael did not have to drink it, just wanted him to put it on his rolly table next to the bed.
Michael popped it open as soon as he saw it. He said it hit the spot and he was touched by the gift. And then he took a drip of morphine and said “nigh nigh”.
We both got a little bit of needed medicine.
August 23rd, 2007 / 14 Comments » / by sabine
The good life
Happiness is
finding chocolate ice cream (that you forgot was there)in the freezer.
August 20th, 2007 / 9 Comments » / by sabine
Thighmaster
62.5Cm Baybeee!
Who’s your quad momma?
And I wish I could say its because I was so awesome at the track last night that my quad grew 2.5cm, but really it was because I applied the correct quad measuring procedures as wonderfully illustrated by the orange-undied Beth. I measured in the squeezie zone.
And wow, I really suck at the track. And I am glad I do.
I know my weakness in crits is 1. hesitation and 2. confidence in the pack. But I can overcome that in crits. I ride on the outside at crits, I move up my sticking my nose in the wind or ride in the buffer zone at the back. I use extra energy, but I can roll around on flats at high speed so I get by. And if I hesitate, then there is probably 40 more minutes of racing to make up for it.
But not at the track. The racing is all about NOW. Its not so much that you need to think faster, you need to not think. Thinking takes too long. Reacting even takes too long. You need to ACT on instinct.
Whenever I do these races, its like someone hit fast forward on the Tivo. Even the sounds are faster. Its a total trip for an overanalyzer like me.
So, last night’s menu of races was Keirin, Scratch, Miss and Out and Points. I was scared to death of the Keirin. I am just not one for the argy bargy for positioning that happens. Angela describes it as fun in her post today. Eeek, not me. Get the F away from me is my motto.
But I actually liked the Keirin. It was my favorite race of the evening. I loved getting up to speed behind the moto. I wanted it to go faster and faster. Maybe not even sprint, just keep going faster and faster until the last person is left would have been fun. Anyhoo, with a lap a half to go, the moto pulls off and we all sprint. I was near the back both times and both times I was too far back and gapped off from the real action up front. But I was happy that I was able to accelerate off that speed. It felt really good to open up the legs like that. Even though I was totally dropped, I kept sprinting because it felt Guuuud.
In the scratch race I was just a lame wussy wuss. The last time I did this event, I was on the outside, which is a tougher place to ride. So I wanted to try the inside this time. Ack! I am not ready for the inside. An acceleration went and the line of riders on top of me all dove down on me. The first few riders had room, but the ones after that were coming right down on my front wheel. And I totally spazzed. Riders on top have the momentum and so there is not much you can do. But spazzing probably isn’t a good option I’m sure.
And before I knew it I was at the back of the group and looking for a way out of the spaz lane. I had to get around some gapped riders and by the time I did, the group was gone. Thats how fast that shit happens. Boom..gone. I tried like mad to get back on, but just like that, the race was over. I needed like, 10 more laps or something.
Then there was the old miss and out. The miss and out is all about positioning. Hahaha. Check. However there was improvement. Last time I was first out, and this time I was third out. Weeee.
Since my miss and out was so short, I was all jazzed about the final event, a points race with the Bs. I knew if nothing else that would be a good workout. But remember how I said things happen fast at the track? Well they happen so fast that I totally missed my race. One minute I was talking to Mary and the next minute I looked up and noticed my group was out racing.
Oopsie.
Now you know why I don’t volunteer to do the lap cards.
I am bummed that these races end next Wednesday. I have enjoyed coming out and doing so horribly. Because its sort of forcing me to improve on things that I make do with on the road. I figure, if I can impove on things even just a fraction at the track, it will mean huge dividends on the road. And plus, its been a total hoot.
And you take joy in all of the little improvements that happen when the learning curve is so big. I’ve been racing road and mtb so long, that measurable improvements are hard to come by. But with something totally new, you can see improvements each race. Of course, you may have to get creative about those improvements. For instance, I am no longer scared of starting on the boards or having someone hold me at the start. I know how to hang my bike on the racky thing without dinging anyone else’s bike. I know what gear in inches I am running. I am not afraid to stop and unclip anymore. I also know how to schlep 2 chairs, my gear, water, food and bicycle in one trip.
Who knows that learnings will come next!
August 16th, 2007 / 21 Comments » / by sabine
Tonight at the Track
Keirin?
or Kirin?
August 15th, 2007 / 11 Comments » / by sabine
More Like Ben Huh?
I made my track debut this past Wednesday. And if I was in Ben Hur, I would have been one of those extras that you hardly notice that gets killed in the first scene by getting run over by the horses or something equally undignified.
I did not grunt or growl, I whimpered and hyperventilated.
Totally hyperventilated because I am a wussy. The wussy gladiator. I wish I could be all brave and crazy-eyed like Grace Jones in Conan. Except without the flat top…and maybe with a different sports bra.
The Chariot races turned out to be full on little drag races. Its a holding start and then a quick lap and a quarter. Basically its a sprint from an almost standing start. The holders push you at the whistle so you get a little bit of momentum.
The first round there was 5 or 6 of us and I was pretty scared. Hutch was my holder and I told him to not really push me because I was scared just being held there. Without a big push and with my monster gear, I was pretty doomed.
The secound round was for all the losers of the first rounds. There were nine of us this time. Nine mostly beginner racers lined up side by side on the track about to be pushed into a full sprint at the same time. EEEK! This time Michael (mine, not Hutch) would be my holder. And he was pretty intent on giving me a wallop of a push. I think the holders were all having their own competition to see who could do the biggest push.
And I got an awesome push that got me right out in front, but as soon as I saw the bars of other racers near me, I whimpered and waited for things to settle up front. Of course, by then, the coliseum was practically empty.
Next up was some other short sprinty race and there was a swarm for position and swerving on both sides of me. Someone swerved right about two lanes without looking (Almost took out Beth, but Beth wasn’t fazed, is that normal in track racing?) and the whole mess freaked me out. I think I actually gasped out loud at one point. I settled to the rear of the group and of course got gapped off from the front four who pulled away and sprinted and stuff.
The last race was a miss and out, a sort of bicycle musical chairs. I always hated musical chairs because you had to be rude to win. And you have to be sort of rude in the miss and out too. Beth told me to try and be the devil, except she was also the devil, and so was some other guy and there is only room for so many devils I guess. I was first out.
But I still had a blast. I survived intact and learned stuff about track and me. Track racing is so focused and distilled that it will highlight in bright yellow neon, any of your roadie weaknesses.
I came back for the Thursday session last night. Thursdays are more endurance focused. The C’s were to do a 60 lap points race. We had about 15 people, and since people freak me out, and swarming freaks me out and I am a big wussy, I attacked on the first lap.
The attack didn’t do anything but string things out a bit, but that was good for me. I don’t remember much more about this race except going hard a lot and wondering how Jen C could keep attacking. Every ten laps there was a sprint for points with the top four scoring and I think I was 5th or 6th every single time. Not that I sprinted, I pretty much just kept going hard. I felt like a crazy hamster in a wheel. At one point I was freaked to see that we had 28 laps to go, and then I had to remember that we were on a track oval and not a crit course.
Somehow our group dwindled down to 6 riders. One guy got away with 9 laps to go and won and I swear I never even knew. I had no fricken clue what was going on in front of or behind me. Just run hamster run. Run round and round.
And then suddenly it was bell lap and then it was over. I didn’t score a single point, but somehow I won a preme for a pound of Peets! And I got the most amazing compact little workout that is just perfect from cyclocross training. And maybe I can get my quads to the 60cm bethbarrier.
Grrrrr!
August 10th, 2007 / 21 Comments » / by sabine
Not a BUDINO, but
I’m going to try again this weekend.
(Who knew that flour can get old?)
And best of luck to PAB and his surgery today!
August 9th, 2007 / 11 Comments » / by sabine
Don’t make me get all ben hur on yo ass
That week I went out and bought a track bike. A cute (and cheap) little chrome pista.
All that chrome bling was just begging to be pimped. So Michael slapped some dope white walls on my ride and I headed out for a Saturday beginner session.
I needed to do one more Saturday in order to race on Wednesdays. Since I have decided to stop racing, I now have time to race.
Then we did whistle sprints. I had to sprint against 3 guys including a former football player. I learned that if I grunt and growl while sprinting I go faster. My standing sprint was decent, my sitting sprint was for shit. My sprintmates were nice and let me win sometimes. Not that we were racing or anything.
Then we did an 11 (normal is 3) person team sprint. What a cluster fuck that was. We didn’t know what the hell we were doing. What a mess. What fun.
Then we did some other stuff that I can’t totally remember. And then I did a really long cool down mostly because I didnt want to get off my bike. They had to practically kick me out of the velodrome. I couldn’t wait until Wednesday.
And I got the email for whats on tap for tonight’s races and the first event is a chariot race.
August 8th, 2007 / 14 Comments » / by sabine
I know… you’re thinking I could walk too, its not a big deal, but to me it is. I have wanted to commute to work on my bike since I moved here, which was more than 15 years ago. I attended a small college where I could commute everywhere and when I graduated I vowed to continue. I still haven’t worked up the nerve because I work in the worst part of town. Forget about the glass and the flat tire magnet debris scattered everywhere, forget about the lack of bike lanes, forget about crossing an overpass while cars are exiting on and off the freeway, it is just plain unsafe because it is a gang “claimed” hood. Let me put it this way, some long time residents never venture to my working neighborhood. I think about it all the time when I drive back and forth to work when I finally build the nerve, that morning a street is crossed off with yellow tape, I read about some drive by near where I would have to ride by and I just chicken out. I am one big scaredy cat.
But my training is in the direct opposite direction. It is being held in an all boy’s Catholic High School, so for the first time in my life I was able to bike to work today.
I already learned a few tips like:
2.wear gloves its chilly in the morning
3.roll up pant leg
4.unroll pant leg (it took me until break time to do this, no one said a word to me, they just let me walk around class like a little goober…but my group is very forgiving, what can you expect from a jumper clad, seasonal sweater wearing finger waggers? Today we all are going to be on the don’t side of fashion, you may not be so lucky)
5.don’t forget keys in work place ( that can never happen when you drive but bike commuting…)
Boy’s schools are weird venues for training elementary teachers. They didn’t have enough women’s bathrooms so they converted their boy’s rooms to women’s restrooms. Most of my colleagues couldn’t get past the stinky urinals…not me.
There are no mirrors anywhere…one of my colleagues grabbed a colored lipgloss instead of the clear balm she usually wears and it was pretty funny because you put on lip balm much more carelessly than lip colored gloss…I didn’t tell her about that neither.
We have our lunch catered and they insist we wear our name badges so some of the catholic football team practicing doesn’t try to sneak in and eat our lunch, yeah I could see how they might mix us up.
The caterer is the same company our Deli Diva sang Aretha Franklin’s motown hit, Son Of A Preacher Man
I am hoping they don’t recognize me, I don’t want my worlds to collide again. Maybe they won’t ask to see my name badge.
August 8th, 2007 / 8 Comments » / by sabine
There Goes My Happy Go Lucky Life…
Today was my first day back to work…sort of, I had to report to a week long training session. I don’t expect you to feel sorry for me, I know I am one of those lucky ones that get summers off…but still…*sniff, *sniff a little indulgence please,
here’s my violin song,
You’re welcome to sing along to the tune of Bye Bye Love.
I’ve been playing it in my head all day, while I try to shock my brain in to thinking.
Bye Bye lovely life
Bye Bye happiness, hello bitterness
I think I’m gonna cryyy…
Bye Bye lovely bike,
Bye Bye legs with zest,
Hello laundry list,
I feel like I could die…
Now there’s a sad song.
Summer is officially over for me.
At least I checked everything off my summer to do list.
August 7th, 2007 / 7 Comments » / by sabine
Its Not Over till Sue Says Its Over
Sue was not letting any of us bail.
As soon as I arrived it became evident she not only succeeded getting us to the start she intimidated any other team from registering in our category. It was at the start line that our warrior’s master plan was unveiled…she planned an end of the season party for our own Kitty cat, Erika.
Yeah, don’t be fooled by how cute Sue is…
She made the soldiers stand to attention in mutual respect.
Grinning from ear to ear, we thought of endless possibilities we could do today. How often do you get to race with ONLY your teammates? How do we do this? I just couldn’t get my mind wrapped around it…this momentary celebration was squashed by the news there would be only 3 prizes…3 velo promo tees were in our 4 lap future. No worries being the Latina fashionista that I am, I mentally recorded an image of 3 cut up tees resewn to create 4. I may have to enlist the help of a bunny.
We entered the 30+ W event mainly because I am a lightweight and could not possibly handle 6 Heinekens of this race, Hennekens is Ft. Ord’s make or break climb that lasts 3- 4 minutes and after a few of them I just get woozy. Besides it was the only category we all could compete in together. I just couldn’t believe our luck you mean all other women were up for the 6 pak? Dang…that’s tolerance.
So…
how do you race when all your teammates are in the same cat? We discussed this at length, we could do all those things you wished you could do but were too afraid of the drop page factor.
Oh…with endless possibilities our quad squad began our list. Linda crossed the double line, with no screaming nor protests from our opponents. Erika wished for a pee break where she could read the daily paper and take her time pulling up her drawers. Sue wanted to call the winner by unsprinting, I brought my camera and perfected the technique of “non climbing” dedicated to the climbing challenged cyclists…imagine a race where you wouldn’t be dropped on the main climb, that was my wish.
I wish I could show you more pictures but I dropped my camera
and somehow after 3 Heinekens, the manual control went wacko…
But I got a picture of this lovely bum…
Guess whose?
Anyway as much fun as we wanted to have the weather was very uncooperative, the refs had no idea it was a Bella bash, and we spent most of the time getting whipped around by the headwinds pretending to race lest we get pulled from the event. With the early warning from the officials they would not wait all day for us, we figured we only had to NOT be the last cats out on the course. Thank God those 3’s had to do 6 laps, way to put it out there for the Bella quad squad, we barely managed to unsprint our finish when they rolled around for their final lap.
We did have one eventful inSUEdent (its not a race with Sue unless there is an incident.).
Her cosmic red target knee attracted a bee. While celebrating our victories, eating killer burgers and fries her knee just exploded in size. Sue is an anti doping activist and refused to get on the Velobella “medical program”, but with the three of us pinning her down, we managed to pop some benedryls into her mouth.
Check it out. 
August 5th, 2007 / 23 Comments » / by sabine
Stupid adrenalin
August 3rd, 2007 / 16 Comments » / by sabine
Racing is easier
I haven’t been in the real world for a while, but I gotta know, has it always been this complicated?
I thought, well, now that I am not training, I can get a few long ignored things done on the weekends.
One of those things was the bats, and the other was the baby.
~~The bats.
I literally have bats in my belfry. (is that how you spell belfry? It looks weird, like a Tacobell menu item) So, yeah, I have bats under the fascia (allow me to impress you with my construction vocabulary)thingie of my house.
I like the bats. They fly out each evening and it looks so cool watching them emerge one by one and head off for a night of mosquito eating.
But they poop. A lot. And all over my lovely little rear deck right next to the table where we would eat if there were not bat poop all over it.
And I guess its not really called poop, but guano. I don’t know specifically when poop officially becomes guano, but if you are going to research this, you will have to google “guano” and not poop.
So the poop is by the table and thats pretty gross. I once had a Terminex contract but they wouldn’t take care of the bats and then racing started and I didn’t have time to sit outside on my deck so it didn’t matter.
But now that I am going to spend lazy weekends at home sitting on my deck watching Michael weed in his skirt, it matters. I am thinking I can just call up some kind of professional bat person and take care of it this weekend.
So I google “bat removal” and this is what I learned:
Its guano and not poop
Guano is nasty and can cause some kind of nasty lung disease
Bats carry rabies
Bat are good
Bat guano can be harvested for use as a fertilizer, especially popular in hydroponics
Bats are in indicator of the health of your environment (bats = healthy as they don’t tolerate pollution)
A single bat can eat over 3,000 mosquitos every night
Bat removal should not be attempted in mid summer because babies can’t fly yet
You should put up a few bat houses (yes, bat houses) a few weeks before removal so the bats have a place to go
You have to make an exit only escape hatch thingie that allows bats out but not in and leave it there for several weeks before making something permanent
You have to check for poop damage in their nesting site
ummm…yeah, like all of that is going to happen.
I think I will sit on the front porch for a while.
~~The baby.
Speaking of poop, my friend just had a baby. I didn’t go to her baby shower because I was busy. I am always too busy for baby showers by the way. Always. But I still want to get the little pooper something.
They opened up a new Mega Target here in Morgan Hill, and I head over there at lunch to find some kind of little baby present offering.
This Target is HUUUUGE. It looks like all other targets, just HUUUUGE. Big red bulleyes everywhere and red cement balls in the parking lot. And Starbucks, and Pizza Hut and a wine section that kept me distracted for a little bit.
I finally find the baby section and it is, I am not kidding, about 10 aisles. T-E-N. All baby, not children, not toddler, but babies. There were probably about 50 different baby pusher carts and a whole section devoted to nothing but bottle brushes. A whole section on something I didn’t know you needed.
I thought you just got a few shoes, blankies, diapers, shaky toys and those cute little one piece pajama outfits and called it a baby. I was paralyzed by the all the options in front of me.
So I headed back over to the wine. We were out of red anyway.
July 31st, 2007 / 17 Comments » / by sabine
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