Happy Anniversary

June 28th, 2003

Look what you missed

Crystal Ridge Sunset

Metro Milwaukee MTB race at Crystal Ridge drew in a crowd of about 40 people last night. The weather was a bit warm and humid at the start of the race but with each lap it cooled off nicely taking with it the humidity. The night turned out to be perfect for a race. I was able to capture these shots just as the sun set while we were gathered in the pavilion for door prizes.

Up close and personal

Approximately four years ago, Ty and I went to France and Switzerland for our honeymoon and we had the opportunity to watch the Tour De France. I remember how crowded the streets were in Paris the day of the prologue. People lined up for miles to watch and it was so exciting to be part of the crowd. We walked around for awhile and we happened to stubble on the area at the end of the race where the cyclists finish. This was the best spot in all of Paris for up close and personal shots, just like the professionals. I had a great time capturing these pictures and my favorite one is this one of Lance getting whisked away the minute he came off the finish line. Look at those legs!

Here are more Prologue pics of 03

Monday

I can never get away 100% on my off night, there is always

bike lifestyle maintenance.
But I can reward myself with a little
shrimp on the barbie!

Catching up

This was a great weekend with pleasant riding weather. We finally managed to clean the yard up and trim more shrubs and plant more perennials. We still have brush left over from the tree trim before Memorial Day that the city has not picked up yet. They told us it needs to be less than 4 cubic feet. So Captain got together with the neighbors and they agreed for us to split the brush up between houses and create separate piles, all less than 4 cubic feet, HA! We then went to Hector's on Friday night to celebrate with the neighbors our devilish trick.

Saturday came and flew by and of course we don't time manage well and ended up missing half the party over at Tony and Ulla's because we left for our bike ride too late that afternoon. We did manage to make it for dessert. Ulla had some yummy chocolate log cake and I think everyone had seconds, except me. I at least have will power and know that stuff will kill ya :-) I brought the camera hoping to get some shots of my nephew Frankie, but he went to bed at 7:00Pm before we arrived. I got to sneak a peak while he was sleeping, oh boy had he grown. I can't wait till his 1st Birthday Party in July.

We are so busy that sometimes we forget the most important people, so we decided to have Mom over for dinner last night. Which made for the perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Friday Spin

The legs were tired on Thursday so I opted to take off and do a fun spin on the

Tosa trials Friday evening with Captain Candy. There are new open sections that we encountered that were recently added and are well maintained. I took my first fall going around a tight turn, luckily unscathed, that is the bike at least. I was going at a pretty relaxed pace and I find that it is hard to control the bike in single track when you are tired. Anyway...check out the new trails they are in great shape!

Milwaukee's MTB Trails Made Legal
2.5 mile loop + more

New signs posted to show you the way.


Beautiful Landscape as you ride the new open trails

Wednesday Ride

Well I finally made it to the OBC (Ozaukee Bicycle Club Training Ride) ride in Cedarburg last night. Too say the least, these girls whooped my arse last night flying up all those hills and keeping a great pace the entire ride. I don't know how many times they had to come back to rescue me. That just goes to show I need to get out of the city more often. I have to say, it was a wake up call.

I Finally Cracked

I headed up to Phillip's early Friday morning after picking up Carlos and arrived about 12 noon with wide open options to pick for a camping spot. We secured our tents behind the red barn next to the lake for a perfect setting to start the weekend off right. Little Beotch arrived just shortly after us and the party began. Soon over the next 24 hours our camping spot was the hottest entertainment with more then 20+ racers and a mini dogie camp to top it off.

I did the pre-ride on Friday with Carlos and the course was bumpy but a bit better then last year. Some of the single track was worn in but none the less, no real big change except they took out the steep grassy hill climb.

Second pre-ride with the CHAMP was a killer. The temps on Saturday were climbing and we waited until late Saturday afternoon to ride the course after it was worn in a bit. I noted on the climbs the heart rate was up there due to the heat and thought it was going to be a bitch come tomorrow if this heat continues. MTB Girl seemed to slither through the single track like a snake as I was trying to keep up. I was really feeling the bumps and felt like I was getting thrown around a bit off the seat which ended up causing me extreme numbness and pain in my lower back. The short power climbs were not going smooth and I could not get my weight centered for the climb and it felt I was falling backwards. I was thinking that the bike may be too big for me and I was getting a bit nervous about this because I usually don't have a problem with this. After trying to keep the pace, I could barely make it back to camp due to my lower back pain and all the issues I was having did not make it any better. A few tweaks to the rear shock and seat adjustment and I went back to the start after dinner to test him out. The only way I'll know is to try the start climb into the single track. Well by now, the lead into the single track was pure dirt powder The only way one is going to conquer this is by hitting the one foot cement slab at the base full speed. I tried twice and gave up. A few others were out riding still and one of the girls had the same issue. I thought I was not going to waste any more energy on this and but it behind me and headed back to camp to relax.

Sunday morning was overcast and cloudy with a nice cool breeze off the lake and it was looking like a good day for a race. As far as I was concerned, the sun can stay behind the clouds all day today. The first tune I heard coming from Don's speakers was American Girl by Tom Petty and that started off the day on the right foot since I listen to this song when doing intervals. I suited up and headed out for the warm up. I was not feeling super great once I started riding and had a hard time getting my heart rate up on the warm up. After a few minutes of spinning I thought to myself this is not my day and I was tired.

At Gooooooooooo, I hit the pavement and gave it my best shot. I was off to a great start in the lead pack up the gravel road. Once again, a huge red truck came barrelling down the road in the opposite direction towards us Sport Women and it was again a near miss. The same darn thing happened last year, only that truck was black. The front started to slow a bit and at first and we were sitting pretty nice until a few more were pushing for the front from the back and the speed took off. I managed to head into the single track in good position and hit the dirt from there. The front pack somewhere off the end of the first or the start of the second lap got a bit of a lead. By now, the thunder clouds have rolled in and the rain began to pour. The cool rain felt good and would help the course a great deal but the thunder was a bit scary. I was out in the field on the second lap and was wondering if this was going to continue for long. I did not feel like getting electrocuted today. I have a full mouth of metal and would be a great target. The rain continued and the second lap some areas were a bit greasy such as the little rocky garden of single track. I thought if this keeps up, the third lap is going to be hazardous. Sonia and I were duking in out in the single track on the second lap, I believe, and then after that I manged to create a gap. I think the seat adjustment helped. Thanks to the peeps for the encouragement, I could not believe I was still holding on to my position going into the second and third lap. I kept waiting to get caught, and for the first time I was in control. I had an awesome race experience all the way to the finish line, knowing I finally cracked a top five finish.

Sonia

Say Cheese!

Big Champ


Mini Champ who rides the pink bike

Super Fly's Pic of the Day

PHILLIP PHOTOS

CLICK HERE

WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A FRIENDLY REMINDER TO EVERYONE OUT THERE RIDING ON THE ROAD OR IN GROUP RIDES. MANY POT HOLES ARE NOT PATCHED UP YET AND COULD CAUSE POTENTIAL DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!! WHEN RIDING IN A GROUP, POINT OUT DEBRIS OR POT HOLES SO EVERYONE HAS A PLEASANT SAFE RIDE.

Less than 15 minutes into the Alterra road ride tonight, one of our members hit a hole and wiped out, thank goodness she is tough and only had a few scrapes and was wearing her helmet! Once she hit the hole the front wheel made like a taco and she lie beside it.

Want a Ride to Phillips?

Hey, I am leaving for Phillips for the WORS race tomorrow morning, Friday June 15th and have room for a passenger and one bike. The only catch is you have to find your own way home on Sunday.

What a ride!

I am very excited about my new mountain bike and boy does he ride super smooth. I took him out for the second time yesterday at the South Kettles for a spin and I had a blast. The bike corners like a dream which will definitely help me. I never experienced disk breaks before and they are super great and not so touchy grabby like regular breaks, I'm hooked! He handles really nice in the sand, I don't seem to sink, he just glides right over the stuff. I did the blue loop pretty hard to test him out, and for the first time I did not have the numbness in my lower back after all those rocky bumps. The best part, he climbs like a dream, nice and stiff just like my road bike but better. It feels like I get more out of my pedal stroke and power on the hill climbs then the sagging feel with the old rear FOX shock. What a delight! Well worth it! I would highly recommend him to anyone.

My New Boy Friend

I promise to treat him well and ride him hard even when I
am tired or have a headache.

Thanks again to Allen at Ben's Cycle who spent time with a detailed assessment

and adjusting my

bike to fit me just right.

I can't wait to take him out for a test drive at Crystal Ridge.

The Alterra team will be out at Crystal Ridge today to start working on trail maintenance for the up coming Alterra Coffee Bean Classic Race in August. Grab a shovel and some weed whacker's and join us today at 10:00 AM!

Tomorrows agenda:

Sunday June10Th

Southern Kettles at 11:00 AM

He has arrived

I have waited an entire spring for his arrival from the far east.

Tomorrow is the day I will meet my new mountain bike companion and

I am getting goose bumps just thinking about it.

My favorite bike shop and also sponsor of the Alterra Mountain Bike Team
Hundreds of bikes to choose from.

Stop by Ben's Cycle and ask for Vince. He will be sure to give you
first rate customer service and his knowledge about bikes.

Marathon # 1 in the books

I was looking forward to the Marathon race in Wausau for the big Chain ring classic. For some odd reason I felt like really testing the endurance especially since this was my first long race ever. Yes, I am a rookie and it felt great to get my first marathon race under my belt.

I have to say I was not expecting anything going into this race other than a chance to race hard for as long as I could. Nothing bothered me at all this weekend which was good for a change. No worries, no bike issues, no mental issues... I just took it all in and enjoyed every moment. The weather was not a threat to me, I was ready to race no matter what, and I think many others felt the same way. I did my usual warm up and was listening to my music a bit too long and did not realize we were to line up. Not more then 5 minutes and Don said GOOOOOOOOOO!

I had a great start and avoided anyone that looked suspiciously dangerous. I think I was putting down a good pace until we hit the dreaded bottleneck which actually took me for surprise since I did not plan this into my strategy. I for sure thought this would not be a problem 2.5 miles into the race. We came to a complete HALT and I was number 50 something in the pack of I don't know how many people. It appeared that no one was moving up front, and at first I thought someone was badly hurt. I guess that was not the case, anyway... A couple of us were singing campfire songs while we waited. I finally made my way in to the single track legally, (even though I wanted to run it, I was out numbered and did not want to get called any names) and headed on my way thinking I fell back to the very back of the Sport women and had some work to do.

The glasses fogged up and came off and then I started getting sprayed with mud so I tried them back on and then off two seconds later. I basically kept my head above mud the entire race, facing skyward at every chance so that the rain would wash my face off. I even tried to ride close to the end of the trail where the trees were hanging low heavy with rain water to wipe my face clean and it worked. I guess this stuff entertained me for at least the second lap.

Going into the third was fun since I was running into peeps I usually don't see when I am racing and it made it more fun to try to catch them when they went by. I even ran into an old friend we have not seen in 4 years or so which took me by surprise. Riding with the Comp and Expert crowd was a lot of fun and motivating which kept the race interesting! I made it to the finish line hoping at least I finished under three hours.

The best part of the day was seeing everyone else having fun too, despite the rainy conditions. Those bagels sure tasted good even though I did not want to see another carb for at least a week.

I never checked the results and was surprised when I checked on line I got 12th over all. I have to say it was the endurance and thank goodness no mechicanicals or personal injuries. I am a few minutes closer to the lead, one race at a time.

Carbo loading at the Mine Co. They served up a
hearty bowl of pasta and plenty of garlic bread.

Proper placement of number tag and back tag, um hum.

The sky 45 minutes prior to the start.

Last minute details

That bottle was my savior thanks to Mikey

New beauty treatment, mud packed hair.



Picture of the day
How would you like to have his job?

More pics here