Butter Cream Frosting

Today is one my favorite patients birthday. He is a little sad that he is in the hospital having all the necessary work-up before his heart transplant. Getting listed for transplant involves many tests and it can become very over whelming for the patient. So yesterday he told me he would like a bowl of butter cream frosting for his Birthday which is his second wish. His first wish was to go home today for his Birthday. So last night I made him some cup cakes and I did not frost them yet. I left the homemade butter cream frosting in a bowl. I will pop in today to surprise him. I will let him make the decision if he wants to frost the cupcakes:) I can't wait to see his smile!

Sunday at John Muir

Ty and I headed out to John Muir early on Sunday morning. As the weather warms up we promised each other that weekend rides will start earlier so we can get house stuff done too. Thank goodness we decided to ride here today and not on Saturday. You can tell that the Forrest was hit with tons of wind damage. Trees down every 1/4 mile or so it seemed on the start of the white and red loops. Some you could bunny hop others that you would have to climb and hike a bike over them to get to the other side.

One of many trees we encountered on the ride.

Off to Emma, my favorite loop!

I did not quite clear this and thanks to a tree for saving me from a huge crash. The log was up a bit higher off the ground and I thought I could just roll over it, stupid me.

The beautiful Forrest that I got lost in. Somehow, somewhere in Emma Ty and I separated on the way back and I got lost. There was a section that came to a Y and it was either the red loop or green loop to the right. I headed left to the red loop thinking it was the way back. I ended up doing the red loop twice and not knowing which direction to go. I finally decided to try the green loop and some how that got me back to the connector trails, silly me.

Ham & Cheese

Show'in off the new 29er

Talking bike crap

Trek was out at the trails today with demo bikes for peeps to try.

Spring is here

We finally got some rain here in Milwaukee, enough to flood the parkway and I bet the Tosa Trails are crap too. I tried to ride out to Pewaukee lake yesterday but it was so frickin windy with gusts of wind up to 35MPH that nearly threw me off my bike. Even with the easiest gears, I tried to spin into the wind and found my cadence in the 50's and the watts in in the 200 range without doing much work but this made for a very difficult controlled ride and I had to wing it. When I wanted to spin fast I was going super slow, when I wanted to slow down, I would fly with the wind on my tail, fun but frustrating. I called it the YO-YO ride.

8 more days to get into shape!

WORS Iola Bump and Jump

Some 2007 PICS

Alterra's gearing up for the 08 season

This past weekend was the team Kick off Partay. The new team manager is Tim Scanley and Ty Gonzalez steps up for race director for the Alterra race held at Crystal Ridge. Many new ideas and changes in the works. A few new members to the team for some added spice and a few new secrets that are sure to start rumoring soon. We are all excited for the upcoming season and can't wait to blaze the trails with orange.

Here are some pics from the party

Sunday afternoon we headed out to South Kettles for some fun and fast single track practice. The trails were awesome, mostly dry and fast. We tested out the new sections of the White loop with the new challenging climbs that has you breaking out in pure sweat. The temps felt like 80 and it was so much fun to be riding with these tough guys.

Red Dirt Ride

Our second day in Sedona after settling in and catching the sunset was spent riding the trails. Our hotel was nicely located to Bell's Rock an all to familiar trail head that leads to many adventures. We rode from home base to the top of Bell's Rock which was a nice two or so mile steady low grade climb to get you warmed up. We stumbled onto the newly constructed bridge and tunnel which must of been completed this last year because it was still under construction when we were here, last year according to Ty. So we rode our bikes through the tunnel and I now remember this very clearly. At the end of the tunnel there is a huge boulder about 3 feet off the ground and I hit the dirt smack down last time I tried to ride it, and nearly broke my wrist after hitting the front brake as my front tire hit the dirt, NICE. Not this time though!

The route was Bell's rock pass to Templeton trail to the Baldwin trail in Oak Creek area. Then back to Bell's rock Trail head to do two more loops, Court house Butt Loop and Big Park Loop.

Here is the view at the other end of the tunnel, just amazing!

Nice fast single track with quick descents and switch backs

Everywhere your eyes take you you are sure to have a beautiful picture.

360 degrees of beauty at every turn

Here we are on Templeton loop where you ride the rim and the views once again are breath taking.

That's Bell's Rock in the center of the background, pretty cool, huh

Buddha Beach is at the end of Templeton trail. There are many little statues of rocks or Caren's I think that's what they call them along the beach.

Kindling the romance

Nice ledgey single track on the Baldwin Trail

We took the wilderness boundary which was the wrong route. Beautiful tight single track but it was a nature preserve and a $300.00 fine if you get caught on it so we turned around.

Back to Bell's Rock

I took this picture for MTB GIRL to show her that Sedona has trees. This was located along the river bed near Buddha beach.

NMBS #2 Nova Short Track re-cap

McDowell Park

Bender taking it!

a little pampering for the pro women

watching the top pro women in the world, PRICELESS!

NMBS NOVA pics here from 4/5

Red Rock Riding

We got into Sedona yesterday afternoon and settled in. Driving in was the best part so far, eye candy everywhere with a magnificent sunset last night off airport loop. Today, off to the trails to tear it up! I can't wait.

Mt Lemmon

Tuesday morning Ty and I left the comforts of Sanjay and Anna's home and headed towards the border, south to Tucson. The temps in Phoenix were about 85 degrees when we left and I hate to say it but it was refreshing to sit in the car with the AC on for the drive. We met up with TJ for a climb up MT Lemmon mid afternoon. Ty and I rented road bikes from Cycle Tucson. The bikes were delivered to our hotel, with a bike fit and all. The couple who delivered us the bikes stated they used to own a bike shop but find more tourists are looking for this type of service and convenience.

We started off from the highway parking lot off Tanque Verde and headed west. The start was a false flat for about two miles or so. The desert heat was on my back and my heart rate quickly climbed to race pace. As we climbed further the views in the distant made this all the more sweeter. I rode with TJ and Ty took off for the summit. It was quite interesting how the terrain changed from desert cacti to grassy pastures to towering pines and white granite rock. At mile marker zero we were around 2500 feet and I ascended to 7000 + ft on my own as the boys made off to the summit for a chase. After about an hour riding with TJ he took off to catch up to Ty and I was on my own.

I pulled out the I pod shuffle and continued on taking in every moment and appreciating the fitness I have to enjoy these breath taking views. This was about 5000 ft facing east.

I stopped for a potty break at 7000ft and bite or two of a power bar. My camel back was almost empty and I had one and a half water bottle left. The temps started to drop and it was refreshing relief from the heat.

The winds picked up as I clung to the bike and hugged the ledges as I climbed. Gard rails on my right with shear drop offs made for an exhilarating nervous rush. I continued to pedal on until the guys headed back down.

I met up with the guys at San Pedro Valley for some photo ops. Ty and TJ rode up to Summer Haven where they stopped for a half pound of fudge. I guess they deserved that after climbing for some 2.5 hours or so. The ride back down was a blast again off into the sunset with the blazing orange sun setting in the west peaking over the pines and the chilling windy air whipping my jacket. It was scary in some sections where the grade was steeper and I laid heavily on the brakes through that area as Ty and TJ flew down like birds. The ride down for me was about 27 to 30 MPH and that is about all I can handle before I freak out. A great day of riding!

Race hangover

The start of the women's expert cross country race was about 8:20 AM. I got a call up, which surprised me since I was last in my age group for the Super D. We started off in age groups, which was OK I guess. They marked our right calf with the age category so other riders would know who you are, all nine of us. The youngest riders went out first and so forth. It was nice to see more women in my age group then the usual two or three which made the race more competitive. I'll tell you the start is nothing like a Wisconsin WORS start. First, the guy who says go, just says it, "go" rather quietly. The start was on a slight incline up to the single track. I wheezeled my way in about fifth place to the hole shot and it hurt there after. I did not pre-ride the course so I had nothing to expect but try to chase. The first section was rolling hills that more or less kept rolling up which started to separate us. Too bad a few of my other racing buddies were not here they would of liked this start. There were some really fun and fast rocky technical sections and descents that were a total blast. The course was really fun but very hot and dry. My gel tasted like crap and I remember quickly what works for me and what doesn't.

This was coming into the second lap and my right lower back above my iliac crest was starting to numb up most likely from all the jarring on the back half of the course which was about 3 miles or so of the stuff. I knew I would have to get off the bike and open up my rear shock and adjust it. It was way too stiff and I completely forgot to adjust it, stupid me. I had these same issues before in Rhinelander last year when I blew out the brain. So after I dug as long as I could I pulled off to the side to stretch my back since I felt like crying and I opened it up. I got back on and continued, by now I was way behind, like I have never raced before. It was too late the damage was done, my back continued to cripple me as if I had shots of Novocaine that were painful. I pulled off again a few time in the back section of the rocks ready to DNF. Now I was nauseated and felt like throwing up. It was hot, my back was not getting any better but I jumped on and endured the pain grabbing and pulling on my lower side to alleviate some of the numbness. I was starting to get pissed off and finished the race. Some of the semi-pro men were coming by and that motivated me through enough sections to pedal on. I got off the bike at the finish frustrated. To top it off a girl I dropped a while back got me just as I went into the finish, I did not even care. That's racing! I was done, the first race was in and the race memories are back! How easily you forget when your so excited to race and I am not going to beat myself up about it or the shitty time I ended up with for the cross country race. I did well at the time trial/super D and I am proud of that. Both races were combined and I ended up in 4th place over all for my age, for the weekends events, which put a smile on my face. I miss all my WORS racing buddies and wish they were here, it's not the same.


RESULTS

Tom Bender had a great weekend as well as your truly the Chrome Dome. This is the start of his cross country race on Sunday. I'll let the rest of these guys tell thier own stories, they all raced well this weekend!

Chloe chasing

Pro Mens Start

TJ

Mike

Chris

TJ and Chloe

At the end of the Pro race we were hanging out talking to the champs and this guy appears with a tag around his neck. At first I thought it read USDA and I was like a "meat inspector?" Well he was a USADA and he was there to test one of our buddies. Man, they just got off the course. He stood there until they were ready. I guess they have an hour to perform their duties. NICE.

Three days of racing , two for me makes for a tired Rine. Today I woke up feeling hungover like and tired, what a great feeling!

Cross Country race pics and others

More pics of short track soon.