To recap:
I got dumped out of the blue by this guy:
After hurting my back really badly I managed to make a decent comeback at the Winter Park race series, placing 4th:
I spent an awesome weekend in Crested Butte and a week in Moab with this guy:
Although I was too dumb to shoot my own photo, I actually went on a couple of rides with this famous guy:
Andy Hampsten
And although it was a time of low motivation work wise, I managed to shoot a couple of decent photos:
Sean Knight, left, and Loren Schuessler high-five with their drumsticks while perfecting their marching technique during the first practice of the University of Colorado's Golden Buffalo Marching Band.
Cooper Knight, 8, works with speech therapist Dan McLellan at the Knight home in Niwot. Cooper's mother, Ali, believes that one of the factors leading to the boy's autism was the MMR vaccine he received at 18 months.
Casey Craig, who runs the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Center with his father, Pat, gets a look from a curious black bear on Thursday afternoon. The center, located near Hudson, Colo., takes in bears that became nuisances near urban areas, as well as those from circuses or those bought as pets.
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Now I'm living in a groovy new place with a very cool roommate, a CU grad student named Jeanette McQuade, and I'm doing some cyclocross racing. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this strange sport, it looks like this:
This guy is my teammate, Peter Schaffer. (I didn't take the picture!!)
It involves riding a dirt circuit that has periodic barriers, either man-made, like this, or natural, where you are forced to get off the bike and run. It's often described as steeplechase for bikes. It's a blast!! I've been really enjoying it, although this season has been a bit lame for me so far. In my first race, at the same location as this picture, I almost missed the start and had some issues with the sand packing up into my brakes, so I placed 8th (out of 17). In my second race, I was attacked by goathead thorns and after double-flatting, was forced to abandon. That was proof of my newbie status in this sport... everyone else had the sense to bring spare wheels and spare bikes. Okay, so now I know. ;) Then lastly, I couldn't race yesterday because I woke up with a raging sore throat and headache. Bummer. I went to watch for a bit, and it was a tough-looking race, with a lot of steep hills to run up and another sand pit, but everyone seemed to think it was a blast. Hopefully I will feel good enough by this weekend to race.
This Thursday my coach, Brad Seaman, and I plan to perform my lactate threshold test. This test determines my current fitness by establishing my heart rate at lactate threshold (LT). That threshold is the approximate limit where your body is producing lactic acid faster than it can be cleared from the blood, and sustaining exercise beyond this point is pretty difficult. So, once I have the heart rate for that threshold, it will determine the heart rates for the training I'll do all year long. (I think this is fascinating stuff. Maybe I should learn to be a coach!) So it's a pretty important test, and one that you sure can't study for. I know I've already lost some fitness since the end of the mountain bike season, but it's inevitable. Your body can't stay at top fitness all year round... it's just not possible.
Once this test is complete, I'll settle into focused training for next year. And the beauty of next year is that my team has a new title sponsor, Blue Sky Cycles out of Longmont. Great people!! I'm so glad we've got them... it should be a great year of races and events. Check them out at www.blueskycyclesonline.com.
Speaking of the team, I nominated myself for the race/volunteer coordinator position. This would be quite a lot of work... hopefully some folks will step up to help me! But the online voting is still under way -- with any luck, I'll lose the election. :-) Needless to say, I didn't vote for myself!!
Speaking of voting, I don't think I changed my address in time to vote this November. I'm kinda pissed at myself, because I think the local elections are almost more important to your daily life than the national ones. And there's this annoying, pot-smoking, Wal Mart-supporting nut-job running for city council. I really want to vote him out, but now I'm hosed. Rats.
Well, there's the update! I hope you all enjoy this blog. Please feel free to make comments... how riveting this blog is, how amazing my photos are, how hot I look in cycling clothes, etc.
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