Travel Days

Travel Days can crack people. In fact, a year ago, travel days were cracking me. Bike racing is fun, but the travel starts to get to you. Then I got injured and didn't travel for 4 months. All of a sudden a trip to DIA didn't seem so bad.

So it starts again. The travel. The bike races, the training camps, the airport.  My most recent travel day looked like this-
-5:02am wake up. Make coffee, get in car, drive to airport. Thanks Robin and Addy for the ride!
-6:15am arrive airport, check in stuff, pay $50 for bike (Southwest is the best), security, etc.
-7:00am flight is delayed. Nothing like waking up early just to have your flight delayed.
-8am get on flight
-9am miss flight out of Chicago Midway. Get rebooked on another flight
-9:25am get on the internets for 1 hr of e-mails and coaching stuff
-11am fly to Denver
-12pm arrive Denver pick up bike, bag and wait for bus
-1:15pm- get on bus to Boulder
-2:25pm- Arrive Boulder jimmy-rig bike to roll with bag and cart it to the Cup for some much needed espresso and good coffee shop time.
-2:40- The Cup is full. No seats open. Go back outside and hang out for 45 min.
-3:30- cart bike, bag, and backpack back to bus terminal and get on 3:40 bus to Nederland.
-4:15pm arrive Nederland, load up stuff in van and drive home (finally).
-4:30pm arrive HOME!! 13 hours of travel. I'm not cracked yet, but more days like this could crack me sooner rather than later. Here's to more efficient travel days in the future.

The Wow NOW Team

Here we are! My new team and teammies- NOW and Novartis for MS Women's Cycling Team

Travel-en

I have not had time to post in several days. We left Bermuda on Tuesday and flew to Charrrrrlotte. After a "flat' ride on Wednesday, we drove to Greenville for more bike riding.

Here are some picture from the past few days. Oh, and I have yet to find good coffee anywhere on this trip. It's sad. 

Coffee (really bad tasting) stop in Bermuda

 Me and Devon at the Premier's house

 Puppy Chow, BP, Ashle'y at he P's house

 View from P's house before the start of the Ultimate Bermuda Experience

 The start of the Ultimate Bermuda Experience

 Safety First

 Last day, last event in Bermuda. The team.

 Waiting to leave

We had a great time in Bermuda. It was surprisingly good riding and we did fun activities.

Bermuda my legs hurt Day 3

We were in our chamois for 6 hours today. Four of those hours were spent pedaling. The other 2 were spent taking team pictures on the beach, fixing a flat, fixing a pair of shoes, putting on taking off and putting on the rain jacket (jacket off), drinking bad coffee and eating yummy goodies. 

My legs hurt. We've had 3 great days of training. It's pretty hilly here and all the up and down at sea level hurts my high altitude steady riding legs. Change is good, but painful.

Left my camera at home (again) during the ride but brought it with me to lunch. Here are some photos

View from hotel room

 Teammies BP, Oliva, and Ashley visiting the ocean after building a snowman on the beach. I have yet to touch the water. Guess I should do it at least once...

 Ashley and roomie Devon

 Me and new Mommy Anne

 Boss Kurt, Oliva, Beth, for real Boss Man Phil and BP

 Flowers in January

We are having fun. I'm tired tonight I and needed a time out-so did roomie Devon- so we opted out of the evening Gala and instead ordered room service and watched Jersey Shore (now I know why I don't have a TV).

Bring on tomorrow!

Bermuda Day 2

Today, we got wet. Very wet. It rained so hard there were rivers running down the streets. When you pedaled, your feet went in the water. When cars passed you, a giant spray of water hit you--in the belly if you are tall, in the face if you are Anne.

It was fun and funny and wet. Not cold. This is Bermuda, and I have yet to be cold while being here (famous last words).

I did not take any pictures today. It was wet and I didn't want to get my camera wet. Plus when you are riding and getting rained on, the last thing you want to do is get out your camera and try to take a picture.

We also got our butts kicked by new teammie Olivia. For once, I didn't have to be in charge of the core workout. Olivia is a personal trainer when not racing her bike and she beat us up. Badly. Actually, I didn't even do the entire workout because I'm a pansey who only likes the pain cave while riding bikes or skiing on skis.

We got our picture taken several times today--once with the mayor of some small town we were in--we got to see a "dunking", and we got absolutely poured on.

We've been eating some pretty good food. No longer do we have to wait an hour for food at each meal (thank goodness), and I've stopped being hungry since we bought snacks and ride food at the grocery store.

Tomorrow, we ride bikes. It's supposed to be windy. Windy isn't windy until you've lived on the front range of Colorado, so it shouldn't be too bad. Plus, we are in Bermuda and I have yet to get cold.

Bermuda Day 1

Island life is good. Other than having to wait an hour for our food at every meal, and my bike not showing up, Day 1 has been great.

I got a loner Felt bike and other than a saddle that rubbed me raw (tmi) we had a great ride. Here are some pictures.

From Nordic Skiing one day

To the beach the next

 We rode

The best part of the hotel

Day 2, I'm sure, will be much of the same and I'm excited.

Snowing-finally

I like to complain about the cold and the snow and the cold snow, but the truth is- I like it. I like winter. I like the change in seasons. I like to be forced out of my comfort zone and to do different things. When I travel to warm places in the winter time, I end up missing the mountains and the snow.

Yes, I like to ride my bike. Yes, I like to be warm. Yes, I don't enjoy being cold. But, I don't like these things every single day. When you do or have the same thing every day, you stop appreciating it. You stop realizing how cool what your doing is.

That's why winter in Colorado is the best. Because the weather is always changing, you can ride a few days, ski a few day's, rest when the wind comes, and repeat the process. However, the past two or so weeks has seen nothing but sun, warm, and of course, wind. No snow. No cold.

This bout of good weather made for some amazing bike riding and that has made me happy. But, truth be told, winter isn't for amazing bike riding. Winter is for HTFU'ing rides and for fun adventures in the snow and cold. Winter is for post ride hot chocolate. Winter is for skiing.

I have missed skiing. I feel guilty Nordic skiing when the weather is good and I know I should be riding my bike. There is such little snow that the Backcountry skiing and the Nordic skiing are no good anyway.

Today, however, it's snowing and I can go Nordic skiing tomorrow. I rode my brains out the past 5 days, during the summer we were having, and now I don't want to look at my bike for a few days. Yay snow! I'm excited to play with you tomorrow.