Exergy Tour

              Plain and simple, the Exergy Tour is the best race I have ever been to.  For the first time, I felt treated like a male cyclist. We were treated like royalty. It was a real honor to race in Boise and represent my NOW Cycling team.

                The Prologue started off the Tour.  A 2 mile “race of truth”; each person against the clock going as fast as possible.  The course went up around the Boise Depot and was filled with spectators. It was really fun. I suffered as much as possible to finish 7^th (I think).

                Stage 1 started and finished in Nampa. It was the “flat” stage. Thought “flat” doesn’t describe it well, it ended in sprint finish that during the last 100 meters I actually thought I was going to win—until the real sprinters went flying by. I finished 5^th and as a team, we raced really well.

                Stage 2 was the true “race of truth”; a 10 mile mostly flat Time Trial. With Kurt in my ear over the radio, pushing me harder and harder into the pain cave, I finished 7^th(I think). Honestly, I was disappointed with 7^th place, but that was the best I could have possibly ridden. Kudos to those who beat me.

                The Queen stage was our 4^th race of the tour. It climbed over 2 mountain passes and more than 4,000ft. We (NOW) missed the break of the day, so had to do some chasing. It paid off as I was able to finish 8^th on the day and maintain my 6^th overall GC.

                Stage 4 was the hardest race of the tour. At only 46 miles, it was a lion dressed in a teddy bear costume as we climbed more than 3,000 ft in 2 hours. The race was hard but the spectators were fantastic. I have never done a race with so many cheering fans. It was super fun.  It was also a good day for the team as I was able to move into 5^th overall and finish 6^th on the stage.

                I mention my results a lot, but I couldn’t have done it with my teammates and staff. Bike racing is a team sport where only one person gets the “limelight”. I might be in the limelight, but my team is right behind me. Bring on the next race.

Boise

My NOW teammies and I have been in Boise (just outside of YouDa Pimp) Idaho, for a week and a half. The first few days were dedicated to pre riding the stages of the upcoming Exergy Tour. It was great!

The scenery was really pretty (for the most part).

We had an interesting 86 mile "off course" adventure that proved to be great team bonding.

Robin and I bonded so much, that we needed to take a break on the side of the road.

 Finally, after being in Boise for almost a week, it was time to race. Up first, the team presentation.
Anne, Robin, Addy, and Gokey on the bus to the VIP area.

 Here's a map of the Prologue course. It was super fun.

 Going as hard as you can for 4 minutes, gives you "track hack"--aka- a cough that is annoying. The cure? Whisky.

 Last night, the hotel food finally cracked us and we went out for Thai dinner. A Thai bonus at the restaurant? Humping elephants.

 Every day, here at the Exergy Tour, we've been getting presents. Yes, this race rules. Yesterday's present was a chocolate high heel. It's a little small for my size 44's.

2 more days of racing.

40 min

Day 1
-4:55am wake up, espresso, poo, drive to bus station
-Ride bus to DIA, security, get on flight, fly to Burbank, CA
-Rent car, drive to Bakersfield
-Put on chamois, pre ride Tour of California Time Trial course
-Trader Joe's, dinner, bed

Day 2
-6 something wake up, Dagny's Coffee shop (really bad espresso), breakfast, poo, put on chamois
-Warm-up, race TT (Phil and Louise Keoghan were in our follow cars. Our sponsors rule! ), suffer, suffer some more, finish 2nd!

 -Shower, pack, drive back to Burbank, fly to Boise
-Arrive in Boise, drive to Thai restaurant, salt food with humping elephant salt shaker, eat dinner, bed time.  

That was a lot of travel for a 40 min race. We were in Bakersfield for less than 24hours, but it was well worth it. Super fun race. Super fun atmosphere. Great course. Great prize money. Great experience.

Lack of Motivation

In case you haven't noticed, I have not blogged in a long time. Truth be told, I'm board with blogging. Maybe I burned myself out trying to keep up with three blogs, three Facebook pages, and twitter. Mostly, though, I'm board with the internet. If I am on my computer, it's because I have to be--coaching, e-mails, checking in for flights, looking at the weather, planning my training, etc. My hobbies have changed, and blogging is not one of them.

I no longer take pictures to put on the blog. I no longer think of funny stuff to blog about. Honestly, I no longer remember about the blog.

Instead, I've been enjoying hanging out with people--in person. I'm enjoying spending time with the doggies- outside. I'm enjoying working part time at Salto Coffee Works in Nederland pulling shots and making latte art. I'm enjoying riding and racing my bike-then not talking about it all the time. I'm enjoying living; not spending all my free time on the computer.

With that being said, it was brought to my attention, that some people (or a person) enjoy reading about my racing. Thank you!!

My last race was Gila and I leave tomorrow for the Tour of CA TT on Thursday.
As far as Gila goes, it was great! I can't believe how well the first few days went--for me personally. After my stomach issues I had (previous blog post), I had diarrhea for 6 days and was getting calf cramps in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I was worried how my body would hold up for 4 hours of racing in the heat. Long story short, it held up well, really well. Though my win streak ended (3 4th's and 2 2nd's), my team and I raced well. My parents came to watch and to cheer and they were great. It's cool to have such supportive parents.

I'm pretty excited for the TT on Thursday.

That's all for now. Time to make cookies, pack, and play with the doggies.

Yin-Yang

This Simbol(Yin-Yang) represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents "everything", while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.

 



 While "yin" would be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, and weak, "yang" would be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, and strong. The shape of the yin and yang sections of the symbol, actually gives you a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, yin to yang and yang to yin, causing everything to happen: just as things expand and contract, and temperature changes from hot to cold.- I stole this quote from "http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~shlede/ying/yang.html"


I believe in the Yin-Yang, very much so. I've blogged about it several times- http://alipowers.blogspot.com/search?q=ying+yang.


Driving to the airport after Sea Otter, I had a funny feeling something bad was going to happen--ask Anne or Olivia. I announced it in the car and they thought I was full of BS. 


Everything went so well, amazingly well, at Sea Otter (4 stage wins, sprint Jersey, and Overall GC win) that life had to balance out. One way or another something bad was going to happen.


Call it what you will- negative thinking, pessimism, whatever. I call it life.


Sure enough, Wednesday evening the Yin entered my body in the form of a stomach virus. After 20 hours, the pain was so horrible I had He Who Must Not Be Named take me to the ER for fear of appendicitis (you're welcome insurance company).


After many tests and lots of pain medicine, it was determined I am a very healthy person and should feel better in a few days. I felt like wuss who had to go to the ER with a little abdominal pain.


This Yin has kicked my ass the past few days, but if it means more Yang is on it's way, then let's get it on. I can deal.

Teamwork

To win a bike race, you've got to a have team behind you. Bike racing is a team sport. 

I've got that team.

 

My teammates make winning races easy.

When each person on the team does her "job" in the race, everything works. Results happen, fun is had, and good juju prevails (like our helmets).

 Here at Sea Otter, results are happening. Yesterday, my NOW Cycling team, had text book teamwork. It paid off as I won the race, and teammie, Olivia got second.

In yesterday's podium, all three riders use Specialized bikes and other cool stuff, so we all got "branded". It was awesome--until the shower when I thought I was bleeding to death.

Today is the TT. My first real (TT bikes on a non-all-uphill TT) in 21 months. Almost 2 years... bring it!

3 days

Day 1- wake up, emails, get ready to go.
Leave house slightly late
Get stuck behind a train
Get stuck behind a semi in the canyon
Pick up Anne late
Barely make flight to Charrrrrlotte
Arrive, change, ride bikes in Charrrrlotte 5pm traffic
Meet 'n Greet at Uptown Cycles
Get giant bag of new team clothing

Dinner
Bed

Day 2
Wake up, make 3 press pots of bad coffee (annoying), breakfast
Ride
Lunch, chill, have time to get bord
Team meeting, eat, get ready to race
Race
Accidentally ride solo for the first 5 or so laps
Ride solo again
and again. Begin to get very tired and eventually get dropped with one lap to go. Oops, I missed my leadout job.
Feel like I'm gonna barf, cool down, feel better, shower, find food.
Eat food, text with Olivia about how hard the race was, 12am bed time

Day 3
Wake up, make more bad press pot, breaky
Pack, taxi to airport, fly to Denver
Drop off Anne, drive home, do tree work with He Who Must Not Be Named (he chainsaw, me haul slash)
Go to Mexican restaurant for chips and margs. Eat dinner there too.
Bed time