riding?

not so much for me. i have a grand total of 2.25 hours for the week! it's a recovery week, so i'm not too worried. we are leaving tomorrow after work for the Croom 50 in FL. hopefully we'll ride sunday and monday, too, before i start work again on tuesday.

speaking of work...it's actually great! i'm enjoying it very much, and very surprised about that. i'm working at Grady Hospital in downtown ATL. it's a unique hospital b/c it's the #1 trauma center in Georgia, and only 7% of it's patients have insurance. The rest are medicare, medicaid, homeless, illegal, or prisoners. let me tell you i have seen some interesting things already!! i am learning a TON though and it's a really fun experience..tiring but fun. i like stepping out of my comfort zone, it is always very rewarding.

have a great weekend!

Twin Six 4 day Sale

TWIN SIX SORT OF SPRING FOUR DAY SALE.

Share the love with your valentine, or hook yourself up for Spring.

Men’s and Women’s Jerseys $40-$60
Men’s and Women’s T-shirts $10-$15
Socks Starting at $8
All T6 Bottles $5
The T6 Sack $90

The sale starts Thursday 1/31 and ends Sunday 2/3. Get while the gettin’s good.

Jenny's Light:
Twin Six recently lost a dear friend, Jennifer Gibbs Bankston, and her son Graham, to postpartum depression. Jennifer was a joyful spirit who was loved by family and friends with the same intensity that she showed in her love for others. We have been friends with her and her family for over 20 years, and we will always remember her for the bright light that she was.

10% of all sales from our T6 Spring Sale will be donated to Jenny's Light, a newly formed nonprofit foundation dedicated to building awareness, detection and treatment for postpartum disorders.

Donations can also be sent to:
Jenny's Light
5021 Vernon Avenue
Edina, MN 55436

Ride with pride,
TWIN SIX

BTW: Be kind, and pay it forward. If you do, you will ride faster and have fewer flats.

thoughts

well, i have a few minutes tonight before my life enters full-on stress mode for the next five weeks. i think i will spend it with a glass of wine and the couch.

so i have been having some thoughts about...

steel, cross, eno, and adding a little spice to my training.

we'll see what comes of it.

FATS Fundraiser ride report

How does it feel to ride with a knife in your back? Well let me tell you, it sucks. It hurts. You can't climb well, you can't ride technical stuff well, and descending on a rigid fork hurts.

OK, back on topic:

Today was the FATS Fundraiser for the FATS trail in SC. Since Eddie was busy with bike fits all day, I thought I would hop in the car with Clifford & Lisa and check out these trails I had heard so much about.

5:30 am: Alarm! Yes, I actually got up at 5:30am. It was not pleasant.

6:00 am: Find out that FATS is actually NOT on the itinerary. Instead we would ride 4 other trails linked with roads..a total of about 25 miles of trail and 25 miles of road...not exactly what I had in mind but I had already committed.

6:05 am: Pull a muscle in my back while carrying buttload of stuff to the car, plus my bike. :(

6:45 am: Leave the Robertson/Rolf residence

9:00 am: Arrive at Lick Fork Rec. Area..load up the SAG wagon with my bottles and then stand around and freeze. Wooglin, Tomato and BrouSSard were there too! I was told that the $25 donation gave us a nice map and use of the food drop..however they were not bringing the stuff back for us from the food drop. HUH? So we planned to either stuff my empty bottles into all three of our pockets, drive back to the food drop after the ride was over, or just sacrifice my bottles as part of the cost of the day. I take 2 Aleve and hope my back feels better, because I feel like I have a knife stuck in it.

10:00 am: Ride starts. We started on the old Bakers Dozen trail...

10:05 am: Clifford pulls off the trail with his foot unclipped..crank arm attached. D'oh.

10:10 am: Rolling again

11:00 am: Clifford's crank arm is off again. He says he is not going to make it the entire 50 miles with this mechanical. The knife is still in my back, unfortunately.

11:05 am: Lisa makes the executive decision to follow Clifford on the pavement shortcut back to the car, where he will wait for us to then ride an out-and-back on the last singletrack section, the Modoc trail.

12:00 pm: After a painful flat SS ride on pavement we finally arrive at the Modoc trail parking lot. I only have one bottle since we never made it to the food drop. I'm quite bitchy and have spent the last hour being PO'd. Mostly because my back hurts like hell and riding is extremely uncomfortable. I can't climb out of the saddle..and I can barely lift my front wheel.

2:00 pm: Finished! I am glad we at least got to ride the Modoc because it put me in a way better mood. It was fun, and challenging at times. My back still really hurts, though, and I am worried I will not be able to move in a few minutes. The trail was a bit rough (think mountain biking on an old hiking trail)..with technical creek crossings.

5:00 pm: Back in Atlanta. What a day..not perfect, not even close. However, it was 60* and sunny, and I got to ride. I even got to see Tomato and his cool socks. Now, I should go ice my back. I am really happy I have tomorrow off from working out! I need some rest.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I start my clinical rotations on Tuesday..so I will not have a life for the next 5 weeks..I hope my training does not suffer too much, but I just have to get through this. The Croom 50 ride is on for next weekend in FL! I can't wait to go back there!

Curious?

If you have been curious about our bike fittings, check this out. It's a whole Wobble-naught demonstration with EMG and video analysis by Tom Coleman and Nat Ross with Leonard Zinn on Velonews TV. Very cool!

97.1

I think this is my core body temperature. I have yet to warm up from Thomson Day :( I walk around in my house wearing a hat. I think something is wrong with me! I've done two trainer rides this week..but yesterday I had to go outdoors because I just couldn't do another trainer day. Unfortunately, every trail (EXCEPT THE ONE WE RACED ON IN THE MUD) is still closed...go figure...so I had to ride the roadie on the rail trail yesterday. Even with my Lake winter shoes, my feet turned into blocks of ice.

So, moving has been on my mind lately. When I graduate I definitely want to leave Georgia. But..where? Eddie wants Portland, OR...but I really don't think I can move any further north. Maybe Arizona? Hmm.....

Bike29 presents the 29er Gathering of the Southeast

What: A gathering of 29 inch wheels and their riders. Expect contests and prizes, a whole lotta riding, bike demos, food, unlimited microbrews, and onsite bunkhouse lodging.

When: August 15-17, 2008

Where: The beautiful mountains of Dahlonega, Georgia, as part of the Fool's Gold 100/50 mountain bike races & festival

How Much:

Saturday August 16 only: $40.00 gets you Saturday lunch & dinner, organized rides, hot showers, unlimited beers, schwag, band, and entry to the Bike29 gathering of the southeast. Please register for the Festival Saturday-only on Active.com.

Friday through Sunday Enchilada: $100.00 gets you on-site lodging Friday night through Sunday morning, Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast/lunch/dinner, Sunday breakfast, organized rides, entry to the Bike29 gathering of the southeast, hot showers, beers, schwag, & band. Please register for the Festival Weekend on Active.com.

Bike29 will present awards and prizes for the following:

Ugliest 29er, Sexiest 29er, Blingest 29er, Lightest 29er, Oldest 29er, Best Wheelie on your 29er, and Most Creative Setup on your 29er

The prizes and awards will be done around 5:45 pm, so 100 and 50 mile racers are eligible to participate. If you are racing the Fool's Gold 100 or 50 mile race , register for the race on Active.com with or without the weekend festival.

My Dogs

I know everyone's dogs have funny habits...but sometimes I think I have really strange dogs...I mean really strange. I know German Shorthaired Pointers are known for their obsessive ways and energetic personalities, and they are also exteremly smart and loyal. What I didn't know is what freaks they can be!

Jackson, age 7:



Jackson has many weird habits such as licking lotion off your legs, tucking himself in at night, and walking himself or his brother with the leash. He's also quite a beer connisseur.



I think what's really odd, though, is he has this process where he eats dirt and then bites his leg as to clear the dirt out of his teeth. He does this for hours in the garage..eat dirt off the bikes, chew leg, repeat.

Porter, age 9:



Porter is a rescue dog. I got him through the German Shorthaired Pointer Southeast Rescue when he was about 1 1/2 years old. He had previously been abused so he's always been quite skittish and scared of many things. He's come a long way, and he enjoys hunting for little animals, mountain biking with us, and laying down to eat his meals.



Porter's weird "thing" is that he is scared of bread. Yes, I said bread. If I give him a piece of bread, he will start shaking and look scared. His eyes bug out and he will hold that piece of bread in his mouth until it is stale. If I make toast in the AM, he'll quickly get up and slink up the stairs so he doesn't have to be around the bread.

I can't imagine what a dull life I would have without these guys. They are the best!

Much needed this AM

Luckily today is a day off from everything...school and riding. That doesn't mean there is not work to do, though. I'm trying to get some work done ahead of time for school before I start my clinical rotations next week...and the work has already begun for the Fool's Gold.

Here's some video I stumbled upon from the start of the Sweetwater 420 race.

change of pace

Well, after freezing my tail off at Thomson Day yesterday, I wasn't really up for the same today. It was only a high of 36* so instead of cleaning bikes and freezing again we decided to leave the bikes behind and take the dogs on a hike. We headed up to Kennesaw mtn and got 3.5 hours and about 13 miles in. Clicky the pic to see more from today....

Thomson Day Pics (borrowed)

Pics by Carl Mesta:
Podium shot

Haha, I love this one. Me and Charles getting our "Fast Lap" prizes. Notice mine is Upside Down..guess I had one too many shots of rum or Terrapins before the awards :)

Jackson double fisting Terrapin Rye ale

Climbing out of the creek

Pics by Robin:

Mallie & Me

Port-o-pot trying to help figure out the best way to get the truck out of the mud

My prize for 3rd place, made by Mallie :)

Eddie's lap 1

It really was that bad!

(photo by Barbie)

Usually the weather forecast is worse than what really turns out...but NOT THIS TIME! I can safely say I have never been that wet & cold ever while riding. I liken it to the "SMAR paddle" for any of you adventure racers that remember paddling that cold night in NC..2006 maybe? Brr. Seriously, the race went something like this:

Start: 28 people
Lap 1: 20 people
Lap 2: 15 people
Lap 3: 9 people

I think only 2 or 3 people did more than 5 laps! Crazy. I ended with 3, and while I was having loads of fun riding wet trail, I just couldn't feel my fingers or my toes and everything was soaked to the bone. Each glove weighed about 2 lbs with all the water, and I had about 1/4 inch of water in each of my Lake winter shoes. Plus, when I came in from lap 3 I had a big heater, beer, Hot Damn, and Rum all put in front of my face within 5 minutes...and I am not stupid. :) I did end up with 3rd place but also got the fastest female lap, which earned me SOME SWEET PRIZES BY MALLIE!!!!!!!!!!!! These were the best prizes I've ever won...you could tell she put in a lot of work to make them.



Thanks to LH Thomson & Family, Bruce, Mike Stanley, Maurice from Dirt Rag, Carl Mesta, Mark D, Renee & Jake, OMBA, the Deins, Trev & Anne, PBC, Tracey & Brandon, and everyone else that made the day super fun despite the weather.

I am sorry to never have met Ronnie Thomson in person, he sounds like he was a pleasure to know. His family was very kind to have us join in his memorial, and I'm glad I went.

39 degrees with 100% chance of rain

Sounds like a great day for a race! The Sweetwater 420 Endurance Race is on tomorrow for Thomson Day. My biggest problem right now is not my gearing (big-azz gear, check) or my pre-race nutrition (glass of red wine, check)..it's what I'm going to wear! What do you wear when the forecast is a high of 39* and 100% rain?

I have a whole bag of clothes packed...several Twin Six jerseys to choose from depending on how muddy it is. If it's really ugly out, I'll opt for my older Argyle jersey since it's already seen some mud in its past. Oh, I also have a selection of shorts, leg warmers, knee warmers, hats, arm warmers, base layers, wool socks, tights, jackets...I could go on.

At least there is Sweetwater involved. Mmmmmm.

2 a days

Today I rode in the freezing cold, went to school for 5 hours, then did my gym workout. I can barely walk. I did get to use my Lake winter MTB shoes though...they ROCK! Eddie put mountain bike pedals on my road bike so I can use the shoes on the road and off-road. So, just in case there was any confusion about whether I am a roadie or not...the big black shoes and mountain bike pedals on the road should clear that up.

I got a shipment from Tifosi yesterday....I love all of them!

Thomson Day--this weekend

I read today that Ronnie Thomson has passed away. Thomson Day is still on for this upcoming weekend, however, here are the changes:

" In place of a birthday party will be a memorial service. Please bring a card of condolence for the family. There also will be no factory tours, per his son's request.

His son made it clear that he wanted all other activities to take place, to honor the memory of his father and what he's done for the cycling community."

Hope to see you there.

Hindsight is 20/20...and a new appreciation for mountain bikers

Well, on Friday I had two choices for a Saturday ride:

Option 1: 50ish miles of gravel road grinding in the mountains with some cool peeps...but start time of 8:30am..ouch.

or

Option 2: 90ish miles of road hammering with the who's who of road racing in Georgia..the Winter Bike League. Also, 55nine Performance was sponsoring this particular ride.

While Option 1 sounded like a hell of a lot more fun, I chose Option 2 so I could sleep in longer, and we were the day's sponsor, after all.

Little did I know that waking up for an 8:30 am ride would pale in comparison to the pain and misery I felt on the Winter Bike League ride!

So, here's my ride report:

My big mistake in these types of rides is always not staying close to the front where the pace is consistent and so is the effort. Riding at the back is an interval exercise. Brake on the downhill, hammer on the uphill..and this is no flat ride. Well, at 10:15 or so, they whistled "go" but for some reason the people in front of me were not going, while everyone else was riding away. Before I knew it, I was already pretty far in the back, knowing my task was to move myself as forward in the pack as I could. This wasn't easy, as there were a hundred or so people in front of me, tightly packed in.

The first couple rollers were ok, but then I started to feel the yo-yo effect you get in the back of the pack. Eddie was still riding next to me and I was confident that we could make our way up into a more "safe" place. Before I knew it, though, the pace on the hills was heating up, and the space between me and them was increasing. My heart rate was WAAAAY above my base zone where I was supposed to be, but I didn't care..I just didn't want to get dropped (at least not this early on). I silently hoped that my quads would soon start feeling like muscles again and not like two ton bricks. It takes me awhile to warm up (well hey, can you blame me? i'm an endurance racer after all)...so of course after no more than ten miles I felt it happening..I was falling back...back to where I did NOT want to be. We hit another steep hill and all of a sudden I started to panic. I looked up and Eddie hammered past me like I was standing still...and all I could think of was "huh? WAAIIIT!!! aren't we supposed to work together or something like that?"

Apparently not, since that was the last I saw of Eddie...

Several others started passing me, as well. Apparently they know the game and can warm up faster than I can. I felt them shaking their heads and looking at me pathetically, thinking "Wow, you suck", or "Wow, sucks to be you", or "Hope you brought a map!, See ya!" I wanted to yell at them and say "HEY! I AM A MOUNTAIN BIKER! I WOULD KICK YOUR ASS ON THE TRAIL! OH, AND I'M STILL IN BASE MILES!! HAVE A NICE DAY!" But I didn't. They didn't care, maybe it wasn't true, or maybe I just didn't have the breath in me to yell. It didn't matter anyway.

It was unbelievable...dropped less than an hour into the ride. As I was swallowing my pride, the SAG wagon comes up next to me and says "hold on to the door, I'll get you back up there".

"Cool" I thought. My savior. Until I held onto his door and he started speeding up. I'm not sure how fast he was going, but it was a roadie move I'm just not comfortable with. I just pictured myself wobbling, crashing, and being run over by the SAG vehicle. So, I let go and thanked him but told him to just leave me. Instead he accelerated and I snuck in his draft. Great! For some reason I was much more comfortable doing 30mph 6 inches from his bumper than I was riding next to his front wheel.

Drafting the car was OK for awhile until that even had my heart rate pegged and I just couldn't see myself holding that..for 5 hours none the less. Unfortunately the main pack didn't seem to be getting any closer either.

Luckily there were several others dropped and we ended up riding together for the next 3 hours. The pace was consistent and still brisk, but I was ok with it now since I was warmed up. Unfortunately, though, I was still carrying around two bricks for quads. I had three run-ins (not literally) with dogs, but one very very close call..in fact I saw my life flash before my eyes and thank goodness I have some skills because three crazy dogs basically ran at me while I was descending and shoved me off the road onto the grass..and unbelievably I didn't crash. I am a dog lover but when I am on the road, they turn into the devil.

So, that's that. My ride ended with coffee with some cool guys that I ended up riding with. They told some great stories and had me entertained most of the ride.

I ended up with 3 hours, about 55 miles, and a need for singletrack.

Sorry roadies, I know you'll miss me over the next year...(not)...but the dirt is calling.

p.s. I think I will just say that I'm done with base miles since this is the 2nd weekend in a row that I HAVE TOTALLY BLOWN IT. 139bpm? Ha, try 180. Whatever.

One thing I will no longer skimp on

Haircuts!

Apparently some people think 1 inch is actually 3 inches. I liked my hair long...and now..well...it looks like I have a small poodle on my head. UGH.

So much for trying to save money. I'll be going back to my usual salon next time I need a haircut. Unfortunately, that won't be for a looooooooong time now :(

Speedy

I finally checked the mail after being gone for 3 1/2 weeks. It took me 30 minutes to sift through holiday cards, bills, pottery barn catalogs, etc......the whole time I couldn't wait to open this one package in particular. (Yes, that is Dicky's azz on the homepage!)

Inside was:



...and these to match my pink bike:



I'm starting to feel a little Speedy all of a sudden.

So incredibly sad

I just can't stand this story. It is so sad and brings a tear to my eye every time I think about it.

Thanks to my teammate D Nice Fixie Freak for a much needed care package. You made my day.

I'm really too tired to post much else today!

Another great ride..and back to reality :(

4 hours today at Yargo, including one lap with Code Red and his Bandersnatch! Fun fun. The weather was perfect, and the trails were packed with hikers and bikers. This week is a recovery week, and well timed because I start back to school tomorrow. There's nothing like jumping right in...I have a 12 hour day tomorrow with only a 30 minute break!! My biggest concern is the amount of food I'm going to have to take with me for the entire day. I guess I better get started on prepping it.

So, it's official. BOTH EDDIE AND I ARE GOING TO THE SINGLESPEED WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACE in NAPA, CA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In case you can't tell, I'm extremely excited about this.

I'm in.

Phew! What a relief.

Anyway, so 25 hours didn't happen..it was more like 22.5 because after my ride on Friday I got a sore throat...and I felt pretty crappy on our drive home Saturday so we didn't stop to ride. I guess that was the right decision because today I feel great! We're back in Atlanta and the good weather has followed us home.

I'm really happy to be back home. It was a great trip, but there's no place like home...especially sleeping in your own bed. Thanks to the O'Deas, Kevin, and the good folks at Kira Bannerworks for playing wonderful hosts to us. BTW, if anyone needs banners done up Kira Bannerworks is the place to go. They make our 55nine banners and they are of excellent quality.

just me and my ipod

So that was two night rides that I was able to evade. Eddie had to work late, so I hit the trails solo during the day. I haven't done that in awhile..it was nice. I didn't see anyone else out there and it was cold, but I actually didn't mind it. Tomorrow, we are both getting a nice long one in together, and then one more long one on our way back north this Saturday. I should have over 25 hours logged on the bike for this week by the time we leave Florida. That explains why my appetite has been insatiable. I have been eating like crazy!! My new favorite ride food is the organic "pop tarts" by Nature's Path....I've had more than my fair share of them lately. Try them, you won't be disappointed.

Like many others out there, I'm anxiously awaiting an email that will tell me if I got in to SSWC08 or not. My fingers are crossed...I really really really want to go!

Wow that was cold

It turned out Eddie didn't have to work yesterday, so we didn't have to force ourselves to be hard-core athletes training in the dark when it's 18* outside. Instead, we had to force ourselves to go out when it was mid 30's to 40's. Now I'm sure that doesn't sound bad to most of you, especially if you've been reading Danielle's blog. But, we didn't bring much cold weather gear with us. I was wearing: Defeet Un-d-shirt under a longsleeve Craft baselayer under my shortsleeve 55nine jersey under my longsleeve 55nine jersey. I had my Defeet wool kneewarmers and woolie boolie socks on. My core and legs were okay, but my hands and feet were freezing 2 hours into the ride..somehow we managed to get 3 hours in, and the sun was setting as we finished the ride. But, I haven't been that cold in a long time. Eddie got me a pair of the LAKE winter MTB shoes last year, so I will be using those once I get back to the tundra (Georgia). Also, I hope my Beyond Clothing gear will be there for me so I will have no excuses to whine.

Sorry about the lack of pictures lately...our camera is nearing the end of it's life but hopefully we can squeeze some more out of it. Apparently Santa didn't get the memo that we need a new digital camera :)

Night ride tonight!

Might as well get used to it

The weather here in FL is supposed to drop tonight. The forecast for tomorrow is a high of 47 and a low of 18! Freakin EIGHTEEN..18 degrees F! Unfortunately, tomorrow is the day we have to do a night ride because Eddie will be working all day. Even more unfortunately, our training camp is over this Saturday...we have to head back to Georgia so I can get back to school and Eddie can get back to his line of fitting clients that have been awaiting his return. I really don't want to leave...I've had a really good time getting in lots of pedaling, lots of sleep, lots of food, and lots of good time with the O'Dea family. I just hope I can keep up my motivation and training hours through the crappy weather once we get back!