2008 and thanks

Well, it's pretty much here. The end of our winter training camp and the end of another year. I'm very much looking forward to the New Year as I finally graduate from my Masters program and can hopefully put the hardest of financial times behind me/us. I'm also very excited about our new team next year and for my sister that is getting hitched. Anyway, some of my 2009 sponsors are changing due to me joining the Topeak-Ergon team (you can see them all on the left). I wanted to say a Thank You to all the sponsors that have supported me over the last year and more. I have nothing but good things to say about all these folks and their products so please check them out:

Tifosi Optics
Hayes Disc Brake
Ergon
American Classic (technically Eddie's sponsor, but I love them)
Light & Motion (technically Eddie's sponsor, but I also love them)
WTB
Crankbrothers
Addictive Cycles
PowerBar
Wicked Fast Sports Nutrition
Dedicated Athlete
Kira Bannerworks
Twin Six
Squirt Lube
Raxter Racks
Paceline Products (Chamois Butt'r)
Beyond Clothing
No Tubes

goodies

Family photo take one (Jackson is bored already)
One can never have too many green shirts. Especially when they are Twin Six or say "O'Dea" on them.
Eddie opens the wrong package...he thinks this is his Twin Six hoodie, but it's actually mine. Yay me!
But, oh look what HE got!
Eddie modeling the Twin Six wool jersey
...and his new Walz corduroy cap..looking good :)
BTW, I just noticed that Twin Six now has work shirts...and a whole lot of other new really good looking stuff including this jacket..sa-weet. Check out the site if you haven't been there in awhile!

no more cookies

It's been a long week with no internet! I don't know how people live without wireless. Oh well, we are at Harvey's place now so all is good and I can check blogs and facebook again :)

The past week included quite a bit of training on the road, a little dirt riding, a little running, and a lot of eating. I baked an apple pie from scratch but made it through the week with no pie. I can't say the same for the cookies and chocolate covered goodies, though..I had my fair share. Oh well, I'm not going to feel too guilty as I've been pretty active.

Speaking of food, there is a cool new Pubix Greenwise market in Tampa..it's like Whole Foods but all Publix. There is even a Gelato and Espresso Bar, whole wheat and nine-grain fresh pizza dough, and tons of other good, healthy, and organic stuff. I'm in heaven there! I really hope we get one of these in the ATL.

Our 3.5 week winter training camp is coming to a close this week...we will spend NYE with Harvey, the dogs, and some good beers, and then probably head back to ATL on Jan 1. It's been fun..but I am VERY ready to be home and to sleep in my own bed. I hope the weather stays warm up there because I'm totally spoiled now! I think the average temp here has been 79*.

TGIM

I usually don't ever say this but I'm glad it's Monday!

We had another awesome week of riding..Saturday was a quick but rather intense road ride and Sunday was a long Santos ride with Eddie, Harvey, and Chris Janiszewski..red trails followed by long steady flat miles. I'm happy that today is a recovery day! Actually, the weather has suddenly turned "cold"..I think it's a high of 58 today in Tampa (but still sunny)..so we are heading further south in search of heat. J/K..but we are actually heading south today to visit the inlaws (O'Deas) in South FL for Christmas.

edit: I am officially selling my 16" Optimus Titanium frame (frame only) at the end of this year. Email me at namritak at gmail dot com if you are seriously interested.

I think I'm tired...

Just a guess. This week's hours are a little under last week's 22 hours, but still quite a bit of work being done. Today we did a strength workout, a short run, and then a short ride with intervals. I was in the middle of my first one-legged-drill when a F250 with two guys offered to pick me up..they thought my bike was broken or that I had injured my leg...just then I realized how ridiculous I must have looked riding through this little neighborhood.

Last night was the 2nd of the two Endurance "Kliniks" in FL.



Afterwards, Mike and Shelley of Kira Bannerworks took us to the Oldsmar Tap House--it's owned by a fellow cyclist and the beer selection is amazing. If I had any sort of tolerance anymore I could have stayed there all night!



Speaking of beer...if anyone has recommendations for good Belgian beers I'm all ears! There are a million down here to choose from so I figured I might as well learn something about them while I'm here.

Tomorrow is another road ride with more intervals..whoopy doo...and then dirt on Sunday, yeah!

gators, turtles, and drops..oh my!

The last couple days of riding have been awesome! Lots of dirt time working on skills, taking some spills, and getting some close encounters with wildlife..

Now it's time to hit the roads for a few days while I actually get my intervals and focused workouts done. Fun stuff...OK not really but I need to do it.

The Ergon/55nine Performance sponsored Endurance Klinik at University Bicycle Center in Tampa was great. We had a good turnout, UBC had a big spread of food for us, and Luis even gave us a 6-pack of Rogue Santa's Reserve...thanks Luis!

Lakeland trails..the view from the end of one of the "fingers"...careful.

Eddie drops into one of the technical sections of the "fingers". Look at that bike fit...beautiful.
Heading into a section of relentless root gardens along the swamp line
Sand trail armoring
Big f'in gator in the middle of the trail...this is why I make Eddie ride IN FRONT of me!!!
More drops at Alafia trails
Luis and Eddie wearing the SIX with pride

Reminder --Klinik @ UBC Tampa, 7pm on Wed 12/17

22 hours

That would be training hours for Week One. Other than my neck being sore from yesterday's off the bike adventure I feel pretty good. My coach, Kristen Dieffenbach, who is also helping me organize the Enhancing Women's Leadership & Performance in Endurance Sports seminar has me on a good program.

I'm still finalizing my 2009 race schedule. I'm out for Snake Creek Gap since I'd have to miss the Feb. 7 race. I'm also out for Ouachita Challenge because of the new Southeast-region Endurance Multisport Expo Eddie is helping with that weekend in April.

I'm definitely doing at least four races in the NUE, a handful of 6/12 hour races, and maybe one or two other "big" events.

photos and update

This weekend really felt like a vacation...I put away the computer and work and we went to visit Mike & Shelley of Kira Bannerworks down in Dunedin. I cannot say enough nice things about these two...they treated us so well and are so much fun to hang out with. They even introduced us to The Dan Band...hilarious...I can't watch it without thinking of Mark B, haha!





Anyway, we have mostly been riding on the road but today we finally hit some trails at Santos! There was a race there today so we even ran into Chris J (who will be racing on a Niner for the Terrapin Beer Racing team next year..congrats!), Art North, and many others..I had a relatively good, low-key day..

except this minor incident...sure 29" wheels might roll over stuff better...until your PEDAL gets in the way. I now know what it feels like to fly! It's fun in the air but the landing pretty much sucks.
Entrance to the Vortex trails. Super fun stuff.
Last week at the beach



This past week on the big "gravel road" loop ride
Riding through the tourist trap in Tarpon Springs (meh)
Eddie and Mike waiting for Harvey to get off the phone...geez, always waiting on Harvey ;)

woohoo! downhill in FL

aaah FL headwind

...it's good for training! Guess what I did today on my road ride? Fast cadence intervals. I think I've already improved since yesterday....is that possible? I believe tomorrow is another road ride because of Eddie's time constraints...but we are definitely hitting the trails this weekend!

attacking weakness

I can't really say that yesterday's ride was fun...no, in fact it really sucked. We did have some pretty views but it didn't make the "dung beetle" ride anymore pleasant. I had to do a 3-hour ride so we were either going to ride the Croom trails (singletrack) or a big "gravel road loop with hills" as Eddie described it. Eddie chose the "gravel road loop with hills ride" because it would be good training.

I guess my idea of a gravel road ride is different because I'm used to doing them in North Georgia. This ride was 1/2 pavement and 1/2 bumpy dirt road BUT there were some hills, oh yeah. I'm realizing that any little incline can be made into a hill if you put it in the right (or wrong, depending on how you see it) gear.

Let me just say that if I had to pick one weakness of mine, it's riding my mountain bike on the road. I hate it! I don't know if it's mental or if I'm not good at sitting and spinning but it's just torture. I was longing for singletrack, roots, rocks, steep hills where I could stand and hammer. But, I'm trying to train my muscles to sit and spin because it's more efficient in the long run. Being that I am planning on racing the NUE series next year I better get better at this soon...otherwise I might be going back to racing singletrack loops for 12 hours at a time!

Today it's raining and I'm OK with it. I'm catching up on work, thesis, etc. and Eddie is off doing bike fits. I'll get out for a short ride later......

53x11 coffee sale!

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Her Sports Mag

Thanks to the Ergon Blog, I can finally see it!

day 1: amelia island mtb ride & beach time

Today was a 3 hour ride on mtn bikes with gears. It took a little getting used to and I know I'm still not very efficient with the timing and gear choices but I did improve in the 3 hours I rode today. I actually do think a SS may be easier now that I am back on gears because you are forced to recover on a SS at some point. With gears you can ride hard all the time and then blow up. I just need to figure out how NOT to do that...good thing I have a coach that is telling me what to do. After the ride we took the dogs to the beach and I got some great photos...click.

We may end up doing the same thing tomorrow before we head out. The next stop is either Gainesville or Tampa..we'll see!

on the road.....

I just picked up my mountain bike from AVX Bikes...whoa, it has gears. I won't have a singlespeed for a few months, I really need to learn how to ride with gears again before the 2009 race season starts!

We are leaving for Jacksonville FLA today for Winter Training Camp 2008. We'll be updating with pics and stories from the trip.

Bye!

Wool

If you scroll down on this old post, you can see Eddie modeling the new wool. I prefer those pics :-)

Need new grips?

excitement

We left at 11am to ride at Chicopee today. Around 11:45 Eddie is squirming in his seat because the needle on the gas gauge has been under "E" for a few miles...but he's holding out for cheap gas. He was going to hold out for the I-985 exit but as we were approaching Hwy 317 I politely suggested he exit NOW and go to the Race-Trac for cheap gas. So, being the good husband he is, he cuts across three lanes of traffic to make the exit. Then he goes on to bi+ch about how the Race-Trac is 0.5 miles out of the way...we're wasting time...it would have been "much more exciting" to see if we could make it all the way to I-985....blah blah.

We were both happy to see gas at $1.57 at the Race-Trac when we got there! This was exciting enough and I was releived that we had made it there without running out of gas. Then Eddie mumbles something about forgetting his wallet. UM...WHAT? I didn't bring mine either!!! Panic. Or....maybe a little "too much excitement". I'm scrounging the car for change...none. I know my credit card # by heart but we don't think the gas station will go for that. I pulled out the checks I was going to deposit in hopes that we could somehow get cash from those...we just needed to find a SunTrust.

Eddie pulls out his trusty iphone again and luckily there was a SunTrust 1/4 mile away!!! We drove there, I went in to make the deposits and get cash back..then she asked me for my I.D. in order to get the cash.

So, I proceeded to tell her about my funny story..not funny as in "haha" but funny as in....no really, I am SCREWED without this cash. She asked me a million and one questions, had me sign my signature, and finally she let me have my $20. Phew.

So, Code Red and Hodge....be happy you didn't get the call from us this morning, because that is what I was about to do! :)

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful in comparison to that Race-Trac thing so that's about it for today!

FL bound!

Well, almost!

Today was my last day of class (woohoo!) but I still have to work 3 more days this week and attend a few parties Friday night (I have priorities...)

We are leaving on Saturday for Jacksonville where we will hang for a couple days and then to visit the Chris J in Gainesville. He's got some cool intown trails to show us...I missed out last time we were there as I was racing the 8 hours of San Felasco.

Then, we head to the Tampa area where we will ride lots, hang with the O'Deas, Harvey, and other friends. Eddie will be doing some bike fittings for a few days and we will also be doing two endurance racing clinics with Ergon product demos (grips & packs). UBC on Dec. 17 and Chainwheel Drive (Clearwater) on Dec. 18.

From there, we will head further south for Christmas with the in-laws...and then we'll see who is not sick of us by then and hang out with them for a few more days :-)