TGIF....

It’s Friday, which means I have almost survived an entire week at the new job. So far, it’s not bad, although it is stressing me out. Early in the week my boss asked me to do some AutoCAD work, making changes to our trans-ship facility out in California (B44). Well somehow, from there, other people got wind of the fact that I was on the B44 project, so my responsibilities have somehow spiraled out of control to not just making drawing changes but also developing the solutions and managing the changes. All of this happened while my boss was out in Canada I might add. Oh and I should probably also add that this currently is the most visible project in the company, and the owners are constantly checking in on it. So for the past few days, I keep getting pulled into the President of Operation’s office where he explains the changes he would like to see. Unfortunately these are very different ideas from what my boss explained to me before he disappeared out of the country. So I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on. My boss seems to be back in the office today before he heads out of town again next week, but I can’t seem to track him down to sit down with him and get some direction. Oh well, all in a day’s work I guess.

Last night was interval night, and I think I learned a few things. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. I have to leave work earlier, or find a new route. I got stuck in traffic for an hour making me miss the main roll-out, meaning I missed the “warm-up” interval and got thrown in on a double.

2. Dan, the service guy at the shop is wonderful. He got my bike all fixed up with a new chain and got the rest of the drive train nice and clean even though he had plenty of other jobs he should have worked on. Thanks Dan, the bike felt so much better!

3. I need to learn to do my own interval work-out instead of trying to do what the boys do. Last night, they were all trying to show off, which meant we did double after double after double, etc… I finally reached the point where doing doubles wasn’t really doing me a lot of good because I didn’t have time to recover in between. Luckily John dropped back to ride with me, explaining that if you aren’t recovering between the intervals then you aren’t getting the full benefit. He also reminded me that the point isn’t to keep up, it’s to make it hurt. So from now on I will focus on pushing it as hard as I can during the interval (and probably doing more singles until my fitness improves) and also focusing on getting my heart rate back down during the recovery. And if that means I don’t ride with the guys at all, then so be it.

4. Forget buying a new car, mine is still running. Instead I will be saving up for a PowerTap and some coaching services. I think my training will be much more effective if someone can lay out a plan for me, and I can put specific number goals for each ride. Telling me to do hard intervals is one thing, but telling me to do 10 minute intervals at 200W is something that I can figure out much better. Maybe it’s the engineer in me….

A day at the races!

This past weekend was the Tour of Elk Grove. I missed out on Friday because I couldn't get out of work early enough, and Saturday I opted for going for a ride and doing some car shopping (i don't see a new car in my near future). So Sunday was the day.....and it was crit day, my favorite! Instead of working at the shop I volunteered to work the Village Cycle Sport tent at the race. (best decision ever!) Working for the day meant hanging out at the tent, talking to people, and taking frequent breaks to watch the racing. Not a bad way to get paid! :) Here are a few highlights from the day:

1. I met a guy who organizes races in the area and he has asked me to be a podium girl for his races next year....hey it worked for George Hincapie's wife! :)

2. Saw some guys wearing the San Jose team kit. Went up and introduced myself as a fellow Austinite. I ended up hanging out with some of the guys later that night and learned that one of the guys is actually on the Velossimo team. Gotta love having an Austin night even when I'm in Chicago.

3. Saw some amazing racing including a fantastic sprint finish in the Pro race which included Tyler Hamilton!

4. Ran into the Get a Grip team manager again, reminding him that I'm really looking forward to a possible opportunity to race with them next year!

Definitely wish I could have weekends at the races all the time!

Good times....

What a strange and fun day I had today....hopefully I will find time to write about it tomorrow while sitting at the "stupid freaking job"

Good night all! :)

TT fun.....well sort of

So this Saturday I attempted my first time trial! I arrived nice and early thinking I could get in a warm-up and be ready and relaxed when I rolled to the start line. Unfortunately things didn't exactly work out that way. I realized when I tried to put the front wheel on the bike that I did not have a front skewer. I had borrowed a set of Zipp 404's from the shop and unfortunately stupid Zipp wheels don't come with a skewer. So I then proceeded to run around the parking lot asking people for a front skewer. I finally found the Vision Quest guys who had an entire car full of wheels and they had one I could borrow. So now I figured I was ready for the warm-up....but aarrggghh no not quite yet. I then found out that I wasn't quite sure how to pump up the rear wheel because of an odd valve extender thing. Yes, the awesome Zipp wheels turned out to be a hassle yet again. So eventually I gave up and decided the wheel had enough air and put the bike in the trainer and hopped on to start the warm-up. Unfortunately at this point I also looked at my watch and realized I needed to head to the start line in approximately 5 minutes....hmmm that may not work. Luckily though I walked over to the registration tent and was able to get a later start time. So now I will finally get to the interesting part....the riding. The first few miles felt terrible, but the rest was ok. There was one point towards the end after racing up a hill that I didn't think I had anything left in me for the last few miles, but I dug deep and found something. And raced it into the finish line. In the end I averaged about 19 mph for the 32K. Not great but still not bad, I'll take it for the first attempt. Then the results were posted yesterday and I found out I got 2nd place in my division! Woo hoo, silver medal! Too bad there were only 3 people in the division, but we'll just ignore that small piece of information. :)

So I think that's all the info you need on the TT. It was an interesting experience and it may happen again sometime.

Today was a fantastic day, my last day of being able to do things that are more enjoyable during the week. So my mom and I took the dogs and headed up to the Indiana Dunes for some beach time. Ginger had a great day of running and swimming and she is now completely knocked out. :)

Ok time to head to bed, up early tomorrow for a ride before work at the bike shop.

Ferraris, Fiats, and Cobras.....Oh my!

I will post the story of the first Time Trial a little later, but I just got home and had to share the story of tonight, because fun was had. Our friends the Anderson's had a block party that involved many, many amazing cars. I saw everything from an old car that needed a crank to be started to a brand new Aston Martin. The highlight of the evening came however when I got to help put some of the cars away. And by help, I mean I rode in the passenger seat. Patrick and I put away the Fiat, '55 Ferrari, Ferrari 328, the Z and the amazing Woody. And by put away, I mean we took the long way around, drove around the block and found some fun roads before rolling it safely into the designated garage and going back for the next car. Fun fun.....

But I will say that guys can be confusing. Don't know if I'm not sending out the signal or if I'm just being rejected....hmmm.....

Anyway, good night. Time Trials can take a lot out of you! And I'm sure this sleepiness has absolutely nothing to do with the 5 beers I had at the party.....

Finally time to share the news...

Ok, so since Jenay called me out on the fact that I promised to share some news and have now waited a week to do so, I guess it's finally time. The reason that I waited so long is that I'm not super excited about the news and sharing it makes it real. So anyway, the big news is that I got a new job. I will be starting next Friday at a company called Medline, a medical supply company. I actually interned with them during college, but I'm going to work at a different division this time. I will be working as an operations engineer, part of a team supporting the 30 distribution centers across the nation. So yes, this means there could be some traveling with the new position. It's not exactly the dream job I was hoping for, but it was a good offer and as I keep hearing, "it's always easier to find a job with a job." So I will contine to look for my dream job, but now I will be able to pay the rent while doing so.

The other fun news, is that I'm easing my way into bike racing! I will be racing my first time trial tomorrow and next weekend I will be participating in the "Mayor's Challenge" during the Tour of Elk Grove. I will be part of a team of 5 (4 guys and me) and we will compete in a time trial and a 4 lap crit. I know I said I would never do a crit, but I don't think this one will be that scary and hopefully it will go well! So maybe by next year I will actually be buying a full year liscence and can call myself a bike racer! :)

Time to get stuff ready for tomorrow! Good night all! :)

Pinballs...

You gotta love Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen quotes from the TdF commentary. Here is one of my favorites from today:

"Valverde is going down this descent like a pinball"

Not sure why they chose pinball as the descriptor...but so it is....

What a day.....

Started off the day by sleeping in for a while. I went out with my sister last night, so I felt I deserved some extra sleep, but of course I was awakened briefly around 8:30 by the world's most persistent HR person. I decided I didn't need to really wake up to answer the call so I ignored it and slept for a little while longer.

Once I finally woke up, it was time to make Ginger happy. Yesterday on our walk she jumped in a fountain so I figured it was time to take her to the lake for some swimming. So we went over to Busse Woods, and she did just that. She was a very happy dog once I let her off the leash (which I really wasn't supposed to do, but oh well, she didn't bother anyone) and she ran around and went in and out of the water. She's still sooo tired!

Thursday night is interval night, and tonight I decided that I would add to that as well. First off I should mention that it was incredibly hot and humid out today. Maybe not quite on Texas standards, but I've been out of that weather for a while, so this still felt hot! So instead of just driving over to the shop for the intervals, I decided to add to the workout and ride over instead. So I was 45 minutes into the work-out by the time I started the intervals. Unfortunately for me, the heat meant that only the really hard-core group came out. So I felt like I was trailing the group by more than usual, but I'm convinced that's because the middle group that I normally stay close to just wasn't there. It was like normally racing in a Cat 3 and then all of a sudden trying to hang in a Cat 1 race. So I gave it my all for an hour and a half, and then rolled back to the shop with the group. And that's when I realized that I still needed to ride home....ugggg. I really felt nothing in my legs. I don't know if I've ever felt that way on the bike, but I eventually made it home and showered and have been on the couch ever since. :)

Ok, so there will be news soon....I just don't feel like writing about it now.

Should I?

July, 26 - 30K TT - It's a possibility....

L.A.T.E Ride....

So last night/this morning was the Chicago L.A.T.E Ride. Basically it was a ride around the city that started at 1:30am! There was no confirmation of what L.A.T.E actually stands for, but my sister and I have decided that it's "Long After Twilight Event". That's the best we could come up with. I was pretty impressed with my sister actually. She hasn't ridden a bike at all in years. So I grabbed a rental bike from the shop for her since I decided to use my mountain bike for the event. I've learned that large crowded events and the road bike don't always go well together. I was worried if she would make it through the 25 miles. But she powered through like a champ, cruising through at a pretty respectable pace. The 25 mile ride did take close to 3 hours but most of that is due to a lot of start and stop at the beginning because of the crowds. But for the most part, when we were riding we were cruising along. The ride ended with some breakfast at Grant Park provided by McDonald's (no egg mcmuffins though sadly - just a plain bagel) and watching the sun rise over the lake.

After the sun rise, I headed home, got a solid 3 hours of sleep, and then headed into work at the shop. Armed with a Rockstar energy drink I managed to make it through the day. I am now sitting here hoping to stay up long enough to watch most of the Tour.

Tomorrow is a 2nd interview with Medline. I'm not sure if I'm excited about the job, and not sure if it's the direction I want to go in. Life is somewhat confusing right now. But I was told that they would probably make a decision in the afternoon after the interviews....so we'll see what happens.

I apologize if the above ramblings made absolutely no sense....did I mention I got 3 hours of sleep???