March 8, 2009
CALL IT A FUNK, A WRITER'S BLOCK OR...
Just plain ticked off. Call it what you will but I have been slightly bummed lately since I found out that I will not be going to Australia. Remember the Best Job in the World in the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef? Well I didn't get the gig and that sucks.
I'm the type of person that sets my mind on the prize and jumps in feet first. No questions asked. Never looking back. I truly believed this job was mine and now it's not and never will be. Bummer. So that's where my head has been the last week.
I've seen the finalists and they weren't that funny but that's how it goes. I know it had nothing to do with me or my talent. Believe me, I have been down this road many times and you just have to take it in and then move on.
So that's where I am. The weather is supposed to be really warm tomorrow so I am looking forward to a nice long ride to clear my mind.
February 16, 2009
A BIG REWARD!
Just a few hours after the time trial at the Tour of California, someone (presumably a thief) removed four bikes from the Astana truck outside the team hotel in Sacramento. Lance Armstrong's time-trial bike was taken along with race bikes belonging to Astana teammates Steve Morabito, Yaroslav Popovych and Janez Brajkovic.
Who is stupid enough to try and get away with something like this? Do they really think they'll never get caught? I would love to know what was going through their head when they broke into the team van. Does "one of a kind" or "the only one in the world" mean anything to this person?
As a dedicated Women Who Rides and a lover of TREK, Lance Armstrong and the stunning time trial bike, I would like to offer a reward. All I can say is that the reward will be really really big. You can contact me at [email protected] and then I'll contact Lance and I'll bet he'll even double my reward. Don't be an idiot! Do the right thing and give those bikes back!
February 15, 2009
TOUR OF CALIFORNIA WOMEN'S CRITERIUM
The Amgen Tour of California Women's Criterium was held today
in conjunction with Stage 1of the race. The Women's Criterium brought the excitement of women's criterium
racing in the hours before the men's finish in downtown Santa Rosa. The women used portions of the men's finish circuit and the race proved to be exciting for everyone.
Team Columbia-Highroad's Emilia Fahlin won the women's criterium as she sprinted to victory in the final seconds. She was surrounded by two other amazing female cyclists, Lauren
Tamayo and Rachel Lloyd.
Emilia won a whopping $15,000.00! Can't beat that with a stick can you? Good for her! Women in cycling...ah yes! I love to see it, hear about it and SUPPORT IT! GO GIRLS!
February 13, 2009
TOUR OF CALIFORNIA
Yep, its happening right now....the largest cycling event in America, the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. It is patterned after the Tour de France-style cycling road race and it brings out the world’s top professional cycling teams to compete along a 750-mile course from Sacramento to
Escondido from February 14-22, 2009. Most importantly it is complete with US favorites Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer. I can barely stand all the excitement!
On top of this fabulous tour happening the 2009 Amgen Tour of California will be broadcast internationally for the first time ever! The race
will be broadcast live in more than 90 countries, which includes more
than 200 million households across Europe, the Middle East, Asia,
Oceania and Africa. Now the world can follow the Tour of California just like the Tour de France! What? More cycling events to watch on TV? February just got better!
December 21, 2008
WHAT THE HECK?
I have now idea how we have gotten to December 22nd? It feels like December just started yesterday and now its almost over. I have finally managed to get my sickness under control without coughing up my ovaries but the rest of my life is a mess.
Do you ever have that feeling that feeling that there's no way in hell that you'll ever be able to accomplish all the stuff you need to get done? Well that's exactly how I feel. I may be pre-menstrual but I'm feeling a little bit nuts right now. I need to do laundry, x-mas cards, shop, pack, wrap, cook and lose 20 pounds all within the next few days. I am so screwed.
So for those of you that think my world is just peaches and cream, please feel free to come by my house and watch my children so I can get something done!
November 30, 2008
I COUGH THEREFORE I PEE
Welcome to winter and the cold and flu season. Just for the record, I am not a complainer BUT I have had a cold like I have never had before. I feel as though there is a small elf tickling my throat with a feather and another elf filling my lungs with the greenest gooiest chewiest phlegm I have ever seen.
Because my body is being attacked by elves I
have this constant ever present cough. It is rough and deep and when I
cough I feel it all the way down to my toes. My entire being rattles.
My cough comes anytime, anywhere. I get it when I am mid-conversation
or when I am taking a sip of water or in the middle of a workout. It
appears without any warning and is hard to get rid of. Often times it
includes a small amount of spewing.
The worst part of it is once I get into a full on coughing fit I can't help but pee myself. Yep, I cough therefore I pee. I've had four children and my muscles down there are completely shot. I've got nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. What can I say? I've tried all the womanly exercises and they've not helped a bit.
So I gotta do something other than peeing in my pants everyday and I'm clearly to old (or too young) for diapers. What do I do? You got it, I go the pantyliner route and when I go spinning or cycling I never have to worry because all of my cycling shorts have the multipurpose pad.
Now the good thing about having this cough is that I have minimized my trips to the bathroom on any given day. It works out nicely because with 4 children I never really had a lot of time to go to the restroom anyway.
You get it? It's all how you look at things? Being attacked by elves is actually saving me time in the long run. God, I love this cold!
October 6, 2008
I'M TOTALLY ADDICTED
As I sat up until 4:30AM last night that is the phrase I repeated to myself over and over. "I'm so addicted."
I gave up caffeine about 8 years ago. The reason being I love everything and I tend to have a rather addictive personality and I thought something needed to give something up...so I gave up caffeine.
When I decided to give up caffeine I was completely hooked. I was living in Berkeley, CA and my mornings always started with an extra strong pot of Peet's coffee just for me. after getting totallt jacked up on caffeine I would hit a coffee shop for a mocha with an extra shot of espresso. If I happened to be a coffee shop in the afternoon, I would stop for aanother mocha. It finally got to the point that whenever I passed a coffee shop I stopped for a coffee. So I stopped.
Over the past several years I would have a decaf mocha here and there until recently I started craving the buzz. I began ordering half caffeine drinks and I like it...a lot. About 2 months ago I started getting full caffeine and it has been going downhill ever since. I can't stop and I can't say no. Oh god, what would Nancy Reagan think of me?
Any time Seamus sees a Starbuck's sign he says, "I want my cafe mocha" That is bad.
Yesterday I had a fully loaded coffee in the morning, one in the afternoon AND one at 8:00PM. I was out getting a pedicure with a friend and she merely suggested stopping for a coffee in the evening. She was going either way so how could I say no. Clearly I couldn't.
I drove with her to thr coffee shop and sucked down my coffee in 5 minutes flat (I'm a very fast coffee drinker) and I loved every second of it...but I surely wasn't loving it when I layed in my bed all night trying to sleep while listening to the Loveman snore a symphony. I may need some serious help.
October 4, 2008
A NEW WORKOUT PLAN
Most people engage in the same kind of workout day after day. We're all guilty of it. We get lazy and go to the same class, do the same reps and ride the same routes around town. It's just easier to hit automatic pilot.
This weekend I mixed it up and went to a belly dancing class at my friends Claire's house. Talk about shaking it up! It was a blast and we all got a great workout. I sweated a lot, hung out with some cool girls and even burned a few calories. Yes, I looked a little goofy at times but who cares!
I was very happy to see that my gut was being put to good use. It definitely added to sensuality of the experience. If you're belly dancing it helps to have a belly. That's just common sense.
I've already found about six ways to use it in my everyday life...and yes, the Loveman really enjoyed the fact that I attended the class as he knew he would be benefiting from it in the near future.
So next time you're looking for something a little different try belly dancing. You won't be disappointed. Hmmm...I'm feeling a career change coming on....
October 1, 2008
WOMEN OF STRENGTH
It's time to celebrate some amazing US female athletes...and they just happen to be cyclists! Amber Neben has won the time trial at the World Championships and Kristin Armstrong took fifth place!!!!
Amber Neben of the United States was the surprise winner of the
women's time trial world championship on Wednesday, September 24th. The trial was a 13.76 mile ride through the hills surrounding the lakeside
resort of Varese and Neben finished in 33 minutes, 51.35 seconds.
At just 33 this is the biggest win of Neben's career.
Then there's Kristin Armstrong. Of course with a name like that you better be a talented cyclist or people might make fun of you! But for those of you that don't know, she is no relation to Lance.
Kristin Armstrong won a gold medal in the women's road cycling
individual time trial at the Olympics in Beijing. She covered the course in 34 minutes,
51.72 seconds, more than 24 seconds faster than silver medalist Emma
Pooley of Britain!
Both of these women are strong, talented and from the United States! This is the kind of stuff that makes me proud to be an American and a women! Whooo-hoooo!
September 28, 2008
WHERE'S YOUR HELMET?
I spent this past weekend in Chicago visiting my mom. She was at the University of Chicago Hospital which in located in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood on Lake Michigan. It is a beautiful area that offers lakefront paths and fantastic views. I spent the short time I was there going between the hospital and my sister's house.
The weekend weather was perfect for riding. I couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to be out riding my bike on the lakefront or through a local park. I saw several people out riding their bikes and enjoying the weather but as my children would say, something was missing.
All of the people I saw were out on a leisurely weekend ride. They had baskets on their bikes, coffee in their hands and bags slung over their shoulders but not one of them was wearing a helmet. I was shocked.
My sister and niece told me that they never see people wearing their helmets. They said it's normal practice for people NOT to wear helmets. I just don't get it. Even Kate Hudson, who strikes me as a fairly intelligent girl doesn't wear a helmet. Why? Ignorance is bliss? Not too sure about that.