SON OF A 4 - 6"

stranger than fiction didn't get a lot of hype when it was in the theaters, but it's five out of five stars on my bert and ernie rating scale. it's nice when a movie reminds us not to just go through life, but experience life. (plus queen latifah is in it)

i had a lactate threshold test today at the vecchios performance center. pic of me before the acid hit my legs. (i know LT tests aren't supposed to hurt, but jon ramped me up there to watch me suffer) LT tests are really important to make sure you are training at the right wattage. contact jon if you want to be super duper fast on your bike and get this done.

jon checking online to see if he has the "right stuff" to be in the blue man group.

me and my headband getting some blood from my finger, how pleasant. (i wish headbands were still cool to wear, cause i love the look)

my veiw

now it is roscoe's turn. it is so embarrasing, we were wearing the same outfit and didn't even call each other to coordinate this. he forgot his sweatband though.

will farrell looked very richard simmons deal a meal-esq last nigtht on the oscars.

whoa, we just got this months xcel energy bill. last months cold weather not only took away from our bike time, but it took our money too! so... this month we will be wearing down jackets, scarves, (possibly a balaclava) and beanies around the house.

looks like mother nature cut boulder a break today. the 9news weather people called for 2-6" of the white stuff, but instead we got some blue skies.

meanwhile 40 miles east this was the scene... a 25 car pile up by the denver airport.

happy birthday to gracen! (you may not be able to see her due to the over sized oakley goggles, but she's the one waving)

security looks pretty tight at the amgen tour of california.
i hope she isn't guarding the usada bus.

i am just waiting for her to belt out a cover of "nothing compares to you" or maybe tear up a picture of the pope. i bet paris took britney off the buddylist when she took the razor to the locks.

erin, mike and little baby maple.

last day in the a-to-the-zona and we decided on a ride up to the towers behind me in the picture below it is called south mountain.

short story... after the criterium i was changing and put my rudy project sunglasses on top of the car. i later caught a glimpse of them in the rear view mirror flying off the back and smashing onto the freeway. (which would explain my choice of yoko ono eye wear on my ride) for some reason, i tend to put things on top of the car, such as coffee and cokes, and then when i get in the car and want a sip i suddenly jump out and get it. (yes, usually it is still there) i just don't know why i think putting things on top of the car is a good idea. maybe i should install cup holders up there, maybe a gadgets tray too, kinda like a roof console.

picture from the top of south mountain. phoenix looked so peaceful and nice from up there, then we came down and remembered we hate it.

now we are back in the la quinta in albuquerque and on the boulder tomorrow bright and early.

jack and kori lead us on this really cool long ride to bartlett lake today. it looks so nice and pretty in this pic.

then we notice that the clouds aren't looking so good and we still have 30 miles back to our starting point in scottsdale.

brent and jon toughing out the pouring rain (pic doesn't do rain justice). i have to say i've never had rain hurt this bad, it was like a bunch of bees stinging you all at once. not so much fun.

so we are 4 miles from the car, and ross is hitting hypothermia because earlier he decided his vintage cotton mickey mouse t-shirt was a good idea for some wicking action, when he gets a flat. he was shaking so bad that kori, jack and brent had to change his flat for him. jon and i just watched and i took pictures.

it was an epic day for me, since i don't ride in adverse conditions (everyone else does), but it beats riding in snow.

today was the third and final stage, the criterium. here's a shot of the men mushrooming up after a prime. (pronounced preeme)

jon did a couple of efforts off of the front to make the race exciting for his cheering section to watch.

in the women's race i ended up 8th overall (as expected) and got a prime on the first lap, thanks to kori for blocking. the final overall ended up with the people above, i don't know how that dog with a pink girly bow or the purse the girl brought up on stage beat all of us, but i will not question the results.

later we went to downtown tempe. the boys check out the ears on that rabbit, and think of how lucky they would be if they had a rabbit's foot that big.

jon feeds the rabbit as i rest my head on his ears.

i am glad that valley of the poo is over. remind me next year how much i hate phoenix. too many people and i can't figure out why they want to be here...

i am officially nominating phoenix #2 in worst traffic and stop light timing in the u.s. (neighboring area southern california is #1)

today's race reached 80 degrees. (i'm not complaining though) jon looked like a salt lick when he rolled in. both of us for sure didn't get enough water, and i think a lot of people were in the same boat.

working on those tan lines.

brent has a "perma tan line" and some croakies.

ross, brent, jon and i visited chipotle after the race. no really boys, go ahead and start without us.

so how did the race go? um well, crosswinds made for a real hard race and fortunately i made the break with 8 other girls. here's how it went down...
up the hill # 1: easy as pie.
up the hill # 2: there was a sprint at the top, i got dropped and caught back on with my girl carmello.
up the hill #3: now i am in a break and we calmly climbed up working together (thank goodness).
up the hill #4: i got popped 2 miles from the end of the race and ended up about 1:30 back.
now i am in 8th in GC, the good news is that i pretty much will stay there even if i get lapped in the crit.

jon moved from up in GC today despite not having enough water. yeah.

we are a little cramped here at the studio 6 tempe (a.k.a motel 6 w/ a kitchen and no maid service)

so we have room to walk around, my bike has to go in the closet, and the time trial bike and wheels fit perfect under the sink!

go, go, gadget. brent ertz took a pick at the start of my tt today.

colorado is representin' in the top 5. kori seehafer won, former vc teammate carmen is sitting pretty in 4th, and i brought it home with 5th.

results

congrats to erin and mike mand. an email was sent by daddy mike saying they had a little girl, maple josie mand. (no picture attached to the email, hopefully one coming soon.)

al qaeda chief abu ayyub al-masri (cnn headlines here) and johnny depp, pirate of the caribbean.
switched at birth?

we took a total "long cut" on the way to fo-ee-nix. we traveled along 60 through the salt river canyon, it ended up being beautiful, but long.

watching the sunset and riding in shorts, what a treat.

jon and i drove from snowy boulder on to snowy albuquerque. picture is somewhere outside of trinidad, co.

when we rolled into albuquerque i saw a billboard for this show. (click) i would totally go to this if they came to denver. i would wear my best torn tesla t-shirt, acid washed jeans (w/ jeans pegged) aquanet hair (purple can for ultimate hold) and some really dark electric blue eyeliner. not too far off of my normal junior high attire.

the la quinta steps it up a notch with the aesthetically folded double roll.

it is crappy out again. i think we'll drive to arizona.

happy valentines day everyone.

hadyn had her first birthday the other day.

apparently she just learned about picking her nose, she's real into it.

sushi chef brian made a crazy amount of sushi for everyone. once again, i had homemade sushi and i didn't get sick! i am beginning to think that i too can make sushi, i've always worried about getting people sick.

went out with the girls yesterday. from front to back cathrine kung pow powers, sharon the hammer, attention span anne, and carmello. this is the first time in over 2 months that we can ride outside on the weekend. every weekend before was snow and more snow. because of this there were hords of cyclist out on the roads.

i would like to point out carmello's choice of gear. colors involved: silver helmet, denver spoke yellow blue red beanie under the helmet, pink glasses, blue vest, red jersey, purple orange and green shorts, black leg warmers and red shoe covers.

after the ride anne and i headed over to watch deena drossin kill the women at the cross country national championships. she is what i call the katie compton of women's running. most of the time she races with the men and kicks their butts too.

then later that night jon and i went to a farewell dinner for bridget. she is going to africa to help children with hiv/aids. work like this will definitely get her into heaven. (pic is bridge with little allie corboy and bdo)

after dinner at la maripoopa we went to the pandaderia bakery. bridget and brando didn't want to come in so they made out instead. oh, young love.

i went over to pick up margell for a bike ride and came up on vin with this hammer in his hands. i have quite a large picture collection of vin with dangerous objects.

sara tarkington watched vin when we went for a ride. here she is taking him up a super steep man made ski hill, when he got up there he chickened out and sara had to ride the board down.