"WomenWhoRide" via claire
I just finished reading the book Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes a Marine that served in Vietnam. His writing style captivated me and I was addicted to the book after the first few pages (total 598). I admit, I know little to nothing about the Vietnam War and have a "No War" stance, so it really opened my eyes (kind of like the time I read a Rush Limbough book). The fact that the soldiers didn't get the respect back home (60's peace rallies, etc) that they deserved and the the fact that the soldiers really didn't know why they were sneaking through the jungle searching for "gooks". Even how the blacks were viewed at that time in history and their role. The disposal of young humans for political gain is what confuses me the most and how the government wanted numbers (casualties at no expense to kill the North Vietnamese) for the journalists and politicians back in America. The book has really made me a lot more curious about the Vietnam War, soldiers in any service and War in general.
Yummy salmon dinner.
Zander wearing his frosting compliments of me.
Kendra, me, Melissa, Lisa, Doug & Tim.
Riding my favorite rocks in Boulder Lakes. Nice pic, Jeff!
Boulder Lakes.
So scenic, I can put 2 pics in from the same place.
Being dorks.
Kendra in her domain. With Indie.
Girl picture. Emily, Lisa, Wendy and me. (apparently posing. What a dork!)
Lisa didn't like the ride at all. Can't you tell???
HUGE sigh! I am finally on the plane back to Durango. I am totally exhausted but I am happy! That was the greatest fight of my bike racing career. My goal since last year was to win the World Championships. I started that race not wanting to leave anything out on the track. For me, that included riding the knarly rock section so there would be no question in my mind that I did everything I could to ride as fast as possible.
Myles was a huge help in my line choice. I had a crash on that section practicing the day before the race. I am what you would call “fiery” so I threw quite a temper tantrum. He calmed me down and helped me see a better way to ride. He also walked up to check out the section the morning of the race and came back to let me know it was good to go. I trusted him, and went to the start line with no fear. No fear AT ALL. This already was a victory for me, because this year I have been scared alot. I am a great technical rider, but somehow I had been doubting myself all year. I found myself in alot of lose-lose situations becuase I was too scared to ride a section, and also too hard on myself to ride a B line without beating myself up about it. It is impossible to ride “in the zone” when you are constantly fast forwarding to the “dreaded” section up ahead!
Knight in shining armor
Fear conquered, I led out the start lap and hit the first big climb. A couple girls sneaked in front on the singletrack and I got balled up on the first descent. I crashed into a swiss rider running down the A line and hit the rocks hard. Once I hit the climb I made some passes pretty quick, and was in 3rd behind Catharine before I knew it. The pressure was always on with Maja not far in front and Irina not far behind. I pulled away from Catharine on lap 4 and headed in to the final lap :38 seconds from first with a :15 second gap on 3rd and 4th. I could see Maja up the climb and put my head down to chase. Heading into the rock section my tire slipped and I crashed into the fencing. There goes my :15 seconds. It felt like I was stuck for 5 minutes. When I finally got up Catharine was right behind me with Irina on her wheel. I could not get into my pedal and had to take the B line so I could find a chance to clip in. All 3 of us hit the bottom of the switchback climb together, and just like that I slipped from 2nd to 4th.
I was heartbroken, but only for a second. My Dad was running up the hill on the left and Myles was to my right. He yelled “do NOT give up on a medal!” I looked into his eyes and I swear, I absorbed some of the “red mist” he always saw before his downhill runs. I charged up the climb after them and follwed them into the last piece of singletrack. One more time through the feed zone, a few grass turns and then it was the finish line. I did not think about danger or strategy, in fact, I didn’t think at all. I just stood up and hammered. I passed Catharine on the left before the fly-over bridge and just kept sprinting. I won the bronze! After all that drama in the last 10 minutes, that felt like gold to me.
It was so great to see Myles and my Mom and Dad from the podium! Thank you all so much for believing and supporting me! I really can feel your energy and I really do use it! The 2010 race season has come to a close and now I need to seriously decompress. However, I am already thinking about how great it is going to feel to ride the gap jumps in Champery! 2011 will be sweet. 11 is my favorite number and right now I am sitting in seat 11 A!
Mom and Dad
photo by: skinnyski.com
Sara's finish sprint win
Once again, the Maplelag Stage Race was an incredibily fun, well organized event. The Richards crew has this event down to an art thanks to the on-site lodging, great food, and terrific company. A huge thanks to Jack Richards and his buddy Jack, Jonell, Brendan's parents and the rest of the folks that pitched in to watch Kiera for us while we warmed up, cooled downed and raced.
Sara had a great start to the racing on Saturday by taking the win in the time trial and short track. She nipped Jenna in both events which enabled her to snatch the overall stage race competion. For the second year in a row, an Elite female won the overall in the Elite Women/Comp Men's race (Jenna nabbed it last year).
Photo: skinnyski.com
In the cross country, Sara led out the field but struggled in the single track. After a few crashes she was able to settle down and ride in for second place.
I had a rough start to the race weekend. I went out way to hard in the time trial and had to soft pedal most of the race. All things considered, I could have finished further down than I did. Thankfully everything went uphill from here. I ended up 6th in the short track but finished with a little too much left in the tank. After the time trial I was a little hesitant about going out too hard, so I started in the second row and wasn't aggressive enough to stay close enough to the front.
My cross country start... Where is everyone????
Photo: skinnyski.com
This picture says it all. Went out too hard, rode with Brendan for the first 1 1/4 laps, got caught by Doug and tried to hold his wheel for too long and ended up limping home for 5th. All in all, great weekend!
Up next is the CHEQUAMEGON FAT TIRE FESTIVAL.
Seeley:
Sara's racing is coming back after an early season knee injury. She had a very impressive ride last weekend at the Seeley Classic and hopefully this will help bring up her confidence to pre-Kiera days. She was able to ride with FAST guys, the likes of Todd McFadden, Mike Bushey, Adam Swank, Nikolia, etc. for the first five or so miles until crashing. She was going so well that she was even PULLING this group for a bit until Bushey made her ride behind him. She ended up finishing 11th overall in the race and almost snuck into the top 10, but after pulling Nikolia around for most of the race, he outsprinted her at the line. If she can ride like this at Chequamegon she'll be in good shape.
I was a little disappointed that I didn't pull off the win at Seeley. Nobody would take a pull down the long blacktop leadout so I got to buck the wind and settle in. Somebody came by me right before the road turned to gravel and that's when the pace picked up. I got on Aaron Swanson's wheel on the ski trails and he immediately opened up a gap for me and Chad Sova. We rode together for the first 9 miles of road/two track and I entered the singletrack first and shed Chad and Aaron. I was able to get rid of Chad in the small singletrack section and he would catch me after a few miles of two track. This happen on both laps and I was able to stay at the front until 50 or so meters from the finish where Chad proceded to blow by me for the win.
Seeley is a fun course and a great lead up to Chequamegon. I would prefer much more singletrack (I'd guess it's about 30% singletrack)so I'm happy with my two track/road fitness level. The Trek Fuels seem to made for these types of rough, undulating courses.
Lester:
There is nothing better than having a hometown race! I wish it would have been muddier, but I'll take what I can get. I put the Bontrager Mud X tires on the bikes and they worked fantastic! Sara rode off the front from the start and never looked back. Her mud skills continue to improve and I'm always impressed by how fast she can go in all conditions.
I ended up 4th. i didn't have much trouble stay at the front for the first lap and a half but then I started to crumble. I would pick up plenty of time in the short muddy sections but I didn't have much power on the climbs. Cody stuck to my wheel until the last half lap until I asked him to go by. I was riding way too slow and was starting to cramp. He was being overly kind and wanted to let me keep 3rd since I was leading him around the course for most of the day but I hate not earning my spot. I sure appreciate the gesture, but I'd rather race it out or limp it in, as was the case for me.
Up next: MAPLELAG STAGE RACE This is one of my favorite courses of the year and Jay and family do an unbelievable job organizing this event. If you haven't raced here, it is a must!
A good friend reminded me of a quick and easy trick to clear out your mind.
Quickly, Organize Your Desk
This old college trick simplifies your thought process, gives your mind a moment to slow down and refocus. Personally, it subconsciously reminds me to take a step back and re-start by taking one step at a time. Any project, writing or design can easily be handled if you break it down into smaller ones.
Start with Something Small
Start with something such as the top of your desk, a pen jar or your computer desktop. Lately I’ve been taking this idea further. Taking 15 minutes – timed – as a mention break between projects. I’ll work on my Gmail Inbox, cleaning out the mess, replying to emails I’ve been putting off, etc.
Next was my phone. I deleted FourSquare, added a camera app, and uninstalled the clutter or programs I haven’t used in the past 60 days.
Next was my computer. I’ve started to back up all photos, images and old site designs on to external hard-drives.
Why Hold the Clutter
These processes are also teaching me not to sit on things.
Take Action
This is the part I am practicing and fine tuning. Google’s new Priority Inbox will help with this, but I’m trying to gauge what is important in my life – taking action on those things instantly and then setting SET times to take care of the others. For example :
Personal emails need to be responded to within 12 hours in my mind, unless you are on vacation, if so – put up a vacation response. Other clutter emails can be changed to reviewing at lunch, at night or even maybe three times per week for those mailing list or “Quote of the week” emails.
Carry It On (in Life)
My girlfriend will laugh when I say this. Do things now.
Breathe
Just remember, pace yourself.
Cool chair w/ a good looking pillow that's color goes nicely with the books on the book shelf? Great, but I haven't sat in it in about a year or so. Gone!
The closet. So sad. My unmentionables were stuffed in shoe boxes and a garbage can thing that I've had since college. It's so shameful. Could you even call this living?!
Since the closet's a weird size, I went online to find some containers with which to organize. I found some options, the best of which was per box. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay the man to house my skivvies. I'd rather spend that ON skivvies. So I found some nice three-ply cardboard boxes, painted them, put knobs on them, cut out some vinyl to label them and called it a day. They don't look quite as nice as what I could have bought, but... SO?
Next on the organizing block: books. I can't bear to part with many books, but I'm going to wrangle them. Currently they're infesting the apartment.
Art books, library books.
Design books, kids' books.
Big books, little books.
Oh, books.
I love 'em. I'll have to post an after photo for those eagerly awaiting the solution that I shall arrive at. All in due time, fans. All in due time.
Now, to attend to the detritus cluttering up the couch.
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