Read it and I’ll weep. A couple weeks ago, I was ripping up some singletrack in NM and hit my pinky knuckle on a tree, ripped a little hole in my glove, and got a tiny cut on my knuckle. Fast forward 2 weeks to Tuesday. The area was red and inflamed which had me a bit concerned. Yesterday it was so bad I could barely sleep and any contact to my hand is painful. There’s a light pink line going up my arm to my elbow where there is a lump, the size of a hard raisin under my skin. Awesome. I went to the doc, kicking and screaming, and they put me on antibiotics. Antibiotics have always messed up my riding and made it so I can’t produce any power output. Guess where I’m going next Thursday? Nova Norba National. That’s right kids, mommy is taking slow pills a week before a national and there’s not a damn thing she can do about it. However, all the other times I have been on antis, I was really sick. This time, I am not sick so maybe the slow feeling was just from getting over being sick and weak, not from the actual drugs. Time will tell. All I can say is that I could not be more excited for the first race and also the first national of the year. I am very nervous about these stupid drugs, but I guess it’s better than dying from an infection. I feel good on the bike right now, so that’s a plus!

I have been experimenting with my lattes lately. Today I met Matt Cooke for a coffee at Spruce and cleansed my palette with an Irish Cream flavored latte. It’s almost like drinking Bailey’s, except the drug being consumed is caffeine instead of alcohol. What about an Irish Cream Latte WITH Baileys…hmmmm. Anyway, I think Matt should change his name to Matt Cookie b/c the man is obsessed with sugar. I watched him, mouth agape, pour (count it) nine packets of sugar (the raw kind of course) into his latte and suck that baby down. Maybe he needed a little extra sweetness in his life, or maybe that’s the secret to being a super fast badass climber. I guess I’ll never know.

The weather has been screwy lately. It was blowing like hell yesterday with a temp of 70. I woke up this morning to snow and rain…followed by sunshine and dry paved roads. I headed out on my road bike and managed to find some mud to get my bike all dirty.

In other news, doucheblog cycling is going at it again. I guess I made it to round 2, and after scouring my blog, Hoovis found a pic of some browned skin. I think it’s funny how everyone else has these professional pics and the majority of the ones he is picking of me are from vacation or parties…they are NOT professional, probably taken by one of my drunk friends of their drunk friend (me). Eh well. I guess I need to get really fast like the other girls so I can get professional photos taken too…and get some sweet airbrushing.

Boulder tonight.   Ye olde Boulder Creek.  At least it’s pretty.  Hope the road dries tomorrow morning.

That’s the mantra and is the hardest thing about being a pro. Whether it be getting to bed early enough to get restful sleep, eating the right foods and not eating that extra cookie, avoiding those extra fun-inducing alcoholic beverages, and seemingly one of the hardest of all- resting when you’re tired. Every spring, I always get overtrained. Last year was the worst of all! I got horribly stressed out an overtrained right before the two CA Norbas, resulting in riding many laps of shame and frustration.

I’m trying to avoid that this year, so even if I am questioning if I should turn around and go home from a ride because my legs feel like rotten meat sticks, I flip it and get home ASAP. I was getting frustrated Thurs and Fri this week b/c both days I had to go home. It stressed me out quite a bit because I leave a week from Thursday for Nova Norba National in AZ. However, flipping a U-ey the last two days really paid off today. I felt super awesome on the bike and fortunately, that redeemed my confidence and my excitement to get on the race horsey for the year. The wind wasn’t howling today either which is always a plus!! I saw Tom Danielson making the suffer face up 4 mile canyon today, guess it was a good day to go out and GIT IT! Fortunately I was coming down so I didn’t have to have him pass me like a bat out of hell.

I got all my Sobe Cannondale stuff this week. I was like a wide-eyed little kid opening Pandora’s box. Unfortunately, I ordered the wrong size kits (every brand is different), so I have about another week left in the pink before I throw on some orange. I think orange is more becoming on me, I hope

So I have a dilemma now. I only had mountain bikes last year. Now I have both a hot mtb and a hot road bike. Hot lava! (as my friend in California would say). The problem is I have to choose which one to ride. I rode the mtb today and I wanted to switch bikes and ride my road bike too. Guess I have to wait until tomorrow. Happy Trails!

Well, I got a comment from some guy named Burt Hoovis about how Vera Carrara is going to kick my butt in a tourney.  The first question I had was, “who the heck is vera carrara”  Answer: really fast trackie.  I, of course, am partial to the dirt and rocks.  My second question was, “what the heck is the tournament?”  Read it and weep my friends.  My Halloween costume has done me in once again.  http://doucheblogcycling.blogspot.com/  The sad thing is that he isn’t kidding.  You actually can vote.  The other sad thing is I’m in a blonde wig.  Second, if he really wants to make a tourney out of it, he better play fair and put a real photo, but I guess he has to find one first…  At least he’s matching me up to really fast girls.  Who knew?

Well howdy ho!  I’m back in Boulder and was welcomed by a crazy winter storm on the drive all the way home.  Not my favorite…I thought I wasn’t going to make it alive.  There were people spinning out of control, a wreck where they sent us off the highway, zero visibility in the dark…it was really not awesome.  I was highly stressed and my legs felt like rubber!   Lots of photos in this post…I tend to take a lot when I go on trips so here goes….

Driving down to NM I got really bored so I took some photos of my solo road trip.

Yes, that is a dopers suck shirt…my family informed me that in  ABQ, most people wouldn’t really get it and there could possibly be some homie thugs after me.  Yikes?

Examples of the different landscape…those are big mountains.  I had a HUGE headwind driving… my car would only go 70mph for top speed.

Since I’m a solar dork, I had to take a pic of these.  Pretty rad.

View driving into ABQ. Those are the Sandias.  Sandia means watermelon.

The ride on Saturday was great! :)  Nina and I really enjoyed the singletrack and got a few hard efforts in before we both admitted we were tired.  White Mesa looks like the moon and I am always continually amazed with the different styles of riding in NM.  You can ride through the desert, or up a ski area.  It truly is the land of enchantment.   Photos from White Mesa (just outside San Ysidro)

Driving out there, I-25 had ALL lanes closed, so Nina flipped a u-turn across the median of I-25.  Straight up NM style driving.  This is us driving in the median.  Awesome.

That is what I call singletrack.

The course was not marked, so we had to keep stopping and checking our map.  I would have been mad if it was an actual race for us.  There is no worse feeling than getting lost on the course during a mtb race.

Nina ripping it up in the desert.

more desert…and it was icy….high desert.

more singletrack.

Me being me after the ride.

I felt like a rock star on the bike Sunday, so I decided to do the north foothills loop and treat it like the first lap of an XC.  I gotta tell you, my Cannondale is just amazing.  It sticks to the trails like glue and rides so smooth.  I feel like I have a LOT of control which makes going super fast downhill really fun!  It’s the best bike I have ever ridden, and I have ridden a lot of different mountain bikes.

Family time… I love my family.  They are so fun and awesome.

Those are some damn good looking Looneys.

Beef. It’s what’s for dinner.  Vegetarians, look away.  I love dead cow in my mouth.

I’m still getting used to my new position.  It really takes it out of me when I do the long climbing rides (like Gold Hill).  I feel it the most in my butt and hips.  I guess being farther back on the bike forces you to use those muscles more.  I think it’s great because you are supposed to think about generating power all the way down your body, not just starting at the quads.  Other news, I’m picking up my road bike from Big Ring tomorrow.  I haven’t ridden one in 1.5 years, so it’ll be interesting and exciting. I think I may ride up Lookout Mountain for the maiden voyage.  I wish Chimney Gulch (the mtn bike trail up Lookout) was dry and snow free….

Over the weekend, I also got to celebrate St. Patty’s day and my friend Mason’s bday all at once.  I was more of a spectator to the party, but it was still fun.  I manage to make an ass of myself without even getting hammered!

Like I said…these are beer goggles…

I hung out with my best bud Liz last night for St. Patty’s.  We got home by 10 though.

Till next time!  I’m sure I’ll be foaming at the mouth to talk about my road bike tomorrow. :)  Cannodale SuperSix 3.  Super Awesome.

with my new Cannondale Scalpel.  I took it out on the trails for the first time today!  It is by far, the coolest bike I have ever ridden.  It is so efficient around the curves and the Lefty front fork feels so amazing tackling the rocks.  I feel very confident on it, and I think I was descending top notch today!!!  Nina met me up at the trailhead.  She was riding the Cannondale Taurine hardtail.  We were both going on and on about how much we love our Cannondales.  It’s too bad no one was there with a video camera because it would have been a great commercial. :)  Two hot babes in spandex riding two hot bikes.   Yes!

I can’t say enough how fun it is to come home to the “Burque” and ride all the trails where I learned how to mountain bike.  It feels good to see my improvements every year and to go back to what feels normal.  Another benefit of coming home is that my parents always make me such good food.  Did I mention that I really like good food? :)  Particularly after a hard ride, especially when I don’t have to make it.  Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy cooking, but when I just want to put the legs up and relax, it’s very nice to have someone to make food for you!

Nina and I are going to San Ysidro tomorrow and are going to jump in a 100 mile mtb race  and are going to duke it out on a couple laps.  Naturally, she will kick my butt so it will be fun to go super hard and lay it all out.  I am always having to stop myself from going really hard on my rides and am always on the cusp of overdoing it, so I can’t wait to be allowed to!  Woo!  Don’t worry, you’ll get the full report.  I’m a bit frustrated at the moment because I’m trying to get used to my new position and am not putting out the power I normally do on the climbs.  Patience Looney.

It is warm enough in Albuquerque to wear short sleeves.  Hurray!

The most genius quote that I heard today was, “Did you know that you have really dark tan lines on your arms?”

No, really?  Are you sure?

No, I’m not referring to unforseen road  schwag from one of my freezing rides, I’m talking about Frozen Dead Guy Days up in Nederland, Colorado.  “Ned” as we boulderites call it, is one of my favorite towns around here.  For one, it’s where a lot of the trails I like to ride are and fun places to pitch your tent.  It’s a common misconception that there is a lot of great mountain biking “in” Boulder.  Sorry folks, the impossible hikers have taken over which was a horrible realization when I moved here.  Two, it is very unpretentious and “granola-like.”  Three, the Mountain Peoples co-op has the best breakfast burritos and muffins.  Anyway, Frozen Dead Guy Days is an annual festival held because some guy cryo-genically froze his dad and stores him in a tuff shed(supposedly still up there in Ned somewhere), keeping him frozen with dry ice.  Weird-ass mountain people…  I missed the fun festivities on Saturday, but was able to check it out on Sunday.  Apparently on Saturday, they had a parade with people dressed up like the dead guy, alpacas, music, the works…

Alpacas are sooo weird.  People use their fur to make sweaters.  This one was all stressed out and making the weirdest high pitched whining sounds.

New Belgium was there all weekend as well.  They also have coffin races, some sort of deal where people go jump in the frozen reservoir, and frozen turkey bowling.  I missed out on all that good fun, but I still got to laugh at the tourists.

Apparently once the tourists saw that we took a photo by this sculpture, they all flocked with their cameras and stood in the middle of the freaking street.  I wonder where they were from…

There was this tent with a bunch of exhibit table.  Now I’m a solar engineer and I love trying to reduce my impact on the earth, but there was a table where they have “green” funerals.  They don’t embalm the dead bodies and do something special when burying them.  I didn’t look into it in great detail, but thought that was kind of funny.

Some peole from Utah drove down solely to go to this festival (it’s not very big) and they graciously gave me free drink tickets.  Now I know I’m on my two beer a week rule, but I got a cool pint glass and when something free is involved, I am going for it.  C’mon, I’m a dirtbag mountain biker.

My two favorite drugs- caffeine and alcohol (especially beer…) Calm down folks, I only drank half a beer.  But I did drink the full latte.

I had my bike fit at Boulder Center for Sports Medicine on Tuesday.  They very drastically changed my position from last year, and yet I feel much more comfortable on my bike.  I had MAJOR issues with too much weight on my hands.  I lost a LOT of time in races because I was having trouble descending- something that used to come second nature.  I’m glad to say that I should not have any problems with that anymore.  I was impressed with the technology and can understand why European cyclists fly to Boulder for this fit.  I probably drove the guy giving me the fit (Sean Madsen) crazy with all my incessant questions.  The engineer inside of me just couldn’t help but wonder many things.  I am very disappointed with the Rocket 7s I got last year.  They are supposed to be “custom” and granted, they felt much better than my old cycling shoes.  However, Sean informed me that they still do not give me enough support at the heel, and because of their proprietary design, you can’t take the insoles out.  Sean usually puts shims under the insoles to aide with support, but because these are melded into the shoe, they are almost rendered useless.  Disappointing, but my shoe sponsor for this year is Diadora anyway.  I think I get all my Cannondale stuff very very soon (including my road bike next week!)  I am like a little kid waiting for Santa Clause to come, and I won’t have to wear a pink kit anymore.  Hurray!

I’m headed to Albuquerque tomorrow for some sunshine and riding on some real singletrack.  I can’t wait!  The drive is always long and boring (7 hours), but I’ve made some sweet CDs and I always stop in Trinidad to inject caffeine to my veins to blast through northern NM.  Too bad I have an old beater for a car… still dreaming of that WRX wagon with the mad sound system to blast some techno…

First off, I’ll say I’m very excited to be a new face on missingsaddle.com! Thanks to Curtis Zimmerman for designing my site and getting it up and running. So what have I been up to?

March is the time of year where sponsorship goodies start pouring in only to get my more fired up about the upcoming race season. Last week, my Cannondale Team Scalpel came in the mail. I was as giddy as a school girl at the sight of it and couldn’t wait to take it on its maiden voyage. Big Ring is the bike shop that I work with. They are based out of Golden, CO (www.bigringcycles.com) Thanks to those guys for doing a super job and saving me the trouble of assembling my bike. Now I know it won’t fall apart on me halfway through the season! Like any bike geek, I wanted to weigh my bike. 21.7 lbs with no pedals. The lightest full suspension I have ever owned!

Shocking!

Cool bikes make me happy!

Unfortunately, it has been snowing here about once a week so there really is no place to go mountain biking. I’m heading to Albuquerque on Thursday to see what my sweet new ride is made of. I love going back and riding the trails that I first went mountain biking on. Those were the days…my 40 lb, 300 dollar full suspension that I thought was the coolest thing ever.

My road bike is also on the way and I’ll be picking that up THIS WEEK! I got a Cannondale SuperSix 3. I haven’t done much road racing, but Nina and I may head to Tour of the Gila in May. The last time I did that, I was on a 20 lb road bike with little experience so it’ll be fun to see how it goes this time.

I ‘m getting a bike fit at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine this year. Last year, I got a Wobblenaught fit. My nerdy engineering side is looking forward to examining the difference between the two fits, the general procedure, and learning new biomechanics stuff from the pros.

I’m starting to get a little nervous about my debut for the season- Nova Norba National. It’s always a little unnerving to have my FIRST race of the year be a national, but hey, might as well dive in head first. I’ve been a little frustrated with my training lately. I’m teetering on the edge of being overtrained and have been trying to start some intensity this month. Some days I go out and feel like a freakin’ rock star, and others I go out and am extremely frustrated because I can’t get my heart rate up, and I have to turn around and go home. It’s definitely tricky to push your body to the limit where you actually get faster, or to push it over the limit where you actually get slower. I have been doing this for five years and I’m still constantly learning about my body.

I am also starting to phase gluten and dairy out of my diet, and have limited myself to about 2 beers a week (yes, I know there is gluten in it, but I live in Colorado, home of the best beers…it’s not fun to totally cut it out. I did that last year). It’s time to go from the softer, happy, off-season body to emaciated, farmers tan, T-rex race season body. It’s always fun to see the change.

Oh yes, and as promised, here are a few photos from when my cousin was here a couple weeks ago. Bear with me for this post…I’m trying to decide the best format for posting photos with this new editor.

My cousin Sierra, and her finacee, Scott.

No, you’re not seeing double!  ;)  People often ask us if we are sisters and I am always flattered to hear that.

Pretty much the essence of Sierra and I- always laughing and having a good time

See ya next time!  Time to go ride!