I’m back!  Sorry I didn’t post for so long. I literally have not turned ON my computer since I left for Interbike 1.5 weeks ago.  It’s been pretty dang busy! I got back yesterday(and vowed to leave my computer in “off” mode) and unfortunately have come down with what appears to be a nasty sinus infection. I have a fever, achy body, sore throat, and massive headache… it’s tough catching up on work emails with a chisel beating into your head. Yeee-owwww.  It’s like post-partum Interbike syndrome.   I am super bummed because I have been super ancy to ride and it’s going to be at least a few days. I guess all the people in Vegas and lack of sleep is too much for this gal to handle.  Hopefully Mr. Kerkove and I will head up to the mountains this weekend for some epic fall riding…. crossing my fingers.  Go white blood cells!

Anyway, Las Vegas was fun and Interbike was even better.  It was my first time to Vegas, yet it wasn’t that shocking after all the stories I had heard.  We didn’t get too much time to go to the strip, but one evening, I got to walk around with no plan for an hour or two. It was cool to go to Vegas…but it’s not quite my scene. I like to be up in some mountain town in my tent with some good microbrews.

So backing it up.  I helped Jeff set up the booth for Outdoor Demo and meanwhile, I also went and drooled all over the Cannondale’s at their massive set-up.

ooooooo.  Checking out the new bikes with my Sobe Elixir drink.

ahhhhhh

That night, we walked around the strip a little bit.

How many hooker playing cards did you pick up? whaaa?

Playing the slot machines topless… j/k

I gambled a whole 2 dollars and only got a quarter back. Gambling is pretty boring to me… I’d at least like to play mario-kart arcade style or something for the money I gave them.

I spent the next two days setting up the Ergon and Zoelle booth at the Sands Convention Center.

Ergon booth set-up.

For some reason, I didn’t get a picture of the Zoelle booth… guess I was too busy to think about it. So sorry!! It was pretty cool. There were some photographers coming by, so I think I should be able to dig a photo up somewhere.

Fork lift bumper cars.

The show was Wed-Friday.  We got a lot of really good response to the Zoelle clothing… lots of interested women. It was fun to talk to the new exhibitors as well. We were set up next to Beljum Budder and Kuat. I told the guys at Beljum Budder of my taint problem from 2 weeks before, so they were very generous to give me a sample of their product to try. If I ever shake this sinus infection and get to ride my bike again, I will love to use it. From what I heard, the Ergon booth was hopping as well. They had a cool set-up which you can see a video of on Jeff’s blog . Kim and I were able to hold the fort down pretty well at Zoelle and had a great time. We got to go to a couple cool restaurants and clubs including an amazing dinner with the Topeak crowd. Between them and the Ergon crew, I had a really great time with some really great people.

I didn’t get to see too much of the show, but what I did see was pretty cool. I was lucky enough to get out and thank all of my Sobe Cannondale team sponsors.

Food/outing highlights:

Jeffrey, da man, enjoying a delectable German bier at the Haufbrauhaus. It was mayhem in there with people eating at big picnic tables, a band playing german music, and general drunken debauchery.

some German cuisine. uh huh huh huh (Butthead’s laugh) sausage. It’s not mine!

Looney, the beer gnome. I am more partial to Dunkel.

There was some Italian goodness with the Ergon crew. Yes, that IS Dave Wiens.

Sushi!

Some of us had some pink tacos at the Hard Rock Cafe.  Hey-O!!!

Jeff, Richard, Dave, and I went to an IMBA sponsored breakfast that was delightful. Thanks for all those trails.

I got to spend some time at a club with Irina Kalentieva…2007 world champion, 2008 bronze olympic medalist. Lucky me!

Other highlights:

The Oktoberfest party went well.  One of the guys at Beljum Budder took a really funny photo I am waiting for him to send me.  Kim and I had to wear German barmaid outfits, so I dusted off old faithful (my Halloween costume from last year) and rocked it…I wasn’t as nervous after a few beers.  Dave Wiens and Irina Kalentieva signed a bunch of autographs, and Kim and I entertained the drunk mass of dudes.

I finally got to meet celebrity Guitar Ted. He is one of Jeff’s best buds and highly regarded product tester…also now owns the Trans-Iowa race. Sounds pretty brutal if you ask me. It’s great to meet someone in person after reading their blog and hearing about them because you get to feel their energy and jovial demeanor.

I got to meet the Twin Six dudes. Brent and Ryan are the minds behind the cools tshirts we all wear. Awesome work guys. Raise the roof. haha!!

After several messages back and forth over the last month, I met Liz Hatch . Not only is she a hottie, but she’s also very sweet. That’s kind of rare if you ask me!

When I left Boulder, it was Indian Summer. In the week, I was gone, it hard turned to fall in the mountains.

Luxury rest stops in Utah….

That’s all for now. I’ll let you know how I’m feeling tomorrow….

After all the bike riding, I thought I would indulge in driving to work today.  After all, I had spent a lot of time in the last few weeks replacing my starter TWICE.  Yet, I would still feel anxious as I crouched into the drivers seat and prepared to turn the key.  Oh, the starter worked all right, but the solenoid was still whirring after I disengaged the key and turned the engine off.  Another effed up starter from Autozone.  NEVER buy a car part there.   Take my word for it. they have a lifetime warranty, but you will be replacing your stuff every month.  I thought it might have been the ignition switch, but after talking to a few repair shops, they all agreed that it was my shitty little Duralast Autozone starter…. so after Interbike, I guess I need to drop some coin on a high quality starter and put that in for the FOURTH time since December.  Yeah.  The starter should not be replaced more than you fill or your tank with gas.    So I had to hop on the saddle again today.  I took my commuter bike and to my surprise, it wasn’t painful… *everything* felt good, even my legs…. well, minus Herman.

It was rough being back at work today, working a full 8 hour day like most normal homo sapiens.  I am spoiled…I know.  I had a massive pile of work to dig myself out of after missing 2 work days.  Imagine what I’ll have to make up after missing 5 days due to Interbike next week.  yeeeeeesh.  The weather clouded up and got insanely windy later in the evening.  My nice coworker offered me a ride home which I usually will not accept, but this time, I was ready to take the offer.  I don’t know what kind of bad car karma I am carrying around with me, but we got a flat tire on the way back to my house….  I hope I am rid of all that car baggage because I would love for the Ergon FJ to work in a happy fashion on the way to Vegas on Saturday.

I’ll do a mountain bike ride tomorrow and then will have about 9 days off the bike.  I am going to start my off-season running regimen this weekend which I am looking foward to.  Work tomorrow, then off to Vegas Saturday!!  It’ll be like when I was at OR…some sparse posts, but I won’t forget about you!

Come by and see me!  I’ll be at the Ergon or Zoelle booth.  Mostly at the Zoelle booth for this show:

Ergon Booth #4351
Zoelle Booth #6204

We will also be having an Oktoberfest party at the Ergon booth on Thursday from 5-7 PM.  I will be bartending in tradition German costume…one that has appeared on this blog before… ruh roh!

After about 15 hours of riding in the last two days, I was pretty tired and ready for some R&R.   You probably already read Jeff’s post, but if not, you can read his take.  My Cannondale Scalpel was perfect for the ride. I never stop saying how much I love my bike.

We started at about 8:30 AM with the perfect mantra on our way to Winter Park.  Cannibal Corpse- Shredded Humans. haha  Oi ya ya!   Oi ya ya!  Listen to it, you’ll see what I mean.

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We rode up Boulder Canyon to Magnolia Rd, followed by Peak to Peak Hwy to Rollins Pass.  The first day was 7000 ft of climbing which seemed like nothing after riding 9000ft  of climbing on Sunday.   We rode at base mile pace…nice and easy so we didn’t miss any views.

The road up to Needles Eye Tunnel was a steady grade and not very steep.  I was easily cruising in zone 1 and 2.

The hardest part of the ride was not that my legs were tired, I felt like I could ride forever… it was my bike seat.  I don’t know what my deal was, but even after marinating in a big handful of chamois cream (and my seat was even glistening with it b/c it had seeped through), I still was missing some very precious skin and a growing large chami sore named Herman.  I was trying the best I could to alleviate the pain, but I had to stand a lot and was thankful for the hiking near the end of the ride.  I even tried to shove an arm warmer down there to stop the chafing. hahaha.  That didn’t work.   9 hours is the longest I have ridden, so it was kind of mentally taxing due to the nether region pain, but it was definitely doable and I had a great time!!!! I have been wanting to do a ride like that for a long time and oh, I will do it again.  I’ll just do it with a seat that has the center cut out!!!!  Bring it on Kerkove.

Meep!  Meep!  I felt like I was in a Looney tunes episode as the coyote and the train was going to run me over the second I stood on the train tracks.  Up, up, up we went to 11,000 ft….  I watched the number on my Suunto steadily increase.

Hiking up over the tunnel.   Weird to think we started in Boulder and were suddenly way up in the middle of the moutains, with all our things for 48 hours in our Ergon packs.  I used the BD2 . It was loaded down to full capacity, but I was able to fit lots of warm clothes for riding, nutrition products, flip flops, a 70 oz bladder, a bottle, my dignity, and some street clothes for later.

oooooo. ahhhhh…

road loot.

Yes, that is the new Ergon Outdoor BA3 pack. One of two in the US at the moment.  Some hikers were like, “ohhh. you know, it’d be way more extreme if you rode that.”  Says the hiker who won’t even HIKE up that slope.  P-shaw.

Can’t get much higher than the tundra below our feet.  It was so quiet.  All you could hear was the wind in your helmet, the rocks crunching under your feet, and your breathe.  It’s times like these that I appreciate the serenity and getting away from traffic, my cell phone, my computer, the bustling of the city, my desk at work.  Nothing quite like that feeling.

Dinner reward after our 7 hour trek… Italian and a pitcher of vino. hee hee

Tressel.  It was kind of scary riding across b/c the boards were kind of moving around and it looked like cliffs all around you.  Heights make me nervous, so I high-tailed it across. I felt like I was in an Indian Jones movie.

Heaven…. (yeah, my seat is shining, and that is the little road loot we found that is shoved in my stem)

Epic views!  I wanted to do some backcountry skiing up there….minus avalanche risk.

Kodak moment!  A little above treeline.

I had to stand the majority of the ride back.  I now have even more respect for singlespeeders.  My arms and feet were tired today from all the standing.  It was the first thing I noticed after my much needed slumber last night.

We took Jenny Trail back which as you can see, is very rocky.  It spits you out at Eldora ski area.  It’s kind of crazy actually!  Weird to think you can just ride over the mountains like that.  It was clouding up really fast, and the trail was kind of hard to follow.  I’m glad the ride didn’t get to the point where we were huddling in our gortex under a tree while hail and lightning fell from the sky.

All that said, I’m so glad I got to do that ride and look forward to many more rides like that.  I’d love to ride the CO Trail from Denver to Durango.  It’d be really challenging and awesome.

The rest are on my flickr account.  I’m glad you all liked my title.  I am one of those sweet, yet sarcastic, yet brutally honest people who might provide excess information.  It’s like a train wreck, you can’t look away. 

Mr. Kerkove and I woke up at 4:30 in the AM on Sunday to prepare to suffer for the entire time that the sun would shine that day.  I downed as much as I could for breakfast (2 eggs, coffee, and a peanut butter sandwich) knowing that I wouldn’t be able to consume much in between our 45-58 min laps over the course of the day.  We had to use our headlamps as we scooted to the tent around 6 AM to race in the co-ed duo category.

Getting set up, bright and early…before the sun shines.

The start was at 7 AM, and it came up really quick.  We decided it’d be best if Jeff rode the first lap.

I am cornholio!  I need TP for my very cold bunghole!

There was an insane amount of media at the event due to the appearance of Lance Armstrong.  It was pretty cool to have front row seats.  Is this a world cup or a charity endurance event?

Yuki Saito, Lance Armstrong, Jeff Kerkove, Jay Henry, and Brett Morgan take the first call-up spots.

Ready, steady, go! The start of the 12 Hours of Snowmass. Giddy up!

Jeff had a really good first lap.  I headed on out up the big hill.  I did ok, but for some reason my breakfast had not quite digested and I was barfing peanut butter sandwich in my mouth just a little bit.  eeewww.   I didn’t feel great the first lap, but that was expected.

VUUURRRRP!   Uhhh…I don’t feel so good… but I am wearing my new Smith Toasters. Yeyeah!

Jeff was turning pretty consistent lap times and was doing awesome.  My second lap was my fastest and ironically my last lap was my second fastest…and the most fun.  We were winning until halfway through the race…The middle of the race was a trying time for me.  I was bonking because I didn’t know how much I should be eating in between laps and during the laps.  I would take in 2 gus per lap.  A lap was 7 miles, 1500 feet of climbing and my times ranged from 52-58 minutes.  Apparently that wasn’t nearly enough (I am still learning about this endurance stuff), so I ate some Cherry frosted pop tarts (I heard this is good to eat during long races) and a piece of bread with honey at another time.  It was definitely some mentally rough times during some of those laps which will make me so much stronger in future races to come. My legs were dead and felt like they weighed 10000 lbs each and I was barely turning it over.  Granted the first 30 minutes were a huge climb, it still hurt and felt so much harder than it should have.  It was also challenging because you would ride for 50 minutes, then stop for 50 minutes, then try to start again up a granny-gear-riffic rode.  I wished I had a great granny gear Even the fast guys were in their granny.   Near the end of the race, Jeff decided to make a tactical decision and ride a double lap.  I took off for my last lap and suddenly my legs felt light and I was able to blast through the climb and singletrack.  Too bad it took so long for me to come back around.  We ended up doing 13 laps for second place in co-ed duo and were about 7 minutes back from first place.  Not half bad! Jeff also wrote a post here.

Our little shelter for the next twelve hours…

Podium. Second place.

Other notes:
On the drive up:

Ummm…. dude… I smell brakes.

Mountains are getting some snow….!

Big props to Yuki Saito for taking the win in the men’s solo race and a big thanks to Nat Ross for putting on a well organized, super fun event!! See ya there next year!!!

Tomorrow, it’s off to Winter Park. We are starting in Boulder, going over Rollins Pass, part of the Continental Divide Trail, and into town for some R&R. Wednesday, we will ride back and give you the scoop.

Very nice! (Borat voice)

We are off to Snowmass. Hope I have the internet there. There are live updates on Velonews for the race.. It is 7 AM to 7PM on Sunday. I’ll keep you updated when I can!

I have had a lot of questions about my new Suunto altimeter watch. And no, I am not writing this because they sponsor me, I am writing this because I just think it’s a dandy product.

The Suunto Lumi is so cool, that even my best bud, Anne has one and all my other girlfriends want one.  Pretty rad.  And no, that is not MY left hand. Take a breath.  hahaha   Mine is the right hand.

And if you and your guy want to look ultra cool, he can get the Suunto Core . That’s outdoor gear junkie heaven.

and you can hang out at the coffee shop.

But seriously, down to business.  The Suunto Lumi and the Suunto Core are not heart rate monitors.  However, there are Suuntos with a heart rate monitor.  Jeff has one, and he likes it a lot.  The T6 is a really cool one…one that I hope to own someday. Someday!!! I really like the ad with the EKG, but that’s because I’m a nerd and I read physiology books for fun. B-)

It comes with a thorough instruction booklet that can be daunting at first, but you just have to have the patience to read through it. However, if you have clicked on the links above, the websites for the different models are very interactive and user friendly. Supa cool! It measures altitude based on barometric pressure, so the measurement varies with the weather. It’s not too far off, but as an enginerd, I wish it was a little more accurate. However, that’s just something you have to accept with that type of measurement, and it’s pretty standard across altimeter watches. A cool feature of the Suunto Lumi is that you can buy different straps. Yes, I am a girl and all, so cool colors are always a plus. I just need to somehow find a way to save my pennies. I swear there is a huge hole in my wallet. It goes somewhere….somewhere…

That said, ENJOY!

I’m so behind on blogging this week!  The tab is open to write a new post, but I never seem to get to it.  Anyway, you didn’t miss too much this week.  I did a bit of road riding, went up to Fort Fun to see Superkove, taught a spin class on Wednesday, and tried to get all caught up at work.

I got a lot on my plate for the next couple of weeks.  Tomorrow, Jeff and I are heading to Snowmass to partake as a duo team in the 12 Hours of Snowmass . Time the go deep within the depths of the pain cave where you never know what is lurking in the moist darkness. The buzz is that Lance Armstrong will be there… Lance, on your LEFT!!!! Just kidding. I wish. I have never done a 12 hour race, but have done a few 4 person team 24 hour races…so I kinda know what I’m getting myself into. I love racing at Snowmass and I love my Cannondale Scalpel, so it should be pretty awesome.

Should I not get enough riding on Sunday, Jeff and I are riding to Winter Park on Tuesday and then riding back on Wednesday. I don’t know who holds the key to this self inflicted hurt locker I am placing myself in, but needless to say, it’ll be a fun adventure.

Saturday is off to Interbike. I’ll be there working with Ergon and a female German clothing company called Zoelle. Swankity swank swank. Come by the booth and say hi. Ergon is also hosting a party on the Thursday of the Interbike show called Oktoberfest. You should definitely come by there… me and a hottie little friend of mine will be bartending in some German attire…possibly some attire that has appeared on this blog before. What could it be??

I am also required to VACATE my house in the next month. Boo on my landlord. Anyone want a roommate?

Saturday night was spent with my pea. In that we are 2 peas in a pod and no one can really disagree.

Anne and I pretty much have the best time ever…especially when consuming red wine and watching Dumb and Dumber.   Yes…. I am sneering and yes, my eyes might be glazed over a little bit.  At least I’m wearing one of my new favorite T-Shirts!!

Today was great.  I had brunch with 2 of my very fun friends, Leslie and Liz. … followed by a lovely preview to some Nederland fall riding. I need my fall Neditation and by golly, I’m getting it. The leaves are still green, but “no complaints here.” I’m in no rush for the winter to roll on in. In fact, I am dreading it….but hopefully I’ll get my winter roll on with some skate skiing.

Anyway, 2.5 hour zone 2 with some unintentional hill intervals–

Bike shadows are just so cool.

High point of my ride today at–

9500 ft. Thank you Suunto Lumi. You are my new best friend.

Quite a contrast from yesterday’s trail… zoom zoom!!

Have I mentioned I love my Cannondale Scalpel? I freely use the word love here, and frequently. and I have to say, my flames are pretty freaking rad.

And an evening spent celebrating Niki’s bday. Now she is old like me.

Yes. I have cute friends.  MMM HMMM

although home is a relative term (and my roommates and I are getting the boot next month against a lawful contract), it’s still so nice to be home for a weekend. It was so awesome to ride some local trails and hang out with pretty much all of my best friends. I’m so lucky to have a group of girlfriends who are so supportive and just FUN. I’m looking forward to being around more in the off-season for some off-bike adventures. Hey-O!

Here is a recap of le weekend.

Saturday

4 hour ride with coach, plus about 30 min of spinning afterwards to keep the legs happy. Sean and I went up to ride some of the best trails the Front Range has to offer.  That would be Sourdough, St. Vrain, and some other trails around Brainerd lake.  It’s almost fall, but not quite yet.  The trees aren’t changing at 11,500 ft… we got a ways to go and I’m in no rush.  Sean definitely lives up to his nickname of mountain bike jedi once again.  The technical, rocky trails didn’t phase him one bit. I have some cool videos, but the stupid uploader on flickr is trying to show me its authority because I can’t upload any freaking videos. I took a lot this weekend too. Grrr.    It was sort of welcomed sufferfest for me.  I think my body spent the week trying to heal my back instead of helping my legs recover. My back is doing much better…it’s only really painful if I have to put the power down for longer than 3 or 4 min on a climb. The pain is manageable and does not keep me from riding.

Def a ride to work on technical skills. I crashed once and it wasn’t bad. I just have some really cool new bruises to show certain people how tough I was while they were groveling at the Vapor Trail 125.

Sean later did trials work to cross that river. Who says hopping on rocks has to be by foot?  Video coming eventually. Badass.

Not what I call “buffed out singletrack”

I found out I wasn’t allergic to bee stings. I suddenly got stung on the chin and then finger. I heard buzzing that stopped. 2 minutes later I heard buzzing in my ear again. I threw my helmet and gloves to the ground as fast as I could and this big guy came out. Thanks for putting your stinger in my face. Shortly after, Sean caught me by surprise and slapped my leg. There was yet ANOTHER bee crawling on me. Bees, I love your honey, but I don’t love it so much that I want you that close to me. Thanks.

Weee and YAAHHH, I hope I don’t fall!

That’d be a nasty mess if that porta-john was dropped. Ewww… and there must be some epic poo in there to require a crane of that stature to move it.

And yeah… Sean rode his bike up to about this point and then RAN up to the top of that mountain today in swift time and maximum suffering. Way to go, coach!

TGIF and I’m not going anywhere this weekend. I’ve been laying low the last few days, working, and trying to ride. I think my entire body is focusing on healing my back because I was able to hop on the saddle yesterday, and man, my legs are still very fatigued. I was riding up 4 mile canyon in disbelief yesterday and I was in my 27 and having to stand up to pedal. This is a canyon I usually use for zone 2 or even recovery rides. Speaking of my back, it now looks like an art project now that the bruising is well settled in. The muscle pain is starting to subside, but is still very noticeable and I’m still eating ibuprofen like candy. Eh well. You gotta push your limits to get faster, and that’s no lie.

I got my bike back from Luby at Dirt Labs, and he has resurrected my Lefty. I guess you need to reset the bearings every now and then. Turns out I was missing about an inch of travel. That HAS to be why I crashed. Big thanks to him for a super fast turn over and he was so gentle and good with my hot, badass baby. Meanwhile, the guys at The Fix fixed my broken spoke on my Mavic Crossmax wheel. I really like these wheels…always wanted to try them and I am not let down. I also am back to bar ends. This is the first year I haven’t used them, and I miss them dearly. It’s like I still try to put my hands where the bar ends would be, but miss out on the torque. I have been using and loving with all my heart, the Ergon GX1 grips. I just got someErgon GX2 Carbon grips that are going on my bike STAT. They are sooooo cool. The bar end is integrated into the grip and they are light and give me all the comfort I could ask for. Watch out hills, I’m adding torque to my engine. Kind of like a luxury car with a Bugati engine…. or hell, just a bugati.

This weekend will be full of mountain biking, sleeping, and hanging out with my friends. My social life outside of cycling suffers a bit during the race season since I’m out of town so much. I think this is the first weekend I’m not racing or traveling in months. Fortunately the weather will be warmer. It is 49 degrees and raining here today. Brrrr…..