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26.12.02
did you catch the Simpson's Christmas
Special this past Sunday? it was great! it reminded
me of my own family. Lisa Simpson becomes disenchanted
with the church that her family belongs to when Mr.
Burns turns it into a profit center (rife with revolving
ads on the pulpit). She begins a search for a new religion,
when lo, she sees the Springfield Buddhist Temple. She
goes in and meets Richard Gere... and she becomes a
Buddhist. She then tells her parents she can't celebrate
Christmas, and they try to buy her back to Christianity
by wrapping up a fake pony. Lisa doesn't buy it, and
she revisits the Temple, where Richard Gere tells her
that Buddhists are tolerant of all religions, and that
she can still celebrate Christmas with her family, so
she does and she stays Buddhist but celebrates the holiday
with her family.
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i hope you all had a great
christmas. troy and i had a very relaxing holiday for
the first time in a long time! no parties, no guests....
just us. i made troy's favorite meal: spring rolls and
orange beef with jasmine rice. i typically cook large
meals for friends or family and it winds up being a
gorge fest. yesterday i didn't eat too much, which is
always good, and very few goodies. of course, i did
take a little raw dough, as usual from the orange oatmeal
scotchies batch i made for troy... irrestibable!
spokes got a new barbeque
rawhide for xmas. we wrapped it up and put it inside
a huge box. she wouldn't go in the box... but after
much crying and whining she finally ran in and grabbed
the bone... she neatly unwrapped it and proceeded to
peel off the plastic and ate the entire bone in one
sitting. what a happy dog!!
while i never expect much
inthe way of gifts these days, and with our current
financial situation, we didn't have any gifts for each
other this year (except for good food and each other!),
we did receive a few nnice gifts this year. such a far
cry from my younger days when as a spoiled child i could
never receive enough!
i must be getting old.
talking to family on the phone makes me happy and i
count as a gift... and i received a few small gifts
that really made me happy. thanks so much to the junior
members of the team! mara gave me a great book, one
i haven't read yet called Illusions, by Richard Bach,
who wrote Jonathon Seagull (one of the books i've read
a hundred times!). Shaina got me chocolate!!!! yummy!!
(dark, at that!) and a very nice photo album. i will
use this for the pictures of the team in '03. these
girls are very kind and thoughtful!
troy and i received a down
mattress cover from his aunt... making sleep very heavy
these days! and troy's grandma sent us about 100 cookies!
we also received lots of small cash gifts from other
grandma's and aunts... so we really had a great christmas!
if people were not mentioned here, then they gave us
gifts throughout the year, most likely... and we've
recieved much from all of our family members and friends
that has helped us immensly this year! so we spent xmas
being thankful for our friends and families.
---------------------------------------------
so we spent our xmas eve
watching It's a Wonderful Life, which always makes me
cry... it's so beautfiul... and our xmas night we watched
an alltime fave Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. what
more could you ask for?
namaste.
22.12.02
3 women get the Time Person of the Year
award... for whistleblowing. It's a good day when people
who are honest and willing to sacrifice their lives
for good ethics.
--------------
It's been getting colder
here in Boulder County. Yesterday I stepped outside
to check the air before my ride... very cold. The air
wasn't that cold, but the wind was freezing. Our windchills
were driving our mid 30 degree temperatures into the
lower 20s. Hard on your throat and lungs... this inducing
a nasty post-ride cough.
Despite the cold, I had
a nice ride... about an hour on the road up to Hall
Ranch, ride Hall Ranch and then back home via the road.
Not too good on the mtb tires, but a fun refreshing
ride after weeks of tough group rides and weight lifting!
I was surprised to see
so many other bikers out in this cold weather. I was
clad in a balaclava (covers your head and face, but
you can pull it below your face) and a heavy fleece
jacket. When I removed the jacket for the tough climb,
the wind bit me and i considered putting my jacket back
on, but i knew the climb would make me hot, as it is
highly technical and steep!
So i was off. Taking my
time and saying hi to all the bikers. I stopped at one
point to look at a herd of 13 mulies (mule deer). there
were a few stags with small racks. they just watch you
go by... completely unphased.
As the official holiday
approaches, it seems like everyone is a lot nicer this
year. We went power shopping the other day to finish
off the Christmas gift buying that we had to do. We
went to the toy department in Target... no one pushing,
just people looking at all the toys and talking to spouses
on the phone about what to get. No violence inthe parking
lot either. Could it possibly be that people are more
sensitive nowadays? I'm not sure, i chalk it up to a
fluke. We just happened to be in the right place at
the right time. We are, incidentally, planning war,
you understand, and I am sure that once Christmas is
over, my brother and all of your friends and family
in the military will soon be gone to work.
Kind of a depressing thought
for this time of year-- don't thank me! War is not my
choice!
Anyhow. I was glad to see
people being friendly at Christmas. Refreshing. And
another thing. I am amazed at the amount of giving.
Toys for tots and other programs. Lots of giving. this
is feeling more like a real Christmas than any other
I have experienced.
Keepit up America! Love
your neighbor and love your enemy as you love your neighbor.
At least that's what i read.
namaste.
20.12.02
sole survivor. the ultimate competition
of virtual life and death. yes, i watched the final
episode of "survivor". no, i could never win
the title of sole survivor. It was funny to me to know
that a used car salesman won this game- of course, he
won't be a used car salesman anymore, now will he? maybe
only at heart, i guess.
why i will never win this title? greed
and deceit. Troy told me last night I was a terrible
liar as I tried to blame the nearly empty bag of Bouler
malt vinegar and sea salt chipson everything but me(not
a common occurence for me, but vinegar and salt together
really make me happy- except for the indigestion i get
from eating fried potatoes). So the lying and deceit
is out for me. I've never been a good liar, and i don't
have too much practise at it. In fact i've probably
gotten worse at it over the years as i have developed
a conscience.
greed. winning a million dollars. well,
who wouldn't want a million dollars? i'm sure even Gates
wouldn't turn it down. of course i want a million dollars,
but am i willing to play the game of sole survivor to
win it over someone else? no. inthe same way i won't
lay in a bedof scorpions stinging and biting me for
$50,000. i don't want money that bad. there is, after
all, more to life than money- that double edged sword.
so how can i be a good bike racer if
i don't have the qualities of greed, deceit and competition?
I am competitive, there is no doubt. but i think in
bike racing, rather than go out to beat other people,
you go out to ride your best, and where you end up is
where you end up. there is no trickery and deceit involved.
maybe there is for some.
"sandbagging" is one way...
to ride in a category below your ability so you win.
this is wrong. i was never a sandbagger, in fact i moved
up way before i was ready to each time i upgraded to
the next higher category. it is depressing when you
have people who ride their bikes 4 or 5 times a week
competing at the sport level. it makes it hard for the
real Sport rider to ever be successful.
another type of sanbagging quite prevalent
in the women's field is the "verbal sandbagging".
when you're on the start line and the girl next to you
says, "i haven't ridden my bike in two weeks and
i stayed up til 4 am and i think i'm going to do terrible
today... " rrrright. these are usually lies.
and of course the all-time favorite
question remains... was Paola Pezzo acting in a sportsmanlike
manner when she won the 2000 Olympic Gold over Marga
Fullana? If youdidn't see it, they were both coming
down a technical rock section, Marga in the lead, and
Pezzo took an inside line and bumped Marga and it appears
she knocked her off the bike and ran ahead of her to
win the race. so was it intentional, i'm not so sure.
was it sportsmanlike? i'm still undecided. but this
opened the door for women to be more aggresive in the
races, and i think a certain dignitiy of the race disappears.
it becomes more like women's collegiate indoor polo
where anything goes... elbows, knocking girls off horses
and so on. does greed drive us to act a certain way?
or was Pezzo just riding her race?
So let's discuss further
the culture of America. we claim to be all good, and
we practise religions that tell us to be all good, but
are we really all good? would a Christian, Buddhist,
Jew or Muslim who was truly devout be able to play survivor?
i don't think so. Do we think we are devout when we
play these games? Just watch the Heinekin commercial
where the guys are shredding paper and throwing out
the window to the tune of let it snow and then answer
my question.
anyhow.. let's move on
to marketing. last week i received a call to see if
i would be interested in participating in a pilot study
for a tv show. of course! if I can have say in what
the American people watch on TV, maybe tv would b better!
So i receive my packet
in the mail with the video tape and 2 "prize packets"
which are simply questionsaires to pick out the brand
of toothpaste and so on that you prefer... and you will
receive coupons for what you pick. not being the dullest
knife in the block, i quickly assumed that this had
little to do with a TV pilot, and more to do with the
marketing Power That Be. i followed the instructions
and watched the tape... i filled out my questionnaires
in the order i was supposed to, (one before and one
after the pilot TV show with commercials!). my answers
didn't change... go figure. i wasn't swayed by the commercials.
so the next day i get a
call to give my answers. the first thing i am to do
is to watch more video of a commercial. the funny thing
is that it was for make-up... which i don't wear. so
i answered the questions and i just couldn't keep from
giggling. i would like to be the one that is heard on
these issues, instead of the average American! So naturally,
i think i am catching the poor interviewer off guard.
i giggle and answer his questions... he chokes when
i say i have a master's degree. i say i am a professional
athlete. i don't use make-up. and i can't remember the
brand of the cookie commercial i saw. it's even the
same brand of cookies that the apartment complex makes
for us... but i don't know what brand of refrigerated
cookie dough it is... have you made cookies? yes. by
scratch or by dough? from scratch. ok. no further questions
in that area. it's like i'm not the person they want
to talk to... but they need to! If you ask me, we should
get rid of all this garbage we eat that has preservatives
and additives and just eat plain healthy organic food.
oh well, that'll never happen!
i forgot... the "pilot"
sucked bad and i figured it was just a cover for the
ads... i may have caught the interviewer off guard with
some of my answers again, like the first question was
"what was the most memorable thing about the program"
and i said "how bad it was". does that sound
like an MBA? probably not, but who cares! tv is crap.
i'd rather watch the Simpsons or King of the Hill, or
of course Seinfeld.
at any rate... i mentioned
i was a professional athelte and after the interview
which i thoroughly enjoyed- how often is your voice
heard in these market research dealies? - theinterviewer
asks what i do. mtb. wow! he's into it! so we talk brielfy
and i tell him to come to my web site... so if you're
out there mr. Edmondton! hi!
yadda.yadda.yadda.
namaste.
11.12.02
sports news
Pete Rose may be going back into baseball.
Being from Cincinnati- where one of the streets near
the baseball stadium is called Pete Rose Way- this subject
hits home. Who can forget the hits record being broken
by Rose back in the '80s (gosh i think it was the '80s).
Alright, but what kind of precedent does this set for
cheaters and dopers in sport? we'll have to think about
that won't we?
On the bike side of things... congrats
to Lance Armstrong for being the Sports Illustrated
Sportsman of the Year! Go Lance and go cycling! A cyclist
hasn't received this honor since Greg LeMond, in the
'80s. Lance is breaking all kinds of barriers for cycling.
Let's hope we can continue to increase the popularity
of our sport.
a respite
the weather here in Boulder
County remains nice, and temperatures remain unseasonably
high. isn't this great? no riding indoors on trainers
yet! the day we have to switch to trainers will be a
sad day...
but for now, we are enjoying
mass amounts of sunshine and beautiful winter skies.
skiing? well maybe later.
everyone around here has been heading up to the mountains
to ski lately. i still haven't been, but i am planning
on doing some backcountry skiing as well as snowboarding
(wince). I am a multi-wintersportswoman. i enjoy cross
country backcountry skiing, alpine skiing as well as
snowboarding, not to forget the occasional tubing session.
i grew up sledding. i love
the snow. i skied for the first time when i was around
6. i am not a ski snob, like my husband, 100% strictly
alpine. blah.
i'll never forget sledding
in the Pyrenees with my brothers over a christmas break
we spent in Andorra. We had the coolest sled that had
hand brakes on both sides., which you could also use
to turn the sled. you sat on the sled, kind of like
an open kayak. it was too fun! i probably screamed my
head off.
i also remember busting
my butt bone one winter when we were back in the States.
i built a ramp off a hill in our back yard. using the
aforementioned sled, i flew down the hill and over the
jump... i came separated from the sled, and upon landing,
the sled and i having moved at different rates of velocity,
i landed on the short backrest with my tailbone and
bruised the heck out of it. of course, i tried to hide
my injury. i wonder if my mom ever knew i had done this?
i was very dore for a long time.
ahhh thos were the days.
namaste.
**warning... an opinionated column... these opinions
do not necessarily reflect the ideas of all at mtbchick.com
or the sponsors!!**
all this talk of nuclear weapons is
making me nervous, and at the same time deeply saddens
me. there is one leader in the world who i can say makes
all decisions based on his morality and compassion towards
others, and that is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Even
Jesus Himself said, "If a man slaps you on the
right cheek, turn the other cheek so he may slap it
also." But Jesus is not physically here today to
tell us that, we have to rely on other people's interpretations
of this profound statement. "... I say to you Love
your enemies, bless those who curse you and pray for
those who spitefully use you and persecute you,"
says Jesus. And the Dalai Lama of Tibet... have compassion
on your enemies. Why can't we all just get along???
7.12.02
editorials
First i must report that i am receiving
editorial letters now about my journal entries... from
my own mother! it's about my Thanksgiving article and
the poor. I suppose if you're an opinionated person,
people will disagree with you and they want you to know.
"Tonya, the poor do celebrate thanksgiving!
As a child, we always celebrated, we had chicken instead
of turkey, I did not have turkey until I was married!
Also, there is always a big effort to serve the poor
a thanksgiving meal, this year in Idabel they opened
up the gym, feed them..."
Point taken. I must admit that there
are a lot of people these days helping the needy to
have a Thanksgiving meal, but I also stick to my point
that the food is expensive, and growing up not having
a turkey for Thanksgiving is some kind of deprivation
for sure, and not within the realm of the middle (and
up) class celebration.
add-ons and the poor
one reason i have so much concern these
days for poor people, is i can imaigne how they must
feel. For 9 months, Troy and i lived on his unemployment
as we searched for a new place to live and jobs. We
even spent the entire months of June and July without
a home this summer, staying with family and friends.
There were days when we couldn't go to the grocery store
because there was no money. And i realize that our struggle
is an every day affair for the poor. Basic living bills
require a lot of earning power, and most people have
very little earning power or even potential for earning
power. Although Troy is now working and making good
money, we still do a little 'penny pinching', almost
to the point of some of our really wealthy friends who
are just greedy. It's a form of survival for us.
So i come to my new story. yesterday,
my friend Lisa Matlock was up from the Springs, and
we went on a nice 3 hour ride, which worked up wuite
an appetite. We decided to drive down to Wahoo's Fish
Tacos for a meal. We hadn't spent any time together
in a while, and Troy was sleeping and getting ready
for work, so it might be fun to go get a burrito.
As we're ordering, we have to answer
about 500 questions about "blackened, grilled,
fried, steamed, broiled or raw chicken" (exaggeration)
and then did we want the Banzai burrito or a plain one
and so on. We finished the test, and for two little
people with big appetites, the bill was $21.00. I gasped.
I looked at Lisa with her look on her face, and I said,
hey... the price says it's 6.00 each, isn't that $12.00?
Well, for each decision you make, for example, Blackened
chicken in a burrito is nearly $2.00 extra!!! He never
told us that all these choices were going to cost us
in the end. So i wound up going plain on everything,
and Lisa toned her order down a bit, and we got out
of there for $16.00 which is a lot less, but we still
should have gone to Chipotle!
the good, the bad and
the stupid
you can't expect evry driver
on the road to understand why someone would choose to
ride a bike rather than drive, some do and some don't
and this is the nature of human nature. The funny thing
about Boulder County is that there is a wide range of
drivers. you have the Good: they go into the other lane
and let you go even if it screws up the traffic pattern
(which sometimes can be annoying, but i'm learning to
appreciate the generosity). you have the Bad: Troy was
pushed off the road by a green Jeep Cherokee with CO
plates and driven by a blonde guy who yelled obscenities
at him and drove away. (Luckily troy arrived home ok,
but he called the authorities who put out an All Points
Bulletin on the guy. Colorado doesn't take road rage
lightly, especially if it involves a cyclist, and they
will probably ask Troy if he wants to press charges...
troy just wants that guy to know that he can't get away
with that kind of behaviour). and you have the Stupid:
these are my favorites. They typically drive by and
hang out the window and yell at you about how you're
an idiot because you're riding a bike and these are
also the people who honk. My favorite incident happened
in Ohio when i was commuting on my bike and this girl
who was eating some McDonald's shoved her upper body
through the window and yelled, "get a car!!!"
i was quite amused, as we had 2 cars in our driveway,
but i chose to ride my bike on order to save gas and
emissions. you gotta love America!
Anyhow... it's been crazy
on the road here lately, maybe the cool air and the
wind and all the negative ions are affecting people
and they're turning temporarily into jerks.
go ride.... and have a
great day!
6.12.02
Human nature. What is it? When do we
develop it? Is it the second we're born, or conceived?
Or do we learn it through those around us? These are
doubtless questions that have perplexed and inspired
many a philosopher over the ages. Isn't this the root,
the beginning, of all religions?
Arguably, after spending a little time
with youngsters, i think we are born with it, and we
try to develop out of it through our parents' training.
Do you ever wonder where a 2 year old gets the idea
to bite another child, or a 4 year old becomes jealous
and won't let a friend play with her toy? Are we born
bad? Some religions tell us we are born bad. So maybe
we are. Which leads me to the people who never grow
out of the state they were born in.
Yesterday, Mara Abbott and I went on
a training ride. It was in the afternoon, so we rode
up to Lyons and Hall Ranch to go mountain biking, and
Troy would pick us up between 4:30 and 5:00pm. Right
about the time it gets dark and freezing out.
We had a wonderful ride. We made it
to Hall Ranch in less than an hour, and we worked on
our technical skills on the most difficult technical
trail in Boulder.
On the first turn of the trail, Mara
crashed. I heard her go down, and i was kind of surprised
as the trail is wide and relatively flat at this point.
She collects herself, obviously a little perplexed,
and I let her ride in front of me. I can see she has
a front flat... the worst of all flats... the kind of
flat that makes you crash. We spend a few minutes changing
her flat, because we find that her rim strip has moved,
and the spokes holes are cutting the tube. Something
that can be very difficult to fix if you don't have
the proper size rim strip in your bike from the factory.
We ride on.
As we were riding up one of the difficult
rock sections, there was a guy riding his bike down.
He had to pull over while we rode by. It was one of
those sections where only one person can ride on it
at the time- a narrow, rocky section. I rode up to him
and pulled of the trail and said hi and thanks, and
Mara did the same after me. After the guy rode down,
a woman in a blue vest with a fleece in her CamelBak
rode by... and we said hi to her as well.
Mara and i continued to
ride up the trail, until it began to get dark. We turned
and rode down the trail, working on a couple of sections,
but moving quickly. As we pulled
into the parking lot, we realized that there was no
one there, and we rode to the lower lot. No one. We
waited. We watched the sliver of a sliver of the moon,
giant and bright as a light gently set behind the mountain
peaks (another once-in-a-lifetime type moment).
We wait. 15 minutes, 30
minutes, 45 minutes. By now, we're icicles. A cold wind
is blowing down the side of the mountain and we're near
a cold stream. hunger sets in. Now we're shivering.
Troy's ears must be burning by now... i may be slow
to anger, but i do get angry!
After 1 hour of waiting
for headlights to pull into the lot, I can see and hear
the Xterra turning around. Troy pulls in to the lot.
No one is happy at this point, but after some discussion,
we find that the couple, the woman in the blue fleece
and the CamelBak and her male companion were to blame.
Troy arrived at the lot
at 4:30. He waited a few minutes and asked the couple
of they had seen any one else on the trail. they looked
at each other, and said they had not seen two women
on bikes, and that there was no one else mountain biking
on the trail. So Troy left and went to the next place
he thought we could have been, Rabbit Mountain. We only
had one cell phone, and i was using that to leave messages,
"Troy, we're freezing, please come get us!"
and so on. but they were falling on no ears at all,
a fruitless effort.
Our prize was some hot
chocolate and chai from Starbucks, and to stand in front
of the fire place until we thawed out. you have to get
something for all that suffering, right?
So we arrive back to the
first question of the day... What is human nature? Are
we born with it? do we develop it?
If you were to say that
yes, we are born bad, then we can say that these people
never learned, and they'll have some bad karma coming
to them. Which leads us to the question of karma. I
kept thinking that this night was payback for leaving
Troy one day long ago on a trail... to ride home by
himself, when i was frustrated because he wouldn't wait
for me (troy used to be much faster on a bike than me),
i turned around and got in the car and drove home. of
course it wasn't a long ride home, but that must have
been one of our first real fights as a couple. Or is
it karmic debt, like my old roommie josh used to say,
"I'm dealing out karma". Maybe i'm being dealt
some good karma by going through bad karma? who knows!
we'll never know the motive behind those 2 people, or
if they were just high and didn't remember seeing us.
You never know.
good karma to you and namaste.
4.12.02
It's ironic. I started out having the
best ride of my life. I decided to see what this "Ward
Climb" is all about. Everyone says it's the worst/hardest
climb around. I've ridden past the road plenty on my
way to Jamestown and beyond, which offers a pretty difficult
climb... long and steady until it just goes straight
up for a few miles! But for the record, it's not that
long. At least not as long as the climb to Ward, which
is basically over 16 miles (that was the last mile marker
I saw!).
As i began the ride, I instinctively
turned the wrong way out of the complex, and when i
found myself on Hwy 119, I had to ask myself, "what
are you doing?". I was riding solo today. I thought
i needed a change of pace, since every ride lately has
been a group ride with pro roadies. It wouldn't hurt
to ride at my own pace for once. So i had to modify
my route a bit due to my wrong turn, but i felt good.
The beauty of Boulder is that you can
take a dirt road or even a singletrack at any time,
so i pulled into the trailhead at Left Hand and rode
my road bike down some singletrack then up a gravel
road. The prairie dogs were unhappy at my presence,
barking and squealing as I rode too near their homes...
holes poking out of the ground right on the middle of
the trail. After that foray through the cow field, I
was back on the road, and headed up 36 to Left Hand
Canyon.
I chose a fairly easy gear and was spinning
my way up the climb, after about 5.5 miles, i saw a
sign, the sign to be exact... "Ward, 10.5 miles"
with an arrow pointing to the left. The mystery was
about to be solved... what is this Ward ride? how bad
can it really be?
All i can say is I was having the time
of my life, just climbing and climbing. There was a
fog over the mountains, so you couldn't see the sky
and it was very mystic, very much like the Smoky mountains.
it was beautiful, and i was warm with my muscles working,
and breathing gently.
i passed hippie shacks and interesting
things, much like Appalachia. Keep Out signs. Bikes
with holiday lights on them. it was a fun ride, and
i had time to look around since i wasn't trying to hang
on the wheel in front of me- one of the benefits of
riding alone.
At some point, the hill grew quite steep,
and i was running out of gears, quickly. I found myself
standing up and thinking, well it's hard, all right.
But when i reached Ward, the sun was shining and it
was so warm. There was an inversion today which explained
the cold clouds below. Up here somewhere around 10,000
ft, it was beautiful and warm.
So this was it, Ward, and
it was a great ride! The climb of my life. After I finished
the climb in the funny little town, i pulled over, ate
some PowerBars, put a few more layers on, and headed
down the hill.
Now, the ride of my life
is turning into the worst ride of my life. It was much
colder than I thought, which is probably why there were
no other cyclists around me. i rode the brakes for a
few miles, then i had to pedal, so i held the brakes
and pedaled. So much for going 35 mph down the hill,
i was going 15. If i reached 20, i started to shiver,
so i just stopped and warmed my fingers and jumped around.
It was dreadful! it tool
me 1.5 hours to get home. It may have only taken me
1 hour had I been going full speed and not stopped continually
to warm up. On the final stretch of Nelson road, i just
bore down and went for it. there is some pedaling, but
basically you're going downhill the whole 25 miles or
so from Ward to my house.
So i pull in... frozen,
signing out loud, "Icicle, Icicle.. i want to ride
my bicycle, i want to ride my bike, i want to ride my
bicycle..."
I put my Ugg boots on and
warm up quickly, or thaw out, rather... you know the
drill, the numbness, then the pain for a few minutes,
then you're fine. It's an unpleasant experience to say
the least.
So... the ride to Ward
was awesome. It's a great climb. Just be sure you have
a ride down if it's really cold outside, or take a large
jacket and some huge gloves!
Too wrap up my day, the
Complex was having a Spa come in and demo services,
which included about a 20 minutes back rub and some
cheese and crackers and cookies. what a way to finish
off a 4 hour ride!
28.11.02
everyone's gone, and i'm hanging out
with Spokes, the mountain bike dog, watching talking
heads act out our fantasies.
Thanksgiving was huge enough... we had
an enormous feast. i started the morning by prepping
a few dishes and throwing the turkey in the over and
snuck out to ride my bike for a couple of hours. the
roads were empty this morning, and mostly runners around,
i only saw one other cyclist.
the air was clear, as was the sky...
the snow dusted mountains shines in the white sun. i
saw a buck- 10 point- and his doe hanging out in the
field. i also saw a red fox cruising his routes running
through the prairie grasses in search of his thanksgiving
meal (yeah, right!).
thanksgiving is great. Tradition is
needed to hold our society together. our culture...
while becoming generic and monochromatic, or "global"
across the Nation ( we're losing many things that make
this the US, for example Route 66... and building cookie
cutter malls and housing developments- thank god for
Boulder.) ... we still hold a few traditions evident.
whether it's a rite of passage like the proverbial graduation
ceremony, a birthday or Thanksgiving itself. This holiday
gives our Nation an identity... without religious or
other cultural. age or gender bounds- except perhaps
economic.
Thanksgiving is really a middle and
upper class holiday, though, isn't it? the poor cannot
afford to buy huge turkeys and all the food that the
middle class enjoys... but in theory, i suppose middle
and upper class people do have a bit more to be thankful
about. the Thanksgiving meal is expensive to make, i
think.
.At any rate, Thanksgiving
is probably the most universal holiday we have. we are
the only country in the world who have such a holiday.
a holiday centered around being thankful. i think this
is a beautiful holiday for that reason.
so what more is there to
say? i can say what i am thankful for. here is just
a small list...
i am thankful that i am
alive
healthy
i can see and hear and
speak
i can ride a bike
i have a bike (or two or
three)
i have a wonderful husband
a great dog
my family... on both sides
i live in a beautiful place
i have a car that runs
i have a computer
i have my own women's mountain
bike team
i don't live in a war-ridden
country
i am free to have my own
opinions
i am free to choose my
own spiritual belief systems
i have a roof over my head,
and food to eat everyday
Thank You!!!!
27.11 .02
Snow Biking
cold
parking lot
deep
breaths in through the nose
nose
hairs freeze, lungs burn
snow
ahead.
pedals
turning
body
burning
too
many layers again
don't
stop
sweat
and be happy- it's winter time
lean
on front wheel
control
is lost
front
wheel swerves
back
tailspin
yes,
again
regain
control for a moment
snow
biking
out
in front
i
lead with a vengeance
faster
faster out of control
i
ride the edge
of
control and calm
stay
upright and fly snow flying behind me
snow
biking
There seems to be this
unspoken competition between my nieghbor Charlie and
me. The competition is to see who can convert who to
their own preferred discipline.
I, naturally, would like
to see Charlie become a mountain biker. He is so fast,
and an incredible climber. He's got the stamina, endurance,
whatever it takes, he's got it.
Charlie, on the other hand,
is trying to convert me to the road. I do love riding
the road, and when i recently learned how to do a double
paceline on the road, I had a new found enjoyment and
bliss riding on the road, however short lived.
I believe I may be winning
the contest today. Here's why:
On Sunday, when i was going
out to race 'cross, Charlie says he's going mountain
biking in the snow. Well, i thought, have fun on you
short ride! I just was so sure Charlie would bail after
the first 5 minutes. "Can't handle it," i
told myself. "He'll wuss out for sure!" I
told him to have fun and left it at that.
When i saw Charlie that
night, he was gleaming and going on about how much fun
he had. I found out he did the entire trail in close
to a foot of snow, at times. i was amazed! i was dumbfounded!
how can this delicate roadie have had fun in the snow
on a mountain bike? Then i remembered... hey, i'm gaining
on this competition!
Yesterday morning, Charlie
appeared at my door, ready to ride mountain bikes in
the snow again. "I'm in, " i yelled! yeehaa!
So we went. Charlie not only survived, but he rocked!
He was having a blast. He climbed ever so quickly, never
crashed, and handled his bike better than I'd ever seen.
Of course, i made it back
to the bottom first with my mind boggling high speeds
on the edge of control and my stomach turning upside
down, but I give Charlie huge amounts of credit for
what he's done. Now if i can just get him to do a race,
my work will be done
26.11.02
Last night was the coldest night of
the year here in the Boulder County area, with temperatures
reaching low into the teens. It's foggy this morning.
I can only see one light form the houses across the
field from us. The spruce tree outside the window- young-
her branches weigh heavy with the 4"+ of snow we've
received since Sunday. It's a quiet morning.
I walk outside with Troy to see him
off to work. I breathe in through my nose and the inside
freezes. It's that cold. The fog is quickly lifting,
and in the distance Long's, pink with sunrise sunshine
spreading out over the foothills. another once-in-a-lifetime
site. at least an every other day occurence here this
time of year.
I'm thinking about today's workout now.
Weights plus a ride. I wonder if my neighbor, Charlie,
wants to go mountain biking today? With nearly a foot
of snow on the trails, it could be a trying practise...
but you only get to ride in the snow for a few months
out of the year. Charlie is still asleep, so i'll have
to wait to see if he's up for it today.
It's just too cold to be cruising around
on the road today, isn't it? yeah. Today would be a
good day to have a 'cross bike!
i've still got to finish cleaning my
bike from the weekend. the sedimentary rock that formed
all over the frame had to be chipped away and melted
with a space heater. it was glazed ice with sand stuck
in it. My rear derailleur was a solid mass of frozen
mud and sand... my cables were glued to the frame (no
wonder i couldn't shift during the 'cross race!). Thank
goodness it's the end of the year and these parts will
soon be retired. After this race, they crtainly will
need to be retired!
There's one more 'cross
race this year. It's this coming Sunday. It's the State
Championship race. The flier for the race says "NOT
a mountain bike course"- well, i don't HAVE a 'cross
bike. So do i race just for the heck of it, becuase
i know what that means, or do I not race and save myself
the heartache of not placing as well as i can becuase
i have a major handicap? well, maybe it would be a good
training ride. 45 minutes of all out for the last time
until next year. Maybe i'll just do it and look at it
that way. Maybe if it didn't cost $18 + the ACA license.
Too much money i guess, just to go on a training ride!
I have really enjoyed racing
'cross this year, maybe because i am much more fit than
i was the first time i tried it! it doesn't hurt near
as much as it used to, and i tend to enjoy spending
large amounts of time near my max heart rate. opens
up the legs. and cleans out the lungs.
Perhaps next year i'll
get a 'cross bike and take it a bit more seriously?
we shall see... time will tell.
namaste.
23.11.02
It's been a perfect autumn here in Boulder,
but the snows are coming- so says the weather people.
This is a marvellous place to live... with perfect mountain
sunrises and sunsets everyday... pinks, purples and
oranges against bright blue backgrounds with mountains
jagged and purple against the skyscape. being close
to the mountains is sometimes better than being in the
mountains.
the last few days we have been blessed
with spectacular moonscapes. we woke one morning to
see a giant white moon just resting over the ridge of
Long's Peak. It seemed to be one of those once in a
lifetime sights... magical and beautiful... you just
stare until the moon drops below the ridge.
Moonrises have been quite spectacular
as well. Giant orange globe, just beginning to wane,
rising up out of the plains. Daily, we get those once-in-a-lifetime
type views in nature.
So we are enjoying the end of autumn
here, and preparing for winter to come along. i have
heard that winters here are quite mild, but being at
elevation and near the mountains, i am prepared for
the worst.
********
although i raced 'cross
two weeks ago, i never practised- well, at least not
for a few years. so thursday night i met with the new
mtbchick junior team members, and we practised 'cross.
it was great, the girls loved it. at first it was hard
to them, but once they got rolling, they were hopping
off the bike, jumping the barrier, hopping back on the
bike and started it all over. as it began to get too
dark, we decided it was time to stop this mad practise
and go home.
16.11.02
living in boulder county is so cool!
i really liv ein longmont, which is still boulder county,
just fewer people and not quite such hectic traffic.
today was a very cool day for me. my
neighbor charlie and i have been trying out all of the
different group rides in the area. all kinds of different
rides... but today, we found the ultimate group road
ride!
we hooked up with a couple of guys,
7Up's Chuck Coyle, for one and headed to the Last Stop
coffee shop for the group ride. it's kind of intimidating
when you look around the people getting ready to ride
and all you see is 7Up, Navigators, USA jerseys and
T-Mobile (women's us national team). so many pro riders
live here in the boulder county that it's a little easier
to hook upwith them than in other areas.
so i knew i was in for a ride. there
were a couple of other people, junior men and some other
women, wearing saturn gear. the ride started out easy
enough. we had a double row of riders, about 12 of us,
i think, to start. after i finished my rotation up front
and pulled to the back of the group, i noticed all of
the women were gone! i was like, hey! they left me!
wassup with that?
apparently, the girls went on a ride
to Lyons (pronounced Lions, in the colorado style) to
get some cinnamon buns. well, i can't afford to eat
cinnamon buns... cash wise or weight wise, so i guess
it was ok. instead i got to ride with some of the fastesy
men in the country! buti missed the opportunity to ride
with kimberly bruckner, former saturn team member, new
T-mobile team member!
bu hey, they were easy on me today.
many are just coming off their time off for the fall.
so the bulk of the ride wasn't too hard. except for
the big hill, which i had some help getting up (thanks
chris!)
so, it was awesome riding with these
guys! thanks to all of you for having m eon your ride!
anyhow. we rode for about 4 hours overall.
it was fun, long, but totally worth it! it is absolutely
the coolest thing to ride with these awesome people!
i am thankful i live here in boulder county!
10.11.02
tonya goes 'cross.
when the race is a five minute bike
ride fromyour house, you have no excuse not to toe the
starting line. that's what i found out. even if i did
a 3 hour road ride that morning and actually helped
set the course!
i began my day early, creeping out of
bed around 6am. made myself a coffee and ran out the
door to be somewhat on time to set up the cross race
course for the
boulder racing 'cross race #3. surprise i was the
only female there... so i help run yellow caution tape,
run home to get my broom and some orange spray paint,
sweep up some broken glass off the course and run home.
by now it's about 8:20 and i am supposed to leave with
charlie at 8:30 to do a group road ride. troy says he'll
drive me, so charlie takes off as i finish getting all
my stuff together.
we meet at pro peloton for the 9:30am
group ride. it's been raining in boulder, but it's supposed
to be in the 60s today, so i bag the arm warmers and
the leg warmers. we rode for about 3 hours, ending up
back in longmont, freezing a the temperature dropped
dramatically.
charlie has decided we are going to
race the cyclocross race. so we rush down the road to
find out our start times. me 1:30, charlie 2:30. we
rush home to get ready.
i try to eat some food and drink and
get dressed up war, for the 45 minutes of pain i am
going to face.
i clean off my mountain bike (no i don't
have a cross bike)! troy cleans the chain and re-lubes.
i'm ready so we head down to register. i got to race
free since i volunteered in the morning, but i had to
buy an aca racing license. charlie bought it for me
(i lost my last excuse tonot race!).
as i'm standing on the start line, the
starter says to me i have to remove my bar ends. no
one has a tool, so i ride quickly over to the parking
lot and find a 5mm. it takes a while to get them off
as the end plugs are causing me trouble. as i'm struggling
with the bar ends, i hear the starter's orders to go.
i finally get the ends off, jump on my bike and ride
over to the start, drop my bar ends and take off. i
start about 2 minutes behind and as i come up the hill
i can see that the leaders are already beginning to
2nd half of the lap. great. i slowly pick off riders
and end up 10th, out of about 20 i think. it was a fun
race, and i wonder how i could have done if i started
on time. maybe top 5?
oh well. welcome to bike racing!
so that was my 'cross experience for
the year. my last 'cross race was in 1999, i think.
well, it was a long time ago, anyhow!
6.11.02
a day in the life...
maybe you're womdering what a professional
athlete does all day. it sounds like fun, doesn't it?
it is fun. but it is a trade-off. do you like to eat
out all the time, and go shopping and buy things for
yourself and others? do you like to go out at night
and party with your friends? do you enjoy buying a new
cd when you want? get the idea? good lifetsyle, very
little money.
here goes.
6:00 am. the alarm goes off. my eyes
are open, but i can feel that i am tired. my whole body
feels heavy. i am unable to pop out of bed this morning.
must have been that first session in the weight room
yesterday! yep, i can feel it as i begin to move around
and eventually slide out of bed.
i get up and make some PB&Js for
troy and send him off to work. now i have about 30 minutes
to get ready to go on a ride with charlie. i was too
lazy last night to finish packing up my bag, so i am
looking for that lost leg warmer (just like socks...
they disappear in the dryer). i go through all the piles
of clothes and can't find it in the drawer it's supposed
to be in. the troble is, i have to wash all my cycling
clothes about 3 times per week. i make my bottles of
endurox r4 and grab my powerbars and gels. the espresso
machine gurgles, then hisses as my coffee is ready.
i run hot water in my stainless lined travel cup and
fill with organic african coffee. hot and heavy, and
bitter. the same way i like my chocolate.
7:00 am
charlie knocks on the door. asks for
some powerbars and we head out to the garages. loading
bikes. charlie forgot his leg warmers and goes looking
for them. we're finally underway. we stop at the texaco
so charlie can eat a totally gross premade packaged
sandwich.
i gag and wretch as i try to open for
him, since he's driving and it won't open... just like
a bag of potato chips.
8:30 am
it's cold and i didn't bring enough
clothes. it's supposed to be 58F today, but obviously
not at 8:30 in the morning. we take off at a slow pace
we're freezing, so talk is random and broken between
shivering. after 30 minutes we warm up and are cruising
at around 17 mph. through the eastern half of colorado
with it's sheep feed lots- the first one we'd ever seen.
poor sheep standing there in their own feces and urine,
rotten feet, just like the poor cows. they run one by
one in a sheep stampede as we approach.
1:30 pm
we pull in to the mcdonald's where we
parked. we're finished. a long day of riding with tired
legs from lifting weights. we have to hurry home. down
some endurox and eat what ever is in sight.
3:00 pm
we're home. at 5:30 i have to be in
gunbarrel to teach a spin class. i shower, take a short
nap and eat whatever i can find. plain pasta, powerbars
by the handful, and i make some more coffee. i'm gonna
need it!
5:30 pm
i'm teaching spin. barely! it goes well,
but i am so tired that i don't remember the class.
7:00 pm eating some more. i eat some
cookies because i need calories and there's nothing
else around after the pasta. long, hot shower, scalding.
at some point, i can't remember when,
i go to bed. i'm tired. long day, but satisfying. i
have to be ready to do it again tomorrow!
2.11.02
snow, glorious snow
i sit here and sip my homemeade mocha
valencia (espresso, steamed milk, chocolate and orange
flavor) as i sit at my computer desk looking out into
the vacant field next to our apartment complex (vacant
filed- isn't that just utilitarian, exploitative language?
what makes a piece of land vacant when it has plenty
of natural and native flora and fauna?).
i glance up at the right moment as my
favorite wild animal canters by- the red fox. i love
the red fox- his elegance (ok- i am school-trained in
english and i use "his" and not his/hers,
sometimes i use hers, ok??). his beauty and cunning.
he's probably run by before; before the snow, and i
never saw because of the flora. but today, his red coat
stands out against the snow.
the last real run-in we had with a red
fox was in new hampshire, we were doing the 'presidential
traverse'- hiking all of the mountains in the presidential
range. after climbing mt washington, we hiked down the
west side and camped in a couloir. it was february,
so there was plenty of snow. we couldn't finish the
elegant ramen noodles that we had boiled up, and there
was one last ball sitting there. about 1 spoonful. no
one could stomach another bite, so we balled it up in
the snow and buried it about 30 feet from our tent.
sometimes when you're tired your judgement fails you.
as we helped our partners set up and cook, a red fox
trotted in between our tents, coming within ten feet
of all of us, and she bee-lined straight for the ramen.
we watched in amazement as she shot straight up in the
air and landed square on her nose in the snow. (this
is how foxes catch mice and rodents... if you've never
seen it you're missing out. go rent the national geographic
episode about yellowstone national park).
she popped her head up, the frozen ball
of ramen noodles in her mouth- she looked at us as if
to say thank you, and went home (keep in mind we were
well above treeline here and we were surpirsed to find
a fox!). i think that was a very cool moment, even though
i'm not sure if that fox knew what ramen noodles were!
at any rate. this story was supposed
to be about snow! it hasbeen snowing since tuesday here
in the greater boulder area. snow is great as long as
it's cold snow, but most of our snow makes the roads
really wet. at least they use sand here instead of salt.
sand creates a gripping surface on the roads and doesn't
create water that turns into a solid sheet of ice. so
i have no fenders for my bikes. i have been crafting
them out of old pasta cannisters that became disformed
when i put them through the dishwasher. my bikes look
pretty funny. but it keeps my butt dry (just cut some
plastic, punch holes and use zip ties to attach to your
bike). sometimes you have to be resourceful!
i'd love to go to the mountains today...
i am sure it is beautiful up there with plenty of fresh
pow for all the early bird powder hounds.
but for now, i'm down here riding my
bike in the neighbor's garage... where the heater blows
fuses and my old trainer sounds like a 747 taking off
so i have to pedal easily and quietly.
today, however, i learn my neighbor
is taking me on a long ride. 4 hours. ack. i guess it's
better than riding in the garage. it will be fun to
see the snowscape and look for more red fox.
it was so cute on tuesday when it was
snowing... i went to the mailbox and a mom was walking
with her little girl. the little girl came up to me
and said "it's snowing! it's christmas!" it
was cute.
30.10.02
karma-bummin'
geez.
it's been a long day!
i
have been dragged through the technology nightmare today,
all day. technology- the bane of our existence. it makes
our lives easier at the same time increasing our risk
for complete disaster. if you've ever had a computer
crash, you know exactly what i'm talking about!
just
to get me ready for a day of losing my mind.... yesterday,
i needlessly rode my bike 30 minutes in the heavy, wet,
driving sideways snow for a meeting that had been cancelled...
the person told me that they tried to call me all weekend
but my phone was busy... funny since i left town on
friday and didn't return til late sunday night. i had
to tug my cold, wet heavy clothes back on to my cold,
wet skin and ride back, another 30 minutes in the driving
sideways snow with ice forming so heavily on my cables
that my bike lost all ability to shift.
so
last night, we tried to download some software that
caused my computer to crash. all was recovered but in
the crash a few things were lost, like my entire email
address book (so email me so i can get my address book
back to normal!). i also lost my configurations on my
web software, so when i opened my web pages using the
software in order to update, all i saw was a document
full of broken links. after all, needless to say i'm
sure you've all been there, the solution was quite easy,
but it came after 9 hours of worry and toil!
i'll
be the first to admit, i am an amateur at web design.
a great friend helped me get started (thank you, c),
but he didn't tell me everything! so this web site has
been my work in progress since 2000. i'm getting better.
but don't ask for animation or anything fancy!
well
i'm finished with that segue.
now.
let's talk about karma. why is it that when one thing
goes wrong, it all escalates into a slef-deprecating,
explosive experience? it's as if you've brought this
upon yourself. why else would all this come crashing
down? is it karma? something i did in a past lifetime
that causes me to have these episodes of a massive crumbling
of reality?
i
don't know and i don't care to enjoy the answer. a day
filled with angst is enough to make me believe in karma.
oddly enough i just started reading kerouac's dharma
bums. i don't recommend this book to everyone, although
i love it. there's really not even any correlation between
what i'm saying and this book, except for dharma and
karma are both buddhist principles.
it's time for me to go and chill out, maybe do some
yoga and forget about my last 2 days, and quit bummin'
on my karma, because believe it or not i realize i've
got it easy!
ok.
no more whining for now.
namaste.
25.10.02
good friends, bookends, or something
friends are the key to a good life.
without them you have nothing. when you move to a new
city, you typically start out with no or very few friends.
in our case, when we moved to boulder, we knew 1 person.
but we soon made new friends. new friends are good because
they don't know anything about you and you have tons
to talk about. it's always exciting to get to know people,
on the other hand, it's always comforting to have old
friends, people who know you and people who you trust
and love.
last monday, the phone rang, and i was
greeted by some old friends- people from mammoth. they
were calling from boulder! isn't it great when you have
no warning from people coming to visit?
we invited them over for dinner and
they came over with fajita makins. they ended up staying
for 3 nights. of course it was fun to have them over,
but it really put a monkey wrench in my schedule! me,
typically in bed by 9, up at 6, if not before... i even
had a guiness one night, if you can believe that!
what do you expect when you temporarily
add 4 more guys to your household? do we have to go
there? maybe. face it, one girl and five guys in one
house, even if only for a few days, can be quite taxing.
the only problem with these guys was that they aren't
takers. we insist on them sleeping on our qvc aerobeds
instead of the floor, but they refused, sleeping on
the hard floor, until the final night, when one of the
guys didn't come home and had all their bags and clothes
in the van with him. they also worked hard as prep cooks
and dishwashers creating a restaurant atmosphere out
of our 8x15 kitchen. what better houseguests than a
pack of hungry guys wanting to help out around the house?
besides, they took me out to dinner and bought me hot
chocolates. what more could a girl ask for?
so what is the significance of these
friends? as i look at our dog, spokes, and realize how
much she appreciates old friends, i understand how the
familiarity and the memories form a bond between the
schisms of time. the last time i saw these guys was
may. and when i saw them, i saw them everyday. for lunch,
for dinner, for recreation, watching dvds. these guys
were a prt of our mammoth family. but across the states
and across the time span (relatively short really)to
see old friends again brings the cirlce of life together
and starts it on another round, it is kind of like bookends,
isn't it?
10.20.02
making a comeback
before this year, i never knew what
it was like to have a bad year. in fact, i had very
little experience with bad races. i had one once in
a while, but it never destroyed my will. this year,
as many of you know, was a rough year for me, "rugged"
troy would say. i barely finished most of my races,
and those i did finish, i was near the back, to be honest,
only a few riders from the back. it's terrible being
in the back, especially when you are used to being in
the thick of things. so this year, i struggled. even
my training rides were difficult.
so what happened? i caught something
like the flu the weekend of big bear, the first norba
national series race of the year, and never recovered.
after that, i couldn't ride worth a you know what.
so here i sit to tell you, the fiesty,
competitive and agressive rider i once was is making
a comeback.
ever since i moved to colorado, i've
been riding with my righteous dude neighbor, charlie,
a cat 1 roadie who is really fast! charlie is a great
guy. he has patience like none other. i could swear
that troy is paying this guy to ride with me, because
he rides with me, waits on me, and continues to ask
me to ride with him when i expected he'd given up on
riding with slow old me. charlie takes me on rides i
would hardly think of on my own... up to the top of
the mountains and back. hard, long rides with climbs
that make you cry and scream for your mommy.
today when i saw charlie walk by in
his get-up (riding get-up) i thought, cool, maybe he's
going without me... but the knock came and i had to
go.
today, after months of riding and working
out, i finally feel myself coming back. i was able to
keep up with charlie most of the time... granted he
wasn't going as fast as he could, but i felt great.
i feel the old me coming back. yep, i'm back.
we went nearly 85 miles today, all the
way UP to estes park and back. we rode a climb called
devil's gulch. you figure it out. not too long, but
a mighty devil of a climb for sure. i always dreamed
of riding in colorado, and now i am! it's the best!
it's no wonder that the best cyclists come from the
boulder, co area. how could you not be fast with all
these climbs???
so watch out girls... i'm really back
and don't be surprised when you see me coming next year!
the moral of this story is: never give
up! it can get worse than you think. but never give
up. time is key... it may take months, like it did me,
and you may end up missing a whole summer of racing
or doing whatever... but life goes on and your time
in the sun is coming!!!
meditation, 10.19
i just finished reading a new book,
Bread Alone by Judith ryan hendricks. it's not
just a book to read, with a fairly typical love story
(husband dumps wife for blonde work colleague and then
she finds a bartender/handyman who is a writer, buys
a bakery and they live happily ever after), but it is
sprinkled with breadmaking recipes. it's one of those
books you want to share with others, but that you want
to keep for yourself. i have decided for the moment,
to hang on to the book- so few loaned ever get returned-
which doesn't bother me as long as they are being read,
thoroughly.
anyhow- the heroine of the story learned
to bake bread in france... so she's not in to bread
machines. which makes me feel guilty, since i knowhow
to make bread. i don't even own a bread machine, but
i have ised one before. it is kind of cheating. so i
get the urge to bake bread. after all, my grandmother
bakes bread like no other, and i should carry on the
tradition.
well it's been a long time since i've
handmade bread, so i begin to feel the need to feel
the soft, dynamic lump of flour and water and yeast
that becomes the source of life... bread making is a
meditation, if nothing else. it takes time. it's like
gardeining. you plant a seed, in a few days you get
a sprout, and then in a couple of weeks, something that
resembles a plant. bread, however, you can make in one
day.
i decide i'm going to make some pizza
dough. i thoroughly love pizza, and so does troy, which
is good. while i use the mixer to mix intially, i quickly
take the blob of flour, yeast, sugar, salt , olive oil
and water and knead it for 10 minutes. it feel great.
this is like holding a fetus... a living, growing mass
that will soon be baked into something delicious to
eat. it is a holy thing, as far as i can tell. i press,
turn, press and turn the dough on the wood cutting board.
it begins to liven up... it is maturing. i place it
in the bowl and cover...
in 1.5 hours, i pull the dough out of
the bowl, a few more preparations and it's ready to
make pizza. the pizza tastes wonderful. it's more than
just the flavors... it's the crust that i made by hand.
my meditation on life. it brings about a satisfaction
like none other. this is a satisfying meal. i
have helped bring bread into life. ahes to ashes, dust
to dust, bread crumbs to bellies.
if you've never tried to make bread
before, i highly recommend it. one day, when you're
bored and it's cold outside and you feel stuck in rut
and in need of inspiration... give it a try. it is one
of the most satisfying rituals in the world. don't forget
to share!!!
selling my bike, a tragedy by tonya
i love bikes. i especially love my bikes.
and i really love my bikes that have brought me to where
i am today. but bikes are highly liquid as far as assets
go... they are easily converted into cash. so selling
bikes is how i get by. a way to pay of one of many old
debts, or a way to help me continue to do this sort
of thing year after year. many bike people just can't
understand why i sell my bikes. hey- i wouldn't if i
didn't have to, believe me! i'd love to have a garage
full of all my lovely loving bikes.
i've sold every bike i've ever owned,
except for the 2 that were stolen and one broken manitou
full suspension frame.
the first to go was my Specialized Hard
Rock that i bought with change i had saved up over the
summer. this bike replaced my stolen rockhopper (the
teal one with purple graphics, toe clips and a rigid
fork! a back in the days bike). the Hard Rock was sold
when troy, thinking this bike was an embarrassment to
him, the mountain bike connoisseur, bought me a beautiful
red StumpJumper. this was 1995, i think.
then it was my 1999 kona kula. i upgraded
to Expert on that bike. i won tons of races on her.
i sold her to some guy who was about the same height
as me. i heard it died and he just recently went to
the shop i rode for (Campus Cyclery in Cincy) to get
the frame replaced. it was a good bike. (in fact, i
just learned this from a shop employee at Interbike!!)
the next to go was my 2000 Gary Fisher
sugar 1. this bike took me to NORBA nationals for the
first time and won me many a race... allowing me to
become a pro. i can still see pictures of her as she
is ridden by an old teammate, amy murphy... the team's
web site has a few pics that i like to go and look at
from time to time. i miss my baby. she was all tricked
out with an orange chris kind headset.
last year i sold my cannondale caad4.
this wasn't too hard, even though the bike had taken
me to the Napa world cup and the pro level. but a really
enthusiastic cannondale owner bought her, so i felt
good about it.
i had to sell another real gem... my
first cannondale scalpel. i she took me to a 24th place
int he World Cup, so i was very fond of her. and my
friend John Crowne built some super-sick wheels for
her, which, sadly, went with the bike.
i also sold my first road bike, a LeMond
tourmalet.
i finally sold my old Specialized stumpjumper
frame... it was hard to let go of her. she sold this
summer. thanks Mitch!
so now, i have my custom painted caad4
cannondale for sale. she's been for sale for about a
month. i should have sold her earlier this year, when
people were interested in buying mountain bikes. alas,
my love affair with this bike lingered on. now i am
desperate for cash, and she must go. troy has her all
dolled up with polish and brand new parts. she looks
absolutely stunning. it's hard to look at her and think
she is going away, even tonite. this bike won me the
24 hours in the old pueblo, a few state championships
and many other races. she is so near and dear to me.
i can't believe she is going away. if only i didn't
have to sell her! but i am sure she will be loved and
cherished, and ridden again (she's been hanging up since
may when i got my new bikes for 2002).
so what do i have left? i have my caad5
hardtail, a new scalpel, a cannondale r1000 and a Deluxe
from Coast hardware store, an internal 3 speed with
mustache bars for going to the market. i'm certainly
not bike-poor, but emotionally sometimes it feels like
it!!
notes from Las Vegas
part 1
yes, i went to interbike. the last time
i went to interbike it was in Anaheim, CA. on the bus
ride to the on-dirt demo, i saw a guy get cuffed and
stuffed for the first time in my life. shocking. welcome
to sunny cali. the days of disney interbike are over
now. here are the days of viva vegas.
vegas is it's own little world. it's
a great place. people who have high hopes come in and
spend billions just so casino owners can build bigger
palaces. being the poor starving mountainbike racer
that i am, we didn't stay in a beautiful, glitzy casino
hotel. we stayed off the strip in the Best Western Mardi
Gras. a real party! actually it wasn't bad, and the
price was even better. especially since i didn't gamble
away the pile of quarters we have in the xterra cup
holder for doing laundry.
interbike has changed a great deal.
the only booth that i saw with half naked girls was
marazochi, and they've been doing that since i started
going to interbike. not that i care, just an observation.
but it was disheartening when i used to go and companies
had girls in full make up and big hair modeling bike
racing clothes. gimme a break!
anyhow. it really was a great time and
i met tons of cool industry people. the best part was
the cannondale lunch. cannondale has a lunch for dealers
and associates where they talk about marketing and serve
an absolutely incredible lunch... filet mignon with
shitake mushrooms in a filo cup, mashed sweet potatoes,
asparagus and an awesome salad. the best part was the
dessert. a flavored ice in a tube. awesome! many thanks
to cannondale!!
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it's fall time now! leaves are changing, and prime
mountain bike riding is here! here's some lines to help
get you in the mood!!
ode to autumn
the dawn of winter
as told by orion
when he returns to my sky
the harbinger of winter
now my soul is most alive
i close my eyes
breathe
the mold smell of fallen leaves
yet clean, fresh, awakening
deterioration and death
gives new life
when the time comes-spring
but alas- autumn-
smoke from a fire inside
smells like home
smells like winter coming
takes me away to my younger days
cousins jumping in piles of leaves
a child
swooshing through leaves on a trail
adolescence
stacking firewood
a young woman
scraping frost off the windshield
a young professional
fleece pullover in the morning
this is me
it all comes rushing
back to me and
i digress
allow me
clean air makes me feel alive
clear nights make me shiver
remember hot chocolate with marshmallows
burning my tongue
low clouds remind me of snow
surfing through powder up to my knees
and in my
face freezing the inside of my nose
the zip of leaves stuck in my brakes
rubbing my treads
(donŐt try to remove while riding)
annoys yet makes me laugh
how can one be annoyed by
such a wonderful thing when there is road rage?
if only to stop and think everyday
of such wonderful things as this but
we forget, donŐt we?
all the little things
make me smile again
orion reminds me
the dawn of winter is here
for a brief moment
to make us remember
© 1999 tonya renee laffey
journal 6.12.02 1:15p central
we're in wisconsin now, alpine valley
near East Troy. it's been an interesting stay so far!
i rode the cross country course on monday. very east-coast.
lots of tight singletrack, short steep climbs, and one
semi-long climb. quite a few technical sections, one
that includes a huge jump, and many others that include
rocky sections and riding down a crek bed in one instance.
my kind of riding! sketchy at best- with names like
"cheese grater" , "curd garden"
and "boneyard loop"!! it rained monday night,
and i went out to ride the course again on tuesday.
it was greasy muddy, and as i had confidence from my
monday ride, i dove right into the creek drop, "Trek's
Liquid Launch", only to slide sideways down and
end up crashing into a huge rock. i cut my leg, and
scratched my bike... man, what was i thinking? after
the course doubled back to that section, i saw the Kona
men's pros go around the section, riding the easier
beginner/sport section. anyhow, i'm ok, it was just
a little test of my mud riding skills, greatly depleted
from living in Mammoth for so long!!
journal 6.9.02 8:57p central
we'va had quite a journey on our way
to wisconsin, and we're still not there yet! yesterday
it was a fmily reunion, today a wedding of a very close
"family" member. tomorrow, it's Alpine Valley,
wisconsin!
look for ride reviews for the Kokopelli
area in Fruita and Boulder's Walker Ranch area.
journal 5.28.02 12:43p
troy and i spent memorial day weekend
in the Reno/Tahoe area, discovering the mountain bike
trail systems...
All we heard about was the Flume trail,
and we were told to try Peavine Mountain area. the Flume
is a great scenic ride, but it lacks much technical-
mostly climbing your brains out. i think the first climb
out of spooner lake is about 1000' in 4 miles. this
is a great trail for the scenery... you ride along the
edge of a mountain overlooking Lake Tahoe. it is truly
beautiful... be careful not to fall off the edge while
gazing at the lake. better to get off your bike to have
a look! the back part of the trail was still closed
due to snowpack, but it should be open in a couple of
weeks.
Peavine Mountain is not really a ride
i recommend. there is a ton of glass in the parking
area, and i picked up a 4" nail, busting up 2 tubeless
tires. (ouch!!) there is some singletrack, and a lot
of climbing, you can discover old mines and ride to
the top of Peavine mountain for some good views. careful
not to take a wrong turn... you could end up back in
town in no time!!
i would have to say the area i had the
most fun riding was the Southern Pine Nuts, outside
of Carson city, NV. you could get lost, but Bike Brothers
in Carson has a nice map of the area. there are miles
and miles of singletrack with new bits being built everyday!
while there are a lot of motocrossers and some 4 wheelers
around, you can have an awesome bike ride. the routes
are limitless and there are some KILLER descents that
will allow you to get up to full speed carving bermed
turns and jumping the washboards... truly an adventure!
some locals, Gary and kathy showed me the way, and we
had a great 2 hour ride, which apparently just brushed
the edges of what is available to ride out there!
5.22.02 8:48a
back in mammoth now, and feeling nearly
fully recovered from the flu. unfortunately i had to
drop out of the 24 hour race due to still being a little
flu-ey. i gave it my best, but my body just couldn't
handle the intensity. i feel better today, and will
be back on my bike for the first time since saturday
afternoon...
journal 5.16.02 12:20p
hello! from Monterey! we've been camping
here in Marina, near Monterey for $30/night!the cheapest
hotel is about $75/night. a little rough. today we went
to the laguna seca raeway where the 24 hour race is
being held, and watched the formula 1 cars on the track.
only 2 days away from the race start... in 48 hours
i'll be on course formy second 24 hour race!
the weather here has been cool, and
"june gloom" is in effect. the skies arer
hazy, very hazy and the wind is blowingsteady. luckily
it's not too cold. i am recovering from the flu that
i had last weekend at big bear, feeling better every
day!
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journal 5.15.02 12:45p
we're in Berkely, just got done visiting
the PowerBar offices here.. picking up some schwag and
meeting some of the people who make it all happen! the
offices are on the 10th floor and overlook the Golden
Gate bridge and Mt tam... the exciting big city for
the mountain folk. we gave one of the homeless people
some powerbars.
we're on our way to Laguna Seca and
Monterey where the 24 hour national championship race
is being held this weekend. it's been a nice trip, despite
troy's bike being stolen in Manteca, ca. if you see
someone riding around on a cannondale jeckyl that says
"legs" in red electrical tape, it's troy's...
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