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3/20/03

I am a city girl at heart. Living in a small country town I miss the fast paced environment, lots of people, endless miles of stores, two story gym facilities, indoor track, health food store, movie theaters (with more than one screen) yoga classes and last but not least a Barnes and Noble book store.

Living in a rural area of Kentucky with less than 5,000 people can be a draw back when trying to find things to do. But the longer I live here, the more I realize the advantages of a small city in the Midwest.

For example: People are so nice here! It is almost overwhelming how nice they are. I went to Walmart last week to buy a pad of paper and the checkout clerk called me "sugars, honey and sweetie" and I was standing there for 45 seconds.

Traffic is minimal when wanting to bike ride. Not to mention the roads here are smooth as glass. They repave them every couple of years. While training, cars will slow down and follow you for miles, not wanting to fly by you (that can get annoying after awhile) it's almost like we have our own team car following us.

We have Amish! I'll never forget the first time I moved here and a horse and buggy pulled up next to me at a red light . My jaw dropped in confusion. Most people do the two finger wave on the steering wheel while in their car. You can almost get a muscle cramp by waving back to everyone.

We have lawn mower racing! Need I say more?

I need to get to know and try to understand the people of Columbia, KY a little better. The next little while I will be going to different "popular" areas in the community and hang out with the local folk. Monday night bingo with the elderly, gun auctions, go-cart racing, and not to forget the famous Kentucky derby, here I come!

Check back for more with info and photos.

Tarrah

2/4/03

My dad got activated this week to head to the middle east. He will be leaving in a couple of weeks for a training camp in Florida and then will head overseas after that. Even though for a couple of months I have known that he might be called to leave, it is always hard when it actually happens. I am really close to my dad and I hope all goes well for him and my family.

While on the subject of my family, I have to admit I had an unusual childhood growing up, my parents were somewhat odd balls to the other folks in our conservative neighborhood. Where some parents would like to go to the local country club to play golf, tennis or manicure their lawn, my parents preferred to dress up in leather jackets and chaps to go on Harley rides with their friends.

I also remember when I was young my dad would sit us kids in front of the TV and we had to watch endless hours of war videos. If you are wondering, it wasn't for punishment, but to help us realize how many people have sacrificed their lives for our country. I consider my dad a very patriotic man, he has been in the military since he was 19 years old and holds the title of Lt. Colonel and commander of his unit. He is very proud of our country and has sincerely expressed to me that he is willing and prepared to give up his life for our country. I truly admire my father and wish him the best.

Tarrah

12.24.02

When I think of Christmas this holiday season, I can't help to remember my childhood memories spending relentless hours playing in the snow, building angels and snow men, sledding down our little ice mound until my feet froze. To occasionally hear my mothers voice beckoning me to come in the house before it got dark. Those were the days, not a care in the world. So innocent a child can be, as they eagerly wait for Santa to come to their house for the Christmas holiday. A part of me misses those days, even though I can only relive those memories in my head, I am grateful for those precious moments I had as a child.

Out of all the Christmas holidays I can remember when I was young, there is one that holds dear to my heart more than the others. That Christmas there wasn't alot of focus on presents, who got the nicest games, clothing, or the new gizmo that had been flashing on the television. The focus was on something that was more important to me . . . my family.

This memorable Chirstmas was during the gulf war. My dad who had been in the military most of his life and was activated to go to war the day after Thanksgiving. A couple days after that holiday he left to a military base in Colorado to get prepared to be shipped to Saudi Arabia.

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, was quite challenging for my family with three little children he had left behind, me being the oldest at age 11, my sister who was 9 and my baby brother who was 4 years old at the time. I remember my mother trying her best to keep the family in good spirits even though it effected her more than it did us kids, being too young to really understand what was going on.

Christmas season came around and our decorative tree was looking quite bare, unlike other christmas holidays where the base of the tree was covered with boxes in decorative wrapping paper. We each had a couple of gifts, for each other and we did not care.

Christmas Eve came along and spirits were low in my household. My mother spent most of the day wiping off tears from her face trying to not let us know that she was upset. That night we did our christmas routine of opening one gift which almost always was a itchy pair of pajamas. We thanked our mother and was heading to bed when we heard a knock on the door. My sister and I raced to the door as we usually did not knowing who it could be. We opened the door and to our surprise my father standing in the doorway.

We jumped up and gave him big bear hugs as though he was our favorite stuffed animal. My mother was in shock and couldn't say a word but to run to my father and kiss him. Tears were streaming down all our faces and we couldn't help but thank Heavenly Father for this gift. After hello's were said, my father went on to explain that all the men that were at the base in Colorado were given the opportunity to fly home for three days before they left to the Persain Gulf. Not caring how much time we had together we made the most of it.

That next morning was the best Christmas I had ever had. We were given the best present of all, our father. As those three days quickly went and my father left to his duties not knowing if we would see him again. Our spirits were high and knew that the lord would watch over him and our family. Even though it seemed like eternity to a little kid my father did come home six months later. That Christmas was so memorable because we had the gratest gift of all . . . . each other.

Tarrah

Friday the 13th, 2002:

Today my collegiate team, Lindsey Wilson College is flying out to Cyclocross Nationals in Napa, Califorina. We are leaving so late in the week due to the fact that most of our team (including myself) had finals the night before. At 4:20 am I wake up, take a shower, get my stuff packed in my car and head over the van waiting for us to leave at 4:45 am. With 9 bike boxes stuffed in the back of the van and 10 bodies, we rush to the Nashville airport which is two hours away, hoping to avoid any major traffic jams on our way to the airport. I fall back asleep once settled in the van and awake by the time we get to the airport.

With our team having that much luggage, it is amazing how many people stop and stare and wonder what we are doing, not to mention what are we carrying. The workers at the ticket office start to get quite excited as they see the mob of people with huge boxes heading toward them. Three of them were asking down the line how much do bikes boxes cost to send to make sure they charge us the right price

. From Nashville, we have a 3 hour 45 min. flight to Ontario, Cali. and a second short flight from Ontario to Oakland. During that first flight, to keep myself busy I have a list of things I would like to accomplish. Thankyou letters, updating my journal, read books, listen to tapes and relax. Not to mention drinking alot of water. I have learned that on a three hour flight you loose about three glasses of water. That is not including if you drink coffee, alcohol, or pop on the flight which can actually dehydrate you faster on a flight. I guess I am not the norm, I don't drink pop very often, never tried coffee or alchol, but love to drink water! By the time I have gone through two 24 oz bottles of water and the "complimentary" drinks, I have rushed to the bathroom 12 times during both flights. Some of my teammates joke that during the flight I got up enough to go the bathroom for everyone on the flight.

We arrive at Oakland airport at 2:00 p.m., it is pouring rain. We were all relieved when we got our luggage back all in one piece. We bring all our stuff out of the airport and wait on the curb for our coach to come back with the two vans. A little under a hour later, the vans show up and we shove all our stuff in the back of them. The race course is 44 miles from the airport, our hotel is 22 miles away. Due to the fact that my collegiate race is first thing in the morning, our plans were to eat, head over to the race course preride and head to our hotel. Due to traffic, it took us a little over two hours to get to the race course. After 5 p.m. we get to the hotel on the race course to register, by this time it is pretty dark. We run into the hotel to avoid getting drenched. We ask the lady at the front desk about the race registration and she doesn't know what we are talking about. We head over to another part of the hotel, no one is in sight.

Due to the flood of rain, we assume they closed up early. We head back to our hotel which is 22 miles toward the airport, on the way we found a place to eat and got to our hotel before 9 p.m. By this time most of the parking lots have little streams in them from the water overflowing on the grass. My race is a 9:30 in the morning, I am a little concerned with not being able to ride my bike the day before a race but I am ready to race and don't let this distraction get me down. By 9:30p.m. I am asleep, to be well rested for my race.

12/14/02

I arise to the wakeup call at 6:00 am, I look outside and it is still pouring rain as if it never stopped during the night. I am not to worried, since we all have to race in the same weather. I try to find as many positive things as I can about the day. I did not get a chance to pre ride the day before, so I asked my team coach if we could leave a little earlier so that we would not be in a rush at the course.

After packing our stuff in the car, eating breakfast and getting ready for the race, we leave the hotel at 7 am to head over to the race site. We arrive to our amazement of the amount of vechicles that are there already this early in the morning. We find a parking spot, go over and register and take a look at the course. Due to the amount of rain the course has been changed from the original one the day before. The mud was so thick, they decided to move most of the course on the road and took out the barriers. I thought it was a little odd to have a cross course without barriers, but I knew it would all work out.

In between races, I am able to preride a lap of the course. It was more like a crit than a cross course. At 9:30 am my collegiate women's race goes off. I stayed with the front half pack and was gaining places with each lap. Within 15 minutes into the race, the mud and rain started catching up with my bike and my rear shifter cable broke. With only my easiest gear in the back, I kept going doing another lap and informing my pit crew that I would need to switch bikes. Not letting this distract me from the race, I tried to keep a positive attitude and kept going. In the mud section I was able to pedal past the women, and on the road section I was spinning out due to the lack of gears.

In the pit I grabbed my teammate's bike which was a size 54, rather larger than mine and pedaled thru the mud. Within half a lap on the bike, the back tire went flat. I jumped off the bike and started to run on the road. Racers were flying past me, I am running as fast as I can. I make it around the pit and grab my bike, it still lacks gears but can go forward.

Determined to finish, I push as hard as I can to try to make up the time and places I lost. With one lap to go, I finish a staggering 15th place. My heart was in the race but my bike wasn't. Sometimes things like this happen which you can't always control. I was frustrated with the race but knew there would be another one soon down the road. I know it could have been worse, I could of have not finished or better yet got injured.

Onto another race. Later on that day two of my teammates were racing in the U23 race which started around 3 pm. It still was raining very hard. In fact I had a little saying that you could use swim fins in some parts of the race rather than biking shoes. Luckly they got two barriers put in their race. One of my teammates Toby Swanson took a strong 10th place and my other teammate Erendell Fingerson crashed at bottom of a road hill unable to finish and was taken to the first aid tent. Erendell is still in alot of pain. About 5 pm we head over to the emergency room, he thinks it might have a broken arm. A couple hours later, we find out he luckly didn't break it but the swelling is pretty bad and he will have to wear an arm brace for awhile. We head to dinner and back to our hotel to head to bed

12/15/02

Today is the men's collegiate cross race. Their start time was approx 8 am in the morning, we had an earlier wake up call than the morning before. My teammates are excited and nervous about the upcoming race. We head out to the course to once again the flood of water. I made the mistake the day before of wearing clogs to walk around in, they were soaking wet by the end of the day. Today I switched to running shoes. Due to the amount of people racing the day before and the deep imprints into the ground on the course, the race course was altered once again, but they left the two barriers in the race.

The collegiate race went off, by halfway into the race one of our teamates, Toby Swanson who is in the front pack is leading the race. There is a huge gap with the first four racers and the rest of the field. Toby Swanson finishes a close third place and our other men also finish well. They are somewhat disapointed in their race results but glad to do what they could. We waited for the award ceremony where Toby is honored for his third place finish. As far as a collegiate team with the men and women combined, our team finishes a close third place finish, 6 points from second. We were happy but disapointed, from being the national champions two years previously.

We go to eat a fancy restraunt on the opposite side of the freeway called Cucina a la Carte. It is a Fanco-Italian marketplace, deli and bakery. I have an AMAZING chicken sandwich on wheat bread and a side salad. Most of my team by this time were starting to try out all the wines (all the age of 21 of course), which Napa Valley is renowned for. I don't drink alchol, infact I have never tried it. But they told me it was amazing, I'll take their word. We head back to watch the elite men and women's race which were also going on later that day. The down pour of rain was increasing, and the area was starting to look more like a mud slide. While watching the course I met a group of riders from Oregon, racing for a team called cyclocross crusade. They were enjoying the race and the all their beer and wine. This group of eight riders seemed to be cheering louder than the crowd put together. Yelling for Shari Kain, Gina Hall and Ann Grande and telling them they love them and how sexy they are. A couple of times these racers would acknowledge them and they would get all excited. They had me be the offical cow bell ringer, and kept telling me what a good job I was doing. I think the alchol was kicking in for them by then. It was a blast! I never enjoyed watching a race as I did with these group of people.

After the races, we headed soaked to the bone back to our hotel to change so we could go and eat. That night we went to the Olive Garden for some great food. About 11 pm some of us headed to bed to wake up at 4:30 am to head back to the airport in Nashville. Even though it seemed to be a somewhat crazy and disappointing weekend for the team, we did have fun and enjoyed the beautiful area of Napa Valley. .

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A year 1/2 ago, my husband and I got the opportunity to live in London, England for six months. We wanted to see for ourselves what it would be like to live in a different country, work and not to forget, race our bikes. So with four bikes and card board boxes, with all our clothes stuffed in them, we flew to London for a amazing adventure.

Things I observed and learned while living in London: -England has one of the highest population densities in the world. London has over 7,100,000 people living in it. - London is VERY EXPENSIVE. I have heard that it is the second most expensive place to live in the World. I believe it! - It seemed that everyone wore dark colors there, even in May. Hardly ever did I see someone wear bright colors or jeans. Unless they were tourists of course. - To wash three loads of laundry at a local mat it costs around $15 bucks. That is not including to dry them.

- There are over 3,500 pubs (bars) in London alone. Pretty much one on every block.

- If your tight on money, like we were. Bread is cheap, only 45 cents a loaf.

- Do not bike on the sidewalks, they will ticket you.

- Make sure you yeild at roundabouts (traffic circles), even if there are no cars. The police will pull you over.

- Local news stations will record the amount of hours of sunlight they had for the day. "We had a record of 5 hours of sunlight today".

- I still don't know if this was legal to do this, but motorcyclists and bicyclists can bike in between traffic.

- Even though you might be broke, you can't really be bored living in London there are so many places to see and visit.

- Be careful where and what you eat. If you go to an all you can eat chinese restaraunt, chances are they might be serving chicken and furry cat feet.

- Bring a bike, it is so much cheaper than taking the train or the tube everywhere.

- If you go biking with a cycling group, be prepared to stop and have a hour tea break in the middle of your ride.

- If you have food in your hand while visiting Trafalgar square, the pigions will attack you.

- One way streets are a pain in the butt when you need to get somewhere fast.

- The cars are very small, but fun to drive. Make sure your on the opposite side of the street over there.

- Busses don't care if you're on the road riding your bike. They will cut you off.

- Don't cross a drunk Aussie and a drunk Englishmen in an argument.

There are many terminology differences also, for example:

American = English

Drug store = Chemist Shop

Cigarette = Fag

Elevator = Lift

French fries = Chips

Line = Queue

Potato chips = Crisps

Private school = Public school

Public school = Comprehensive

Restroom = Loo, Toilet

Soccer = Football

Blimey: Used to express amazement

Cheerio: Used to bid fairwell

Knock one up: To alert one by rapping knuckles on door

Pissed: Getting drunk

Tash: Short for mustache

Rubbish: Used to denote disbelief

Ta: Thanks; also cheers

If you get a chance to visit London, I would strongly recommend it. It is a very enjoyable place. Tarrah

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Journal entry #1:

Many people ask me how I moved from my home of Provo,Utah to a little town of Columbia, Kentucky, and I would have to say Collegiate mountain bike racing! Oh yes! For many that don't know mountain biking/road/cycloross and even track racing are considered collegiate sports.

Each year hundreds of schools have individuals or teams that participate in the collegiate scene all over the U.S. Teams together by invitation, depending on how they ranked in their region, to compete against some tough competition at Nationals.

Even though for most schools, racing is still considered a "club" sport there are many schools that recognize it as a varsity sport and offer scholarship money to race for the college. One such school is Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky. It is a private Methodist school with a little under 2,000 students, which prides itself on it's athletics, not to mention being the two time Div. I Cyclocross National Championship team. I currently attend this school and we get just as much respect at the school as the basketball or the volleyball team. The team is fully funded for travel for the mountain bike and cyclocross season and it gets help with road. We're not the only school that does such a thing, there are other schools out there like Union College, the Div II National MTB. Championship team who also offers scholarships for mountain biking and support for their riders. Marian College, Midwestern State College and

Collin County Community College are to name a few that also offer scholarships in different disciplines and the list is growing.

Another great thing about collegiate bike racing is that there is no set age limit or years you can compete. Not to mention all levels can participate. Granted, you probably don't want to spend the next ten years racing the collegiate scene. You can have the opportunity to start at any time or any age. There are many men and women who are working on their PhD's and still have time to race.

Collegiate racing has been such an enjoyable experience for my husband and I. I am truly grateful for the person that told me about collegiate racing, my collegiate coach and the opportunity it be on the team. I feel like it is my responsibility to spread the news about collegiate racing and hopefully it will be as rewarding and a blessing as much as it is for my husband and I.

To look up more information about the Collegiate scene go to www.race-ncca.org and www.usacycling.org.

The October/November 2002 issue of USA Cycling Mag. features an article on ten different schools that participate in Collegiate racing.

Tarrah